I am no longer using VMWare, so I sort of ignored and let this thread pass. I do not need VM Ware now, because LFS is programed well enough to run it as multiple instances on each machine.

So, I have been posting more about it in this thread:

https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/89440-Input---output-device-selection-for-multiple-LFS-instances/page/5

Right now I can get 12 instances of LFS, 10 Drivers, 1 host, 1 extra spectator screen, running on 2 identical Ryzen 1700 PCs, at 75mhz/75FPS each. (which cost far less than half what the Server I started with cost)

The trailer however, I am once again re-doing the design... I must be on version 50 or so, at least. There is no solution that is affordable, fits in a small trailer (less than 20ft long), and can cram in almost a dozen cockpits and people. I also cannot find anyone that will build it in the USA, any one that builds custom trailers, really just builds cookie cutter trailers or "add windows and things" to existing trailers. googling for stage trailers, yields LOTS of trailers that will work, however NONE of them are in the USA... or the few that are, have fenders in the way.

The current design I have drawn up (a 7x19 foot box with stage door) may work, but it makes it too tall, and maybe top heavy, but there is a chance if I widen it to a full 8 foot trailer width.

I will likely just be buying a small cheap trailer or truck to temporarily lug them around in, but it will not be usable as a shelter to operate them in. I will be limited to only setting up at indoor events, which negates my desire to setup TRACK SIDE at race events and car shows. When I pay off all this crap I purchased to do this, I will re-invest it in the trailer.

I have the buttons working, was a typo I had to track down.

But I do not yet see any way for one button to work as just pressing shift alone. So it will work for the seat detection button, but not a temporary wheel button.

There is a /press command, maybe there should be a /hold [time] to hold a button for x seconds.

I am just still trying to figure it out...

And I do not want 1 button to /join or /shift s I want one button for the shift key and one for the J or S.. so BOTH buttons on the wheel have to be pressed, as I described above.

But Since I have no idea how to even do any button press, I am still trying to figure it out. No idea what "keybind input field" is, since I thought I was supose to edit script files, not input fields.

Give an example of one that works...

I have had no luck with scripts.

SCAWEN ,

Are you still reading this thread?

I have been attempting to better-configure the Wheel buttons lately.
Unfortunately I CANNOT use the Logitech software to program the wheel buttons. Because one press on any wheel, either does it on all instances, or only the instance that has focus with the mouse. Which means it will NOT work this way.

So I am limited to only using button options within LFS itself.

If you ever get around to it, I would request the ability to add join/spectate buttons to the wheel. However, I would prefer it if it was one button for Shift, and one for J and one for S. So players do not spectate themselves while mashing buttons, unless they get 'lucky' and press the two needed at the same time. At some point, I intend to make a custom button that plugs into the shifter port of the wheel. This will be placed under the seat on the cockpit, so when someone sits down, JOIN, when they stand up, SPECTATE, so they do not leave their car in the middle of the track and walk away mid race. Although I guess, I should put some sort of timer on it, incase they want to change drivers, or maybe prevent it from spectating while in the pits. Hmm...

Trying to think of what other options I may want for buttons as well, but most of it is silly stuff for the kids to play with, turn signals, horns, siren etc...

I also noticed a potential bug, with the buttons, not major though, and I can get around it. If someone presses some buttons on one of the wheels, it works normally in that instance of LFS, but the button press is also being detected in my HOST instance that is being controlled by the mouse. This is easily noticed by using the side to side view buttons.

Not sure which wheel is doing it, but it is just one, so it may likely be the last one configured, the default, or last one plugged in, however that works behind the scenes.



I will soon have everything I need to set this all up, in its entirety. All of the last few cockpit frames, seats, wheels, headphones, computers cables etc... have been ordered. so hopefully photos/videos soon.

It should be fully operational with 10 players if no new issues appear.

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:46.

Just an update for the few that care.

The graphic update to Blackwood throttled this project a lot.
I could only run about 4 instances of LFS at a steady 75FPS with medium to low graphics settings on the Opteron server.

I have recently acquired a Ryzen 1700 CPU to test out.
MSI B350M Mortar Micro ATX Mother Board, with 16BG OF 2400 Corsair 10CL ram.

With a single RX480, it runs 6 Instances of LFS at almost max graphics settings at a steady 75FPS.
All 6 Monitors are 2560x1080 21:9 at 75hz.
6 Instances of LFS only use about 3GB of GPU ram.
Each of the RYZEN CPU Cores/Threads are not even 50% used, so, no need to OC.

No Sign of the Stuttering or anything... yet, still have a few more tests to make sure.

If I try two RX480 in one machine (NOT CROSSFIRED), any instances displayed on a monitor connected to the 2nd GPU still only runs at about 50-75% the frame rate.

So, I have it all running on TWO of these systems, to get 12 Instances of LFS, 10 for Players, 1 for the Host & Spectator on one machine, And 1 just for Spector on second machine.

So far my new MSI RX480 4GB seems to be running a little better then the slightly older MSI 8GB, both reference cards, but I need to test some more to make sure.

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Sun, 2 Apr 2017 06:37.

I believe I mentioned turning all the settings down... all of them, especially the AA. Just to get LFS so it is not a slide show.

It was running just fine before with AA at 2 or 4.... not at max, but it was acceptable for commercial use. Now it hardly works at 0.

I was only pointing out that previously changing the car reflections made a 10-20 fps difference for each car, now it has no effect. (In the same test of AI # cars etc)

This 530 PC was going to be used for logging in drivers, not racing, but I have it, so I tried it. I needed to expand my graphics card experience from just the 2 or 3 cards I have ever had, I wanted to see the bottom, so I can know how far up the top is.

It was actually working well enough that I almost bought more to just use on the race pods, so I am very happy that LFS updated when it did. Now I know that I have no choice but to go bigger, I may get a zotac Magnus mini pc with a 1070 or rx480 built in, if they ever release the 480 version.

Right now I have my 480 machine once again running 3 instances of LFS at 75 to 100fps just fine, on new blackwood, so I should be able to get away with 1 PC for every 3 pods, maybe 4, at lower FPS. So the current plan is to try and cram 2 to 4 PCs into the 6U portable rack case I already have the server PC in.

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Sat, 11 Mar 2017 17:07.

I only run the test with about 8 AI, sometimes 6 or 12. To simulate other players being in the game since my goal is to setup a multiplayer pay to play game.

I purchased a tiny pc, an i3-6100T with 4g Ram and SSD. I got this to test small PCs for commercial use of LFS on Intel 530 graphics.

Prior to this update, it would run at about 75 FPS with some settings turned down. (BlackWood)
In fact I could almost run 2 instances of LFS at 30~60 FPS, but with lots of stuttering.

After this update, I have to turn it all to minimum just to get it to run LFS, but the textures are at low detail etc... with these settings the white line on the track is blurry except for the area right near the car.

In previous versions I could turn down the number of reflections on the cars and each time I reduced it there was a noticeable improvement in FPS, now, it does not matter how many there are it is pretty much the same from 0 to 8, no visible difference either, so not really sure what, if anything, it is changing. Maybe this is not actually changing anything in this version?

I have commercial as well, they had to manually change it to S3.

Is anyone making money selling races in a cockpit, or multiple, with LFS?
Trying to convince myself to go all in, on some floor space to setup a simulator "store". But I keep feeling like people would rather just download a game and play it at home, or may feel they have a Play Station and do not need to play.

I found a place that may provide customers from a captive audience and foot traffic, but the price per foot is not cheap...

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Sat, 25 Feb 2017 15:00.

I currently use a few GT Omega ART cockpits.
I have been looking for something small that can be added to my existing cockpit frame, to provide "just enough" motion, for bumps and vibrations curbs etc... and then maybe a little more motion if it can.

I do not like the concept of the chair moving separately from the wheel... and would even prefer the monitor to be moving as well. Even though that is tricky to keep it from wobbling.

I saw videos of a simple 3 point system, with only 2 actuators, from PlaySeat that might be adaptable since the front end just rests on the actuators, while the back rests on a rocker-point, but never heard any more about it.

Cost is the biggest issue with these, some of them cost as much if not more than an actual race car.

I guess it has been since the beginning 2002, I thought it was around longer though. I remember the GTI, and racing many races on Blackwood when you could do a really big sweeping curve way off the track, right up to the wall, across the concrete slab that is now sand, to keep from having to slow down much, if at all, after the long straight.

Back then there was so many RACERS that servers were often full, but plenty more to join.

SCAWEN is there a way to have more than one Autoexec.lfs loaded, like the /CFG command line?

If not is there a way to get these to work in the cfg file?

/mp 127.0.0.1 63392
/car FXO
/colour Red
/setup Easy

Ok, I was just curious, it appears that my multi player server build will now only run 3, maybe 4, Players close to 60-75fps, but the jittering/stuttering/skipping is so bad now that I am no longer going to pursue it.

I think I remember there being less skipping before the sleep patches... what was the last version before the sleep code started being added? I need to go test that for comparison to make sure. Hopefully it is one of the many copies of LFS versions I still have installed.

As for the single mini PC test, with only an i3 and intel graphics, I can run 1 instance better with this new blackwood, then the old one. And while I could almost run 2 instances at 30-50fps, it cannot even get to 20fps trying 2, but that is not why I have the tiny PC, so it does not matter.

All tests are with BlackWood.

I do have to play with the anti alias and settings to get the Tiny PC to run worth a damn.
But it has less stuttering at lower FPS, then the server and RX480 does, with the RX480 it needs to run at 75 to 100fps or it starts skipping and making me dizzy.

UPDATE:

This project is back on track again, I purchased new computers, updated the other thread about it.

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Mon, 24 Apr 2017 02:28.

When did they add the MRT? I was playing before then... and I think I remember a car being added before that, but not sure... rb4? or maybe an old version of the fxo?

SCAWEN,

In the blackwood update, was there any changes that would affect frame rates, asside from the new graphics themselves?

I noticed different frame rates, on my different PC's, both higher and lower...

I also noticed the option to choose a display type on next startup is different or missing.

I am hoping you improved someting here that was not mentioned, something that would fix my past issues with trying to use 2 graphics cars to get 8 players or more working on one PC. I sold my 2nd graphics card off, just wondering if I should snag another cheap and start trying again...

I do not have a screen shot, but on BW the short straight after the LONG straight, just before the small bridge with ambulance on it, there was an open seem down the center line of the track, just before the bridge. Not very wide but it showed up ONE time as I went through there.

Bumps might be one or two fliped faces?!

So far I like the new BlackWood, even the big curbs. If anyone is touching the curbs you are going too far off track in corners. I hit them once hard and it just bounced me back where I needed to be anyway...

I always wanted the AI to use random setups, so the different cars entered the corners with different RPMs or gears. I run it with a few AI cars, as a demo for people that pass by sometimes, and the sound of 4 or 5 AI cars on external view is VERY annoying. More of a droning sound then cars.

I am so glad that BlackWood was updated! That is the track I intend to use for Commercial events, yes I have the license. Even better the chicane is optional now, so newbies will not smash up there as much.

There are a few billboards that were removed or relocated from BlackWood, I had intended to put company logos on those when I do events with LFS Simulators.

I think the scenery looks better without them, however for commercial events, is there any chance of having a Bill Board or two, that we can place around the track as desired?
I know I can use the small barriers, but they are small.

They can use the same bit map as the others, but I would like to put them in OBVIOUS places so they do not have to hunt for them. Some events I may be filling every available space with them... Also if I setup a crash derby track in the autocross, having some BIG billboards would be nice for events.

I find that some new players, to simulators in general, like the rotating map. It helps them know if the next corner is a right/left turn. It can be confusing in the 1 second you look up to determine if your going up one side of the track, or down the other, which in newbies heads, can flip a right to a left or visa versa, kind of like newbies with RC cars that turn the wrong way when the car is coming toward them.

The rotating map could be zoomed in to only show the current location of the car, and the next umpteen meters of track ahead, the ends could then ghost away or fade into invisibility to help it look better. Some sims have done this. This could save screen space. It could also be done in a semi 3D-ish way too. This would help when learning new tracks.

Scawen,


I intend to setup a walk in facility to run 8 to 24 multiplayer simulators, using LFS commercial license.
I may be setting up near a local race track, it is small, but it will be active. It would have 3 possibly layouts, and an autocross area in center. They have a bunch of local service drives to private garage/condo units, that I would like to allow people to drive down as well. They already have cad models. Most of the surrounding facility is still under construction. On the off chance they ask me what it would cost to get their track into the simulator... How much cash/time/labor would be needed to do so?
Track is in the USA.

I got a hold of the i3-6100T micro computer today. It is barely enough to run LFS at 75fps, and that requires all the alias, and reflections etc, to be minimized to 0. CPU and GPU only run at about 50% most of the time with a full grid.

The CPU is great, but the intel 530 GPU is a lot weaker then I expected.
However I do not really see much difference with the settings set to 0/none, and I think it will work with one of these mounted to each cockpit frame.

New graphics updates pretty much killed using the i3 with intel graphics.

Last edited by SimulatorRental.com, Sat, 6 May 2017 03:29.

It runs the few games I play just fine, although they are games most people do not play ... its interesting to see some games use 8 to 16 cores. The most graphic demanding game I play is PlanetSide 2, on maxed out ultra settings, on a 3440x1440 monitor, and I only get 40FPS. Which is not that big of a deal, the problem lies in the fact that everything is delayed... I get shot dead before I even see the bullets come out of the other guys gun. This, and the micro stutters in LFS, are whey I am about to try a mini pc, Lenovo Tiny M700 i3-6100T.

16 of those tiny computers would use up just about the same power as the server setup I had. And while it would be stuck with onboard graphics... I only need to run 1 instance of LFS, it should be enough. But I will see when I test it...

I've been looking, hoping to put a bunch of parts, and or pre built system in various shopping carts, (mostly newegg and amazon) just incase one goes cheap during the holiday sales.

I started off looking for parts to build my own, but I keep choosing better parts, and ending up with a $600+ PC, before adding a legal Windows license.

I started looking at pre built when I saw they were actually cheaper then what I kept putting in shopping carts, and the components were not much different. I've seen the i3 M700 Tiny go for as low as $300, in a past expired sale. Best I can find it for now, is $378

Not having to build all 12 to 24 machines would save me some time as well, although I will likely dump and reinstall windows on one machine, and then use a disk duplicator on the rest.

It is too small to add a video card to it, so it would have to rely on the onboard video... but LFS does not really make much use of GPU, so I am hoping it works just fine.

I mostly intend to stick with LFS, although I can always swap in an i7 if I want to go with other simulators.

I definitely need to go smaller than ATX boards, ITX or STX only.
It will be mounted to the back of the simulator monitor. Each seat will be on wheels so I can transport it, so need it to save weight. I also need it to save power, thus why I am looking at tiny PC's with 35watt or less. Only one with less power was an i3-7100t, but while it is newer it is a lot slower.

I will just have to buy one, and try it, and if it sucks, hope that I can return it, or sell it on ebay for as much as I paid for it.

Yea but now I have an expensive server to sell before I can pay for the smaller PCs...

It was so close to working, if only there was a single GPU that could do 12 or more monitors