WARNING : THIS IS A TEST

NOTE : THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN NEW TYRE PHYSICS OR ANY NEW CONTENT

PLEASE TEST BEFORE YOU POST

NO OFF-TOPIC FEATURE REQUESTS

NO UNRELATED COMMENTS


Hello Racers, here is a new TEST PATCH : 0.6G3

Open configuration support has been improved as part of the new Westhill update we have been working on.

This test patch IS compatible with version 0.6G
This test patch CAN play replays from version 0.6G

You cannot upload hotlaps made with this test patch because it is only a test patch, not an official patch.

Please keep a backup of your LFS.exe from 0.6G so you can easily go back if there are any problems.


Changes from 0.6G2 to 0.6G3 :

Misc :

Regenerated lightmaps and visible object lists on most tracks
Added paths at Fern Bay to cover road near Club and mini oval

Fixes :

AI drivers hot wall entering pit lane at SO Classic / Town
Removed single-sided rectangle near the bridge at Fern Bay
Missing shadows on cars under bridges at Aston and Fern Bay
Shadows could appear on cars near path edges in open configs
Default lightmap sometimes used lighting from previous track
Removed message about 93 objects when loading Autocross track
Restored shadows mistakenly removed from South City buildings
Changing between reversed / forward configs - wrong lightmaps


Changes from 0.6G to 0.6G2 :

Open Configurations :

As part of the development for the Westhill track update that is
still in development, the support for Open track configurations
has been improved. When possible, LFS now uses a suitable path
from one of the default configurations so these things work :

- Hidden object removal gives high frame rates
- Lighting system now works so that car looks correct in shadow
- Echo maps are used so the sound changes depending on location

The X (forward) and Y (reversed) open configuration selection
buttons are now visible on the track selection screen.

Hidden object removal :

The visible objects are now detected using a much better method
than in older versions. Visible object files for the existing
tracks are provided in the patch. You should find there is now
very little pop-up of objects, but still with a high frame rate.

The visible object lists for the TV cameras are now stored in a
separate list per camera rather than being path based. So you
should no longer see objects disappearing occasionally when using
the replay / TV cameras.

Misc :

Collision detection improved near the ends of long objects

Translations :

Updated Italian, Lithuanian, Russian and Ukrainian translations
Updated Brazilian Portuguese version of docs\Commands.txt


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS :

A FULL version of LFS 0.6G (or later) must already be installed

To install the PATCH using the SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE :

1) Move or save the patch into your main LFS folder
2) Double click the patch to extract it to that folder
3) When you see "Confirm File Replace" select "Yes to All"
4) Now you can start LFS in the normal way

NOTE : You can see if the patch is correctly installed when you run
the program (LFS.exe). At the bottom of the entry screen : 0.6G3


DOWNLOADS :

PATCH 0.6G TO 0.6G3 (SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE) (if you already have 0.6G) :
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6G_TO_6G3.exe (12.2 MB)

PATCH 0.6G TO 0.6G3 (ALTERNATIVE ZIP) (if you already have 0.6G) :
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6G_TO_6G3.zip (18.3 MB)

It looks like some buildings have lost their shadows in G2, is that intentional?

6G
6G2

i fail to see the difference on the pics?

Quote from Flame CZE :

It looks like some buildings have lost their shadows in G2, is that intentional?

Thanks, that was not intentional.

Quote from [RCG]Boosted :

i fail to see the difference on the pics?

If you open them in two separate tabs and switch between the tabs then it is clear.

Quote from [RCG]Boosted :

i fail to see the difference on the pics?

gifka

it's not a HUGE update but still it's great to see progress, thanks!

When I select Autocross, a yellow debug message pops up: REMOVED LIGHTING ON 93 MODELLER OBJECTS

Also, after loading a track in 6G2 and then going back to 6G, there's a message in 6G saying "Race load : wrong version" after loading a track, and the race settings seem to reset to 3 laps and low wind.

Great, happy Valentine's day
I will find some times to have a look to this very awaited test patch

Quote from driftbrk :

it's not a HUGE update but still it's great to see progress, thanks!

not so sure, it announces that Westhill is coming soon ^^

Quote from Flame CZE :

When I select Autocross, a yellow debug message pops up: REMOVED LIGHTING ON 93 MODELLER OBJECTS

Also, after loading a track in 6G2 and then going back to 6G, there's a message in 6G saying "Race load : wrong version" after loading a track, and the race settings seem to reset to 3 laps and low wind.

i noticed the same message but i couldn't see any visual difference on AU.

Quote from Flotch :

Great, happy Valentine's day
I will find some times to have a look to this very awaited test patch

Quote from driftbrk :

it's not a HUGE update but still it's great to see progress, thanks!

not so sure, it announces that Westhill is coming soon ^^

certainly its a awaited patch but we are always waiting for more improvements like the devs did with the shaders and with the alpha channel if you know what i mean xD

There are some debug messages popping out in chat while driving through different path sections on open configs (attachment). Not a big deal for now but I assume you will hide them when official patch hits?

FPS have increased in similar situations - up to 33%, from 60 to 80 (single car on track, no AIs on open configs)!

Quote from Flame CZE :

When I select Autocross, a yellow debug message pops up: REMOVED LIGHTING ON 93 MODELLER OBJECTS

Thanks, I forgot to remove that message. In fact that is not related to the missing vertex shadows on the buildings.

Quote from Flame CZE :

Also, after loading a track in 6G2 and then going back to 6G, there's a message in 6G saying "Race load : wrong version" after loading a track, and the race settings seem to reset to 3 laps and low wind.

This is because the SPR version had to increase, due to the small update in the object vs object collision detection system. Older versions can't load SP replays from the new version. And the game setup screen race load is related to the SPR system.

Quote from Nilex :

There are some debug messages popping out in chat while driving through different path sections on open configs (attachment). Not a big deal for now but I assume you will hide them when official patch hits?

Yes, I deliberately left these in, for testing purposes so you can see what's going on and will have more info if something goes wrong. I made sure you only get those messages for the currently viewed car. If you go in an area with no path there is a light red message and you'll see a lower frame rate at that point. For example a couple of areas at Fern Bay.

Good stuff. Now I have twice FPS on openconfig.

Quote from Flame CZE :

It looks like some buildings have lost their shadows in G2, is that intentional?

6G
6G2

For me it seems better now judging by these two pics. Those shadows from 6G look ugly -- more like some smooth groups weren't been made at all

Eh, I hoped that these missing shadows thing is a small teaser of the upcoming new shadows system where such static vertex shading won't be needed as LFS will have full shadow mapping.....

Anyway, good job, FPS increase is noticeable

FPS improvement, it's definitely noticeable. Awesome!

Quote from vitaly_m :

Good stuff. Now I have twice FPS on openconfig.

Quote from Flame CZE :

It looks like some buildings have lost their shadows in G2, is that intentional?

6G
6G2

For me it seems better now judging by these two pics. Those shadows from 6G look ugly -- more like some smooth groups weren't been made at all

nah it's better with, a form of ambiante occlusion.

Thanks for test patch! it's working great for me and I have like 20 fps increase compared to 0.6G.

Car in the middle came from the AS CLUB path, the other two cars were on the AS GRAND PRIX path. The shadows under the credit suisse/intel bridge before the AS2 1st corner are slightly bugged when on the AS GRAND PRIX path.

Similar issues all around Fern Bay. In this example there is car shadow but no shadow cast on to the ground:



We found a weird glitch in the first garage of the FE2 pitlane

Great stuff! looking forwards to see more updates and news!

Quote from Scawen :

Misc :

Collision detection improved near the ends of long objects

Just been testing the collision detection.



This happens for any car if driven slowly into the end of an armco or long barrier centred on the front of the car:

The front suspension is totally destroyed, but there's no damage to the car model.
Driving in at different angles tends to cause a LOT of damage to both suspension and model at all speeds.
At high speeds it's back to the old "to the moon" physics (if not worse) from a few years back.

Quote :

At high speeds it's back to the old "to the moon" physics (if not worse) from a few years back.

Loooool

Odd bug that I can't reproduce. I choose SO6X, on the BF1 and start my lap. I get a false start of 30 seconds and do a whole lap with that (never going below 100FPS BTW, So nice work there). I get to the end of the lap and Ctrl + S, spectate. I then do not have my skin (The default BF1 skin of the BMW Sauber race car) is no longer there. I load back into the race, inside the cockpit I see the inside of the skin, outside of the cockpit, I change view to the race TV camera, and I don't have a skin it's just white. I Ctrl + S again, and the skin is back.

Tried to reproduce this, and I can't. Might of been a fluke.

This is the start of it.

After driving around a bit, the shadows (where they're in the right place) are pretty nice and there's definitely a significant improvement in framerate.

100fps increase
Also I found this:

It's normal white when on a path.

I sometimes have a significant FPS loss (50FPS -> 15FPS) with 0.6G2 when alot of autocross objects have been added (900 objects packed in the same area that is). I switched back and forth between 0.6G2 and 0.6G and the difference in FPS was immediate. However sometimes I get: "REMOVED LIGHTING ON 93 MODELLER OBJECTS" but I don't know how it is triggered exactly. When I get this message the FPS is identical to 0.6G so the problem only subsists when I don't get "REMOVED LIGHTING ON 93 MODELLER OBJECTS".

If someone could test the following:
• Switching back and forth between 0.6G and 0.6G2
• Driving alongside the layout hereby attached (dense area of 900 Armcos)

I don't know how to trigger "REMOVED LIGHTING ON 93 MODELLER OBJECTS". That seems to be the key to this problem.