GPL online novice, a few questions

No, offense meant, Mark, but I'd suggest you go back to the VROC site and read the info Alison has there about on-line racing. And then practice a little more so you won't be so ***y slow. ;-) But first read the tech info and on-line faq. Regards, Kurt Steinbock

Well I tried racing online for the***time tonight, hope I didn't get in anyone's way or anything, sorry if I did. Anyway I experienced one or two problems and would like some help to fix them. First, I was getting what I think I've heard called clock smashes, every 10 seconds or so my car would disappear and reappear for a moment and the tacho tell tale would reset. Second, warping, the other cars would keep vanishing completely, I would only see them occasionally during a race if atall, one time a loti appeared right next to me and locked wheels with me and spun me out, I think the loti keped going, sorry whoever that was. Lastly, I'm so ***y sloooooowwwww. Anyone got any ideas on what I can do about the first two prob.'s. at least, I think I'll have to work on the last one myself. Mark London UK

On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 22:04:31 -0400, "Kurt Steinbock" >No, offense meant, Mark, but I'd suggest you go back to the VROC site and >read the info Alison has there about on-line racing. >And then practice a little more so you won't be so ***y slow. ;-) But >first read the tech info and on-line faq. Good advice, in particular look into: * tuning your DUN * running an analog modem at 28.8 kbps (*not* 56k) * getting a different modem if you have a Winmodem currently It sounds like connection problems. Also, setting the "sync_method" (forget the exact terminology) in core.ini back to 0 usually gives better results. Glad to have you aboard, Mark! "But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

> On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 22:04:31 -0400, "Kurt Steinbock" > >No, offense meant, Mark, but I'd suggest you go back to the VROC site and > >read the info Alison has there about on-line racing. No offence taken. I have read all the FAQ's, allthou i did have clock_adj_delay = set to 16 for some reason, maybe this is the problem, the online FAQ is a bit confusing on this as it says to set this to 10 and that the default is 12, i thought that was the default for 1.0 and the default for 1.1 was 4, what do you guys have yours set to. Well slow ish 1.32's round monza in the eagle on my own, PB 1.29.99. but i tend to push it to far when i can see another car up ahead, cant help it, i used to do moped endurance racing and red mist was compulsery. > >But first read the tech info and on-line faq. Yes i've been trying to set up a new DUN, but have been having a few promblems sorting it out. i've created a new modem ok, i've created a new connection thats useing this modem, but when i dial up with it internet exploror dosent start up, but the connections made. them when i start up GSB2 it just sits there registering. if i start up GSB2 through my normal connection it works fine. Using a US Robotics 33.6K external modem. Incidentaly when i tried racing last night i changed the settings as per the FAQ's them changed them back when i finished. sync_ method set to 0 Glad to be aboard, see you on the track sometime. Mark London UK P.S. Love this quote.

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> Well I tried racing online for the***time tonight, > hope I didn't get in anyone's way or anything, sorry > if I did. > Anyway I experienced one or two problems and would like > some help to fix them. > First, I was getting what I think I've heard called clock smashes, > every 10 seconds or so my car would disappear and reappear for a > moment and the tacho tell tale would reset. > Second, warping, the other cars would keep vanishing completely, > I would only see them occasionally during a race if atall, > one time a loti appeared right next to me and locked wheels with > me and spun me out, I think the loti keped going, sorry whoever > that was. > Lastly, I'm so ***y sloooooowwwww. > Anyone got any ideas on what I can do about the first two prob.'s. at > least, > I think I'll have to work on the last one myself.

Mark, you don't say what your hardware is? You need a fairly fast pc, and you need a good connection to the internet. Can you run GPL with 36fps all the time when racing offline? (Press alt+F to see the fps in the bottom right hand corner of the screen when driving). If you cannot run it off-line at 36fps then turn *OFF* some of the graphics options, also try turning down the number of sounds heard (in the options screens). You could also try upgrading your hardware? CPU? motherboard? memory? graphics card? modem? etc. (You haven't got a *winmodem* have you? they are generally slower and less reliable for on-line ***). You really *REALLY* need to try and maintain 36fps while racing on-line. Anything less will make on-line play harder for you and the other on-line racers. Also read the FAQ's at the VROC and spyboy websites. These give info and tips on setting up your pc/modem for on-line *** and will help if you are having connection problems. Check out the DUN pages for fine tuning your modem. Hope to see you on the track some time (Have you seen the UKGPL'ers website?) try.... [link lost in import] Have fun. *Peter* 8-)

Sorry, hears my machine spec,s Pentium 233MMX 64Meg ram Matrox Millennium II PCI Righteous orchid Voodoo 1 AWE64 Gold US Robotics Sportstar 33.6 faxmodem MSFF wheel No I cant get 36 fps, but I think I'm also suffering from some of the other 1.1 patch bugs because I get 24/28 fps whatever graphics settings I use. Yes I know I need to upgrade, threes nothing I'd like more, but at the moment finances rule that out for the time being. No not a winmodem, didn't even know what one was until I heard them mentioned hear. I've read all the FAQ's and done all the tweaks. Mark London UK

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> Mark, you don't say what your hardware is? > You need a fairly fast pc, and you need a good connection to the > internet. Can you run GPL with 36fps all the time when racing offline? > (Press alt+F to see the fps in the bottom right hand corner of the > screen when driving). > If you cannot run it off-line at 36fps then turn *OFF* some of the > graphics options, also try turning down the number of sounds heard (in > the options screens). > You could also try upgrading your hardware? CPU? motherboard? memory? > graphics card? modem? etc. (You haven't got a *winmodem* have you? they > are generally slower and less reliable for on-line ***). > You really *REALLY* need to try and maintain 36fps while racing on-line. > Anything less will make on-line play harder for you and the other > on-line racers. > Also read the FAQ's at the VROC and spyboy websites. These give info and > tips on setting up your pc/modem for on-line *** and will help if you > are having connection problems. Check out the DUN pages for fine tuning > your modem. > Hope to see you on the track some time (Have you seen the UKGPL'ers > website?) try.... > [link lost in import] > Have fun. > *Peter* 8-)

On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 02:08:28 +0100, "Mark Aisthorpe"

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>I have read all the FAQ's, allthou i did have clock_adj_delay = set to 16 >for some reason, maybe this is the problem, the online FAQ is a bit >confusing on this >as it says to set this to 10 and that the default is 12, i thought that was >the >default for 1.0 and the default for 1.1 was 4, >what do you guys have yours set to.

I use 8, but 10 or 12 seem OK too. Hmmm. Are you absolutely sure that A) your modem is connecting and B) that it's logging in properly to your ISP? You can set the DUN to give you a full-screen terminal window to see the login process, try that. It might be that your new DUN is not calling the dial-up script. Perhaps you are connected modem-to-modem, but not logged in, thus no connect with GSB or IE. Your ISP can probably help you more there (I haven't messed with it recently enough to remember the details). Good luck! Thanks, I thought it was cool. Ooops, here it comes again. :) "But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

Mark, that's it. (Voodoo3) over serial port. I expected smooth flow, but got warping like hell. I'm sure your CPU is to slow On Tue, 17 Aug 1999 19:35:12 +0100, "Mark Aisthorpe"

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>Sorry, hears my machine spec,s >Pentium 233MMX >64Meg ram >Matrox Millennium II PCI >Righteous orchid Voodoo 1 >AWE64 Gold >US Robotics Sportstar 33.6 faxmodem >MSFF wheel >No I cant get 36 fps, but I think I'm also suffering from some of the other >1.1 patch bugs because I get 24/28 fps whatever graphics settings I use.

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> No I cant get 36 fps, but I think I'm also suffering from some of the > other > 1.1 patch bugs because I get 24/28 fps whatever graphics settings I > use. Exactly *what* settings (graphics, effects, and sounds do you have enabled from the options screens? and how many AI do you have turned on? To be honest you are not gonna get much more performance on a pc with that spec. As my *second* pc I have an old K6 200 (overclocked at 225) with 64 Mb SDram a 4Mb Matrox Mystique and a 4Mb Voodoo1 card, and get similar stats as you. You could try overclocking your cpu to run at 225 instead of 233. It will actually be quicker at 225, cos your *whole* pc is speeded up by using a 75Mhz busspeed instead of the 66Mhz you are using now? Worth a try....... Failing that its down to an upgrade..... *Peter* 8-)

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> Exactly *what* settings (graphics, effects, and sounds do you have > enabled from the options screens? and how many AI do you have turned > on? > To be honest you are not gonna get much more performance on a pc with > that spec. > As my *second* pc I have an old K6 200 (overclocked at 225) with 64 Mb > SDram a 4Mb Matrox Mystique and a 4Mb Voodoo1 card, and get similar > stats as you.

Online I'm running it at 512x384 mirror detail cars only trackside objects all, features track textures racing groove object textures wall textures car textures trees All in front only, none in mirrors detail bias slider 1/3 from the left max sounds 5 These are the lowest settings I can bear to play it at, as anything less I start to loose braking points etc. Offline I can turn on all the features in front, I still leave all the mirror ones off, and I can max out the detail slider and run 640x480, and its still perfectly playable for hot lapping, if you can call what I do hot lapping, more like simmering lapping. I don't usually race offline due to the slomo problems with the patch, but if I do I can run a full field of AI with similar settings to online, slow at the start but fine after the first couple of bends. Wish I could but my MB wont have it, it only runs 66Mhz. If only I could. Mark London UK

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> > Exactly *what* settings (graphics, effects, and sounds do you have > > enabled from the options screens? and how many AI do you have turned > > on? > > To be honest you are not gonna get much more performance on a pc with > > that spec. > > As my *second* pc I have an old K6 200 (overclocked at 225) with 64 Mb > > SDram a 4Mb Matrox Mystique and a 4Mb Voodoo1 card, and get similar > > stats as you. > Online I'm running it at 512x384 > mirror detail cars only > trackside objects all, > features > track textures > racing groove > object textures > wall textures > car textures > trees > All in front only, none in mirrors > detail bias slider 1/3 from the left > max sounds 5 > These are the lowest settings I can bear to play it at, > as anything less I start to loose braking points etc. > Offline I can turn on all the features in front, I still leave all the > mirror ones off, > and I can max out the detail slider and run 640x480, > and its still perfectly playable for hot lapping, if you can call what I do > hot lapping, > more like simmering lapping. > I don't usually race offline due to the slomo problems with the patch, > but if I do I can run a full field of AI with similar settings to online, > slow at the start but fine after the first couple of bends.

If it's significantly worse online than offline, it could be that you have a ... WinModem! A WinModem will place a significant overhead on the CPU, particularly if it has to compete for interrupt bandwidth with other things like sound card and gameport polling. I upgraded to a SoundBlaster Live Value and PDPI digital gameport card, and it was quite acceptable using the WinModem to race online, except that whenever anyone else joined the race there would be a signnificant pause while the packets were processed. I now have an external serial port modem, and although the connection is pretty much identical, the frame rate has improved and there are also no long pauses. It's still horrible with a bad connection - this seems to slow everything down so that sometimes I feel like I'm racing in slow motion. Not sure if this is the same "slow-mo" bug that's been associated with 1.1, as I'm using the Ali Hine core.ini that has synch_method = 0. If you upgrade to a Voodoo Banshee you should be able to run at 1024x768 - changing to lower resolutions doesn't make any difference to speed, but turning the detail down does, probably because it's the CPU that's the bottleneck.

>> >And then practice a little more so you won't be so ***y slow. ;-) >Well slow ish 1.32's round monza in the eagle on my own, PB 1.29.99. >but i tend to push it to far when i can see another car up ahead, >cant help it, i used to do moped endurance racing and red mist was >compulsery. Amazing - you're faster than me, and I've had the game almost since it came out...:-( How long have YOU had it? I'm not even CLOSE to 1:29's. I think my best with an Eagle(now driving Ferarri) was about 1:32. <sigh> Maybe I'll just stick to providing VROC servers... :-) Eldred __ Put your message in a modem, and throw it in the ***-sea... remove SPAM-OFF to reply.