Sadly, the bulk of the racers are from Europe. This means that server activity is based on their time zones, not the US's. Also, it doesn't help that LFS isn't on store shelves in the US (Yes, I know it's not complete), cause it seems that the average US gamer wont know about a game unless it's advertised to death on TV and online before it's released.
So, what you're left with is a bunch of euro racers and a handfull of Americans. Just have to plan accordingly is all
Test patches have been coming quite thick and fast lately and lots of people don't bother testing every single one of them, especially at this late stage. Wait till Patch X is released - everyone will have that in a matter of minutes (bandwidth permitting ).
Agreed....the whole LFS community is split between testing the latest test patch, the last test patch compatible with W17, or all the way back on Official Patch W. When X comes out, everyone will have to upgrade to X and then everyone will be on the same version again.
There are quite a few US servers out there, just give it a couple of days, and it will all sort itself out.
Yup, big divide in the LFS community ATM, best solution is to have two installs, the current "main" patch, in this case W, and a test install for test patches, then you have the best of both worlds.
Hopefully when patch X is released things will get back to normal.
I'm in US and find people with no problems at all.
I race between midnight and 2am EST.
Agreed that we have the patch VS official dilemma with a new patch every day.
Like Banshee said, once X is out, you'll find all the available races on one version hence fuller servers around the clock.
Could toss in the MRT. I don't see many people race that now days (as compared to much earlier days of LFS). It's not exactly 'fast', but would be a great toy to anyone who grabs the demo
I took a look at LFSWorld recently and saw the following:
300 S2 Racers Online and >600 S2 Hosts .
600 Demo Racers online, but approx. 300 Demo Hosts.
That's basically it, I guess. Running an own Server is pretty easy and affordable nowadays. We have to make the Demo Racers BUY the S2 License, maybe then S2 servers will be not so empty anymore.
I have to disagree on that completely. If "you" already like those cars and the rest of the demo as it "sort of" represents the "full game" then "you" will get a licence sooner or later. Besides the fact that "you" are able to get rid of all the wrecking buggers and simular creatures (once & for all and not for another 5 minutes or less) "you" also deserve the entire content (cars/tracks et cetera) "you" have payed for. If not, go away and play NFS-TDU-OMG-WTH acade stuff and enjoy yourself alright
cheers
Well i would like to see exactly in which section of the agreement the point is which ensures that the servers are always filled.
IMO LFS isn´t about getting as many people in as possible, it´s about getting in people who really love racesims. Quality instead of quantity if you will. There´s no need for tons of people who usually only play games like NFSU and come flooding the forum with NFSU like feature requests. We have too many of them already.
There´s no need for fast cars in the demo. If demoracers get bored of slow cars they should get a license, the whole purpose of the demo being there in the first place. If people don´t get excited by LFS with the democars, then those people aren´t meant to play LFS.
LFS is a niche product and it will stay that way.
Lol im using the W43 patch and nowadays there're only about 50-70 servers and most (if not all) of them are empty. The few servers that aren't usually have only 1 or 2 persons in them. Issit partly bcos im usually playing LFS on GMT 0400-1000 ?
Not to mention that the north american lfs players are now busy toiling in FORZA 2, with ingame voice communications, real tracks, and real cars, everything we long for in lfs, now if we could only find a way to merge them we'd have the perfect sim ...
For me it's a combination of time zone and incompatible patch issues. I usually have time to race anywhere between 7 and 11pm pacific time, but I think that's like prime sleeping time for the bulk of the LFS population.
The effect is even more pronounced with the recent slew of test patches. I've always followed them pretty closely, but the most part it didn't really affect anything since they were compatible with the official version. Now though I've been running both versions back and forth - I'll stick with whichever one I can find a server with more than 2 or 3 racers.
I'm definitely looking forward to patch X - Not so much for all the new features, because I've been enjoying them all along, but for the fact that everyone else will have to upgrade!
EDIT: And does every thread on the forum need to have some kind of off-hand stereotyped American bashing? It really gets old. Maybe just 2 out of 3 threads or something?
Yes, Scawen works but has a family. Stupid family. Lets get some money and kidnap them till S3 is out.
Great plan!
Forza has more than one coder for a flaming start, they're using a method of development that will just hinder LFS development. If we have to wait for X, fine - i'll keep driving my LX6@WE1R thinking what an f'ing amazing game LFS is right now and stop complaing
Of which a lot of money goes to marketing, paychecks, licenses, nice offices, managers, company cars, etc.
LFS is in no way comparable to that, it´s an indie developed game. Stop trying to want to push LFS in the same direction as it simply will not happen.