Wednesday AC Fun Race 11th Feb - MP4-12C GT3 at Silverstone

[Tibernius]

Is there any chance AC will switch to a different night in future. Maybe 60-90 minute races on a Sunday night like the old GTR2 series?

That depends on a few things, especially with AC's engine. For example, AC doesn't have any weather settings, can't do night races due to the graphics engine, etc. I haven't seen a way to set up what will be changed at each pit stop either. Championships have to be done manually, it doesn't have the same server-side output as the SimBin games, the process for setting skins is much more complicated than in GTR2, etc...

If we get enough drivers in the upcoming races then I'll be pushing for it, but at the moment I think in terms of driver numbers we're better off staying as is for now - I can't see changing to Saturdays getting us any more as it would be clashing with too many other places.

[ginsters sponsored]

Good to here AC still has a future here  I've got a capable pc now and hopefully join you in next week or so.

[Simon Gymer]

That depends on a few things, especially with AC's engine. For example, AC doesn't have any weather settings, can't do night races due to the graphics engine, etc. I haven't seen a way to set up what will be changed at each pit stop either. Championships have to be done manually, it doesn't have the same server-side output as the SimBin games, the process for setting skins is much more complicated than in GTR2, etc...

Don't need weather or night. They are nice bonuses should they ever come along, but they are not necessary.

I agree pit stops could be better, but the current implementation is at least amusing and increases the chances of non-perfect pit stops and position changes as a result as people cock them up. On triple screen they are even more dodgy actually as the animation is completely lost and you just get a big close up of the roof of the car whilst you hear sound effects of the air guns changing the wheels.

What is it about the server side output that is the problem for SRou LM2 system?

Not sure why the skins are anymore complicated than GTR2, can you explain? Don't we all just need the skins we're going to use installed locally and so does the server?

If we get enough drivers in the upcoming races then I'll be pushing for it, but at the moment I think in terms of driver numbers we're better off staying as is for now - I can't see changing to Saturdays getting us any more as it would be clashing with too many other places.

Yeah but if SRou wants to stay alive it has to go with the most popular stuff getting the best slots, e.g. Sunday night and Tuesday night. Considering AC has just been fun events here and its still getting more than GTR2 with actual championships it says it all imho. Never worry about what other leagues are doing. You have to provide something people want to come here for, advertise it and promote it, and then other people will choose to come or go depending on what they want and where they want it. Each individual league needs to be selfish to survive.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Phew, Mondays are safe 

[Mark J]

Can we also implement the stracker/pstracker software that the other AC racing forums are using? It gives live timing, reports laptimes etc set on the server. (Ask Fred Joseph as he runs it at Esra I think) that would keep interest, awareness up through the week and give people targets etc before race night.

Wondered also, are we allowed to advertise our races over on the AC site somewhere? Would boost awareness/numbers 

[picnic]

Can we also implement the stracker/pstracker software that the other AC racing forums are using? It gives live timing, reports laptimes etc set on the server

I've always struggled to see the benefits of live timing, I'm racing I don't have time to study a screen of timings to see how everyone else is getting on! Are there other benefits?

[Simon Gymer]

I've always struggled to see the benefits of live timing, I'm racing I don't have time to study a screen of timings to see how everyone else is getting on! Are there other benefits?

It does give you in-game a leaderboard that works better than the built-in crap that the game comes with like that annoying banner with useless rankings that wipes the bottom of the screen (thank god for F9 to get rid of that, if only there was a key to get rid of that annoying massive banner that appears at the top of the screen telling you that Picnic did a 2:41:2 lap-time.

It gives you a few other nice little details that aren't built into the game.

I agree about not needing live-timing on the web though, who is looking at that?!

[Mark J]

Must admit I don't know how it works but it sounded good and the other leagues are using it. I thought it posted up laptimes etc to a sort of live banner in the race thread on here  bit like you would get in a real race whilst sessions are live or people are doing laps on the server.

[Tibernius]

Don't need weather or night. They are nice bonuses should they ever come along, but they are not necessary.

I agree pit stops could be better, but the current implementation is at least amusing and increases the chances of non-perfect pit stops and position changes as a result as people cock them up. On triple screen they are even more dodgy actually as the animation is completely lost and you just get a big close up of the roof of the car whilst you hear sound effects of the air guns changing the wheels.

Noted - It's been a while since I raced in GTR2 and back then we were using variable weather based on a real-world forecast for the track area, I don't know if we still are.

What is it about the server side output that is the problem for SRou LM2 system?

I'm not sure exactly, I know it doesn't integrate at the moment but I haven't got a clue how LM2 works so I can't really elaborate. This is what Gizmo's said about it so far:

It's on my list as #2 to do after finishing the SMF 2 upgrade work - there's not much point writing one for SMF1 'cause all the database calls have to change anyway so rather than end up doing it twice I'd like to do it once after the upgrade (which is a much bigger underaking for SRou than other forums because of the level of integration with the league system).

Not sure why the skins are anymore complicated than GTR2, can you explain? Don't we all just need the skins we're going to use installed locally and so does the server?

My understanding is that, in addition to what you've said, unless you're pre-booked on the server it will just assign you a random skin when you join rather than letting you choose beforehand. Which means sorting manual server-side booking before each race - I don't know how much work that is, but since GTL/GTR2 just lets the client pick when joining the server I know it's more work than that.

Yeah but if SRou wants to stay alive it has to go with the most popular stuff getting the best slots, e.g. Sunday night and Tuesday night. Considering AC has just been fun events here and its still getting more than GTR2 with actual championships it says it all imho. Never worry about what other leagues are doing. You have to provide something people want to come here for, advertise it and promote it, and then other people will choose to come or go depending on what they want and where they want it. Each individual league needs to be selfish to survive.

Noted and agreed with - I just don't want to be pushing the prime-time championship angle until we've got the full structure sorted. It shouldn't be too long though.
Considering the size of grid for the GTR2 races, and that most of the drivers are racing AC as well, I would be behind swapping the days for the races over - but it's not my call. I'll have a word with the others though.

I'll also throw up a comments/suggestions thread later tonight.

[Simon Gymer]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Didn't realise that's how the skins work, that is not nice at all. Yes I agree and accept everything else you said. Clearly not paying gizmo enough either! 

I hope kunos spends more time sorting out these core game issues and not releasing more cars but they need to make money too so I understand why they have focus on dlc.

[ChrisR]

for booking mode you select which skin you want to use in the summary screen and then you join, you will have the skin you chosen but you will be white to everyone else. for others to see your skin all they have to do is have it in the correct skin folder. 

for pickup mode its not quite as simple, you have to add cars and allocate them a skin so ten cars get allocated 10 skins. if you join first you will take car 0 with whatever skin car 0 had allocated to it. if you want to drive a car with a skin that car 7 has allocated to it you best wait till you are the 8th person to join the server. if you joined first then someone else joined to take car 1, if you quit and a 3rd person joined he would take car 0 and then you would take car 2. 

if you are going to use booking mode (how its been here historically) then yes, you choose the skin you want and then just join..

[Mark J]

Ptracker:-  http://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?threads/ptracker-stracker-v2-6-new-gui-native-linux-server-championship-management.13169/

[Tibernius]

for booking mode you select which skin you want to use in the summary screen and then you join, you will have the skin you chosen but you will be white to everyone else. for others to see your skin all they have to do is have it in the correct skin folder. 

I stand corrected, thanks Chris. 
I've only done that a couple of times, and both times it gave me a different skin than I'd had set for offline, so I was probably doing it wrong. I'll give it a try and see what I was missing out.

[picnic]

Server is up to accept your bookings

[goldtop]

That was good fun and just getting interesting until windoze decided to restart my pc after updating on around lap 11.