Il team di Live for Speed ha rilasciato la nuova versione aggiornata 0.7E del simulatore. Come al solito sono numerose le migliorie e bugfix, fra le novità principali, da segnalare numerosi updates per i mods, una IA migliorata nei sorpassi, miglioramenti alla guida delle moto, fino a 79 connessioni online e molto altro.
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QuoteWe have a lot of updates for you today, in Live for Speed 0.7E and the LFS Editor!
The main focus was the mods system, allowing creators more flexibility and improving the modeller and vehicle editor. The lists of changes are so long they have their own pages. The LFS changelog is worth a read if you have a little time. Mod creators should definitely have a look through the changelog for the LFS Editor.
There are various improvements to the HUD, including an engine damage display. Engine damage can now be repaired in a pit stop. At the Layout Square a small map is now visible if there is a layout. A force feedback display is shown below the pedals and an EV regeneration display replaces the clutch pedal if you are using an electric car. Average fuel consumption info is available if enabled in Display Options.
In the garage you will find a maximum speed display in the downforce section, even for cars without downforce, and the maximum speed in each gear is displayed.
Dashboards were an important part of the development, now allowing much more flexibility and mod designers have been making great use of the new features including customised backgrounds and various options for the dials, text and warning lights.
As most LFS racers know, a separate new version is still in development and it features night driving on updated tracks, so the lights needed an update and that has now been done. You can select side lights, low beam and high beam, using SHIFT+3. Fog lights and an extra light are available on some cars, currently switched on by text commands.
The lights update made the XR GT and XR GT TURBO become a target for development, as it seemed disappointing that only their side lights worked. Popup headlights are now supported, along with options for various types of moving subobject that mod creators have been using to get creative.
Motorbikes came along a lot, after making it possible for AI to enter the game with objects (to just sit there) and bikes (to ride very slowly at first). Improvements were made to the bike physics and the steering model. In LFS the user's input sets the required lean and the steering model constantly steers the front wheel to achieve that lean and keep the bike upright. The bikes are now much more robust and fun to ride, and gradually the AI's bike speed could be turned up.
The bikes had so many crashes and pileups that the AI soon became a focus of its own. The LFS AI have long been notorious for their apparent disregard for anyone else on the track. Now there are a lot of improvements in their overtaking code. They think ahead more clearly and make better decisions about whether it is a good time to pass. If they don't quite make it past before the bend, they are more likely to hold their line instead of slamming on the brakes at just the wrong time. Before this update the AI had not really been adjusted to deal with the differences between mods, and there was quite a lot to do with their pitlane driving as well.
Some small graphical updates were done other than the improved mod support. Dust kicked up from grass is now a more realistic dirt colour and takes account of the lighting at its location.
On multiplayer servers, the maximum number of connections is increased to 79, for an additional charge. For now, the number of vehicles on track is still limited to 40. The plan is to get to that important release with the new graphics and tyre physics, and see after that if we can gradually increase the number. Anyway, the increased number of spectators can be
very useful including at endurance events where there may be a lot of drivers waiting to take over from a team mate. The movement of other cars also looks better because of improvements in the prediction code that tries to predict where the cars should be, which is a tricky problem for realtime games due to the delay in receiving position updates over the internet.
