The online racing simulator
Quote from broken :It is not solved, it is avoided. To be solved, a solution has to be thought of for the devs to work it out, but I can't think of anything.

Like I said before a possible scroll bar maybe?

When in connection list use page up or down for scrolling?
(someone said in another thread, or this thread to use page up and down for something but i forgot if it was going to be used)
Quote from broken :It is not solved, it is avoided.

The "issue" is resolved, I think. The option is there and it's up to the user to use it, if they need it. It's not a fault with LFS, it's a circumstance for which LFS already provides a solution.

This is one matter that I think is a waste of programming time, frankly. Obviously it's up to Scawen if he feels that it IS a fault, but I'm left thinking it's just not worth losing days of development over just for the sake of saving someone the minuscule effort of swapping the minimap position.
Quote from Bean0 :This is quite easily solved by having the map on the left rather than the right.

Thank you for that!

I had forgotten that option existed

At the moment, it seems to me that this could be the immediate solution for people who want to click the small map while they are in game on a server with many connections. Just have the small map on the left. If you need to click, press N to show the connections, then you can click the map.

Another option that sounds reasonable is a SHIFT+key that shows the mouse cursor. This would help (1) those mouse users who would like to see the mouse cursor, and also (2) any users who want to click on the small map without turning on the connections list. This is lower priority that the other fixes I am doing but it's on my list to take a look and see if it is easy to do at some point.

Other low priority things that some people have mentioned on the subject of the connections list :

- Alphabetic sorting of the connections list - are there any problems this could cause? Does it need a sort option or should it always be sorted?
- Scroll bar on the connections list - my opinion at this point is that isn't really worth it - the list is meant to be used quickly then closed.
I guess it's my mistake then. And, yes, a scroll bar would be a good solution... but... it's not worth the effort, I think.

E: Well it seems like I was dumb enough not to remember what I said 5minutes ago. But thanks to Scawen, now we have 1 solution for 2 "problems".
Quote from Scawen :
- Alphabetic sorting of the connections list - are there any problems this could cause? Does it need a sort option or should it always be sorted?

I don't think an option is needed.

At the moment, it can be difficult to find the user you are looking for.
With alphabetical ordering it should be nice and quick, especially in league racing where driver names begin with a number.
Quote from Scawen :....Alphabetic sorting of the connections list - are there any problems this could cause? Does it need a sort option or should it always be sorted?....

That would be great if it doesn't break anything. Something visually superficial but at the same time incredibly useful. You see someone visually on a server with 30 connections causing a problem and it can be frustrating finding them on the list as quickly as possible.

+1 for alphabetical sorting (this combined with the ability to click on the map would be admin heaven lol)

I've never understood why people jump around on the list? For example if I join and I am at the bottom, after somebody else joining and a couple of other people disconnecting and suddenly I could be forth from the top.
+1 for alphabetical sorting from me too. Would be cool.
Quote from SmegFirk :I've never understood why people jump around on the list? For example if I join and I am at the bottom, after somebody else joining and a couple of other people disconnecting and suddenly I could be forth from the top.

No real reason, it was just programmed that way. When someone leaves, the last one on the list is moved down into the leaver's slot. It would probably have been nicer to code it in such a way that when someone left, all the list above that point moved one slot down. But it doesn't really make any difference - other than confusing people the way it is done now.

Back on the list topic, only one question remains - what do do with the host? I guess the host should stay at the top of the list...
Quote from Scawen :I guess the host should stay at the top of the list...

I would say so, especially for dedicated servers.

Perhaps you could [colour code the controller type [W, M, Kn, Ks] for the host to be a different colour (wouldn't work with dedicated hosts)] make the background of the host name darker than the rest, if you want to sort it completely alphabetically, but I personally, would prefer the host to stay at the top.

Edited
Edit 2
Quote from Scawen :Back on the list topic, only one question remains - what do do with the host? I guess the host should stay at the top of the list...

Definitely it should stay at the top. It's everyone's quick reminder for which server they're on. Server ops typically edit the name of the host to reflect their own server's identity.
Quote from Scawen :Back on the list topic, only one question remains - what do do with the host? I guess the host should stay at the top of the list...

I think so, too. The host is important so it should be at the top.
By the way, is there any easy way to put there a number of users in race? Like Connections (25/14).
Quote from Scawen :I guess the host should stay at the top of the list...

Yes but maybe, if it is really easy to do, a darker background so we can see that it is the host?
Quote from AndroidXP :...

Sorry for double post....The reason i asked that is because i read somewhere that Scawen was going to release another test patch today or tommorow.
Quote from Scawen : - Alphabetic sorting of the connections list - are there any problems this could cause? Does it need a sort option or should it always be sorted?

I reckon it'd be better as a user-definable option. Sometimes (for reporting and messaging) you want to find them quickly, but sometimes you want to know who's in the lead - which won't always be obvious from the map alone.
Alphabetical, Race Position and Ping would be the three I'd choose - to check laggers out while you're at it
+1 for the ping!
Quote from Dajmin :I reckon it'd be better as a user-definable option. Sometimes (for reporting and messaging) you want to find them quickly, but sometimes you want to know who's in the lead - which won't always be obvious from the map alone.
Alphabetical, Race Position and Ping would be the three I'd choose - to check laggers out while you're at it

Do you not misunderstand slightly? We are solely talking about the connection list, (with kick/ban/ss/etc) not the race order list. Having the connection list rearranging itself every time somebody overtakes somebody else (which I think is what you are suggesting?) I imagine would be a nightmare.

I also imagine it would be more work. Currently the list will only update itself and data be sent backwards and forwards when somebody joins/disconnects. I would not like it to be "live"

The connection list has no bearing on people's position during a race.
Quote from SmegFirk :Do you not misunderstand slightly? We are solely talking about the connection list, (with kick/ban/ss/etc) not the race order list. Having the connection list rearranging itself every time somebody overtakes somebody else (which I think is what you are suggesting?) I imagine would be a nightmare.

I also imagine it would be more work. Currently the list will only update itself and data be sent backwards and forwards when somebody joins/disconnects. I would not like it to be "live"

The connection list has no bearing on people's position during a race.

I don't think that the list has to be "live". You get people's positions anyway, and I don't know about their ping(I guess you do from the bars on the bottom that constantly update; not that I know their purpose on 100%). So the solution would be to create new buttons when someone overtakes, overriding the old ones, IF this can be made as easy as I think(atm I imagine an insim app, where you replace a button by sending one with the same click id ).

If it's not worth the effort, then my opinion is to stay only alphabetically updated.
Quote from Scawen :Other low priority things that some people have mentioned on the subject of the connections list :

- Alphabetic sorting of the connections list - are there any problems this could cause? Does it need a sort option or should it always be sorted?
- Scroll bar on the connections list - my opinion at this point is that isn't really worth it - the list is meant to be used quickly then closed.

A sort option would be best, I think. Click once to sort by alpha, click again to sort by connection order, click again to sort by race position order. Something like that.
Quote from DeadWolfBones :A sort option would be best, I think. Click once to sort by alpha, click again to sort by connection order. Something like that.

IMO, it would be better once again with a shift+key, instead a button on the connections list itself (if I got you right).
Quote from SmegFirk :Do you not misunderstand slightly? We are solely talking about the connection list, (with kick/ban/ss/etc) not the race order list. Having the connection list rearranging itself every time somebody overtakes somebody else (which I think is what you are suggesting?) I imagine would be a nightmare.

But it would only update like that if you had it set up to order by race position. The names wouldn't move if it was the other way (unless someone else joined). It might be a bit too much work though, I'll give you that

And as a spectator, where do you have a live list of people's positions? You get one at the end, and if you have a copy of LFSW it'll update. But unless I'm forgetting something (thanks to no wheel it's been a while since I played) there is no live position tracker available mid-race.
If you're watching someone it'll tell you their position, but that's not all that useful for keeping an eye on what's happening across the track. Ordering by position would mean if you saw them shift you could click that name to instantly go to see the fight for that position.

Sure, you could try clicking on the car indicator on the map, but in closely bunched positions or where a dozen people are passing someone who's stopped in the middle of the track, you want to be able to click on the event right away without having to fart around working out which arrow is which.
If you do not have the connection list open then in the same place in the bottom right of the screen it gives you the current race standings.
Quote from Scawen :By the way, thanks for your point about the CT gauge being overlapped by the virtual gauges, but that is a low priority one as I can't see an easy way to fix the alignment.

What about moving the wheels and CT displays to the borders of the screen, like in the rest of the views?
Quote from Dajmin :And as a spectator, where do you have a live list of people's positions? You get one at the end, and if you have a copy of LFSW it'll update. But unless I'm forgetting something (thanks to no wheel it's been a while since I played) there is no live position tracker available mid-race.

Options... Display... Show position list : [yes]

About connections list, it is much easier to have no sort options, easiest and safest thing is to simply sort it alphabetically and show the host differently (e.g. different colour) so it doesn't look as if there is an alphabetic sort bug. The previous question was really just to ask if there was some reason to need to know the true order of the internal connection list.
I don't really care how the game does it internally, no. As long as it gets its alphabetical freak on before it's on my screen I'll be happy.

On similar lines, it would order by driver name or account name? Surely driver name as that's what everybody sees without further keypresses (ctrl+shift). It would also mean that members of the same team with the same driver naming structure, tags etc, will be grouped together which would be nice.
This thread is closed

Test Patch Z17 (online compatible)
(332 posts, closed, started )
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