rec.autos.simulators

Sorry I didn't know how to title this. Has anyone noticed this? It seems
that GPL plays differently on individual PC's. I'll describe what I
noticed.

Friday night I had an IGPS race at Kyalami. So I dutifully practiced for
when I got home from work. I was able to do 1:23's on my PC, I felt the
setup  was slightly squirrely, but nothing big. When i connected to the
host, I got my usual good connection (.222-.278 lats). I took my
racesetup and went out for practice. Well I was no longer squirrely and
now I was doing 1:22's, in fact I set a person best. (Don't laugh it's a
Cooper/Coventry). Well when the race started I blew right away,
according to the rules I disconnected. I went straight to VROC and found
a Kyalami race and connected. Now this was less then 5 minutes later
with the same setup and same lats (.222-.278), just a different server.
I could not drive the car. I could only get 1:24's if I was lucky. The
car was very squirrely. I've noticed this many times before, but never
this pronounced. Is this normal? Does it happen to everyone?

Sorry for the long post, this has bugged me for a while. I've seen many
people say that they could do faster times offline and some say they are
faster online. What's up with that?

"ZZ"

--
Official member IGPS (Internet Grand Prix Series)
-----------------
Busch Carpentry
"Plans?"
----------------
Busch Motorsports
"Remember racecar is racecar spelled backward"

I think this is due to a couple of factors.  Basically the hosts machine
is usually at play.  If the hosts machine is not maintaining a high
frame rate, this is translated to the clients machine (producing a jerky
stuttering frame rate that is not quite in sync).  You machine may still
be reporting a 36fps, but in reality the sync from the host is not
matching your frame rate.  

The other thing in play maybe that your latency (when you check is
good), but there are some routers along the path to the host that is
dropping a packets here and there.  This also can lead to an unsmooth
frame display.  

The results you outline are very similar to running with a full field of
AI and not maximizing one's frame rate.

Check out Alison's GPL Online FAQ section 6.1 & 6.2 for more info
<http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/faq-online.htm>

% Sorry I didn't know how to title this. Has anyone noticed this? It seems
% that GPL plays differently on individual PC's. I'll describe what I
% noticed.

% Friday night I had an IGPS race at Kyalami. So I dutifully practiced for
% when I got home from work. I was able to do 1:23's on my PC, I felt the
% setup  was slightly squirrely, but nothing big. When i connected to the
% host, I got my usual good connection (.222-.278 lats). I took my
% racesetup and went out for practice. Well I was no longer squirrely and
% now I was doing 1:22's, in fact I set a person best. (Don't laugh it's a
% Cooper/Coventry). Well when the race started I blew right away,
% according to the rules I disconnected. I went straight to VROC and found
% a Kyalami race and connected. Now this was less then 5 minutes later
% with the same setup and same lats (.222-.278), just a different server.
% I could not drive the car. I could only get 1:24's if I was lucky. The
% car was very squirrely. I've noticed this many times before, but never
% this pronounced. Is this normal? Does it happen to everyone?

% Sorry for the long post, this has bugged me for a while. I've seen many
% people say that they could do faster times offline and some say they are
% faster online. What's up with that?

% "ZZ"

% --
% Official member IGPS (Internet Grand Prix Series)
% -----------------
% Busch Carpentry
% "Plans?"
% ----------------
% Busch Motorsports
% "Remember racecar is racecar spelled backward"

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

We've only seen this problem when either the client or the server (or
both) are connected through a serial port.  As near as we can tell,
this is because Windows is not servicing the serial port properly when
the CPU load reaches 100% (if you are getting less than 36fps in GPL,
then your CPU load is 100%).  This leads to either lost packets, or
packets stacking up in the modem's data buffer, either of which can
cause a GPL client to be unsure of how fast its server is running, and
making it speed up and slow down trying to stay in synch.  We've done
two things in the GPL 1.1 patch that might help alleviate these
problems.

Randy

You have been giving us a few teasers about the 1.1 patch Randy.
I only hope it becomes available before the on-line league i run in
gets too far into our 1st season, as being in Australia and being part
of an Amercian on-line league has it's downsides with disconnection and
latency problems.
Also would it be possible to let us know if there is going to be a way
to centralise our steering wheels in this patch.?   Maybe a slide
adjustment to re-center our steering wheels after calibration, located
in the control option screen would be handy.
I have spent the last 3 months driving GPL with a steering wheel that
has a slight lisp to the left, and i can't cure it...   (not my wheel
either, i have tried another wheel and it is the same)
The wait for the 1.1 patch goes on.. <G>
Cheers,
Ron

% We've only seen this problem when either the client or the server (or
% both) are connected through a serial port.  As near as we can tell,
% this is because Windows is not servicing the serial port properly when
% the CPU load reaches 100% (if you are getting less than 36fps in GPL,
% then your CPU load is 100%).  This leads to either lost packets, or
% packets stacking up in the modem's data buffer, either of which can
% cause a GPL client to be unsure of how fast its server is running, and
% making it speed up and slow down trying to stay in synch.  We've done
% two things in the GPL 1.1 patch that might help alleviate these
% problems.

There he goes again, mentioning "the patch".  It must be getting close
to release (I hope, I hope). <G>

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Hi Ron,

I believe the position the wheel is in when hitting the [Ok] button
after calibration is considered the central position.

Remco

Howdy Remco,  i wish it was that simple.   I have tried pressing the OK
button with the wheel to the left, the wheel to the right, the wheel
centered etc. etc.  all to no avail.
No matter what i do, i still end up with my steering wheel centered at
about 11:00 o'clock.
If it was just me, i would feel that it is probably a problem with my
game card or something, but i have seen other posts on RAS with exactly
the same problem.
If you don't have that problem, then i am jealous. <G>
Thanks for your input though, but i can assure you that the problems
still exists on my computer.   It even existed on my old P150 before i
upgraded it as well. ;-(
I can never understand why wheel makers don't put a centralization
adjustment on wheels like they do with joysticks.  That would cure all
our problems.!!   (or all of mine anyway) <G>
Cheers,
Ron

GPL sets its center position for each axis when you hit the <calibrate
joysticks> button, not when you hit the <Ok> button after calibrating.
You should thus align your wheel to its center position before starting
the calibration, rather than just before completing it.

Randy

Thanks for the info Randy, i will give that a try when i get home from
work today.
It's good to see you taking an active part in the discussions on this
forum, and it certainly helps a lot of us out.
Thanks,
Ron