rec.autos.simulators

  yes, but 4 cars were enough to collapse the online flow...  :)
dh

Unfortunately it requires a hefty system to run well.  Framerates are about
half of what they are in the GTR demo and on third of what I get out of LFS
at a similar resolution.  The DX9 graphical touches are certainly nice, but
I could do without to keep a good framerate.  The developers of LFS are
claiming a not-too-heavy framerate hit with the move to S2, and the improved
graphical details.  Given that they have managed to improve framerate over
the development of S1, I believe this.  LFS strikes a great balance between
visual charm and framerate performance on less than bleeding edge machines.

LFS will still keep my attention because the selection of cars is very
attractive for me.  Just the inclusion of the Caterham clones is something
to keep me coming back.

The other winning thing for LFS still, and it is difficult to evaluate
rFactor in this area, is the track design.  For a series of fantasy tracks,
the LFS tracks are a lot of fun to race on.  A good mix of corner types and
some good racing possibilities.  I'm curious if the S2 tracks have "grown
up" a bit to handle the faster cars.  The track in the rFactor demo didn't
do much for me.

Otherwise there's nothing too special about my setup. 2.2GHz AMD,
1Gb pc3200, 166fsb. So it must be vid card limited.

You're not going fast enough ;-)

I know what you mean, but the original track for LFS was (and
still is) pretty tedious to drive around, especially in those
slow, basic cars.

Andrew McP

BTW Andrew, slightly of topic here, but how the heck can you take off
from a carrier in PF with a spitfire without a SPLOOSH sound?

Cheers!

Remco

That a shame. I guess there must be some major DX9 hardware support used
in rFactor. The GF3's still a good card for many older sims, but maybe the
time's come to start thinking about something a little newer.

Since I had a GF3 in my games box (gave it away to a friend in need) I've
had a 2nd hand ti4200, a second hand 9700Pro, and now a new x800pro (it
was either that or start having driving lessons. So the British roads will
be safe for another year or three ;-)

The ti4200 wasn't a huge improvement over the GF3 in raw frame rate terms,
but it did allow me to run at higher resolutions with more fsaa. The
9700Pro was a very nice upgrade, giving me more of everything and that
increasingly important DX9 hardware support. I'd probably still be using
it if I hadn't been seduced by Doom3's amazing (IMO) use of hardware
lighting.

FWIW I just installed the demo on this email/work box which has an older
KT7a motherboard with 768Mb of pc133 and an Athlon1700+ running at
1680MHz. The vid card is a 9800se (which I bought for the AIW features and
the hope it'd flash to a 9800Pro... it didn't :-) and it handles rFactor
"ok". At 1024x768, auto visual settings, I can tell the frame rate's not
consistent, but it's certainly very drivable. At 800x600, auto, it's
smooth but ugly.

The 9800se is roughly equivalent to a 9600/9600Pro (not a particularly
good buy). I still think the 9800Pro represents excellent value for money.
The trick is raising the money :-)

If you look out of the front of the***pit you'll see some things
sticking out the front of the plane. They're called "propeller blades". If
you can count them, that means the engine is what we pilots called "not
turned on". I advise consulting a trained technician who may be able to
show you how to make these blades spin fast enough to dry what hair you
have left and perhaps also assist in the takeoff process.

;-)

I have no problems taking off in PF. Plenty of throttle, lots of flaps,
just enough back pressure on the stick to take off without risking an
early bath, and it just happens. Landing is a different matter... still
waiting for my first successful trap. I can touch down without problem but
I appear to have aircraft equipped with *** hooks!

Still, it's far more fun to crash land with the undercarriage up, coming
to a stop balanced on the front of the carrier. To be honest though I get
a far bigger kick out of just sitting on the moving deck with the graphics
in "Perfect" mode. The reflections of the nearby ships and the sense of
motion of the carrier are quite special. But there again, the vid card
helps the experience.

Andrew McP... in essay-writing mode, obviously.

Perhaps there's a setting that I need to adjust?  BTW -- I'm on a cable modem
connection.

FWIW, from the readme:

"Known Graphics Limitations:
- Shader source code is not exposed;
- DX9 render path disabled;
- Live cube mapping disabled;
- Moving shadow receivers disabled;
- Object reflections disabled"

From what I've seen to date, rFactor doesn't look that CPU-dependent,
particularly online without a bunch of AI.  But it definitely wants all the
GPU you can throw at it, just like RBR.

SB

Probably someone hosting too many cars for his connection, Bert. I had some
pretty good races last night, but I can't say I see a dramatic improvement
over the multi in F1C (except you now get ridiculous looking temporary cars
instead of a freeze when someone joins).

Also the lobby/matchmaking server works rather crappy compared to the
slickness that is VROC/Sierra.

Jan.
=---

A friend gave me this link:

http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=185532

Which improves things quite a bit, but this aspect still needs quite a lot
of work IMNSHO (a complete re-write is on the cards, I think, as it appears
to only be able to show the player a limited snapshot of all races being
hosted).

I didn't mean to sound as if I was thrashing rFactors multiplayer, but the
Papy "advance" on ISI didn't build up with time as you seem to imply. NR3
and GPL shipped with better online multiplayer back in 1998. GPLSpyBoy (as
VROC was then called) followed soon after and also worked right out of the
box.

Of course it's early days and with everyone joining in, ISI are coming up
against things they didn't envisage when they wrote their code. They need
time and feedback to make their mulitplayer more robust. I'm certainly
looking forward to them doing so, because the driving itself is really quite
good (and has been since F1 2k2).

Jan.
=---

   Wha?   A DeeeVelper?  Here?  hehehe
Good thing to know Joe.

dh

Don't make me laugh.
rFactor is DOA

The baja's are loaded temporarily in place of the users car to help
avoid lockups when a new player joins the race.