News Update on ILMS V2.0 Release

[TimCollier]

I thought this would be a good time to talk to the entire league about the mod, and when it will be released with all four classes.

Let me start by saying, on be-half of Mike and I, thank you for the subscriptions to Motorsport magazine. Mike has been a subscriber and says repeatedly how much he enjoys reading it, and I had been considering making the leap to subscribe, but the donations from the members of the league have taken care of that! Thank you very much, it says a lot about this league that you would do such a thing for a couple of hackers like Mike and I!

Now, down to business.

About a month ago, we felt like V2.0 was just a few days from being released to everyone and the 4-class racing events could start up as scheduled. But, as with all things planned, something came about from a pre-season race and required us to re-think some physical values on the GT cars. This was not a major change from what you're running now, but to say that the GT class in v2.0 is the same as v1.92, would be like saying Jim Brown and Barry Sanders ran the ball the same way.

Some of you will notice the changes, some of you may never know what changed, but the point is that regardless the car's default setup remained the same and the driving style of each has not changed either.

After completing that task, v2.0 was assembled and tested by the Mod Team Test Drivers in the first online session involving all 4-classes on the track at once. During that evening, it was found that some suspension corrections were needed for the LMP cars which resulted from online characteristics that aren't present when testing offline. Strange indeed, but online is priority of course and corrections were made a few days later. During the same session though, it was discovered that the rear-view mirrors of the cars would sometimes show, and other times be missing entirely when joining a server. Again, after that evening it took a week or so for John and Mike to go back and check all mirrors in every car to correct the issue and we believe it has been done.

At this point, v2.0a was released to the Mod Team Test Drivers and a few problems were found that were a result of those prior corrections. You've hear of domino theory and chaos theory? We'll, we're coming up with Gmotor theory which is "make each piece of each car unique in name, and each texture of each piece of each unique and all should be well". You see where I'm going with this...so, Mike went back and corrected those issues resulting from a previous correction and we took a deep breath and....well, received a post regarding headlights not appearing in the mirrors in night races.

By now, Mike had just about had enough of the mirrors to where he had almost 126 years bad luck from the virtual breakage. One night this past week, Mike and I talked about how we wanted to headlights to not only appear more distinctly in the mirrors, but also from external views. It took Mike some time (of which he had very little to spare), but he discovered a setting from months ago that had muffled the light being projected onto the track and other cars by the headlights.

The result? You're going to love this:



Can you see me now? Hella Yeah!



Now, back to our story....

Early Saturday morning, Mike assembled v2.0b for the Beta Test Drivers to put through it's paces, and Bruce Fisher has been kind enough through all of this to host a server for the Mod Team to test online compatibility on. The plan is this evening we will join the server with cars across all classes and makes checking for any more issues. This is not to say that we'll never have anything else come up, but if it's stable, drives like it should, and looks like it should, then we should be able to declare v2.0 as finished and posted here (and at VOR) for download as early as Monday A.M.

If something does arise that needs additional attention, and believe me when I say we're not wanting any either, we'll be sure and update everyone here as soon as we know.

The Mod Team appreciated your patience with us as we worked out these details, and while some of them may seem trivial or meaningless to the racing, I can assure you that nothing is done with reason, and immersion is one of our top goals with this mod.

But the end is near, and in a good way. Thanks everyone, and good luck in the upcoming racing season.

[davidan]

Great update Tim! Thanks for putting it together for us. Also those headlights are WAY COOL!

[Jeff Chandler]

Tim and Mike, Thanks. I honestly can't imagine anything making this mod better than it is right now but I'm sure that surprise awaits us.

[cbonsall]

thanks for the update.

[Rickypro]

Thanks for the update!

[Terry McNeil]

Fantastic News!
I'm curious though. What will you guys do once "retired"?

Spend more time with your Families?
Do you all still HAVE Families?

I would suggest putting a picture I.D. in a lanyard around your neck, that way they won't think your a stranger and call 911.

In the extreme case, also present Her with that secret Credit Card you've been hiding...that should ease the transition

[Mike Tyler]

lol!
Here are a few more shots from the final light updates. BTW I too wanted to extend my thanks for the subscriptions. I was totally blown away by the gift and your thoughtfulness. Thanks.

[cbonsall]

very nice.