Hi there!
I know Scawen may be busy working on the VW Scirocco and next patch. May be this idea is in Scawen´s mind but i´d like to tell you anyway to see how much approval it has...
The point is to "attack" one of the biggest problems, not only in LFS but in any online simulator; the "disconnection time out". This is really confusing in long races, and produces lots of abandons in short races, even with greats efforts of race admins mounting "trackers", the situation can be even better.
LFS is very versatile in a matter of programming and this may be possible, so let´s think about this idea.
The server will simply store the name of the driver, the laps completed and the sector he is in, so when a "time out" happen, the server will put an "AI ghostcar" in that place. The reason to be a "ghost" is that AI´s don´t behave like human drivers, and may cause some accidents.
Of course the ideal situation will be to put the car in the exact position the disconnection occurred, including speed and so on, but to make it more easy I thought it will be enough to put the AI at the start of the last sector completed by the driver, or the easiest, only to put it at the start of the last completed lap. The point is not to loose all the laps completed.
This AI car should have fuel for only 1 lap so it will make a pit stop in next lap, but in the pits it should behave as an AI finishing a race (it enters the garage and turn off the engine). The "real" driver reconnecting the server must have to wait until the AI ghostcar stops and turn the engine off to take over it. To do this, in the list of connected drivers ("N" key) the AI ghostcar should have the name of the driver disconnected with an "AI" at a side that identifies from the rest. Then, make a driver change as usual, where the amount of laps will be transferred from the AI to the "real" driver, of course, using the setup, skin and fuel the driver setted up before this.
Pros:
*This will replace "instant disappearing" with "simulated mechanical trouble" forcing it to stop in the pits, "repair" and get back to race, as in real races.
*Racing in the server is better avoiding unnecessary "blue flags".
*Long races results more accurate.
*Almost no abandon in short-medium races.
Cons:
*Servers may be a little more demanding, but think they can manage up to 5 AI at a time with no performance loss. In case of more than 5 disconnections a a time we´re taking about a server trouble more than a simple “time out”.
*Time cost to Scawen in programming
Hope you like it and in the future we have this system or any other to minimize disconnection trouble...
Bye!
I know Scawen may be busy working on the VW Scirocco and next patch. May be this idea is in Scawen´s mind but i´d like to tell you anyway to see how much approval it has...
The point is to "attack" one of the biggest problems, not only in LFS but in any online simulator; the "disconnection time out". This is really confusing in long races, and produces lots of abandons in short races, even with greats efforts of race admins mounting "trackers", the situation can be even better.
LFS is very versatile in a matter of programming and this may be possible, so let´s think about this idea.
The server will simply store the name of the driver, the laps completed and the sector he is in, so when a "time out" happen, the server will put an "AI ghostcar" in that place. The reason to be a "ghost" is that AI´s don´t behave like human drivers, and may cause some accidents.
Of course the ideal situation will be to put the car in the exact position the disconnection occurred, including speed and so on, but to make it more easy I thought it will be enough to put the AI at the start of the last sector completed by the driver, or the easiest, only to put it at the start of the last completed lap. The point is not to loose all the laps completed.
This AI car should have fuel for only 1 lap so it will make a pit stop in next lap, but in the pits it should behave as an AI finishing a race (it enters the garage and turn off the engine). The "real" driver reconnecting the server must have to wait until the AI ghostcar stops and turn the engine off to take over it. To do this, in the list of connected drivers ("N" key) the AI ghostcar should have the name of the driver disconnected with an "AI" at a side that identifies from the rest. Then, make a driver change as usual, where the amount of laps will be transferred from the AI to the "real" driver, of course, using the setup, skin and fuel the driver setted up before this.
Pros:
*This will replace "instant disappearing" with "simulated mechanical trouble" forcing it to stop in the pits, "repair" and get back to race, as in real races.
*Racing in the server is better avoiding unnecessary "blue flags".
*Long races results more accurate.
*Almost no abandon in short-medium races.
Cons:
*Servers may be a little more demanding, but think they can manage up to 5 AI at a time with no performance loss. In case of more than 5 disconnections a a time we´re taking about a server trouble more than a simple “time out”.
*Time cost to Scawen in programming
Hope you like it and in the future we have this system or any other to minimize disconnection trouble...
Bye!