The online racing simulator
Is there any chance of this tool being ported/moded to support rFactor, it will be great tool to have for setup analysis for a very popular game.
At some point I would like to natively support all race sims. Not being an rFactor player though, I'd need somebody to provide all the data I need to work with their setup format, and give me some data on the tyres and aero properties of the various cars. With the very mod-based nature of rFactor though, I think I'd have to leave most of it for the user to enter, perhaps covering some of the more popular mods / official cars for reference.

This will all be much easier once I've made the tyre and aero editors, so those values are no longer hard coded into the exe. Perhaps when the time comes and VHPA is ready, I'll make some theads in the appropriate places and see how helpful people are with getting what I need.

So, yes, but it's still some way off.
Doesn't work!
I can't get this program to run on my Vista system. I get this message when I try to run it.

"Component 'mscomctl.ocx' or one of its dependencies not correctly
registered: a file missing or invalid."

Anyone got a solution?

thnx for your help.

Johan
problems
hi this looks great but im having few issues.

theres no basic instruction how to activate this program with lfs

theres instructions how to setup / use the program but nothing clearly
indicating how to inject it into lfs to actualy change values.

what version of LFS does it work with,

the website has only 2 words even relating the program to lfs,

please help, thnx
Quote from lrdbsi :
If you dont like drifting in lfs,
its because you cant,, and you know it!

There's your problem just kidding, as I'm sure Bob will tell you this isn't really a LFS tool but rather a true, real life car analyzer that just happens to work with the LFS cars 'cause the physics are so darn good.
no cause the values are lfs vallues,

anyway i made a setup? which im guessing the prog does)

put in my setups folder and loaded it up in LFS

the suspension etc, was modifyed just as i had done in the editor.

but when i changed the engine stats ,, i.e KW/@XXXXXRPM or gears etc
no diference when in LFS

so the suspension works .

how to make engine change ingame, ??
thanks
Quote from lrdbsi :
theres no basic instruction how to activate this program with lfs

There is no activation of anything.

Quote :
theres instructions how to setup / use the program but nothing clearly
indicating how to inject it into lfs to actualy change values.

what version of LFS does it work with,

-You can load LFS setups to it.
-You can save configurations as LFS setups.
-You cannot change anything in VHPA in such a way that it affects LFS in-game, if you cannot already make that change in-game.

Best way to use it (imo) is to obtain values using VHPA and then manually apply them one-by-one into your LFS setups and then fine-tuning.

Quote :
the website has only 2 words even relating the program to lfs,

VHPA is not specific to LFS, so this is expected.

---

Quote from lrdbsi :no cause the values are lfs vallues,

Because by default an LFS profile is loaded. This doesn't mean it's the only thing it is good for.

Quote :anyway i made a setup? which im guessing the prog does)

VHPA is not an LFS setup maker. It *can* be used for it, but VHPA is what it says it is: Vehicle Handling and Performance Analyser. That means any vehicle which VHPA allows you to make a profile for, LFS car or not.

Quote :put in my setups folder and loaded it up in LFS

the suspension etc, was modifyed just as i had done in the editor.

but when i changed the engine stats ,, i.e KW/@XXXXXRPM or gears etc
no diference when in LFS

so the suspension works .

how to make engine change ingame, ??
thanks

All the settings that you can change in-game can be changed in VHPA, and will load correctly in LFS (patch Y, afaik). None of the settings that you cannot change in-game that can be changed in VHPA will load correctly in LFS. That is to say, you cannot change LFS car specs using VHPA. I just checked that gearing works just fine.
thanks i learned more now than on your website,

may be good for newbs like me, if u write up q's and a's
Yeah, thanks, I'll add this question to the FAQ as it has come up a couple of times recently. In earlier versions you could not edit the LFS cars, so this confusion was not possible. In short, if you have to click edit and then change something in a text box, then those changes cannot be brought into LFS. If you can adjust it with a slider, then they can.
A big thanks for this great tool!
I am just a newcomer in the magic world of setups,but i feel right to say a big thanks for this great tool. Helped me alot. As i changed a value in LFS and i instantly loaded again the setup in VHPA i saw the impact that change had,so i could make a setup that suited me! The really odd is that i first found a nice and compromised setup without any test driving and then i went on track to see that this was what i wanted! I was amazed of how those graphs and a bit of trial and error in the garage led me to a set that i was confident to drive even though i hadnt done any prior driving. so no more endless driving,guessing setup changes. Thanks again! sorry but mozilla problem caused this awfully unreadable text!Problem with spacing!
Thanks sosna.

Just posting to say I'm aware that the LFS vehicle presets need updating for patch Z. I'm actually about half way to v3.1.3 anyway, so I'll finish off what I started and release that with the updated data. I'll see how much I can get done this weekend but next weekend is likelier.
Hey Bob I saw that u had ferrari's and mazda rx8 for download on the website but i cant figure out how to get them to load in vhpa, its says Incorrect vehicle data file version, when i first start it up, but it will continue then when i try to load the f430 or the mazda from load user vehicles its says the same thing:Incorrect vehicle data file version.

If i try to open the set file from the regular open menu it says: this setup is for a vehicle not currently loaded in the program. load the relvant vehicle before attempting to load this setup again.
Ah, I must have not updated the presets on the website for the latest version of the program. I'll update those whenever I've finished VHPA v3.1.3.
Vhpa
Quote from Bob Smith :Evenin' all

The hardcore set-heads among us may find this of interest. It's the replacement for my beloved GRC.

I'm not going to explain in this post what it does, just download it, have a look, and read the manual. It should be crash free. Use at own risk, etc. I have also made a collage of all the different screens in the program [now quite outdated].

Visit program website - 19/04/08

Feedback is always welcomed and encouraged, so don't hold back on posting. All suggestions/feature requests/GUI changes will be considered. Can't promise more than that.

Anyway, enjoy.

Good morning,

Please someone knows where I can find the program VHPA (introduction to vehicle dynamic) in Portuguese, or has option of choice languages

Att,

pjuniorbra
Now VHPA is only in english.
I'm still planning to add language support back into VHPA. I need a better system that what I used for GRC2 though. More importantly I need to dust off the source (not done any programming at home for months), get it matched with patch Z and finish off all the other features I've started for v3.1.3.

Once my car is starting again, the karting meet is out of the way, and I've moved house (all this month), I should have time on my hands to get the ball rolling again.
Thats good news, I'm waiting for a new version. Atm I think VHPA works best for the GTRs (:homersimp hmm, neutral setups), it seems to have some issues with the small cars, like the XFG, it seems to have a wrong limit for the spring stiffness. Only halfway through the slider is already above the ingame limit
The slider limits do not adjust on a per car basis. I didn't see the point of collecting, storing, applying, and updating all that info. TBH I can't see it being an issue during normal usage as the limits in LFS are pretty generous.
VHPA v3.1.3 test
Howdy folks

For users of v3.1.2, attached is an upgrade package of v3.1.3 for you to test. It contains updated data for LFS cars to match patch Z, as well as some other changes to the program itself. It needs to be extracted over you existing v3.1.2 install.

This release does not have all the new features I had initally planned for it, but since patch Z has been about for ages I've spent the last couple of days finishing off what new features I had started, and fixing the odd bug, and will put the other planned features into v3.1.4 instead.

I'm mostly interested in making sure the data matches with LFS again, so that VHPA is useful to LFS users once again, so if you notice any discrepancies, please let me know.

Tomorrow I'll update the manual and repackage the installer, and get this version live, assuming I can quickly fix any issues that people find in the meantime.

<attachment removed, please see later post>
Hai Ben,

First thing I've checked was FZR and there's a miss-match, position of CoG was moved 1.5 % forward in Z patch and is 37.5 %, but in VHPA it's 36.65 %.
Any chance of allowing the installer to install both the LFS cars and the DP1? (Minor I know but it would be useful).
Quote from scipy :Hai Ben,

First thing I've checked was FZR and there's a miss-match, position of CoG was moved 1.5 % forward in Z patch and is 37.5 %, but in VHPA it's 36.65 %.

FZR should actually be 38.1% with driver included

XRR weight and distribution are also off. VHPA has its weight as 1206kg, whereas ingame it's 1170. VHPA distribution is 51.43% whereas ingame it's 53.0% EDIT: nevermind this, the XRR default setup has 36kg added mass for some reason
mythdat - you must be comparing the figures with fuel for VHPA, to the figures without fuel in LFS. They both match for me. I have corrected the error for the FZR though. Thanks for pointing that out scipy.

duke_toaster - Yeah, that's easy enough to do.

Edit: Attached updated test version, has a few extras bug fixes, and corrected the data for the FZR and dp1. <removed again, seems there were no issues with that version>
OK, thanks for testing, fingers crossed I'm good to release.

Quote from Change log :
* Physics - vertical force on tyre now transmitted through springs
* Physics - slip ratio now varies during deceleration/acceleration testing (very simple initial implemenation - linear with a fixed peak)
* Physics - tyre rolling radius is now different to the loaded radius
* Added ability to graph either 'drop' or 'push' suspension response under damping analysis tab
* Improvements to the disc brake calculator: added brake torque/leg effort ratio, added seperate front and rear disc properties and added brake balance calculation
* Added twist stiffness into the torsion spring calculator
* Added a leaf spring stiffness calculator
* Added damped suspension frequencies (seperate for both bump and rebound)
* Added names for the wing types, rather than cryptic numbers, and added extra wing type for the FO8
* Added computation of area under the torque curve
* Added filename to be over-written in the relevant confirmation dialog boxes
* Improved wheel and tyre moment of inertia estimation
* Re-organised LFS setup reader GUI and added CSV output (e.g. for easy opening in a spreadsheet package)
* Added brake bias ratio into deceleration analysis
* Updated all LFS car data to reflect changes introduced with patch Z
* Changed suspension deflection chart and damper drop chart to display wheel travel instead of spring deflection
* Replaced spring deflection and travel remaining (from suspension analysis), with wheel travel remaining and undamped wheel hop frequency.
* Resizeable graph windom can now display tyre deformation diagram independantly of GUI setting
* Changed tyre view selection from radio buttons to a drop down list
* Altered roll stiffness/mass diagram; colours from green and red to blue and green, and spring only stiffness now drawn on top
* Fixed crashes when saving setups or vehicles when the vehicle name includes characters that are illegal in Windows filenames
* Fixed Save As not saving when used with the default filename on an open file (i.e. using it like the Save feature)
* Fixed gear ratios slowly reducing upon loading and subsequent saving (forced rounding to occur before truncation)
* Fixed CSV export heading units having extra spaces and some incorrect units, plus added tyre slip ratios
* Fixed broken manual options.ini loading
* Fixed crash that could occur when manually loading a vehicle when no vehicles had been auto-loaded
* Fixed not being able to edit car data if no vehicles were auto-loaded
* Fixed tyre compound and differential type selections getting lost (due to list regeneration)
* Fixed minor balance diagram scaling inconsistency
* Fixed various minor GUI issues

Head over to www.vehicle-analyser.com as usual to get it.

Update: I've updated the huge collage image of all the different screens in VHPA: http://www.vehicle-analyser.com/pics/Proj3_collage2.png - also, I'll be updating the extra downloadable cars on the website over the next couple of days.

VHPA v3.1.4 [updated 26/03/10]
(634 posts, started )
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