Well its been in place and operational yesterday and today, so far $7.00

Just doing $1.00 races, while the town helps spread word that I am here.

They have nothing for teens to do, so they are excited to have me here so far.

Now to get everyone to sign up for the $1000 prize tournaments

Even when the cars are on the same PC, but on different instances of LFS, the wheel and car movement is still slightly jerky. It is due to network connection...

Well its 2 adjacent units, the current lease owner, has a coffee shop in one, and is using the other for taking portrait photos, but they don't need the whole space.

It wont look like this for the 6 month test, as I am just putting the sims in, and seeing what happens, but if it makes money I may stay put a while and build it out something like shown. Still trying to come up with various floor plan ideas.

The town has nothing for teens to do...

Maybe in the future, right now I need to concentrate on what I have already spent a LOT of money on, and try to get it to make money to pay for the other things that could be added.

I have found a POTENTIAL location to setup over winter, just need to sort out numbers and some other things, and decide if having next to no parking will still work... they will have to park a few buildings down the street.

This location is inside a coffee/tea/shake shop.

So, while I have done a few repeat events for the big client I have, I have not really done many events this year.

So.... I am currently on the fence, going back and forth, trying to decide if I want to temporarily pull the simulators out of the trailer, and try open a "store", for 6 months over the winter (holloween to april 1st), as a test to see if a store front would do any better or worse than the trailer.

I hardly have any cash right now, maybe 1 months rent... so this would have to generate enough cash to pay for the space.

I have a few spaces in mind, one is cheaper, but feels like it is in the middle of nowhereville. But it is next to a coffee shop, hungry howies (pizza), and a dairy queen (ice cream).


Not sure how I will generate enough interest, or get enough people to show up in this short 6 month time span, but I would like to hold regular race tournaments with cash prizes (out of the race entry fees).

Would be nice to get the surrounding highschools to use the location as a e-sports racing center, since e-sports seems to be a thing now....


I figure first few weeks I am open, it is free races for anyone that shares online photos of themselves in the cockpit to their fb pages/groups/etc...


Maybe its time to TRY indiegogo again, and have the rewards be free racing for donars…


If the store does not work... then it may be time to strip the trailer and liquidate.

Maybe one day we can use a replay/hot lap recording... so you can save it into an autocross track. Like just a simple button for the host, while watching replays there could be a "save current lap as race line" button.

I would view this, as an alternative "game" within a game. Something to turn off, something that is just there for goofing around, not racing. Something draw kids in to this particular piece of software.


Just like if a big soccer ball and goals where added to play car-soccer, or if there was a demo derby type track, or the big loop-loop autocross track, the autocross stunt tracks, or… sigh... cruising.


Kids/newbies need to learn how to control the car, un-crash them selves, avoid crashes, brake, etc... before they can even get around the track at a pace that matters. So having little "extra-games" like this wouldn't really hurt so much. But, slowing down the lead car is just wrong, thus why I proposed a nitrous booster type method, which would stop working as you get a few car lengths/seconds from the lead car, this distance and how much speed it adds, could be input variables.

The, further behind you are the faster your NOS booster charges lol... If your X seconds from lead, you don't get any.

the problem can sort of be simulated with windowed mode, just make the window really short, but really wide, a large portion will be all black.

Scawen, while you are messing with the wheel settings...

In the menu where you choose a controller.
How difficult would it be to make it so you just press any button on the wheel, and it automatically picks that wheel?

Only asking, because every time I setup my trailer, I still have to go though one seat at a time, and pick the wheel. It does remember the settings once I do this though, but when I tear it all down, it often gets it wrong when I put it all back together again, even if I manage to plug it all into the same cable/port. If I pick the wrong wheel, or one that was already picked, it disables force feedback on some of the wheels, so its a pain when I mess it up.

-hoping to get enough funds soon, to run each seat on its own PC, but currently have 0$ in the bank, so that will be a while.

-had a few strange black screen instances again (in the version prior to the FF test patch). The instances of LFS seem to have randomized what screen they were on after it recovered. Nothing was in the log....

-also I added 2 more monitors, one is now the host, the other just extra spectator. These screens seem to randomly bring up the virtual keyboard, and or other menu inputs... cannot figure out why, assumed one of the wheels had backspace mapped to a button, but they do not.

- will be setting up the trailer again on the 27th, pending weather.

Yes I need to advertise a LOT more, like more than NOT doing it at all.


At these larger events, I do not advertise myself, as it is a paid corporate event, and the goal is to focus on their company not mine.


I have upgraded my "how too video" which has a few minor ads within it, but only good where I am already setup. It is work in progress... will link to latest version later.


I searched online for videos/photos of the Little Caesars 60th Anniversary event, but only found one video where my simulators are in it for a few seconds, and really far away. (see attached photo)

Last month I did the 2nd event at the stadium, this is a video of the setup, but before it was operational.




Changes since the last time anyone saw it:
2 new "Spectator View" screens
2 New "How To Video" screens. (plus a 3rd on the table)
Cockpits are all bolted together


I've already been asked to quote the 3rd event at the stadium.


I took a while to post an update because I've been in a mood... due to trashing the side of my trailer against the pole to get into their parking lot. Their parking gate, was not designed for vehicles with trailers. Tt takes a standard width lane, and then reduces it down to the size of their drop down gate, so its about the same width as the trailer.

After going around a corner the trailer fell off the curb into a situation, it was either rub the protection/bumper pole, or back up and take out their security fence, and the way the trailer was on a tilt the corner of that fence would have punctured the trailer walls.

Since I had already bumped the pole with no damage last time, I just went for it, and unfortunately this time it dragged the whole side of trailer (was a lot closer to it then I thought I was).

Trailer is, for the most part, ok. It just has a crease along the side (hopefully easy to fix), and a few bumps along the bottom in the frame area (not so easy to fix), plus it squeaks a lot going down the road now.

Oh well... the intent was to UPGRADE the trailer by now anyway... but I doubt that will happen as I am not really making enough money to do that.


Also,

I am really disappointed in some large campgrounds around me, I was hoping to setup there and sell races, and or hold tournaments for the camps. But as usually they don't even want to hear what I am doing, let alone allow it. I was hoping to pull this thing with a small RV, and hop around from camp ground to camp ground...

The FFB in LFS does feel like it went limp a few versions ago.. I kind of remember it being better.

Like the only time it does anything is if you hit a wall, or jam the steering against a wall or something.

Thanks.


I think about 10% or less of the people that went through the line actually looked at the video...

And A LOT of people went through the line...
I was only doing 3 lap races, and the line was always LONG.

5th Version (Deleted the rest)

Will be using this, unless I find more time to work on it.

Will make future changes based on how well, or poorly, it works.

Latest version:

Slowly teaching myself power point.


There is a lot I intend to add to the video... including racing tips, racing line, apexing, etc...

I hope to do a real life video of someone sitting in cockpit seeing screen, hands, and feet only. of a race start. With hopefully nothing in the back ground, wich means setting up a sim some were with white walls or something lol.

First I want to get in what is needed for them to use the controls.

Yes, I need to use insim… and would rather learn to do it myself.

It would be nice to have an: If Neutral and If lots of reving, then display a message to tell them to put it in gear, and or just do it for them.

Or: If on-wall and reving for X time, reset car, or display message to reset car or use reverse.

Lots of ideas, but I wont know how I want to do it, until I know how insim works etc... as knowing how it works will very likely change how I want to do it, or give new ideas.

For now, I do not know it, so crappy video.... lol

I started over, with better graphics, still no where near complete....

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Fri 26 Apr 2019, 18:15.

So far this sucks, but better then nothing I guess... hahaha



Still working on it...

So this next event I am setting up for, is going to be VERY busy, so they requested that I drop the race time for each player to only a few minutes. This is far to short of time, for new players to have much fun, however it may be possible, if I can ditch the practice lap, and the "this button does this" that I have to say over and over again, often to the same players...

If I had a monitor playing a "how to" video for those waiting in line, then I should be able to save time by not having to repeat myself so many times each driver change. So often I say things like "use the right paddle behind the wheel to change, and put the car in first gear", and 2 seconds later that same person, asks how to change gears.... these days, unless there is some animated video on an LCD screen playing in their face people will not pay attention.

I doubt there is time to put something like this together before this event, and I will likely have to settle for printed signs that no one will even look at, however I will have other events to use this for.

If anyone can contribute to this, by creating fairly good looking video, maybe even a cartoon?!
Please help! -


I would like to start with an animation of some sort that shows, and zooms in on the controls, or at least the most important buttons/pedals. The Wheel itself to steer, the gas pedal, the brake, the shift paddles, auto-trans-default. The rest is not as important... or can be in a separate part of video.


Second I would like to tell them how to get the car moving, and around the track, specifically at the start of a race, since I will likely just throw them onto the start line to save time.
This will tell them to WAIT for the green, after 3 reds and a random delay, then to shift into gear, and step on it.... I could avoid this if it would automatically put newbies into 1st gear.


Then what the race line is... as I usually turn that on for newbies.
Primarily that they need to BRAKE before/when it turns red...


Then, it needs to tell them how to use the reset button, which is programed to the big round one, inside the red circle, on the G29 wheels that I use. It needs to tell them it only works at a dead stop, or when traffic is clear...


Then, maybe:

How to use the track map in the corner, green dot is them, etc....

Quick video of how to apex a corner... driving tips etc.

Then it would just repeat...

Ease of starting a race, is the #1 Reason LFS works commercially, even better then iRacing.

The number of windows, icons, and pages, you have to click through just to get into a car on some console games is ridiculous...

Yes the skins worked, it was just my stupidity, rushing, and 10 different LFS folders that caused the issue. lol

Tried a mini PC with the Intel HD (530 I think), did not work too well... had to turn everything off, and it still stays at or below 60fps.
Yet it does play Supreme Commander pretty well...


I was going to buy a 3rd pc to lessen the load on the two I am using now... but for the cost of what I was going to build I can acquire a few Mini PC with the Ryzen 2400 Vega 11 chip. If I can run two instances of LFS off of each one... one for cockpit view for driver, and maybe a 2nd monitor above for spectators with external car, track side view or something....

So was just wondering if now is a good time to try and go individual PCs per player.... might wait for the Ryzen 3 equivalent though.

If I go individual PCs, I can then start doing Minecraft birthday parties! LOL hahahaha is Minecraft still a thing? lol

Has anyone ran LFS on a system with Vega 11 APU graphics?

I can snag a deal on a few systems that use this, to replace my multi-player on one PC...

Just wondering how well/bad it runs LFS before I spend the cash.

FPS with default settings?

Just completed first Event of 2019 last night.

Thanks Again, all went well. I Knew I was doing something stupid... and I was.
They want me back again next month