You are a... coding machine!

PS. Regarding the "Uknnown" Pole You were absolutely right about the replays not being from version X. Thanks!

Last edited by migf1, Thu, 4 Oct 2007 08:22.

DarkTimes, this was a brilliant idea and i found ingenious the user interface you implemented inside the program! It worked like a charm for me, many many thanks!

A great improvement would be to add teams support. For example, in the Player Name you could consider everything enclosed in brackets ('[' and ']') to be the team name (or no team, if no brackets are found) and add another tab with the "Team Standings". This might dictate to rename the current "Championship" tab to "Driver Standings", for clarity reasons!

How does this sound?

PS. And a question, how come Pole Position is getting the value "Uknown" in the exported results? (i've only tested the html exporting). Could it be that I loaded demo mpr files into the prog?

I'm playing Power & Glory for almost a week now and I'm thrilled (btw, it only needs to see the GTL cd/dvd on your drive only once, during installation and that's it... you may even rent it from your local video-club just for installing P&G in GTR2 )

Make no mistake, this is not LFS! So if you expect it to be like LFS you'll be disappointed. But it is as close as LFSish the ISI engine can get (so far). Keeping that in mind you will enjoy the one and only mod RSCNET have opened a separate subforum for, ever!

TBH I have only dealt extensively with the Fiat Abarth Group 5 (1000 cc, form '60s) which I am stuck with... by choice of course! I really love it! I have already put down quite some laps in Monza 2004, in Monaco 1979 and in Watkins Glenn and I have loved every single moment of it!

I haven't really tried other cars, except of a few laps with the Austin Mini Coopers S, the Alfa Romeo GTA and the Lotus Cortina... but not enough to seriously commnet on their physics. They seemed suprisingly good, though, at a first glance.

At the very least for the abarth (and the mini cooper) I recommend the mod to any simmer, especially those who keep an open mind across several popular sims

Now, that sounds like a brilliant idea!

Last edited by migf1, Thu, 9 Aug 2007 11:13.

Quote from vf1-xj220 :

hehe... looks like mike need some reading classes.. i said UNIQUE features...

EVERY other game has real tracks
EVERY other game has real cars
A LOT of games have the SAME physics engine
FEW games have a realistic tyre simulation model
at least 2 games have day-night cycle

damn.. please pay attention to what i say... UNIQUE means that no other simulator or game has...

i forgot the progessive graphic deformation model for damage too but i think forza2 has something like that now

I hope you don't misunderstand me, but you seem to seriously underestimate the strong points of LFS's competition... which is not a good thing in my point of view. For example, the tyre deformation feature you mentioned in another post as being UNIQUE to LFS, already exists (or existed) in games like Virtual Grand Prix on the Mac, as well as Richard Burns Rallye and X Motor Racing on the PC.

Now don't get me wrong, I happen to be one of the founding members of the GVRteam, which practically is the absolute and only point of reference of LFS in Greece, which means I love, promote and advertise the sim. But this doesn't mean that LFS 's competition is worthless. On the contrary, LFS lacks crucial features already availabe in the competition (unique or not shouldn't and doesn't really matter) some of which would really boost LFS's popularity (real-life tracks for example or changable weather or a more detailed damage model).

The above is not me complaining for the devs, it is just me trying to show that some of your arguing so far (presented as "facts") are not so... valid as you may think

Last edited by migf1, Thu, 9 Aug 2007 11:17.

I find the lack of rewinding an lfs replay quite important, and I sure think it is well worth it to invest some time into finding a work-around (even if this means rewinding will work like ff from the start of the file).

Movies is an essential commercial tool for any sim, especially an online sim, and implementing a replay rewinding will surely boost even more the production of excellent movies.

Things are quite simple imho, anyone wanting to further support the devs, should simply donate an amount of his liking.

As for the remote possibilty of having a subscription based S3, I agree with those who argue that the user base will drop dramatically. Actually, I think it would be a commercial suicide.

The argument saying that S1 & S2 uses will remain unchanged is pretty much invalid, since everyone wants the new thing (if it's availabe) but not everyone will be happy to pay monthly for it... it's not the amount of the subscription, it's the policy (attitude) that repells. Sim-racing simply doesnt's work that way all those years. And always there will be at least one free alternative.

Don't forget that LFS is a hell of a simulator, but it also lacks a hell lot of features before it can be characterized "full" (for example, ai, weather changes, night races, real-life tracks, visuals, replay rewinding -lol-, etc). If for example rfactor2 comes up with half of those missing features and offers free online racing with a decent physics engine, then no matter the initial cost, it will tear a subscription-based lfs apart.

Last edited by migf1, Tue, 7 Aug 2007 11:27. Reason : typos

This is indeed a beautiful movie! Two thumbs up!

Thanks guys!

Quote from kurent :

Maybe you have it set to record at 15 FPS in Fraps?
btw don't ever buy a Celeron again, they are cheap for a good reason.

I never duplicated the speed the sound, maybe it can be done with a program like audacity, but I solved this in one of my movies with recording the scene twice while the second time I just recorded the sound at 1x playback speed.

edit Oh right now I remember, when I doubled the sound speed in Adobe Premiere it came out sounding weird which wasn't such a suprise hehe, so then I used the trick I wrote above.

Ulead Media Studio Pro 7 doubles audio speed succesfully!

Quote from Darkone55 :

Hi,

I've got a little problem here. I'm trying to make a movie at 720*480 pixels, but that's not really going well with Adobe Premiere.

First of all, Premiere shows it as a 640*480, so you get black edges at the sides. It also seems to stretch it. But when I add blur, with a matte layer over it, it shows all 720*480 pixels. Can't see if it's still stretch though (see help.jpg). And with blur, without the matte, the edges get blurred too..

Does anyone know what settings I need to use to solve this?
Currently I use:

Frame size: 720 * 480 (3:2)
Pixel aspect ratio: Square pixels (1.0)
Fields: Lower fields first

Maybe the square pixels option is the problem. But it's recorded from the computer, so the original clips should have square pixels already.
It should look like help2.jpg
[snip]

I read you solved the other problems, so I just wanted to point out that you should NOT use fields at all. Fields are for interlaced media, such as the TV, with NTSC using lower field first (B field) and PAL upper field first (A field).

Since source recoding and output playback is done on your PC monitor, everything is using progressive scan (and square PAR, that is 1:1 Pixel Aspect Ratio), so do NOT define fields when you encode. Most probably you are using a ready (NTSC) profile and that's why you are getting a (lower) field setting. Don't use ready profiles, customize the settings yourself instead.

I hope the above made some sense

We are celebrating the very fisrt Greek LFS world-record with a small video clip.

Congrats, bomberman!

Download the Video
youtube version

Filesize: 50.48 MB
Duration: 3:10 min
Dimensions: 640 x 480 (4:3)
FramesPerSec: 30
Video codec: Inlel H264 (if you don't have it, try with ffdshow)
Audio codec: MPEG Audio Layer 3 24000Hz stereo 48Kbps

Last edited by migf1, Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:20.

All done!

I fixed the short-track prob with older versions and actualy times work ok too without changing anything in the code (perhaps the testing replay file I used back then was corrupted or something).

Ive tested again the prog with replays from patch U and it seems to work fine... thanks DarkTimes.

PS. I've attaced the executable of my prog, in case anyone wants to have a look. Please note that the UI is primitive (text-based) and that the prog doesn's save the database in the hard-disk, yet (everything is done in memory).

To load replays with spaces or non-english characters in their filenames, pass them as command line arguments (drag them onto the program icon - the program MUST NOT ran when you drag replays on its icon).

Once inside the prog, type "help" for a list of available commands, and then type "help command" for more help on any specified command.

Many many thanks for the truly informative answer!

PS. I think I didn't get the difference in times between newer and older patches, but I'll get back to it as soon as I put my hands on them. First I'll fix the prog to respond to older spr files as far as the short-track is concerned. Thanks again!

I would like to add one more question about replay (.spr) reading and I thought I shouldn't open a new topic.

So... I'm making a hotlap database prog in C, using the valuable info found here. My prob is that replays prior to version W do not seem to have anything stored in their

4 char 24 short track name : e.g. BL2R

field. This is no good for my prog, since -amongst other things- it sorts data according to car/short-track combos.

Also, versions prior to T (I think) seem to store the best laptime differently, because my app gets garbage data in the

1 time 136 split 1 : msht time (first checkpoint)
1 time 140 split 2 : msht time
1 time 144 split 3 : msht time
1 time 148 split 4 : msht time

fields when it loads older spr files.

So what I'm asking for is a way to overcome the above probs... for example a pointer to the header structures of older versions of spr.

I know it can be done somehow, since always in LFSW you could upload a replay (of any version) and it was sorted automatically under the correct car/short-track combo.

Any help would be greatly apreciated.

Last edited by migf1, Thu, 5 Jul 2007 07:54.

Quote from russraine :

I'm afraid the lag lap isn't for people who lag out to rejoin, I was made to believe that 'in theory' starting a full race from the grid screen is more likely to have lag issues than if the race is restarted, because everything is set in memory, rather than being sync'd up after the grid screen.
[snip]

For me, the start was acceptable, lagwise. The restart was a nightmare (approaching the 2nd chicane I had like 10 fps, and no control on the gear shifts). But it could also be crappy later on even if there was not a restart, you never now.

Quote from AtomAnt :

[snip]
We cool?
[snip]

Always were, always will

Quote from AtomAnt :

I'd rather hold my grand child and bounce them.......say shit like......oh look there is MIG running into the grass.
[snip]

Still, that's better from saying shit like... oh look, MIG pushing Roca into the grass

Quote :

Hopefully I get a kiss( from a grandchild) instead all the grief you guys put me trough.

Your world , You OK. I am !

I'm tough , skin grows thicker.....

Take care, life is indeed too short

Sad news AtomAnt!

However you know better than anyone what's best for you, so all my best to any of your future actvities!

PS. Grandkids? And I thought I was one of the oldest guys around here (I'm 40 and I don't even have kids yet :shrug

I feel so bad for bardging unintentionally Rocabiliz out of the track (lag). It's a relief to know he recognises that i didn't do it on purpose (i had nothing to gain, my race was ruined since lap 1 of the 2nd restart).

Happy summer to everybody!

Last edited by migf1, Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:18. Reason : typos

Just saw the replay (my team-mates recorded it), I pushed Rocabiliz out of the track in the 1st corner of lap 29
I was not seeing you at the moment buddy due to lag and frozen map. On the last turn of lap 32, I saw you behind me and let you pass.

I'm terribly sorry once again

Last edited by migf1, Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:46.

Until I see the replay of pool-1, I don't know if I have ruined anybody's race due to my terrible lag (i got a dsc at lap 46). If I have, I want to publicly apologize.

Normally I would have quit earlier, because I had frozen maps and fps droppings throughtout all my (freaking) race, but I stayed because those freezes were lasting 10 to 15 secs... then they were unfreezing for about 50 to 60 secs and then were freezing again for another 10 tpo 15 secs. And so on.

Everytime the freezes stopped I was checking the map to see if anybody was close to me, in front or behind. And noone was (except one time, where as soon as the map unfroze I got a blue flag, I saw on orang car behind me and as soon as I took the last turn, I went to the right and almost stopped, so the guy could pass me safely).

So, hopefully I haven't caused any troubles. I will of course check the replay as soon as it is uploaded.

Quote from migf1 :

[snip]
I'll give it another try with your set as soon as I go home.
[snip]

Yeap, too understeery for my lousy style, indeed

Thanks for sharing your set BawBag. TBH I had already tried it last week, via Test Drive from your hotlap. But I found it too understeery for my freaking driving style. On the other hand, with my setup (kaynd's set actually) I lose valuable tenths (2 or 3 of them) on the first right-hander. I need to work out a lot my breaking & accelerating points at that... bitchy turn

I'll give it another try with your set as soon as I go home.

It surely is a tough combo, requiring 100% concentration. Dunno how many times I will spin in a 60laps race, since I haven't tried it yet... but 10 to 15 sound pretty good numbers to me right now (lol)

Quote from FOX 1977 :

No but's....
[snip]

No but's, but what about... Bud's (u know, the beers -lol)