A small complaint here about the lack of racing slots on the Single Seater 1 server. With 32 people allowed onto the server I don't understand why the grid slots have been limited to 20. The problem is that you will have 12 people trying to join before races, all hitting the join button over and over again. Sometimes that causes huge join lag and it can timeout half the grid. Not to mention the fact that its very annoying if you are like me and hate starting on pole position and want to start from the back instead, but can't because of the laptimes you are doing.

Is it just a mistake on the part of the CTRA admins forgetting to set the carsmax after a server reset? Or is there a good reason for limiting the grid slots leaving 12 slots for spectators?

We intentionally leave the limit set to 20 to avoid excess carnage and leave some clean track for beginners to find their feet. This is the same for Race1 as well.

I would love to turn it up to a full grid, but we have had problems in the past with it and our solution was to limit the number of racers.

Yes I understand that, but why leave 12 public spectator slots? All that does it pile 12 people onto a server that can't race, those people could populate the other CTRA servers. Also 12 people trying to join at the same time causes lag as I mentioned. I know there are options to restrict it, I personally wouldn't have any public spectator slots, only restricted ones for admins only.

Instead of opening to a full grid, why not have say Single Seater 1a and 1b, but both running the same car and track?

Kenneth

Quote from racer hero :

Instead of opening to a full grid, why not have say Single Seater 1a and 1b, but both running the same car and track?

Kenneth

+1

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

A small complaint here about the lack of racing slots on the Single Seater 1 server. With 32 people allowed onto the server I don't understand why the grid slots have been limited to 20. The problem is that you will have 12 people trying to join before races, all hitting the join button over and over again. Sometimes that causes huge join lag and it can timeout half the grid. Not to mention the fact that its very annoying if you are like me and hate starting on pole position and want to start from the back instead, but can't because of the laptimes you are doing.

Is it just a mistake on the part of the CTRA admins forgetting to set the carsmax after a server reset? Or is there a good reason for limiting the grid slots leaving 12 slots for spectators?

Because
A. Have you seen the carnage at T1 with only 20?
B. Some peoples computers will probably just die if they're at the back
C. Laggg!!

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Yes I understand that, but why leave 12 public spectator slots? All that does it pile 12 people onto a server that can't race, those people could populate the other CTRA servers. Also 12 people trying to join at the same time causes lag as I mentioned. I know there are options to restrict it, I personally wouldn't have any public spectator slots, only restricted ones for admins only.

Well we do have admin slots. We don't mind people sitting the server waiting to join. If they want to race somewhere else they will leave and join another server =)

After a quick chat with Sam we decided to bump up the slots on SS1 to 28 drivers, we will monitor and see if we get any major problems.

We could run 2 servers, we have tried that before, it works well for a few weeks then both servers die off because neither become full.

I think the thing that causes the most accidents is the people who wait to join, they jump on the grid at the last minute, they join with 1 lap left and push too hard racing leaders. It makes no sense at all to have more than 2 people waiting to join let alone 12, you could save money and get a smaller server. 20 car grids are more than enough, but if you run 20 car grids the server should be a 24 slot server with 2 admin slots, allowing a maximum of 2 people not racing at a time.

If you have ever been on the server when half the grid timed out due to join lag from 12 people trying to join onto 1 grid slot then you will know why I am bringing this up.

I dont think pushing it to 28 will be a good idea AT all.
The carnage at T1 is bad enough with 20...
Plus I feel sorry for people at the front and back

Front - They got 27 people wanting to get infront of them, behind them.
Back - Ouch, lagg attack or what?!

I don't think the number of drivers makes any difference to the driving standards or carnage on track. I've seen bad drivers take out half the grid in 10 car races, and I've seen 32 drivers finish on the same lap without any major accidents or drama. The issue here isnt the number of drivers on track, its the number of people spectating and trying to join.

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

I think the thing that causes the most accidents is the people who wait to join, they jump on the grid at the last minute, they join with 1 lap left and push too hard racing leaders. It makes no sense at all to have more than 2 people waiting to join let alone 12, you could save money and get a smaller server. 20 car grids are more than enough, but if you run 20 car grids the server should be a 24 slot server with 2 admin slots, allowing a maximum of 2 people not racing at a time.

If you have ever been on the server when half the grid timed out due to join lag from 12 people trying to join onto 1 grid slot then you will know why I am bringing this up.

We've always had a viewers' gallery on our servers and it's not been an issue. Reducing the number of spectators won't reduce our costs. We have our own hardware server, moving a hearty amount of data for various UKCT projects. The CTRA servers are a small fraction of that usage, and we're nowhere near our capacity.

There's no lag when someone tries to join a full race on CTRA servers. I've seen many things, but never witnessed that. Not on our machine anyway.

Perhaps you should spend more time on your servers then, because I have witnessed half a server being kicked out due to join lag multiple times. It happens when those 12 spectators all want to race and keep on hitting the join button hoping for slot on the grid, when one opens up suddenly LFS has to cope with 12 people all having pressed join at the same time. It causes huge lag and a lot of people timeout. If people want to watch races they can use LFS remote, or just go and watch TV. Spectators shouldn't have priority over people who want to race but also don't want to sit on the track in the way of people practicing after every race.

I would be in favour of some sort of system where the driver who sets the fastest lap can pick where he wants to start on the grid, front or back. I'm one of the few people who play LFS for the enjoyment of racing, rather than getting shiney statistics to earn false respect from the so called aliens. Having to start from pole position everytime I get a good lap then running on my own out the front is really putting me off CTRA and pushing me towards other servers.

Sam, To help make racing better, Why not send a REO packet(Race reorder), That could make things really intresting.

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Perhaps you should spend more time on your servers then, because I have witnessed half a server being kicked out due to join lag multiple times. It happens when those 12 spectators all want to race and keep on hitting the join button hoping for slot on the grid, when one opens up suddenly LFS has to cope with 12 people all having pressed join at the same time. It causes huge lag and a lot of people timeout. If people want to watch races they can use LFS remote, or just go and watch TV. Spectators shouldn't have priority over people who want to race but also don't want to sit on the track in the way of people practicing after every race.

I would be in favour of some sort of system where the driver who sets the fastest lap can pick where he wants to start on the grid, front or back. I'm one of the few people who play LFS for the enjoyment of racing, rather than getting shiney statistics to earn false respect from the so called aliens. Having to start from pole position everytime I get a good lap then running on my own out the front is really putting me off CTRA and pushing me towards other servers.

Can you give me an approx date/time for one of these occasions? I'd like to have a look at the replay from the server, to see what's happening for myself. I spend quite a lot of time in the CTRA servers, rarely on this username though, and I've never witnessed this problem. I'd like to see it for myself.

@Sean, we already order the grid according to racers' concurrent qualifying position.

Things like reversed or random grids to tend to be a disaster, although I do love them so. Some people are pole dancers, they love nothing more than winning 10 races in a row on their own out the front. Personally I hate it, its very boring and unless you have 2 or 3 people on the same pace as you, which is rare on CTRA because of the track rotation. Normally to get around it you can spectate and join at the back, but on CTRA you do that and 12 people who burn out their clutch on the start line join leaving you very annoyed as you watch them wreck 5 people into turn 1 and disconnect straight away.

SamH, sorry but I think it was about a week ago, maybe last thursday or friday. I'm sure I will witness it again sometime and I will try to save a replay of it so you get the date and time, but last time it happened I timed out before I could save it. It is rare, probably only happens about 5% of the time when loads of people are trying to join, and I think its an issue with LFS rather than CTRA. I think its similar to the old problem we had when they increased the number of people that could join a server and we ran those stress tests, CTRA just highlights the problem by having those extra slots for people viewing a race.

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Things like reversed or random grids to tend to be a disaster, although I do love them so. Some people are pole dancers, they love nothing more than winning 10 races in a row on their own out the front.

Would be cool if you could set top 8 to be reversed. Starting from the back is too much of a risk.

But this is off topic I believe.. :o

BTW, about that spectate and join just before the start. It makes you get only half the points you normally get.. If I'm right.

Quicksilver, you don't need to save a replay, all replay's are saved on the server so all you have to do is let us know the server and the time. Best bet would be to file a wrecker report and give us the details after you log back in.

I would do but I am never sure about my reports, when I click submit it says I need to be logged in to CTRA, I login but then the submit part is greyed out. Off topic but it won't let me change my license picture either, just refreshes with my old one everytime. I save the replay so I don't forget the date and time, usually I end up leaving it too late and forget about things. If I see it happening again I will definately let you guys know, but as I said I think its just a side effect of having that many people wanting to join at the same time.

I think you should only allow enough people in the server to fill the grid, make the grid 24 cars strong, and have a feature that will kick people for spectating more than 2 races. With 2 slots reserved for admins so that they don't get booted for keeping an eye on the server. I've not seen many people join just to watch the races, they join to race and end up having a 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' style fastest finger first game trying to get on the grid.

If the submit button is greyed out then there is some detail missing from the report, whether the username can't be verified or you haven't stated a lap (or if it's general, haven't ticked "multiple laps")

As I said before, I'm happy to have a bunch of spectator spots. I have no problem with people spectating a race they can't join. If they wanna be there, let 'em. Generally they leave if they can't get in anyway, I've previously noted. I don't really see a reason to change this policy. If it turns out that there is a bug in the LFS software that causes half the grid to time out when multiple people attempt to join, then there's something to address and we'll address it, but there are hundreds of servers online with 32 racer slots and 15 extra spectator seats, and I've just never heard of this ever happening before. Seems odd. I need to see it.

Quote :

Would be cool if you could set top 8 to be reversed.

This sounds like it could be good for a 1 day a week thing or sommit

Quote from Becky Rose :

This sounds like it could be good for a 1 day a week thing or sommit

I take it that these reverse grids would occur on days where people are not attending spelling lessons

Quote from Dru :

I take it that these reverse grids would occur on days where people are not attending spelling lessons

I iz rebellin against me poshness mkay n I ent gonna take no's flakk fur it

Quote from Becky Rose :

I iz rebellin against me poshness mkay n I ent gonna take no's flakk fur it

whats tree herders got to do with it thou beck? J/K

Quote from Dru :

whats tree herders got to do with it thou beck? J/K

Beck becks and spelling variants are forbidden on the basis I ent a footballer

It's Ms Rose to you Dru