The online racing simulator
OutGauge - now available in T6
(165 posts, started )
OG_REDLINE : comes on when you exceed the redline
OG_KM : user prefers to see KM/H instead of MPH
OG_BAR : user prefers to see BAR instead of PSI

TheCondor : I think GeForz just wants to know the maximum value, so he knows how to draw the RPM scale on the tachometer.

GeForz : I suggest you could set your max_rpm depending on either the car name, or set it dynamically, when the redline is reached.
For LCDs, if you can get your hands on a broken Nokia 3310 with a good display, you can hook it up to paralel IIRC Have one sitting on the shelf next to me.
Scawen, or anyone here that is willing to help....

A friend of mine is quite good with fooling around with LCDs and programming them on the computer (via serial port or whatever), and he really wants to try this. The only thing is, he does not know where to start. It isn't very helpful to show such a cool feature for external hardware, but not make it very easy for beginners or people that have the equipment, but lack the knowledge (or at least have the knowledge, but don't have concrete steps to read).

If someone is willing to writeup maybe some steps on what you need to do too output this data to an LCD or something similar, that would be helpful I think. Because I think there are people that can be quite stumped with where to start trying. Because even I would like to try this, like maybe for a shiftlight on my wheel or something, but how???
What exactly is he capable of doing? If it is just the connection to LFS and reading the packets, I think there are enough people here who know some C variant to help him out (assuming he also uses that to write to the lcd).
All I can remember is that he was in need of something that can take UDP packets and connect with some other form to connect properly with his LCD. I could ask him. I told him to post here in this thread, but he figured he would wait for someone to make some program or something to make it less of a pain for people trying to figure this all out.
Quote from Scawen :TheCondor : I think GeForz just wants to know the maximum value, so he knows how to draw the RPM scale on the tachometer.

GeForz : I suggest you could set your max_rpm depending on either the car name, or set it dynamically, when the redline is reached.

exactly. currently I'm just saving the highest rpm reached.

But my outgauge experimenting got a big hit when I discovered that you don't get any outgauge pacets from other cars in multiplayer (not even speed/rpm);
so no f1 style overlay which works pretty well in single player or your own car in mp ( http://www.kamelstall.de/f1overlay.wmv )
Quote from Tweaker :All I can remember is that he was in need of something that can take UDP packets and connect with some other form to connect properly with his LCD. I could ask him. I told him to post here in this thread, but he figured he would wait for someone to make some program or something to make it less of a pain for people trying to figure this all out.

I got my OutGauge object working yesterday, but i still need to do some clean-up before I'll release the next rev of my lib. With it, all you have to do is create an instance with the port to listen on and subscribe to the Gauge event. Every time LFS sends a new packet, a Gauge object with all the data exposed as named members (like obj.Speed, etc.) is provided to your event handler. That code in turn could write out selected pieces of that information to a serial port in whatever format your friend needs.

I'm at exactly the opposite end of the problem. I can talk to Serial, USB, Parallel and I can do whatever munging of the data I receive, but building the circuit board that interfaces one of those lovely cheap LCDs to serial/usb/parallel, is beyond me. Have your friend contact me, maybe we can completement each other's skills.
Quote from GeForz :But my outgauge experimenting got a big hit when I discovered that you don't get any outgauge pacets from other cars in multiplayer (not even speed/rpm);

Hmm yes. It follows the same rules as OutSim - which was designed for motion machines, where you really don't want multiplayer cars making the platform move as it would be jerky. But I've made a note on my request sheet, to make OutGuage work on remote cars (in a future patch).
Quote from Tweaker :Scawen, or anyone here that is willing to help....

Just to mention, I don't have a clue, so that's why I won't be answering. Other guys here seem to know what they are doing. Good luck
Quote from GeForz :exactly. currently I'm just saving the highest rpm reached.

But my outgauge experimenting got a big hit when I discovered that you don't get any outgauge pacets from other cars in multiplayer (not even speed/rpm);
so no f1 style overlay which works pretty well in single player or your own car in mp ( http://www.kamelstall.de/f1overlay.wmv )

DUDE, THAT IS AWSOME! How long do ya think untill you could get that into a more offical F1 look? If you would like, I could help you with the art. I have done a bunch of stuff with LFS : F1 overlays for adobe premiere. If I could take all of that crap out of post production, that would save me so much time . Fell like taking on the job? I am so, excited about this, it looks so cool. I have so many questions. I think you should start a REAL F1 Overlay thread so we can build on the idea. .
Quote from Dygear :DUDE, THAT IS AWSOME! How long do ya think untill you could get that into a more offical F1 look?

Choose your favorite:
- When I get the permission from Ecclestone to let it look like the official.
- When Scawen releases the next patch. It's imo pretty useless to have an overlay which only works in singleplayer...
Quote from GeForz :Choose your favorite:
- When I get the permission from Ecclestone to let it look like the official.
- When Scawen releases the next patch. It's imo pretty useless to have an overlay which only works in singleplayer...

Ah, screw Ecclestone, the likey hood of him sueing you is zero to none. I really don't think you could be held accountable for using the likeness. As for the next patch idea, yea, you could do that ... but don't ya just want to get a jump on it? Get some of the more basic things out of the way? Like the top eight overlay aka TEO, some of the stuff that does not require OutGauge at all, just some basic insim stuff. Also, mind shareing the source code. I for one would love to see how you did it! I could learn from it.
Would somekind of Pitradio be possible? I am thinking of Blue/Yellow Flag Warnings because currently you don't notice them when driving with shift+f.
Quote from Dygear :Ah, screw Ecclestone, the likey hood of him sueing you is zero to none. I really don't think you could be held accountable for using the likeness. As for the next patch idea, yea, you could do that ... but don't ya just want to get a jump on it? Get some of the more basic things out of the way? Like the top eight overlay aka TEO, some of the stuff that does not require OutGauge at all, just some basic insim stuff. Also, mind shareing the source code. I for one would love to see how you did it! I could learn from it.

I'm currently writing something else. That overlay was just an experiment.
Which Source code do you want?
The Overlay's or the one for insim?

Quote from Highsider9 :Would somekind of Pitradio be possible? I am thinking of Blue/Yellow Flag Warnings because currently you don't notice them when driving with shift+f.

afaik there is no way of getting the flags out of lfs
Quote from GeForz :I'm currently writing something else. That overlay was just an experiment.
Which Source code do you want?
The Overlay's or the one for insim?


afaik there is no way of getting the flags out of lfs

Overlay and InSim They both work hand in hand do they not?
That'd be funny, a flag mod that had real flags attached to servos and when you recieved one, it'd fly beside you or drop in front of your screen (small little toothpick style flag) Just for fun
Quote from dawesdust_12 :That'd be funny, a flag mod that had real flags attached to servos and when you recieved one, it'd fly beside you or drop in front of your screen (small little toothpick style flag) Just for fun

Yep, then you know you have to much time on your hands. I think I might try that :P.
Quote from GeForz :

afaik there is no way of getting the flags out of lfs

maybe this could be added to outgauge as well.
some cars have warning lights for flags in RL (at least they have in GTR, and the cockpits are quite realistic)
Quote from inCogNito :maybe this could be added to outgauge as well.
some cars have warning lights for flags in RL (at least they have in GTR, and the cockpits are quite realistic)

That is a good question. Do race status messages like that belong in OutGauge or InSim, since insim does race tracking already. I see it fitting both in a way.
I've got a clutch pedal, and I always disliked the fact that LFS doesnt have stalling engines. So I put together this crappy program.

It uses Outgauge to monitor the engine, and when the rpm drops to low for that car, it presses 'I' (turn of engine). Of course this is if you don't press the clutch.

I know it works pretty ok on my computer, if anyone wants to give it a try, please tell me if it worked ok.

Tested with patch U
Be sure to enable Outgauge in cfg.txt, use port 7000 on 127.0.0.1
Attached files
Outgauge_Stalling.zip - 2.9 KB - 1159 views
#46 - AJS
Quote from eindewege :I've got a clutch pedal, and I always disliked the fact that LFS doesnt have stalling engines. So I put together this crappy program.

It uses Outgauge to monitor the engine, and when the rpm drops to low for that car, it presses 'I' (turn of engine). Of course this is if you don't press the clutch.

I know it works pretty ok on my computer, if anyone wants to give it a try, please tell me if it worked ok.

Tested with patch U
Be sure to enable Outgauge in cfg.txt, use port 7000 on 127.0.0.1

I did something similar and now ive got a nice rev limiter for perfect starts but it might be considered cheating so i wont use it.

Well ok it doesnt really matter because you can overrev the engine pretty badly and nothing happens and you still get almost the same times with spinning tires.
Quote from GeForz :exactly. currently I'm just saving the highest rpm reached.

But my outgauge experimenting got a big hit when I discovered that you don't get any outgauge pacets from other cars in multiplayer (not even speed/rpm);
so no f1 style overlay which works pretty well in single player or your own car in mp ( http://www.kamelstall.de/f1overlay.wmv )

Aahh damn, I type faster then I think .

But nice work GeForz
Quote from sdether :but building the circuit board that interfaces one of those lovely cheap LCDs to serial/usb/parallel, is beyond me. Have your friend contact me, maybe we can completement each other's skills.

Last I can remember, he got some 'kit' that game with a circuit board and some really simple stuff to get it working via serial or whatever. I'll try and find out what it was, maybe he'll stop by in this thread again to see if he could help. It is pretty cool what he has done with his lcd(s), got the ones with a backlight to work, etc etc. If only he could get it working in unison with LFS, then he'd be set
Hello, can u guys explain how to install it? http://www.kamelstall.de/f1overlay.wmv
I see it and now i cant sleep when i have money i go to made a cockpit. I think go to buy the pieces to japan (shipping) but first need too much money free. Or buy ecci wheel trackstar 6000 whit clutch kit :P

Too much thanks Best game, Best community, Best controllers?
You cannot install it as it's only in an ascii file on my computer ;p
And no, currently there is no release planned.

OutGauge - now available in T6
(165 posts, started )
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG