Erm dunno if this has.....yeah!

The same way LFS downloads each players skin into the skinx folder if it's not already there I propose to have LFS temoraraley download each hosts DDS files because this would give each host a chance to boost their advertisement on the server.
It would also give each host it's own look/envoirment making each host individual in it's own right.
If there is one way to start the €$£ ball rolling this is the way, I'm sure your sponsers will jump at the idea of having their logo all over the big signs at Aston and having EVERYONE see them.......

Good idea but server prices will double or more if ppl start making money out of sponsors.

like it - but the server need a LOT more bandwidth to download the textures.

-1 for me!

Well ok the server prices will double but I'm sure Franky would 'package' to taylor for 'commercial' servers - everyone would bennift on that one!

High bandwidth - Yes, but the same way the skins work, they need only to be downloaded once

"High bandwidth - Yes"

Makes it more expensive - unless you put it on the maste server which makes the Devs pay more.

Seems like a good idea BUT once you think about it it has many problems!

Quote from Jakg :

"High bandwidth - Yes"

Makes it more expensive - unless you put it on the maste server which makes the Devs pay more.

Seems like a good idea BUT once you think about it it has many problems!

Ok, as you know the dds files that will be sent are not bigger if even smaller than the x amount of skins sent to each box at any given time I can't see this option add a high value to the bandwidth, and as I said this ONLY has to be downloaded ONCE!

I'd like to see this so long as you could turn it off. I've got lots of nice textures and real life advertising that I dowloaded of this forum and I wouldn't want that to be replaced by some other textures that someone else likes but I may not.

Quote from Gentlefoot :

I'd like to see this so long as you could turn it off. I've got lots of nice textures and real life advertising that I dowloaded of this forum and I wouldn't want that to be replaced by some other textures that someone else likes but I may not.

I too have my own textures for Aston(nudey pics ) which I would keep, It's as easy as making a copy of your dds folder and have it at hand for offline play> or even an option beside the download multiplayer skins option Dowload multiplayer dds option that wud b cool.
Just an idea to add to the realism of the game 'real ads'(I know of the many add on texture packs), and to as I said 'give each host it's own look/feel/envoirment

Quote from Jakg :

like it - but the server need a LOT more bandwidth to download the textures.

Not really. Because the server would only send identifiers (filename, url, or such) to the client and the client would download it from lfsworld or elsewhere. At least thats the way skin downloading works.

I would expect the following behaviour: If I join a server which uses custom DDS, LFS asks me if I want to download them.

+1 from me.

i like the idea too.... but that just means that every other server we go to there might be different files and in the end our LFS folder would be a few gb due to all of the files

-1

Quote from XCNuse :

i like the idea too.... but that just means that every other server we go to there might be different files and in the end our LFS folder would be a few gb due to all of the files

-1

I dunno about other players, but I oonly tend to race on no more than a dozen servers!, so I cant see these folders getting that big!
But then again, do other racers connect to more than 50-60 servers?

+1

-1

Quote from XCNuse :

i like the idea too.... but that just means that every other server we go to there might be different files and in the end our LFS folder would be a few gb due to all of the files

-1

My LFS Folder is already 6 GB because of skin files! A few more wont make much of a difference. If it did get too big you can always just delete the files and start again.
I like this idea and especially as someone said above if the server owners could put a URL to a DDS file they host themselves somewhere.
Players should also have the option to turn off automatic download just like skins.
The only problem i can see with this is when the files are linked to an external source we cant really control the content. so it could be expicit... but i'm sure we could add a "report this server option". And a guilty parties server could be banned from the master server. This could get complicated though....

Quote from Jakg :

Seems like a good idea BUT once you think about it it has many problems!

Bollocks, and I cite Unreal [Tournament] (which from the original Unreal has had this technology in) as a success case.

The average DDS file is around 129KB - 513KB in LFS, which is only slightly higher than the average skin in my skins_x directory.

More to the point, if the server admin wants to run downloadable dds', they could. If the server was using standard textures, I cannot see how on earth it means that it'll be more expensive. Surely it just means more hosting opinions available to customers?

Finally, there's no requirement that it has to come from the actual LFS game server either. Theres obviously some form of HTTP client in the game client, so whats wrong with a redirection to a download server where the dds files can be gathered from?

Overall, I think this is a good idea; with one caveat. It should be restricted to advertising spaces (i.e. billboards, etc.). Overall track textures would be cool, but unnecessary at the moment (imho).

While it would be interesting and feasible, changing ads wouldn't really "mean" much to the players, apart from extra downloading.

The only time I actually notice a billboard on LFS when driving is if I use it as a brakemarker (and then I don't register what it says on it) or if I crash into it (considering I do alot of that I am probably contraddicting myself here).

Billboards serve more of a purpose for spectators - see the STCC videos that feature ads for Becky Rose's programs for example.

The only textures that IMO would really make a difference to the overall look/uniqueness of a track from a driver's perspective would be the tarmac, kerbs, maybe distance-to-turn signs (whatever those are called) and grass/dirt textures. Looking in my dds folders I see that high-res versions of those (like the excellent ones made by Elektrik Kar) are upwards of 1MB each and can get up to 5MB since they can also include mipmaps if I am not mistaken.

Quote from the_angry_angel :

Bollocks, and I cite Unreal [Tournament] (which from the original Unreal has had this technology in) as a success case.

The average DDS file is around 129KB - 513KB in LFS, which is only slightly higher than the average skin in my skins_x directory.

More to the point, if the server admin wants to run downloadable dds', they could. If the server was using standard textures, I cannot see how on earth it means that it'll be more expensive. Surely it just means more hosting opinions available to customers?

Finally, there's no requirement that it has to come from the actual LFS game server either. Theres obviously some form of HTTP client in the game client, so whats wrong with a redirection to a download server where the dds files can be gathered from?

Overall, I think this is a good idea; with one caveat. It should be restricted to advertising spaces (i.e. billboards, etc.). Overall track textures would be cool, but unnecessary at the moment (imho).

Thats what I had in mind ONLY advetisement space billboards etc, there's no point in allowing the rest of the dds content to be edited.
So maybe a small reconstruction of the dds folder where as we would have a seperate "advertisement" folder inside, which would be the only dds content allowed to be edited foe multiplayer use.
As for the steps that would need to be taken to impliment such a change I lack the knowhow.

@ xaotik: I understand, but take real life advertisement; Imean the ads around a real track are'nt there for the driver to look at, they are there for spectators!

What about Intel and Castrol etc. who already have track side ads? I guess they wouldn't like such system which just "hides" their ads. I'm not sure whther they have paid for having them visible, but I'm sure that there is some kind of deal that the ads stay

Quote from Hyperactive :

What about Intel and Castrol etc. who already have track side ads? I guess they wouldn't like such system which just "hides" their ads. I'm not sure whther they have paid for having them visible, but I'm sure that there is some kind of deal that the ads stay

Yes but this is an "ad-on"
I wouldnt imagine if they did do a deal to keeptheir ad's there that it was not too extensive as the sim is not yet final and ad-on's,texture packs plays quite a large part within the LFSD community.

I would like this feature. +1. As for how it would work, i'd trust Scawen to consider all possibilities and get it right, he certainly doesn't need me to tell him how to do it*.

*Exception, collision system and multiplayer packet instancing! *snicker* Which I think we've agreed to differ on.

While it would be cool I can't see much use for it. I don't look at the ads when racing and if I wanted to change them I could download a pack off here.

Quote from CSU1 :

Yes but this is an "ad-on"

The emphasis is on official. It just won't work without every player who connects on your server has this ad-downloader program. Or then LFS would need to support it.

Maybe the server name could be displayed on some place but nothing really more...

Quote from CSU1 :

@ xaotik: I understand, but take real life advertisement; Imean the ads around a real track are'nt there for the driver to look at, they are there for spectators!

Exactly my point. We rarely spectators in LFS as it stands and if we do it's usually in the forms of either replays or videos. In videos you can already substitute them when capturing the replays (see: STCC videos as already mentioned).

Quote from Hyperactive :

The emphasis is on official. It just won't work without every player who connects on your server has this ad-downloader program. Or then LFS would need to support it.

Maybe the server name could be displayed on some place but nothing really more...

As far as designing a "downloader program" goes I would not know where to begin there, but could this not already be supportedby LFS as part of the skin d/l system?
I dont think there's need for an external app to manage this!

@ Davo: I was trying to get the point across that this would be bennificial to the hosts as income through advertisement, maybe some might not see or mind whats on the signs but thats what advertising is all about, some people see em' some don't!

-1

Too easy for some goon to put shite in the DDS file.

Besides, it's a waste of bandwidth and server prices would skyrocket.