In a long race (50L) on AS3 with fxr, fzr and xrr, both the fzr and xrr keep blowing tyres and getting stuck in sand. 6 cars were in sand with flats at one point, of which 2 got out. One pitted and changed tyres... 3 others going around track with flat tyres would not pit, and kept going off. Seems there's a problem with them knowing a flat tyre means pit.

One quick solution to that is a global force pit by the player (ie hit enter) but thats pretty rough way to do it. Definitely need more work.

On a side issue, since R2 tyres go flat after 15 laps with AI FZR, the R3's after 50 laps only heat up the inside. The inside temp was 90, the outside was 60. Could probably be fixed in setup so not really an issue. The XRR was even worse, the FXR was just cold. As I said, setup issue methinx.

None of the circulating cars blew a clutch, except for those stuck in sand. (FZR & XRR).

If the AI on as3 fzr miss their pit due to flat tyres, they'll abort and head back out onto the track again, instead of just picking the next pit box. That's with R2 tyres.

As for balance, I'm running a 50 lapper same track with 9 ai, all GTR car types for each set of 3 AI. After qualifying, 1 AI was 1 sec faster than rest, the FZR still seems to dominiate, with the FXR coming last (1.5 seconds behind FZR & XRR). I'll post results of race times. The FZR all blew their tyres, and all kept getting drive throughs, which prevented them from pitting, as they just did the drive thru, and everytime they went into pit, they got drive thru. Definitely need work on them controlling pit speed on entry when damaged.

One other thing about the AI's agressiveness. I noticed if you brake properly into corner when they do, and hit apex, they tend not to be able to tap you. (braking into corner entry I mean).

Yeh race is finished... that's the gap between FZR and FXR (1.5s). The XRR is between them.



Ven

Last edited by Venus, Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:19.

Few problems with AI.

Track AS2, car Fox, 60 laps

First race, all cars ended up stuck in the two sand traps at the final corner on AS2.
Second Race. Half the cars stuck in the same traps, the other half burnt out their
clutches on track. In both races (2 pit stops), most seems to handle the pit ok, though there were some crashing into each other trying to get into garage. (Maybe it'd be better if they just stayed on their pit, rather than enter garage (easier fix). Not sure if they are faster on this track or not yet. They seem slower. They used to mid 102s, now they are doing 103-104s, with little improvement. Most did roughly 55 laps.

SO6 FMB they seem pretty quick there (at least compared to current avg human times on servers) though clutch problems as usual same with pit problems.

AS3 FXR - well first few laps they all crashed taking final chicane, but they finally learnt it - big improvement - they now also use the correct gear - big improvement. Same clutch n pit problems though.

That's the end of those I've tested. Still not happy with new rev limit and the clutch is way too sensistive to overheated. I deliberately burnt out a clutch once. That was in a normal car, and it took alot longer than this, a race clutch should be alot better than normal cars clutch.

Not Happy

Bob, When will you be releasing a version compatible with X31 setups? I try to run latest vers of VHetc and it just reports incorrect version of setup.

Ven

The other annoying thing, is the fox and fxr aren't much of a challenge anymore. The chicane in the fox at as2 was a beautifully technical corner, but now I even reduced my wing down to 1/3 from 3/5 and still it would go thru flat, with total ease. Before, it always skipped and skidded a little, with just slight instabilty, that was gorgeous. Now, even with 1/3 wing, it goes thru it like its on rails. The FXR is the same. Talking to people on servers who race fox who have tried it, seems many of those don't like it either.

I'm not interesting in kissing ur butt like alot here, so you get what I really think. Take of it what you will...

Jeez talk about good way to ruin a damn good program.

As for those comments, I don't give a damn what you think... I paid my $ for it, I have a right to tell him I think his patch sux...

Just been tryin the patch!

OK. I'm seriously angry!!!

FOX: What on earth were you thinking??? You've crippled it. Ok fair enough take off 1/2 a second from it if u needed, but normally at AS2 in fox my PB is 100.85 (.65 off WR). Now the damn thing won't get past a 103 and it feels like you killed it. It's lost all its joy, all it's fun. Going for realism? Sure, fair enough, but any real car will rev up way past its redline, but you've put a limiter in now, that kills the engine at 7.5k. Dammit, I hate it!!!
For this reason, and this reason alone, I'll not be updating to S3 when it arrives. You may think I'll get used to it, but I won't, cause you've done the same to all the other cars.

I'm all for realism, but there comes a point where you kill all the fun, and you've just done that! I don't pay my hard earned money for something, only to have it ruined, and that's exactly how I feel.

As for the speedo, I don't really care (though on my computer, 1024x768 res) the dials are not readable. You'd made such a brilliant product, and I even got one of my mates to buy it. Damned if I know why you want to act like a killjoy. If you've got a super-realism kick, fine then don't inflict us with it.

As for the view. It seems now I have only one choise, look 45 deg, which means I miss seeing someone moving over on me, until he's hit me. Damn silly thing to do. OPTIONS PEOPLE< OPTIONS!!! Would it kill you?

Am I angry? You bet. I've always been overjoyed with LFS, but the way this patch seems to be going, it seems your bent on ruining it!

The AI are a big improvement, though I'd hoped you'd fixed their crash happiness, and addressed thier problems in getting stuck (in sand last corner AS2 - the race I'm just running has over 10 cars stuck in that section) - that's the time they need to be able to reset themselves.

OK. I'm done venting. For gods sake Scawen, please get rid of this stupid engine rev limitation. I bought this product, and have been practising for months and months and months to finally get close to WR, and now just when I do, you step in, and negate all that effort, and kill the best car in LFS. Seriously considering uninstalling LFS for good!!!

Venus B-(
As for the clutch, it's hopelessly too weak.

WHERE'S ALL MY SETUPS GONE???????? 8(

I moved them all from settings to setup but none of them come up? What gives?????

Venus

Consistancy?

Ok. First your question of which is better, consistancy or speed. Well that's pretty simple. If you are consistant, you will get PB's cause you are no longer thinking and pushing. It'll just happens that way.

As for getting consistancy, well, the way I did it when I was getting 102's at Aston Club in fox and crashing alot, I did 2 back to back 60 lappers, and didn't push, just nailed my apex's. That solved crashing, and as a by product produced consistancy. Now; I'm .65 off wr there, and I'm working on the same thing again, consistancy, and of course I'll solve it the same way I always do. Everytime I get a problem, 1 or two lots of 60 laps fixes it. Here's a quote from Dik Dolan whose very fast, and I think it's the best advice you can get.

"Think about the weight transfer as you change from braking/steering/throttle. Try to do all inputs in a smooth continuos flow. Don't just hit the brakes- lift off- yank the wheel over then hammer the throttle. That will upset the ballance of the car and you will lose lots of grip. Ease on the pedals and ease off again, try to be gentle, same with the steering; smooth inputs. Yanking hard on the wheel and the tyres will just slide.

Another tip that helped me was : look further ahead. Don't focus on the upcomming braking point or apex, use your peripheral vision to take note of those, with just the occasional glance etc at them. try to keep your focus on where the car WILL be, not where it is now.

Try filling the car up and just driving lots of smooth easy laps. Don't concentrate on anything in particular, just try to be smooth and keep good lines and decent exit speeds. Brake early and lightly, try not to slide. Do it at a time when you have no distractions ,and the room is quiet and dark. If you're lucky after a while things just "click" and your subconcious does the driving, you can "feel" the car better and you get faster. it's a weird zen like thing, and it works=)" - Dik Dolan

Couldn't say it better if I tried.

Venus

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to set this wheels brake/throttle to independant axis and still have the wheel? Just at the moment, throttle n brake are linked, so I can't put both on at same time, which is what I'd love to do. Is there any way?

Venus

That's generally true.

However; if you are in a car that tends to wheelspin alot, one way of avoiding it (if you are not competent in handling the power) is to short shift. ie shift up earlier than usual. The best way however; is to not wait for the red light, but to learn what revs it occurs at, and how the engine sounds at that point, that way you'll anticipate the red light change and change right at it, rather than a reaction time later after you've seen it (typically 0.25-0.45s depending on your age).

I assume you mean Analyse for speed. If you havn't downloaded the track files, you'll get errors.

You don't buy cars lol

If you don't know what you're doing in setups, best thing is to just go online and download them from setup field link on lfs site. Otherwise, go to multiplayer n ask someone for a setup in the car/track you're interested in. Everyone shares setups there. However, download the setup from setup field first. They are all the WR sets.

More than likely, its one of two things. Either, you have not closed your firewall (zone alaram doesn't seem to know about lfs, even if you tell it about it). Or, if you have a modem router, you have not setup the port forwarding in the router.

Both are pretty simple to do fortunately. For firewall, exit it

For Port Forwarding... then very simply, go here.

http://www.portforward.com/eng ... orwarding/routerindex.htm

Now; its quite simple really, pick your modem router from the list, on next page, pick Live for Speed game, then follow the instructions (ignore static IP), instead look up setting DMZ for your router.

Then it should work fine.

Easiest way to run a server is simply download Dedigui, just click the options you want ie track/cars etc n launch server... couldn't be easier.

Hey Up.

Do you have an external program/profiler running to control the wheel? If so, get rid of it, it will be causing conflicts with LFS (which has its own wheel control system).

Don't try learning all teh cars and tracks. You'll suck at all of them, n be good at none. Instead, pick one car/track combo you like alot, and focus on that, and stick at it till you get within 1 second of WR. Then, you'll find it alot easier picking up any car on any track. Because once your fast in one car, you can be pretty fast in most cars. Thats why real racers can switch series and still do well.

depends where you are. My server Venus Racing usually up in afternoon/evenings Australian tme, is very new player friendly. In fact, I've placed objects around the track to help new players learn important parts of the track. On AS2 with fox, that means braking point, and turn in point on the chicane. n if u want some tips, well just ask.

faster new players get faster, the more new players that stick

Quote from DarkTimes :

Yes, that is good advice, but just to add that it is actually faster to brake late, it just should not be your main area of focus when trying to improve your lap time. The thing to remember is that you spend 5% of your time on the brake, 20% of your time going around the corners, and 75% of your time hard on the gas. So when looking to maximise your lap times you need to start by focusing on the area which will gain you most time, which is the straight when you are on the gas. You can gain time by braking late, but it's only something you should think about seriously when you are at the point where you are trying to shave off 100ths of a second.

Well, my braking point is already at the absolute limit, so going past it, will only make me run wide. I'm assuming you know the limits of your braking, and have already determined the last possible spot you can brake in order to still make the corner.

Something I find rather annoying, is the way WR's are recorded. Currently, you have to do it in a hotlap, then upload it to the lfs desktop. This has one major flaw. It doesn't give a true indication of the actual world record... ie the fastest lap ever. Take the FOX on Aston Club. The WR is held by Darkone and is 100.20. However, on Redline Server 2 on AS2, Brutas has done a 100.15.

What I'd like to see, is two different types of WR's. A hotlap, and an Insim PB Based WR. Best PB = WR. It needs hotlap sure, cause it allows people to download those replays, which are great learning aid. However, there should also be a true WR recorded through InSim.

Venus

I've very simple strategy for T1. I make damn sure I hold my position or try to improve it in the drive up to T1. Depending on if I have a car alongside, I'll take far inside, or outside, and brake early... and have a slow apex. I also tap my brakes to warn those behind I'm braking. By going slow thru T1, all the accidents happen in front, n u can avoid them. By slow, I don't mean SLOW. I mean just off my normal pace, so I have room to manouvre.

If you're up the frnt somewhere, that should keep you out of trouble. If you are mid pack or down the back, expect to be hit, as those drivers have less experience, n more likely a back marker will cause a ripple effect n take alot out, unless someone gets tapped in the wrong spot.

I had that problem Dark, I discovered it was my hdd. It's access time was way too slow. My old hdd crashes, so I put in an older one... and that introduced massive stuttering. I had to live with it for few months, then I noticed one day it happened once when I was loading a prog while doing something else. So I did some tests, sure enough, it was the hdd.

So I got a new one with a 'fast' access time, and all my stuttering went away, n never had it since.

It was being caused by the windows swap file saving while running lfs.

lol... simplest way of taking a screen shot of anything, is just hit PrintScreen key. The image is then copies to clipboard. So load paint, reduce white image to small, and hit paste. Then you can clip it, resize it, and save it where you want.

lmao

All very sound advice. I'd add simply:

If your over 1.5 sec from the WR, then setup is never going to help you. It's all technque down to 1.5 over WR. Once you get to that stage, you'll start noticing the difference between one set and another, more importantly, you'll begin to know your own style. Its not easy getting there, but if u practise, and focus on technqique rather than setups, you'll definitely improve. Its fine to ask for a set, if you don't have one for that car/track.

As for techniques:

1. Learn your braking point, and never go past it. New Players always think its faster to brake really late. Thats totally wrong, and only shows how new you are. lol. The fastest way is a fast exit. So, nail your braking point every time and never go past it, even if your dueling for a corner (let the other guy run wide )

2. Braking on your mark ensures you will hit your apex. So; make sure you know the minimum speed at each apex (where u have to brake), make sure you nail that speed. Both that, and braking to your mark will ensure you can nail your apex, which means you get a fast exit.

3. Difference between new n fast drivers, is they get on power usually on the apex or before. Don't try it yet. You can't just start planting it on the apex, and expect it to stay on the road. You have to learn how to, so sneak up. ie, in FOX on Aston Club, if you are low 102's, then its getting on throttle early that will get you faster, not much else (assuming your smooth).

4. Too many people use their wheel, as if it was a crank pumping something up. If you think about it, Turning front wheels = friction, which means it robs you of speed. So use the absolute minimum wheel turn you need, and never pull the wheel (if you run wide, get off the power).

5. Knowing the track, and planning ahead within your mind. I have images in my head of the next corner (when I'm in corner before), and I'm planning where the car will be at any time down the road.

6. Lastly, in a race never watch the guy in front. If he goes off, you will too. You'll also miss your braking markers, and lines. Look past him, to your marks/lines... your peripheral vision will take note of him much better than you can focusing on him. It will pick up every little movement he makes out of norm, so you'll react faster to his mistakes.

There u go.. Have alot of fun.... setups are great, n setting it up yourself is alot of fun too. There's heaps of really good advice in this thread... make use of it.

Venus

Quote from Gnomie :

Could someone briefly explain to me the point of the cruising servers? I don't get the idea.. seems like you get credits for driving round and round really slow on the right hand side of the road..

I don't play that server, but I've been there. The point is pretty simple. You start off with a standard car (usually uF1) and some money. The faster you go (without getting caught by cops) the more money you make. If cops catch you, u get fined. In one of the garages, is a lottery, where u can win xtra cash. The point is to get enough money so u can get the best car, so the cops can't catch you, and thus make the most money.

I think there is a mod for it, I'm not sure on that bit...

Ven

I started with joystic and found it very good, though you have to fiddle with smoothness. It gave full analogue control, but not as good as my wheel though

Ven