rec.autos.simulators

Papyrus guys,

A friend & I just bought USR DSVD Sportster modems and we discovered
some interesting stuff.

First of all the setup string provided with the sims does not work
with DSVD.  Why?  &M0   =  no error correction = no DSVD. Them's the
rules, according to the online Tech Reference of USR.

*Not* including &M0 causes DSVD to work, but the connection latency
jumps up to .16-.18, even on a clean line local call.  Is there any
way you know to lower the latency with EC running?  Does v42bis
compression help latency?  Or should we still leave the &K0 intact to
turn off ALL compression?

Secondly, we can dial up with a data connection, get our .16-.18
latency, and then lift up the handsets and talk to each other just
fine.  However, we cannot go in the opposite direction.  If we are
talking voice, and we tell the game to connect, it mutes the speech,
connects (It reads CONNECT 24200 usually), and then sits there
waiting.  Sometimes we see a message that has the word "Papyrus" in
it..like a copyright notice or something.  Then finally after waiting
awhile, one of us terminates the attempt and we're kicked back into
analog voice.  We KNOW the modems are connecting to each other, but
they won't handshake as they should.  We also know that using normal
terminal emulators in Windows, we were able to do this
(voice-only->voice+data in same call).  Have you investigated this?

Finally, what is the most reliable way to connect?  I'm seeing a lot
of "Divide by Zero" crash exceptions while modem racing.  Does baud
rate have anything to do with this?  

Btw, for lurkers here....DSVD is incredibly cool....sounds just like a
normal phone conversation, but you're racing!  Now all I need is a
headset!

Any help would be appreciated.

Randy

   Thanks for the post Randy.  We're all interested in how this works.  

   You mentioned the number on the latency, but how did the actual racing
go?  Did you notice any frame rate or other problems?  I've never had a
modem race.  It must be cool.  Anybody in Portland want to give me a shot?  

                                                                    Larry

===========================================================================
Larry "Dragon" Lindstrom.              Consultant - Unix - X Window - Comms

     Reality, there's nothing else quite like it.  

The racing was pretty good.  There was the occasional warp & flicker,
and perhaps the latency had a slight effect on the frame rate.  But
the positives FAR outweighed the negatives.  

Speaking of Portland, fellow Newsgroup participant David Sparks and I
went at it hammer and tongs last night at Portland.  A
man-to-man-no-computer-cars-in-sight-no-holds-barred 30 lap sprint.  I
kicked his **** <G>  Seriously, he spun a few times and it really
began to seem that the contest was going to be whether I could lap him
before the 30 laps ended.  We ended up doing 2-3 laps gearbox to
nosecone and it was VERY white-knuckle.  We actually are very
comparable in skill at Portland, so we were able to race that way
without incident.  He was fighting a bad setup (seems he loade the
wrong one), and in the last turn lost the rear wheels just a bit and
recovered, but it allowed me to get a run on him as we drag-raced down
the front straight.  I drafted, darted to the inside, and outbraked
and he stayed wide and allowed a clean pass.  GREAT FUN!  We then set
things up in practice mode and just practiced close-quarters racing.
If one of us lost it and spun out, the other would slow down and wait
for the other to catch up, and we'd go at it again, taking turns
working on each other and pushing it to the limit.  I think its the
most fun I've ever had modem racing!  The fact that we were on a DSVD
modem with headsets and jabbering at each other the whole time helped.
It was really cool when I was riding his tail I was saying things like
"No mistakes, Dave...Easy on that turn...no pressure...whoa you nearly
lost the rear end there....good recovery..I'm all over you....getting
nervous?"  That plus seeing me all over his mirrors was probably
taking its toll, along with a setup that pushed like nobody's
business...I worked him over pretty good! <G>  .anyway I highly
recommend DSVD & a good hands-free headset for modem-racing. Just
can't be beat, except by Hawaii, and that's just because you can race
against so many people

Oh, one more thing...David lost at Portland, but he can kick my tail
from here to high heaven on any NASCAR race you care to name.  I suck
at NASCAR :-(

Randy

Yep, Paul (removing cap to scratch head), the Sequoia Motorsports Reynard
was running reeeeel good 'til we developed a bit of a push there and just
couldn't get the car to turn. Them boys in the motor department deserve a
nod for putting together a great Honda engine for me, but I jus' couldn't
keep the darn thing on the track. But hey, we'll get 'em next week!

I second that. Other than Hawaii, it's the most fun I've had racing.

Hey, you forgot to mention that I whooped your tail at Portland 'til I gave
you my setup and taught you how to drive it. <g>

That's alright, I still can't break 1:17 at Detroit. Yes, Randy, you're the
king of ICR2. But we'll get 'em next week! <g>

Dave "davids" Sparks
Sequoia Motorsports