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UKGPL => UKGPL Races => Topic started by: Phil Thornton on April 17, 2013, 11:24:15 PM +0100



Title: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Phil Thornton on April 17, 2013, 11:24:15 PM +0100
Season 24 Works Trophy (67) - Round 7 - Zolder

For round 7 we are at Zolder in Belgium.  Zolder was built in 1963 but it didn't host the Belgian Grand Prix until 1973.  Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s.  But when Spa Franchorchamps was significantly revised and the safety standards vastly improved the Grand Prix returned to it's original home and Zolder fell out of favour.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_GPG
IP address = 62.195.2.111
Race date = 21-04-2013
Race Time = race starts at 21:30 UK time
Qualifying Time = Between 30 and 60 minutes, starting no later than 21:00 UK time
Track = Zolder
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = PRO
Race length = 50 minutes (laps 33)
Password: see above (#post_event_password)
Replays Available here (http://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/inc_replaysS24_js.aspx)
Driver lists and token rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=387&theme=6)
The track can be downloaded from : here (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=7886)
The full time drivers can start to practice as soon as the server is available.  Reserve drivers can also join as soon as the server becomes available but must leave the server with 35 minutes of qualifying left, for a total of 5 minutes; this will allow any remaining full timers to join.  If there is enough space on the grid, the reserve drivers will be able to rejoin when there are 30 mins of qualifying left.  

Please restrict chat to pit messages including at the end of the race until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

The race will be run under PRO rules so no resets are allowed.

The chassis token system is explained on the Works standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=387&theme=6). Please ensure you choose a chassis that is within your budget, which can be seen by hovering the mouse over your points total in the standings.

Moderating The red zone will be fully moderated for lap 1 only. For this event the red zone will be from the start line to Butte. Other moderation will be on reported incidents only.  However any incidents that occur in the red zone that are not reported by the drivers will be reported by the moderator.  This will allow all affected drivers the opportunity to present their case before the incident is moderated.  This should ensure there are no surprises when the moderator's report is published and hence appeals will be less likely.  If you haven't received a PM about an incident before the link below the results table is removed, you can be sure that you will not appear in the moderator's report.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: fpolicardi on April 21, 2013, 06:43:03 PM +0100
GPG server is set for 33 laps Long race and listening on Igor.
Ciao


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Phil Thornton on April 21, 2013, 08:23:56 PM +0100
GPG server is set for 33 laps Long race and listening on Igor.
Ciao

Thanks Fulvio


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Arf Arf Arf on April 21, 2013, 10:41:40 PM +0100
Well that appears to have been 20 points well spent. Q4, P2... however...

Got off in P4 and we seemed to gap the rest, so I assume there was an incident behind us. Soon after Baab disappeared and H was smoking and limping round. That left me and Art having a great race..although he was always 1/2 secs clear. We had 20 secs on Fulvio and I was thinking about settling down for 2nd, as I could only see an off or an engine failure from Art letting me by - didn't think I could catch him. Then we came up to lap H at T1 and it upset my concentration and I went off into the fence. It took me about 20 secs to get out, so of course I had the pack upon me. I made a small error going under the bridge, and ended up coming out the corner sideways. I suspect Clive(?) had nowhere to go and couldn't avoid t-boning me, and ended up upside down. Sorry about that, whoever you were...

Al, not quite sure happened next - we seemed to contact, and Fulvio went past. Later in the race you were close behind me (but thankfully not fast enought to challenge), and I saw you flickering a lot, so I wonder if the contact was warping?? I'll have a look at the replay, but I certainly won't be making any complaints - just hope I haven't done anything to warrant someone complaining about me......

After all this fuss the race settled down for me into first of all chasing Fulvio to regain P2 - not sure if you broke down or had an off, but once past you I thought I was in a fairly safe place, only to find Al charging hard and fast after me. Can't say it was exactly fun holding you off, but it kept things interesting for the last 10 laps  :)

Congrat to all finishers, esp Art and Al

Arf


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Arf Arf Arf on April 21, 2013, 11:04:02 PM +0100
Al

Just had a look at our coming together. It looks like Fulvio, who was also caught up in the contact I had with Clive kind of acted as a screen, as he was between us. I don't think either of us could see the other going for the corner, as all I could see in my mirrors was Fulvio, and from your cockpit it looks like you can't see me moving off...

Arf


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Phil Thornton on April 21, 2013, 11:22:52 PM +0100
Not a good race for me.  Having frame rate issues with Pribluda again, I'll have to remove it.

Grats to the podium, nice to see a few new names up there :)


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Artiglietti on April 22, 2013, 08:21:47 AM +0100
Not a good race for me.  Having frame rate issues with Pribluda again, I'll have to remove it.

Grats to the podium, nice to see a few new names up there :)

Phil, I had very similar issues with frame rate, especially out of the final quick chicane, which made it really tricky. I have had problems at many tracks, and I tracked them down to the new Pribluda as well. Actually, I used to have the old prib files somewhere, and making a quick swap cured most of the problems at most tracks. Now, I tend to strip down my graphics instead, when I bump into a problematic (for me) track. For this race I was back to 640/480, a rather odd looking, perfectly white sky, and only cars in the mirrors (which gave me a bizarre view of my front wheels in the lower half of the mirror   :blink: ?). Guess you must have tried that as well, but it might have been worth mentioning.

As for my race, it was a good one until half way through. When I saw Bob and H disappear from the lead in the space of a couple of laps, I thought it was looking pretty good. I couldn't shake off Arf though, who was very consistent and seemed happy to adopt the scavenger tactic for the time being (it had payed well for the both of us until that point  ;D). Around half way through the race, my pit board brought good news for me, with a lead suddenly extended to 30 secs plus over Policardi. So, from then on, I switched  to multigranny21 mode, focusing on bringing  the car home and putting extra care in saving the engine (at one stage I had a look, it was 82 degrees  ;D ;D). Wins are rare events these days, you better grab them with both hands..Grats to Arf and the omnipresent Al, and to finishers as well, it is a great flowing track but rather unforgiving I think.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Al Heller on April 22, 2013, 11:37:00 AM +0100
Al

Just had a look at our coming together. It looks like Fulvio, who was also caught up in the contact I had with Clive kind of acted as a screen, as he was between us. I don't think either of us could see the other going for the corner, as all I could see in my mirrors was Fulvio, and from your cockpit it looks like you can't see me moving off...

Arf

Yep I agree Arf - I was going to say the same thing last night in Igor but had to rush off. As you say, neither of us could see each other because of Fulvio's car & I can't see that either of us did anything wrong so no complaints from me.

After losing out on a podium with an engine blowup at the last race, I was relieved to grab 3rd here, though despite splurging out on a Lotus it wasn't an easy ride by any means. My limited practice meant I was rather tentative during the opening laps while still figuring out the limits. That meant I was distinctly uncomfortable with Clive snapping at my heels, made even worse as his Brabham appeared to be warping so much. After nervously watching Clive's car hopping around in my mirrors for a lap, decided it prudent to lift on the main straight & follow him around until the lag calmed down somewhat. (My connection has been rock-solid this season but Arf said that my car was warping from his view which made me wonder if something odd was happening with the server... my replay certainly shows Clive's car jumping around like a Mexican bean though)

With H's engine letting go & Clive going off at T1, I set about trying to catch the leaders - and promptly stuffed the car into the fence... I got completely snagged on the fencing & was VERY fortunate to extricate myself from its clutches & find a way back onto the track though lost a lot of time in the process. A podium looked a long way off from there, but I gradually began to make better use of the Lotus & started slowly closing the gap to Clive & Fulvio ahead. A few laps later their big incident with Arf looked to have given me the chance to cruise past all three of them unchallenged, but then the aforementioned tangle with Arf occurred & I was back down to 4th. Aided by Lotus power, both me & Arf were able to get back past Fulvio though & I spent the remainder of the race trying to apply some pressure on Arf for 2nd. Well done to Arf for staying in front & of course to Art for a good win in the Brabham.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: fpolicardi on April 22, 2013, 01:10:28 PM +0100
If I hadn't gone wide at the hairpin twice in a row cause hot tires, you both would have more work to pass me  ;)
About the mess at Villeneuve tragic end place, I had to stop the car to avoid to hit Arf spinning in front of me. To thx me for saving his life he restarted ahead of me and tangled with Al coming and trying to gain on both of us slowly restarting. I have to say that a big grin appeared on my face at the moments  ;D
Ciao


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: EvilClive on April 22, 2013, 01:11:15 PM +0100
quote
 " It took me about 20 secs to get out, so of course I had the pack upon me. I made a small error going under the bridge, and ended up coming out the corner sideways. I suspect Clive(?) had nowhere to go and couldn't avoid t-boning me, and ended up upside down. Sorry about that, whoever you were..."  quote

Yep! it was me.  :-\

I have been persevering with the Brabham lately as it was always a car that just seemed slow for me, although it obviously is not! Qually was a slight disappointment although I was on race fuel I was further back on the grid than I was hoping for. But seeing the times that Hristo and Art were setting it was probably about as good as I could have hoped. I had changed my setup with about 5 mins to go in qually to overcome rear tyre melt syndrome and it appeared to be working in the few laps that I did before the start.
I was still learning how to extract the best from the setup in the first few laps of the race and slowly turned up the wick as the laps went by. I picked up a place or two as some cars went grass cutting and I found myself closing on a Lotus driven by Al. My view of things was rock solid, so I apologise if I was warping for anyone else. But Al looked slightly vulnerable in his Lotus and I felt I could perhaps make the pass somewhere if only I could match his acceleration out of the corners.
I had a chuckle to myself when Al left the door open on the S/F straight and I promptly stormed past and tested the catch fencing at T1!! what a muppet!!
Well the red mist got thicker as I untangled myself from the fencing and I lost a couple more places.
I quickly closed on David and Doni who were battling ahead  and eventually found a way past them as I increased my pace. Next up was Fulvio who wobbled out of the final chicane and gave me the chance to get up the inside of T1. Next up was Al ( again) and this time I got past and survived lol. Arf surprised me by emerging from the undergrowth at T1 and slithering around in his Lotus, but it looked like he might be willing to give up his 2nd place if I applied some pressure before he could settle back into his rhythm. T2 and he was a bit sideways and I was on to his tail up towards the bridge, where I knew I was quick.
So, by the time Arf put a wheel on the grass I was counting the bolts on his gearbox and planning a dive down the inside. When he went wide I managed to tighten my line and thought I had the pass nailed until he squirmed sideways and came back across the track. I could see the accident coming as if in slow motion, but I had committed my car to a tighter line and nailed the gas. The brakes were never going to stop me and there was just no where to go  :(  ................ so I hit Arf and cartwheeled out of the race.
A real shame as I was beginning to get confidence in that setup and the lap times were coming down into the sub 1:30's quite easily. I don't think I would ever have caught Art as he was miles away, but a 2nd spot might have been possible.

Grats to those who did make it to the finish and get their just rewards.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Phil Thornton on April 22, 2013, 07:41:18 PM +0100
Not a good race for me.  Having frame rate issues with Pribluda again, I'll have to remove it.

Grats to the podium, nice to see a few new names up there :)

Phil, I had very similar issues with frame rate, especially out of the final quick chicane, which made it really tricky. I have had problems at many tracks, and I tracked them down to the new Pribluda as well. Actually, I used to have the old prib files somewhere, and making a quick swap cured most of the problems at most tracks. Now, I tend to strip down my graphics instead, when I bump into a problematic (for me) track. For this race I was back to 640/480, a rather odd looking, perfectly white sky, and only cars in the mirrors (which gave me a bizarre view of my front wheels in the lower half of the mirror   :blink: ?). Guess you must have tried that as well, but it might have been worth mentioning.
I've tried just about everything.  I think there is an issue with the OpenGL V2 rasterizer not being able to cope with 2D graphics very well (the V2 Direct X is worse).  Everytime there is a chat message (e.g. during a race when someone leaves the server) my frame rate takes a big hit.  If it happens mid way through a tricky corner, I'm off.  The Pribluda displays are also 2D so each time they update (which is quite regular) my frame rate is affected.  Not as bad as it is with chat but nevertheless it makes the driving very difficult.

I'm not sure if it is Pribluda, the V2 Rasterizer or some sort of interaction between them.  I'll take Pribluda off and see if I still get the frame rate problems with the chat messages. 


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Arf Arf Arf on April 22, 2013, 08:49:57 PM +0100
If you need some information on the car, have you tried the GPL Digital Display Modifier? It gives you very basic data on the car, nothing about opponents.....


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Hristo Itchov on April 22, 2013, 08:53:19 PM +0100
If you need some information on the car, have you tried the GPL Digital Display Modifier? It gives you very basic data on the car, nothing about opponents.....

That's what I've been using for years now. I don't need stinking Pribluda distracting me or causing issues.  ;D


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: EvilClive on April 22, 2013, 09:20:56 PM +0100
I use old Prib with Open GL2, but I turn off  F7 and F8 during races leaving only ............the gap to cars in front and behind/tyre temps/oil temp/ and fuel level showing.

I find that makes a considerable difference to my frame rate. I suspect that if you select all of the constantly updating data available in Prib it must impact upon the main processor?  as GPL relies upon that little nugget for its existence.
I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will be able to give a more technical answer, but I do know that if I have everything that Prib can provide switched on, my frame rate suffers.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Artiglietti on April 23, 2013, 09:12:31 AM +0100
Ah well, but I never have any prib switched on constantly. I have everything organized on my wheel so I can flick them on and off when I am on the straights to have a look at what I need. If I had them on constantly, even only some of them, my frame rate would suffer horribly. Even the infos at the bottom of the screen, about oil temps, gears and so on, are normally hidden.

My point was, there is a correlation prib/dropping frame rates even when prib is switched off, as I suppose the data keep being updated. And, the old prib is much less demanding on the system than the new one, so you might want to try and swap them around (it's only a couple of files to replace in the GPL folder). Also, the most effective way to reduce frame rates problems is to strip down the graphics to 640/480. I have to say, I remember in my first season a couple of years ago I could keep prib switched on all the time (although it was the old one). Now I couldn't do that on most tracks, pc is the same so I suppose theres also some file corruption or bad interaction that's going on.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Al Heller on April 23, 2013, 11:28:01 AM +0100
Not sure why some PC's (including some very high-end ones) suffer frame-rate issues with Prib yet others seem fine? I've never seen any frame-rate drops despite having Prib going the whole time. I'm using D3D v2 & ATI card.   


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: s2173 on April 23, 2013, 03:50:52 PM +0100
You have to turn off font smoothing from windows (control panel/system/advanced/performance/untick the box "smooth edges of screen fonts")... With pribluda and certain fonts it is a major fps hit, since windows tries to smooth up the pribluda text... I heard that with certain fonts that doesnt happen, but I'm not sure which fonts are these. 


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Ronniepeterson on April 23, 2013, 04:58:14 PM +0100
Using Prib v1.1.2.1, openGL v2 rast, Windows 7. I could not survive without Prib and have it on full all the time. Never seen a problem with frame rate drop when using it. Maybe some of you need to update your PC when you get a chance. Guys you have at least upgraded your PC since the game came out in 1998???



Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Hristo Itchov on April 23, 2013, 05:39:47 PM +0100
Guys you have at least upgraded your PC since the game came out in 1998???

It's not that. As Al already mentioned, it occurs to people with modern fast PCs. Sky brings up a good point, perhaps it's the needless cluttering of the Windows interface with fonts, visual effects and so on. Personally I use a little program that allows me to turn off most of those things and make my Win 7 look like XP.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: bernie on April 23, 2013, 10:21:28 PM +0100
And it's called ???



Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Ronniepeterson on April 23, 2013, 10:56:49 PM +0100
And it's called ???

If necessary you can set up everything up using msconfig. All versions of windows have this file.


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: bernie on April 23, 2013, 10:59:50 PM +0100
like most things in life I find having something is one thing , but knowing what to do with it is something else  ;D



Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Hristo Itchov on April 23, 2013, 11:07:27 PM +0100
It's called Classic Shell, try it out. It's very useful and it won't do harm to your PC, as long as you just follow common sense. It's mostly to do with adjustments to the visuals and interface of Windows 7 (and maybe Vista and 8 as well, not sure).


Title: Re: UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Works Trophy (67) - Zolder - Apr 21
Post by: Phil Thornton on April 24, 2013, 12:24:04 AM +0100
You have to turn off font smoothing from windows (control panel/system/advanced/performance/untick the box "smooth edges of screen fonts")... With pribluda and certain fonts it is a major fps hit, since windows tries to smooth up the pribluda text... I heard that with certain fonts that doesnt happen, but I'm not sure which fonts are these. 
Sky,
 
Just tried this and it has made a huge difference.  Get a very solid 35.5 to 36.49 FPS now in all mods with 19 AI and full graphics will ALL Prib displays showing. 

Joined a praccy race on IGOR to test the chat issue.  Unfortunately I still get frame rate issues when chat messages appear but I think I can live with that.  I'm going to give Prib another go for the next League race.  I like to use it to keep an eye on the leaders so I know when I'm going to be lapped and to check for a gap when I have to do a rejoin.  Not something any of the front runners need to worry about  ;)

Thanks again for the tip Sky, I'd be interested to find out if it makes a difference for anyone else.