I've only had LFS for a couple of months so I'm not sure if this is common or not.

I know if you sit idle on the track you get spectated after a short period, but I've had it happen to me a couple of times now when I'm going full speed down the straight.

The only thing that makes me suspicious is it's only happened this last week, about 3 times, and only in the CTRA1 server.

Is this normal or is there something wrong?

I thought of saving a replay the last time it happened, but ended up re-joining the race and by the end of the race had forgotten about it.

I am a little suspiscious of what this error might be, and i'm wondering if it relates to the server crasher or speed hacks we have doing the rounds at the minute or something else. If this happens to anybody I would be most interested to know if you still have your own details when you type $ctra.

If you dont have your own details, log out straight away and back in again and that might fix it. Then please report it here.

The reason this could be related to the server crash exploit is that there are currently about 5 hacks doing the rounds, two pre-login and two post-login, and a speed hack and although I dont have the full details of all of them I think what might be happening is - hard to explain if you dont know insim - but the UCID and PLID are not matching together as a result of a botched login, which might be related to one of the current security hacks.

This could be an issue with X-System, but with the servers under siege at it is I have no way of knowing.

happened to me about 30 mins ago Becky. I was going down the straight and it put me in spec saying I was idle.

Happened to me earlier at Blackwood.(8.30pm ish UK time)Then we all ended up on different peoples licences. Very weird

I think this does relate to the crash hack, though not directly. A couple of times today I've had to go and restart 3 of the servers that had been terminated. On restart, the X-system hooked in to the newly restarted servers as it should, but appeared to have confused connections with other connections. i.e. when Ade looked up his $ctra, it displayed someone else's stats.

To resolve it, I closed and restarted the X monitor/system. After that, everything was back as it should.

PS: Jak says SpikeyMarcoD can keep the 28 points he won in a race that were awarded to Spikey by mistake

I see. Yes that makes valid sense, the previous players would not be flushed and would be reassociated with the server when connection is re-established. I shall code in some safe guards for v1.35

I'm having the same issue with old users still technically being "on" in the database.

Few DB variables need flushing.

*writes in a fix*

Quote from SamH :

PS: Jak says SpikeyMarcoD can keep the 28 points he won in a race that were awarded to Spikey by mistake

I'd like to swap points with Moose

hehe! Wouldn't we all, matey? Wouldn't we all!

Quote from ajp71 :

I'd like to swap points with Moose

I'm sure if a large cash donation came my way we could arrange something

Quote from Becky Rose :

I am a little suspiscious of what this error might be, and i'm wondering if it relates to the server crasher or speed hacks we have doing the rounds at the minute or something else. If this happens to anybody I would be most interested to know if you still have your own details when you type $ctra.

If you dont have your own details, log out straight away and back in again and that might fix it. Then please report it here.

The reason this could be related to the server crash exploit is that there are currently about 5 hacks doing the rounds, two pre-login and two post-login, and a speed hack and although I dont have the full details of all of them I think what might be happening is - hard to explain if you dont know insim - but the UCID and PLID are not matching together as a result of a botched login, which might be related to one of the current security hacks.

This could be an issue with X-System, but with the servers under siege at it is I have no way of knowing.

Becky, this has happened 5 of of 6 attempts to race on server 1 today. My details were still available on typing $ctra.
I have had this problem for a long while now (possibly since starting with CTRA). I don't have a fabulous connection so assumed it may be that.
Note that reverse configs seem to spectate me more, with SO reverse configs being almost impossible to complete a race on.
Edit: Happens on single seater server also

yeah, Moose got allocated about 2000 of my regular license points.

Lord Blaster last night was mis allocated about 1000 from my total which gave him a titanium license mistakenly too

Quote from SamH :

I think this does relate to the crash hack, though not directly. A couple of times today I've had to go and restart 3 of the servers that had been terminated. On restart, the X-system hooked in to the newly restarted servers as it should, but appeared to have confused connections with other connections. i.e. when Ade looked up his $ctra, it displayed someone else's stats.

To resolve it, I closed and restarted the X monitor/system. After that, everything was back as it should.

PS: Jak says SpikeyMarcoD can keep the 28 points he won in a race that were awarded to Spikey by mistake

Lol gotta love the X-system. Have not notice this and trust me i would normally see my name with 28 after it

Well at least i have some lead over that Andy Billing guy now

@dhinchin
The problem as you describe it sounds like 1 way lag. If you are suffering regular disconnections that means the server has not had an update to where you car is for over 20 seconds, it does not sound like the above problem if it happens to you a lot, but looking at your location as Malaysia I do wonder if this is an indication that you are lagging.

When this happens to you try asking the others on the server if you are lagging, lag that bad is unlikely to go unoticed and might be causing disruption for other players.

I would dearly love to put a server in the southern hemisphere to serve Australasia, if I could find a company that would sponsor such a machine.

Quote from SpikeyMarcoD :

Well at least i have some lead over that Andy Billing guy now

Let the battle for National commence

great job with the points!

Quote from Becky Rose :

@dhinchin
The problem as you describe it sounds like 1 way lag. If you are suffering regular disconnections that means the server has not had an update to where you car is for over 20 seconds, it does not sound like the above problem if it happens to you a lot, but looking at your location as Malaysia I do wonder if this is an indication that you are lagging.

When this happens to you try asking the others on the server if you are lagging, lag that bad is unlikely to go unoticed and might be causing disruption for other players.

I would dearly love to put a server in the southern hemisphere to serve Australasia, if I could find a company that would sponsor such a machine.

Becky,
I am quite sure it is lag as you say. There have only been two instances when others have mentioned that I appear to lag, but given my average connection (+600 ms) it clearly has to be a factor. I am moving to Taiwan next month, hope things don't get worse!
Edit: Just went back to server 1 (FE2 I believe), booted out every time for idle on track yet earlier on with same config had some great door handle to door handle racing with no issues. I've never had this on regular servers, why does it appear to happen only on ctra servers? I don't want to appear critical, in fact it's the whole ctra idea that has got me interested in racing online again and when it works it is marvellous. I am sure you appreciate however that repeat boots (once 100 metres from the finish line) gets tiresome. Others are reporting this, should we look at pings to see what is the minimum that is reliable?

It didnt happend to me just yet. But i did noticed passing the second pitlane on Aston track I got the message CAUTION WHILE RECOVINg.
I wasnt crashed or anything like that. This happend only on Aston and at that preciuos point. No where else but there.

It happend several times during that races. Just to let you know.

Sometimes when I pit and am in the garage I get a message a few seconds later along the lines of "idle on the track" however i already left it.

Quote from dhinchin :

Becky,
I am quite sure it is lag as you say. There have only been two instances when others have mentioned that I appear to lag, but given my average connection (+600 ms) it clearly has to be a factor. I am moving to Taiwan next month, hope things don't get worse!
Edit: Just went back to server 1 (FE2 I believe), booted out every time for idle on track yet earlier on with same config had some great door handle to door handle racing with no issues. I've never had this on regular servers, why does it appear to happen only on ctra servers? I don't want to appear critical, in fact it's the whole ctra idea that has got me interested in racing online again and when it works it is marvellous. I am sure you appreciate however that repeat boots (once 100 metres from the finish line) gets tiresome. Others are reporting this, should we look at pings to see what is the minimum that is reliable?

Just to be clear, the problem that others where reporting was a very specific bug caused by a server hacker, this isn't what you are describing which appears to be lag related.

I would be interested to see how bad your lag is when this happens, not from your own replay, but from the server side. When this happens next could you raise a $report and select the replay file for a race you where spectated from, and email yourself that file, that will show you how others are seeing your car. If it is laggy then we know what the problem is, if you are not lagging then please send me the replay (PM me for email address).

Thanks.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Just to be clear, the problem that others where reporting was a very specific bug caused by a server hacker, this isn't what you are describing which appears to be lag related.

I would be interested to see how bad your lag is when this happens, not from your own replay, but from the server side. When this happens next could you raise a $report and select the replay file for a race you where spectated from, and email yourself that file, that will show you how others are seeing your car. If it is laggy then we know what the problem is, if you are not lagging then please send me the replay (PM me for email address).

Thanks.

Becky, I guess it is bad lag. I downloaded two server-side replays where I got 'idle-spectated' after 25 seconds or so, and whilst on my pc my car is moving, from the server side I am sat on the start/finish line like a dumb schmuck and invisible to other players.

Quote from dhinchin :

Becky, I guess it is bad lag. I downloaded two server-side replays where I got 'idle-spectated' after 25 seconds or so, and whilst on my pc my car is moving, from the server side I am sat on the start/finish line like a dumb schmuck and invisible to other players.

Ack, that's not good news We can't fix that from our end. If you are running other programs, such as P2P software, Limewire or sometimes even just MSN, these things can and will affect your connection to LFS servers. If any of them are running, try closing them all down

Quote from SamH :

Ack, that's not good news We can't fix that from our end. If you are running other programs, such as P2P software, Limewire or sometimes even just MSN, these things can and will affect your connection to LFS servers. If any of them are running, try closing them all down

Sam, thanks. Appreciate that this problem is a flaky connection at my end. What I am doing now is looking at the pings on the server list when I first connect. If too high I back out, disconnect my link to the ISP and reconnect a couple of times until things look better. I am finding that if I can get a connection under 250 ms or so then I don't get the problem.
Thanks Becky for the pointers earlier.

My problem was about a week ago when I was racing AS Cadet I touched my mouse button and was transported into someone elses car. My steering feedback still was in my car but I was spectating in their car. When I finally figured out what was going on and got back to my car I was in the wall. I have a replay saved but haven't had time to watch it yet.

Quote from Gil07 :

You probably hit TAB or SHIFT+TAB.

How could I hit shift or shift-tab with one hand on the wheel and one on the steering wheel? Oh I know I used my other apendage that we won't talk about on a form that might have kids on it!