Zezo forum:

Post by zezo | 2017-12-19 | 12:59:00

New version of the Dashboard is out.

Here are the original and update threads for reference.

http://zezo.org/forum.pl?tid=6113
http://zezo.org/forum.pl?tid=6166

Most visible changes are result of user feedback in the Poll thread (also some suggestions by GeGaX):

- Added DTL and Rank columns
- Renamed some columns
- Moved some columns around. Now the Status and Log table have the same order for most of the columns.

Under the hood it's now possible to support two legs of the same race simultaneously (that would be impossible in real life, but VR have two legs open all the time now)

Extension itself available at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vr-dashboard/amknkhejaogpekncjekiaolgldbejjan and auto updates once installed.

24 Comments

Post by zezo | 2017-12-19 | 13:19:33

Also:

- The state of the option checkboxes is saved between sessions.
- State of autohelm is indicated by a bold TWA/HDG number

The rank/DTL is weird, but that's how it comes from the server. It's usually one iteration behind the boat position, but sometimes shows results from different cycle with a jump in the numbers (like when you click the ranking, but not just then)

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-12-19 | 13:24:49

looking great guys. and I understand now what you mean that reported rank and dtl are sometimes erratic. but it give a good indication and trend over longer term.

what I noticed in the VR-client is that I can an update position in the top left of the screen a couple of seconds after the VR-dashboard receives and shows an update. That rank is (I think) the rank right after the server updated the position of my boat. Is there a separate message received?

I'm not a programmer and can't read the message logs very well

what I do myself with these data is get the angle to the next mark from the routing map and calculate the VMG towards the mark. sometimes I do that for a couple of angles like for 140, 141, 142 and 143. Could that be included some other time? Towards the finish line this info becomes valuable.

Post by zezo | 2017-12-19 | 13:39:40

Rank is result of comparing your DTF to other boat's DTF. The progammer in me says that the result looks like comparing numbers coming from different game iterations.

When you click the ranking your boat has just moved and has lower DTF than some other boats. Sometimes the DTL stays the same but the rank changes - which probably means that the leader has not moved but other boats in between have.

Post by GeGaX | 2017-12-19 | 15:34:09

Hi Cvetan and mak08,
Thanks for taking into account some of my comments on the visual rendering ;)
Congratulations for this work the interface seems more readable and consistent.

The idea of putting in bold HDG or TWA, is a very good idea and raises a question ... should you keep the column aTWA (AutoTWA)?

Hypothesis: HDG color in blue and TWA in green or red, if HDG is active then it is in bold and blue, if TWA is active then it is in bold and green or red.
The aTWA column becomes obsolete, right? it's just a question ;)

With mcmgj, small visual changes are transmitted and we notice that it would be logical to put the display of the Options and the Cards on 2 lines to avoid that the Last Command Actions pass on 3 lines almost all the time
I have a 13", mcmgj a 17" and the display is done on 2 lines should be known from how much the display is on a single line (19" or 21")

Post by zezo | 2017-12-19 | 16:30:01

That was my initial idea about the Auto TWA column, but on my desktop screen the bold font is not very distinct, so additional visual clue us needed. Asterisk in front of the number or background color or underline or font color indeed.

It was a last-minute addition, so decided to leave the column for a wlihe.

For the options I think we can go with a one-letter list with popup with the full text (If we use Alert for radio and Polish for hull we get FLRHWAP for the options. Or maybe C for Code0 -> FLCHWRP

Something similar for the cards. It looks like in future races with full options you won't need cards at all, so the entire column can be removed.

Otherwise you only care about three of the cards but may want to see the rest and the total at the end of the race to see the current buy-back price.

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-12-19 | 18:08:21

Why not give the active cell a light green background (HDG or TWA) ?
No background means a waypoint is active (with fixed heading)

Post by zezo | 2017-12-19 | 18:10:47

TWA is already color-coded for starboard/port

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-12-20 | 18:33:07

I know, but I meant the background of the cell, like for aground and autosail.

Than the background color will show very easy, whether your on TWA or HDG.

For HDG to a WP (from a card) you could consider a grey background for HDG, like the VR-client where heading is shaded in that case

Post by GeGaX | 2017-12-19 | 17:27:27

Try to put HDG in blue to see if when displaying in Bold it is visible or not

I like the idea of a letter for options, I think it can be understandable of all (with a tooltip that details each letter)
(Light wind sails= L / Strong wind sails= S / Reach wind sail = R - Winchs Pro = W or P / Radio alert = R or A / Hull polish = H or P / Foils = F)

For the cards if it's possible it would be nice to keep them to control
We are many to play with (even if it's an aberration but it's not the subject) and those who are Full Pack actually do not care
It might be easier to disable the columns if when checking options, it returns 'FULL' so we disable the columns Cards and Options?
suddenly it would be possible to put them on 2 lines which would not impact the column Last Command

Post by zezo | 2017-12-19 | 18:18:11

Cards will require some testing because "all options" is not the same as Full Pack (purchased for hard cash)

Three is separate protocol field for the latter, but I don't currently have paid boat to play with.

Post by mcmgj | 2017-12-20 | 13:46:29

"all options" is not the same as Full Pack (purchased for hard cash)

TRUE !!!
Maybe, a checkbox to choice with/without cards will be fine !!!
=> each player can have that he need ...

Post by zezo | 2017-12-20 | 16:21:24

There is
"fullOptions": true
parameter in the json.

But I haven't purchased full pack since it started coming with unlimited cards and haven't seen if there are other differences.

Post by mcmgj | 2017-12-20 | 13:53:30

I think the width of screen don't change the number of lines, but the number of pixels by line yes, ad also if you are on small/normal/large text in your browser ...

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-12-20 | 18:42:42

I would lik eto be able to see my cards in VR Dashboard so I know what to choose with every barrel without having to go in a couple of menu's in the VR-client. and whether or not to use programming cards and how many of them.

you could conside a smaller column for cards (17 char width) and to abbreviate the options and make that column smaller as well

pack could be one character wider so it is on one row less

time column could be a couple of char smaller

that some cleaning: give every column a fixed number of decimals (e.g. ATW 22.0 and delta_d 0.80), just like you already did with leading zeros for the position

and santa, I think I have been good, maybe add ATM and VMC to next mark ?

Post by GeGaX | 2017-12-27 | 01:30:29

I have the impression that the entire penalty is not counted

Post by mak08 | 2017-12-27 | 03:20:35

Actually the numbers you've highlighted seem to show a /bigger/ penalty than 75sec at half speed.
This is because speed and distance are computed from the positions at the end of the current and previous update cycle assuming the boat went in a straight line. In case of a tack or gybe, the numbers are too small.

Post by GeGaX | 2017-12-28 | 17:44:48

Ok thanks for the explanation ;)

Post by zezo | 2017-12-28 | 19:06:23

The vR is quite misleading by itself when maneuvering, because that is the reported speed at the end of the cycle, not the average. So you may have full speed reported and boat moved halfway, or the vice versa - if the command catches 5 seconds of the update cycle you have full distance and 1/2 reported speed.

The effect of the calculated speed can be seen even when making small turns, but is obvious with a tack/gybe when in the worst case you sail two sides of a triangle but measure the third.

Post by GeGaX | 2017-12-28 | 19:17:02

Actually I did not see it like that ...
Thanks ;)

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-12-28 | 16:30:23

During the Rolex race, and especially during the crossing of the wind 'board' tonight, I noticed that there is a huge difference between what is recorded in the dashboard and what appears on the screen. For exemple, boat pointing at 180� south on the screen can be recorded at 155� on the dashboard. This can have a high impact on the distance made by the boat. So at the end, I decided to look at the heading of my boat given by the dashboard and then worked in HDG/TWA for each iteration to have something like a smooth trace. So I guess this is because the winds seen by the boat on the screen are not exactly at the same place than the position of the boat for the calculation of the route.
I believe I won 0.3-0.4 miles doing that over a couple of boats closed to mine.

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-12-28 | 16:38:02

Same for TWD in the high.

Differences sometimes more than 10 degrees and decided also to follow VR Dashboard as that shows the same server updates as th VR-client gets. Was a bit of a guess to decided the right time to gybe.

Based on earlier discussions, I believe the client is interpolating independent from the server. With effects such a the client not showing you grounded and the server overruling that a couple of minutes later.

Post by zezo | 2017-12-28 | 17:34:33

That's the same old story from the other thread. Client uses exact temporal interpolation down to the minute, server works in bigger increments (10 minutes) and that matters when crossing the center of a system or a ridge.

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-12-30 | 13:44:43

so even the two minute update from the server are not reliable.

how can you time your tack or gybe best?
and adjust your ATW smoothly during the windshift?

Post by zezo | 2017-12-30 | 14:01:35

They are reliable - it's exactly how and why the server has moved your boat. It's the client that can display very different data.

About how to proceed ... those types of shifts usually involve sailing at gradually increasing TWA up to the VMG limit (for a while), but it's not so critical if you sail at 135 instead of 140 for two minutes.

In general you should observe the actual boat direction and watch so it does not sail backwards, but steer for the supposed TWA. Steering with a fixed heading might not be a good idea because it can get you outside of the optimum range.