If I understood it correctly they are still transfered as jpg (you did upload the jpg, didn't you...) and then formatted as DDS to reduce the ingame lag while putting the jpg onto the model which is probably faster if you put the dds on the model.

OK, here's the explanation why we save as dds. jpg file take a very long time to load and decompress. Really, really long, like 1 or 2 seconds, you can see how long when lfs says "saving skin" after a download.

On the other hand dds files are near instant to load - no decompression or conversion is required, they are used by the card in the same format as they are saved on disk - and they use much less memory on the video card than an uncompressed jpg. The video card cannot use jpg files directly, they must be expanded to raw / uncompressed, or DXT1 / dds - there are no other possible choices for a texture in memory on a video card. The purpose of DXT1 / dds is that it is a compressed format that can be used at high speed by graphics cards. The file size is larger than jpg, that's true. It's not optimised for file size, but speed of use in memory.

We still download as jpg - partly because that's how they are stored on the server, and also to keep bandwidth to a minimum - that is important because bandwidth costs money and servers. They are saved as dds files on your hard drive for two reasons.

1) It's the best option for quick loading and allowing a lot of racers online without overloading graphics card memory. loading is sometime like 0.1 second rather than 2.0 seconds, that is the sort of difference we are talking about.

2) Some users don't want their original skins available in just as high format as they are stored on LFS World - this is to prevent skin theft. although some of you may find that unimportant, that's not the opinion of those people.

I hope that helps explain what it's about. I will not get into a discussion about what files we should use for this or that, or whether we should use 2048 skins or save as original jpgs, or what person A, B and C would like and how it should be done differently. It's done the way it is for various reasons and that's how it will stay. It's simple : if you want to see acceptable nice resolution skins online, please pay and use them - it works and it works well! But if you don't like it, don't use it. Then everyone's happy.

Great, thanks for taking the time to explain Scawen. It seems to be working well here.

There is a problem with the lap counting/timing in qualy mode. LFS doesn't show the first timed lap after the pit-out correctly on the screen. It still shows "lap 1" although you are already in lap 2. Because of that, there are no split times shown, no blue flags for the frontrunners and the color on the minimap is wrong as well. After the completion of the 2nd lap, the lap display jumps from 1 to 3 and everything is normal.

Edit: This seems to happen only in multiplayer if you watch another car. Connect to the 24h qualy server to see the bug live.

I tried to watch darkones as club hotlap and i got this when he entered pits... What does this mean?

Quote from Hawku :

I tried to watch darkones as club hotlap and i got this when he entered pits... What does this mean?

I got exactly the same thing with another HL SPR at FE Club of Worm's - No.3 in WR list (LFSW Hotlaps) with a 52.701, he pits at lap 20.

is the new skin-system a step towards customized server appearence. so servers can have their own advertising packs and textures?

Quote from GP4Flo :

There is a problem with the lap counting/timing in qualy mode. LFS doesn't show the first timed lap after the pit-out correctly on the screen. It still shows "lap 1" although you are already in lap 2. Because of that, there are no split times shown,

Thats just if the qualifying finished, thats no bug i guess, if qualifying running is all fine.
Edit: Im wrong in here, it was only in my own car right, but now i see the same glitch.

Quote from GP4Flo :

the color on the minimap is wrong as well. After the completion of the 2nd lap, the lap display jumps from 1 to 3 and everything is normal.

Yes, i agree the orange cars are all wrong colored and i dint know how to change this color because its not a different setup ability for qualify. Cars in front colored orange, thats the same color like cars behind, thats not good. Coloring should be the same like in races.

No, the qualy was still running. Try to watch other cars.

LFS W20 crashed when leaving server while spectating. ESC -> Leave.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: LFS.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 46436bf1
Fault Module Name: d3d8.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.0.6000.16386
Fault Module Timestamp: 4549bcbf
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00045bd7
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1035
Additional Information 1: fb23
Additional Information 2: 7adaeebaa15f503f14b7db365138009a
Additional Information 3: 227f
Additional Information 4: 98c07c04375a2ef886ef62500ed8357e

Quote from GP4Flo :

No, the qualy was still running. Try to watch other cars.

Maybe just your connection fails, the lap counting works in every car and in my car absolutely error free. i can proof it with a screenshot if you want. And i don´t see you online at time

Quote from Fischfix :

is the new skin-system a step towards customized server appearence. so servers can have their own advertising packs and textures?

how would it be? its just a way of upping the skin quality...

Quote from matze54564 :

Maybe just your connection fails, the lap counting works in every car and in my car absolutely error free. i can proof it with a screenshot if you want. And i don´t see you online at time
A screenshot to proof

Where's the proof? I wrote, that it's only wrong in the first timed lap (the lap after the pit-out lap) and that it's fine from lap 3 onwards.

Quote from GP4Flo :

Where's the proof? I wrote, that it's only wrong in the first timed lap (the lap after the pit-out lap) and that it's fine from lap 3 onwards.

Now i have see the glitch, the jump from 1 to 3 is only seen while spectating, not when you drive self.
Frontrunners are maybe the people in lap 1, thats also true, they get no blue flag.

Sorry that i confused someone, but at first time i have seen nothing wrong with it. And i got in the first lap right split at first time.

Please have a look at the two pictures.

The w21.png contain "time" in the "german version"?! I think, this should be "Gesamt" or something like that?

In version w17 is the translation correct (picture w17.png)

Quote from matze54564 :

But i never have never see the glitch all the time. The time of the first lap will not be saved in the results-list, thats no bug, just the time of lap 2 is the first hotlap-time.

It is a bug. it shouldn't jump from 1 to 3.

Yes, it's a bug. No split times in lap number 2 (number 1 is outlap) and the "number" 2 isn't displayed at all when watching a driver.

Quote from kompa :

LFS W20 crashed when leaving server while spectating. ESC -> Leave.

it happened to me either with W21

Quote from Pasci :

Please have a look at the two pictures.

The w21.png contain "time" in the "german version"?! I think, this should be "Gesamt" or something like that?

In version w17 is the translation correct (picture w17.png)

No bug, the string just wasn't translated yet. I've attached the new language file, I guess Scawen will include it in W22.

Quote from Scawen :

Escape menu improvements : can use keys (listed on screen)

This doesn't look very pretty to me. The keys for the functions are too big and they also make the menu look crammed. Atleast with the finnish translation the texts seem very tightly crammed. It's good thing to list the shortcut keys, but they are too dominant the way they are now.

Quote from geeman1 :

This doesn't look very pretty to me. The keys for the functions are too big and they also make the menu look crammed. Atleast with the finnish translation the texts seem very tightly crammed. It's good thing to list the shortcut keys, but they are too dominant the way they are now.

Yes, really seems ugly. The old form was better.

Quote from geeman1 :

This doesn't look very pretty to me. The keys for the functions are too big and they also make the menu look crammed. Atleast with the finnish translation the texts seem very tightly crammed. It's good thing to list the shortcut keys, but they are too dominant the way they are now.

for me the real issue here (which i just noticed) is that shift-s is spectate now

Quote from Shotglass :

for me the real issue here (which i just noticed) is that shift-s is spectate now

Makes more sense now. S = spectate and P = pits. I have no idea where the S for pits came before.

Quote from geeman1 :

Makes more sense now. S = spectate and P = pits. I have no idea where the S for pits came before.

I guess the S came from "S"etup

Quote from Scawen :

OK, here's the explanation why we save as dds.

Thanks for the detailed explanation Scawen; interesting to know for those just browsing by as well as those debating the pros and cons of file types and sizes, etc.

Although I haven't yet tried out the W-series of test patches, I'm curious as to how the dds conversion affects the quality of the skins. I saw a couple of comparisons posted in this or other threads that suggested the dds introduces more artifacts and colour bleeding compared to the equivalent size jpeg? Is this definitely the case (or was it some incorrectly set option in LFS itself?), and does it detract at all from the extra quality of the 1024 skins now available from LFSW? If there is degradation, is that a limitation of DXT1 that can be resolved by using different DXT standards or conversions in future patches, or is it simply a limitation full stop?

Just interested, that's all. I'll definitely be enjoying the new hi-res skin download feature, it's something I've wanted to see for a long time. (Apologies if this is in the wrong thread, it seemed most appropriate to reply to the relevant post.)