killahead wrote:Im all for it, I want to have the tracks as real as they can get. But as always with these add-ons they use up some extra FPS. My concern is that my srever might not be able to handle it if Im going to play at the same time. I dont want my game to look like absolute shit just to get the correct tracks.
Tantra does all his work on a slow computer, so normally his tracks eat up no more FPS than the built-in tracks. This would of course have to be verified, but I'm pretty sure there will be no FPS hit at all from using the Tantra version of the track.
Ofcourse we have to test this, I want to play the new tracks too IF they are closer to reality than the ones that are in the original game. If we find out that my computer cant handle 22 cars and RH2003 we have 3 choices I think.
1: Take away the Arrows team. 20 cars are less than 22...
2: Play woth original game (not prefered, NAR 2003 sounds so cool)
3: Someone with a "dedicated" server have to host our races (DanTheMan or TK, someone else?)
Daniel, do you have a theory? You say Tantra's tracks are easy on old computers?
RH2003 will eat a few FPS, but not nearly as many as the update he made for F1 2002 that most of you have tried. However, if the server is at or near its limit then a few FPS can make a huge difference on how much lag we will see during the start. Turning down shadows and special effects a notch or two makes a huge difference in FPS without making the game look absolutely terrible, so that might be an option.
Taking away the Arrows team doesn't really do anything for the server. The only thing it does is limit the possible grid size, something we can limit anyway by not accepting more than 20 drivers in each division. But if it is authenticity that we are looking for then getting rid of Arrows is probably the right thing to do.
Even if the RH2003 update is too heavy for the server we can still have a NAR2003 league. I will just have to change all the vehicles back to the standard 2002 cars. Not a big problem, just some extra time.
The dedicated server idea is a good one because it allows the server to always have very good FPS, even in the start. Poor FPS on the server, especially during the start, will have a huge impact on the lag percieved by the clients. I didn't know there was a connection between server FPS and client lag until a few months ago, it was just a lucky coincidence that I had turned down the graphics on my server computer (640x480x16, everything at the lowest setting). Anything under 35 fps on the server in the start generates additional lag, so in order to be able to play and host on the same computer you have to have a mighty powerful computer (for large grids anyway).
Let's see what happens next Sunday at the test-race. We will run a number of short races beacuse what is really interesting is what happens in the start. We will test Killahead's computer, and we might test what happens when I host on my dedicated server. I don't know if I will be able to help hosting NAR races, but at least it is worth running some tests to see if it improves lag.
/Daniel
), Tantra's tracks usually are designed to be kind and gentle to old machines.
it's kinda hard 