It's one of these idiot "run and jump around like a rambo on steroids" games. BF2 any better? Nope same stuff with modern weapons.

Not really my type of game. ArmA (Armed Assault - http://www.armedassault.com ) is more what I like except it still has some issues with some systems and it takes all the steam out of your machine. Personally I would rather play it (you get 3 mp games in the demo). It looks really nice (butterflies, dragon flies, grass moving with wind, high/low tides, rainbows, etc). In towns my system (Radeon9700) requires me to drop the details down or it kills my machine (I can make it run 16-23fps in the coop mp game).

The comment lines are like in C++ and start with // so currently it does nothing (from // to the line end).

If if is uncommented (generally many of the rotator values can be given this way), it gives a random range. So 2-5 simply means at least 2, but at most 5 (the rotator changes the settings somewhere between 2 and 5 races). In the default setup there are similar examples for wind and weather (wind=1-3; and weather=1-3; ). The idea was to remove the need to make several entries for just different weather conditions. If you want to bias certain conditions, then you need to make several entries (and give different biases).

Good that you made it work.

It's not currently possible to make it auto restart, but I might add it if it is really wanted.

And no, you are not taking my time. If you have bug reports you can send them via private mail (this forum) too. (I know this wasn't really a bug report)

(and maybe this thread should have been on the insim programs sub forum )

EDIT: insim programs sub forum = unofficial addons

What does it say? I noticed that for patch V and the default delay of 3 secs it can complain that "cannot change track during race". That can be fixed with setting like (I tried it so far with only non dedi server)...
wait=6000;
...or even higher if that's not enough (10000 is max).

Also if it has randomize=1; it can choose the same rotator entry again and then there is of course no change (unless possibly if you have used random ranges in some values). To make it change something always set it
randomize=2;
(and make sure there are at least 2 entries to choose from)

Also make sure the "track" entries you want to use have bias of 1 or higher (with 0 they are not used). (i.e. bias=1; )

Yes. Well, I was thinking to store the stars galaxy wise. In the beginning not even all the stars but the closest ones. Currently the distance data is way too inaccurate to even those behind the milky way core not mention other galaxies (we actually cannot see many of them behind the clouds around the core). So I wasn't even dreaming about other galaxies. Of course this would get constantly more accurate as you travel to other stars and the distance/location data becomes more accurate.

The expansion of universum can be seen well between galaxies, but in a single galaxy the stars rotate around the galaxy core mainly. Sometimes their orbits may be altered by nearby objects (like other stars and black holes etc) so the database would require some occasional updating. But same way you need to update normal maps.

About to find out where you are: There are things you can measure. (let's assume we know we are in the same galaxy) The distance and direction to galaxy core (huge margin for error if it is far). The finger print for nearby stars and their positions. With those you could limit the search to database, but there is at least one problem. There are 200e9 stars in Milky way, so we need lots of storage capacity and computational power to process such amount. If you dream to keep all of them, some kind of automated data input/update system would be needed.

It is indeed easier to know where you are and just aim for the target system and let the auto pilot keep the heading. But I think the idea was to have some kind of general map.

I noticed that some of the sets have _ char in car names instead of space. So to make them visible I had to replace _ chars with space. (Like FXO_GTR -> FXO GTR)

Damn odd, because I cannot make it not working for me

I was in belief nobody uses the track/car rotator (me including). So there haven't been much bug reports about it. Because LFS doesn't force car changes I haven't been very optimistic if anybody uses it. So I haven't put much effort on the rotator lately.

Maybe I need to take a look at it again

Quote from Shotglass :

...
wasnt that only to see into the future far enough to safely maneuver around objects in deep space at light speed ?

Could be. Cannot remember anymore so well. Maybe we should ask Spice Girls how it was?

Quote from JTbo :

I remember some of that book

Good explanation of navigation, thanks.

How about electro magnetic radiation of stars, you could regonize star by that when you know that you should be near some star so you can compare that signature to data you have and find out if you really are close to proper location.

Of course charting of space will be going on at some point I believe, putting those stars more accurately on place.

Actually that comparing of the signatures is an interesting idea... didn't think about it. There is just one thing... stars are not unchanging. It's signature changes with it's age, but for human lifetime they can be considered often constant. Of course you would need to update the chart everytime there is a supernova explosion or some other radical changes (like neutron star or black hole mutilates a normal star). Even in very early or late in their life cycle there can be rather fast (but in a way normal) changes.

Then there are these variable stars (Mira type and Cepheid variables). How that periodic size and temperature changes affect should be saved too.

I do not know how accurately you could tell two stars different by looking their spectra (if they are very similar). So are they as good as human finger prints or iris? Not at least in the way that they are not constant, but together with coordinate information you should have enough data for human lifetime... I think.

As a classification example: Sun is now G2V. In future it could become K2IV and M1III (temperatures pulled from a hat, but something like that) and in the end (after it died) e.g. DO1 (kind of a white dwarf).

In deep space flight there are few things to note (I think)...

What kind of coordinate system(s) to use. Like GPS has the origo in centre of Earth, while flights inside the solar system would benefit from the sun centered system. In interstellar flights you could use the solar centered and then switch to Alpha Centauri (or what ever star) centered when it comes closer. Otherwise you could use galaxy (or solar) centered system to define the positions of all stars.

For nearby objects the starship centered is the best. Like when docking to space station. For that short distances radar would be good to get the distance.

For aiming towards a distant star the auto pilot could aim the light point (star). For distance measurements the same methods could be used as for stars in general and close you could just measure the angle and get the distance (because we know the star type and size quite well for nearby stars) (d=radius/tan(angle/2)). But you need to be quite close to the star and requires very accurate instruments. This is almost like the parallax method used to measure closest stars (there the earth's motion around the Sun is used as the measuring stick and thus it is better for much longer distances, but still not much more than 100ly) (note: 1 parsec=parallax second=c. 3.26ly=distance to object which has 1 arc sec movement during 6 months).

If you are dropped into an orbit around a random star there would be difficulties finding out where you are. This is because stars and constellations at the sky would look different from what they look on Earth. Having a large 3D coord database of stars and their positions in the galaxy would help, but generally we do not know exactly how far they are from Sun. The closest stars like Alpha Centauri (4.3ly) and Sirius (8.7ly) are fairly accurately known, but in more distant stars they are huge (tens of lys) inaccuracies. That's why I do not have much faith in how some programs like Celestia display the star positions.

(end of science part... now starts the science fiction part)

In one scifi book they were not allowed to have computers. Instead they harvested some 'spice' from a surface of a planet (called Arrakis) and spaceship pilots used this 'stuff' to improve their thinking and allowed them to navigate between stars w/o computers (remember what book and computer game? Does sand worms help at all? )

Quote from Linsen :

Actually, no. My birthday is September 4th, which is why I chose 49 .

Hmmm...right Ok, maybe I need to clarify... Everybody must know what 666 means, but 42... it is from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book by Douglas Adams.

from Wikipedia...
"... Through archival recordings, he relates the story of a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who built a computer named Deep Thought to calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. When the answer was revealed as 42, they were forced to build a more powerful computer to work out what the Ultimate Question actually was, but their plans never come to fruition ..."

Maybe it needs to be a bit neard to know that

Quote from Forbin :

I would expect 1-12 to be pretty popular, followed by 13-31, and then maybe 75-95. Birthdays are pretty much the primary number associated with everyone, so when they try to find a number to identify themselves, that's what they tend to use.

Yep.. that's how I chose mine. Those who have numbers like 42 or 666 might have had different reasons.

Anyway... who ever updated the list didn't get my name quite right (must be too difficult)

I have a number only in one skin and it is 77.

When larger number of people have submitted their numbers we can make statistical analysis and call dr. Freud to make some conclusions why that number (what ever it is) is so popular.

Quote from DeKo :

what i dont get is that they are actually advertising uranium on a racing car?

It has nuclear (fission) powered engine naturally

Quote from frokki :

I apologise for making a double post, and giving finnish only links, but for spankmeyer's and everyones instance, it was not false information.

Vista OEM must be activated within 30 days from installation, and can only be activated once. If you change components (Im not sure of which components do count here, I hope it's just the mobo) of your PC, Vista must be activated again.

http://keskustelu.suomi24.fi/s ... posting=22000000021826425
http://www.tietokone.fi/uutta/ ... ews_id=28641&tyyppi=1

It's not a pain in the ass for end users only - retailers are in a difficult situation too. A computer shop that sells clone PC's will basically have to buy a new OEM license for the customer, if motherboard breaks under warranty time. I work in a retailer shop and we have no plans to start selling Vista OEM's with our clone PC's yet.

I hope that things are going to change, at least in Europe.

I understood they gave up that initial license idea. Now you can actually activate it more times.

Here's my (fast and crappy) translation of the last link (only partial)

"... Microsoft received so much user complains that they are now returning the license terms to level of Windows XP.

In Windows XP user is required to activate it. But as long as the old computer is removed from the net, you can move the same Windows OS into a new computer 5 times. And with the help of customer service as many times as you like.

Microsoft says that in Windows Vista the licensing returns to the same principle now, which means that moving (the OS) is not limited in practise."

I'm not absolutely sure, but I guess that 'moving' thing is same as reinstall and activation.

I bet they get these kind of mails every week...

"Dear sir.

Could you kindly sponsor me a Ferrari Enzo. I would put your firm logo to the bumper... honestly.

Yours, XXX

PS. I would also remember you kindly in my prayers every night before going to bed"

(I must feel myself total ass when next week LFSn00b tells that they got a sponsor deal )

Castrol... eh

Do you get sponsor money from the firm? If you do and share it with all the members, I'm ready to join immediately! (they could sponsor me a G25)

(I actually asked this from Repsol team year ago, but they didn't get any money... they must have had a bad manager )

Some legendary models. These are roughly in time order. Dunno if it would be nice to have them, because it is not cheap or easy to keep them in good condition and running.

Mercer T35 Raceabout
Bugatti type 35
Bentley 3 litre
BMW 328 (late 1930s)
Mercedes Benz W154 (1939)
Willys Jeep
Schwimwagen
Jaguar XK120
Mercedes Benz 300 SL (the 'gulf wing' car)
Jaguar e-type (early models before the not so nice V-12)
Porsche 356
Corvette Stingray (1960s)
Ford Mustang (1960s)
Shelby Cobra
Ferrari 250GTO

The later cars are not so interesting. Besides I think car has to have some age before it is 'classic'.

What I remember that 9800SE had(has) a 128bit bus while 9800(pro) has 256bit. Some of the SE cards you could get running with 256bit and all the full pipelines active (to make it 9800pro), but this wasn't the case with all SE cards. So success of reflashing the card depends on the card. This was few years ago, so I might not remember everything exactly correct.

(shouldn't this thread be on the HW gfx card section?)

Quote from danowat :

Sorry to correct you Tristan, but those big plane engines aren't (or at least not in my understanding), called ROTARY engines, they were/are indeed called RADIAL engines.

You are wrong. What comes to airplane engine, rotary and radial are different things (might look bit same but are different things). Rotary engines really rotate (like in Sopwith Camel) and were common during WWI, but radial engine does not (like in FW-190A - note 190D had an inline ) and were used later (like in WWII).

Here's a pic to one of the most famous rotary engines of all time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine

and here animated how it works...

http://www.keveney.com/gnome.html

speaking about terrorism...

http://www.videovat.com/videos ... flight-boarding-call.aspx

practical jokes are good

And full size gadgets?

http://www.livescience.com/technology/060301_spy_plane.html


Actually this concept has been thought before (like Soviets during WW2) but the damn thing has always been too heavy to fly or too complex

Quote from Stew2000 :

Anyone know of any good free Tank sims?

Not a 3D sim but...

http://www.steelpanthersonline.com/main.asp

Steel Panthers World at War

It's a topdown hex based (2D) tactical game (WWII). Really good and the graphics are good for such. The tanks have separate armour thickness and slope for for each side, turret sides and top. Hit angle affects penetration together with the distance, ammo type (HE, AP, APCR/sabot, HEAT). Not just tanks, but contain all the infantry, artillery, air and naval support. Can drop paratroopers and gliders. Personally I like the scene when a plane makes a strafing run over the battle field. Usually played in IGOUGO fashion against AI, but can play human opponents with hotseat, email and over internet.

You can play single scenarios or longer campaigns. Or create your own ones (campaigns too).

It is based on the DOS games of Steel Panthers series (I,II,III) from mid 1990s, but this version is a fully windows game with improved graphics and sounds.

If you prefer modern weapons, check this then

http://linetap.com/www/drg/SPCamo-4.htm

Steel Panthers MBT (MBT=Main Battle Tank)
(or actually WINSPMBT, because there was a version which was DOS based)

It is done by different people. The maps are not compatible (need conversion program) to SPWAW.

Some differences (to SPWAW) are that tanks might have HEAT armour (some ceramic armour) and reactive armour. The time span is from Korea to near future (c. 2010), so it adds jets and helos and AT guided missiles plus lot more.

Same people who made SPMBT also made SPWW2 (or WinSPWW2). It is like SPWAW, but again the maps are not compatible (without conversion). SPWW2 and SPWAW have bit different features and which one you prefer is up to you.

SPWW2 here http://linetap.com/www/drg/SPCamo-2.htm

If you like war games you should try these. 2D or hex based doesn't mean it is outdated or dull. Besides even older computers can run these.

Last edited by Aquilifer, Sat 20 Jan 2007, 13:09. Reason : typos

Quote from arco :

The best video from the 80's.

a-ha - Take on Me

A classic one. Also a nice excuse to advertise your own boys

I just remembered one pretty odd/awful one from 1995. Sorry if being posted before but most of the listed ones are so bad that I had no nerves to go through all of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3uo9OUGhqY
(Babylon Zoo - Spaceman)