Considering only Word and Excel are useful, and the Office '07 ribbon UI is a natural disaster.. I can't see what's to jump up n down with joy about

I thought by now, most people (who wanted a copy) would have a copy of office '03 (by whatever means). I won't be "upgrading" my '03 version until it becomes entirely obsolete as the UI actually makes sense and is accessible.



Regards,

Ian

What I _really_ can't believe is that the OP wasn't happy with his original 4 page thread.. oh no boys and girls! He needs to create another one too!

You need a life........... or something. I'll start a whipround

I seriously hope the OP uses cockpit view, never uses the F9 / F10 arcade displays... realism boys and girls.. realism! Need that realism factor sitting in an office chair holding a cheap plastic steering wheel



Regards,

Ian

Thanks for the offer B. I've just copied a download over to my home server and sent Anim a PM. All should be good to grab it from there



Regards,

Ian

Quote from ajp71 :

AFAIK this version is 'legal' for RSC and has had some kind of permission from SimBin, so I'd guess it does either properly check for a GTL CD or use the files from your GTL install. Nodoubt there'll be an alternative version out on the torrent sites soon enough

heh, don't know how long it'll take, but I thought most people knew (who need to know) putting protection checks in installers is like installing a firewall on a win98 box You don't even need to run the installer.



Regards,

Ian

Hi Anim..

Quote from Animanera :

Sorry Ian, but this link: http://dsrc.digiserv.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1331 give me an error

Can you let me know exactly what error? I'll look into fixing whatever it is if you can let me know some details



Regards,

Ian

Quote from dadge :

i hear ya guys. but the title of this thread did indicate a rant of some form. so i would expect multiple rants about the same subject. i totally agree with you on most things you mentioned ian, and in time (we hope) they will all be fixed or made better. i for one would like to have a "wind down a window and flip the bird" button but i don't think that's on the to do list :s
i'm not too fussed on the cockpit updates because i use the custom view (wheels only), but maybe these new cockpits will be enough to make me switch to the cockpit view.
i 100% agree with you on the col-detect. sometimes it's just plain sickening. was it GPL that had the H block for the gear indicator? now that i could live with.

I think most things I mentioned will be fixed at some point. The likes of transparent windows is IIRC, something to do with the graphic engine's lack of ability to use multiple alpha channels at the same spot in the scene, which no doubt will be updated for S3. Some things I mentioned probably won't change, like multiple views as afterall, it is a game and although I like cockpit view, not everyone does.

Quote :

i think the old austins (montego)had digital speedos and a gear indicator. but they were ahead of their time and was soon dropped.

Ahh good ol' classics! I didn't know they had a gear indicator in them.. only that early Maestros had that annoying "please fasten your seatbelt" voice. I do remember the old (Mk2) Astra GTEs having a digital speedo display, but can't remember exactly what was displayed on there other than speed, revs and fuel etc.

All in all, I just find it quite amusing how some can get worked up so much over this, yet stay quiet and accept other bits. End of the day it doesn't bother me either way. It does still surprise me though just how many times LPH gets downloaded. I knew some liked it, but nearing 2000 downloads from my own site I wasn't expecting considering what it is / does.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from dadge :

in the same sense......

how many men do you have round you when you play lfs, telling you your race position, tyre temps and damage? that's why we have the F keys.

But surely that would be limited pretty much to higher-end racing classes (GTR / BF1 / single seaters except MRT etc). At most for other classes, I'd expect you'd be notified if you had bodywork hanging off (that doesn't happen either, my real car falls apart when I crash hard).

Just for the record too, I know I pointed out a lot of things that I consider unrealistic.. they mostly don't bother me to any extent (although the collision detection is somewhat appalling and bugs the hell out of me at times). They were just things I know are apparent.. but also know some will be part of the ongoing WIP.. maybe the likes of safety devices etc will be a part of the cockpit updates, whenever they appear. It wasn't a "bash LFS" moment before anyone suggests it

Quote :

there's quite a few road going cars that show you what gear your in (new cars) even the wee smart car jobby did.

I've never driven or been in any road car with a manual box that had a gear display indicator, but if you say some do, I won't argue that as I don't know.

Quote :

how would you know that the seat are comfy? it's only a game......it's not real

hah.. good call. Take that as 'comfy looking'



Regards,

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Tue 18 Sep 2007, 14:19.

Quote from dadge :

tell that to the guy who won the bmw. the platform on which people use to race on is irrelevant, just because real people compete in a virtual environment, doesn't mean that the races are not real (in a sense).

Whether prizes are real or not is immaterial.. the fact is that this is a game, it's _not_ real.

Quote :

but hey you made the dude, so of course you will get all defensive over it.

Not at all really. All I made was a tool to make the change easy, I started doing it (to find out what could be used) with just a hex editor, so I have no reason to get all defensive about it really, it's in LFS and modifiable with or without the tool I coded. And FWIW, I don't use it myself.

I did also make a post in the coder's section asking Scawen if there was a byte or 2 that could be changed in MPR files that would update the player model. I tried hacking the replay data myself with a hex editor but the bytes I found and edited did change the driver model, but also added a passenger and made the car drive around the track like a pogostick. I had planned on perhaps adding another function to LPH to "reset driver models" or whatever, but never got an answer (granted this'd have no effect while racing, but replays could be "fixed" for people wanting to make videos etc).

Quote :

but back to the point. when you race side by side with another player (and you look beside you to see where he is) you don't see harnesses or fire extinguishers, but you do see their heads.

Maybe not.. but what about my own cockpit? I see that.. and yet still no safety devices anywhere in any of them.. and I see the contents of my own cockpit far more than I do looking across at others.

How many race tracks do you see with ramps being added to them for "stunts"? Can't remember the last race track I went to that those inplace.. yet they're part of LFS' core structure. How many cars have big invisible poles poking out the back so you can drive them like radio controlled cars? How may cars have "2 way bodies" that you can't see through from one direction, yet are entirely transparent from the inside? How many cars have a _perfectly transparent_ windscreen? How many cars have F9-F12 display screens? How many road going manual cars have gear indicators? How many cars have FPS dials mounted in the dash? How many race cars (read: GTR spec) have comfy reclining leather Recaro replicas?

IMO, there's far more important stuff to fix regarding LFS' realism factor than getting stressed over whether someone's driver has a bump hat on or not. Maybe I'm not "hardcore" enough and see LFS (or any other race sim for that matter) for what it is.. a computer game.



Regards,

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Tue 18 Sep 2007, 13:07.

Quote from Shotglass :

i just find it ironic that its you who makes the no 1 tool for doriftokiddies

Actually this was around way before (read: back in S1 days) I entertained writing an app to do it. Can't even remember how I came across the byte in the PLY file to change it now as that definitely never used to be the way back then.

It was never coded with a particular audience in mind.. I'm just a coder and like experimenting. I just don't see how this can make LFS any less realistic when you have barriers that launch you to the moon, infinite sized cogs for gearboxes in road going cars, no rollcage in road going cars (not a requirement for track days, but amateur racing with the likes of slightly modified street cars (Ford RS Challenge springs to mind) require such devices), no fire extinguishers in any car(!) and no driver restraining devices. While LFS is good, it's nowhere near realistic when viewing the whole picture.. regardless of how good the tyre / suspension physics might be.



Regards,

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Tue 18 Sep 2007, 11:58.

Quote from Gil07 :

I have to say I agree with you on the whole (hell, even I, no programmer at all am getting tired by the constant "insim requests"), but what he said in spanish there was that he didn't know it was so complicated to make such an app, and he apologises if he has offended anyone

Thanks Gil.. Spanish wasn't offered back in school, and I've never been to Spain so had little reason to learn Spanish off my own back.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from Racer Y :

[ snip ]

And look at it this way, just WHAT does a real race car driver wear when they drive and RB-4 or an XRR? and don't real race car drivers use equipment that is different from class to class and type of racing?

[ snip ]

Good point.. and the funny part, is that people want to force race suits and bump hats.. yet no one seems concerned that the drivers have no safety features in the cockpit.. no seatbelt, race harness, fire extinguisher etc etc etc.

All of this really just makes me chuckle and I pity the people who really think holding a £50 plastic wheel staring at a flat screen makes them some kind of real racing driver....... fsckin retards



Regards,

Ian

Hi all

0.4.0.91 released.

Now possible to retrieve drivers and laptimes from the Hotlap Chart (ie: per car / track combo) and to retrieve and display your own uploaded hotlap data

Changelog and download info in [POST=407199]post #1[/POST].



Dan.. the hotlap data added in this version isn't quite what you asked for.. the MHR data isn't available via pubstats, but I've asked Vic if he can make it available. If so, I'll add it. Hopefully the hotlap info now available in LRM will be useful in the mean time



Regards,

Ian

Hi Dan..

Quote from danowat :

Couple of feature requests, not sure if it's even possible, but what the hey........

1) Better intergration with LFSW, I would like to be able to upload spr's from the replay manager if at all possible.

I'll look into this. IIRC, GenerAL asked about this way back near the first release too. I'll drop Vic a mail and clear it with him first as remote submission of form data is usually considered "rude" at best for most sites

Quote :

2) Ranks, is there anyway the replay manager could integrate with the car "ranks", MHR in particular.

Ahh this could be a useful feature for seeing at a glance, targets for hotlapping. I'll see what can be done about this one too.



Regards,

Ian

Hi all..

0.3.8.87 released.

A few things fixed, a few things added

Changelog and download info in [POST=407199]post #1[/POST].



Regards,

Ian

Quote from sam93 :

LOL, It wouldn't bother me if my sisters dads car got nicked, yes I love the car it is in mint condition but i wouldn't loose no sleep over it if it got stolen.

Fine.. but I think you get the point I was trying to make with that.

Quote :

I see where you are coming from, I'm using a cracked version of 3ds max9 so what.

Now you see, that's stupidity coming into play. Whether you do or you don't, posting something like that publicly on a forum is like carrying a dufflebag full of a cash withdrawal from a bank with 'SWAG' embroidered on it.

Quote :

I know alot about computers Ian actually so you can argue all you want about the other stuff but I don't need to do any research on pc and the net lol.

Hah... I've been using computers since before you were even a twinkle in your ol' man's eye.. I still have _plenty_ to learn and I'm far from being computer illiterate. Just because you may know a fair bit about computers doesn't mean you're clued-up on all aspects of IT and law.



Regards,

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Sat 15 Sep 2007, 13:29.

Quote from sam93 :

I must say you do like a good argument don't you.

I've been known to, but this isn't just about arguments sake. You really don't understand do you?

Quote :

I know you are being sarcy about my half sisters dads cossie but I must say you wont even be able to get into his garage he loves the car so much and it only comes out about 1-2 times a month.

On the contrary.. I love Cossies. There was nothing sarcastic about that comment. I only used it as an example as I saw you saying in another thread how much you liked the car.. so if I nicked it, you'd probably be pretty pissed off.

From the brief bits I read about the car itself, it sounds pretty sweet to me.

Quote :

It's not that I jus want it, I like to draw and when I was in hospital with a massive head injury because i came off my push bike without a helmet on, I drawn alot of cars and i drawn a concept. Who ever pays for 3ds max just to do lfs renders are made, thats what i am learning to do at the moment, rendering lfs cars.

Dude... I really like Ferraris.. always have.. but it doesn't mean I can go out and nick one and flaunt that fact. I've had some pretty iffy car accidents over the years, that still doesn't give me an excuse. Likewise, I used to be a mechanic, nicking a car so I can tinker with the mechanics isn't an excuse either.

Just because you want to render LFS cars means it's ok to nick what you want? Would you post on Discreet's forum and say "hey.. I'm using a cracked copy of 3DS as I like cars and wanted to render cars from a game". My guess would be no. Care to explain why you wouldn't?

Quote :

People use torrent sites everyday, I dont really care how illegal it is, you don't see the police and the goverment trying to shut these sites down do you.

No doubt they do.. how many do you see trying to validate their reasons publicly?

You really need to do some more research about the situation if you really think there's not organisations etc out there that are targeting such torrent sites and also people using them. Never heard of the "MAFIAA"? You have a lot to learn about teh interwebz.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from sam93 :

Ok Ian, how could a 14 year old pay for 3ds max, like i am going to use the software for marketing purposes, its strictly for education purposes, alot of people use torrent sites, alot of people on here say they don't but I bet they proberly do.

Sam.

---- --- - --== ==== whooooooooooooosh!!

Stealing a Ferrari to learn to race would be "strictly for educational purposes" too. Do you really think Mr. Plod would accept that excuse?

Ever thought that you could possibly.... wait for it.... go without? Seeing as it's a non-essential item in your life, you don't _need_ it, you just _want_ it.. there's a massive difference.

Tell you what, I've seen a couple of discussions about your friends Cossie. I want one.. just so I can take it for track days.. purely so I can understand the cars handling / physics better (read: for educational purposes only). I'll drop by one night and steal your friend's car. I'll tell you that I've done it, of course. That'd be OK wouldn't it? I mean, it would only be for me to learn things so for educational purposes only.. It's not like I'm going to use it for marketing.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from the_master :

Sorry I'm spanish an the translator do bad his work jeje, por si alguien sabe español lo que quería decir es que no sabía que fuera tan complicado. Lo siento si os he ofendido

I don't think it's a language thing (I personally have no idea what you wrote in Spanish here).. more that you seem to think that coding such a program is a pretty simple job. I've not coded anything InSim related as yet, but can tell you that what you're asking for isn't something that would be done in a day and the current systems out there, exactly the same as what you're asking for, have had weeks and months of work put into them, which is probably why many are unwilling to share their code.

Ask for help, and I'm sure many people will offer you advice, suggestions.. hell, even working code snippets.. asking someone to write a complete app for you, IMO.. is just takin' the piss.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from sam93 :

Well of course I payed for S2 but the cracked version of 3DS Max 9 is for education purposes only, I am using it only for education because I am currently doing Graphics GCSE in school so i use it to learn abit more about rendering.

Sam.

I'll have to remember that one....

"Of course I paid for my Ford Escort occifer.. I only stole this Ferrari as I'm learning to race!".



Regards,

Ian

Quote from Kristjan.J :

I thought maybe LFS could have night too? Racing track is lighted by lights also and car lights are also working and showing long range, for XRG, XRT and XRR could the lights open like on real car and show light maybe if possible to do?

(Sorry for my bad english and i didn't really know what to write, but i hope you understand my idea, and please don't flame on me:shy

Yes! Great suggestion! I wonder why no-one else over the what... 5 years or so development had ever thought of suggesting this before.

Seriously dude, well done.. nice to see there's finally some original suggestions being made on this forum.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from Bandit77 :

[ snip ]

You can make your plates yourself in the UK, right? So do not talk about strictness .

I used to.. and did many for friends too, along with other small car gfx. I used to carry 2 sets of plates, custom ones I'd done myself, and the originals and replaced the screws holding them on with velcro so that when (never an if) I got tugged by the ol' bill, I could just say "sorry occifer.. I'll change them now" and I was on my way in 2 mins.

These days though, things are silly. They even banned garages adding their name to the bottom of the plates at one point (not sure of the current state of play regarding that now) as it sometimes interfered with their money making gatso photos.

You'd be much harder pressed to find blank plates now too I think. I used to get mine from a small car accessory (not ricing, real accessories) for £6 the pair for the 2 coloured backings and 2 plastic faces.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from Gunn :

I'd like them to be removed from the race cars. For the road cars I think they should be smaller, they seem quite large to me. Perhaps some countries have larger plates than what I'm used to seeing?

That's how they are over here for the most part (see attached), although you can also get ones that are almost square as predominantly seen on the back of bikes.

The laws here regarding number plates are _very_ strict.. letters need to be a required font / style, letters need to be of a certain thickness, gaps between letters and plate edges need to be a certain distance, likewise the gaps between the chars.. it's pretty damn stupid IMO, but there we go.



Regards,

Ian

Does it come with a pink tutu and a tub of brylcreem in the glove box?



Regards,

Ian

A few of the patches needed to be unlocked again IIRC. This obviously writes data to the required files so that LFS treats it as unlocked. Obviously, this is different to other versions else you wouldn't have had to unlock a new patch again. This is what's to be expected when 2 binaries are reading / writing to the same files but expecting different results.

Using separate dirs as Bob says, should do the trick as each dir will conatin it's own files with the unlocked data present and not interefer with other versions.



Regards,

Ian

They're fine just how they are. For once, we have a UK developed and published game, with UK orientated items (sure beats having no choice but to sit on the left as per most games). The license plates are just as they are on real cars.. why would you want to abuse them?

Removing them from the GTR spec cars goes without saying.. the road going cars are just fine.



Regards,

Ian