GPL on different servers-gameplay? Long post

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

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> > 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). > 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

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

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>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)

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