i used to have it - i'm not sure if i still have the disc somewhere, but it never was interesting enough to really drive it. just tried it and uninstalled it after 3 or 4 laps

i like tweaks layout - would be worth a try

Quote from gloom :

we at n1 racing will go for the "best looking team" award, being such a bunch of handsome ladykillers.

pictures to prove it?

but since the LfS community is 99% male, i guess ladykillers won't win much, ace

make that 2 teams - although we aren'T quite a contender for one of the top spots..

hm nice idea

i would change it a little bit though - give credits by license tests OR online races.. - use these credits to unlock the cars for online use
keep the XFG, UF1 and XRG free for online use, so that online points can be earned without passing the tests

do not unlock any offline cars, since it won't hurt anyone if some inexperienced drivers take the FO8 for a ride offline - but it would help them get to know the faster cars.

make unlock-steps every 100 or 150 credits - and award 100-150 credits for each completed series of driving lessons - so if you pass all XFG tests, you'll get the RB4 unlocked, if you pass the next set of tests, you'll get the FXO unlocked and so on - or if you don't want to pass tests, you can race a few online races and get the necessary points there

thanks - i did get the PM.. no mail though... but since the PM arrived, that'S no big problem

i didn't get the invitation mail, although the team is listed (#2 twister-racing)

i checked my spam filters but there was no invitation as well...

Quote from Mattesa :

Now compare it with... everybody's favourite punching bag, GT4....

i can't compare it, because it'S a PS2 game and i do not own one

but even the GT series has the same scheme - you do not get the new graphics if you own GT1 once GT2, GT3 or GT4 comes out - you also do not get the new physics or other features, you have to buy every single copy

that's what i wanted to say with my comparison - i do not want to compare gameplay (how can i compare gameplay of LfS with madden football or championship manager) it was just and only related to the quote, that some people see it as one game costing 3 times 12 pounds or 3 times 18 euros - which is the wrong way to look at it in my eyes

when S1 came out, it wasn't worse than most of the games available at that time - thus it was real cheap. now even without getting a S2 license, you can upgrade your S1 game for free to all the new S2 innovations - you can't do that to any other game that age (at least not from the developers and without 3rd party mods) and you will be able to upgrade it to all S3 innovations, as soon as S3 is out (using soon related to the S3 release sounds strange to me *g*)

you're only forced to buy new licenses to get additional content

if this content is worth the 12 pounds/18 euros is up to everyone to decide (i think it is - that's why there is an S2 licensed under my name)

Quote from Mattesa :

That's an interesting point of view.

I see S3 as being the LFS game, and S2 S1 as decontented versions. IMO it's quite expensive if you consider that in some ways LFS has a lot less tangible content than its competitors, at a higher price. It is a niche product, with a niche product price point.

hm compare it to EA's F1 sims or to papys NR series

you buy lets say NR2002 - and when NR2003 comes out, you do not automatically get the new physics and graphics features for free, you have to buy NR2003

same goes for allmost every other sports game - championship manager or the NHL/FIFA/NBA/Madden Football/PES series, it doesn'T matter

and also the arcade racers like NFS or race driver do it this way. if you bought TOCA/DTM race driver 1, you won't get the nice new graphics and changes to the physics for free with the release of the 2nd or 3rd of the series

LfS is the only game i know, that gets all the updated features for free (like graphics, physics, damage, tire model...) - and just the addon content has to be paid for (tracks and cars)

so if you look at it this way, it is a real bargain

Last edited by DasKlee, Fri, 2 Sep 2005 16:47.

Quote from X-Ter :

I got to agree
20 cars on track and 40 connections allowed (41 with admin). Don't know how it would effect online play, but still, it would be worth a try

39 would be enough - since endu races (if taken seriously) have a rolling start, so you need at least 1 safety car and 19 racecars. if the admin drives the safety-car, that would leave 19x2=38 players on track/in pit lane for driver changes

Quote from Mrs FienDi :

I used to arrange the pools so that all new members race their first event in the lowest pool, and then in the next race they're racing in the pool they're supposed to be racing in. It makes the lowest pool very uneven, but this is one way of doing it. It doesn't prevent team strategies completely, but it makes it a bit harder for them.

actually i don't like this, because drivers in the lowest pool will have to face 'aliens' without a chance of winning - and since probably at least one new driver will join every race, the regular pool 4/5/6 (which ever is the lowest) drivers will never win a single race

i just came up with another idea. drivers will not get any points for their first season race. the only races where new drivers get points are the first 2 (or 3) races.
in any of the following races, they will be able to race but treated as guest starters with no influence on the overall poinst ranking

if a new driver finishes 4th, he gets zero points in his first race and the 5th will be treated as 4th place

this applies only to the first race of a driver, so in his second appearance, he will get all the earned points and if he makes his first arrearance before race 2 or 3, he will get points for every race

Quote from inCogNito :

just leave the numberplate empty...

(if you want a text on the plate, just use a colored text)

that would still leave blank yellow and white plates on the bumpers

Quote from GeForz :

or simply have the "name" displayed in the window and not the "plate"? ^^

i'd also like to see that - but try to fit 18 characters in a UFR window

if that isn't possible i would appreciate it, not to have any window names at all (and for the FO cars no name at all) making it possible to include the name and flag into the skin

or if that also is impossible, at least get rid of the license plates on the race cars

i'd also like to see an increase of maximum connections without increasing the number of drivers on track

look at the rules of lfs-endu - you're allowed to come on to the server for a drivers change only in the last sector of the track - good idea because it probably saves you from having too many teams attempting driver changes at the same time. this way, there won't be many substitute drivers sitting in the pits waiting for the change and blocking the few spectator spots

but then again, what happens if you blow a tire directly before the pit entrance and head in a lap early? or what happens if the teammate has problems logging onto the race server - he doesn't have much time to do it, after he gets the teamspeak command of the driving teammate - especially in 'changed strategy' situations like accidents/blown tires just before the pit entrance

so either way you try to tackle the cockpit change problem, you will run into problems or have to decrease the number of cars racing.

the LFS-TV application could help as well, because you'll at least be able to watch your teammates while waiting for the change and could act as a 'spotter' telling him about upcoming traffic, slow cars, accidents and other things that could change a race strategy

Quote from Mrs FienDi :

This issue has been on the table for a loooong time. Sorry, but not gonna happen as long as me and FienDi have anything to say about this..

sounds good to me as i'm no friend of this either - it was just a suggestion to fight these 'last race tactics' mentioned before, which were in the eyes of some of you guys (including one of your organising-team) some sort of cheating

being a newbie myself, i'm glad to see you guys (and girl) trying to keep this league beginner friendly. it wouldn't have been an issue with a 2 event season like the last one, but in a season lasting several months, it will scare people off

Quote from al heeley :

Yep, good point. Once GPL was split open, there were a number of factors that influenced the ai performance, and EA's F1 series was the same, with parameters for agression, skill, ability to recover, chance-taking, flat out straight speed and cornering speed, moving off the racing line to try and overtake, etc. etc. etc, that enabled you to either get the ai to learn to race to your level, using your pb as a standard to set their own performace to, or allow ai to be edited to give you the sort of race you wanted. Original gpl (and EA's F1) soon had all the cars well spaced after 3 laps, this ai tweaking allowed you to bring them all close together again for some really good races against apparently intelligent opposition.

hehe yup would be great to have these options as well, but you'Re 3 or 4 steps further than me. i'd be pleased with a little more randomness of the drivers which wouldn't make them act as stupid bots and run at the same pace and same line all the race, peacefully one after the other...

to correct this, the possibility to edit them wouldn'T even be needed (although i agree it would be great to have that option) - i'm asking for/suggesting much less - every little step in this direction is a change for the better and i wouln't mind the devs taking one after another (but certainly wouldn't mind them going all the way also )

i may be able to help here - i'm currently waiting for the confirmation of my DSL6000 upgrade, which would mean 512kb up..

i'd also have a spare computer to host the races, but i can't make a promise before the upgrade really works - and i hope it will soon, but maybe not before the start of the new season...

there's one thing i'd like to see the AI do (apart from pitting hat is)
and that is racing against each other. they do not race each other, they just drive around. almost no overtaking or position changes after the first lap and i never witnessed any changes after lap 2 if you run equally trained AI drivers in single car classes

there is no randomness factor and they seem to drive at 100% every time - papy used to have values from x%-x% to define how good a driver or car is - and some races or even some laps he was racing near the upper limit and then again near the lower limit

i know LfS is an 'online racing simulator' and the offline part isn't the main feature of the game, but then again, there are tons of peple (especially in this or former in the RSC forums) that tell inexperienced drivers to 'go and practice offline' instead of 'disturbing their races online'

this way, the beginners that get scared away by these arrogant 'superdrivers' would at least have a little fun with LfS while they get better and wouldn't be scared off the game completely, because they could enjoy real races and even some self designed leagues and also would learn to overtake cars batteling each other and not only driving one after another - which would be much closer to what will happen on the servers if they finally make it back online

Quote from Mrs FienDi :

We can of course try to prevent these things (sandbag driving and team strategies) by making new rules.

How about something like this..

"If a racer is known to be one of the fastest racers in OLFSL races, but suddenly drops to one of the lower pools in several races, he can be punished for it."

"Team strategies are not allowed. If we see a team strategy (for example 2 racers protecting their team mate by blocking other racers) a penalty will be given."

Would this be good? I doubt you want to see this in the rules but it can be arranged.

actually i think a larger difference between pos. 15 of pool 1 and pos. 1 of pool 2 should do the trick, but then again, some people would start complaining that the hotlaps are too important
in my eyes the overall ranking is important for the top 10-15 drivers, so i think they would end up in pool 1 most of the time anyways - and for the rest of the drivers, a competitive race against drivers of equal strength is the main reason to be in the league - they do care about the overall rankings, but not as much as a driver racing around pos. 5 or 6

and blocking is in my eyes part of the competition - as long as it's for your own position - blocking by deliberately going slower than usual and trying to widen the gap between your teammate ahead of you and your following drivers is something different and shouldn't be allowed. but it's very hard to proove it and i bet there will be very long discussions about any actions taken because of this in the future, if you decide to make it illegal

disallowing racers to join mid season like solar hydro suggested is also a possible way to handle unwanted team-play situations like in the last race - actually a rule i would like to see - you have to subscribe before the start of the season but it's up to you if you race all or just a few races. this way there will still be a lot of room left for these last race tactics, but at least it will prevent some of it

i wouldn't force the drivers to race in every race there is though, because we all have a real life away from LfS and it simply is impossible for every interested driver to be in every single race

Quote from SniperX :

Its possible to copy the directory with license (at least the main menu still reports me as a S2 licensed racer). But that will not be any different than selecting another player name in the original LFS installation.
(Online stats will still be collected for the registered name)

:-)

that's why it was suggested here

have your (licensed) friend copy his own LfS instalation on CD, come over to your house, put the (on your friend licensed) copy on your PC and have him run races online on his name

but since scawen pointed out that changing the license of a previously licensed version doesn't count as unlock, this way is far easier than gunn's my suggestion of a second installation

Quote from tailing :

Did you re-install or just use an image? Afaik your windows install is one of the things LFS uses to make a unique ID for your machine.

i did a fresh install back then (HDD was changed) but i'm not sure why it worked then.. maybe a bug

Quote from SniperX :

You can have several "names" on one licensed account, each with seperate local stats. The online stats are for the registered licence name (and will reflect "bad" driving).
If some of your friends get banned, it's your (S1/S2) account that is banned. (and not the selected player name)

To have two licenses on one computer you can copy the LFS directory and install a seperate S1/S2 licence on the second directory.



Edit Sloooow typing...

never tried it, because i have no 2nd license here, so maybe the copy option is the better alternative

as far as i know, all stored data is inside the LfS main folder, so copying it should also copy the unlock and your license - so if he puts his LfS version (unlocked on his license-name) on a cd, he should be able to use it everywhere without wasting his unlocks.
i would be careful where i place it though - to prevent others from driving with my license and getting me into trouble

EDIT: SniperX have you ever tried it? i think you can just copy it. you could in S1 and i think you still can in S2. i backed up my S1 folder because i reinstalled windows and i didn't have to unlock it, after copying the folder back onto the hard drive

Last edited by DasKlee, Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:26.

Quote from --==Gogo==-- :

Is it possible to change the user for one LfS Installation on one PC?
I ask this because some friends visit me from time to time for racing. And i don't want them to ruin my statistics!

Another question: Is it possible that more than one PC can connect to LfS from one Internet-Connection? Some games made problems when trying to play with more PCs on one internet-connection. (IP is the same for all PCs?? - Thats how a friend explained me this problem).

Thanx!

you can change change the driver-profile used in S2, so having to different licenses on one installation should pe possible

and connecting from various PCs through the same IP is also possible, if your connection is fast enough to handle it.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Okay with the new system, lets see some scenarios...

Race 1:
Driver one pits at half distance for his mandatory stop, but crosses the line on the track.
Driver two pits at 3/4 distance for his mandatory stop, but gets damaged at start of final lap, necessitating a pitstop. He crosses the line in the pits.
Driver three plans to pit on penultimate lap, but gets stop-go penalty. LFS realises it's the penultimate lap, so converts it to a +15 sec penalty. He crosses the line on the track.
Driver 4 plans to pit on penultimate lap, but misses pitlane (forgetful :P), and ends up pitting on the final lap (nearly running out of fuel). Mandatory pitstop not made in 'window', so he is DQ'd.

Driver 1: 1 Visit to pits within window
Driver 2: 2 Visits to pit, one within window - not DQ'd
Driver 3: 1 Visit to pit, within window, plus an added time penalty
Driver 4: 1 Visit to pits, Not within window, DQ'd.

It's okay to FINISH the race in the pits, but NOT okay to Finish in the pitlane during a MANDATORY pitstop.
Having a window, even as simple as not 1st lap or last lap (you're own last lap, not the leaders last lap) would stop 'cheating' and make everyone have more fun. If the 'windows' were configurable that'd be even better.

Of course, people would end up wanting pit apples instead of pit windows, or even pit linux's occasionally. But we can't cater for ALL tastes :P

nothing more to add - this is the way it should be implemented and make racing more interesting and fair for all racers

Quote from joshdifabio :

If you were able to get to the pits on the last lap you'd be able to get the the finish line so there would be no point pitting on the last lap for a puncture/damage/fuel. Unless of course you had to do a mandatory stop.

or you didn't know the leader will lap you (again?) while standing in the pits - not very likely when running 9 mile circuits but on the oval or other short tracks, this does happen quite a few times since laptimes are under a minute and a large repair work costs time