The online racing simulator
[moved OLFSL] Improvement suggestions
Yes, post 'em here.

All opinion are welcome; and :chair:
OLFSL seems to be perfect already

No suggestions at all..
Hi ho, just seen this little topic...
nothing big to improve, but maybe some ideas.

points after position and not after total time:
to make it more simple and clear (and sometimes more fair)
example: if you have an accident in race1 and finish far behind the first, but finish the second (close) race 2nd right behind you get still a worth total time...
single lap quali:
in general hotlapping is a great idea to create fair pools, but it kills a bit of the thrill for the event. a single lap offers more possibilities for mistakes and could create closer races.

reversed grid:
in general i really like the idea of reversing the grid. but with the bigger grids i think we could not reverse the whole grid, but the top 8 or 10 (like gp2 or wtcc).
more race information
laps: sprint / main ; race 1 / race 2
reversed grid: yes / no
wind: yes / no (still don't understand why noone uses this great feature, if we ever get wet races (me looks at scawen ) i think we'll use it too, right?)

3j
Wet races should be a supprise of race day of course
i'm strictly against single lap quali - the hotlap quali does a good job keeping the races even and separating the grids..

this isn't a pro-only league, so the organizers have to keep in mind, that there is a large difference between the fastest and the slowest guys

the only single lap quali i could imagine, is a pre-race qualification for the starting order, but after the grids have been finalized

this would be interesting but would take a lot of time with 5 or 6 grids like in the last season
Yeah hotlaps are needed to decide the pools, then for that race 1 lap quali shoudl be interensting, so I like this option the best.

Single lap quali should only take between 20-30mins, depending on pools size and track. It should be the same format as F1 (1 out lap, 1 fast Lap, 1 in lap, during in lap next driver goes on out lap)

I think we should have wind enabled, as almost every server I have joined has no wind. Having wind can have a great effect on the race result as break points are different and also top speed, I would love this and maybe we (as in current OLFSL members) should vote on this :s

Edit: :o no smilies in that post

illepall
Quote from Pabs(Sco) :
Single lap quali should only take between 20-30mins, depending on pools size and track. It should be the same format as F1 (1 out lap, 1 fast Lap, 1 in lap, during in lap next driver goes on out lap)

you're right, single lap quali takes about 30 minutes - maybe a little more on longer tracks - but 30 with 6 pools is still 3 additional hours

not sure if that's good (unless we have 3 race servers at the same time)
Quote from DasKlee :you're right, single lap quali takes about 30 minutes - maybe a little more on longer tracks - but 30 with 6 pools is still 3 additional hours

not sure if tha'Ts good (unles we have 3 race servers at the same time)

hehe never thought about it like that, but hopefully we have plenty of hosts so the OLFSL should run a few race's side by side
well, on the longer tracks, there could be 2 or even 3 drivers doing their 1 lap without comming close to each other...
:iagree:
I suggest that there wouldn't be mid-season joining opportunity...
Quote from prophet.est :I suggest that there wouldn't be mid-season joining opportunity...

Sorry, but why?
Umm... some drivers are joining just for one race, not for the full season and I don't like that..
Quote from prophet.est :Umm... some drivers are joining just for one race, not for the full season and I don't like that..

There will always be those, we can't help it..
But the reason we don't agree with that suggestion, is that if you want to join OLFSL, but can't join midseason - the season has just started and it won't end until March 2006. Would you really wait that long to join?

OLFSL is meant to be "a league for all" - that's why we don't block joining in the middle of the season. Anyone can join when he/she wants to.
Allow the player to rejoin if he/she was disconnected on the 1st lap...
Quote from xaotik :Allow the player to rejoin if he/she was disconnected on the 1st lap...

That was once allowed.. But people complained about it a lot, so we had to drop it.
Ayo,

I have some suggessions, ideas now, some days before the sunday race.
*At the last race someone mentioned the "lag-start". That is when the grid set up and the drivers start, the server admin immediately does a restart, so the ones who have got a slower/weaker computer, have better chances at the start, because for them not everything is loaded at the first "real" start.
*In additional to this:
Someone mentioned on the msg box, that the grids should be made bigger. In my opinion it isn't a good idea A lot of people don't have high-end computers, and they can start with difficulties because of the low fps.
(I think, the 16 players/grid is optimal)
*It would be better if you would add the race servers to the lfsworld insim relay (Racers & Hosts online -> Insim Relay signup), because the last time I was dropped into that server what was not signed up to insim relay, therefore my friends couldn't watch my race via LfS Spectator.


to sum up what has been said so far:
-lagstart, suitable sized grides, insim relay
Quote from dirty_rider : *It would be better if you would add the race servers to the lfsworld insim relay (Racers & Hosts online -> Insim Relay signup), because the last time I was dropped into that server what was not signed up to insim relay, therefore my friends couldn't watch my race via LfS Spectator.

We will do that IF we get it to work. It's been done in OLFSL for ages, because we know people want to watch their friend(s) race, and we can't allow anyone extra on the servers.

It doesn't always work, but we will use it whenever it's possible.
Starting Times
Dear Hosts of the OLFSM-League!

The only problem that I have with the concept of the OLFSL

is, that the starting times of the pools (and of course the pool

that a driver is in) are only handed out the day before the race,

that means on Saturday. For me as a family father with a lot of

"Real life", especially on the weekend, it is very difficult to cope

with this short termed-information.

I have learned in former discussions, that one idea behind the big

variation of starting times is the wish, that the drivers from all

over the world have similiar conditions and that no area of the

planet is handicapped with bad starting times. This is a good thought!

But would it not be possible to hand out a timetable for the intended

starting times together with the Event/Car list in the beginning of the

season? It simply would be nice to know if the races are intended to

take place in the afternoon or late in the evening on a particular sunday...

For me, when planning a weekend with my wife, it´s tough to say that

I might be racing somewhen on sunday between 11am and 11pm.


I am shure that there is potencial for improovement in that point.


Everything else about the OLFS I find organized very good, transparent

and fair. Everybody can see the efforts of the hosts and their staff and

the events are carried out very care-fully!


Greeting, till the race after this one ,

Dandy :jester:
OLFSL Hosts have nothing to do with the starting times, I'm the one responsible for that.

And no, we can't publish them with the race calendar, because - believe it or not - we have a real life too. Me and FienDi don't have kids yet, but we still have a life outside OLFSL.

I have to consider a lot of things when I schedule the pools, so it is impossible to know the times weeks in advance. Can you tell me right now what you're doing on Sunday evening 6 months from now? For example 7th of May 2006? I bet you can't. Anything can come up, so I ask our hosts 1-2 days in advance if they can host or not.

The hosts have their time limits when they can host, people are on very different time zones, races take time, hosts race too, hosts need breaks etc etc. The only two hosts I can guarantee to host at any time are me and FienDi. That is why we host most pools. And because I'm the only host who's not racing, I schedule as many pools for myself as possible. Sitting here ain't that hard, but I need a break too.

I have a GREAT crew I can count on, don't get me wrong. They help as much as they can and we'd be screwed without them.

Only thing we can do, is move the hotlap deadline to Thursday or Wednesday, and the grids would then be out the day after. But that would leave an even bigger chance of something coming up, and then I'd have to re-schedule everything and confuse everyone.

I can only tell you to contact me with email, and request a starting time for your pool when you have plans. I can't promise anything, but I have granted about 98% of the requests I've received. But keep in mind, that the request has to be in my mailbox around the hotlap deadline, otherwise I may not be able to do it.

Oh, and btw.. The rules state that "SUNDAYS sometime between 16:00 and 22:00 GMT" so let's not exaggerate..

However I'm doing my best here.
RE: Your statement
Dear Mrs.Fiendi!

I understand that You dont know Your time-scedules half a Year in advance!

But 100 Racers are depending on Your planning, as You know.

So how about ONE WEEK in advance?

That would be a big help for the racers.

I once wrote that OLFS is the only league with a reset-rule and

I was told that I was wrong with that opinion, so I dont say this

is the only league where You dont know when You will drive until

about 24h before the race.

But all the other leagues THAT I KNOW do have a timetable for the

Race-starting times in advance and of course I have expeerienced

changes in those times for various reasons.

But if 100 drivers have a uncertainty for 6 hours, that means standby

for 600 hours. That equals a standby time of 25 full days for the Racers.

If this amount is reduced to lets say 100hours its a big gain.

Greetings, Dandy
Quote from Dandy Dust :So how about ONE WEEK in advance?

Okay, let's say one week in advance, that would put the hotlap deadline into next saturday. This would cut off 6 days from time racers have to make their hotlap. I don't know about the others, but for me that would be an issue.

In the other hand - in the old days the subscription deadline to each event (yes, OLFSL had different system on those days) was thursday before the raceday. And the races took place on Satruday. Then when we asked our races if they would like to have an earlier deadline they replied that it would be too early to say if they have time on raceday. Something unexpected might come up, etc.

So this current system is a compromise. Also, usually you receive the grid on friday - this week was just a exeption to that rule.
Even I can't know what my plans are a week from now, so I can't ask our hosts to. This is the best we can do right now, you don't have to like it. I explained the reasons in my previous reply, and those reasons have not changed.

As I said, you can request a starting time for your pool if you have plans. This system seems to work for our other racers and most of all: it seems to be good for the staff.

Without the awesome staff of OLFSL there would not be an OLFSL to race in. We can't be in 2 places at once, so you just have to accept things as they are now. Last minute changes are not for us unless there's an emergency. When I schedule and publish the grids, that's it, I won't make changes after that. It would just create a mess.
Mario Kart!

Improvments?

Well we could have red shells like in Mario Kart, that way I can knock other racers out!
The race start time is fine for most of us Fiendi, if anything don't make it earlier lol, because i have to get up early enough on sunday to race (12) and modoff races even earlier.

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG