WARNING 1 : THIS IS A TEST

WARNING 2 : SKINS ARE CONVERTED THE FIRST TIME YOU RUN THIS TEST PATCH - TAKING 2 MINUTES OR SO

Hello racers.

Here is a new test patch W20 with various updates and fixes. It is compatible with W17, the version which first allowed 32 players in a race, but it's best to join W20 hosts if possible because they send a list of skins to preload before entering, so the final connection to the host is quicker.

There are quite a lot of improvements related to skins here including the option to download high resolution skins while online, for a small charge of £1 for 2000 downloads. The low resolution downloads are still free. We have to charge for the downloading of high resolution skins because of the increased bandwidth and the need to buy and maintain more internet servers for LFS online usage which is always increasing. Please note, we are not selling skins. The skins remain the property of their owners. Your copy is a high resolution compressed version of the original. This is a charge purely for the downloading service which allows you to see other cars' skins in higher resolution.

Downloaded skins are now always saved and shown in compressed form. The original jpg is not saved on other computers. This allows the best use of memory and the quickest load from disk.

To save your own jpg skins, you just do as you always did, save it into your skins folder - you will then find it is selectable in game, compressed or not compressed according to the option for local skins. When you save it in your skins folder and enter LFS, it creates a copy in the skins_dds folder. There are now 4 skins folders but you can ignore them all, just forget about them and just use the skins folder as usual.

skins : you save jpg skins that you want to select in game
skins_dds : lfs uses this to store dds (compressed) versions of your local skins
skins_x : lfs stores automatically downloaded low res skins
skins_y : lfs stores automatically downloaded high res skins

NOTE : SKINS ARE CONVERTED ON THE FIRST RUN OF THIS TEST PATCH - THAT MAY TAKE 2 MINUTES OR SO

If you want to use this service, you can make a payment at www.lfsworld.net or at the main site https://www.liveforspeed.net/?page=shop

To deal with the increased memory usage, there is also a skin purging system which removes unneeded skins from your graphics card memory, some time after they were last used. You can see the list of skins in use in the Misc Options screen. White means the skin is actually in use. Black means it was recently used and is hanging around a while in case it is used again (to avoid a disc access). In the past, LFS just left all skins in memory until you changed track or weather.

Please read below for the full list of updates in W20. I will write a post in the programmers section of the forum giving details of the small InSim changes.

Changes in TEST PATCH W20 :

IMPROVEMENTS :

Qualifying out lap is no longer counted as a valid lap
Qualifying position is shown in yellow like race position
Qualifying cars on out lap are drawn orange (others yellow)
Race control message now has priority over wrong way message
Replay skins download screen new "always" and "never" options
High res premium skin download system (£1 for 2000 downloads)
Skin download and preload during connection after loading track
System to remove skins from graphics card memory when not used
Automatic show results - leaves small map visible when driving
Place objects is switched off when entering race or qualifying
Filter added to list of games to avoid hosts which allow reset
Wider FOV and more view pitch available (for extreme settings)
Yellow finished message is no longer duplicated in central text
Avoided most of the "Can't x - a player is connecting" messages
Escape menu improvements : can use keys (listed on screen)
New keys SHIFT+S (spectate) and SHIFT+P (go to pits)
Automatic spectate if your car drives out of bounds
Some small InSim updates + multiple UDP connections

FIXES :

Start lights or results were drawn too high if no cars in race
The pit_all command did not stop recording SPR (OOS on replay)
Joining a host in qualifying, could see flying cars (no track)
Start restriction countdown was missing from OK button in pits
Autocross checkpoints in line could cause rapid lap count bug
Path followers were reset when an object was added or removed
Path follower reset caused a glitch or an out of bounds reset
Increased maximum physics objects due to more cars on track
Some objects were not drawn after exiting pits while paused
Start lights were not shown in some of the training lessons
At start of qualifying pit speed limiter was not activated
LFS World took drag strip false start as an acceptable pb
Possibly fixed the occasional exiting List of Games crash

Changes in TEST PATCH W17 :

IMPROVEMENTS :

Max cars in multiplayer race increased to 32
InSim updated, allowing up to eight TCP connections
Small map colours : Options... Display... Interface
Removed the sound of a player pitting or spectating
Last loaded layout name visible after track changed
Start lights interval now between 1 and 4 seconds
Removed digital speedo option from view options
Qualifying session now starts from the pits
Added button to spectate from garage

FIXES :

Wrong screen message "x was banned" after an OOS disconnection
AI did not use correct car colours when added in game with /ai
Could start in reverse if changing down at end of last race
Show driver in garage allowed more penalty weight to be added

Changes in TEST PATCH W10 :

IMPROVEMENTS :

Immediate join at start of qualifying now starts from pit box
Connection bars are not drawn if they would obscure tyre info
Single player now allows up to 20 ai cars (powerful pc needed)
Small map cars more than one lap ahead are a different colour
Autocross : 28 results now stored - scroll with PgUp / PgDn
Added handicap mass and restriction to hotlap file header
Demo races limited to 12 cars (15 guests still allowed)
Better messages showing the reason for disconnection
Maximum added mass limited to around 20% of car mass
Admin can see kick and ban buttons even if /vote=no

FIXES :

Incorrect false start penalties while stationary at start
Displayed mass in garage flickered while moving handicap slider
False start penalty was given for an early start in qualifying
Corrected width of split time difference (in live position list)
Wrong "A race is starting" if track changed but no race started
Joining a waiting start grid sometimes produced a false start
Could quickly pit and return to grid to remove a false start
Skins used in race were not stored correctly in MP replays
Admins could not kick or ban using the list of connections
Could be given a pit penalty on a track with no pit lane
MRT would fly about if voluntary added mass was too high

Changes in TEST PATCH W9 :

Car is no longer held at start line - false starts possible
Start lights time between red and green is changed each race
Implemented the canreset option while leaving hotlaps valid
Added preload setting to clutch pack differentials
Increased number of cars in race from 20 to 28
Increased number of connections from 24 to 48
Single player and demo races now up to 16 cars
Start and pit fuel loads range from 1% to 100%
New voluntary handicap system in pits (part of setup)
Remote car's handicap shown in F11 menu, tyres in F12 menu
Global handicaps for class balancing (set by master server)
Removed the need to pass a split after receiving admin penalty
Start grid remains when track or config changes (if possible)
More commands now work on AI drivers : /spec /pitlane /p_xxx
More commands work even if player joining e.g. /spec /laps
Grid reordering is now done on end race as well as restart
New /i command to send a message to a race control program
Added short track name to SPR, MPR and RAF file formats
More race tracking info added to InSim (see InSim.txt)
Admins can now see other admins in list of connections
Admins can now edit and /axsave layouts while online
Admin ban dialog now asks for a number of days to ban
Added text on screen showing the reason for a penalty
Race penalty can now be removed with /p_clear command
Send all players to their pits with /pit_all command
Autocross results table only shows best 12 results
Timeout for dead connection reduced to 12 seconds
Kick and ban votes are held open a little longer
Removed the option not to use HVS if available
SHIFT + S enters garage from game setup screen
SHIFT + O enters options from SP replay
Display option : Virtual steering gauge
Display option : Rotate small map

FIX : F12 now shows "Pit stop required : OK" correctly
FIX : Find user in S2 mode looking for racer on S1 host
FIX : Message "NETWORK FATAL : NOTSOCK" when joining a host
FIX : Autocross layout number of laps sometimes did not load

DOWNLOAD :

[ EDIT : Download links removed - W21 is released : http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=24197 ]

Ok, so i just dump all the skins on the forum in Skins_Y then? or can i leave my hi-res skins in Skins_X and have them work?

No, don't save anything anywhere apart from "skins". The other folders are for LFS's use only. It will ignore any jpg files found in the skins_x, skins_y and skins_dds folders.

The skins folder is for skins you want to load yourself or if you definitely need to see them uncompressed - not recommended except for extreme close up screen shots.

is it normal that it is hanging on the first start ?

Thank you for finaly supporting high res skin downloads! I just wish you hadn't disabled my own cheaky little high res skin downloader in the process ...

Quote from gruber :

is it normal that it is hanging on the first start ?

Yes. I hope there was a visible message down at the bottom left which said it was converting skins, and gave you a time estimate of 1 or 2 minutes.

Is there any chance of supporting paypal for LFSW at all, pretty please with sugar on top?

Quote from Becky Rose :

Is there any chance of supporting paypal for LFSW at all, pretty please with sugar on top?

Couldn't you buy a voucher and punch that in?

Quote from gruber :

is it normal that it is hanging on the first start ?

Quote from Scawen :

WARNING 2 : SKINS ARE CONVERTED THE FIRST TIME YOU RUN THIS TEST PATCH - TAKING 2 MINUTES OR SO

Is it normal, that people don't read the warning messages?


Edit: Sorry gruber, didn't know that the message wasn't there yet when you wrote your reply.

so we can pay £1 to upload 2000 2048x2048 skins, sounds great!

love the other improvements Scawen u put a lot of effort into this and its great!

one quistion, when u go past Z patch, if you do, what would it be called next? A again? i dont know if there was an A i only arrived and played lfs when v came out

Hehe Flo.

Actually I added that message after gruber wrote his post

You can add credit to your LFS account via the regular LFS shop page now : https://www.liveforspeed.net/?page=shop

This includes credit card, paypal, and every other payment option. Also a voucher can be used to add credit to your account.

Quote from dizzlez :

so we can pay £1 to upload 2000 2048x2048 skins, sounds great!

No, you pay £1 to download 2000 1024x1024 skins for other peoples' cars.

Quote from Scawen :

Yes. I hope there was a visible message down at the bottom left which said it was converting skins, and gave you a time estimate of 1 or 2 minutes.

There was a message for me. Although it took quite some time for me and LFS seemed to hang. I decided to alt-tab out of it, and it instantly went to the main menu screen. (Like it was already finished converting the skins, but didn't progress to the main menu by itself) Could have been a coincidence though
Some great improvements yet again, a lot of people will be happy with the high-res skin option I think

Quote from Scawen :

Skin download and preload during connection after loading track

wont that cause longer "cant something or other a player is connecting" phases despite this:

Quote :

Avoided most of the "Can't x - a player is connecting" messages

In the "real" patch I will probably put the actual 1024 res dds files for the default skins. They will be supplied with the real download instead of jpgs. That means it's only you test patch users who need to endure the 1-2 minute wait. That's to save download size for the test patch.

Quote from Shotglass :

wont that cause longer "cant something or other a player is connecting" phases despite this:

No. because you perform the heavy duty work of skin loading before the final connection stage, the final connection stage - where "a player is connecting" - is shorter.

Quote :

You can add credit to your LFS account via the regular LFS shop page now

Thank you hun, 6 weeks of my megre wages have been uploaded to your 'just launched a new paid for service' beer fund . This is a great update .

Couldn't help but notice the 512x512 helmet skin download option...how is this dealt with in respect to the high-res skin download charging?

Quote from JohnUK89 :

Couldn't help but notice the 512x512 helmet skin download option...how is this dealt with in respect to the high-res skin download charging?

512 helmet skins are also regarded as high res skin downloads and as such are treated similarly as 1024 car skins.

A small clarification from you Scawen, where should I put skins from other people I manually download (i.e. skins downloaded from the forum)?

I have just connected to a W20 host and it looked like LFS only preloaded a single skin - the rest followed in-game after connecting to the server. Can someone confirm this?

Edit: Happens on other hosts as well, seems to be reproducable.

Quote from GP4Flo :

I have just connected to a W20 host and it looked like LFS only preloaded a single skin - the rest followed in-game after connecting to the server. Can someone confirm this?

Edit: Happens on other hosts as well, seems to be reproducable.

Yep, same here.

Also LFS stutters slightly everytime the "Saving skin....... " (or something similar) message comes up... wasnt racing now, but I can imagine that could be very annoying while racing!

My cpu is a P4 3.2 Ghz, trying to find out my harddisk type atm (think that's relevant at least?)
Edit: 160GB 7200rpm Maxtor 6V160E0 8MB SAII

Quote from GP4Flo :

I have just connected to a W20 host and it looked like LFS only preloaded a single skin - the rest followed in-game after connecting to the server. Can someone confirm this?

Edit: Happens on other hosts as well, seems to be reproducable.

yes same here. one skin. the other skins will be downloaded ingame.

First off, LFS looks fantastic!

There is one glitch however, a skin that was loaded before making the change in the options screen stays white afterwards, even if you quit the game and relaunch. I've not rebooted yet to see if that clears it - but for some reason if the skin was loaded and I guess is in graphics ram somewhere at 512 resolution - then LFS gets all confused when switching the option on and applies the default skin.