Race Coordinator Digital (for SSD), RMS Options

[Race Coordinator]

My question must be dumb but cant set number of lanes. I try to set track (com port etc) but software is asking number of lanes and i cant figure out where.

Couldn't get it to connect to the APB. Where are the options to select the com port?

For both of these issues, first and foremost make sure you're running Race Coordinator Digital. The download for it is NOT on the racecoordaintor download page but on it's own page found here:
RCD Download
You'll know you have the correct version if a licesnse screen comes up telling you how much time is left in your trial. You can also tell by the version number at the bottom right of the splash screen that follows (it will be 0.2.1.28 for RCD beta) and finally you can tell in the help/about menu option located on the Race Day Setup screen.

Now, assuming you're running RCD. The power base setup is found on the "Race Day Setup Screen" Track Setup/Expert Track Setup menu. Now, digital racing of course doesn't have a concept of "lanes" like with analog racing. But I do support the concept of only allowing X number of drivers on the track at one time. This is to support various sized tracks. By default for SSD it's 6 which is the max the power base can support, but you can lower it by changing the "Max Drivers" property on this screen. Set it to the number you want and hit update. What this does is prevent more than that number of drivers in a heat at once. So lets say you set it to 3, but have 6 drivers in your race. The default race will have two heats, each with only 3 cars on the track.

To actually configure the the power base use this same screen. Make sure the radio button for SSD is selected (since it's the only one it will be) and hit configure. You're now on the SSD configuration screen. ****This is a live connection to the track so once you select the correct COM port you should be able to drive cars around the track. The entire left side is for configuring data to and from the power base. The right side in the "Pit Lane Setup" box can be used to configure 1 or more pit lanes. The pit lane support is optional and requires extra hardware. Once you have the settings the way you want them, hit "accept" and then hit "update" to save your changes to the track configuration.

Does this help?
-Dave

[Race Coordinator]

My question must be dumb but cant set number of lanes. I try to set track (com port etc) but software is asking number of lanes and i cant figure out where.

Q-man, I just reread this. If my previous post doesn't help which I'm not sure it will, can you send me the exact message(s) you're seeing?
Thanks,
Dave

[Race Coordinator]

Update: I'm currently looking into one minor problem in the RMS . It actually has to do with the copy protection but I'd rather hold off the release until it's fixed. Otherwise I've only had positive feedback and feature requests. No real bugs to fix.

So, until I can get the license straightened out I'll be offering trial extensions for anybody that wants one (just email me your extend code and I'll send you back the code you need).

Based on popular request I'll also be putting in support for wireless controllers. The first one I'll be supporting is the Scorpius Wireless controller which will require a Scorpius dongle to use. One dongle will support up to 6 controllers. I'm working on this in parallel to the license fix so it may make it into the first official release, otherwise It'll come in an update shortly after.

I've also designed how I'm going to do ghost/pace car support. Again as long as there's demand for the RMS , this feature will be put in, it's just a matter of time.

-Dave

[Ade]

hi
i think you will find demand for pace cars quite high as it is difficult sometimes to get 6 people all in the same place for a race meeting,so the spare throttles usually go to these.

Also good to see yet more support for the excellent scorpious wireless throttles.

[Race Coordinator]

Yeah far and away the first thing people have asked for is pace/ghost car support. I've figured out basically how I'm going to do it all, but it's not a simple thing. Demand is so high though I was considering supporting a simple constant throttle pace car right away, but I don't have a feeling for how useful they are. The use of a constant throttle pace cars seems fairly limited to me so I may just be wasting time doing them...

This may be a catch 22. People might not use the RMS with out pace cars, and I may not do them with out people using the RMS... Time will tell I guess.

[RichG]

Constant throttle pace cars are still by far the most common and also the most relaible. With the right choice of car & magnets they are perfect for the job. The next step is constant lap time pace cars, however even those have proven difficult to make completely reliable. Most attempts to date on variable "learning" pace cars have been quite unreliable, particularily in a race environment, and will probably remain so untill there is sector feedback from the track.

Bottom line. Go ahead and impliment some constant throttle pace cars, and put in the code to support options for race start, lane change & lap counting.


Rich

[MrFlippant]

You have a hard, uphill battle any way you slice it, Dave. You're going up against a long established race manager (SSDC) and charging pretty much the same price for yours. Without a compelling reason to use something other than the "tried and true" SSDC, you're going to have to keep adding features and hoping that one of them is good enough to make people consider yours instead. You certainly can't hold off on adding a feature that is already present in your competition's offering, until more people start using yours. That's like telling people that if you sell enough cars, you'll start putting doors on. ;-)

Of course, you don't HAVE to do anything. Just do what you want. Don't be too surprised if people don't buy your RMS until it's feature set is better or different enough from the established competition, though.

Pace cars are a no-brainer. Everyone (just about) wants it. Your competition has it. If you don't add it, you're not likely to sell many copies of your RMS.

[Race Coordinator]

With constant speed pace cars, how does Lane changing work? Do they just randomly try to change lanes? If anybody has used my free analog software and has seen how I work, I'm very passionate about slot cars and my software. Although I'm not making promises to put in pace car support, I'm already thinking about it. If you're betting, bet it'll happen whether I sell one copy or a million. I just don't want to comit to it for a product I'm going to sell.

Pace cars aside, the testers that helped me out with this have nothing but good things to say about it. One of them used it recently for an Enduro and said not only did it work flawlessly, but that it was one of the better races they've had. To the point of what I'm up against you're correct, unless somebody is unhappy with what they have now I doubt anybody would change RMS. Other than pace cars there isn't too much RCD can't do (please tell me if I missed something). But here's a quick list of what it can do, that I'd be surprised if too many other RMS's out there (digital or not) can.

• In race car ID'ing (this may be supported elsewhere, but it's important enough to point out)
• Fully customizable race interfaces. You want your club banner on the screen, you got it. You want 6 windows, one for each driver, you got it... there is virtually no limit to what you can do
• Literally any race rotation you want to use. I'm not kidding. If you can dream of the sequence that each driver should appear on the track RCD will let you configure it.
• Almost every stat you can imagine. RCD saves every lap recorded by every driver and lets you output them to xls. You also have full access to overall and current race records for bragging rights.
• For most formats 100% paperless season support. From practice to qualifying, to finals race you set it up once and from then on just run your race. Each of those races can be used as part of a full points based season. Again all paperless and all exportable to a customizable xls format
• Save/Restoring races, including automatic saves between heats should something unfortunate happen (I've gotten a few thank you emails saying this one saved a race already)
• Tech support. Ask anybody who's had a question about any of my software (RC, RCD, Scorpius RMS). You might find as good support as I provide, but you won't find better. It's not possible. I stand behind my free software 100%, imagine if you've paid for the software
• 100% not for profit RMS. ALL sales go directly to charity. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. In some cases I even match your "donation" myself.

In the end RCD was a natural extension of the software I already have. All I can do now is make it as good as possible and inform the community. If I add pace cars in, or I don't add a single new feature, I'm providing a choice.

Oh, and I haven't decided on a final price. I actually assumed I was under the other RMS's out there. Because I donate the money to charity, I don't really care what I get for it, but at the same time I don't want to see the charity get short changed for the amount of effort it was to release this software and then support it. The crazier side of me wants to give it away so I don't "have" to support it. But I know me and I'll support it the same free or not so I may as well see some charitable good come from my effort.

[RikoRocket]

In race Car IDing? Have you raised your own protocol and new code for the C7042? We haven't made this possible in what we have coded to date...

[RichG]

I put this into the early versions of Display-Pro but have now disabled it as to be of any use you have to remove all the cars except the one you want to ID. So in practice not much use v the risk of accidently doing an ID change & setting all the cars on track to the same ID. Which a certain person found quite amusing.


Rich

[RikoRocket]

To me, in race means cars circulating whilst you are IDing the car. Otherwise it's not really a race... Is that what you meant RC

[injectorman]

If I know Dave he wont be able to relax until he introduces a single speed pace car, then secondly calibrated recorded cars, and finally a safety car.

[johnsxr8]

You have a hard, uphill battle any way you slice it, Dave. You're going up against a long established race manager (SSDC) and charging pretty much the same price for yours. Without a compelling reason to use something other than the "tried and true" SSDC, you're going to have to keep adding features and hoping that one of them is good enough to make people consider yours instead. You certainly can't hold off on adding a feature that is already present in your competition's offering, until more people start using yours. That's like telling people that if you sell enough cars, you'll start putting doors on. ;-)

Of course, you don't HAVE to do anything. Just do what you want. Don't be too surprised if people don't buy your RMS until it's feature set is better or different enough from the established competition, though.

Pace cars are a no-brainer. Everyone (just about) wants it. Your competition has it. If you don't add it, you're not likely to sell many copies of your RMS.

I like the fact that there are other RMS's out there to choose from and coming from a digital raceclub point of veiw RC offers us things that SSDC does not atm like a properly working penalty system and a very easy way to read the results in Excell so i can upload results to our website in a very easy manner and without having to manually type results in, i also like the way the the Race user interface is very customizable plus there is lots of different ways to setup fuel burn and race options ect so i dont think Dave has that hard of an uphill battle. And from working with Dave this last few months helping test out RC for him i think any option that you guys want will be achieveable

[johnsxr8]

To me, in race means cars circulating whilst you are IDing the car. Otherwise it's not really a race... Is that what you meant RC

I am pretty sure Dave means being able to pause the race then Re-ID the car/s then be able to resume the race from where you paused it from

[johnsxr8]

If I know Dave he wont be able to relax until he introduces a single speed pace car, then secondly calibrated recorded cars, and finally a safety car.

MMM... Safety car would be nice