S4 New Build

[AllanGP]

A thread to discuss what is new!

I will start with re-posting a Tony Gardner post on "Spotter Functionality" which is the first layer of the "Team" stuff coming out this week;

Before get into Spotter functionality thought would briefly touch on Team Racing. A tremendous amount of work has been done to the underlying architecture of iRacing to roll out what we are calling Team Racing as the overall project. This project literally impacted almost every major piece of code and system in iRacing, and forced us to rethink and rework hundreds of details and thousands of lines of code.

It was a bigger project than we anticipated and a long time coming, but we think the end result, assuming it all goes as planned, will be worth the wait as we will be the only game or sim ever to have something like this. Along with adding spotters, a new in-sim radio & scanner, pit crew & driver swaps for any type of racing including endurance racing, we think the whole concept of being able to create your own team on iRacing will add tremendously to the competitive, social and support aspects of the service.

I wrote a longer version of this piece which covers Team Racing plans more generally and will post soon but for this will focus on the coming Spotter functionality in more detail.

Spotter Functionality:

The first phase of this Team project is planned to roll out in our next build which is basically upon us. (However, please note the build will not be early this week)

That phase is what we are calling “spotter functionality.” The spotter functionality will allow any member to join any race session as a spotter, similar to the way any member can join any race session as a spectator or in ghost racing mode. However, every member controls how and who they will allow to spot their races. A member can turn the spotting functionality off so nobody can spot for them, or on, so anyone can spot for them. In addition, members can also limit spotting so that only friends can spot, or only people they have provided a password can spot. A spotter can view the race with all the same views that are available in Spectator Mode.
The spotter and driver can talk or text together privately in-sim. We are basically replacing the old radio with a new radio that will be a combination radio/scanner. Both driver and spotter can set-up buttons on wheel or other buttons in the options area like they do for existing chat and easily scroll from team radio to public radio, for example. Basically the operator controls the microphone portion, like a real-world scanner. Therefore if driver and spotter set the function to private, the conversation within that group will be private. If spotter is set to public and driver to private, the spotter will be the only one to hear the driver talk, but everybody else in the race/session will hear the spotter talk.

Specifics or new radio/scanner:

Your new radio is capable of scanning a total of 32 channels. Your radio will be tuned-to one of these scanned channels. Both voice chat and text chat that you transmit will be sent on your “tuned-to” channel. Only other users who are scanning that channel can receive the message. You can use the “Next Channel”/”Prev Channel” controls to select which channel your radio is tuned-to.

A channel is identified by its name. It will begin with the @ symbol, and can include letters, digits, and the – (dash) symbol. Channel names are converted to all upper case letters, and so they are not case sensitive. “Letters” include most of those found in Western European languages (those in the ISO/IEC 8859-1 character set).

Channels have permissions. Only a certain set of people can talk on a channel, and a different set of people can scan (listen to) the channel. If you are not allowed to talk on a particular channel, it will be skipped when you tune your radio to the next/previous channel.

There are some predefined channel names:
@ADMIN – Anyone who has admin privileges on the server can scan and talk on this channel. This channel is intended to allow server admins to talk among themselves, without others on the server listening-in.

@CONTROL – (short for “race control”) People with admin privileges on the server can talk on this channel. Everyone on the server can (and should) scan this channel. It is intended as a way for the server admins to communicate with everyone on the server at once (“I’m going to throw a competition-caution on Lap 30”).

@PUBLIC – This is the equivalent of the “old” radio. Everyone can scan this channel, and everyone except spectators can talk on it.

@SPECTATOR – Anyone can scan and talk on this channel, including spectators.

There are some predefined channel names that can actually map to many distinct channels internally:
@CLUB – There will be a separate channel for each club represented by those connected to the server. You can only scan and talk on your club’s own club channel.

@TEAM – Each team will have its own channel. Only people who connect to the server as part of your team can scan and talk on your team channel.

@USER – Each person who connects to the server will have their own private channel. You must scan your own private channel. Private text chat messages are sent to you on your private @USER channel. Anyone can private text chat to you, and only server admins can voice chat to you.

Server admins can always scan and talk on any channel provided they know the channel name.

Your radio will come pre-configured to scan a particular set of channels, depending on how you registered for the server, and your rights on the server.
- If you are a spectator, you will scan the @SPECTATOR and @CLUB channels.
- If you are a participant in the session, you will scan the @PUBLIC, @TEAM, and @CLUB channels.
- All server admins will scan the @ADMIN channel.

In addition, there are some more global channel settings.
Everyone will scan their own @USER channel.
Everyone will scan the @CONTROL channel.

For the purpose of voice chat, radio channels have priorities. Your radio will automatically silence someone speaking on one channel if someone starts speaking on a higher-priority channel. For example, if you are hearing someone speak on @PUBLIC and one of your teammates starts talking on your @TEAM channel, your teammate’s message will take priority. Channels are ordered as follows, from highest to lowest priority:
@ADMIN
@CONTROL
@TEAM
@USER
@CLUB
@<user created>
@PUBLIC
@SPECTATOR

You will be able to create your own radio channel. Anyone who knows the channel name will be able to add this channel to their radio, and speak on and listen to the channel.

Will attach some screen shots, click on each picture to enlarge for better visual.

[Kalifen]

Did you notice the third screenshot?

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/po...h/1503287.page

"64-BIT MODE
If you have issues running the simulator in 64-bit you can disable that setting."

Even though this doesn't necessarily mean 64 bit mode is included in the upcoming build, it opens up the possibility that it might

[AllanGP]

Yes, interesting that, it is probably a screen shot from a test build but they have said they are trying to get it out for this one.

I'm hoping we will have some nice surprises this time around, even though a lot of time and effort has been spent on 64 bit.

[wpsracing78]

Build Update;

We have a terrific update coming for you guys but unfortunately we are chasing a crashing bug that is holding up its release. We think we have an idea of what the issue is and are starting a new beta build in the next few hours for testing. At this point it is looking likely that the build will not be deployed until sometime next week.

I will run the 24 heures of fun series with the two new tracks next week when the build comes out so you can play with Rockingham and Oran Park. I have actually really enjoyed driving Oran in testing! It is an evil little track in the higher powered cars and especially the Lotus 49!

As for an update on the Lotus 49 we have made really good progress with the car but we do not want to rush it out. It is an important car to get right and we want to make sure it lives up to the legacy we created for it. It was not going to make the release this week and there is a chance it will make the release next week but again we won’t rush it out.

Thanks for your patience and we will get the release notes out as soon as possible.

Steve

---------

Hmmmm - I've never been impatient in my iRacing career - never asked for anything...

But seriously - they need to speed up their shit! What are the staff doing like 3 hour days??
Pushing cars and tracks back SINGLE days at a time? After half year to yearly announcements? Perhaps work harder earlier chaps.

Like I understand a crashing bug is unfortunate, unpredictable and needs to be fixed.... but...why are we discovering this now and not last week? Project Management!!

anyway, I'm still excited - but now when this stuffs released I'll be 100hrs a day on Uni instead of my current week and a half off..

[MickeyMouse]

Yes, it's nice to have a totally finished product with no bugs... but it makes you wonder what they've been doing the past 13 weeks, and how good their time management skills are.

[brabham67]

Originally Posted by MickeyMouse

Yes, it's nice to have a totally finished product with no bugs... but it makes you wonder what they've been doing the past 13 weeks, and how good their time management skills are.

Could be that they have been running around like headless chickens trying to get everything sorted for release, who knows. Speculation is just that. But a delay is not at all outside of normal for iRacing. Guess I'll have to wait a little bit longer to get a taste of the Lotus 49.

[AllanGP]

Annoying but no biggie for me, I have Wk13 off and this avoids temptation!

[wpsracing78]

On the week 13 subject..... most mind numbing one I've encountered!! In my 4 or 5 I've experienced.

[darock]

Originally Posted by wpsracing78

On the week 13 subject..... most mind numbing one I've encountered!! In my 4 or 5 I've experienced.

If you think Week13 is a loser, have you noticed that the club championship cluster flock is on again, and it's worse that the last ones?

iRacing really has a problem doing special promotions.

[Duser]

release notes are out finally...

[carfetish]

Interesting physics/ntm stuff:

Dallara IndyCar

- Harder rubber compound for the high speed oval tracks.

Lotus 79

- Now has the New Tire Model, and has had a complete overhaul of the physics including tires and aerodynamics.

- Previous setups are invalidated and will not load in the sim because the car requires such different setups now. Please start with one of our provided setups and move forward from there.

[brabham67]

No Lotus 49 yet...

[AllanGP]

Originally Posted by brabham67

No Lotus 49 yet...

They flagged that it might take an extra couple of weeks for the '49 about ten days ago.

[AllanGP]

Looking forward to see if 64 bit is "neutral" as predicted (I bet it isn't)

In a good way.

[brabham67]

Originally Posted by AllanGP

They flagged that it might take an extra couple of weeks for the '49 about ten days ago.

Yeah, I know. Was hoping for a miracle though!

[steve 81]

Downloading!

[Kalifen]

Will have a quick look today, but after that I will be travelling until Monday. Bad timing

I guess it will be necessary to have a look at the new button assignments and understand the chatting (I will probably try to tune it to act like before at first). After that it will be time to sample what's new.

Oh, and the new points scoring system will be interesting to follow this season



EDIT: I thought dirt buildup on the windshield was "mandatory", but then I read the following in a forum thread: "you gotta have pixel and advanced shaders on". Probably won't be for me yet, then, since I basically turn everything down for FPS.

[bozont]

what is wrong with Oran Park, its crawling with 1kB/s to my hdd
everything else was fast, by fast i mean 600kB/s

[AllanGP]

My entire 715Mb update was done in about 15 mins, did not change for Oran Park for me.

[bozont]

my update is/was 1GB with Oran park. had no problem with that. when i start to download oran park it goes fast until cca 45 MB from 124 and then it drops to zero... have cleared the download folder under irancing. didnt helped much. it seems i have to do some resets. modem,pc etc

[AllanGP]

Only done a handful of laps in the HPD but this build is AWESOME!

Car feels great and more controlable on or slightly over ( ) the limit.

Really, really impressed.

So far, after about 20 laps, I am 0.7 sec better than my last season PB and 1.2sec under my best time upto now.

Loving the ability to mouse control the Black Boxes too and the FFB meter is fab for easily seeing if you are "clipping" your FFB, so simple.

Brilliant build for me so far.

[darock]

Originally Posted by AllanGP

Loving the ability to mouse control the Black Boxes too and the FFB meter is fab for easily seeing if you are "clipping" your FFB, so simple/

Brilliant build for me so far.

You mention the FFB meter and how it shows clipping. I seem to have missed where iRacing describes that. Didn't see it in the release notes or in the forums.

Where is that explained?

[AllanGP]

Haven't got a link but the bottom line in the little indicator in the Top Right of the screen (well it is a bit lower than top right now!) has an "F" against it, it is green on the straight ahead position and as you turn into corners the bar fills up green and then turns orange, then red. If you are getting red showing it means the FFB is "clipping" i.e. compressing the forces/cutting them off. You can then go into the FFB slider and reduce it until you only get green or green and a bit of orange.

That is what I did anyway.

I believe but have not tried it yet, if you press "F" on your keyboard whilst in the car you can adjust the numbers whilst still in the car - also cool if this is true.

[Kalifen]

Under "Controller Support":

- Add 'F' force feedback force meter to 'Q' meters.

In fact, a ton of FFB related stuff in the release notes.

[darock]

Originally Posted by AllanGP

Haven't got a link but the bottom line in the little indicator in the Top Right of the screen (well it is a bit lower than top right now!) has an "F" against it, it is green on the straight ahead position and as you turn into corners the bar fills up green and then turns orange, then red. If you are getting red showing it means the FFB is "clipping" i.e. compressing the forces/cutting them off. You can then go into the FFB slider and reduce it until you only get green or green and a bit of orange.

That is what I did anyway.

That really sounds like a great thing. Where did you see read that the red shows clipping?

[AllanGP]

From David Tucker;

"The bar turns yellow at 85% force and red at 100% force and ranges from 0% to 110%."

[wpsracing78]

Can't wait to try it all out tonight - and lap Oran Park about 6,000000 times in every car!

Site under maintenance at the moment - I wonder if it's just little fixes like the spectator/replay bug or a SURPRISE? haha

[brabham67]

Originally Posted by wpsracing78

Can't wait to try it all out tonight - and lap Oran Park about 6,000000 times in every car!

Site under maintenance at the moment - I wonder if it's just little fixes like the spectator/replay bug or a SURPRISE? haha

Just little fixes I'm sure.

[boons4]

Hi Guys Just when i eagerly wish to read more on feedbacks about new build the Site is down now.. wonder why....

Hi Kalifen bro, Allan and guys,,,
How are u all?? hahaha... Kalifen you are most right that Iracing secretly improves the sense of speed! I am so so happy now...While we are practising Spec Racer Ford... we are saying this car seems a lot faster now.. in fact its sense of speed had match skip barber.. and now Skip barber sense of speed also improved by alot! Finally you feel excitement on roads and ffb easier to control too.. Well Done Iracing.. Really last night racing and practising srf and Skip was damn fun! I will post this on the other threads regards to build also... Cheers Guys.

I wonder why Iracing never mention they improve sense of speed...?

[wpsracing78]

I guess if you draw attention to things like that there's the big possibility you'll get as many complaints as everything else!
Can't wait to try the new build! Friken uni wasting my driving time!!

[carfetish]

Many are praising the NTM Lotus79:

Originally Posted by sparky206 (LFS forum)

Ran the l79 sof race last night, man that thing is a fun car to drive, way more interesting than any of the other cars on the service. Also won a skip race from last place on the grid, 14th

Originally Posted by Deko (overclockers australian forum)

I recommend everyone gives the L79 a try, it's phenomenal on the NTM, doesn't have any of the usual NTM problems, cold tyres aren't faster, it can slide and be caught, tyres don't turn to mush after 1 tiny slide. It's fantastic, if you're not driving it you're missing out on the best car on the service at the moment.

Anyone agrees/can elaborate more on that?

[AllanGP]

There is a lot of love for it in the actual L79 Forum which is very encouraging. I've not yet had time to try it but I will do and report back but it is unlikely to be this week.

I have to say both the HPD and Skippy are great fun and since I liked them already that is a very good effort on iRacing's part, this build is just full of win as far as I can see.

On 64bit my race starts do not seem as troublesome for me as they used too, I need to do a few more before seeing if this is placebo or real

[Gutshot]

There are now a lot of new things in iRacing that you should take a look at if you have not made any changes to your base setups in a while. For example, on the iRacing "Options" screen the FFB options and default setup are changed and enhanced. Going to "linear" and making other changes really enhances your FFB feel on a G25 and makes precision feel easier to achieve, and helped my track times. Well worth taking a detailed look.

Also, for those of us who use the clutch and or heel/toe, please notice that the "autoclutch" now appears to be the default. Actually the autoclutch button has disappeared and only seems to show up when you calibrate the clutch pedal. You may have thought that your technique has improved, only to find that you have been moved to autoclutch.

Finally, as everyone has noticed, the Skippy is now faster (or maybe the track or tires, or rear end adhere better). For whatever reason, you can get better times than previous. Probably most evident in the cornering. Thus maybe time to look at a Skippy setup with a little more front wheel bite than you have been used to. And maybe change slightly brakezones, turnin, wheelturn, etc.

So, I suggest that it is time for numbnuts like myself to actually look into the changes that iRacing has introduced since we last opened up the "options" screen.

[MINIMM]

Originally Posted by AllanGP

I believe but have not tried it yet, if you press "F" on your keyboard whilst in the car you can adjust the numbers whilst still in the car - also cool if this is true.

Yes you can adjust it while in the car, another great feature in the new build.

[jayblue]

Build notes for 19th November 2012:

Miscellaneous

- Fixed several bugs which could result in white or incorrect car, helmet, and/or suit textures during on-line sessions.

- Fixed a bug that would cause the Strength Of Field as displayed in the Race Summary on the web site to exclude the iRating any drivers that never joined the race session. The iRating exchange and total number of championship points awarded in such sessions were not impacted by this bug.

- Fixed a misspelling in the trade show software.


Spotting

- Spotters will now see their own team's car during Oval Qualifying and Time Trial sessions.

- Drivers will no longer see "connected"/"disconnected" messages for other team's spotters, but drivers will continue to receive such messages for other drivers. Spotters will continue to receive "connected"/"disconnected" messages for all drivers and all spotters. Spectators will continue to receive "connected"/"disconnected" messages for everyone, including other spectators. You should no longer receive spurious "xxx has disconnected" messages when you first connect to a session.

- Fixed a bug that made the "Disable While Driving" checkbox on the options/sound screen ineffective.

- You are not allowed to switch between being driver or spotter in a session to being a spectator in the same session. Unexpected things could happen if you tried. Now your new, changed registration for the session will be rejected if you attempt to switch.


Radio

- Move @channel indicator to lower left corner of driving screen.

- Add in a hot key and UI to toggle the radio channel box in the driving screen (hit 'o' by default).

- Show the radio popup for a few seconds when a channel changes, even if it is hidden.

- When a server administrator sends a /all text chat message, it is now sent on the @RACECONTROL channel, instead of being individually sent to everyone on their own @PRIVATE channel.

- The @DRIVERS channel can now be scanned by, and is automatically added to, spectator's radios.

- The "You are transmitting on @xxx" notification now takes precedence over the "xxx is taking on @yyy" notification.

- Fixed a bug where your second and subsequent "reply" to a whispered text chat message would be echoed back to you, instead of being sent to the person that had whispered to you.


Spotter Packs

- Increase the number of sound files the sim can load by a few thousand. The previous maximum was starting to be reached as spotter packs go over 1200 sound files. Now the sim should be able to cope with up to about 3500 sound files in a spotter pack.


Garage

- Add in app.ini [misc] garagePhysicsSpeedup=1 to let you turn off the 4x physics speedup in the garage and tech inspection. This can help older computers run better when in the garage or teching.


Replays

- Fixed a bug that was causing missing wheels in old replays for a few cars: Legends Ford '34 Coupe - Rookie, Williams-Toyota FW31, Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, Chevrolet Impala Class B.

- Fixed a bug that would prevent loading replays saved this season if any spectators had connected to the session.

- Fixed a bug that would cause custom paint jobs to be ignored when watching replays that were created before this season.


Tracks

- Fixed a bug that caused track altitude to be off by a few tens of meters.

- Added GPS coordinate data to Watkins Glen. This also fixes an issue where the altitude of the track in this build had dropped to near sea level which was causing faster lap times than usual.


Touch Driving

- Make sure the reset button properly responds to user input.


Windshield Buildup

- Adjust the glare component so that it's not so intense.


Cadillac CTS-V Racecar

- Improved framerate performance of the graphical model.


Chevrolet Impala

- Drafting revised by reducing suck-up and downforce loss when following cars.


Chevrolet Impala Class B

- Drafting revised by reducing suck-up and downforce loss when following cars.

- Fix ride height tech problems with a couple setups.


Chevrolet National Impala

- Drafting revised by reducing suck-up and downforce loss when following cars.


Chevrolet Silverado

- Drafting revised by reducing suck-up and downforce loss when following cars.


Dallara IndyCar

- Drafting revised by reducing suck-up and downforce loss when following cars.

- Made sure the coolant will not overheat so easily which was causing motor damage.

- Update the indy_oval_fixed, roadamerica_fixed and texas_fixed setups.


Lotus 79

- Added an 18:1 steering ratio.

- Fixed a typo in the front anti-roll bar description.


Glad they fixed the drafting and Indycar engine blowing problems hopefully now.

[Kalifen]

Deploying sim updates.

Estimated lap time: 2 hrs
ETA: 1700 UTC / 12 PM ET

[Jack B]

About what was expected.

Spectators get to hear drivers again. Yay!
Draft adjusted, which got quite a few complaints.
Indycar got the draft and engine overheating fix. Maybe the biggest fix in this mini update.

[AllanGP]

Originally Posted by MINIMM

Yes you can adjust it while in the car, another great feature in the new build.

Used this yesterday when I wanted to change the FFB mid way through a run and did not want to pit in Fixed otherwise fuel would have been re-set, worked an absolute treat!

Also using the mouse to adjust black boxes is so much better, sometimes it is the little things that really help the overall experience.

[wpsracing78]

Yep - for anyone who took a 100+iR hit from the Indy overheat issues, this is a big fix!

I entered a Homestead race without knowing - blew engine lap 3
Returned that night with a mid-pack to 3rd!
so I got about 70 of the -120 back!