GPG Hotlaps League

I was thinking about the series that are run on GPG and the only thing that seemed to be missing was a league that was based on users driving rather than an AI. I know a hotlap league existed over at gp4offlineliga but I think that has since shut down due to lack of participation. So what would the interest in running a similar sort of thing a similar series here be? And what setup would people want to see if they did have it ran? Just a few points:

- What would be the uptake on this sort of thing? Spaces would be unlimited so any number
- What length of time frames would be best in order to best cater for participants
- Would it be based on fastest lap or fastest time over a series of laps/race?
- What mod would be used? The latest F1 mod or customised liveries/drivers?
- Other ideas to cater for people not being always able to submit times, such as dropping worst 5 performances or something

I'm just throwing around ideas at the moment so feel free to comment on absolutely anything, nothing set up as of yet.

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For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here: [docs.google.com]

I had a word with user TomMK about this.

1- It should be unlimited to any user of GPG in this case
2- I think 16 FPS to maximum of 40FPS should be ok
3- I like both Hotlaps and Races. But the league should be clear in the rules
if its a race tournament and the order of the starting grid meaning
the fastests time starts first etc until the last
4- That can be but i think their must be atleast a calendar of 10 races or hotlaps.


I think that the league should have its own mod with possibly its own physics.
This way all participantes will have correct settings.

As for the rules i can write it so its fair with everyone for example designating the limits of tracks, what aids can be used ... etc.

So you will be wondering who am i to have an opinion about this?
I was hotlaps.de Gp4 and Gp4 addon web admin checking hotlaps and races for 6 years.

Yep I contacted Jorge about this because, as you see, he has experience in this area. And I have the GP4 Central website that we can use, so together we might be able to do this quite well.

It needs to be as automated as possible. E.g.:

1) A user uploads their hotlap replay AND their GPxPatch log to the website, which parses them and updates the event leaderboard automatically.

2) The mods could review the hotlap replay later (during their own time) and judge if it is legal.

3) Points are awarded and the championship table updates automatically at the end of each event.


I'm sure I can write something to parse the GPxPatch log and make sure it's a legal entry. I'll investigate it more later this week.

In terms of the competition, here are some of my suggestions:

1) We follow the real F1 circus, so during the Melbourne GP week, we race at Melbourne, etc. Jorge, F1 Virtual and of course others have created fantastic updates for almost every modern F1 circuit so if we could use those, we can follow the real F1 event (albeit using last year's track) and compare our laptimes to the pros . This would help us create better Magic Data for the real circuits as well.

2) We have both a hotlap and race simulation competition. Points could be awarded for both equally (e.g. 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1). So, a total of 50 points on offer each weekend.

2a) Your hotlap time could influence your race simulation grid position?

3) Obviously we must all use the same (CSM? Or a full game, modded?) carset, with performance file, physics and everything else standardised.

4) We could also run "non-championship" events at other tracks during the year to showcase the best fictional / non-F1 tracks.

This is going to take a lot of work to do well. I want to help but I'm not sure I have enough time. There's other things I want to do with GP4 Central that I've still not found time to do so this would just be adding to the list. But it might be a lot of fun so I'm tentatively in .

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

Tom in order to do it properly in Gp4 central you need to make like a login to the page
so in that way know one can fake a hotlap of another person.
Its important a minimum security.

The checking automatically the files is not easy.
The only way was using the linux version of Hofxlapw.

So my suggestion is that the driver enters the information manually
the laptime, sector 1 time, sector 2 time and controller(joystick,wheel, keyboard and joypad)
then Lap Checker can review visually inside the game based on the established rules.

OK thanks Jorge, I'll ask Rene to send me the Linux version of hofxlap, I'm pretty sure GP4 Central runs on a Linux server so that could work nicely.

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2014 09:56PM by TomMK.

It's great to see something is already in the pipeline for this sort of thing, and as you two seem much more qualified with this type of series I'll leave everything in your capable hands!

Some great ideas as well, i especially like the idea of the live leader-board as such. Would be fantastic if you could get something like that implemented.

Your idea of following the real life season is interesting, but how would it work for races that are 1 week apart? From my experience 1 week is quite a short space of time.
And what about if someone would be on holiday for several races, is there any way that can be accommodated for without penalizing anyone?

And as for either hotlaps or race, it's not a bad idea to have a mixture as long as there's a reasonable emphasis on speed vs consistency so that someone with outright pace on a track isn't guaranteed double points for the event.

But as you said Jorge you are far more experienced than me in this so I look forward to whatever you set up!

_________________________________________________

For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here: [docs.google.com]

truecrysis Wrote:
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> But as you said Jorge you are far more experienced
> than me

I didnt say that.
And if its about experience in these kind of things i think that would ME. 6 years checking hotlaps in hotlaps.de Gp4 and Gp4 addon.
TomMK has not checked races nor hotlaps in any Gp4 league. I know this because i raced on alll of them between 2004 to 2009 and because
i was in the lapchecker teams always LFRS, F1VWC, GPchampionships, HOWC, SimRacing.com.ar, Gp4kings and Gp4Argentina.,

As for races that are 1 week apart we can keep them open for 2 or 3 weeks and put a new table
in order to do also the current track that F1 is racing that weekend.

Hotlaps and races, well the mixture is nice. People dont need to do both. We can do all hotlaps everyone (witch will determine the order of the
participants to do start the race*) and if people dont want to do hotlaps and still participate in races they can aswell in order behind the drivers that
did the hotlap qualify lap.

Yeh I don't have experience of running this kind of league (yet ). But I'm a half-decent web programmer so I think I can create a nice framework for Jorge and I to manage a good competition with minimal manual work.

A question to anyone who has played in a league before - when doing a race distance, does the Player need to save their game after they cross the finish line, but before the session ends?

I am tempted to create an application using only the GPxPatch laps.log file first, because this will require only basic text parsing, which I can create fairly quickly. Although it will be more possible for players to "cheat" using this method, I don't think many people are that bothered about trying to cheat, and this way we can start the season on time, and I can build a more robust application using Hofxlap later.

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

TomMK Wrote:
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> A question to anyone who has played in a league
> before - when doing a race distance, does the
> Player need to save their game after they cross
> the finish line, but before the session ends?

In all the leagues i participated their was a rule
to save the file 5 to 7 seconds when crossed the finish line
when the driver concluded his race. The same for hotlaps.


TomMK Wrote:
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> I am tempted to create an application using only
> the GPxPatch laps.log file

Tom, make it simple the first version
Entering manually the driver the information and uploading the lap or race.
I say so we have something ontime for this start of the 2014 season.
Later more updates and other posibilities.

OK thanks Jorge. Working on it now

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

Sorry Jorge it was meant more as a compliment about your experience, sorry if it was misunderstood!

Yeh as previously said, it was always saving between when you cross the finish line and the session exiting. As for hotlaps I've seen it done in free practise, then any of the previous laps can be saved and used but that might not be the best way.

But there's definitely a good mix of knowledge and technical ability between you two, so as soon as something is ready to go make sure to let me know, I would be very interesting in participating! It would be great to be able to go along with the 2012 season.

_________________________________________________

For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here: [docs.google.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2014 12:27PM by truecrysis.

This is coming along well. We have a basic league structure ready and the supporting website is working well.

Ideally we need hofxlap working before the championship starts, but it's not likely to happen that soon (my current webhost does not allow executables it seems). In the meantime, I'm sure I can trust you guys not to cheat, right?

Here's how it will work:

1) We will use a custom installation of GP4. Not a CSM mod. A full game download, containing everything you need, already pre-packaged (cars.wad, anim.wad, performances, physics, torque, etc).

2) Competition tracks will be made available for download during the events.

3) There will be a mixture of hotlap and race events. To begin with, we'll do mainly hotlaps until we've got everything working smoothly.

4) Jorge will act as Competition Referee and will moderate the entries.

5) Eventually I'd like to have custom entries (player helmets, car liveries, etc) but we need to get the basic competition working well first, so we will use a modern F1 carset based on the last year or two of F1.

The site's not working perfectly yet but when it's ready I'll open it up to new entries. Stay tuned...

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2014 12:00AM by TomMK.

Right you lot. The first pre-season testing event is NOW LIVE! Go to GP4 Central and follow the links to the Competition page. Yes, that (very) yellow trophy can be yours, but the competition will be fierce!

You will require the latest version (v6) of the 2013 Mod Laptop Edition. It is available via BitTorrent from the site but if you want a direct link just PM me.

We start the season in Barcelona, a proven testing ground. But don't forget this is also about testing the competition structure so if you feel something could be done better PLEASE tell us.

This first event is a hotlap event. Fastest lap wins. I've set a mediocre benchmark in my Williams Renault, go see if you can beat it!

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

For some reason when I'm trying to load the program for this mod, it just stops responding the moment I switch it on...thoughts?

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Which program are you trying to load?

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

Wait a minute, never mind - just realised that the GP4.exe is not set to compatibility mode (as it doesn't work on Windows 8).

Instead I'm getting a separate problem...all the cars are now white. >>;

EDIT: Plus for some reason my car just reverses and refuses to change gear.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2014 01:57PM by Diax F1.

Have you changed the car texture graphics to high? Leave them on medium / low.

And do you play with a keyboard or wheel? I suspect keyboard?

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

TomMK Wrote:
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> Have you changed the car texture graphics to high?
> Leave them on medium / low.
>
> And do you play with a keyboard or wheel? I
> suspect keyboard?

Made a custom keyboard set that now works...still a couple of seconds off your time XD

I'll see how it goes on low texture graphics.

EDIT: Put them on low 16 bit and...they're still white.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2014 02:16PM by Diax F1.

What about on the default Medium setting? Still white?

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

TomMK Wrote:
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> What about on the default Medium setting? Still
> white?

Yep. it's white on absolutely everything.

EDIT: Was a mistake in my f1graphics.cfg. Apologies

EDITEDIT: 1m20.866 is mediocre is it? Then I'm ****. >>;

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2014 07:28PM by Diax F1.