V7 Beta - Public

[chumpy36]

Thanks. but if you take off the start axis from zero, multiple runs do not line up. Support?

Jason

[tristancliffe]

Yes, that is true.

Hopefully they look at this thread for feedback (we don't know because they never post). I think I'll have to email Andrew Durrant again, as he seemed to act on bug/feature messages

[tristancliffe]

Emailed Andrew. Hoepfully progress will be restored. Since it went public, progress has slowed to a halt, and more bugs than ever seem to exist. Which is irritating, as it's getter further from stable final release in my opinion.

Will see what Andrew says, but he's not failed me yet. If he can't do something, he usually explains why, rather than just saying silent like this forum does.

I'll post his reply, but I'm reasonably confident we can get some momentum back to this.

[tristancliffe]

Replies went back and forth. The result - V7.1.14, with a few fixes.

The Google map thing is being worked on by someone else in the team, and they are aware it's a 'weak point' at this stage. But it should improve.

The zooming of zeroed graphs is a known issue that they keep struggling with every so often. It's not being ignored, and when they think of a way of making it zoom reliably they will.

But, the most exciting thing is the release of V7 as a public final! Woot! http://www.race-technology.com/download ... _7453.html

Thanks Race Technology!

[Applejack]

*.RAF files that were created in Beta v7 versions don't open up in the 'final' v7. That's absolutely frustrating. You put sometimes hours setting up screen layouts, etc and it all gets thrown away on a new version.

[Applejack]

Even better, now track maps are showing up as straight lines with the same Analysis Options and data from various events from this summer which I've looked at before and it was OK.

[tristancliffe]

Try turning on (or off) the Check GPS for positional consistancy. Works for me.

Changing variables and layouts is a pain, but doesn't take 'hours'. What do you expect of new versions? Zero progress? As with all things, sometimes they go out of date, and that's the case with V6 layouts/variables. If you are moaning about having to update it in the beta stage, have a little think about what 'BETA stage' means - then you'll understand that you shouldn't have used the beta if a couple of minutes work winds you up so much.

[Applejack]

Tristan, I could understand that the v6 variables and equations wouldn't work due to the variable names changing from 05 to 0005 due to a higher number of variables to support different hardware that's on the way. I see no reason why it that would have changed inside the different iterations of v7.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that used the Beta7 version during events and created 'Save All' versions of those events after putting a decent amount of time into the files because of all the great new features and new ways to look at the data those features allow.

It's frustrating that now all of those files (a lot of data for quite a few people from the Solo Nationals as well as other events) are now basically useless. How many times is this going to happen going forward? It's now a pain to look at old data especially when you loose the closed course sectors. That doesn't make the system very attractive to new users.

[tristancliffe]

It's a beta version - things are subject to change. You sort of agree to that by using it in beta form.

I also created lots (well, about a dozen) raf files, and it took me but a few minutes to update my layouts, copy my variable info across (and add filtering), reload my runs files, trim etc.

How often will it change in the future? Not very often I'd imagine. It's a public final version, which will almost certainly mean that core changes aren't permitted. So I don't think you'll have this problem until V8 begins beta testing.

If you didn't want to update everything during a beta phase, simply don't use the betas. It really is that simple.

You could install the old version, and say track markers/sectors for all the circuits - the lap files still work with the new version, so you don't lose them. I ALWAYS save my variables, be they lap files, vehicle files, for each set of data in case I want to 'start from scratch'. Just makes life a bit easier and quicker.

[Applejack]

Like anything the devil's in the details.

So I took some time over lunch and created a new layout file. Fine. Done.

Now I load in some older *.run files from June. I've now lost all of the map shifting that I had to do to align morning runs with afternoon runs. I've got to do it all over again. I'll have to do this every time I want to look at older data. PITA.

Next, I want to load in my markers and sectors, which do work from v6. The problem is that it looses the real names that I've given them. I'm an 'open courser' aka autocrosser, so I have new M&S every weekend not just for my home track. It looses the 'Start of Run' and 'End of Run' definitions. You can change the sector names (which it also looses when you re-load the *.lap file) but there is no way to re-name the markers. The only way is to delete the marker and add a new one in. Until I do that, my sector times are correct, but the total lap time is incorrect.

IMO this is all still pretty buggy. It looks like v7 was released for Public consumption because of an arbitrary due date instead of actually being ready. These are all issues that I brought up via the beta@___.com e-mail communication weeks ago and was told they were being looked into. I'm not just complaining now for the sake of it. They've got another e-mail.

[tristancliffe]

I no longer autocross, so I can't discuss open courses in detail, as that was before I used a DL1 anyway.

But I still think that complaining because beta versions became out of date is a little silly. In the process of ironing out bugs and adding features there are bound to be incompatibilities. It's a given. All beta software is the same. You will get no sympathy from me in relying on beta software and moaning when it's updated.

I used the beta software as my main (only) version, and I've not got one complaint about the procedure used. Oh, and I never ever have to realign runs for different times of day - it just doesn't happen to me. Maybe I get GPS drift, but it's so tiny as to be negligible. Besides, I think the 'driving lines' are pretty arbitrary anyway - it's the data that counts, not the maps. I certainly wouldn't use the software map to decide if I clipped an apex or turned in a bit later. I have graphs for that.

Your entitled to moan about release dates and features - that's the point of betas, but not about having them go out of date once in a while - that's also the point of betas.

[Applejack]

Quit bitching that I'm pointing out errors in some software that you seem to take some amount of personal responsibility for. Did you write it? (rhetorical)

There are very documented accounts of GPS drift influencing the analysis of DL1 users. I guess you're special. It happens, especially in autocross and they've provided a way to fix it. They haven't provided a convenient way to save the map shift other than saving in a *RAF file - even if you 'save raw data' in a separate *.run file. That makes no sense.

Feel free to get the last post in after me. You're a waste of my time.

[tristancliffe]

I'm not bitching about the errors you point out, I'm 'bitching' because you seem to think that the beta version shouldn't be updated because it's too much work to keep up with the beta. Which is silly. No, I didn't write it. I have no vested interest, other than I use it. Doesn't mean I can't take offence at your opinion they shouldn't have made it go incompatible.

I never said drift isn't an issue; I meant I have no experience of it at all. Maybe I will next year. They've reduced the problem (from what I can gather), and provided a better way of overcoming it anyway. Fine.

Your time seems so... special. You are happy to moan about betatesting, but don't like when someone points out what betatesting is about? I think you'll find you are actually wasting my time

[chumpy36]

BTW, the public release of v7 breaks previously installed version 6.

Pretty annoying when I have to copy over and remake my variables.

Jason

[chumpy36]

BTW, the public release of v7 breaks previously installed version 6.

Pretty annoying when I have to copy over and remake my variables.

Jason

Oh sweet. If you reinstall 6 then it breaks 7. It would be handy to have both versions on the same machine.