Novidades sobre o patch 1.0.3

[Francisco Costa]

Yap, o nkp ainda meche :cheesy:

Finally, a new community update!

It has been silent from the netKar PRO team for a while. However, the netKar PRO has been working hard. The netKar PRO team has worked on various projects, for example on a big promotion campaign for the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix. The result of this work was a free public download including the Formula SingTel car on the Singapore track, allowing everyone to have a 'taste' of what 1.0.3 is looking like. Besides the projects, the team also worked on improving the customer version of the netKar PRO simulator. Since the SingTel release, a lot of things have happened and 1.0.3 became more mature. Some new features appeared, and with them came new bugs which needed to be removed.
I will take this chance to inform you about the key changes that will appear in 1.0.3 and what the current status of the new release is.

The changes in 1.0.3 compared to 1.0.2

* Improved online performance
A big problem of the current netKar PRO release is the performance in online racing. This has been widely reported by netKar PRO users all over the globe. The netKar PRO devteam acknowledged this and therefore improving the online performance was a key issue to address in 1.0.3. Huge FPS (framerate) drops occur, which lead to weird behaviour (flying cars, lots of warping, wrong physics due to too low FPS). This is a major problem and a big focus of improvement for 1.0.3.

Some big improvements have been made, enabling a huge performance gain overall. In some builds framerates were perfect and then, after some finetuning it turned out to be worse again. It took a lot of time and effort to find the right balance. Currently, 1.0.3 finally has the right balance between quality online racing and good client performance. In a full field (15 cars), framerates do not drop to critical values anymore on a decent machine. Framerates are higher compared to 1.0.2, but not a lot. The key difference with 1.0.2 is that the framerates are much more consistent, finally allowing solid and stable online racing, regardless of your position on the globe or internet connection speed.

With the latest 1.0.3 build, about 6 hours of online testing has been done over the past 4 days. Never in those 6 hours a huge lag or warp moment occurred to any of the testers. Close racing was possible at all times and some of the testers described it as ‘the best online racing experience I’ve ever had’. The FPS improvements have enabled this, combined with a new and very efficient way of calculating the position of the cars (this is called the prediction code).

Helped by the improved online code, collisions are improved as well. They are also more realistic. In 1.0.3 a small tap of a front wing against a rear wheel sends the car in front into a spin (and most probably damages both cars!), This helps creating a fantastic racing atmosphere where drivers really want to stay out of trouble, especially with Full Mode enabled!

* Removal of join lag
Another point of frustration of netKar PRO users with the current nKP version was the join lag. Join lag is the ‘freeze’ that happens when a new driver connects to an online session. It can destroy laps and breaks the concentration that is required to get great laptimes. Join lag has been reduced to a minimal in the current build. In the current build you hardly notice a new client connecting and it is never causing problems for the driver. An important step forward for online ‘pickup’ racing.

There were quite a few issues with this new feature after it was implemented. It took a long time to finally make this feature working completely error-free, but it is now. What happens after a new client connects is that the car and livery of this new driver will only be loaded when you are standing still (0 km/h). Then a ‘Loading new car models’ screen appears. Until that moment, the new car will display as a ‘box’, similar to what has been seen in other simulators as well.

Never again will your perfect lap be ruined by a new driver connecting to the race just when you are driving to perfection!

* Amazing car feeling!
Seriously, the cars drive amazing now. netKar PRO was already regarding has a high quality simulator from a physics and car feeling point of view, but the bar has been raised yet again. The entry-level car, the Formula1600, is now a fantastic low-downforce open-wheel racing car. You can really slide the car in control into and through the corners, just like it should. A highly rewarding and very entertaining experience. During testing we had numerous races with Formula1600’s all over the place, overtaking each other corner after corner, burning rubber all over the place!

The Formula2000 and FTarget are real racing beasts, feeling very realistic and highly demanding. Especially the FTarget is so much better than in 1.0.2. It sounds fantastic, has amazing traction and grip. You will love this car instantly!

Some nice little new details only improve the experience. Locking wheels is now very realistic. You lock the wheel and notice that the car will slow down, but you also notice that you need the wheel to rotate again in order to make the corner. You are really balancing the brakes in order to hit the apex.

Simply put: the cars are a real pleasure to drive now!

* Other things
Of course, a lot of other, smaller improvements have been made as time progressed. netKar PRO now includes a topbar which displays the current qualifying or race standings. This provides you with information of where you are in the race and how far behind or ahead you are compared to the rest of the field.

You can edit, load and save a setup now from inside the cockpit. No longer you will have to exit to the menu to load a different setup, allowing a better user experience. The same applies to car liveries, you can select a different livery whilst sitting in the pitlane.

“Doom Mode” (the ability to step out the cockpit and walk on the track) now also works when you are out on the track, allowing you to take different positions to view the action on-track! Also perfect for action videos from different perspectives. In “Doom Mode”, you will not be able to walk through walls anymore, offering a higher level of realism.

The setup options have been improved as well. You can select different fields of view (to support multi-screen setups in a better way), perform asynchronous setup editing (left and right) and see how much laps you can do with a specific fuel amount.

netKar PRO’s amazing “Full Mode” (damage your car and you will have to wait until your car is repaired) is even better now. Even refueling your car will cost some time now (even though it is only 20 seconds). The pitcrew time other setup changes require have been finetuned to more realistic levels, all improving the realism and immersion.

The “Replay Mode” has been improved as well. Car movement is more smooth, various bugs have been resolved and it is now even better suited to make impressive simracing videos.

With 1.0.3 also comes more admin control of online servers. The admin can now restart sessions from inside the simulator or decide to move to the next session immediately. This was a much-requested feature from the community.


That sounds perfect! Is it too good to be true?
It indeed sounds great. But, don’t expect a perfect simulator now. A perfect simulator will never exist, because there are always boundaries (like time & resources). 1.0.3 is still not a perfect sim, but it is a huge improvement compared to 1.0.2. It is improved on so much areas that you can’t actually call it a patch, it’s really a new version of this sim.

If you are looking for a more stable simulator, smooth online racing and fantastic car physics, you will love 1.0.3. If you want more content, the ability to race with more than 15 cars online, you will not find it in this version yet. All these things cost time and 1.0.3 has been delayed more than enough already. Therefore this version is going to be released as soon as possible, allowing everyone to enjoy the current state of this simulator. Besides, it enables the netKar PRO devteam to focus on adding new features and work on future releases.

So, when can I get it?
At the end of July 2008, Release Candidate #1 was presented to the beta test team. This release still had some major problems (performance, stability). These issues were revealed, analyzed and solved. The result was Release Candidate #2 which was ready at end of August 2008. Currently, the feedback from RC#2 is being processed by the devteam and work is being done on the final Release Candidate before 1.0.3 will be ready for release.

So, we all just need a bit more patience to finish 1.0.3. After that, you can start crowding the servers and enjoy the huge improvements that this new version brings for the highly realistic simracing experience that is offered by the netKar PRO simulator!

Post original: http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?t=328596

Será desta? Tive umas 2 semanas como beta tester e gostei das alterações que vi, mas entretanto abandonei o grupo de beta testing por falta de tempo. Ao que parece houveram bastantes melhorias desde essa altura, estou curioso para experimentar isto.

[Vitor Barreto]

Por já não existir o 'Join lag' e se poder gravar o setup sem se ter que sair do jogo, já vai valer a pena. :34:

[Artur Nunes]

Quanto é que andam a receber do Kunos /nkPro? :biggrinbandit:

[Francisco Costa]

ArrayQuanto é que andam a receber do Kunos /nkPro? :biggrinbandit:[/quote]
Eu ando a receber umas desilusões :biggrinbandit:Vamos lá ver se isto muda

[Francisco Suarez]

Receber? Publicidade a jogos? Onde? Onde? Tb quero receber por este!!! :biggrinbandit:

Muito bom ver este patch quase a chegar. :up:
Mesmo que não seja tudo o prometido, já será uma imensa melhoria.

[Artur Nunes]

ArrayReceber? Publicidade a jogos? Onde? Onde? Tb quero receber por este!!! :biggrinbandit:

Muito bom ver este patch quase a chegar. :up:
Mesmo que não seja tudo o prometido, já será uma imensa melhoria.[/quote]
O problema é que tá quase "já já ali" há imenso tempo... mas continuo a pensar que o Natal é quando um homem quer e que nunca é cedo ou tarde demais, venha ele. :noworry:

[Francisco Suarez]

Depois desta ultima info release julgo que não há como adiar muito mais... espero.

Mas admito que se tivesse comprado já... esta espera me levaria ao desespero. É provável que haja boas razões para a demora, para lá do conhecido, mas mesmo assim quem pagou deve sentir-se algo defraudado. (mas a culpa na minha opnião não é só do Kunos - lembro-me de ler uma review na ASS que elevou a fasquia a um ponto ridiculo, o que prejudicou o sim)

[Vitor Barreto]

Vídeo no NKPro na versão 1.0.3

[Artur Nunes]

Data de lançamento do nKpro 1.03 (com online demo): <span style="color:#FF0000">22 de Outubro :noworry:

[Bruno Marques]

essa pista aí é convertida certo ?