WARNING: THIS IS A TEST

THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN NEW TYRE PHYSICS OR THE NEW GRAPHICS SYSTEMS

PLEASE TEST BEFORE YOU POST


Hello Racers,

Here is a new test patch: 0.6U7

It is mainly for VR image quality:
- Resolution adjustment (aka supersampling / PPD)
- Select 4x or 8x multisample antialiasing
- Fixes for Pimax headsets

There are also some graphical and force feedback improvements

Updates and fixes are listed below.

0.6U7 is compatible with 0.6U

- You CAN connect online with 0.6U
- You CAN play replays from 0.6U

Please back up or rename your LFS.exe from version U so you can revert to it if necessary.


Changes from 0.6U6 to 0.6U7:

Force Feedback:

New settings are available under Axes / FF in Options - Controls
FF Steps maximum value is now 10000 (the maximum in DirectInput)
FF Rate is now controlled by a user setting (25 / 50 / 100 Hz)

VR:

Names over cars could fade differently in each eye in Pimax headset

Misc:

Gearshift debounce maximum setting restored to 200 ms (default 20)
More translations updated - thank you translators!


Changes from 0.6U5 to 0.6U6:

Gearshift debounce setting now applies to all controller buttons
Reduced maximum value of gearshift debounce to 100 ms (default 20)
FIX: Memory leak related to threads (most often for skin download)


Changes from 0.6U to 0.6U5:

Graphics:

Car shadows now use anisotropic filtering to reduce shimmering

Views:

View filter time maximum value increased to 1 second
FIX: Filtered view went wrong with low filter time + replay speedup

VR:

New "Antialiasing" option to select 4x or 8x multisampling
New "Resolution adjustment" slider (also known as supersampling)
FIX: Head tracking / mirrors wrong if car leaned with horizon lock
FIX: Free view FOV was wrong after entering VR in free view
FIX: Names above cars looked wrong in Pimax headsets
FIX: Some trees looked wrong in Pimax headsets

LAN:

Easier to set up LAN race: local IP address is shown on host screen
You can enter the local network computer name instead of IP address

Misc:

CAR.lfs scripts are reliably run when user car is spawned or reset
FIX: Issues with driver names ending with caret character
FIX: Driver names ending with a lead byte could corrupt text
FIX: Replays from old Westhill before 2015 now marked as obsolete
FIX: Rare manual shift at high speed to 1st/rev during auto shift


INSTALLATION:

A FULL version of LFS 0.6U must already be installed

To install the PATCH using the SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE:

1) Move or save the patch into your main LFS folder
2) Double click the patch to extract it to that folder
3) When you see "Confirm File Replace" select "Yes to All"
4) Now you can start LFS in the normal way

NOTE: You can see if the patch is correctly installed when you run
the program (LFS.exe). At the bottom of the entry screen: 0.6U7


DOWNLOADS:

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE 0.6U:
PATCH 0.6U TO 0.6U7 (SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE)
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6U_TO_6U7.exe (1.3 MB)

FOR HOSTING ONLY:
DEDICATED HOST 0.6U6 (non-graphical version for hosting only):
www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_S3_DCON_6U6.zip (1.8 MB)

Just wanted to point out - title says patch T7...

Quote from Scawen :

...
CAR.lfs scripts are reliably run when user car is spawned or reset
...

I am testing this : it is correctly applying custom and driver setting (view parameter), but in the option the view remain selected (visually) on the previously selected option, even if you are seeing your view defined in the script ...
edit : After thinking to it, it is surely intentional

In that case it should show for "Default driver view :" [in car] selected
and below that it should say "Settings for custom view : (UFR)"

So you can adjust the settings for custom view but that doesn't mean it is the default view.

I can confirm that both supersampling and AA work for me (I use a Rift), thanks. I must admit, the difference between 4x and 8x MSAA is very very subtle (it's great to have the ability to change the settings on track btw, and dynamically see the results!), only really seen on distant straight lines, like armco edges (my test case is Blackwood, which shows quite bad shimmering at the start line, as well as down the first long straight).

SS makes a big difference to image quality as expected. One small request, could you allow values over 200 perhaps? I run 250 (the maximum) in Richard Burns Rally, without an issue (I'm lucky enough to have a 2080Ti), and LFS is easily locked at 90fps, even with 200% SS and 8x MSAA. I'd like a maximum of 300% ... might not work very well, but easy not to use it in that case! (I appreciate it is very much diminishing returns here - but if I have the headroom, I might as well spend it on something.)

One other thought - are your shadows done in the MSAA pass? They seem to be the main culprits of the remaining distant shimmer issues. I know from experience though that this can be a very difficult problem to solve, depending on how your renderer is structured.

Not related to VR, but in the past we had the new persistent tire marks feature. It's great for immersion but it's a horrible distraction for hotlapping and driving consistently. It's mostly a problem in multiplayer where noobs/crashers drive off track or drift all over the place and leave huge tire marks which accumulate over the races and the result is a track that's painted in them. It'd be great to have the option to enable or disable persistent tire marks.

Can't wait to test tonight, you also increased the filter time, thanks a lot.

OMG, just saw on my profile pic on the left, more than 15y oO"

the super-sampling is a HUGE improvement in clarity, crispiness , and shimmering go from distracting to have to search for it to see it.
So great improvement overall, thanks you very much.

The filter to 1s is better, but still get nauseous after few laps in rally cross BL ,when with lock to horizon I can play 10 laps without any bad feeling. But I can stick to lock to horizon, no need to increase the filter time more.

Antialiasing x4 or x8 made now visual change for me.

Test Patch U3 with some more VR updates.

Resolution adjustment range now 0.25 to 2.25 (0.5 squared to 1.5 squared)

FIX: Free view FOV was wrong after entering VR in free view
FIX: Names above cars looked wrong in Pimax headsets

https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/93185

Hey, there's a small glitch with the replays and the filtered view: when you speed up replays over 8x or above, the view glitches out and starts spazzing around depending how low the filter time is. I guess it's mostly dependent on fps as single player replays have this effect after 16x speedup, but just pointing this out so everyone with a VR set knows to avoid speeding the replays too much in cockpit/custom view

Fix upshift glitch.

Quote from Tomislav531 :

Fix upshift glitch.

You might wanna elaborate.

I noticed the gearshift debounce was a bit higher than I'm used to, so i just set it back to 10ms.
This can be done in Settings > Misc.
Is this it?

Quote from kristofferandersen :

You might wanna elaborate.

I noticed the gearshift debounce was a bit higher than I'm used to, so i just set it back to 10ms.
This can be done in Settings > Misc.
Is this it?

I think he means this upshift glitch

https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/91121-FO8-upshifting-glitch

I suppose yes. Intake air restriction + sequential gearbox is not well behaving

Thanks for the feedback.

Quote from AndyG :

One other thought - are your shadows done in the MSAA pass? They seem to be the main culprits of the remaining distant shimmer issues. I know from experience though that this can be a very difficult problem to solve, depending on how your renderer is structured.

Do you mean the car shadows? I'll have a quick go at switching on anisotropic filtering for them. I've been experimenting with that on the new shadow system where there is a similar problem (but worse). Anisotropic filtering helps though I haven't yet dealt with the well known issue that comes up at the seam between two cascades. I can fix it by a brute force method but I'll be having a look at the other two documented solutions.

EDIT: I've tried that on the public version car shadows and it is helpful, in VR and not. So I'll include that. The car shadows will use the user setting for anisotropic filtering. There are no cascades to mess things up.

Quote from MagicFr :

Antialiasing x4 or x8 made now visual change for me.

Yes that is hard to see, I managed to see the difference along the top of a light object against a dark background. It got rid of some faint ripples that were there with 4x. But as you say the supersampling was a lot more useful.

EDIT: Attached a screenshot. The top of that wall across the middle of the picture is a good example of the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA.

Quote from nikopdr :

Hey, there's a small glitch with the replays and the filtered view: when you speed up replays over 8x or above, the view glitches out and starts spazzing around depending how low the filter time is.

Good find, thanks.

I actually meant world shadows - especially those in the far distance, e.g. at Blackwood on the long straight. They shimmer quite badly, much more so than the rest of the environment it seems to me.

OK, thanks. Those old shadows are done by vertex colours so I can't think of any quick fix to improve them. The new system in development uses shadow maps so it'll all be different.

Sounds good, thanks.

[ off topic and random progress report! ]

The cool thing is how your comment, although you were talking about the 'old' shadows, got me into this anisotropic filtering experiment (that was on one of my lists) for the new shadows. It has resulted in a real improvement. See the before and after comparison in the attached shots. I implemented Andrew Lauritzen's fix for the glitch at cascade boundaries.

Yeah that's awesome, the "before" shot looks even worse when moving, I'm sure (because the aliasing causes shimmer).

Nice improvement!

indeed it is great
side note : two snapshots : South City and Fern Bay ... Next one on Kyoto ?

Next week - a full progress report!

Is it planned to add a supersampling option for normal desktop users as well?

Quote from Günni92 :

Is it planned to add a supersampling option for normal desktop users as well?

Fair question, and I've already made a note about it after nacim mentioned it on another thread.

I'm interested to try it at some point and see how it looks but not really in a hurry to do it right now because I'm really busy trying to get some things finished in the development version. It's the sort of thing that would take a couple of days to think it through and get it working well and not clashing with other things.

Stumbled upon old MPRs in my LFS folder,I noticed it shows "obsolete replay" at old Blackwood MPRs,but it does not so at old Westhill ones,LFS still runs them,even if positions are totally off - maybe they should be marked as obsolete too? Just a little fix suggestion,even if with new graphics it would be the case for all MPRs.