Quote from Inouva :

Any idea how to make the .dds of the mudguards from lx4/6 transparent?

I know someon did it some years back with the skins of the cars adding semi transparent channels or smth like that

Any tip is welcome, i'm using photoshop and the plug in from Nvidia.

The main layer stays black, but you need to add alpha layers that are white or something, (it's been a while) My sig has the link to instructions (Sunroofs).

Initially I used a windshield dds texture and tried it as a skin dds and then opened that file with photoshop and examined how it all worked (sunscreenALPHA.dds)

It only worked for SKINS though because the file MUST end with the string "ALPHA" eg: FZR_SunroofALPHA.dds

LFS detects files such with this ending string and then unlocks the alpha layers. Some sort of DirectX function I presume.

I've already tried with car interiors and car textures and they don't appear transparent because the filenames are already predetermined. Eg: Interior_1.dds You cannot modify the names to append the "ALPHA" text because then LFS will not locate them correctly.

Down for maintenence.... Anyone know why and for how long? Facebook and Twitter are useless. I haven't had a chance to check web for a couple days till now.

Just FYI, there's a work around for the MX5 opaque windows. You only need change it in replay settings so you can still drive in low settings (better FPS) if you wish.

http://members.iracing.com/jfo ... 9375/3736016.page#3736016

Quote from Shawn Nash :

We're looking into this to see what's going on. It's likely due to some setting combination that wasn't fully tested at every track. It might be though, that it is simply due to the new working set slider.

It could be related to a new MX5 windscreen bug. If your mx5 comes up with an opaque windshield, change the car detail to high in the replay settings, and restart the session. Something similar could be occuring for some of the trackside objects. Possibly check your object detail, event detai, etc, drop boxes, to see if they effect it (after a restart).

EDIT: this has been fixed with patch Aug 31,2011

Last edited by JasonJ, Thu, 1 Sep 2011 01:55.

Release Notes for August 29th. Maintenance timing TBD

Quote from Greg Hill :

HPD ARX-01C

- Now has all basic and fixed setups for all tracks used by this season's series.



Ford GT

- Reduced braking power to allow more brake pedal travel.

- Increased power steering strength to help with the heavy steering.

- Increased front downforce by 10% to help limit nose light conditions, after re-analyzing wind tunnel data.

- Now has all basic and fixed setups for all tracks used by this season's series.



Chevrolet Impala

- Now has all basic setups for all tracks used by this season's series.

- During this season's update a change was made that made older replays not play back properly. This has been fixed.



Chevrolet Silverado

- During this season's update a change was made that made older replays not play back properly. This has been fixed.



Simulation Performance Improvements

There are two new memory related settings in the advanced graphics options, one related to GPU memory availability (video RAM) and the other related to CPU memory availability (system RAM). This change is intended to improve the simulation's scalability, and to help address some of the current memory related performance issues in multi-class sessions.

There is now a new performance meter which helps diagnose memory related issues. It is attached to the L/Q/S meters, and the new meter is named P for "page faults". More information on this new meter follows.



GPU Memory Setting

The "available texture memory slider" is now "Max GPU memory to use", and it now limits how much video memory the simulation will use total rather than how much it will use only for textures. If you have more than one GPU (SLI or Crossfire), set it to the smaller one's memory capacity as resources are duplicated on each GPU.



Max System Memory Working Set Setting

The new "max system memory working set" setting has been added to the graphics options, below the GPU memory slider. It defaults to 1200 MB for systems that have 4 GB or more of system RAM, and 1000 MB for systems that have 2 GB or less. This setting controls (roughly) how much system memory the simulation will use at most. If you have a lot of RAM (4 GB or more) and never have performance issues, you may want to increase this limit a little bit from the default. See the Q&A section below.



Page Fault Meter

A page fault indicator, "(P)age Faults", has been added to the (L)atency/(Q)uality/(S)kew meters. This new meter shows hard page faults and soft page faults as different colors.

Hard Page faults are by far the worst type, and show up as green, yellow, or red, depending on how many are occurring per second. If you see temporary green/yellow/red spikes on this meter it is normal for most PCs. But, if you see constant levels of yellow or red page faults, you may be suffering from a lack of physical memory. To remedy the situation either lower the "max system memory working set" slider in the advanced graphics options to reduce the amount of memory required for the event (and restart the sim), or else it may help to add system RAM to your PC. This meter currently tops out red, at 30 hard page faults per second. A steady stream of even a few faults per second may slow the simulation down significantly as your disk drive is being used as system RAM, so they are to be avoided if possible.

Soft page faults are indicated as a gray bar on the same "P" meter, and are not nearly as serious as hard page faults. However, they are displayed to you as a warning, as they may indicate that either the GPU memory slider, or the CPU working set slider is set too large. If you see a solid gray bar in the "P" meter, try to eliminate it via options, but if you can't, don't worry about it too much, it may be normal in some situations.



Q. What do I set the GPU memory slider too?

A. As a starting point, set it to your GPU's memory. If you have SLI or crossfire, choose the smaller GPU's memory as resources are duplicated on each GPU. If this setting is causing performance problems lower it slightly and retest.



Q. In testing sessions my textures look fairly high-res but when I enter an on-line multi-class session some of the textures look very blurry?

A. The two new memory settings cause this effect. When large tracks and/or more cars types are loaded in a session, more vertices are placed into both system memory and video memory, leaving less space for textures. The texture quality is automatically reduced to fit them into the remaining space. The limiting is necessary to avoid exceeding your PC's capacity.



Q. Cars and trackside objects look like I have them set to MED or LOW detail, but I checked, and they are still at HIGH detail in the options?

A. If the current working set (for the track and cars) is predicted to be way over your specified limit during loading, the simulator may now skip loading the top levels-of-detail for some objects to help reduce the working set to make more room for textures.



Q. I never have performance problems and after the update my textures look very blurry at some events. How do I make it how it used to be?

A. You may be able to adjust your settings to reduce these effects. During the event, go to the advanced graphics settings and look at the reported load of video memory and system memory working set (next to the two new sliders) to determine which setting may be causing the issue:

(A) Check the reported system working set load. If it is approaching the specified limit (within 200 MB or so) then it is likely this setting that is limiting the texture quality too much. You can try increasing the working set slider by 100 MB or so, and then restart the session. Do not raise this setting if it is not the limiting factor. If you start seeing a lot of page faults now on the new "P"age fault meter, or if your performance degrades, then you should probably reduce this setting. Raising this setting too high will result in performance loss, and often will result in page faults. We do not recommend setting this value above 1100 MB for systems with only 2 GB or memory or less. If you have 4 GB or more system memory you may be able to raise this limit substantially without performance problems, but do so carefully. You need to restart the session for the changes to take effect properly, and to test the new settings. If you set this value too high your textures may actually get worse and/or the sim may fail to load at all.

(B) Check the current GPU load is near the specified GPU memory limit (within 100 MB or so) then it may be the setting that is limiting the texture quality too much. In this case you might try to raise it a bit and restart the session. Don't raise this setting if it is not the limiting factor (as it will have no effect), and don't raise it too far. Setting it too high may cause the simulation to fail to load, page faults, worse performance, etc. Generally we do not recommend setting it higher than the actual GPU memory capacity. A different, safer, option to improve texture quality when limited by video memory is to disable some other users of the video memory. For instance, turning off graphics options such as "depth of field" and/or "shadow volumes" (in BOTH replay and graphics settings) will free up a substantial amount of video memory, allowing better texture quality. Selecting "cache swap nearest cars" in the graphics options may help as well when limited by video memory. You need to restart the session for the changes to take effect properly, and to allow you to test the new settings. If you set this value too high your textures may actually get worse and/or the sim may fail to load at all.



Q. I am now having new performance issues after the update?

A. This may be due to the new GPU memory setting. Try lowering your max GPU memory slider from the actual amount of GPU memory to a lesser amount to see if it makes the issues go away. If this doesn't help, put it back to the correct level and try lowering a different setting.



Q. I am getting solid yellow or red bar in the new "P" meter"?

A. Your system is using your disk drive to make up for lack of available physical RAM. The easiest solution is to lower the working set slider in the advanced graphics options to make the simulation use less RAM. If this doesn't work you may benefit by adding RAM to your PC. Other processes and services running on your PC also use RAM, so it can help to reboot your PC and close down as many application as possible before running the simulation - to free up as much physical memory as possible.



Q. I am getting intermittent flashes of green/yellow/red /gray bars on the new "P" meter, but it isn't constant?

A. This is normal, as long as they aren't associated with huge stutters.



Q. I am getting a solid gray bar in the new "P" meter?

A. Your system is incurring a lot of interrupts to manage virtual memory. You may benefit from reducing your GPU memory slider and restarting the sim. If this doesn't help try reducing your system working set memory slider. Soft page faults may not be that bad, but if you can get rid of them, it will surely help performance.



Q. I want to raise my working set beyond 1536 MB but it won't let me in the options screen?

A. You may override the limit by setting it directly in renderer.ini. This is not advised.



Q. I have 2048 MB of video memory but the load never exceeds 800 MB?

A. Due to the possibility of needing to restore a lost Direct3D device (i.e., if you alt-tab in full-screen mode), the simulator keeps copies of textures, vertex buffers, and index buffers in system memory. The video driver also uses system memory in its operation. If the simulator's predicted working set would exceed your specified maximum, the simulator is forced to reduce texture and geometry quality to keep the system memory working set in check. Raising your working set setting may allow your video memory load to increase (after a restart of the session), but doing so may also result in page faults and/or decreased performance for the CPU if set too high.

extra pic found The CSR Elite
Actually I think it's the Forza wheel so this one is not quick release, but the rim can be be swapped apparently.


The one mentioned above in first post is the clubsport wheel (CSW), this one below is the forza clubsport elite (CSR-E).

Last edited by JasonJ, Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:02.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/0 ... nitely-not-for-sunday-dr/

Dude - Dynamic HTML selection form is hard thing to codez.....

Last edited by JasonJ, Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:55.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Not really. Same business model. They haven't expressed their opinions about the current tire model at all. Especially the fall off on the oval side.

http://members.iracing.com/jfo ... t/75/1712965.page#3684408

Quote from Tony Gardner :

I understand why but some are taking things to next level of detail so if I dont mention something don't assume the worse. We are looking at tire falloff rates and making adjustments. Lot is being looked at and and reviewed under my one sentence for NTM. The guys have been talking a lot about fall off rates and looking at the data and getting feedback from real world drivers about falloff from the guys that drive the cars in real life. So yes, we understand complaints in this area on some cars and looking at it and making adjustments.

Mind you it's hard to follow news when it's lost in that hopeless offtopic forum.

Quote from AstroBoy :

.. but wtf why no Oran park...

It's all there AstroBoy. You have to read all Tony's posts that's all. See red text below.


http://members.iracing.com/jfo ... 2965/3683765.page#3683765

Quote from Tony Gardner :

Three tracks currently in active production: Oulton, Kentucky and Twin Ring. Oulton will be finished first of the three.

http://members.iracing.com/jfo ... 2965/3684408.page#3684408

Quote from Tony Gardner :

I also forgot to mention working on oval at Mosport so if you own that track will get a very nice short oval configuration to go with it.

Also aside from tracks mentioned above,next on our list will be Oran Park in Australia. That is the track we scanned before they tore it down.

http://members.iracing.com/jfo ... 2965/3684663.page#3684663

Quote from Tony Gardner :

Zolder would be my guess for next road track after Oran.

.

Yes, week 13 there is hardly any base content races going on. The only races you can enter are street stock and Mx5 races. Don't use wk13 as a method to make any judgements on what's available in online iracing. It's really an off week for updates and some fun. Next week (S3,Week1) things will change.

Next week, I believe you will have access to racing Legends, Street Stock, SRF, Solstice and MX5 Roadster/CUP cars in online races.The tracks they use will be all of the free tracks. They change the tracks from week to week in each series. It's like a real racing series, the track doesn't change every day or every hour, only once a week, but eventually the tracks will cycle all the way through so you will get to race online on most of them. Races start every hour or every two hours depending on the series. There will be good participation in these races and most of the time they will be full. Remember though your time zone is way off that of EU and USA. 3pm-10pm AEST tends to slacken off a bit.

(Rookie) The mx5s and Legends only run on two tracks each alternating week by week, this is the rookie series and it's kept simple so newbie drivers don't have to learn 9+ tracks to stay competative.

(Rookie 3.0+ SR) The SRF/Solstice & Street Stock races run through all the free tracks swapping each week.

All this base content kept me quite busy for a full month & 1/2 non stop racing initially.



The web browser interface seemed weird to me at first as well and I didn't understand the point of it. After a while you realise that it is more powerful than a game user interface, everything is done through this - making hosts, looking for up upcomming races, checking your career and follow your friends where they are racing. It makes sense after using it for a while.



Yes you need an internet connection to even play alone. This is for authentification/anti priracy, but it is not that often your internet is down so while seemingly weird at first, it becomes negligible.


Yes you have to pay for server time to host sessions, but it's quite cheaper now (50c/hr) and you get a quality service (good ping and throughput). It's really much better suited to leagues running their own events. You might start a session and no-one joins it so you end up wasting the server time. If you have a server in LFS then usually you're paying for that through a hosting service as well.


I initially felt the same way as you when I first joined about the things you said. After a while it makes more sense. About the money making... I think they don't even make a profit yet, I might be wrong, but I thought they spent $18m on starting it up and still haven't broken even yet. Anyway I have no regret on the money I've spent there and I'm a pretty cheap tightarse when it come to cash.

Last edited by JasonJ, Mon, 1 Aug 2011 03:24.

Ok, here's some tips that might help you use Joy2Key to avoid those issues you have.

1)
Create a different profile in Joy2Key for each different game you use. Use the Create button. When you do this and change to another game the next step will not cause trouble.

2)
Set a higher number of joysticks to configure in the Others tab - depends how many controllers you have in total. Then go through each Joystick number and assign the G25 buttons that you want to use as shifters to each and every joystick Tab. That way, when you unplug/reconnect controllers it will not matter which joystick number the G25 set to. It will always work.

Notes: I have found you must quickly restart Joy2Key when you unplug/reconnect controllers. You must close Joy2Key to save changes to profiles.

The members site was intermittent prior to it going off again. I had to bypass the Dashboard page and go through the hosted page just to get back into our session. Feels like an overload problem. Oh well it was good while it lasted.

hmm Strange. I tested this and it does not seem to work. You can't get a /press key command to activate a key you have assigned to a car control. You can activate fixed controls such as N-Names, but not user defined controls.

So you can't use my solution which logically should work, but LFS just ignores it. Sorry, you're going to have to use Joy2Key and set the shifter and paddles activate keys such as "A" and "Z" and set those as gear keys in game.

Any reason you don't want to use Joy2Key. Maybe there is something I can help with there. Getting it to auto start, or having issues making it detect controllers?

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the logitech profiler doesn't see the stick shifter. I guessing you mean you can't assign a macro in the logitech profiler using the stick shifter as events or something. I'm assuming that the LFS game can still recognise when you use the stick shifter and everything is working properly and you just want to make both the paddles and the stick shifter always control gears at anytime.

Not possible to assign a /press button command as far as I know. The available keys are in docs/Commands.txt

Quote :

PARAMETERS for the key commands (press / shift / ctrl / alt) :
--------------------------------------------------------------
Letters A to Z
Numbers 0 to 9
F1 to F12
up, down, left, right
space, enter, esc, tab
less, more

There is several other ways to do what you want though.

Simple method: (edit-this doesn't work see next post)
In Options>Control Menu

Set LFS for Shift Up=A
Set LFS for Shift down=B
(Essentially making both the paddles and stick shifter complete a press of "A" or "Z" and that will in turn change the gears.)

Does this help?


I know you said, (not using Joy2Key) but you could if you wanted to do the same thing instead of using Ctrl+F1 etc commands in LFS. Just set the paddles and shifter to press "A" or "Z" in Joy2Key.


Another harder method:
Use GlovePie to write a script that forces a shifter button event when you press the paddle button.

Last edited by JasonJ, Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:03.

Nothing exists yet, but maybe DavidTiger's little project could be expanded to have the custom view "lag" it's camera fixed point as the car rotates about it's axis.

This thing - http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1619734#post1619734


edit: This is the other program I was talking about, but I don't know if this still works with 0.6B and if it can be modified to do what I explained.
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=37537

Last edited by JasonJ, Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:25.

I probably shouldn't have been so vague. What I meant was an external program like the realistic head movement mod that monitors(outguage?) ingame car position and modifies the cam position constantly. I'm sure you've seen it; but instead of in the cockpit, the view needs to be behind the car using custom view, and the camera is free to swing back and forth and re-centre itself smoothly based on car heading and velocity. BUT, you have to know how to program to make this kinda thing. Maybe someone reads this and understands.

You cannot I am afraid. You are doomed to have no mirror.
Maybe something can be made like the realistic head movement addon.

blue/red glasses = anaglyph

Anaglyph 3d mode is provided by Nvidia drivers for nVidia cards.

Anaglyph 3d is provided by http://www.iz3d.com/driver for ATi users. Anaglyph 3d is free in the iz3d driver.

I know man and I agree 100%. I'm just offering something to help in the meantime because there is nothing at the moment. It's just to check back now an again. Kinda like how you look left and right for a glance. I used to have a lot of fun playing in follow chase view - it felt more natural to drive in chase view with my joypad before I bought a wheel.

Last edited by JasonJ, Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:33.

A simple solution for a "look back button" might help you.
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1059553#post1059553

Excerpt from: iRacing 2.0 release timeline

Quote from Steve Myers :

We will likely have half a dozen or so cars done for the 13th week (mix of both road and oval cars) with the new tire model and will plan on breaking from our traditional stance of not releasing physics changes during an active season and roll out cars with the new tire model as they are done.

NB: 13th week starts = ~25th Jul 2011

Last edited by JasonJ, Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:53.

The most on topic relevence award goes to ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgCmpLjEl5k

I take cash only.

Shift+Z show/hide mouse.

edit: Also

Quote from docs/Commands.txt :

/showmouse [yes/no] - show or hide mouse (SHIFT + Z)

Quote from hiroshima guy :

That is real. I only have a black background as the wallpaper. Eerily looks like a growing crystal.

Worlds slowest screensaver animation....

Quote from hiroshima guy :

Would it go away (if any at all) if I'd to turn it on for long hours? I don't think I intend to open it up.

No it wont go away, even if you kill the mould. Turning it on may dry up the moisture, removing the mould's ability to survive, but the dead mould will still stay there in that pattern. You're lucky it was only an old 15 inch monitor.


[OT] You can kill shoe odor caused by bacteria by putting the shoes in a sealed bag and freezing it overnight. The bacteria dies and the smell goes away. [/OT]