Quote from cargame.nl :

Would be nice if the server logging is a little bit altered also, with the IP address mentioned in the drivername connected (lfsname) announcement. Currently its a little messy to keep track what IP address belongs to who. Especially on busy servers.

Therefore I am now the only one which can block IP addresses, while, if the log is a little bit more structured I could make a web interface for other admins.

Personally I think that banning an IP instead of the User ID is a bad idea. Most people don't have a static IP and get a new one every 24h (or less, depending on their router settings). So you could end up punishing the wrong people (don't know about the actual odds of it happening).

Thanks for the status report Scawen, both on topic as off topic

Scawen: Good to hear from you! I took on the cycling lately too and it is indeed very good thing to do, just don't forget to keep the brakes in good shape at all times.

Kid, should we mention new tyres every now and then would make a difference?

Thanks for this very honest report Scawen.

Quote from Scawen :

On topic :

I hope to release a dedicated host test update either today or tomorrow, that should at least prevent the user being connected with a user name you cannot type, or a user name that does not match the user id.

Off topic :

Although development has been slow for some time, we are still motivated on LFS, which we do regard as a long term thing. I must admit this year both Eric and I have had some slow months and some months in which we didn't do much LFS at all.

In both our cases that has been partly for external reasons which will not have a long term negative effect, and also partly a need for a slight break after several years of hard work.

In my case I have got into some sport (cross country running and cycling) which has obvious benefits I don't need to explain, after two decades without. That occupied my mind a lot (in a good way) and has been great for me and my family, but not great in an immediate sense for LFS's development this summer. The journey of tyre physics development has been a tough one, round and round, forwards and backwards these couple of years. I feel this summer break has helped me mentally. I've got some answers and plan to get that tyre stuff sorted out so we can get back to the fun stuff and a faster development rate in the S3 period.

Thanks for you honest report, Scawen. Nice to hear from you! I do cycling myself as well, and I love it! It especially nice when cycling in a sunny day at beautiful, calm places, just enjoying life :-)

There is hope!

Thanks for the little report Scawen and I gotta say I agree with TVE on content stuff.
I mean it's not like S3 will not have updates and it sounds to me like Eric had been working, at last. And you know the updates come faster when you work with the community. :P
Man I'm so excited that you finally posted.

Ontopic: Good, get this hacker outta here.
Offtopic: Last I heard was that the tyre physics completely failed and you guys had to start over 100%. Is this true.

Quote from Bmxtwins :

Ontopic: Good, get this hacker outta here.
Offtopic: Last I heard was that the tyre physics completely failed and you guys had to start over 100%. Is this true.

Ray please. They started with new tyre physics system years ago and posted some development reports about it...

And great to see that this hacker (goddamn ruiner of fun) might be gone forever.

Thanks a lot Scawen for this little honest progress report(just curious... what are the problems with physics right now? They are too demanding? Maybe some bugs? Like what? :P), they are much needed. I have to agree with TVE that what we need right now in LFS is something fresh. Something new to learn and discover. The physics update can wait, You could release Scirocco at least .

Quote from Byku :

I have to agree with TVE that what we need right now in LFS is something fresh. Something new to learn and discover. The physics update can wait, You could release Scirocco at least .

The cars are directly related to tyre physics, how hard is to figure that out. The tracks, aren't. Go S3 early alpha.

Its about time! thanks for the updates, i hope we dont have to wait much longer for S3 content.

Quote from N I K I :

The cars are directly related to tyre physics, how hard is to figure that out. The tracks, aren't. Go S3 early alpha.

Yeah I know , but still even I would prefer to drive "unrealistic" Scirocco(but propably still the most realistic on the game market ;P), that not playing it at all for another year ;]. Anyway, sry for the offtopic .

Quote from Scawen :

On topic :

I hope to release a dedicated host test update either today or tomorrow, that should at least prevent the user being connected with a user name you cannot type, or a user name that does not match the user id.

Off topic :

Although development has been slow for some time, we are still motivated on LFS, which we do regard as a long term thing. I must admit this year both Eric and I have had some slow months and some months in which we didn't do much LFS at all.

In both our cases that has been partly for external reasons which will not have a long term negative effect, and also partly a need for a slight break after several years of hard work.

In my case I have got into some sport (cross country running and cycling) which has obvious benefits I don't need to explain, after two decades without. That occupied my mind a lot (in a good way) and has been great for me and my family, but not great in an immediate sense for LFS's development this summer. The journey of tyre physics development has been a tough one, round and round, forwards and backwards these couple of years. I feel this summer break has helped me mentally. I've got some answers and plan to get that tyre stuff sorted out so we can get back to the fun stuff and a faster development rate in the S3 period.

Sweet, the dedi update will be a huge sigh of relief for many I assure you!

Thanks!

Quote from Byku :

Yeah I know , but still even I would prefer to drive "unrealistic" Scirocco(but propably still the most realistic on the game market ;P), that not playing it at all for another year ;]. Anyway, sry for the offtopic .

Honestly, I personally don't give a rats ass if Scirocco is ever released or not, I'd much rather see those RWD beasts and/or new tracks.

Quote from Speedy J :

Kid, should we mention new tyres every now and then would make a difference?

I'm not planning to do that. :P

Quote from three_jump :

Personally I think that banning an IP instead of the User ID is a bad idea. Most people don't have a static IP and get a new one every 24h (or less, depending on their router settings). So you could end up punishing the wrong people (don't know about the actual odds of it happening).

Thats a completely different discussion and up to the server owner to decide isn't it. IP addresses are already mentioned in the log anyway, but not in a structured manner.

Quote from cargame.nl :

Would be nice if the server logging is a little bit altered also, with the IP address mentioned in the drivername connected (lfsname) announcement. Currently its a little messy to keep track what IP address belongs to who. Especially on busy servers.

Therefore I am now the only one which can block IP addresses, while, if the log is a little bit more structured I could make a web interface for other admins.

After looking into this a few days ago, it turns out it's actually quite simple for a program to parse the log file and reliably* link IP addresses to usernames. I believe Airio already does something like this and it could fairly easily be integrated into an InSim app/cron job/whatever to populate a database.

*It's worked so far in my tests - it's successfully found my IP every time in a log file containing nearly 10 days worth of connections (3944 total) on a busy server, including a connection queue 7 players long. I've still got some more tests to do to be 100% sure though.

Its not reliable otherwise I already done it hmm? Everything is 'simple' by the way. In the end.

I don't understand why this has to be a lengthy discussion. I ask something, if Scawen thinks he cannot spend time on it, then its a no go anyway. Simple.

Time does not matter, the main is a qualitative development. Thank you, that will not leave the project)

Glad to hear about the update.

Nevertheless, I agree with TVE. It seems like it's going to take time(which it obviously is), but I'd quite like to see an early release of Rockingham, much like a teaser... maybe one track config or something along those lines to get the crowd up again.

Quote from Scawen :

On topic :
...

Off topic :
...

Glad to hear an update on the whole situation, but I do think you should make these statements more visible to a broader public, even such a short post can help tremendously when it comes to the "lfs is dead" brigade, not many people go look for developer comments in a security themed thread.

I've started a pre-release test host : Blackwood XFG XRG

If anyone would like to join and have a quick race around to see if it generally works ok, that would be helpful.

It's not finished, there is some improved logging and bug requests to look at, but it's worth testing now that there are quite a few changes and security improvements.

That does appear to be working, so you are welcome to try this one if you like :

DEDICATED SERVER - ONLY FOR HOSTING!

www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_S2_DEDI_6B3.zip

As I said, there is more to be done but it's possible this already solves some problems...

EDIT : you only need the exe from that zip if you are updating an existing installation.