Messages

1

Competition 2017 / Re: ZCT193 - No Imagination

« on: August 08, 2017, 06:44:07 AM »

The first sector reminded some late Stunts LOL tracks that I used a type of "rubber theory" with fast and slow points in sequence.

Interesting. Looking at Kandahar now I do see some resemblance.

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Competition 2017 / ZCT193 - No Imagination

« on: August 07, 2017, 11:40:57 AM »

Behind the scenes: not only this is not the track I originally intended to make when I asked for the guest spot, it isn't even what it was supposed to be when I began working on it a couple days ago -- when I laid the first tile it was meant to be an USC-style "arena" track, but I never seem to get those right. In any case, it is a slow one. Hopefully not too slow 

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Competition 2017 / ZCT192 - Freestyle Fever

« on: August 07, 2017, 11:30:36 AM »

This track looked interesting -- too bad I managed to race so little through the month that I couldn't even explore weirder dual-way lines... time to watch the replays, I guess

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Stunts Chat / Re: Hi peeps, new guy looking for original 1990 Stunts

« on: July 14, 2017, 06:45:51 PM »

Welcome, Nilex!

- optimal CPU cycles to set in DOSBox? (20000 feels good to me)

Yup, 20000 is a good default (though it might be necessary to lower it with very old computers).

- auto or manual?

Manual. Like Artur, I also prefer it with pretty much every game. Besides that, there are quite a few ways to gain advantages from manual shifting in Stunts -- for instance, upshifting just before a jump, rather than on landing, often gives a speed boost.

- I tried "munt", emulator of Roland MT-32 system, for the first time yesterday and Stunts sounds awesome, anyone else uses it?

It is awesome indeed! I found out about and switched to it last year, but then I had to switch computers and haven't got down to setting it up again yet. The only issue I had with munt is that the DOSBox video recorder won't capture the sound, but that is only occasionally a concern, and you can always temporarily revert to PC speaker if need be. (I say "PC speaker", by the way, because I don't use or recommend the Sound Blaster driver anymore -- at least on DOSBox, it doesn't play skidding on grass sounds.)

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Competition 2017 / ZCT191 - Facetrack

« on: July 07, 2017, 06:05:03 AM »

I rather like the flat and twisty "face" sector of the track. It had been a while since we last had anything like it. I probably should have one more go at it under GAR while there is still time...

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Competition 2017 / ZCT190 - AR Turbo

« on: May 20, 2017, 09:50:45 PM »

Long straights, hard braking and an enjoyably peculiar layout...

7

Chat - Misc / Re: Hey Brazilians

« on: May 20, 2017, 05:21:00 AM »

Let's just say I will be surprised if, say, Aécio [ends up] getting a dose of the same medicine.

Well, colour me surprised!

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Chat - Misc / Re: Football Fanats 2017

« on: May 18, 2017, 05:36:22 AM »

LibertadoresAtlético Paranaense will face Millionarios in 2nd Stage. If win, face the winner of (Dep. Copiatá x Dep. Tachira) x Universitario Lima in the 3rd Stage. If win, will face Flamengo, San Lorenzo and Universidad Catolica in groups stage.

That sounds like one of the tougher groups... good luck in navigating to and through it!

Now that was some final group round!

9

Site Announcements / Re: Refreshing the leading time calculations

« on: May 18, 2017, 01:19:50 AM »

if you have a moment, could you have a look at a race using that page, and see if the numbers are correct?

Two differences I noted in the new Z171 chart (here is the current page):

• The new page calculates LTB hours from the total time spent on the lead, while the current system assigns one whole hour of LTB at to whoever is leading on hh:00. For instance, Zak gets 8 hours (8.63, rounded down) with the new system, and 9 with the old one. Whether this difference is a bug or a bug fix is up to debate.
• My 0:53.63 should have earned me 24 (or 25, under the current system) hours, rather than none. I speculate that might have to do with Akoss having "overtaken" me during quiet days.

any suggestions about different visualisations? maybe pipsqueaks ranked by leading time, or just the top three, or some kind of table or graph, etc.

A top four ranking would be useful (I say top four because three-way battles for LTB +1 aren't unheard of). One idea for a tweak -- a possibly silly one, that I haven't thought through -- would be making the time axis in the current chart non-linear, to magnify differences around the current leading time.

mid-year seems like a good moment to discuss possible rule changes regarding LTB; for example, Akoss' suggestion about carrying leading time to the next race, or maybe just having then pile up continuosly, with bonus points being assigned as soon as a pipsqueak reaches X hours?

Akoss' suggestion is still fine, though I don't think it matters as much now that the cutoff for LTB eligibility is 24 rather than 48 hours. The season-long leading time suggestion would completely change how we deal with LTB, and it could be implemented in a number of different ways... I don't know what to think of it just yet. 

10

Chat - Misc / Re: Hey Brazilians

« on: May 02, 2017, 07:41:00 AM »

1. Have you ever met anyone from the province of Acre?
2. Are things getting worse in Brazil at the moment?
3. Biscoito or bolacha?
4. Is that judge who's charging politicians with corruption protecting the right?

1. No, but a friend has worked there as an army doctor.
2. Temer's government is a sick joke, though the fact that it is willing and able to steamroll wide-reaching reforms is not particularly funny. The political scenario is absurd, and we seem set for a very strange election year.
3. "Biscoito", though "bolacha" isn't unfamiliar to my ears either.
4. Not specifically about Moro: the impeachment consisted in, to paraphrase a fine characterisation I heard the other day, throwing the newest partner of the consortium of power to the wolves. Let's just say I will be surprised if, say, Aécio or Alckmin end up getting a dose of the same medicine.

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Stunts Chat / Re: Writing article about Stunts - interviewees wanted!

« on: April 23, 2017, 07:53:40 PM »

An Italian site picked Oliver's article as the theme for an editorial. It has a beautiful title: I giochi sono di chi li gioca ("Games belong to its players").

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Competition 2017 / Re: Z187 (Anelio's) analysis

« on: April 21, 2017, 03:19:11 AM »

I looove these analysis! Thank you!!

You're welcome  This reminds me I should add some more features to Cartography, in order to make analysis cooler. Perhaps I should begin by improving text support, so that the timing charts can be easily overlaid on the map.

13

Competition 2017 / Re: Guest tracks 2017

« on: April 20, 2017, 02:29:57 AM »

I had sent to zak two tracks of mines.

Nice!

Do you want to see they?

I don't think that's necessary. Competition tracks usually aren't published early -- we like to be surprised 

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Competition 2017 / ZCT189 - Walking the Valley

« on: April 17, 2017, 09:44:29 AM »

I like valleys, and bridges that span them I'm going to try this out anytime soon -- no clue about cars, though.

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Competition 2017 / ZCT188 - AbuRaf's Boulevard

« on: April 17, 2017, 09:41:56 AM »

(Catching up with the race topics...)

When it comes to tracks, "simple" does not imply "boring", or, for that matter, "easy". This race was a fine example of that.