Anyone had a go at NetKar?

Another "little" sim pops up from nowhere... (Italy, actually.) Graphically simple but kind of fun, and hard to drive the FF2000 on the limit. Runs fine here, with good FPS. It even saw the split pedal axes of my LWF without problems. http://www.drivingitalia.com/netkar/homefr.htm Have a look, SB

How do you d/l it? I get sent around in circles when I click on the d/l file. -- Slot Tweaks & Reviews www.slottweak.com "Steve Blankenship" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:704l9.328359$[email hidden]... > Another "little" sim pops up from nowhere... (Italy, actually.) Graphically > simple but kind of fun, and hard to drive the FF2000 on the limit. Runs > fine here, with good FPS. It even saw the split pedal axes of my LWF > without problems. > > http://www.drivingitalia.com/netkar/homefr.htm > > Have a look, > > SB > >

"Steve Blankenship" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:704l9.328359$[email hidden]... > Another "little" sim pops up from nowhere... I've been waiting all week for it :P I get chronic slowdowns every now and again - but it's not a bad piece of work. Some collision bugs - but impressive all the same Doug

"GTX_SlotCar" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:an2jsf$ai16g$[email hidden]... > How do you d/l it? I get sent around in circles when I click on the d/l > file. Choose one of the mirrors Click on one of the "clicca per scaricare" Click on "download via ftp" Jone.

Crashes to desktop when I hit "Race". The controller and video setup worked fine, the car setup screen is fine too. It's just when the opengl window launches that it goes wrong. I'm using Win98, PII-450, GF2 GTS, DirectX8.1, 10.80 detonators, MS Precision Racing Wheel, desktop is in 1024x768x32bit, and I've tried launching in both fullscreen and windowed at various resolutions and colour depths. :0( Log.txt says: Creating main window going fullscreen Initializing OpenGL trying 32 bpp and 24bit z-buffer Checking pixelformat ****************** ERROR!!! ********************* * KDebugLog: exception trapped correcly...closing the log * * please send this file to Stefano Casillo at [email hidden] * ***************************************************************

Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum settings. Now I know my PC is old, but that's a bit silly. Racer runs at 30-100 fps depending on which track I'm at, F1 2001 runs at 30-50 fps, so for netKar to only manage 0.3 fps is surprising. What am I doing wrong? "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:rP7l9.4146$[email hidden]... > Crashes to desktop when I hit "Race". The controller and video setupworked > fine, the car setup screen is fine too. It's just when the opengl window > launches that it goes wrong. I'm using Win98, PII-450, GF2 GTS,DirectX8.1,

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> 10.80 detonators, MS Precision Racing Wheel, desktop is in 1024x768x32bit, > and I've tried launching in both fullscreen and windowed at various > resolutions and colour depths. > > :0( > > Log.txt says: > > Creating main window > going fullscreen > Initializing OpenGL > trying 32 bpp and 24bit z-buffer > Checking pixelformat > ****************** ERROR!!! ********************* > * KDebugLog: exception trapped correcly...closing the log * > * please send this file to Stefano Casillo at [email hidden] * > *************************************************************** > > > >

Odd; it crashed on me too the first go after installing, but after rebooting it's run fine, with FPS at 85-100+ at 16X12 (XP1800/Ti4400). Running it now at 12X9 with Quincunx AA and getting a bit less than that, with only a rare stutter to complain about. It's very early days yet with lots to be added/tweaked, but the physics are already better imho than GP4. SB "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:UZ7l9.2490$FN.237375@newsfep2-gui...

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> Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. > > Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum > settings. Now I know my PC is old, but that's a bit silly. Racer runs at > 30-100 fps depending on which track I'm at, F1 2001 runs at 30-50 fps, so > for netKar to only manage 0.3 fps is surprising. > > What am I doing wrong? > > > "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:rP7l9.4146$[email hidden]... > > Crashes to desktop when I hit "Race". The controller and video setup > worked > > fine, the car setup screen is fine too. It's just when the opengl window > > launches that it goes wrong. I'm using Win98, PII-450, GF2 GTS, > DirectX8.1, > > 10.80 detonators, MS Precision Racing Wheel, desktop is in

1024x768x32bit,

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> > and I've tried launching in both fullscreen and windowed at various > > resolutions and colour depths. > > > > :0( > > > > Log.txt says: > > > > Creating main window > > going fullscreen > > Initializing OpenGL > > trying 32 bpp and 24bit z-buffer > > Checking pixelformat > > ****************** ERROR!!! ********************* > > * KDebugLog: exception trapped correcly...closing the log * > > * please send this file to Stefano Casillo at [email hidden] * > > *************************************************************** > > > > > > > > > >

The first time I started netKar it ran approx 1/20th of realtime, I was wondering that the sound can't possibly be this bad, but after a short while I noticed that something was wrong. I left the program and noticed that windows was running very slow too, I closed my download manager and started the program again. Now it runs smoothly with xp1700+, GF4200, with quincunx and af enabled. Very rarely I get any stutters. Feels pretty good, allthough I find it very hard to control the slides, much easier in GPL. You can catch a spin at the very early stage but after a certain point I haven't been able to throttle out of it.

On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 02:55:19 +0100, "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote: >Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. > >Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum >settings. Seems like that here as well; PII-400, GF3. It's using software rendering, but I have no idea why. Would love to try it; judging from his posts, Stefano knows what he's doing. Ruud van Gaal Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

It's SUPER !!!!! No probs here ! Graphics aren't the best but I honestly don't care, the physics are good ! Try the Supra guys ! A pity I can't drive against others or against some Ai cars... Can't wait for the full version ! FL Steve Blankenship <[email hidden]> schreef in berichtnieuws 704l9.328359$[email hidden]... > Another "little" sim pops up from nowhere... (Italy, actually.)Graphically

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> simple but kind of fun, and hard to drive the FF2000 on the limit. Runs > fine here, with good FPS. It even saw the split pedal axes of my LWF > without problems. > > http://www.drivingitalia.com/netkar/homefr.htm > > Have a look, > > SB > >

On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 16:20:16 GMT, "Trick Dacy" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>It's SUPER !!!!! >No probs here ! > >Graphics aren't the best but I honestly don't care, the physics are good ! >Try the Supra guys ! > >A pity I can't drive against others or against some Ai cars... Can't wait >for the full version !

It's very nice. Graphics could be better, but I imagine that will improve when some of the better track/car modelers start building things for it. The physics are nice, the throttle/brakes seem a bit touchy and the steering is too slow for my tastes, but overall very good. The visual flatspotting and the effects of dirty tires are both excellent and I wish Papy or ISI would incorporate this into their code. Jason

I had the same thing I first started the sim Ruud, I fiddled with the limited options and shut down some background programs and it started workin very well. Running about 50 fps with quincunx and AF on. Marko "Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 02:55:19 +0100, "Jim Seamus" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. > > > >Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum > >settings. > > Seems like that here as well; PII-400, GF3. > It's using software rendering, but I have no idea why. > Would love to try it; judging from his posts, Stefano knows what he's > doing. > > > Ruud van Gaal > Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ > Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

You need to tweak the brake setting to a lower value so don't lock up so easily. Also the steering ratio can be changed to suit personal taste and hardware. Marko > The physics are nice, the throttle/brakes seem a bit touchy and the > steering is too slow for my tastes, but overall very good. The visual > flatspotting and the effects of dirty tires are both excellent and I > wish Papy or ISI would incorporate this into their code. > > Jason

"Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 02:55:19 +0100, "Jim Seamus" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. > > > >Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum > >settings. > > Seems like that here as well; PII-400, GF3. > It's using software rendering, but I have no idea why. > Would love to try it; judging from his posts, Stefano knows what he's > doing. > > > Ruud van Gaal > Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ > Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

This is really bad Ruud... Im sorry about that. It seems that the physic engine is really processor hungry. Give a try at the update 0.9.1 .. the camera frustum culling in 0.9.0 is broken.. but with a GF3 it shouldn't make that difference... Stefano Casillo

On Sun, 29 Sep 2002 10:12:07 +0000 (UTC), "Stefano Casillo" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>"Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:[email hidden]... >> On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 02:55:19 +0100, "Jim Seamus" >> <[email hidden]> wrote: >> >> >Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. >> > >> >Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum >> >settings. >> >> Seems like that here as well; PII-400, GF3. >> It's using software rendering, but I have no idea why. >> Would love to try it; judging from his posts, Stefano knows what he's >> doing.

... >This is really bad Ruud... Im sorry about that. It seems that the physic >engine is really processor hungry. Give a try at the update 0.9.1 .. It was 0.9.1. I'll try again later; perhaps the PII-400 is also a bit too ancient, although it looked like it was the gfx. Perhaps you could check (or log) the results of the PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR search; there are some bits that (after searching and gotten the pixel fmt, do a DescribePixelFormat()) indicate h/w acceleration; PFD_GENERIC_FORMAT and PFD_GENERIC_ACCELERATED. But I believe they're a bit differently handled per driver. I wanted to just refuse to run if software rendering was used (to avoid all those questions about 'why does it run at 1 fps?'), but it seems tricky to get right. I'll make another attempt soon. :) Looks promising, with statistics and all that. Ruud van Gaal Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

I updated from 10.80 detonators to 40.71 detonators, and now it runs better, still not really playable because the CPU occupancy wobbles around between 90% and 120% so it's smooth at times and then stutters badly sometimes. Framerates are 20-40 fps but the stuttering screws the framerates too. Hopefully the later versions of netKar will be more optimised because there doesn't seem to be any need for such an enormous cpu load when it's just one car on track. I'd love to play at decent framerates because it does appear to have some potential. :0) "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:UZ7l9.2490$FN.237375@newsfep2-gui...

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> Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. > > Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum > settings. Now I know my PC is old, but that's a bit silly. Racer runs at > 30-100 fps depending on which track I'm at, F1 2001 runs at 30-50 fps, so > for netKar to only manage 0.3 fps is surprising. > > What am I doing wrong? > > > "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:rP7l9.4146$[email hidden]... > > Crashes to desktop when I hit "Race". The controller and video setup > worked > > fine, the car setup screen is fine too. It's just when the opengl window > > launches that it goes wrong. I'm using Win98, PII-450, GF2 GTS, > DirectX8.1, > > 10.80 detonators, MS Precision Racing Wheel, desktop is in

1024x768x32bit,

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> > and I've tried launching in both fullscreen and windowed at various > > resolutions and colour depths. > > > > :0( > > > > Log.txt says: > > > > Creating main window > > going fullscreen > > Initializing OpenGL > > trying 32 bpp and 24bit z-buffer > > Checking pixelformat > > ****************** ERROR!!! ********************* > > * KDebugLog: exception trapped correcly...closing the log * > > * please send this file to Stefano Casillo at [email hidden] * > > *************************************************************** > > > > > > > > > >

I'm running an: Athlon 700 256 Mb RAM GeForce2mx400 64Mb (Det 30.32) Guillemot Ferrari FFB wheel SB Live. NetKar Runs perfectly. However when I first ran it the frame rate was a slide show as others have mentioned. I realised it was OpenGL and so I disabled my second display, rebooted and all was fine. Very impressive for a first release beta from a single programmer. Well done Stefano. One gripe is the narrow field of view - I prefer to use a FOV above 100 degrees but NetKar feels like 60-70 and I can't find anywhere to change it. Narrow FOV reduces the sense of speed and in my case actually induces motion sickness after a while (yeah I'm weird I know :). Krunch. __________________________________ - Sometimes known as 'Blister' - Sometimes known as 'FanBlade' www.krunchspace.com for sim racing and other gaming stuff "Crashing is the only thing that Windows does fast" To use email address remove NOJUNK __________________________________ "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:mE0m9.605$[email hidden]... > I updated from 10.80 detonators to 40.71 detonators, and now it runsbetter, > still not really playable because the CPU occupancy wobbles around between > 90% and 120% so it's smooth at times and then stutters badly sometimes. > Framerates are 20-40 fps but the stuttering screws the framerates too. > > Hopefully the later versions of netKar will be more optimised becausethere > doesn't seem to be any need for such an enormous cpu load when it's justone

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> car on track. I'd love to play at decent framerates because it does appear > to have some potential. > > :0) > > > "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:UZ7l9.2490$FN.237375@newsfep2-gui... > > Rebooted and tried again, this time it got into the game OK. > > > > Unfortunately I'm running at about 1 frame every 2.7 seconds at minimum > > settings. Now I know my PC is old, but that's a bit silly. Racer runs at > > 30-100 fps depending on which track I'm at, F1 2001 runs at 30-50 fps,

so

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> > for netKar to only manage 0.3 fps is surprising. > > > > What am I doing wrong? > > > > > > "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:rP7l9.4146$[email hidden]... > > > Crashes to desktop when I hit "Race". The controller and video setup > > worked > > > fine, the car setup screen is fine too. It's just when the opengl

window

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> > > launches that it goes wrong. I'm using Win98, PII-450, GF2 GTS, > > DirectX8.1, > > > 10.80 detonators, MS Precision Racing Wheel, desktop is in > 1024x768x32bit, > > > and I've tried launching in both fullscreen and windowed at various > > > resolutions and colour depths. > > > > > > :0( > > > > > > Log.txt says: > > > > > > Creating main window > > > going fullscreen > > > Initializing OpenGL > > > trying 32 bpp and 24bit z-buffer > > > Checking pixelformat > > > ****************** ERROR!!! ********************* > > > * KDebugLog: exception trapped correcly...closing the log * > > > * please send this file to Stefano Casillo at [email hidden] * > > > *************************************************************** > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

On Mon, 30 Sep 2002 19:22:25 +0100, "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I updated from 10.80 detonators to 40.71 detonators, and now it runs better, >still not really playable because the CPU occupancy wobbles around between >90% and 120% Shouldn't CPU usage always be 100%? Once you're done catching up with realtime, it's time to draw a frame. CPU usage above 100% only means the program can't keep up with realtime. Should never happen (well, you get it with s/w rendering). With 90% CPU usage, there's still 10% left out in the open! ;-) Ruud van Gaal Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

"Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Shouldn't CPU usage always be 100%? Well, I thought no.... if I had a super-ninja PC and the sim was running at, let's say, 400 Hz then I would expect the super-ninja PC to be able to do the calculations much much quicker than real time, and so it would spend some time idling. If the physics step is variable (aaaargh!) then maybe it would be busy all the time.

On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 14:01:47 +0100, "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> >"Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:[email hidden]... > >> Shouldn't CPU usage always be 100%? > >Well, I thought no.... if I had a super-ninja PC and the sim was running at, >let's say, 400 Hz then I would expect the super-ninja PC to be able to do >the calculations much much quicker than real time, and so it would spend >some time idling.

Then that only means a higher framerate. Ofcourse, with vsync enabled, you can go idle, but then it's ok. If not, the PC should be drawing. :) Ruud van Gaal Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

I agree with Ruud, a game should always be using 100%cpu, if nothgin more than to provide higher and higher framerates unless the gfx engine is fps capped below what the pc is capable of. -- Biz "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and the....." - Ash Jim Seamus <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:H0hm9.1086$[email hidden]... > > "Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > > Shouldn't CPU usage always be 100%? > > Well, I thought no.... if I had a super-ninja PC and the sim was running at, > let's say, 400 Hz then I would expect the super-ninja PC to be able to do > the calculations much much quicker than real time, and so it would spend > some time idling. If the physics step is variable (aaaargh!) then maybe it > would be busy all the time. > >

I wonder what Crammonds views are on this matter :) "Biz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:1gnm9.65463$[email hidden]... > I agree with Ruud, a game should always be using 100%cpu, if nothgin morethan to provide higher and > higher framerates unless the gfx engine is fps capped below what the pc iscapable of.

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> -- > Biz > > "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand > alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and > the....." - Ash > > > Jim Seamus <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:H0hm9.1086$[email hidden]... > > > > "Ruud van Gaal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:[email hidden]... > > > > > Shouldn't CPU usage always be 100%? > > > > Well, I thought no.... if I had a super-ninja PC and the sim was running

at, > > let's say, 400 Hz then I would expect the super-ninja PC to be able todo > > the calculations much much quicker than real time, and so it would spend > > some time idling. If the physics step is variable (aaaargh!) then maybeit > > would be busy all the time. > > > > > >

On Wed, 2 Oct 2002 14:56:01 +1000, "massivechicken" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I wonder what Crammonds views are on this matter :) It's too deep in his assembly time engine source to ever change, as seen from GP3 (have never bothered to buy GP4). :) But really, it's bad and totally unnecessary to take this approach.

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>"Biz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:1gnm9.65463$[email hidden]... >> I agree with Ruud, a game should always be using 100%cpu, if nothgin more >than to provide higher and >> higher framerates unless the gfx engine is fps capped below what the pc is >capable of. >> -- >> Biz

Ruud van Gaal Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

On Wed, 02 Oct 2002 10:41:16 GMT, [email hidden] (Ruud van Gaal) wrote:

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>On Wed, 2 Oct 2002 14:56:01 +1000, "massivechicken" <[email hidden]> >wrote: > >>I wonder what Crammonds views are on this matter :) > >It's too deep in his assembly time engine source to ever change, as >seen from GP3 (have never bothered to buy GP4). :) >But really, it's bad and totally unnecessary to take this approach.

BTW Not that I accuse Stefano of using this fixed method, but it does seem a bit odd. Certainly worth a patch. ;-) Ruud van Gaal Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/ Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/