Hope not, it'd have to be rewritten for that!

This downtime for a month, what does this really mean. Are all CTRA servers offline or just the pointsystem ?. I hope the last. I have this fever now, it`s called STCC. When you get addicted you can`t stop anymore.

Anyway, I don`t appreciate it. I worship the ground you walk on.
Becky just kidding,great to see you got it back, this STCC fever.

Sorry to say but we're taking the opportunity to reinstall the server from fresh, so everything is going down. When the system comes back I hope to relaunch it in a major way along with new servers and new services like our event system.

:headbang: :laola::headbang: :laola::headbang: :laola::headbang:

The improvements sound great, I just hope that after a month of so offline that i haven't found somewhere better to race

Admin messages are going to be massively extended and will no longer be limited to 64 characters. I had a plan to make interaction with 'penalised' drivers easier, but a suggestion by neils has made me tweak my own idea and almagamate it with his.

Except for those few who are issued lifetime bans, the short term 'wake up call' bans that we sometimes have to issue will still allow you to connect to the server and receive the new extended admin messages - but you wont be able to join the race. To prevent join lag griefing on the second attempt the 'banned' driver is kicked. On connecting, and on the first join attempt, the admin message will be displayed prominently along with the date of expiry for the 'spectate-only-ban'.

This ties in better with our education policy for unruly drivers, and allows us to get our admin message home and better explain to drivers why they are being denied service temporarily.

Those who we've had to ban for life will just be outright banned still, it doesn't happen often but sadly in some cases it is necessary.

What do we do in that month.....? Go outside?

I'm wondering what new car classes will be available in 'CTRA the next generation'....

It would be good to use the downtime to practice some of the up-and-coming combos

I made terrific progress last night and got some of the front end in. A few UKCT drivers popped onto the server I was using and gave positive review of what i've done so far, so that is encouraging.

I'm getting to grips with this SQL stuff too, i've managed to completely do away with the previous innefficient API.

I think also, we should be able to connect this software into an external 3rd party LFS server or two, not too many, but it's something to think about.

I had another brain storming session today whilst my work computer was reinstalling. I came up with a 'superstars' concept, to give a little glamour and glitz for the top drivers - of course, being a top driver wont just be about results but about maintaining a good accident per lap ratio too, granted, laps & yellows wont be tracked on the banger racing server. Tying in with the superstar system will be a new command '$clean' which will list all drivers on the server with good accident per lap ratios, perhaps something to consider when filing reports - so it might be worth drivers trying to get themselves on that list.

I'm still working on the details of the banger server with somebody that has more recent experience of it than me, we're pooling layouts at the moment.

I figured out a system to deliver the archived race replays from within the server which was something that had been bugging me.

Oh and I came up with a new mod that can run from the server so that you dont have to install any software locally, it's entirely optional, but i'm keeping the details of this one to myself for now as it might not be live at the time of launch.

which server u using as i would love to help or is it private

last time i looked after it, i had a ratio of 10% (yellow flags due to laps).

you think this might good enough to get a star?

how do you find the ratio

@Lord Blaster, The superstar calculation will be secret, but a good ratio like that will sure help

On launch nobody will have a star because there's lots of new stuff to do and record stats for, but as a guideline the first superstar 'star' will arrive sometime after platinum.

EDIT: James, i'm not sure if the ratio is shown with the $myinfo command or not, but certainly the stats themselves are there. Your ratio is 36% fyi.

server?

Quote from col :

I'm wondering what new car classes will be available in 'CTRA the next generation'....

It would be good to use the downtime to practice some of the up-and-coming combos

but your too quick already take the month off Col

also could people stop talking about it like its gone for good, its just taking a development break

Wow, sounds like your storming ahead there Becky, I'm really looking forward to seeing what the whole CTRA experience is going to be like when it returns.

The clean racers thing sounds good...as my ratio is under 10% i hope that qualifies me as a clean racer. Maybe the top clean racers should be given the power to banish the dirty guys to the banger racing server forever

Anyhow..thanks for keeping us all updated with your progress..keep these updates going during the server downtime pls..it sounds like there's very exciting times ahead at CTRA.
Just don't overdo it and burn out Becky, ok?


James....ratio of 36% ehh.....BANISH HIM!!!! you sound like an ideal candidate for banger racing (i am joking btw )

thanks becky for the ratio edit

i think mine is down to early noobnis but im gettin better[ i think] lol

Could I ask how the system gets the yellow flag count in $myinfo? My ratio is... well, way higher than I'd like, and I hope I'm not that bad a driver.

well moose in the earlier days i do agree but i think the banger server will let people reach the accident quota before doing some circuit racing, maybe if in a race someone is having a few accidents then a message appears suggesting they visit the banger server

Quote :

Could I ask how the system gets the yellow flag count in $myinfo? My ratio is... well, way higher than I'd like, and I hope I'm not that bad a driver.

hehe, it tracks the number of yellow flags you have caused other drivers at a maximum of 1 per sector. It stops recording at the end of the race. It provides a general indication of how sloppy a driver is, but is in no way a definitive statistic. Although we display the stat, and we'll use it in the superstar calculation, it does not in any way effect the services available to you .

Quote :

well moose in the earlier days i do agree but i think the banger server will let people reach the accident quota before doing some circuit racing

Laps and yellow will not be recorded on the banger racing server. It's also not a dumping ground for poor drivers. The idea is to win not to crash, and if that means spinning somebody out on the way to victory then hell - why not? ... That's what banger racing is about. We're not after crashers, and we'll be doing our best to ensure that people respect the rules and concept of the server.

what i meant was if someone was makin a few aggresive moves let them make them there, i worded it a bit wrong