[b.yingling]

I wasn't very happy with the X-Lap software that came with the PC unit. So I've written my own RMS software (Windows) for Carrera digital, using the protocol information so generously provided by SFI member brumbaer at his website.

My software includes some things I thought were lacking in X-Lap:

You can automagically rotate cars or drivers in a session. If you have 10 drivers and 5 controllers (as we did here the night of the first test), the software will rotate through the ten drivers, giving each a chance to race all 5 cars associated with the 5 controllers. Likewise, if 2 drivers want to each drive 3 cars in a session (as my wife and I just did this afternoon), the software will track the results.

There is support for sounds. Lap, best lap, and leader lap. Two laps to go and or final lap (lap counted race), 30 seconds to go (in a timed race). Announcement of leader (or not). Announcement of checkered flag in lap counted race (or not).

There is a practice mode as well as a race mode. Just click the practice button and drive. For race modes, the heats must be started from the Black Box after the software has been setup with driver and/or car information.

The race screen always fills the desktop. It reports laps, best lap, last lap, position and time-to-leader (or laps behind leader).

You can count/not count ghost and pace cars. You can require them to finish the race, or not. When you're rotating cars, you have the option to rotate the ghost and pace cars, or leave them the same for the entire session.

The software has been used on exactly two machines at this point- both mine. If anyone is interested in trying it out, send me a PM and I'll put together an install package (with some instructions- currently ther is no in-program help) and make it available. It is and will remain free....

 

[ryk4racing]

What version of Windows will it run on? I was ... dissapointed when X-Lap didn't work on 98 as advertised.

 

[RichG]

Fantastic that a windows alternative to X-Lap has been written.

I will happily give it a try. Have sent a PM.

Also for anyone that wants to run the software and has not bought X-Lap and the PC-Unit, PM me and I will send you info and prices on my Carrera to USB lead.

Rich

 

[b.yingling]

QUOTE (ryk4racing @ 8 Feb 2009, 14:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What version of Windows will it run on? I was ... dissapointed when X-Lap didn't work on 98 as advertised.

The only machine I have around here running Windows 98 has no USB ports...so I can't tell you if it will work or not.

My software assumes the user has installed X-Lap previously, and it uses the Serial-to-USB driver software that X-Lap installs. It should work if you install the FTDI drivers seperately, without installing X-Lap, but I have not tested it.

But at present I have no reason to beleive it will work on Win98 if X-Lap does not.

I'm curious, however, if anyone running Win98 has downloaded the last drivers validated for Win98 from FTDI's website? I haven't cheked to see what drivers are supplied with X-Lap, but I know the newest drivers from FTDI are not intended to work with Win98.

I plan to be putting together a dirt cheap ($0.00) machine (I have everything but an extra ATX case) to use on my track, and I'll install Win98 on it first and see what gives.

 

[h00ch]

Has any kind of PC interface been developed for Pro-X?

 

[b.yingling]

For anyone interested, you can now download the latest intallation package from this location. If you were sent a link in a PM earlier in the week, and you didn't download the package (there were at least four of you who did not)- that link will no longer work. You'll have to fetch it from the above location.

If you did download the package and install it, you may want to grab the newest program file from the same website. It fixes some record-keeping issues, addresses the bugs I have isolated, and adds a few minor features. You may have gotten a version where the Browse for sound files buttons don't actually browse. Now they do. The latest program file also addresses an issue raised by Forum member Bannon05 re: editing driver information. It also prevents you from starting a second instance of the application. That can lead to interesting results if both programs query the lap counter

Enjoy, and any feedback much appreciated!

 

[gohara]

Nice software, Bruce.

Regarding the sounds, will it always announce :"Driver 1 driving car 1", stc. or do you have plans to personalize the sound according to the actual car number and/or driver name?

Also, for the other sounds, do you have stock sounds for lap crossings or do we just insert our own.

(I don't have it hooked up to the lap counter yet, but it looks great at first inspection)

Thanks for your efforts,
Gary

 

[b.yingling]

QUOTE (gohara @ 14 Feb 2009, 18:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Nice software, Bruce.

Regarding the sounds, will it always announce :"Driver 1 driving car 1", stc. or do you have plans to personalize the sound according to the actual car number and/or driver name?

Also, for the other sounds, do you have stock sounds for lap crossings or do we just insert our own.

(I don't have it hooked up to the lap counter yet, but it looks great at first inspection)

Thanks for your efforts,
Gary

You can add driver name sound files right now. When you enter/edit driver information you can add a sound file. I plan on adding a sound description file for cars as well in the next release (not the version going up tonight/tomorrow, but in a few days). That one would only play at the race start. Unlike driver names which can be played during the race if you choose to. On short tracks, you may want to turn off some of the in-race sounds.

I like the pre-race announcements quite a bit. At my analog club, someone always has to announce who's in what lane for the next race. If you have sound files assigned to each driver in the database (doesn't take very long using sound recorder in Windows), the software lets you know. That's why I'm going to include a car description file as well. Some of the people who race here in my basement have no clue what the difference is between an Audi R10 and a Porsche Spyder. But they'll know the 'yellow #6 Porsche' from the 'silver #8 Audi'. It'll make race night run smoother.

There are stock sounds for lap, best lap, and leader lap. You can use them or add your own. There are one or two extra lap sounds included.

In a PM you asked about pace car laps. You can count laps for the pace car and for ghost cars if you want to, or you can ignore them. If you do count them, it's your option whether they have to finish the race or not.

I plan on packaging another release tonight or tomorrow. This one includes the ability to count multiple ghost cars. It is not flawless, becasue the lap counter itself won't retain information about more than one ghost crossing. So if two ghost cars cross without the software querying the lap counter in between, the first crossing is lost. In practice this means that two ghosts crossing within ~.05 seconds of each other will count as one car. Not perfect, but it does make it easier to race solo against several ghosts. And you can always add the lap in by pressing the '7' key on the keyboard. Not very easy to do that if you're racing solo- but if you have enough people for a race marshall, it's doable.

If you haven't hooked it up yet- make sure you get the latest version. And check back tomorrow- there should be another version up, and the comm package is more stable and reliable than in any past releases.

 

[gohara]

Thanks, Bruce.

And for all the hard work. I'll be sure to feedback my experience once I'm hooked up.

Regards,
Gary

 

[b.yingling]

Also happy to report that while I was away today racing with my analog club- a package arrived in the US Mail that had originated with the Royal Mail.

RichG's cable arrived, and it works just great with my software. So you don't have to buy the PC unit and X-lap. You can get a cable from Rich, download my software (admittedly I'm biased, but I think it's more flexible and I know it has more features than X-Lap) and race.

In the next week I plan on having that Win98 machine put together. I'm going to try RichG's cable, with the last validated-for-Win98 drivers from FTDI's website, and my software. Maybe we'll have a solution for those of you hoping to use an old machine for this job....

Bruce

 

[b.yingling]

Version 0.725 is now available. If you're using it, I really recommend you get the latest executable.

The program is changing (hopefully, improving) with each update, and the core communications engine is now very solid.

 

[b.yingling]

I just received a PM requesting an emailed copy, so I thought I'd better post another reply with a link to the software. The last post with a link is buried somewhere in the middle of the thread. If you want to try it out, get it (or the latest .exe if you've already installed it) here.

 

[b.yingling]

Just discovered that the changes made in the last week had fouled the accounting system on timed heat sessions with more than (1) race.

It has been fixed in the version that I just posted. If you are using the program, and have a version prior to 0.7.2.7 (you can check this on the main page- go to Settings page and click on About 132RMS button) please download the latest executable from here.

The new version also supports the use of a sound description file for cars. This means when the next race is announced (if you've turned on that sound option, and created all the appropriate sound files), the program will announce the driver's name, the controller ID, and give the car description. It will make my life much easier when family and friends come for race night. We always rotate drivers- meaning everyone gets a chance to drive each of the cars. Now the software will tell them all which controller they're using, and what car they're driving in the next heat.

RichG also tells me that he's tested the software with his cable and the driver's from FTDIs website on a WinME machine, and it works. So there's a good chance that it will work on Win98, as well. I'll be checking that later this week when I get time to put together a Win98 machine.

 

[TireSpin]

Hi Bruce,

Great software I think you have done a fantastic job with it thus far. I have a question and I don't know if you want me to post it here or PM you so I will post it here first off. (Please let me know for future reference).

When I try to add a new driver I get a error message that states (List Index out of bounds (0) ). The only way I can then exit the program is to shut it down through task manager. Am I doing something incorrectly?

Regards,
Stu

 

[b.yingling]

QUOTE (TireSpin @ 16 Feb 2009, 10:14) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Bruce,

Great software I think you have done a fantastic job with it thus far. I have a question and I don't know if you want me to post it here or PM you so I will post it here first off. (Please let me know for future reference).

When I try to add a new driver I get a error message that states (List Index out of bounds (0) ). The only way I can then exit the program is to shut it down through task manager. Am I doing something incorrectly?

Regards,
Stu

You can ask here. I'd prefer to have questions here now, rather than by PM. I guess the first post in this thread leads in the PM direction...maybe I'll start a new one.

I assume you mean you're adding a driver on the database screen? You shouldn't see a list index error message. If you do, it isn't because you've done something wrong- it means I have. You've found a bug.

I haven't used the car/driver add and remove screen for a couple of weeks. It's possible I broke something while adding the ability to assign a car sound description file. I'll take a look tonight.

The program isn't much good if you can't add drivers. Unless everybody you know who runs is named Bruce, Emmitt, Katie, Frank, or Greg

 

[b.yingling]

QUOTE (TireSpin @ 16 Feb 2009, 10:14) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Bruce,

Great software I think you have done a fantastic job with it thus far. I have a question and I don't know if you want me to post it here or PM you so I will post it here first off. (Please let me know for future reference).

When I try to add a new driver I get a error message that states (List Index out of bounds (0) ). The only way I can then exit the program is to shut it down through task manager. Am I doing something incorrectly?

Regards,
Stu

As I suspected- it was something I broke. I had changed the method of editing existing drivers, such that you could change any of the information entered. That worked great, but it broke the new driver additions. It's fixed now. Get the latest version from the website and you should be able to race with someone other than drver1, driver2, etc....

One of the problems with adding features at a rapid pace- you break things you think are solid. I don't plan on releasing any other versions for a couple of weeks- except for bug fixes such as this one.

 

[TireSpin]

Thanks for your speedy repair. Works great now.

Thanks Much

 

[prokopidis]

Hi Bruce,

I just found this thread. To make shure I do everything correct.........I have downloaded your rms.exe, this I have to install first. Then I have to install or copy the setup.exe.....Correct ????? Where I have to copy ????

 

[b.yingling]

QUOTE (vmax888 @ 18 Feb 2009, 07:13) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Bruce,

I just found this thread. To make shure I do everything correct.........I have downloaded your rms.exe, this I have to install first. Then I have to install or copy the setup.exe.....Correct ????? Where I have to copy ????

You only need the setup file. If you had already installed the program, you could update to the newest version by downloading just the rms.exe file. If you haven't installed the program yet, then all you need is the install package- the setup.exe file. The setup/install package will contain the newest version of the rms.exe file, along with sound files, configuration info, sample drivers and cars, etc.

 

[don]

Hi Bruce
Just want to say thankyou and it works great and I appreciate your kindness in shareing it.

Don