rec.autos.simulators

Looking at the replay I won the race, more by attrition than anything ;-),
but none of my laptimes show, and the final result showed me as -9laps.

Is there any way to 'extract' the lap times, other than timing it with a
stop-watch?

Ta,

Malc.

I'm assuming you mean an online race... if so, you experienced a phenomenon
related to the no-disco patch. If you momentarily lose connection to the
server as you cross s/f the game loses track of you and you don't get scored
from that point onwards. Nor the server, nor your personal replay will
contain laptime info if this occurs.

So if you want to view your times you'll have to break out the old stopwatch
and time yourself by hand, sorry. Without the patch though, you would have
been disco'd then and there regardless of whether your game was able to
reastablishd contact with the server with regard to your position on the
track. So now at least you got a race out of it.

Jan.
=---

Thanks for that. It was a race on vroc. Stopwatch time I guess!

How do you know if you're disconnected & re-connected like this?

The latency bar was okay (almost nil at the start) and only crept up a
couple of times during the race.

Cheers, Malc.

If it doesn't happen at the start, as in this case, your pitboard will start
to show you dropping laps behind the field.

2nd guess of the evening... are you on cable? -This type of connection often
exhibits "hiccups" shorter than a second (the sample interval of the meters
and the time the GPL prediction code keeps working in the absense of
position updates). I.e. they can remain undetected unless you run a packett
trace on your own machine. It's very unlucky to have one of these occuring
right at s/f, but it can and does happen. This is one of the reasons some
people, although they use broadband for general internet use prefer modem or
ISDN access for racing.

It's one of the things which happen when internet traffic is high (holidays)
and IMO you shouldn't worry about it. As long as you don't start to see all
other drivers disappearing for seconds on end, chances of not being scored,
discoing or, more importantly, causing accidents due to poor quality of your
connection are minimal.

Have fun racing,

Jan.
=---

I'm not on cable, just a normal phone line, but I'm using a software modem
(ESS).
The result could possibly be the same, since I did see cars disappearing for
several seconds at a time in that race (and others).

I've got an old 33.6 USR external modem hat I'd been thinking about using
just for online racing, since I have to run at 800x600 to get a good
framerate online where 1152x864 is fine offline. Might help with this
problem too.

Cheers, Malc.

Yes, there is, via the core.ini parameters, but both server and client must
carry the same setting for the game to synchronise to the server and
connect. Online GPL requires 19.6kbps as a client, so that's hardly taxing a
cable connection. I think the delay is pre***ly situated at the
provider as their network sections are usually oversubscribed. Not a problem
when usuage is normal, but when most subscribers do get online delays can
get substancial. I only get "latency spikes" on school holidays (last week
of summer hols is terrible for this phenomenon, e.g.).

Jan.
=---

Bingo... software modems are pure evil when it comes to online racing. Junk
it.

Force the USR to connect at 28k8 and turn all error correction off for a
more stable connection and latency. See the modem FAQ at vroc.net

Jan.
=---

Excellent! I'll give it a go tonight!

Cheers, Malc.

-John

Thanks, John, but I've tried the 33.6k sportster this evening & it made no
difference.

Could be just old & dusty, but I doubt it. I've got a few 33.6 & 56k pci
modems lying about, and an isa 56k lucent winmodem. The sportster's the only
external (ie definitely hardware) modem I've got though.

I'll experiment a little more, but it could be just a bad BT line. I live in
the sticks!

I'm hoping to get ADSL in a few months time, so I'd rather run 800x600 for a
short while rather than get yet another modem. I appreciate the offer,
though.

Anyone recommend a good router for online racing? I have no idea what I'm
going to get yet!

Cheers, Malc.

-John

Try contacting BT and ask them to do a line check for you.
Maybe they could increase the gain on your line. That should help.
--

Ian P
<email invalid due to spam>

Done and done again. The quality of service on the line just isn't the same
out of towns. I can't even get a cable phone instead. Stuck with BT.

I hardly use the landline for voice calls, it's just there for the modem
really, but there seems to be little they can do to speed up the connection.

I've only just started racing online a few days ago, so 'ping rate' was
never really an issue before.

That's why I'm hoping to get broadband. Can't really be worse I guess.

Having said that, I've done 20-odd races with no major problems, so I'll
just take it as it comes ;-)

Malc.

Hey, I'm already there! Just can't guarantee for how long at a time!

;-)

Malc.