Hi

This week I've started a couple of new races because I couldn't find one with car/circuit that I wanted to join. So far they've been great with about three or four people joining in. What I'm unsure about is the protocol/ettiquette I should be observing as a host. For instance each time one of the racers has voted to restart the race and both times (because I'm nice) I've re-started the race straight away. But it just occured to me - might I have pissed the other racers off? i.e - Should I have waited for them all to vote and then gone with the majority? Also (and I'm sure this is a really dumb question) how do you vote and send messages? Any general tips on setting up a race as a host and policing it proprly would be greatly appreciated

You're the host, you decide. Force a restart if you feel it's necessary. Forcing a restart while others are still racing is generally not a good idea, but it's your decision. If you want your server to offer immediate restarts as soon as anyone wants one, fine. If you want to be a kind and understanding admin, be one. If you want to be the bastard operator from hell, go ahead. etc.

While hosting from in-game (starting a new game from the multiplayer menu), voting for a restart or end will immediately be treated as a completed vote, so you can't really vote normally. To be able to cast normal votes, you'll need to run the dedicated server.

I decided on a policy, for when I'm admining, that if 2 of the leading 3 drivers of a race vote to restart, I'll always force a restart. Most of the time, the leaders recognise that it's not a fair start, and would rather start over than win because of a T1 pile up behind them.

Kudos to you for caring enough to pose the question!

It can be annoying tho. I was on a server once and I'm not exagerating at all when I say I was in front about 10 times in a row and there was a restart each time. I left the server.

I think leaving it to the vote is best.

Many people talk about the realism of LFS and how good a simulator it is and I include myself in that lot.

However if it is a simulator (and it clearly is a GREAT one), and the devs have gone to all the trouble of making it a good as it is why then do we restart a race at all? illepall

In real life if there is a pile up in turn one or some other major event yes I do realise that the race can be re started. However this is more on the grounds of Health and Safety as lives may be at stake.

For me I prefer that there are no restarts at all. :trophy:



I suggest that having no restarts might well go towards improving overall racing skills.

If we all knew that being involved in a pile up or crash will only result in our race being over and having to sit out for the end or joining in again from the pit resulting in being well down the running order we might just take it a bit smoother – after all the race is over at the chequered flag and not after the 1st corner.

However yes I do agree that it is the right of the host to dictate the rules for his / her game, but for me I would prefer no restarts

Just a thought and one I suspect has been expressed and debated many times before with many conflicting views and suggestions however like I say lets try to keep it real.

A friend of mine hosts a demo server I admin on, and generally we feel that we shouldn't allow restarts for the most part. Let people deal with their own antics into T-1 (If we see anyone purposly wrecking, being demo, we just ban them right off the bat, so T-1 usually isn't that bad).

Because most of the regulars on our server know this, they don't dive into T-1 with the intent of First or Bust. To help the non-regulars, the server owner occasionally hits his macro that says "Race will NOT restart because of T-1! Drive safe! ". And should there be a big T-1 Accident, most people learn after a few races to take it easy. Because of that, we've had a lot of really clean starts into T-1 on the server, because people don't try to book it on cold(er) tires.

That said, if its just the two of us on the grid, and we're just doing out eight millionth Blackwood lap, and someone joins and votes for a restart, we usually go with it. Afterall, its fun to race with new people .

On the flip side, however, I'd like to make a point. A lot of servers run 5 lap sprints. For the shorter tracks like Blackwood in the XRT (when dealing with consistant racers, so few mistakes), first into T-1 usually is enough to keep you in front the whole race. Reason being, passing a consistant racer is difficult, unless you make a ballsy move that, when it fails, results in you wrecking anyways (thus promoting less clean, more dangerous races). I suspect this would be less of an issue on the longer circuits, but thats just theortical thinking. Thats why when I start hosting when I get S2, I think I'm going for longer 10-15 lap runs .