Well Dalibor79, your prayers have been pre-empted - event 5 (on the 1st of June 2008) will feature your request!

Welcome to the league and I hope you have fun!
Tim

I would just like to point out that the first qualifying session (from 8th to 14th of March) is going to be running the car and track from event 1 (ie LX6 @ SO Town) and is to allow everyone to get used to the format in case they missed the warmup events for any reason.

It is also a way of getting any bugs out of the system. Please use this thread to report issues and bugs.

The second qualifying period (from 15th to 28th March) will start afresh with all the times from the first period being cleared. This period will then form the grid for the event.

Thanks
Tim

Hi Ben,

I am still interested and am ready to confirm!

Not interested in quad biking though (too many scare stories, I will end up hurting myself badly).

Add me to the confirmed list please!

Tim

[quote=JasonJ;701857]
connections:
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8

number 3 guy leaves:
1...2...X...4...5...6...7...8

Guy in 8th (last) slot fills slot 3
1...2...8...4...5...6...7

Guy in slot 3 is renumbered to 3
1...2...3...4...5...6...7

New guy connects, becomes number 8
1...2...3...4...5...6...8

Just from observing the listquote]

By "list" I assume you mean the connection list at the bottom right of the screen? I have to be honest I haven't noticed this or looked for it either. I would imagine (in my limited capacity) that the above method would take more time to complete than a simple linked list which just re-pointed position 2 at position 4 therefore effectivley deleting position 3!

The above requires re-pointing position 3 at position 8, then re-pointing position 8 at position 4 and then re-pointing position 7 at NULL (ie end of the list).

I could, of course, have it completely wrong and be thinking far too simplisticly!

Tim

I believe it is the order in which they connected. Haven't really checked or proved it but I am fairly sure it is.

Tim

Hi Thunderdome,

Firstly, I appreciate your enthusiasm!

Secondly, the season is well into its planning phase, we have a "theme" for the season (in fact there are two themes running through the season) and we are all pretty much decided on these.

Now we (the Staff) just have to decide the specifics and we are there.

I do not want to say for definate when the season will start or when we will have the next season ready to announce, but rest assurred it is coming and it is going to be different

Tim

Quote from bozo :

That's what I did

Don't get me wrong. I do like races with pitstops. Since patch Y the tyres do not last so well for some of the cars, therefore there will be some races where pitting will be necessary or advantageous in any case. I'm just not in favour of artificially saying that you must stop. If you do that and ordinarily the car would last the distance, anybody near the back of the grid would be advised to stop on lap 2, get clear track, and just push from there. Avoids being slowed by other cars in the early laps, and the risks when overtaking. Doesn't work if everyone does it though

You also have to be careful with the front runners coming to lap you as adhering to blue flags slows you down (as it did me on both warm up races)

Tim

I like mandatory pitstops - but it too late for me to explain why now!

Tim

Quote from Mroziu :

Only one issue. 12 laps limit doesn't work at all. U can always do like this. Go to in lap, drive fast laps as far as u can to see if this would be faster one and if not just shift+p to pits (without crossing the finish line).

Using this "back door" you can try unlimited number of times to make a faster lap.

In general I really like this 12 laps qual system. U need to be really quick and repeatable to make really fast lap in 12 tries.

Firstly, I am glad you like it.

Secondly, I really saw this "back door" as a non-issue personally. People can practice off-line as much as they want, so only taking full, complete laps from their total seemed fair. You will only know if you have beaten your time at the point you cross the line, unless you have made a mistake and you are clearly not going to make it.

There is also the argument for actually continuing on regardless - you have warmer tyres and are up to speed and getting into a groove. You might as well continue than pit again and waste more time doing the outlap and then another flying lap!

Anyway, as it happens we have come to a compromise with the next version and this will be to count the lap as Split 1 is crossed. Anytime before Split 1, you may abort the lap. As Split 1 is crossed, the lap is counted regardless of if you actually cross the line and record a time or not. The InSim application (named LFSQual for those interested!) will have the option to chose between Split 1 and End of Lap for when to register a lap and take it from the racers total.

I am coding this at the moment.

Tim

Hi all,

I can not keep up with the chatterbox, so please report all bugs and issues and things you don't understand about the new qualifying system in this thread and I will do my best to answer and fix everything

I will keep this post updated as best as I can too.

Current Version: 0.2.18 (dated: 27/09/2011)

Known Issues:

• None.
  

Requests:

• Welcome message to display all qualifying rules, require ACCEPT to be pressed in acknowledgement of the rules. Once shown, do not show again until requested by the racer.
  
• Allow more than one server to be used for Qualifying at the same time. NEEDS THOUGHT.
  

Completed/Fixed

• Outlaps of exactly 1 hour or more are now classed as outlaps and are ignored [Note: previously it was just laps timed at exactly 1 hour which were classed as outlaps].
  
• Laps can now be deducted from a racer at either
  • the end of the lap (meaning a racer can tele-pit just before the line and not lose the lap) OR
    
  • at the first split (meaning a racer can abort a lap anywhere upto this point, but after that the lap is counted regardless of if they cross the line or not).
    
  This option can be selected by the race admins.
  
• Car information is now recorded.
  
• HIDE/OFF/AUTO buttons combined into an easier HIDE function.
  • With the information shown:
    • Pressing the HIDE button will hide the information display.
      
    • Pressing SHIFT+I will hide the information display.
      
  • With the information hidden:
    • Pressing SHIFT+I will show the information display.
      
• End of Qualifying calculation bug fixed.
  
• InSim app correctly handles tcp packets with part LFS packets in.
  
• Racers are informed by a message when a lap has been recorded.
  
• All votes are immediately cancelled so no-one can restart or end the session.
  
• If a racer drives a faster lap with a different car, the car info is now updated correctly.
  
• Minor bug fixes.
  
• Added request for ISP_HLV packets which allows tracking of HLVC incidents
  
• Only HLVC laps are allowed
  
• Fixed bug which could cause a racer to be classed as violating HLVC even though they didn't - only occurs where a racer who has violated HLVC leaves the server uncleanly and another racer joins and picks up the same PLID. LFSQual now clears all HLVC events for the PLID when it joins the server, just in case any rogue HLVC events are left behind.
  

Thanks
Tim

Last edited by t1ger, Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:57. Reason : Updated to v0.2.18

Bugger,

Firstly, too busy watching where bozo was after my lap 5 pitstop, that I exceeded the pit lane speed limit. Then, I was able to gain slightly on bozo and Solar until all the front runners kept coming up to lap me, then I had to let them go under the Blue Flags and I lost ground. Then I got disconnected.

Never mind, see you next week.

Tim

Quote from teedot :

ah damn, that is odd then... sorry i couldnt be of any help

But, you have seen this before then? Did you prove, beyond doubt, that it was caused when you did not have a PB?

EDIT: for completeness, I have not found an answer to this and have changed my routine to look for all laps over 1 hour instead of exactly 1 hour. I know technically, this is not the answer, because someone *could* really spend over 1 hour getting around 1 lap, but the chances of this are slim.

Tim

Last edited by t1ger, Fri, 9 May 2008 09:58. Reason : I hate threads with no answer!

Quote from teedot :

that usually only occurs if you haven't got a PB on the track currently selected....

Not in this case though, as I had been on the server for some time and it had been ok, and I had set my PB either earlier in the session or on an earlier day.

Thanks for the idea though

Tim

Quote from bozo :

Nice qualifying time Tim - I couldn't quite better that!

What a conincidence! Have I improved or have you slipped a bit?

Tim

Hi all,

Has anyone else noticed that sometimes, and I have not worked out the circumstances yet, an outlap can be timed at over 1 hour. It seems to be 1 hour plus the time it took you to get around and start your lap. In general it seems to be after you have been connected to a server for a while and not done a lap for a bit. The server in question was in Practice mode (ie 0 laps) at the time. I tele-pitted and did another outlap and again the time was over 1 hour. I had to leave the server and join again for it to behave again.

As far as I know, it should always be 1 hour as per this post by Scawen. He does mention that in a non-compatible patch he may add another packet so the lap is counted but the time is not registered. Does anyone know about this? I can't find any reference to it in Insim.txt.

Sorry I can't be more specific at the moment, I just wanted to ask around. (I have searched as well, although the secret of searching is "what" to search for )

Thanks in advance!

Tim

Quote from bozo :

Just to clarify, the outlap does count. If you leave the pits with 10 laps remaining, as soon as you cross the line to start your flying lap, you will only have 9 laps remaining.

I think that is the way it should be.

This is not the way it is, the outlap is not counted. However, I have seen some instances where it is counted and the reason is this: LFS times your outlap (although it does not show it at the top right of the screen) and it is always exactly 1 hour 0 mins 0 seconds. Sometimes (and I have been as yet unable to figure out why) your outlap is timed at over 1 hour (infact it gets 1 hour and your actual lap time) these laps WILL be counted by the Qualifying application. Normal outlaps (those of exactly 1hour) will not be counted.

Tim

Quote from bozo :

As the outlap doesn't count, you can try as many online qualifying laps as you like, as long as you abort the lap before crossing the line if it isn't quick enough.

That is true, but if you are fighting for tenths of a second, you will not know "exactly" how fast your lap would have been unless you actually cross the line. If you have made a mistake or spun or whatever, you will cancel the lap there, not just at the line.

Quote from bozo :

So you may be right here. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

I wasn't talking about that with the bit you quoted me on!

Quote from bozo :

Will the second practice event be run with qualifying laps limited to 12?

Don't know yet, I would imagine so as not everyone has got even close to 60 laps this time, so we may try the other extreme. Nothing has been decided yet.

Tim

Hi bozo,

It may be me misunderstanding what you mean but for me its like this:

Hotlap qualifying method:
Practice: you can practice where you like, offline, online, OLFSL servers, someone else's server running the same combo etc etc.
Set a lap: Upload your hotlap whenever you like up to the deadline. Until you upload it, you are the only one who knows what your current fastest lap is.

Qualifying Server method:
Practice: you can where you like, offline, online, OLFSL servers, someone else's server running the same combo etc (ie the same minus the actual qualifying server)
Set a lap: Connect to the Qualifying Server and attempt to set your fastest lap when you feel you are ready. Until you start lapping on the Qualifying server, you are the only one who knows what your fastest current lap is (even though it won't count unless you can replicate it on the server)

So, in terms of judging your target laptime, it is the same, as far as I can see - you have to wait for other people to set / upload their lap before you can compare. In some ways the Qualifying Server way means you will be able to see other peoples current attempt earlier because they can not just relax knowing they have a saved replay on their PC which they can upload at the last minute if they can not improve.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your feedback bozo!

Tim

Hi bozo,

Thanks for your comments - I will do my best to answer / comment on them.

Quote from bozo :

I like the ideas behind the new qualifying format. Overall I think that this has the potential to be a lot more pleasurable than spending ages hotlapping trying to catch the 'perfect' lap.

Thanks

Quote from bozo :

1. Although the warm-up seems to be unlimited laps, in the next season if the number of laps is restricted to 12 laps then do the outlap and inlap count? I suspect the outlap does, but the inlap doesn't if the car does not cross the finish line at the end of the lap

The outlap does not count towards your lap count. The inlap will only count if you cross the finish line at the end of the lap. As LFS does not allow you to drive into the actual garage, doing an inlap is kind of pointless anyway as you might as well just tele-pit at the end of your flying laps.

Quote from bozo :

2. Will there be servers available for practicing the combo which do not count for qualifying? I hope so, providing the ability to practice online with other drivers, and then when 'peak condition' is reached, the driver can switch over to the qualifying server.

We (OLFSL) have four servers (as you know). At the moment, the application which controls the qualifying can probably only just, maybe, control 2 LFS servers. I would not like to try it with more unless I code the application to be "aware" of the fact that it is controlling more servers. So the answer at this point is, yes, the other servers will be available to be practice servers - probably in race mode instead of practice mode that the actual qualifying server is in.

Quote from bozo :

3. What was the reason for deciding to restrict the qualifying laps? I think that this will encourage people to leave qualifying until the last few days, making it difficult to judge a target qualifying time. I would prefer to see progress during the qualifying period.

We honestly thought that restricting the laps would make it more exciting! Maybe this will work, maybe it won't. We will only find out by trying it and checking the feedback. At the moment, we are all in favour of it so we will run with it. As mentioned in the News, the number of laps for this event will be 60 (which is nearly unlimited ).

Quote from bozo :

My suggestions would be one of the following, with option 1 being my preference:

• option 1: display best time from the practice servers also, but separately from the qualifying server (this could just be taken from lfsworld stats, if too much effort to capture stats from OLFSL practice servers only)

Hmm, dont see this as a viable option myself as I would imagine the practice servers will be in race mode, and in race mode you are racing against the other racers not against the clock, so setting your fastest laptime may not be the first thing on your mind.

Quote from bozo :

• option 2: run 2 qualifying periods, 12 laps available in each period, with the best lap across both qualifying periods counting for each driver

Hmmm, again possible, but this will actually shorten your qualifying window as you will need to complete at least 2 laps, one within the first half of the period and one within the second half (I can explain this further if required).

Quote from bozo :

• option 3: make qualifying laps unlimited

Not exciting enough, I think (see above )

Quote from bozo :

It's good to see the changes being made to qualifying. I hope that it proves to be a success.

Thanks and me too!

Tim

Definately interested, count me in as well please!

I think I have been there many years ago - we drove up and came back down the same day (as its only 2hr 15mins away).

Tim

Quote from russraine :

Updated to X36 and this bug happened right away, and i've had it twice so far. It does not happen every time I to reproduce it. Let me know what you think.

Running LFS in a window with the mouse cursor turned on in LFS so that you can click the drivers names in the bottom right corner.

Maximizing LFS and just after quickly changing it to NAMES OVER CARS but the mouse cursor stays on screen even though it should be hidden. It might happen with other X patches, i've not tested, it just so happend to happen to me on the first time using X36.

Hope it helps.

As you now know, russraine, this is my InSim app on the server you were on displaying buttons all the time. LFS shows the mouse whenever there are buttons on the screen.

I will add the option to the InSim app for the user to hide the buttons all the time

All: Please disregard russraine's post - it is not a bug!

Thanks
Tim

I am in definately.

Just spent a good few hours playing with the new car, the new track and the AI. All good (the AI - all 17 of them (another 2 crashed) - wiped the floor with me) no problems yet at all

Then, I tried the good old XFG at BL1. My god it is hard! That little cars clutch was hotter than the sun before I had even done 5 laps! Lesson learnt: my driving style = clutch killer!

So I spent a few hours adapting my driving style, using the clutch with auto clutch off, and it is SO much more realistic! I absolutely love it. Lifting off the accelerator and then clutching down (on the G25) then changing gear, then waiting for the right revs before lifting clutch and accelerating again - feels so nice.

On the downside, not sure how this will be when I am racing a league race and others are not using a G25 and can change gear faster (due to no physical clutch and using auto-clutch) bet hey, I'll cross that bridge later.

For now, me in club!!

Tim

/googles "prepared statements", learns something new!



Tim

Hi Sam!

If you are referring to the column name, then TAA's answer will help. However, I read it that you mean there is data in the table which starts with a "#". If this is the case, then I have just done it through MySQL Query Browser like this (searching for all rows where column1 begins with a "#".


Also, it worked like this in PHP for me with no escaping needed. (I say this because lots of things in PHP and html needs escaping so I assume you mean this!)



Tim

EDIT: /me must learn to type faster!

Points adjusted accordingly. All hosts will be notified before the start of next season to take extra care in noting who connects and who does not.

Thanks
Tim