F1 2012 Engine blowing up bug?

[Rob Poelmans]

First smoke and then boom.

 

[Karl Fuss]

Yeah I understand it's got that override facility, but figured people wouldn't waste time mentioning it if they had slammed it down themselves, unless they think auto would protect them. I don't know.
I'm all for it being pinpoint realistic and stopping people abusing engine braking, but it does all sound typically dubious to me. Did this happen on the demo too?

I'm not sure if it happened in the demo or not. If it is happening to people who use Auto we'll hear about it more and more soon enough. Some people in the UK are receiving their copies today, most tomorrow.... the one's who use it on this forum will post fast enough if it happens to them.

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Well, I went into the demo and tried everything to destoy the engine...nothing happend - not even smoke came out of it

 

[iammx]

Damage, both physical and cosmetic is turned off in the demo. Maybe it was present in that build too. God knows who they hire to test these games year after year, if anyone at all.

 

[Paul Lock]

Oh yeah it is off apart from that scripted blow out.

Yup Karl I will be watching the forums with interest..,
Well, watching when I'm not playing GSC of course.

 

[Tom]

I really wanted to check if engines might blow up too quickly and thus gave it a shot in China. In 2nd gear. I was permanently on the limiter. The engine went bright red. It didn't blow up.

I restarted the session and shifted down from 6th to 1st extremely quick right in turn 1. My car sent smoke signals to the Lotus behind me immediately.

So they either changed the blow up mechanic or it's just not that bad at all.

 

[Graham Laing]

So at what point do I jump back into this thread and say "OK, I hold my hands up, I'm a crap driver" ?

Is it too early yet?

 

[iammx]

I don't understand how people are still doubting this is a bug. They must conveniently skip over the part where people are reporting it happening race after race with auto gears. People on Codies forum giving it the "omgz lrn 2 driv noob!!!111!"

 

[Jace11]

For me, the engine smoke appears after a flashback. When I flashback, it appears straight away. If I flashback again and listen to the engine in slow motion, I can hear the engine rev right up momentarily at the moment I used the first flashback, this coincides with the smoke appearing, though the damage to the engine seems non-existent in terms of power and the OSD damage screen. Happens everytime I flashback and I tested it in auto / manual. Seems to be a bug associated with over-revving engine just before you regain control after choosing to flashback.

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

All I know is that I won't be buying the game this time. Blow up bug or not, the fact that there still is savegame corruption is telling me to spend my money elsewhere.

Edit: Is there something wrong with the brakes in the demo ? Feels like trying to stop a supertanker, not much happends...

I'm sticking to GSC, love that game and with the added bonus that Reiza seems to care about there customers...

 

[Darren Bentley]

I haven't played the game yet, but maybe those who run Auto can't run forever in full fuel mix anymore just a guess

 

[Alberto Casado]

Using multiple fast downshifts ( and I mean in a brutal way, almost instead of braking)in the privious games (as many drivers did) was totally unrealistic. If they had done that in a real F1 car they would have been fired pretty quickly for chewing through engines like popcorn

I was all the time thinking that this issue does not sound right at all, I had some faint memory of F1 cars being protected against abuse such manic downshifting.

And here are the official F1 regulations:

9.8.3 The minimum possible gear the driver is able to select must remain fixed whilst the car is moving.
Each individual gear change must be separately initiated by the driver and, within the mechanical constraints of the gearbox; the requested gear must be engaged immediately
unless over]rev protection is used to reject the gear shift request. Once a gear change request has been accepted no further requests may be accepted until the first gear change has been completed.
Multiple gear changes may only be made under Article 5.19 or when a shift to gearbox neutral is made following a request from the driver.
If an over]rev protection strategy is used this may only prevent engagement of the target gear, it must not induce a delay greater than 50ms. If a gear change is refused in this way, engagement may only follow a new and separate request made by the driver.
Any de]bounce time used to condition driver gear change requests must be fixed.
9.8.4 The maximum permitted duration for down changes and up changes is 300ms and 200ms respectively. The maximum permitted delay for the latter is 80ms from the time of the driver request to the original gear being disengaged.
The duration of a gear change is defined as the time from the request being made to the point at which all gear change processes are terminated. If for any reason the gear change cannot be completed in that time the car must be left in neutral or the original gear.

So, it is allowed, it would seriously surprise me if any team does not implement this, and thus you simply cannot destroy a F1 engine no matter how much you suck at downshifting, if you ask for a too early downshift the car will just ignore it if it cannot make it safely in the next 50 ms.


Conclusion: bug and/or poor simulation. It is not the way it should be.

 

[Yawama]

CM put the "engine blowing up on downshifting" there because people were downshifting from 7th to 1st in half a second. I know it isn't the best solution, but they decided to go with that.

The only time my engine blows up is in practice, and it definitely has to do with flashbacks as Jace said. If I use a flashback in practice once it starts to smoke, if I use a flashback a second time it blows up.

During the race, if I use a flashback the car smokes but doesn't blow up if I use flashbacks again after. People at CM's forums said you can avoid this by not holding down the accelerator until you have complete control of the car after a flashback.

 

[Michael Manuel Marini]

i did a complete 100% race in australia (career debut with Marussia) and in the last 20 laps circa i saw this white smoke coming froma the rear....

The limiter and downshifting is the key... in fact in free practice i setted up the gearbox with a fuel load of 29 laps (middle race)

when the fuel has begun to be low, the car hitted the limited early in the straight...
and so I was sooo afraid to break the engine!!

after the malesia's race i was told that the team has resolved a propulsor damage, and by then the engine should be more safe!!

SOOO COOOL!!

 

[Scott Tanner]

I cant even control when the engine smokes as i leave the pits either way its already smoking

 

[Tadhg MacConeely]

I've replicated the same bug running the PC version. Using automatic gears to negate any aggressive down/upshift arguments, & on 50% RD, a flashback causes engine smoke then gear failure to inescapable crawling speed. Restart race scenario. I've also noticed that entering the pits with the engine setting on 'faster' causes the engine to blow after release & the same 1st gear inescapable crawling speed to initiate. Restart race scenario. Malaysia took 7 concurrent attempts to complete with the bug reappearing every time. I eventually gave up & retired. Restarting also then brought up the 15 lap bug. *sighs*

Shouldn't Code Meddlers be paying me to beta test their products & not the other way round?

Update: When you enter the pits with the burning engine bug, resulting from the flashback bug, it causes the stuck in first gear bug on the pit exit. If you drive off track on the grass however, all the gears are available....seriously, wtf is that about?

 

[angelmaker30]

Ok I just figured something out re engine blowing up guys. If you are on a short straight that goes maybe gears 1-3 then back to 1 for the next turn you can have issues. If you are accelerting even a fraction still as you down shift and start to brake the engine goes every time.

 

[Graham Laing]

I haven't played the game yet, but maybe those who run Auto can't run forever in full fuel mix anymore just a guess

Actually on rich fuel mix, this game absolutely drinks fuel at quite a rate. I don't know the correct numbers, but if you start a session with 10 laps of fuel, you are probably lucky if you get 4 hot laps out of it, assuming your out lap and in lap are on lean fuel.

 

[Tom]

I don't understand how people are still doubting this is a bug. They must conveniently skip over the part where people are reporting it happening race after race with auto gears. People on Codies forum giving it the "omgz lrn 2 driv noob!!!111!"

If it happens whilst using auto gears, yes, that's probably a bug.

I cant even control when the engine smokes as i leave the pits either way its already smoking

It carries over - so if you drive out, the car starts smoking, you go back into the pits and drive out again it'll still smoke. However, this won't carry over to the next session - so if you happen to damage the gearbox / engine in Q1 you'll have a working one in Q2 without changing the engine. I'm not sure this is working as intended and / or realistic but that's how it is.

 

[Graham Laing]

Regarding the engine blowing. After doing 2 short grand prix, I have only blown one engine, unlike the multiple blows I got earlier. It is taking a concious decision at every corner to ensure that I brake 1st, then drop the gears.

It's easy to lapse into my old ways, where I definitely have a tendency to drop one gear at least before the brakes are applied. I drive slower as result, but over time will adopt to it so it becomes natural, and the speed will improve.

Of course this does not explain why others get this with auto gears, nor why the engine starts smoking with flashbacks, so I am not negating that factor. It just so happens that I use neither of those functions.

 

[Tom]

Of course this does not explain why others get this with auto gears, nor why the engine starts smoking with flashbacks, so I am not negating that factor. It just so happens that I use neither of those functions.

I couldn't resist and tried it out.

I think it's because you can hear the engine before you're back in control - i.e. when the "snapshot" sounds occur just before you're taking over control you can hear the engine being at the limiter. I bet the game is counting those few seconds in.