Test Patches - Y Series

[Duke]

How long have AA settings and Texture filters been in the LFS menus?

Only during this round of test patches, it was at Test Patch Y13.

[Peptis]

Flinty, you're slipping...

TEST Patch Y20
Here is an update with a lot of fixes!

It's only an exe.

TEST PATCH Y19 MUST ALREADY BE INSTALLED!

Changes in Y20 :

Increased maximum number of car shadows from 8 to 16
MPR fast forwarding is now approximately five times quicker
Added output frequency and slip fraction to the RAF file output
Documentation references to '<' / '>' keys changed to ',' / '.'
Replay controls appear when mouse is over them or start of replay
Connections / race positions / pedals are visible beside controls
Auto mode switching so F9 to F12 / N / SHIFT+L work even if hidden
FIX : ALT+F4 did not exit LFS from a training lesson
FIX : Command /entry did not work while watching a replay
FIX : Slider action is now cancelled on pressing ESC, T, etc.
FIX : Replay controls appeared for a moment at start of intro
FIX : Replay controls were shown during training lesson replay
FIX : Replay OOS error now breaks out of fast forwarding state
FIX : Mirror position correction was missed in load of most cars
FIX : Escape from car select screen resulted in black backgrounds
FIX : Replay destination was wrong in MPR of already started race
FIX : Could get stuck leaving a paused MPR while guest connecting
FIX : Disabled various text commands from training (including /ai)
FIX : Paused indicator is now shown when paused at start of replay
FIX : Sky / sea / default ground was black with wide screen effect
FIX : SHIFT+U visible objects list is now updated after forwarding
FIX : Ban statistic was sent when attempting to ban a host by /ban
FIX : Error message spamming when moving a default setup slider bar
FIX : Mouse look deactivated if mouse available (even if invisible)

[Duke]

But where is the link Pep?

Here it is Test Patch Y20

[pixelboy]

wonder if s2 will be out by xmas??

He's running outta numbers .. y, z, ....

[KNAPPO]

Increased maximum number of car shadows from 8 to 16
MPR fast forwarding is now approximately five times quicker

Sweet! Ive noticed when watching replays the cars in the far distance are shadow less and it looks a little funny. And the speeding up of the replays will be welcome to admins when you are reviewing a replay thats over an hour long as you will be able to cruze thru the time line much faster now.

We can only hope Pix

[SE1Z]

Thank fcuk there is a replay option now!
That is the best addition in my opinion for a LONG time....

[KNAPPO]

Agreed, and im glad that he did a good job of it in the end

[Latch]

Agreed, and im glad that he did a good job of it in the end

That's probably due to 5 years worth of thinking about it and possibly some internal testing time.

[Takumi]

borrringggggggg

[Duke]

An interesting new Test Patch has been released that addresses CPU/GPU usage & performance: Test Patch Y21
The dreaded pit-out stutter bug seems to have been addressed as well

Here is a new compatible Test Patch, Y21.

By using the same Hardware Vertex Shading system as the car body, the subobjects (steering wheel, gearstick, brakes, mudguards, etc) now make better use of your graphics card, saving CPU time and increasing your frame rate on most computers. Those that do not experience much frame rate increase should find it is smoother and more consistent. Also there are small graphical improvements as a side effect of this change. You should find that the pit-out glitch is reduced a little as well.

All the reported Y20 bugs should be fixed. See below for the full list of changes in Y21.

REPLAY CONTROLS :
Multiplayer replays now have the same interface as single player replays.
They loop and the Escape Menu is available while watching.
Also, replay controls have been added. A timeline is visible when you move the mouse.
You can click anywhere on the timeline and the replay will go back or forward to that point.

Some new keys have been added :
1) Single frame step : ',' or '.' (SHIFT + ',' or '.' = one second step)
2) SPACE to pause / unpause during a replay (same as P)
3) ESCAPE to break out of fast forwarding
4) SHIFT + F now has 3 states if you are in a replay (the 3rd state hides everything including all messages and replay controls)

Changes in TEST PATCH Y21 :
Improved frame rates - subobjects now use hardware vertex shading
Improved sky rendering - less distortion, small frame rate increase
Smarter level of detail calculations for best detail and frame rate
On local network hosts only - false start no longer causes spectate
Driver names are now directly above car with no acceleration offset
Controls setup now includes sensitivity multipliers for mouse axes
FIX : Invisible scenery after paused fast forward in SHIFT+U mode
FIX : Inaccurate remote cars lap time after passing a split in MPR
FIX : Look buttons and rotate view did not work during a paused MPR
FIX : SHIFT+C (controllers) SHIFT+W (sound) keys now work in replay
FIX : Replay time bar keeps its clicked width while fast forwarding
FIX : In paused replay , and . keys performed two functions at once
FIX : Autocross / drag can no longer be selected in hotlapping mode
FIX : Host name code page error after clicking name in List of Hosts
FIX : Enter pits "Could not load colours" after renaming car colours
FIX : It was possible to move the default colour slider bars in pits
FIX : Two button clicks in one frame could be bad - now not possible

Known issues :
Stray pixels at texture edges increased by AA / AF
Dedicated host does not display double byte characters
Name of active Chinese input method is not shown in Vista

[Righteous]

Yeah, just tested it out, gained about 10fps. Not bad.

[DUcK]

That's great, I gained atleast 20 fps on starts. I have mine capped on 100 so it never goes up 92, but on ctra at the rear of the grid it was sitting on 60 on a street circut. Happy with that - dev's are looking good, 2 useful things in a row! Good on 'em !

[Duke]

Another very small Test Patch now available: Test Patch Y22

Here is a new compatible Test Patch, Y22.

Changes in TEST PATCH Y22 :
FIX : Crash when entering SHIFT+U mode in certain circumstances

[Duke]

New Test Patch now available: Test Patch Y24

Here is a new compatible Test Patch, Y24.
It contains important fixes for issues found in Y22 and before. Please see the list of changes below for specific Y24 information

Changes in TEST PATCH Y24:
Translations : Included Croatian training lessons + Czech docs
InSim : A LAG bit is now available in the MCI CompCar structure
InSim : MCI packets are now sent at regular game update intervals
Mirrors with horizontal offset applied now stay inside windscreen
Small optimisations should reduce glitch on pit exit a little more
Success or failure message is now shown for one second after CTRL+S
FIX : Missing shine on some car parts when entering garage screen
FIX : Extreme model deformation on changing name with damaged car
FIX : Corrupted car models after quick loading with no textures
FIX : AI could decide to refuel too late at tracks with one split
FIX : Non-graphical instance of LFS would crash if AA was enabled
FIX : Host name code page error after clicking '?' in List of Hosts
FIX : LFS wrongly allowed replay after adding AI in single player

Known issues:
Stray pixels at texture edges increased by AA / AF
Dedicated host does not display double byte characters
Name of active Chinese input method is not shown in Vista

[NeilPearson]

ffs hurry up and give us soemthing interesting

[r8response]

ffs hurry up and give us soemthing interesting

Thinking that myself, how many more useless patches are we going to get?

[Doso]

they have to be working on s3 in the background and just realising shot small patches to keep us interested

i simply cant believe that they are going this bloody slow in development, and I cant believe s2 is still selling well enough to fund the devs, I mean where the fuck are they going to get the money to keep developing and release s3 in about 5 years at the rate there going

[Rots]

what's this S3 you mention?? hehe

I would hope, at the very least, they are working on S2 Beta.

[pixelboy]

I totaly believe the pace they are running at.. they need a project manager with some fucking deadlines..

NO software will ever get finished without deadlines!

[richo]

Great sim but bugger me its tired ,keep saying it they need more guys but Scawen wont let anyone touch the precious.

Its in danger of becoming antiquated before it comes out of alpha let alone a final product, they cant keep dribbling out minute patches and expect the masses to keep calm.

[Duke]

Thinking about this overnight I came to the realisation that I don't believe we will ever see S3 and possibly not even get to see a general public release of S2 Final. With the development being so slow it won't be long (as Richo eluded to) that PC hardware will mean LFS would need to undergo a major graphical update to compete with new offerings which means time spent developing new textures and graphics processes to keep up with the latest technology while slow the development of the core system for S2 Final even further. Eventually the bubble will have to burst as ppl will continue move away form LFS (we see it already) leaving the dev's with less revenue to develop / update it, so it will slowly die and become similar to GPL/GTL/NASCAR 2003 where a small niche community will keep playing it. Oh well I will enjoy it while it lasts.

[Montey]

LFS is quickly becoming a likely teaching aid in computer science courses all over the world. It will be used as an example of how a good idea, no matter how well coded and conceived, will always fail if poor project management and time management exists.

[richo]

I love the sim but they have surely they have lost the plot ,personally i hope they pop S3 out of now where and its godlike with goodliness and will make us eat our words.I cant see that happening and i dont give a tinkers cuss how orgasmic the GT interiors may be because it shoudn't take 3+ years to get them out. I know sweet F.A about coding and design but fmd a race car generally has rollgage's and a slab of carbon fibre for a dash with a motec doodah and shit loads of switches on it. How hard can it be to draw/design/code that?

Whole sims have been designed, drawn and coded in less time the the fekking interiors?

Wow i have no idea were that rant came from,think i need a bex and a nap...

[Montey]

The best thing they could do now, which would cause LFS to just explode, is to release it to the open-source community and sell the core engine licenses to commercial game producers. This would allow the feature set to explode as the community gets involved and they would continue to get paid to develop the core engine as commercial game manufacturers use it.

[Doso]

thats exactly right, the thing about GTR/rfactor/GPL is the massive community modding support, there was always something new and great being made just around the corner that kept everyone so interested, I mean look at GPL its still a great sim and its how old now?

What the LFS devs have done is effectively locked down the engine and said a big fuck you to all the modders out there and released there patchs/content at there rate, which in my opinion would be fine if they actually codded at an acceptable rate. However its now what 3 frikin years since s2 is out and we have a f1 car/bmw race car/clutch modeling/32 players and GTR interiors, surely it does not take 3 years to achieve that!

the LFS community is dying people are not talking about LFS anymore, LFS sales have to be down and people are moving to rfactor simply because of the complete and utter lack of development in LFS, if the Devs are not developing s3 in the background in my opinion LFS is up the proverbial creek without a paddle