Codemasters reveals F1 game details


Recommended Posts

I was commenting ont eh water drops.

Depends on the drops they're trying to simulate though, if it's drops on a flat camera lens cover then they are. but drops on a helmet windshield. no.

but then again, it's codemasters, don't expect to much now.

Depends on the drops they're trying to simulate though, if it's drops on a flat camera lens cover then they are. but drops on a helmet windshield. no.

but then again, it's codemasters, don't expect to much now.

Even if it's a flat lens, the animation is still stays the same, no matter how sharp are the corners. But that's just nitpicking.

I don't really care that much about it.

Official F1 game details revealed

Formula 1 fans have been promised the most immersive experience ever produced in a grand prix game by Codemasters, the makers of F1 2010, as the company revealed the first details of its forthcoming multi-platform title - set to be released to the public in September.

During the official reveal of the game in London on Wednesday, the company unveiled its innovative new career system as well as a new dynamic weather aspect and a brand new approach to car handling, in F1's first true HD simulation to be made available on Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.

Based on Codemasters' Ego physics engine, used to power its successful Grid and Dirt titles, graphically the game already promises to be a step ahead of anything previously seen in F1 consumer simulation.

Using the mantra 'Be the driver, live the life', the game's senior producer Paul Jeal explained that the development team had not focused on specifically building a simulator or an arcade game, but concentrated on creating an "immersive experience that gave the player a deeper, richer experience of what it's like to be an F1 driver".

Early code available at the event indicated that the cars' handling is simple to grasp but hard to master and will allow players to build on their experience and therefore an understanding of where their mistakes had cost them time.

In addition to that the 'Active Track' system the game employs will deepen the realism significantly and take into account key aspects of race-changing factors such as tyre degradation and flat spots, green to rubbered-in circuits and dynamic weather that will re-calculate the saturation of a wet track every 30cm.

The detail level is matched during pit stops with all 24 cars featuring motion captured crews, that populate the pits and paddock constantly adding the 'live' feel of the game.

Off the circuit the realism continues with a comprehensive career system that approaches a Formula 1 season from a driver's perspective.

Chief game designer Stephen Hood explained: "We wanted to give players a insight into what it feels like to be in the paddock, and take part in some of the things you seen on television but never get to play a part in."

These things includes interacting with the press, including post-race press conferences, dealing with agents, team engineers and negotiating with rival teams for better drives.

Significant emphasis is also placed on car development and the player is pitted against his team-mate, with success measured by which car receives the latest updates and whether the driver is given further tasks to improve the car. The player is actively encouraged to win the team's favour over to their side of the garage.

A multiple-year career also allows players to carry the benefits of this development through to the next season, with the amount of resource available based on previous success.

Codemasters promises to include an in-depth multiplayer system with upwards of 12 players per race, and the game will include all the 2010 drivers and teams. Download packs are being considered for future release but details were not available at Codesmasters' event.

The company has already confirmed that the game will not feature safety cars, formation laps or a feeder series.

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/82217

http://www.virtualr.net/f1-2010-london-event-wrap-up/

Sadly, we have something to add to the list of non-existant features as mechanical failure won’t be present in the game, you won’t be suffering the same fate as Sebastian Vettel at Bahrain last weekend.

http://www.virtualr.net/f1-2010-new-press-event-previews-facts/

2073788-vollbild.jpg

F1 2010 Preview and Q&A About Features

Pit Stops

*You cannot steer the car in the pit lane (due to FOM regulations about running over pit crews apparently!) but it is up to you to hit the rev limiter and to brake into the box.

* If you overshoot the box you will knock down the jack man. If you stop too short the pit crew have to re-adjust their positioning (all motion captured) and it will cost you time.

* Force India assisted in motion capturing the pit stop.

* Pit radio will be included. Your race engineer will talk to you throughout the race and before you enter the pits

http://www.simracingworld.com/content/398-f1-2010-f1-2010-preview-and-qa-about-features/

* The career mode will put you in the paddock and VIP areas, where the media will chase you depending on how good a driver you are or become. There will be a driver’s room in the truck (a lot like the DIRT RV vehicle) where you will engage in contract negotiations from the third race in a season until the last race which will be influenced by your performance on track. :o

* There will be impromptu media questions such as “why did you not make it into Q2”, “who is your biggest rival” and you will be able to respond blaming it on your team mate, or for not going out on time. Your responses to questions will influence the media’s feeling towards you and also your contract negotiations.

* You will be able to take part in the driver’s post race press conference (this takes place instead of a podium ceremony) where the media will ask more questions.

...

* There will be a technology / R&D race throughout the season where your car will evolve as the season progresses. Your team may evolve quicker if you achieve better results. When one season changes to another your car will also change, but you may not be aware of how much until you test it for the first time. If you are a leading team in one season, your car may evolve less the next season due to effort being focused on winning the previous championship. Take a look at how well Ferrari have changed in 2009/2010 for an example.

* The team’s objectives for you as a driver will depend on which team you are in. For Mclaren it’ll most likely be to win, for Lotus it’ll be to finish the race.

General

* Limited development for F1 2011 has already started, and there will be no DLC packs for F1 2010 as this would divert resource from F1 2011.

...

* The game is fully scalable between sim and arcade modes. You can pick and choose which elements you would like to be more or less realistic to give the gamer best satisfaction.

* PC system requirements will be very similar to DIRT 2. phew!

* Lewis Hamilton’s dad is a big F1 Championship Edition fan! :D

Career Mode / “Live the Life”

* The career mode will feature 7 seasons. I don’t think the 2009 season cars etc will be included.

* You can’t change teams mid-season.

* The F1 2011 game will have some interesting features that will expand on the career mode and results achieved in F1 2010 (but they cannot say specifically what this is yet)

* As you build your results over time and seasons your team can improve (I.e. you may pick Lotus). If the team’s expectations of you are to win you can get in trouble.

* There is an individual profile for each driver and team in the game and this will evolve.

* The loading screen tells you how you are doing against your team mate and other drivers etc.

Pit-stop

Well visually, the game is right up there. Some of the effects are stunning - although the water droplets are a bit suspect.. would they really just wobble around on the lens/visor at 200MPH+? From what I've seen they'll be pushed outwards off the screen. But hey, minor details, I'm sure it's early days yet.

Slightly worried about the arcade feel of the whole thing, but then again, it's supposedly an arcade mode which is shown. tbh though I wouldn't expect much more than the likes of GRID/DiRT2 in the handling department. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised :)

It's great that they have the likes of Anthony Davidson advising for them on the handling etc. I hope they give him as much input on the final product as he deserves!

Regarding the water drops. have a look through the tv footage from the start of the Australia run.

The drops never move, in fact they move less than the drops in this game clip. The only time they moves was when the film moved upwards to clear water drops.

It was unrealistic still though, since the drops in the game are in full focus, while the actual camera drops are just blurred drop shapes.

F1 2010: Exclusive Interview - Part 1

GamerZines: F1 seems to change drastically year after year, will you have to release a new update every season?

Paul Jeal: It has been difficult for 2010, we didn't get the information any earlier than when we saw them on TV. The cars were being designed right until the very last minute. Even the early units we saw during testing had changed massively when they rolled out at Bahrain. You experiment with all the 2009 content but you've got to do a current season. Imagine shipping the 2009 season in 2010! It's the safer option, it's the easier option but you haven't got the new teams, Schumacher's return and ofcourse some teams had KERS and others don't, it would have been a disaster.

GZ: Obviously Codemasters are located in Britain and so are the vast majority of the F1 teams, what has the communication been like?

PJ: The relationships have been absolutely fantastic! We've got an open dialogue with F1 management. They agree with us that F1 games haven't really cut it in recent seasons, that's one of the reasons why they and Codemasters started working together. There's a massive push within the sport to make it younger, move vibrant, and more energetic. It has been cool that we've been able to go to them and highlight the shortcomings to try and squeeze through some of the things like media which on the face of it is new and controversial, because you don't want players to be able to bad mouth other drivers.

With the team themselves we've visited them all at least twice and they've been fantastic as well - from engineers talking to us, strategists, as well as drivers and obviously we're really close with Anthony Davidson, long time F1 driver, who absolutely nailed the handling. I think he isn't necessarily the big name driver that everyone was expecting, but he can invest more time with our game. There was a situation where we were trying to identify a problem with the handling physics, which as you can imagine the code is very complex and it would have taken ages to isolate it. Ant's there quietly in the background playing, tuning this, accelerating that, and he isolated an issue where if he half pressed the break and lifted the throttle the problem went away. From his feedback the code guys immediately identified the problem and fixed it. He's doesn't just pop in now and then, he's in the studio for a couple of weeks at a time.

GZ: Moving onto the tyre simulation, it's so refreshing to hear a developer talk about marbles off the racing line and the difference between a rubbered in track compared with a fresh one. It isn't something gamers have heard developers speak off since Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix series....

PJ: You know my first industry job was as a tester for Grand Prix 3 and I've been a massive F1 fan since 1985. I was asked the other day why other games didn't do these hardcore sim elements and I think first and foremost it's a technology thing. Obviously Geoff Crammond was the first to pioneer weather implementation, visually it was there but gameplay wise it was pretty basic. Things like marshals popping up and it not mattering if you drove through them are concessions we don't have to make nowadays, but also the information which is out in the public domain is much better.

The BBC has done a fantastic job in terms of explaining features, you know when there's a two hour practice session there's a lot of time to fill. Viewers pick up on factors like dust on the track, marbles etc. All those elements get cross-checked with how we can fit it in, what it will mean to the player and how we can communicate it. The die-hard F1 fans are going to love and cherish those features, but for someone who isn't experienced it can get complicated; you can use this tyre but not that one if it rains, if you qualify there you need to manage your tyres more effectively etc. The great help we have there is that the player is the driver and they have their team and their race engineer, so it isn't about the player always doing all the work.

GZ: Almost sounds like training wheels to a certain extent, the teams only there if you need them...

PJ: Absolutely! Car setup is another classic example, if you want to dive in and tinker around with springs and stuff, you can do it but there's several levels above that as well. There's three or four layers to the car setup which will appeal to everyone. All the way to practice as well, no-one does practice in F1 games. It's just time trials, no-one does it other than setting up the car, so we've introduced things like season upgrades and research and development which are all based on points scored in practice. You can also jump to driving out of the garage and do a lap before your flying lap which I love doing, but that will put a lot of people off. So if they just want to test a specific aspect you don't want to wait until sector three to find that your gear ratios aren't right, so you can jump to the particular part of the track that helps you to learn it as well as optimise your setup.

http://www.simracingworld.com/news/aggregate/external/914127-f1-2010-exclusive-interview-part-1/

F1 2010: Exclusive Interview - Part 2

GamerZines: You've said in the past that F1 2010 will feature AI personalities which are inspired by their real life counterparts. How difficult is that to implement?

Paul Jeal: It's quite difficult to be honest, GRID had a system where you could pressure people into mistakes, that formed the base and we thought 'Brilliant we can build on top of that.' I think in all games as far back as I can remember they (AI) just do some fundamentally stupid stuff. Really it was taking a look at videos, talking to Ant (Anthony Davidson) and asking him 'What would you do here?', 'How would you defend there?' Even if it's as basic as looking at Gran Turismo and the Fiji circuit, when you get that last corner wrong and there's that humongous straight you know you are going to get overtaken but these AI cars still stay on the line. So maybe we could get them to move to the pit-wall to make it more interesting, at least making it hard for the player. That's the key really, the car handling is one thing but if the AI is acting dumb it can ruin the game.

GZ: I know Sato isn't racing this year but he was a bit of a kamikaze driver. Will you have to amend your plan of attack to compensate for some drivers' more aggressive habits?

PJ: Absolutely! If you were going to go back to 2009, and obviously we have a few races to refine those behaviours for the 2010 season. If you were to model, without pointing out too many names, Alguersuari he came in mid-season and his goal was to get to the finish without making too many mistakes, not do anything spectacular yet not do anything stupid. Kobayashi on the other hand came in with two races to go and wanted to make a name for himself, it was the only chance he was going to get to earn a drive for next season. He didn't care who Jenson Button was or the fact that he was fighting for a championship, he just launched his car into the inside line...

GZ: And swerved whenever defending...

PJ: Exactly! These are the things that I think why not include? People who understand these characters are going to do it and if you then extend that to the lifestyle aspect, you can pile pressure on them through the media. Maybe more pressure on the rookies forces them to make more mistakes whereas with the former champions on the grid it's probably just going to rile them up and make them race harder, so that will tie in as well. All of the characteristics are there but it depends on the circuit, the weather conditions, your performance and what you've said before.

GZ: Does that extend to who you want as your team-mate for the next season in career mode? I know it's unrealistic that a driver has the ultimate control, but it could be fun.

PJ: There are some very specific restrictions on the license. Obviously sponsors pay a lot of money to be on the side of X's helmet or on X's car. So unfortunately what you can't do is have other drivers move teams in the career mode, they've got the Virgin helmet so you're not going to then have them in a McLaren or Lewis in a Ferrari. It's something I'd love to do and I'm going to keep going back to FOM (Formula One Management) and asking for this stuff but first and foremost it's about keeping the sponsors happy. That said, I think when we looked at that and thought 'What are we going to do because having just the player move is a little disappointing', we realised there was a musical chairs effect going on. All of a sudden there's twenty-four players on the grid, you might be in discussion with two or three teams, you've done a Nick Heidfeld basically, you've left it so late into the season and the seats you thought were available are gone. It's almost like poker, choosing exactly the right moment when and where to go. Do you go for the safe Williams drive or gamble on a McLaren? If you get it wrong you might end up back in a Toro Rosso.

GZ: Will that change as the season ends of will it be on a month by month basis?

PJ: Basically the season is split into several phases. Establishing yourself in a team is the first bit and contract negotiations don't kick in until midway through the season. It's about meeting expectations and team objectives, some teams may want you to score points, others may want wins. Generally as you do better, the goals will get harder and reputation gets higher. A contract could be on the table, you have a disastrous race and then it's gone. Sometimes deals are there for multiple races, other times it's just one.

GZ: Will the option be available to move mid-season, like we saw in 2009 with Fisichella to Ferrari?

PJ: Drivers don't move mid-season at the moment, everything all happens at the end of one season. We're pretty confident that 2009 was an isolated case in terms of drivers not being able to test, what could Ferrari do? They had to stick someone experienced in the car. I'd be surprised if that happened this year. Force India has a strong reserve driver which they are running in some Friday practice sessions so I'm keeping my beady little eyes on him. We made a conscious decision early on because we are releasing late, we can watch races evolve and change things on the fly. So we probably don't need to go with DLC and instead put all of our eggs in the 2011 basket. Let's not take the focus from that as well, so early ideas for the next game are progressing as you can imagine, but at the same time we're not taking our eye of the ball. It's our first game with Codemasters and F1, so it has to be good!

http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/previews/f1-2010-interview-part-2.html

  • 1 month later...

30/04 - 2nd dev video Q&A answers

How far ahead of this vid are you?? Because if it looks like this now well I think my head will fly off when I play the game!!

It’s always tricky to put an exact timeframe on this, as some of the footage clips are older than others, but it’s safe to say that we’re at least 3 – 4 weeks ahead of what your seeing each time. As T4RG4 has said before, we’d love to wait until we’ve finished the game to create this type of thing, but I think most people would have given up on us by then!! We’re so protective of showing off work in progress, as it’s hard to communicate the issues and glitches that we’re aware are in there, or let everyone know how complete a particular feature is. The truth is in game development that the majority of the visual gains come right at the end. All the work beforehand is focused on getting the tools and under the hood systems in place. Even over a period of one week at the back end of the project the game takes massive strides forward.

Does the AI ever get those twitchy moments as we saw in the red bull at 1:14?

AI is one of the hardest areas to get right in a racing game. Think about all the great handling games there are out there and then think about which ones have truly great AI. We’re putting a lot of development focus into getting our AI right, in terms of them lapping very close to the real track records, in terms of them having racing instincts to block or defend their position, or choosing the right time to attack, as well as them having similar characteristics to their real life counterparts. The specific twitchiness mentioned has come about through a combination of this work as well as the extensive car handling work we’ve done on this project. We cannot understate the value that Anthony Davidson has brought here. He has been a regular visitor to the studio, sitting down and working “hands on” with the car handling team, with more visits pencilled in for the near future. This work will also continue into F1 2011, so it hasn’t just been purely an exercise in PR. One of the things Anthony is keen to get across in the game is how twitchy and nervous F1 cars are, so again we’ve focused a lot on this and you’re beginning to see the results in these videos. These areas are already looking good, but beyond this project we will continue to improve and develop them further for F1 2011, and beyond...

Are you still thinking about changing the colour balance, it seems this is the only thing people are really negative about.

One of the last things that we do is ‘fine tune’ the way that the post and the lighting work together. This is something that is still very much ‘live’ and doesn’t really start until after Alpha. We’ve certainly toyed with different effects; because of the relatively contracted production time and resourcing a lot of this growing up has been aired in public. That’s a good thing though because it’s allowed us to gauge the sentiments of both the hardcore F1 fan and the broader audience we’re hoping F2010 will attract. As we close out the project we’ll now be able to combine that feedback with the vision we have for the game backed by the experiences learnt on Dirt2 and Grid before it. The Art Director has been passed all the feedback on the forum so far and will take this onboard during this final phase of the games development.

Will setups from offline be usable online? And will we be able to trade/swap setups with friends online?

Yes, you can use your offline setups online, and in fact we’ve actually not included an online practice mode due to this very reason. We fully expect players to spend hours perfecting their setups offline before unleashing them to the world! There isn’t an in-game system whereby car setups are traded or swapped online, but the screens are fairly simple to use so this could easily be done on the forums.

As the AI gets better due to ramping up the difficulty level, do they make less stupid mistakes?

The mistakes are ramped up to full at the moment for play testing purposes. We cannot take our eyes of the ball in terms of finishing this game so we’ve had to work the videos around this as best as possible. We’re massive F1 fans ourselves and we know that F1 drivers aren’t often pressurised into mistakes. Once the AI work has been finished, which continues right the way up until Beta, then this is just a case of number balancing.

I know this is off topic but can you give us any teasers of stuff the race engineer says to you, things that are really authentic.

“We've fitted a set of scrubbed tyre's you should be able to push a little earlier once they're up to temperature.”

“Lap times are dropping, looks like track conditions are starting to improve.”

“You're losing a lot of time through sector 1.”

“It looks like we might see some light rain this session, just be aware of the conditions and try to pick the best moment to put a lap in.”

“Your brakes are in the optimum temperature zone.”

“The weather situation seems to be improving slightly, we could take a chance and switch you to inters if you want.”

“Alonso's out-pacing us, we need to put in some quick laps.”

“Looks like one of the McLarens is about to pit, their crew are getting ready.”

“Waved yellows in sector 3. Yellow flag conditions apply, watch out for debris.”

“Drive through penalty, drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flag conditions.”

“You're way out in front, time to think about conserving the engine.”

“The track seems to be drying out, look for the drying line.”

“Great job! G-r-e-a-t job! What a win! Congratulations, 25 points!”

Are we going to see official team gear such as flags during races and around the paddock, for example caps on fans?

We’re certainly aiming to get as much of this in as we possibly can. We don’t want to go into too many specifics about the licence on these forums, but suffice to say that these additional bits all need individual clearance from FOM and all the teams, then we obviously need the photo reference, to create the assets, and finally get it all signed off. We also have to include a fair mixture of assets so as to not be seen to favour a particular team. We’re pretty confident that you’ll be impressed with the level of atmosphere we have in-game already. Hopefully there’s much more to come as well, whether that’s in this title or the next.

Will the TV view cam be customisable, or is it still subject to change?

It’s still very much subject to change. We haven’t spent too much time tweaking or adjusting the camera positions yet as we want to wait for the 2010 cars to be implemented before we do so. We’ve read a number of posts on the forum about the TV view not being like the actual TV, but we certainly wouldn’t want to offset the view to one side of the car as it is in real life. Also with the higher real life view there is less focus on up coming apexes of corners, especially on tracks with large amount of undulations such as Spa. We have discussed including an option where players can tweak particular camera views, but this is very much on the wish list so there’s no guarantees at this stage as to whether this will make it in the game this time.

At the end of the video we see some on board with wet weather. The car seems very predictable and not particularly twitchy to me, to the point where it could be completely dry. Is predictable and 'easy' driving in the wet what you're going for or will it be easy to get some unwanted wheel spin and spin out.

Wet conditions are definitely not going to be the same as in the dry. Again, most of these specific values are dialled down when producing videos like these so that we can capture the footage in a relatively short timeframe. When the effects are ramped up the AI aren’t fully trained to deal with those conditions at the moment, but this is something that will come in the coming weeks. We’ve recently trialled some values in ‘intermediate conditions’ where we had to adopt our driving style quite dramatically. At the end of the day we’ve invested so much of our time and effort on the weather system we don’t want it to be all visuals and no substance, so you can be assured that it will be much easier to wheel spin or slide a car in the wet than in the dry.

Are all the steering wheels the same on each car or did you get data from the teams to replicate the real ones?

We‘ve taken a design call, with the agreement of FOM and the teams, to compromise on a mixture of the two. We want them as real as possible, but we want them fully animating as well. Therefore all the wheels are based on a generic button layout configuration, which has then been adapted per team so that you will see the hands shifting the paddles for gear changes, or button adjustments on the wheel if you’re tuning wing positions, or engine revs, etc.

Ok, this might be a stupid question, but once your car is parked in the pit-garage (for example during qualifying and the engineers/mechanics are walking around you and put your pit monitor in front of you), does it automatically switch to the t-cam view or can you view this from the cockpitview as well?

We’re looking at locking you into the cockpit camera at all times when you are in the garage. As part of the drive out / push back in sequence the camera position will then transition to your favoured camera position.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/f1-2010-game-1316/413573-30-04-2nd-dev-video-q-answers.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGPQ1BV58so

^That video doesn't sell it very well to me. I don't care about pit girls and agents and pussycat doll girlfriends.

Just get the frigging racing right. The graphics aren't looking anything special either, everything is so dark and dull, (i know that video isn't the best one to show that).

I hope i'm surprised.

  • 4 weeks later...

F1 2010 Hands-On

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/driving/f12010/news.html?sid=6262656&om_act=convert&om_clk=newsfeatures&tag=newsfeatures%3Btitle%3B1

<sinp>

Weather effects will be extensive and run the gamut from overcast skies to full-on downpours--and multiple points in between. In addition to the vision problems that rain presents a driver, rain will affect how the tires interact with the road on which you're driving. Wet roads are slippery roads, naturally, and as a race persists, you'll see dry lines appear after the rain lets up and even be able to keep your tires cool by temporarily going offline to get your tires wet--a technique F1 drivers commonly use in real life.

...

:D

Depends on the drops they're trying to simulate though, if it's drops on a flat camera lens cover then they are. but drops on a helmet windshield. no.

but then again, it's codemasters, don't expect to much now.

CM are hardly that bad, dirt2 for example while not the best rally game ever at least they put the effort into supporting peripherals that sim gamers use (6dof trackir, d-box) and the engine is decent even with eyefinity its really easy to run it with all settings maxed and still get 60fps

Weeeeeee I can't wait for this to come out :D My buddy and I were so bummed out when they ceased multiplayer for F1 Championship Edition for PS3. Not that there was hardly anyone playing anymore, but we used to have so much fun racing each other in private matches.

  • 3 weeks later...
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • ...but you're Johnny, from Australia?    
    • Glow 26.9 by Razvan Serea Glow provides detailed reporting on every hardware component in your computer, saving you valuable time typically spent searching for CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, and other stats. With Glow, all the information is conveniently presented in one clean interface, allowing you to easily access and review the comprehensive hardware details of your system. Glow provides detailed information on various system aspects, including OS, motherboard, processor, memory, graphics card, storage, network, battery, drivers, and services. The well-organized format ensures easy access to the required information. You can export all the gathered data to a plain text file, facilitating sharing with others for troubleshooting purposes. No installation needed. Just decompress the archive, launch the executable, and access computer-related information. Glow runs on Windows 11 and Windows 10 64-bit versions. Glow 26.9 changelog: New Features The processor hardware detection engine has been significantly enhanced beyond traditional Intel and AMD architectures. Native support is now available for modern platforms such as Apple Silicon (M-Series) and the newly introduced NVIDIA Spark. In addition, all ARM-based processors can now be accurately distinguished between ARM32 and ARM64 architectures, providing precise hardware reporting. This marks a major milestone for Glow's hardware detection capabilities. The RAM manufacturer identification algorithm has been expanded. JEDEC vendor codes for popular brands such as Patriot, PNY, Team Group, GeIL, Lexar (Longsys), and Asgard/Gloway have been integrated into the database. This significantly reduces the likelihood of incorrect or "Unknown Manufacturer" results and improves overall hardware detection accuracy. New Public IP Address and Internet Service Provider (ISP) features have been added to the Network section. To ensure reliability, this information is retrieved from the trusted service ipwho.is. When Hiding Mode is enabled, no requests are sent and these features remain hidden, as they may expose sensitive information. The search engine used in the Installed Drivers, Installed Services, and Installed Applications sections has been enhanced. You can now perform more flexible and accurate searches using initials, partial matches, and loosely arranged character sequences. The TS Preloader loading bar has been rebuilt using our modern TS Custom Controls graphics library, developed entirely in-house. As a result of this infrastructure upgrade, the loading bar now features smooth rendering and rounded corners that align with the visual style of Windows 11. [TS Updater] A new validation algorithm has been added to check whether the target application is currently running before the update process begins. Bug Fixes Resolved a condition that could prevent TS Preloader from shutting down safely during rare application crash scenarios. Fixed a text alignment issue in the Network section affecting the display of DNS addresses. Alignment is now rendered correctly. [TS Updater] Fixed an issue that could prevent the updated application's executable "*.exe" file from being located after the update process. [TS Updater] Fixed a bug that could leave outdated "*.sha256" files in the application directory after an update. [TS Updater] Fixed a rare issue that could cause subfolders to be moved into the root directory after an update. [TS Updater] Fixed an issue during the first launch that could cause flickering and a temporary white window appearance due to Windows Defender interactions. Changes A small improvement has been made to the internet connectivity detection algorithm. Connectivity checks are now performed in the background with minimal impact on the user interface thread. The keyboard shortcuts in the top menu have been reorganized and simplified to provide a consistent experience across all Türkaysoft applications and to avoid potential conflicts with standard Windows shortcuts. The TS Preloader splash image has been updated with a Türkiye-themed stadium design to celebrate Türkiye's qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup—its first appearance in 24 years. Congratulations, Türkiye! The TS Custom Controls module has been updated to version 26.6, delivering improved stability and a more polished visual appearance. [TS Updater] The application icon has been redesigned to provide a more modern and refined look. Note: Always unzip the program before using it. Otherwise you may get an error. Download: Glow 26.9 | 1.8 MB (Open Source) Links: Glow Homepage | Screenshot | Github Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • DWARF mini review: the world's smallest smart telescope for night and day sky captures by Steven Parker DWARFLAB reached out to me asking if I was interested in checking out the DWARF mini, which is a portable astronomy telescope designed for amateur astronomers. Why do I say it's for amateurs? Well, for starters, it's not what you'd call "high end"; it's more of a professional-grade starting point for amateurs serious about capturing what's up there in our night and day skies. A typical amateur astronomer is most likely thousands of dollars deep into the hobby, and I will make no claims that this DWARF mini (at a fraction of the cost) could replace it all, okay? Well, if you read on, it will be clearer what I am trying to convey. Disclosure: DWARFLAB provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. I have always been interested in looking up and observing the night sky. I see satellites crossing the sky above my garden most nights, and I am always looking at the moon. Yeah, I have a 200MP camera on my phone, but at 200X zoom, AI takes over and makes the pretty moon pictures that I snap, the DWARF mini does not, you get an actual true picture of what you can barely see with the naked eye. Before we start, let's share the highlights of the DWARF mini in bite-sized format: Pocket-Sized & Ultra-Lightweight Weighing just 1.85 lbs (840g), the DWARF mini easily fits into a backpack or large pocket. Its all-in-one, compact design makes it the ultimate grab-and-go digital telescope for hiking, camping, or traveling to dark-sky locations. Intuitive App Control & Built-in Sky Atlas Go from unboxing to your first shot in just 3 minutes! The DWARFLAB App provides a seamless experience with an interactive star map. Simply select your target and start exploring without the steep learning curve of traditional setups. Auto GOTO & 360° Pivot Freedom Enjoy pinpoint automated tracking with full 360° rotation. Powered by a high-sensitivity Sony IMX662 sensor (1/2.8-inch, 2.9μm pixels), it captures amazing, low-noise astro details, bringing faint nebulas and star clusters to life with stunning clarity. Pro-Level EQ Mode & Long Exposure Unlock advanced deep-space imaging with Equatorial (EQ) Mode. Supporting impressive single-frame exposures up to 90 seconds and featuring built-in light pollution filters, it easily cuts through city glow to reveal intricate celestial structures. Smart Cloud Processing & All-Ages Fun Effortlessly enhance your raw data with integrated cloud processing for professional-grade results. Perfect for beginners, kids, and adults, this telescope makes exploring and sharing the wonders of the universe an exciting, family-friendly adventure. The packaging is a pretty minimal affair with the outer box opening like a flap to reveal the plastic mould of the DWARF mini sitting in it. Below, the Sun filter, charging cable, cleaning cloth, and documentation can be found. DWARFLAB also provided a Mini Hydraulic Tripod ($89.99), and I highly recommend getting it if you plan on purchasing the DWARF mini, as it fully supports the motorized tracking feature of the telescope; plus, at 840g, the weight of the telescope, you will need a tripod that supports more than the weight of a smartphone anyway. What's in the box DWARF Mini Smart Telescope × 1 Sun Filter x 1 Type-C to Type-C Cord x 1 Cleaning Cloth x 1 User Guide With that out of the way, here are the full specs: DWARF mini Dimensions (DWH): 60.70 mm x 100.38 × 183.61 (2.39" x 3.95" x 7.23") Weight: 840g (1.85lbs) Aperture diameter: 30 mm (telephoto), 3.4 mm (wide angle) Image Sensor: SONY IMX662 1/2.8" (Telephoto) OmniVision OS02K10 1/2.8" (Wide-angle) Focal length: 150 mm (telephoto), 6.7 mm (wide-angle) Equivalent focal length: 1016 mm (telephoto), 45 mm (wide-angle) Shutter Speed: Tele - 1/10000-90s, Wide - 1/10000-30s Maximum exposure time: 90s (telephoto & wide-angle), Both in EQ mode Rotation range: Lens: 225°, Base: 360° Effective Pixels: 2.07M Maximum Resolution: 1920 × 1080 (Telephoto & Wide-angle) Built-in filters: Astro, Dark, Duo-Band (Telephoto), Astro (Wide-angle) Output: JPG, FITS, TIFF, MP4 Shooting Mode: Photos, Videos, Astronomy, Burst Shooting, Time-lapse Photography Storage: 64 GB Battery: Built-in 7000 mAh, supports external USB charging Charging Port: Type-C NPU: 1 TOPS Features: WiFi, NFC NFC One-Touch Connection Astronomy Post-Processing/Appointment Shooting/Astronomy Mosaic Wi-Fi Transmission Range: 15m (open environment) Color: Black Compatibility: iOS & Android smartphones/tablets Warranty: 2-years (24-months) MSRP: $399 Design Charge port On/off button Lens On the DWARF mini itself, it is a pretty minimal affair. On one side, there is a Type-C USB port to charge the non-removable 7000 mAh battery, and on the other side, a large button to power on or off the telescope. The button is flanked by an LED that is green when connected via the DWARFLAB app, or lights up red when being powered off. Below the button, there are four LEDs that indicate battery power. The DWARF mini does not have any sharp edges as all sides are rounded off; it has a good heft to it, but the weight of it feels quite balanced in the hand, so it isn't top or bottom-heavy. On the front there is the DWARFLAB logo which is quite small and there are no other markings on it. The tripod offers full 360° rotation of the motorized base, which allows for tracking for the time-lapse mode, but also for the 90-second captures of nearer objects in the sky, such as the Sun or the moon. Usage To get started, simply power on the DWARF mini and open the DWARFLAB app, tap on Connect, and it will scan for the DWARF mini over the Wi-Fi network. The device supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, as well as Bluetooth for discovery, so connection issues were minimal in my experience with it. As previously noted in the specs, the DWARF mini will stay connected with a phone or tablet up to 15 meters in an open environment, such as a backyard. Lighting status Powering on: The green circular light will rotate and breathe in turn Powering off: The red circular light is gradually extinguished Connecting: Green light strip rotating Connected: Green light strip solid/always on 4 lights 1= 0-25%, 2= 25-50%, 3= 50-75%, 4= 75-100% battery power To view the full lighting status, such as tracking mode and connection failure, you can check the user guide on the official DWARFLAB page. DWARFLAB app Above, you can see the steps undertaken to connect the DWARFLAB app to my Galaxy S26 Ultra. Weirdly, I got an alert that a firmware update failed to get uploaded to the DWARF mini the first time, but upon retrying, it worked. Then place the DWARF mini outside, make sure your smartphone or tablet is connected to it, and then head back inside, because you can manage it from the comfort of your home. Simply enter the Atlas tab in the app and search for what you want to capture, and then tap on the camera icon; the DWARF mini will then attempt to track the object and give you a live view right on your connected device. Results I've had the DWARF mini since April, but even though my garden is south-facing, I had a lot of trouble trying to capture a good image of the moon. In the end, it was possible after I took it with me on a trip to my parents in Southend, UK, at the end of May. Here is a capture of the moon, resulting from 20 stacked images over a 90-second exposure. What you are seeing here is not AI-assisted. A good example of what I mean is the latest flagships with their 200MP cameras claiming to capture things like closeups of the moon, and while they are not as good as the above example on the DWARF mini, the resulting image on smartphones is actually AI-assisted above 30X zoom. Here is an example of a similar shot at the moon at 200X zoom using an HONOR Magic8 Pro. The difference is clear. Next, here we have a shot of the daytime moon. Here is a shot of Arcturus, the red giant star, which is the fourth brightest in the night sky. As previously mentioned, it could be a bit clearer, but clouds passing in front of it muddied the shot a bit. The Sun The DWARF mini also ships with a sun filter, meaning you can take great shots of the sun as well. Tracking Sun Resulting (stacked) shot Live zoom The pictures themselves are limited to Full HD, and some of the examples actually came out in HD (1280x720), but this is because the standard telescopic result is in 720p while "Wide" is in 1080p. Above you can see how in the app the Sun is tracked, the resulting capture, and Live zoom. I have only scratched the surface of what is possible with this telescope; I found several examples online of shots of the Milky Way, among others, such as nebulae and galaxies. All of this requires patience and knowledge, although if you know what you are looking for, simply enter it in the Atlas tab in the DWARFLAB app, tap the camera icon, and the telescope will attempt to track it. Conclusion The good The DWARF mini definitely places itself in a price point that makes astrology accessible to anyone looking to get started in the hobby. Say you want to have a closer look at the moon, simply enter it in the Atlas, and the Live view also lets you zoom in and snap pictures. The bad Some issues I came across while operating the DWARF mini were that it sometimes failed to connect unless I held my smartphone right next to it, and finding and tracking sometimes took several attempts to get it calibrated. I discovered that it helped if I sort of positioned and pointed the telescope in the general area it was supposed to detect, but this obviously wouldn't work with objects you can't see with the naked eye; more testing is required for that. Another bit of advice is to ensure that the lens is clean. While making the examples of live zooming on the sun, I discovered that the telescope lens and sun filter were not completely clean, and only after cleaning with a microfiber cloth was I able to get a decent shot of the sun. Where to buy and a coupon Okay, $399 is not cheap for a side hobby, but nor is a $1,500 smartphone flagship that you'll most likely have for a couple of years. This is a one-time entrance into astrology, and it won't become obsolete in one year like a smartphone. It's a thumbs up from me. The DWARF mini is available to buy right now in the U.S. and U.K. at the links below. DWARF mini for $399 on the official site DWARF mini for $399 on Amazon U.S. Use the NEOWIN5OFF coupon code for an additional 5% off at checkout (expires June 21) As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader Dis Continued
    • The name, you mean? If so, it's actually the objects common name. There's another one called NGC 7293 which is also known as Helix Nebula (because we're looking at a helix structure top down) but other times also known as the Eye of God. You'll understand when you see it
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      lamborghiniv10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      lamborghiniv10 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      X-No-file earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      504
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      270
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      75
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      71
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      69
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!