I know my girlfriend used to play a bit of Civ back in the day (was it 3 back then? I don't remember) but I never really got into it myself. Tried the iPhone version but it felt a little clunky and dull. Maybe because I had no frame of reference for what I should be doing.
My PC probably won't run 5, but would you recommend I pick up a copy of 4 to give it a shot? I normally favour fast-paced stuff and I'm a big RTS fan, but I also like a lot of strategic puzzle games.
My PC probably won't run 5, but would you recommend I pick up a copy of 4 to give it a shot? I normally favour fast-paced stuff and I'm a big RTS fan, but I also like a lot of strategic puzzle games.
8 days? Holy crap. I got my replacement windscreen done on my driveway. Took the guy about half an hour 
It was covered by the insurance too, so I only had to pay the excess (which was like £50 or something). I don't need rain-sensing glass, I can see when it starts to get wet with my rain-sensitive eyes.
It was covered by the insurance too, so I only had to pay the excess (which was like £50 or something). I don't need rain-sensing glass, I can see when it starts to get wet with my rain-sensitive eyes.
In relation to my monitor? One of my colleagues. I guess I could throw her at the zombies to distract them and give me a head start.
A "volumetric, jiggling pitcrew"? Sounds like you've been getting your pit work carried out by some kind of Playboy-esque fantasy crew. Where do I sign up? I don't mind losing races as long as they wash the car when I come in for fuel.
I recommend everyone who hasn't already, sign up to www.petrolprices.com. It's not always up to date, but round here it's right 99% of the time. And they have an iPhone app
Finchley, North London
Esso, Whetstone
Petrol: 116.9
Diesel: 117.9
Finchley, North London
Esso, Whetstone
Petrol: 116.9
Diesel: 117.9
I'm pretty sure if they were interested in going that direction they would have already looked into that kind of model. I can understand from their perspective why they don't want to though - when you build something yourself you know exactly what it does and why. So when you're talking deformation, for example, you know that vertex x0125 (or whatever) is the front-right corner and can be moved 27 pixels before it starts overlapping and causing issues. Starting from scratch with someone else's model means you have to learn it all over again. And with 200k of them per car, you're looking at a lot of time dedicated to just that and a lot of places to go wrong.
They look stunning, there's no doubt about it. But I still don't see any major issues with the cars as they are now. They look like real cars, they're simple enough to texture. They might benefit from a little bit more polycount, but I don't think they need it.
You get to a point where adding detail stops being about how it looks and starts being about being because you can. Does it really matter, for example, if the rear vent of the Carrera sticks up off the body panel? In terms of a game, not really. So there's a couple of dozen polys and vertices you're rendering for no reason. How detailed do you make the window sills? Do you really need a curve of rubber on the sides of the glass? There's another few dozen unnecessary polys.
200k polys * 32 cars on the field = nearly 6.5 million polys on just vehicles. Not too bad for most graphics cards from the last few years. But cars that detailed look silly against low detailed tracks, so they'd need done again too. If you go for detail rather than "this looks good and does everything we need it to" then it's an endless struggle for little to no gain.
I was quite disappointed when I opened this thread though. I thought simfan had actually made highly detailed versions of the LFS cars himself.
They look stunning, there's no doubt about it. But I still don't see any major issues with the cars as they are now. They look like real cars, they're simple enough to texture. They might benefit from a little bit more polycount, but I don't think they need it.
You get to a point where adding detail stops being about how it looks and starts being about being because you can. Does it really matter, for example, if the rear vent of the Carrera sticks up off the body panel? In terms of a game, not really. So there's a couple of dozen polys and vertices you're rendering for no reason. How detailed do you make the window sills? Do you really need a curve of rubber on the sides of the glass? There's another few dozen unnecessary polys.
200k polys * 32 cars on the field = nearly 6.5 million polys on just vehicles. Not too bad for most graphics cards from the last few years. But cars that detailed look silly against low detailed tracks, so they'd need done again too. If you go for detail rather than "this looks good and does everything we need it to" then it's an endless struggle for little to no gain.
I was quite disappointed when I opened this thread though. I thought simfan had actually made highly detailed versions of the LFS cars himself.
No, you don't have to complete any of the tutorials. There's no cars or tracks to unlock, everything just comes with the S2 license.
Not even watched it, but I'd ban the Corsa simply for being a Corsa.
Anyone in or around the Stevenage area can come along to the Coach & Horses where we'll be playing for a couple of hours tomorrow night from about 9pm. Free entry and everything!
And here's a more detailed update for anyone interested.
During the summer we filmed our first music video. All recorded in a single day in some very very expensive pub (£6 for a bottle of beer? GTFO). Hard work, but good. Who'd have thought pretending to play a 3 minute song a few times would be tiring? The A&R people have said we're not allowed to share it yet, but everyone so far has been really impressed with it.
We followed that up with a photoshoot in the same place where I was forced to have a dodgy haircut. Not impressed. But it's grown out now so that's all good.
We got a runners-up prize in the International Acoustic Music Awards with our song Without You, which is pretty damn cool, especially since it's not actually an acoustic song. Not sure exactly how many bands entered, but they quote "thousands" in their emails. But to even get a prize against that number is great.
The album is due out early next year - February, March time. It's called South of the City and you want a copy. Touring Europe in the summer of 2011.
And here's a more detailed update for anyone interested.
During the summer we filmed our first music video. All recorded in a single day in some very very expensive pub (£6 for a bottle of beer? GTFO). Hard work, but good. Who'd have thought pretending to play a 3 minute song a few times would be tiring? The A&R people have said we're not allowed to share it yet, but everyone so far has been really impressed with it.
We followed that up with a photoshoot in the same place where I was forced to have a dodgy haircut. Not impressed. But it's grown out now so that's all good.
We got a runners-up prize in the International Acoustic Music Awards with our song Without You, which is pretty damn cool, especially since it's not actually an acoustic song. Not sure exactly how many bands entered, but they quote "thousands" in their emails. But to even get a prize against that number is great.
The album is due out early next year - February, March time. It's called South of the City and you want a copy. Touring Europe in the summer of 2011.
Last edited by Dajmin, .
My main guitar was a cheapo but it sounds fantastic. Epiphone LP100, which (for those who don't know) is basically just a Les Paul replica without the signature on the head. It's also the narrow-body model, because I find the wide-body ones with the cornered edges very uncomfortable to use.
Got it about 12 years ago and have loved it ever since. Even if I could afford to replace it with a "real" Les Paul I wouldn't because it's just the perfect guitar for me. Obviously I'd take others AS WELL but I wouldn't replace it.
Conversely, our guitarist seems to have magic fingers. I can use the same guitar, the same amp and the same pick as him and I get a totally different sound. When I play it sounds like a person playing a guitar. When he plays it sounds like HIM playing the guitar. The swine
Got it about 12 years ago and have loved it ever since. Even if I could afford to replace it with a "real" Les Paul I wouldn't because it's just the perfect guitar for me. Obviously I'd take others AS WELL but I wouldn't replace it.
Conversely, our guitarist seems to have magic fingers. I can use the same guitar, the same amp and the same pick as him and I get a totally different sound. When I play it sounds like a person playing a guitar. When he plays it sounds like HIM playing the guitar. The swine
My amp has such a fantastic overdriven sound that it doesn't need any external effects (other than the odd bit of wah), so everything I use gets stuck through the effects loop rather than in a chain like that - but I'm not a guitarist so I don't think I count
Our guitarist has a Suhr (which is a Strat-based design) and it has an amazing sound. The neck pickup has a thick, rich sound heading towards Les Paul flavour (although obviously not quite) and the bridge pickup brings out the top end without getting twangy.
And it looks like a hybrid between the jagged Ibanez/Jackson shape and the traditional curvy Strat.
Our guitarist has a Suhr (which is a Strat-based design) and it has an amazing sound. The neck pickup has a thick, rich sound heading towards Les Paul flavour (although obviously not quite) and the bridge pickup brings out the top end without getting twangy.
And it looks like a hybrid between the jagged Ibanez/Jackson shape and the traditional curvy Strat.
I used a slightly less brave version. Since I chose Royalty for my first playthrough I worked out that they seem to get confused about which spell to use against you when you're middle-distance away. So a backwards roll put you out of their point-blank stun but not far enough that they use the spear. So I just chain Soul Arrow until they drop. Takes 4 shots. No trouble.
But I also fell to my death a couple of times, and that's nobody's fault but mine. And amazingly embarrassing
Thankfully I'm past that level now, although I might need to go back to finish the rescue task for Mr Shouty, the "help me" guy.I got this last weekend and have to say I'm loving it. It's the kind of game that reminds me why I love gaming in the first place.
The genius part of the difficulty is that it rarely feels like the game is being unfair (although I did think that about the guards on the first prison level for a bit). It always feels like you've died because you did something wrong. It's frustratingly brilliant.
Had my first PvP invasion as well, in the middle of an area I'd never been before, which scared the crap out of me. He ran up to me so I started slashing away at him, expecting my untimely expiry. He ran off and must have fallen to his death because the next thing I knew it told me I'd been victorious
The genius part of the difficulty is that it rarely feels like the game is being unfair (although I did think that about the guards on the first prison level for a bit). It always feels like you've died because you did something wrong. It's frustratingly brilliant.
Had my first PvP invasion as well, in the middle of an area I'd never been before, which scared the crap out of me. He ran up to me so I started slashing away at him, expecting my untimely expiry. He ran off and must have fallen to his death because the next thing I knew it told me I'd been victorious
I recently picked up a DFGT and I'm loving it. Brilliant upgrade over my old wheel, which was a budget job with a 90 degree rotation.
I have nothing to add about the spill itself. I think it's appalling it took so long to deal with and that it's still going on all this time later. I don't understand what's causing the hold up, other than typical boardroom politics.
The only potentially good thing that could come out of this is more people eager to move to alternative fuel sources. Electric cars are coming, and for that industry I guess this couldn't have happened at a better time.
The only potentially good thing that could come out of this is more people eager to move to alternative fuel sources. Electric cars are coming, and for that industry I guess this couldn't have happened at a better time.
I just came back after a long time away, since I just used some of my birthday money to pick up a new wheel. Been having a blast too. Still too many servers running XFG/XRG BL1, but I can deal with that while I get back into the swing.
I forgot how much fun it is when you're in a close race with people. And since I can't drive IRL right now, this is the closest I'm going to get for another few weeks
I forgot how much fun it is when you're in a close race with people. And since I can't drive IRL right now, this is the closest I'm going to get for another few weeks
The difference being that the electricity produced by power plants will only get cleaner as the tech improves, whereas an internal combustion engine only gets dirtier over time
Page just updated to the Install Game button, so get in there. 2Gb download, so I feel sorry for you guys who had time to make a post while downloading 1.5Mb 
And earplugs.
Now trying to eBay a wheel so I can get racing again
I don't mind some of the balancing measures that are put in place on servers. Forcing extra weight or intake restrictions is just fine, because it keeps the racing closer until the devs can catch up and rebalance the cars themselves.
On the other hand, I don't want to log into a racing sim and be forced to go through an RPG. If I want to drive the FXO, I don't want to have to grind through dozens and dozens of races on a different server until I can "unlock" that car.
If you're a middle pack finisher (like I was) then it takes literally hundreds of races to level up to the point where you can finally get into the car you originally wanted to drive. That's hardly fair. And if there's only one server running that car then choices are pretty limited.
I know someone is going to say that I'm entitled to start my own server, but I don't have the machine power to do that. Hosting on a home rig (especially my aging one) just isn't practical and there'd be lag all over the place if I did that. So I'd be racing solo, which is just lame.
So I'm all for the anti-cheating measures, the balancing and the anti-wrecker and griefer systems that were in place a couple of years back, but I think it has gone too far now. It's great for the winners, but you can be a clean, safe, fair driver who simply lacks the speed to win and never actually get the chance to race where you want to. Keep the regulations but lose the unlocks and I'd be happy.
On the other hand, I don't want to log into a racing sim and be forced to go through an RPG. If I want to drive the FXO, I don't want to have to grind through dozens and dozens of races on a different server until I can "unlock" that car.
If you're a middle pack finisher (like I was) then it takes literally hundreds of races to level up to the point where you can finally get into the car you originally wanted to drive. That's hardly fair. And if there's only one server running that car then choices are pretty limited.
I know someone is going to say that I'm entitled to start my own server, but I don't have the machine power to do that. Hosting on a home rig (especially my aging one) just isn't practical and there'd be lag all over the place if I did that. So I'd be racing solo, which is just lame.
So I'm all for the anti-cheating measures, the balancing and the anti-wrecker and griefer systems that were in place a couple of years back, but I think it has gone too far now. It's great for the winners, but you can be a clean, safe, fair driver who simply lacks the speed to win and never actually get the chance to race where you want to. Keep the regulations but lose the unlocks and I'd be happy.
I'd hate to believe that the music I spend hours deliberating over, pour my soul into and then spend tons of money recording wasn't worth anything to anybody. Piracy might be easy now and so rife that it can't be beaten (which we're all guilty of), but that's still doesn't make it right.
On the other hand, whoever said that the industry and particularly the artists need to evolve was right. If you're losing money on album sales you have two other options for income - merchandise and gigs. If you're not gigging then you best hope you have deep pockets because the money you have isn't going to last long. When artists like Jacko and Madonna start doing concerts after 20 years off you know something's up.
And the next time you wonder why a concert ticket that was £15 in 1996 is now £50 (unless you're Bon Jovi, in which case your tickets will range from £120 to £1200 for the O2) you can comfort yourself that you've made up the difference all the times you downloaded the newest album rather than buying it
On the other hand, whoever said that the industry and particularly the artists need to evolve was right. If you're losing money on album sales you have two other options for income - merchandise and gigs. If you're not gigging then you best hope you have deep pockets because the money you have isn't going to last long. When artists like Jacko and Madonna start doing concerts after 20 years off you know something's up.
And the next time you wonder why a concert ticket that was £15 in 1996 is now £50 (unless you're Bon Jovi, in which case your tickets will range from £120 to £1200 for the O2) you can comfort yourself that you've made up the difference all the times you downloaded the newest album rather than buying it
I got the original Crackdown with my 360 and the first time I played it I didn't like it. I put it away and ended up picking it up again a few months later and couldn't put it down. The secret to enjoying it is not taking it seriously at all. It's all tongue and cheek and you need to understand that to properly enjoy it.
I tried the Crackdown 2 demo the other day and enjoyed it too. Doesn't really scream of much in the way of totally new features, but I'm hoping they've done a bit more towards having a proper story this time around.
I tried the Crackdown 2 demo the other day and enjoyed it too. Doesn't really scream of much in the way of totally new features, but I'm hoping they've done a bit more towards having a proper story this time around.
If they can't do it online then they can't win races from it. If the hotlaps get removed then they can't even boast their times. The only person they can show off to is themselves, and they know they had to cheat to do it.
As they say, crime doesn't pay. Oh, wait...
No idea why people say that; if it didn't pay, people wouldn't do it
No idea why people say that; if it didn't pay, people wouldn't do it
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG