Racer v0.8.32 released!

[Ruud]

After a small break (where I broke nothing except 1 snowscooter), a new Racer.

Get it at http://www.racer.nl/download/racer0.8.32.zip

Changes:
- The Lambo differential ratio was a bit low (1.75) - reverted to 2.53.
- Differential could become unstable when the 2 wheels got opposite reaction forces.
- Removed obsolete wheel<n>.friction_road values from data/cars/default/car.ini.
- Replay audio (replay.wav) was empty when recorded.
- Multiplayer fixes (billboard nodes/car names)
- Smoke tweaks (soft particles, improved motion)
- Shadowmapping normal dependency improved for shadow acne reduction

 

[Mr Whippy]

To be really honest, there are bigger fish to fry now.

Smoke looked bad 3 months ago... it now looks rather nice

There is a whole raft of areas I'd prefer to see expanded more for v0.9. Ie, the whole backfire, on/off throttle sounds sections etc, which will make actual driving much more immersive from a sensory point of view.

Dave

 

[Ian Strom]

Definitely. Was saying just for the sake of saying.

 

[Mr Whippy]

Yeah... would be good to have the extra realism there... but I guess it will have to wait.

NFS HP has some pretty good tyre smoke wrapping round the tyre etc. Graphics are generally amazing in that game. Such a shame it's horrible to play... it's just 100% arcade and imo bad because of it!
If only they had a 'sim' mode

Dave

 

[boomer541]

I get smoke in mirrors but on carlswood with the lambo I got an image of a car in the smoke.

The shadows are the best I've see, I didn't have to adjust the constants.cg file! Great job Ruud.

I fixed the Baja tires.

 

[camsinny]

Also, how difficult would it be to have driver model .shd's (separate to car.shd) since they should really be interchangable whereas atm they need to be attached to the car really.

In fact, it'd be nicer if there were targets defined in-game: therefore drivers wouldn't need to be sort of modelled to a car. That's for animations though - and that brings up a whole new slew of difficulties...so let's ignore that shall we

 

[DavidI]

great idea camsinny, then we could choose whether we're black or white stig (or stigette) from the menu

 

[boomer541]

I posted my problem with "Generic Models" link http://www.racedepartment.com/racer-problems-fixes/47615-generic-models-problem-2.html
and have had no response. Stereo helped with the front suspension, but the back trailing arm is the problem.

It would be good if Ruud or Mitch looked into this as there are a lot of cars that use trailing link/arm suspensions. examples are Porsche and BMW E30. Any help or fix would be appreciated.

 

[Mr Whippy]

I posted my problem with "Generic Models" link http://www.racedepartment.com/racer-problems-fixes/47615-generic-models-problem-2.html
and have had no response. Stereo helped with the front suspension, but the back trailing arm is the problem.

It would be good if Ruud or Mitch looked into this as there are a lot of cars that use trailing link/arm suspensions. examples are Porsche and BMW E30. Any help or fix would be appreciated.

You are very very rarely going to see a Porsche or E30 suspension that closely to see it not working exactly right though

I agree for something with clearly visible suspension, but for 95%+ of the content we make, it's not exactly holding us back.

I share your pain though... are you sure there isn't a solution to this that is a fudge but looks ok?

I've not played with those at all. The whole system seems a bit silly really. Either do full kinematic suspension, or don't. Having to set up non-kinematic suspension (infinite length wishbones), and then tie onto it real suspension behaviour with stretchy models, seems a bit of a bodge.

One way to do it longer term, might be scripting. In theory you could use the susp length to generate an angle to adjust that model by, and move it independently of the suspension system implement, and so rotate it about the appropriate axis

Dave

 

[Alex Forbin]

You are very very rarely going to see a Porsche or E30 suspension that closely to see it not working exactly right though

I agree for something with clearly visible suspension, but for 95%+ of the content we make, it's not exactly holding us back.

I share your pain though... are you sure there isn't a solution to this that is a fudge but looks ok?

I've not played with those at all. The whole system seems a bit silly really. Either do full kinematic suspension, or don't. Having to set up non-kinematic suspension (infinite length wishbones), and then tie onto it real suspension behaviour with stretchy models, seems a bit of a bodge.

One way to do it longer term, might be scripting. In theory you could use the susp length to generate an angle to adjust that model by, and move it independently of the suspension system implement, and so rotate it about the appropriate axis

Dave

Now that we have skinning, why can't we model the suspension as a skinned model using the bones for the kinematics. I almost hate to mention this since I really would like to see a real kinematic suspension model.

Alex Forbin

 

[camsinny]

Are you guys sure that your ifdefs are working properly in your .cg files?
Pretty sure I'm running CSM (MRT) but if i put something within the #ifdef CSM_MRT bit it doesn't seem to work...or is it counter-intuitive and the CSM part is actually after the #else tag? In which case it's working perfectly...

 

[Mr Whippy]

Now that we have skinning, why can't we model the suspension as a skinned model using the bones for the kinematics. I almost hate to mention this since I really would like to see a real kinematic suspension model.

Alex Forbin

Hehe, another good option there.

You could skin/bone something, run a script on it and rotate it against the suspX length, OR, you can use the current susp part implementation.

All have strengths/weaknesses.

I think the solution ultimately will be something new and different, so as always with Racer, best to just make the best we can with the features we have and move on quickly. I've sat on stuff for far too long hoping to get it better with 'new' fixes/features, but it never really happens... and all the time my stuff sits there gathering dust.
Best I think to just do the best you can and get it out there and enjoyed as much as it can be

Dave

 

[QuadCoreMax]

Also, how difficult would it be to have driver model .shd's (separate to car.shd) since they should really be interchangable whereas atm they need to be attached to the car really.

In fact, it'd be nicer if there were targets defined in-game: therefore drivers wouldn't need to be sort of modelled to a car. That's for animations though - and that brings up a whole new slew of difficulties...so let's ignore that shall we

+1

==============
Disabling CSM (running back on my 3 screens) won't produce any smoke, looks like a shader issue...
Still trying the old way, I can't really make it work, duh it's ugly because the car shadow works as expected.

CSM Shadows from TC (Tracks Cams) are horrible....a fix would be nice ! As you know, stencil shadows looks perfect from all cams (Track, Car, Disco etc...)

=====
EDIT :
=====

Ideas/Fixes

- backfire sound
- simulate clouds shadows on all objects/geom expect the skydome with a tweakable intensity related to the clouds value.
- TOD Night Amount fix ? => can't see any difference
- AZERTY switch/detection for console commands (I always have to switch manually with all consequences it implies => A=Q, Z=Q etc...)
- In surround mode (3840 x 1024 pixels), the track loading image gets resized upwards & then downwards.
- save/cache console commands to avoid re-writing the whole, I use a G15 fortunately, so I have 6x3 buttons assigned to commands. Maybe an official G15 support with all commands to be mapped easily in the profiler ?
- For replay.avi, increment the videos in the root or another folder for clearness. Now it just overwrites the same one.
- Turn 180° the replay.avi in surround mode !?

 

[QuadCoreMax]

When enabling renderer.paint.normals=1 on ATI cards for collision debugging, I get a FATAL error :

Wed Feb 16 15:48:41 (FATAL): [racer/1664] Exception 0xC0000005, flags 0, Address 0x692A56DC
(this dialog text is stored in QLOG.txt)

OS-Version: 5.1.2600 (Service Pack 3) 0x100-0x1

0x692A56DC [atioglxx]: (filename not available): atiPPHSN

 

[QuadCoreMax]

Another fix :

On surround systems (if monitors > 3), we need an option to half size as Fraps does. That would allow us to avoid stuttering, since we dealing here with ultra wide resolutions.

Done some testing, Fraps at Full Res recording doesn't make a good job either. From the 3.2.2 version, multi-monitor recording feature was introduced. Once you're happy, play your movies in Media Player Classic (1.2.991.0) with these options on :

Go in View>Options>Playback>Output>Old Renderer (DirectShow Video)
Leave other options as default.

Eventually assign a shortcut to maximize your applications in full screen view (3/6 etc.. screens).

 

[QuadCoreMax]

- Multiplayer chat pop up box could be avoided
- darab file extension, can't make log export darab <filename> command working ? what file extension does it use ?
- cg x/y/z command doesn't update ingame, can't see any difference when "show carpoints" is enabled

 

[asasinuxp]

How I can use the traffic function(F8 in Tracked)?Some tips,documentation?
Something like this? :

 

[boomer541]

Bug found with blend track. the blend areas are black when time is night and hedlights are on. Needs fixing!

 

[radome]

That is predicted in the blurb about the technique.
"
The only real problem here is that you probably want the kerbs to be bumpmapped, so this example might be more suited for other grass transitions. Also, make sure to use the most prominent texture in the first layer; only that layer will be used while rendering projected lights (which is single-texture only)."

 

[jpenguin]

Mac version here.



BTW-- why is extra image code always appended to my post

 

[QuadCoreMax]

@jpenguin

your image tag needs adjustments

=======================
Some other easy fixes/ideas to implement :

- when we have a model_incar {} + a pilot & looking from the cockpit cam (model=1), the pilot is missing
- more driver sequences (feet, handbrake, other customs)
- more projected lights in car.ini (neon, rear lights when on)
- skid marks on 'drivable' surfaces (the default really needs to be hq)
- disco & heli cam properties access
- script trigger areas in Tracked ? could be cool !