Quote from luftrofl :

It's already been agreed upon, but it's been put off due to the computing power required to do it, IIRC. The best option is to stop asking.

I'd also like to point out that your point #3 is completely wrong. The angle of the tire in relation to the motion of the car has no effect on the amount of smoke that comes off. The amount of smoke created is determined by the force being exerted downwards on the tire during the lock up, the surface area of the tire being dragged across the track, and the speed at which the tire is being dragged across the track.
In short, an increase in friction/resistance means an increase in smoke created by the skidding tire.

Did you pass physics class?

Did you pass English class?

My third point was addressing the fact that the tires smoke even when you're driving along in a straight line, with no tire skid and no slip angle. Once the tires get a hot spot, that spot will smoke every time it touches the pavement. If you drive along with one hot section of tire, you'll get a small puff of smoke every time that section touches the ground.

I realize that the smoke can be somewhat of a CPU hog. I also realize that Scawen is a pretty talented guy who might be able to optimize the current code further, or implement some other way of handling the smoke that is less processor intensive. There are plenty of other things that should probably take priority over this, but you never know when he'll be mucking around in that portion of the code and decide to make a change.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

Did you pass English class?

My third point was addressing the fact that the tires smoke even when you're driving along in a straight line, with no tire skid and no slip angle. Once the tires get a hot spot, that spot will smoke every time it touches the pavement. If you drive along with one hot section of tire, you'll get a small puff of smoke every time that section touches the ground.

I realize that the smoke can be somewhat of a CPU hog. I also realize that Scawen is a pretty talented guy who might be able to optimize the current code further, or implement some other way of handling the smoke that is less processor intensive. There are plenty of other things that should probably take priority over this, but you never know when he'll be mucking around in that portion of the code and decide to make a change.

I'm typing and editing as I go so I could care less about being grammatically perfect as long as the point gets across. Your post really sounded like you were complaining about how tires smoke when you locked them up going in a straight line. That seems like a bigger issue than minor grammar errors.

Quote from luftrofl :

I'm typing and editing as I go so I could care less about being grammatically perfect as long as the point gets across. Your post really sounded like you were complaining about how tires smoke when you locked them up going in a straight line. That seems like a bigger issue than minor grammar errors.

You misread what I wrote. Twice. I don't care about your grammar; only that you understand what I'm suggesting.

I'm discussing these three things: 1) when going in a straight line, and locking up the tires, or when sliding sideways down the track, far too little smoke is generated. 2) The smoke disappears almost instantly, even with no wind. 3) When going in a straight line, with a flatspot, but the tires are turning (not skidding or sliding), smoke is generated when it should not be.

LFS really do need more/better smoke. If someone goes off the track on the grass/dirt, a tiny bit of smoke is made. IRL, a hugh amount of smoke is made, and the people behind you have to drive through it, making it an obstacle. In lfs, the smoke dissapears too quickly. 2 seconds after, and there is no smoke. I hope there is better smoke in the next patch.

Good points.

I don't think smoke has to be a CPU hog, as said earlier NR2003 did it quite good and it was not a resource hog at all. It'll just take some creativity I think.

Plus it would be interesting to blind the guy behind me with a burnout before the race start

I think all that's needed is tweaking how then engine handles temperature vs smoke. Obviously, the smoke generated needs to be directly related to the temperature of the tire - not speeds / angles and whatnot. I'm certain it's already related to temperature anyway, perhaps just not very well. I'm confused about the "puffing" (#3) and precisely what causes it. If it was just the temperature, it wouldn't stop. If it was the pad contacting the pavement, it would happen every revolution. Perhaps the "flatspotted pad" actually slips for a split second on contact sometimes and causes a "puff"?

Proper smoke would definitely add to immersion.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

You misread what I wrote. Twice. I don't care about your grammar; only that you understand what I'm suggesting.

I'm discussing these three things: 1) when going in a straight line, and locking up the tires, or when sliding sideways down the track, far too little smoke is generated. 2) The smoke disappears almost instantly, even with no wind. 3) When going in a straight line, with a flatspot, but the tires are turning (not skidding or sliding), smoke is generated when it should not be.

I got that. Why do you think I didn't?

I agree that those should be in the game, but it would seem that the majority of LFS players couldn't run the game with so much smoke.

Then the users that cannot handle full smoke can turn it down?

Thats how it is right now even.

Quote from XCNuse :

Then the users that cannot handle full smoke can turn it down?

Thats how it is right now even.

I was thinking about that, but then one could get an advantage over other players by simply turning down smoke.

Okay in those cases I can understand where you are comming from, but generally speaking, the better it looks, the higher the chance people will set it to that.

Theres a line between racing to win, and racing for fun, racing to win sucks all the life out of racing and ruins it, and the people that have lower settings just so that they dont crash can just live with that, but its the challenge and judgement that makes it all the more fun.

I think the smoke is ok in LFS. But I do want to say that I really loved the smoke in Papyrus' NASCAR.

Also the smoke needs to be more realistic in the fwd cars when you mash the throttle in a fwd car in real life tons of smoke comes out

What the heck does being FWD have to do with anything?

In fact you'd probably get less since the load on the tire is less than in a RWD car. (Unless you're in reverse I guess :rolleyes

Smoke happens to due heat, and different tires have different thermal characteristics; and the drivetrain layout doesn't play a huge role.

Quote from RaVeR :

Also the smoke needs to be more realistic in the fwd cars when you mash the throttle in a fwd car in real life tons of smoke comes out

Tires don't smoke when they still have grip. Maybe you're thinking that FWDs should understeer more under acceleration and therefore should smoke due to excessive wheelspin, which does not happen. I wish it did

more all around realistic smoke.

If you get your tires good and hot, you dont even have to move to get smoe to come from them. I think the way lfs make smoke needs to be completely re-worked.