10-09-2016, 08:31 AM | #1 |
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M Laptimer files
I did my first track day last weekend and had a blast. I used the M Laptimer app and love the data it gathered. My question is this... Is there any way to read the data in the mpower files? I have pulled them down to my PC, but the files are in some kind of proprietary format. I just want to read the data in CSV or ssomething similar.
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10-10-2016, 01:17 AM | #3 |
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i managed to open the .mpower archive with 7zip, and that yielded a bunch of files like:
rpm.far speed.far speedRecord.far etc. and a single plist file: metadata.plist i can't seem to figure out how the .far files are encoded though. It doesn't look compressed, and does use any popular header identifiers- but then again I'm not exactly an expert. |
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10-10-2016, 10:18 AM | #4 |
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Thanks for pointing me in the right direction... I changed the file name to .zip and opened it in WinZip.
This is what I get. Now I need to figure out the .far extension. I sent a note to the feedback email on the laptimer app hoping to get some direction.
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10-10-2016, 02:11 PM | #5 |
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I doubt BMW would divulge the details ... but looking at the files with the right set of "eyes" reveals patterns. It is possible to decipher it...
Here is a small part of gear.far, first byte is the gear ! last bunch seem to be some kind of timestamp. |
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03-26-2021, 02:58 PM | #6 |
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Did it
The FAR files are mostly 8 bytes (double precision) floats. I had an excel macro done that does the conversion from bytes to excel doubles and then to CSV files. With these files and Dashware, I made the video below:
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03-26-2021, 08:26 PM | #7 |
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09-30-2021, 08:07 AM | #8 |
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11-28-2021, 05:10 PM | #9 |
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So, the MLaptimer is a really cool app, specially if you consider that the car sensors (but the GPS) are very good quality. Recently, I've put together some code that allows to use the app data along with a GoPro video. Even more, if you use a GoPro with GPS and set it up right to get a good quality GPS track, the code will parse the MLaptimer low res GPS track with the high res GPS track from the camera, sync everything together, and output a csv file for rendering videos with Dashware or RaceRender. Even better, it also outputs a .vbo file, which can be used in CT to analyze the driving, with pretty much the same quality (depends on how good you set the GoPro) you would get with a vbox video. Check the results below and pm me if interested.
One interesting thing about the app data is that the accelerometers are not from the smartphone, the cars has its owns sensors (in the ICM or ACM module, don't know for sure) and they are very accurate, if you look carefully to the G graph you can see the weight transfer from front to rear when hitting the gas in the bends. But even cooler than rendering videos is using CT to analyze the driving. After every track day I keep comparing laps and finding a handfull of driving errors. Usually, my potential best lap is around .8 s faster than the acctual faster lap. |
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01-30-2022, 05:14 PM | #10 |
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New setup: 2 GoPros and picture in picture video
So, another track day done. Lots of fun with other BMW enthusiasts. Also, I tried a new setup for my telemetry rig: Used the GoPro 5 right under the windshield, for better track view and also better GPS signal. And used a GoPro 4 under the sunroof, just to get the driver perspective. Below the result, hope your guys like and, if anyone wants to use a similar rigup, just let me know and I'll explain better how to.
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