PART 2: DIFFERENT REPLAY SAVING OPTIONS
Other parts:
1) Introduction
2) Different replay saving options (You are here)
3) Why you should use autosave replay setting
[not enabled - not stored]
What does this do? This option makes sure that you cannot save a replay at all. You will be only greeted with a message that replay is not recorded if you try to save it. Only way you can get that replay is asking the host or another user who were on that host at the time and ask can they give you a replay. If they can't, tough luck.
There are only three possible situations where you should ever choose this option:
1) You are constantly facing this issue: "MP Replay: stash full replay" and it kicks you out of server, freezes your LFS etc.
2) Your 2 (or 1 in case of Single Player) button is broken and gets pressed by even the lightest touch
3) You are owner of a LFS.net host and you exclusively race there. In that case, you should make sure that replay saving is enabled for the host.
You can do that from here: Hosting --> Your hosts --> Click host name --> Replays --> Enable replay saving for this host? --> Pick option Yes and click Submit. Doing that will make sure the replays are saved in LFS.net hosting area. Keep in mind that those replays are only stored for 4 months. After that, they're deleted automatically, so make sure to download the necessary ones before that.
Other than these three instances, you should never pick this option, because there really is never a reason why you should pick this over the other two.
[enabled - manual save]
This option does allow you to save a replay
once. You can only save the replay on a moment that is beginning of a session (or the moment you joined the server) and beginning of the following session. To save it, you have to do the following:
- Press Esc and click the Replay button (only works in Single Player)
- Press 1 (only works in Single Player)
- Press 2 and provide a name for the replay (works in both Single Player and Multiplayer)
In the first two options, it will save the replay using automatically generated name. Remember, that in case of Single Player, choosing any of the options
ends that session instantly. So don't do it too early! In multiplayer, session does continue normally, but you won't be able to save the remainder of the session. You have to wait until next session starts or leave the server and rejoin.
There is also alternative way: in case you leave the server before you saved that replay, all is not lost. You can still find that replay by going to this folder: [LFS-instace]/data. From there:
- If you want to save your SPR-replay, go to spr-folder and you find a file named as temp_spr.
- If you want to save your MPR-replay, go to mpr-folder and you find a file named as temp_mpr.
In both cases, to prevent it not being lost, rename that file to something else. If you join a new server, or start a new session without doing that, this temporary file will be overwritten by a new temp_spr/mpr file. To prevent any risks, you should probably not even close LFS before you've renamed that file.
[auto save - not recommended]
This option saves every time automatically. Replays are saved when a new session starts (or ends) or when you leave the server. Replays are named this: TrackAbbreviation_SessionName_SessionLength_NumberOfRacers_NumberOfFinishers[_x]
The _x means that if there is already a replay on that track, on that session, with that session length and number of races and finishers, it will be added to end of it so it will not overwrite the existing replay. Please note that Practice sessions don't follow this format entirely, because there are no laps.
However, you can still use manual save by typing 2 and naming it. Keep in mind that the same rule applies here, you can only save once, so the rest of the session is not recorded.
And one thing to keep in mind, that autosaving does NOT save every replay. Yes, it does save every multiplayer replay, but in case of single player, it doesn't save it if the replay saving is being interrupted. If you change a wind, race length, specatate, join, add autocross objects etc., you will get a red message that Replay is not being recorded.
Now, the way this setting is typed is probably a big reason why those aforementioned issues happened. Because that setting says "- not recommended", people will think it's a bad option and should not be used and therefore prefer the manual saving instead. There are two reasons (primary and secondary), why I think devs did want to add that not recommended part there.
1) Because almost every replay is saved, you can and will have replays in your LFS-instance that you don't need. This will naturally fill up your system storage over time. Now, if you have very little storage left, then fine, you should keep the manual setting. But other than that, you should always stick to the autosave.
2) And, because every replay is saved with that automatically generated name (unless you manually save it), it can become hard for user to find the replay they need. Of course you can rename it either in-game, or inside the [LFS-instance]/data/spr (or mpr) folder.
In case you're wondering, at the time I'm posting this on my little over 2 year old laptop, I have over 800 mpr files, and they take 13,2 GB of storage. Good example is that I have 5 hour Endurance race, which took almost 200 MB. One replay, yes.
Now, if you are worried that your computer gets filled over time by with these replays, remember you can always do a backup of your mpr (and spr) folders (or heck, your LFS instance) on an external hard drive, USB stick, online cloud etc. and then remove the files inside those folders from your LFS instance. Just make sure to put the backup to somewhere else other than in your computer, because if you put them into same hard drive in your computer, well, if you lose all your data of that hard drive, you will also lose your backup!
I
highly recommend you to use the autosave setting, unless you have a really valid reason not to.
Valid reasons include:
- You are only racing on a server you host, you have enabled replay saving on that LFS.net host and you have access to those replays
- You have very little space left on your computer
- You somehow face constant issues when replay saving (manual or automatic) is enabled. At this point, you should probably reinstall LFS or create a thread at the
Technical Assistance section.
Why autosaving should be enabled? Read part 3 (next post) to see why.
