Hello Racers! Here is a new Test Patch U35!

There are a lot of changes since version U - all listed below in this post. Important changes include :

New Script System
Car Sound Improvements
Automatic Update System
Windows Vista Compatibility
S2 racers can now see S1 hosts
S1 users can use the skin downloading system
Many fixes and improvements in all areas

WARNING : your controls will not be correctly assigned due to the new way the controls are stored in a special file in the data\misc folder. There is a default file included for the Red Momo and the Microsoft FF Wheel so they should be reasonably set up if you have one of those. We will be providing default files for many wheels. We will make a special announcement when we need help supporting more wheels.

NOTE about H-shifters : Since U11, you cannot use an H shifter on a single seater car. If you have a shifter, LFS automatically sets to sequential when you select a single seater. There are two separate versions of these three settings (one for sequential and one for shifter) : AutoClutch, GCCut, GCBlip. That's because a lot of people may wish to use auto clutch with their paddle shift and manual clutch with their shifter.

NOTE about controls : There is a new script system you can read about below. When you select a car with a road / sequential or paddle shifter, LFS will run the file data\script\road.lfs (etc). Some people may want to use the /button command in their scripts, to assign unused buttons. For example when you drive a formula car, you have a spare horn button and you might want to use that for pit speed limiter.

Changes in TEST PATCH U35 :

Sound :

Improved car engine and other sounds, added gear whine etc.
One extra car sound is now played (now 5 including your own car)
Sound now plays at low speed, if replay at 0.5 or 0.25 speed
Skid / scrape sounds are now bounded to reasonable level
Now generated at 100 Hz resolution - same as physics
Engine can now be heard from a greater distance
Improved wind volume at low and high speeds

FIX : Corrected volume of interface sounds
FIX : Small clicks audible a few times per lap
FIX : Removed crackling of sounds related to echoes
FIX : Bug in camera position height part of sound calculation
FIX : No music when watching MP Replay with music in replays ON
FIX : Looping music buffer while selecting a track - now silent
FIX : Nasty sound clicks when cars got nearer and further away

Multiplayer :

Improved multiplayer synchronisation checking (OOS)
SHIFT+S when spectating now goes directly to garage
Garage when not in race now shows spectate and join buttons
Clicking join with no car selected goes to select car screen
Can't join race / leave pits for 12 seconds after green light
One extra car in high resolution physics (car in front at start)
Discount immediate pit stops from the "must pit" rule (cheating)

FIX : Rare crash in blue flags calculation
FIX : LFS online hosts would hang if run for 50 days
FIX : Stuck in entry screen if host has run for 25 days
FIX : Rare problem causing your car to vanish on other computers
FIX : Spectate after autocross run caused "Unknown finisher" message
FIX : A player in pits could be forced to spectate at end of race
FIX : Qualifying countdown was too short if less than 4 in race
FIX : Mandatory pit stop is now not allowed to be on final lap
FIX : RCM now has priority over race finished messages

2D Display :

Misc Option : Show time instead of FPS in-game
New path draw for game setup screen and in-game
Realistic speedometer based on drive shaft speed
Hold CTRL+SHIFT to show time instead of frame rate
User messages no longer obscure the frame rate display
Not recording message is now only displayed for 8 seconds
Messages now visible but dimmed in ESCAPE and OPTIONS screens
FOV adjust keys (5/6) now show the FOV in a temporary message
Virtual start lights are now displayed on the right by default
Small map is now never shown on the left if right is selected
Message history (H) is now hidden at race restart or SHIFT+F
Option to show small map on left or right of screen
Removed text "LEFT pit lane" and "ENTERED pit lane"
Central text now visible in SHIFT+F mode (option)
Temporary messages now visible even if fps is off
Real mirrors are now invisible if set to virtual
Added UP and DOWN buttons to options screen
Messages are now hidden in the ESCAPE menu

Interface :

Easier to get to desired FOV using 5 and 6 zoom keys
Text entry box is smaller and blocks driving view less
Button control rate option now visible in wheel/js mode
Improved instant gear shift mode selection function SHIFT+G
New general purpose save and load dialogs with rename / delete
List of games screen allows sorting hosts by clicking column title
Improved replay selection screen, added delete, rename and info
Keys Y/N (yes/no) now work on the replay skins download screen
Option to switch off acceleration view shifts in custom views
Mirror mode for driver and custom views (now in view options)
Added "all" to clocks mode options (off, real, virtual, all)
New track selection screen allows track browsing before load
Graphics options changed around to be intuitive / consistent
New graphics option : Draw sky (replaces screen clear type)
Controls screen now shows the function assigned to a button
Scroll bar added if more than 7 players in list of players
Skip intro option is now very fast (avoids loading track)
Skip intro option renamed to : Load track when starting
FIX : Button opacity option affected the colour sliders
Game setup screen : ENTER key - joins race / sets ready
Game setup screen : now shows local and UTC (GMT) time
Game setup screen : Can now use /spec(tate) X command
Cleaner replay start - avoiding flashing entry screen
Start New Game / Join Specific Game : Added ENTER key
Misc Option : 12 hour or 24 hour format selectable
Car picture can now select the car (not just text)
Some improvements to graphics options and layout
Close window button (X) does a quick clean exit
New /exit command also does a quick clean exit
Added ALT+F1 to F12 as programmable text keys
Key ALT+F4 is programmed to /exit by default
Added rename function for car setups

FIX : LOD values were rounding to one decimal place
FIX : Clutch pedal was not shown in controls setup screen
FIX : Mip bias setting was wrongly affecting in-game text
FIX : Clickable buttons in connection list at start of race
FIX : Changes were lost when selecting in car / custom views
FIX : Could not view user names in replay if MP mode was Demo
FIX : Arrow keys work in wheel mode even if assigned to KB steer
FIX : Messages were unblocked by sending any command to the host
FIX : Black screen bug changing between full screen and windowed
FIX : Move speed slider didn't work in high view if following car
FIX : Channel screen brought up a background while in game

Views :

Improved position of road car internal mirrors
Internal mirror offset limit increased to 400 mm
Separate mirror offset for custom and internal views
Single seater car shadows now visible in custom views
Cameta roll function added to SHIFT+U free camera mode
Custom view mode selection now separate for main and look
Buttons in view options to set custom view to eye or centre
BF1 / FO8 show virtual clocks if wheel draw is switched off
Maximum value reached marker added to virtual pedals
TV camera, CTRL + arrow keys change zoom and roll
Draw driver / wheel option added to custom views
Custom views are now stored in data\views folder
Custom view settings now separate for all cars

FIX : Excessive acceleration view shift in fast cars
FIX : Formula dash live settings now work in custom view
FIX : Mirror option ALL did not show a mirror in wheels view

Controllers :

Axis, button and key assignments stored in .con files
Sequential shift automatically used for single seaters
Separate shift help settings for sequential and shifter
All steering wheels default to separate throttle / brake
Non-wheel game controllers default to combined thr / brk
Controls setup screen now shows the currently pressed buttons
Wheel turn minimum reduced to 90 degrees (for sticks / pads)
CTRL+F1 to F12 text keys are all now assignable to buttons
Car's steering wheel turns now shown in steering settings

Windows Vista Support :

FIX : Sound now works correctly in Windows Vista
FIX : Unlocking is now possible in Windows Vista

Misc :

Added file docs\Commands.txt - listing ALL commands
Updated... docs\Autocross.txt - for new functions

Option : minimum time between gearshifts (debounce)
S1 users can now use the automatic skin download system
Automatic update system gives info, downloads, installs patch
FF Steps now defaults to 256 (this gives higher resolution FF)
Layouts do not set the number of laps unless a start pos exists
S2 users can see and join S1 hosts in List of Games screen
When first run, LFS defaults to desktop screen resolution
Restricted areas and route checkers added to autocross
Welcome / Tracks filename length increased to 31 chars
New car data output files (press letter O in garage)
Gearshift debounced (can't shift twice within 50 ms)

InSim : MCI packets are now available in arenas
InSim : IS_RES qualify packets sent even if not in table

FIX : Outguage reported remote cars fuel load
FIX : Driver's body optimisation was too sensitive
FIX : Selecting drag strip often resulted in 3 lap race
FIX : OutGauge now works on remote cars / MPR / external
FIX : Reverse driving in hotlapping mode now invalidates HLVC
FIX : Starting LFS with /join command needlessly loaded last track
FIX : Corrected positions of translator names on credits screen
FIX : A few wrong vertices on driver necks and marshall helmet
FIX : Mirrors and clocks sometimes corrupted after minimising
FIX : Small map sometimes went off screen or overlapped text
FIX : Unlock was lost after hibernation on some computers
FIX : CTRL+F keys did not work during replays

New file associations system :

SPR / MPR / SET / LYT files can now be opened directly
In Windows, right click and set them to open with LFS

Double clicking a SET or LYT file copies it to its folder
Double clicking a SPR or MPR file copies and runs the replay

New LFS script system :

- Place text file of commands xxx.lfs in script folder
- Then script xxx.lfs can be run by typing /run xxx
- Note : CAR.lfs is run when you select CAR e.g. XFG, BF1
- Note : autoexec.lfs is run when LFS reaches entry screen

New text commands added (see Commands.txt in docs folder) :

/fov [degrees] - field of view
/ff [0-200] - force feedback strength
/axis [axis] [function] - e.g. /axis 2 throttle
/invert [0/1] [function] - e.g. /invert 1 brake
/button [button] [function] - e.g. /button 5 shift_up
/key [key] [function] - e.g. /key Q handbrake
/head_tilt [degrees] - 1g head tilt
/lateral_shift [m] - 1g lateral shift
/forward_shift [m] - 1g forward shift
/vertical_shift [m] - 1g vertical shift
/say [message] - same as typing a chat message
/echo [text] - show text only on local screen
/spec [name] - same as spectate [name]
/ctrlf [num] [text] - change text e.g. /ctrlf 1 hello
/altf [num] [text] - change text e.g. /altf 1 /view=driver
/wheel_turn [degrees] - specify turn angle of controller
/press [key] - simulate key press
/ctrl [key] - ctrl + key
/shift [key] - shift + key
/alt [key] - alt + key
/autoclutch [0-1] - turn autoclutch off / on
/gccut [0-1] - throttle cut on upshift
/gcblip [0-1] - throttle blip on downshift
/axlaps [num] - set autocross number of laps
/view [fol/heli/cam/driver/custom] - select view

IN A SCRIPT : //comment - this line is ignored
IN CHAT BOX : //xxx - short for /run xxx

/hrun X : admin can run script X on host
/exec E C : run program E with command line C

/shifter [auto/sequential/shifter] - shift mode (like SHIFT+G)
/hidetext [no/yes] - hide text (like SHIFT+F)

INSTALLATION :

Warning : If you have edited any scripts, don't overwrite them! Back up your script folder before install!

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"
3) Now you can start LFS in the normal way

DOWNLOAD :

TEST PATCH U35 :
www.liveforspeed.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_TEST_U_TO_U35.exe

DEDICATED HOST U35 (for hosting only) :
www.liveforspeed.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_S2_DEDI_U35.zip

Quote from spsamsp :

1st post lol

your post will be deleted, hope.

Scawen, I don't know if you had time to see, or to consider my sugestion about loudness increase as engine rotation and/or car velocity grows.

If so, what are your considerations about this and if you have any counterpoint to this idea, or if it has been implemented yet, could you express your opinion, please?

It is important for us to know if we are helping or not, and if the ideas and the discussion is under a objective line.

I've removed the spam posts and the posts about unlocking.

If you had a version older than U30, then you may need to unlock when you install U35.

But if you have run out unlocks, then don't ask here - this is not the place to ask technical support requests.

Quote from Speed Soro :

your post will be deleted, hope.

Scawen, I don't know if you had time to see, or to consider my sugestion about loudness increase as engine rotation and/or car velocity grows.

If so, what are your considerations about this and if you have any counterpoint to this idea, or if it has been implemented yet, could you express your opinion, please?

I did see it. Actually the volume does increase as velocity grows. I don't think I'll be changing this aspect as I think it is reasonably balanced already. If you have a particular car that is too loud when idling or too quiet when on the throttle, I will look at it.

Quote from Speed Soro :

It is important for us to know if we are helping or not, and if the ideas and the discussion is under a objective line.

You are helping. Only, I cannot reply to every post, or I would spend all day replying and never programming. I do read every post though and consider everything that people say and every bug they report and every suggestion they make as long as it is related to the test patch.

But please everyone, no suggestions, just report serious issues. Patch and Full Version V final build is schedules for tomorrow, so I'm really not implementing new features now.

Thanks!

Thanks Scawen



and it is serious, and I had said before, I got a worm when I dl patch u34 from England server. I was using Kapersky and it alerted the intruder after LFS dl the patch.

It is good to verify if proceeds or not.

I was about to post the following problem about sound distortion, but found out after testing and tweaking that lowering the master volume and wave volume in Windows Play Control fixes the distortion.

Which leads me to the actual problem/bug in LFS, the total volume is too loud? (For my soundcard/usual volume settings anyway)
It's supported by the users of Team Speak saying they can't hear others speaking.

Quote from Problem not posted by me :

I have a problem with BF1, on the default (I think) car volume of 8.0 I get get alot of distortion above 15k rpm and it gets worse as speed increases, but it's very noticeable even under 100kph on 1st gear. I have to lower the car volume to lowest setting of 2.0 to get rid of the distortion. But even then I still get it if drive very close to a wall. When doing that distortion goes so bad that the earpiece on the wall side goes nearly silent. Distortion goes away instantly when I let go off the gas.

Same thing happens on eg Soutch City tracks when there's alot of cars nearby such as as at race start. When I lower the car volume to 2.0, distortion is barely noticeable.

LFS U35
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
384 DDR
Creative SB Live! 1024 connected to some Grundig stereo connected to Koss Sparkplugs. Driver e:\windows\system32\drivers\emu10k1m.sys (5.12.01.3300 built by: WinDDK, 277,25 KB (283*904 bytes), 7.10.2005 0:06)
XP SP2

No other sound related problems.

This may be a problem with my sound setup and has not to be related to LFS!

I'm having real problems with interferences here, meaning that the sound gets really loud at some revs.
For example LX4:
1000-8100 rpm: normal sound
8100-8200 rpm: really loud
> 8200 rpm: normal sound again

Really loud means
a) Teamspeak with voice activation triggers
b) I get headaches while racing

I think, I read something about a "stereo effect" before cleaning up here and can imagine that this is related.

Does anyone else feel the same problems?
I did a quick test with lowering the center volume, lowering subwoofer volume and turning / moving the speakers a bit around, but nothing really helped. All I achieved was moving the inteference range a little(!) bit around, e.g. 8000-8100 rpm instead of 8100-8200 rpm.

Greetz
Red Runner

Quote from Speed Soro :

I got a worm when I dl patch u34 from England server. I was using Kapersky and it alerted the intruder after LFS dl the patch.

Speed Soro, this may be a false alert. The auto-update means that there is a program on your PC (lfs.exe) that downloads another program (patch.exe) to your harddisk and then runs it (= installs the patch). That looks a lot like a worm.

You'd better check with Kaspersky if it can give a false alert on this kind of program. Otherwise, try to find the details about Kasperky's alert, and post them here or send them to the devs.

The sounds are getting there. Only 1 compalint. Would it be possible to make the GTRs sound more feorcious? At the moment they sound like a little tiny bit beefed up road cars with gear whine. GTRs probably don't have much sound isolation left so you can hear that monster of the engine in front (or at the back) of you.

- The BF1 still has sound clipping at high speeds. Try Aston GP reversed and you will hear it in 7th gear at the backstraight. It's even worse at South City (e.g. classic), there the clipping already starts in 5th gear.
- Did you change the BF1's shifting sound? I like the one from U34 more.
- With window while connecting activated, LFS still switches back to full screen when restarting after an auto update. This can cause problems with firewalls or virus scanners taking the focus away from LFS (this has already been reported in the old thread).

Quote from sinbad :

doesn't respond to throttle input in a dynamic enough way? It seems to just be a speed dependant whistle, but actual gearbox whine changes greatly when you lift the throttle, it doesn't just change pitch.

Well, it's pretty dynamic now - more so than anything else I've played. Hop a wheel and it bounces with the wheel rotation, since it's actually tied to the physics. Maybe it should be different on decel than accel, but since it's the same gears - just torque being applied in the other direction, I don't understand why

Quote from Marius[PX] :

the engine sound sucks , it is so unrealistick , it sounds even not like car engine sound ........

:rolleyes: If you can seriously take the RAC out for a spin and NOT conclude that it sounds amazingly like a real car; then I would strongly suggest that you invest in a crate of Qtips and begin work immediately.

Quote from prophet.est :

and also FZ50 sound is a bit "muted".. other than that great job

IN truth, real Porches (at least post 80s) sound quite like the FZ50's cockpit sound. Although the one I rode in had a bit more snarl around 4500+ RPM, it still basically sounds like that TBH. They're quieter than you would think inside, quite classy cars.

Quote from seinfeld :

its a turbo so bigger the better, but your trade off is poor drivability and loss of low end torque but massive gain up high

Actually, the reason a larger exhaust is desirable on a turbocharged vehicle is because it will increase the pressure differential between the inlet (engine) side of the turbocharger's turbine housing and the outlet side. This increases potential for the expansion of hot gasses, which in turn dumps more energy into the turbine, thus the turbocharger "spools" faster and boost comes on much quicker. This of course creates much MORE low end torque. The higher end of the powerband is not affect a whole lot, since the most significant exhaust gas bottleneck was the turbocharger's turbine even before the new exhaust was fitted. Turbocharged vehicle exhaust systems are a whole different beast, although in some ways simpler than NA vehicles.

Quote from axus :

'd love it now if we had a little more going on on throttle lift.

You mean like backfires? Alas I'm sure this will be in an incomp patch since Scawen will want to use math / fuel / air / manifold volume / temperature blah blah.. You know - the right way!

I really love all the work the dev-team puts into this great game.
Please allow me to ask for a small favour. I thought that in some of the test-patches cars that are 1 or more laps behind you, had a different color on the map. I was just playing U35 and had some great races which were disturbed by letting cars pass me, with 1 or more laps behind. I thought I was racing them, since they colored orange (which I love as a dutchman anyway ). Maybe this can be changed in the final V-version. I hope so, makes racing so much easier if you know who you are really racing.

I forgot something. Is it possible to completely shutdown chat- and systemmessages?
It's ignoring to see that people joined/leaved/pitting ect.
I have my map on the leftside of the screen and those messages (even when blocking messages) keep scrolling over the map.

Again - listen to a real turbocharged car (with no intake helmholtz resonanting nonsense BS) and tell me you think the same. A real turbocharged car would likely annoy the crap out of you as well... impellers spinning at 130,000+ RPM make quite a high-pitched sound!

nice improvements but imho the xrt still is too muffeled
feels like im driving some other car


if i may ill repost this question to see if im ill or if it is an issue for others as well:

Quote from Scawen :

FIX : Excessive acceleration view shift in fast cars

im not entirely sure but i think it might cause some issues for me
with that fix the cockpit vibrates a lot more which causes motion sickness especially noticeable on the rac with that bar directly in your view
anybody else whos got that problem ?

Quote from Red Runner :

This may be a problem with my sound setup and has not to be related to LFS!

I'm having real problems with interferences here, meaning that the sound gets really loud at some revs.
For example LX4:
1000-8100 rpm: normal sound
8100-8200 rpm: really loud
> 8200 rpm: normal sound again

Really loud means
a) Teamspeak with voice activation triggers
b) I get headaches while racing

I think, I read something about a "stereo effect" before cleaning up here and can imagine that this is related.

Does anyone else feel the same problems?
I did a quick test with lowering the center volume, lowering subwoofer volume and turning / moving the speakers a bit around, but nothing really helped. All I achieved was moving the inteference range a little(!) bit around, e.g. 8000-8100 rpm instead of 8100-8200 rpm.

Greetz
Red Runner

does the sound get a lot quieter if you move your head a bit ?

"Other cars sound volume increased by 10%"

Is it possible to increase this volume by 50+% or add slider to audio options? And make other cars sounds audible from larger distance? IRL GTRs are very noisy and audible from hundreds of metres.
I raced FOX against group of GTRs and other cars are all the time silent and audible only from very small distance.

This will add atmosphere to the game (race).

I'm now waiting for the "partridge in a pear tree" Scawen, cause your making me belive that Christmas realy does have 12 days.

I've been testing on low end but decent headphones and my high end stereo, and the experience its very positive. , it's almost hard to test now because I keep finding my self just slipping away into the game, rather than staying objective

I noticed the GTRs still have the same repetetive gearwhine, at constant high speed, its like a sample that repeats itself every second, its very annoying.
I could live with the sound in general, altough ofcourse, its still too clean and still has too little high frequenties, but for the GTRs i'ld always have to go back to preU32, its really that awefull.

Dont know if this was intended, but I think it's a bug.

I found a table with downloaded skins in the "Misc" menu, while I was scrolling through it for the translations. I had accidentally joined a server about 10 minutes before that and quit immediately, so i don't think the downloads were finished yet. (screenshot attached)
Edit: when I closed and restarted LFS the list was gone

Great job on the U35 sounds by the way, a lot better than the U32 ones! BMW F1 still is nothing like an F1 car though. UF GTR sound is the best so far!

And the gear whine is too much like a starting jet engine, should be more like an almost annoying sound to make it more real in my opinion

Quote from Red Runner :

This may be a problem with my sound setup and has not to be related to LFS!

I'm having real problems with interferences here, meaning that the sound gets really loud at some revs.
For example LX4:
1000-8100 rpm: normal sound
8100-8200 rpm: really loud
> 8200 rpm: normal sound again

Really loud means
a) Teamspeak with voice activation triggers
b) I get headaches while racing

I think, I read something about a "stereo effect" before cleaning up here and can imagine that this is related.

Does anyone else feel the same problems?
I did a quick test with lowering the center volume, lowering subwoofer volume and turning / moving the speakers a bit around, but nothing really helped. All I achieved was moving the inteference range a little(!) bit around, e.g. 8000-8100 rpm instead of 8100-8200 rpm.

Greetz
Red Runner

that is probably from reverberation. I get the same effect too. I think it hits a certain note where the volume increases alot. You can also get this in a car too. Driving my mates integra with a modified exhaust, this occurs at around 3000rpm. Additionally, about the patch, everything sounds much better. Much more meatier. However the FZR i believe still sounds a bit too weak for a GTR car. In U30 it sounded very sharp, almost machine gun like. I mean you can hear each cylinder firing with tremendous force. Finally, good to now hear tyre squeal at a higher volume than before =]. Much better feedback from the car now. I haven't had time to test everything but these are what i noticed.

Much better than the previous verisons was , but still cant race with it
The sounds dont feel bad when I try them in AU, or fust for fun, hit the racetrack.

During the race I cant hear the tires, the skid sound is at max, engine is about 25%.
And still all sounds are dull

bf1 sounds horrible

Another report of BF1 sound clipping like mad. Lowering the car engine volume helps for in-car view but not for TV-cam view (when several cars are passing by), even if I lowered engine volume and reduced WAV and the master volume from Windows by 50%.

I haven't tried other cars.

Quote from Falcon140 :

bf1 sounds horrible

thats what i call constructive critic...

I've got a (slight) bug: If you fast forward through your replay, finish and then go back to normal speed again, the finishing applause is played even if your finish was several minutes ago and you changed your car in the meantime...

Quote from SlamDunk :

Another report of BF1 sound clipping like mad. Lowering the car engine volume helps for in-car view but not for TV-cam view (when several cars are passing by), even if I lowered engine volume and reduced WAV and the master volume from Windows by 50%.

I haven't tried other cars.

I'm having the same problem with BF1. It's happening all the time in TV-cam view and often enough in in-car view. Master volume and WAV are set to 50% and in-game controls to standard (except for tires which are set to 1.0). Apart from that the BF1-sound is pretty much spot on now, imho.