Racer v0.9.0 RC6 Released

[Ruud]

It's been too long... Now the new version is at www.racer.nl/dl_beta_win.htm

I'm working on stereoscopic rendering; with Quadro's this is relatively easy, on Geforce not so much, but I've read that driver 314.07 supports it suddenly out of the box?! There should be an Oculus Rift on its way soon (these next few months?) so that should be fun.

The changelist:

- Fixed Tracked white menu background
- Camera toggling (with the C key) had an extra mode that should not be there (this was an entity mode)
- Fixed bug in shadows_f.cg full screen shader.
- dbg_car.flip_tan option removed from racer.ini.
- Fixed audio pitch bending frequency to use the original frequency of the loaded sample, instead of the audio engine output frequency.
This could lead to incorrect pitch shifts for example with samples that were stored in 48kHz but played back at 44.1kHz.
- Added warnings for missing LOD models (which could cause disappearing models when generating the shadow maps)
- Modified scaling of racer.ini's dbg_controls.throttle/brakes/clutch/steer to use normalized values (0..1) rather than 0..1000
- Added filtering around wheel (tire) forces; a 2nd order Fz Pacejka input filter (fz_filter_frequency/fz_filter_damping)
and a 1st order Fy (lateral) Pacejka out filter (fy_filter_frequency). Both in data/cars/default/car.ini.
- Also added a 1st order Fx (longitudinal) Pacejka output filter (fx_filter_frequency).
These are useful when dealing with high-fidelity surface data (Lidar or high-frequency road artificial noise)
to prevent very spiky lat/lon accelerations (giving unrealistic grip loss).
- Added dev.opengl_checks to check lots of times for OpenGL errors.
- Added dev.run_first to be able to start a command (like a batch file) before starting Racer.
- Added audio options in car.ini; understeer_oversteer (experimental) and damper sounds. See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/car_sounds.htm
- Added spline.ini option lines.lateral_divisions to tesselate the spline laterally. This highly improves cambered curves in the road. Values around 6-20.
- Fixed panorama_f.cg shader to light up the texture (would quickly become either black or whitish, never showing the texture image itself).
- Added rtd2ascii.exe tool to convert binary RTD (telemetry) files to ASCII.
- Added fmod() and abs() functions to Onyx, next to improved error/crash reporting.
- Onyx now requires all code to be defined in functions. For independent running of Onyx scripts (onyx_run.exe), you'll need to create a 'void main()' function.
- Added friction_circle_method 10 (similarity model/Marno Hopmans variant) which accepts per-wheel lyka and lxal tuning parameters.
(wheel<n>.pacejka.lyka and wheel<n>.pacejka.lxal). These define Fy influence on slipratio (ka=kappa=slipratio) and Fx influence
of Fx on slip angle (al=alpha=slip angle). Normally you'd use values lower than 1 (and larger than 0) for these lambdas.
- friction_circle_method can be overruled per-wheel (so per-car) under wheel<n>.friction_circle_method.
- Removed dbg_car.use_slip2fc option (obsolete).
- Revised the rendering path to be able to override the main FBO's size. This for surround rendering with split rendering for all 3 screens.
See also www.racer.nl/tutorial/surround_rendering.htm
Current issues: Z-buffer is shifted between split screens (screenCenter uses screenLeft's depth buffer).
- Added quad-buffered stereo support (see racer.ini:resolution.stereo.quad_buffered). nVidia Quadro only currently; 3D Vision may follow for Geforce cards.
See also www.racer.nl/tutorial/stereoscopic.htm
- Added 'vsync <n>' command to set vsync live.
- Autoexposure data/renderer/fullscreen_shaders_hdr/luminance_downsample_f.cg now detects NaN onscreen to avoid exposure spikes.
- nvidia_perf_path added in racer.ini, which needs to point to nVidia's PerfKit DLL. See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/profiling.htm
- Motion blur taken out for the moment by default.

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RC5 Buglist:

- Gearbox shift times not working properly, step from 0 > 1 clutch position over the time rather than smooth linear transition.
- Water reflection not rendering, needs clarification on functionality.
- Qlog discrepancies (I'll let Boomer clarify those).
- Odd console readouts about tyre slip angles or something popping up (same goes for gearbox manual/auto setting, doesn't need to be console displayed imo)
- PerfSDK not working as advertised, broken?
- Multiplayer joining to IP's seems glitched, the person joining has their brake stuck on and are unable to shift
- The Multiplayer Lobby does not let you connect, and subsequently let you host, despite the right ports being forwarded. (Anyone else experiencing this bug?)
- The particles pop-out of existence at the end of their specified lifetime instead of fading away smoothly. It would be nice to have some better control over the fade-in and out over the lifetime of the particle since tiresmoke starts out thick and opaque then disperses and becomes more transparent over time, while gravel or dirt fades in a bit at first then eventually fades away.
- Smoke flickers in the reflections, as though it's missing every other frame.
- Replay bugs: No smoke effects, ghost car is left on track.
- The starter sound plays all the way to the end of the sample instead of stopping when you let off the starter.
- Ghost doesn't work on endless tracks.
- track special.ini: timeline.point_to_point=1, timeline.auto_return=0 - The auto_return setting doesn't seem to work here. I have a point to point track and the car resets 3000ms (3s) after crossing the finishing line, but I don't want it to.
- No reflection in the Racer garage when selecting a car.
- The unsprung weight apparently applies a downforce, try making a 150kg rear axle with the front suspension lighter and the car will act as though it has high downforce when jumping off of a ramp.
- If the wipers are set to rotate in opposite directions then the intermittent position does not rotate back and forth smoothly. It snaps back.
- In RC5c at least, the camera bug is still evident, and on Carlswood (spline based cameras) you can often get stuck so you can't get back to the in-car camera view which is really annoying! - Courtesy of Dave

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The Buglist (currently known specific to RC6):

• Try going in reverse, the front brakes appear to lock. After further examination it looks like in reverse the rear tires will lose traction completely if they spin at all. Alex Forbin
• Brakes on, car pointed downhill, car creeps forward and to right. Boomer541
• The physics are screwed up, just try to drive the Baja on the Cloverleaf Highway track and compare with ver090RC5. Try the Lambo also. Details & Details 2 Boomer541
• Problems with surfaces as the water in my Surfaces and sounds track makes the car float up/down. The water under the bridge flickers which appears to indicate a problem with textures. Boomer541
• Carlswood has flickers on the tirewall tops. Boomer541
• Cars wheels go above/below the surface and can make violent bounces. Boomer541
• There are NO skid marks generated. Boomer541
• Freezing my system, forcing a hard reset.The freezing even prevents qlog from leaving any hints as to what is going on. More info in post. Cosmo°
• Physics issues, see post. Chronus
• At night, everything has a red tint to it, can also be noticed during the day on the darker parts of the track or car. Harey (due to nVidia drivers?)
• Reverse doesn't work right, seems you have to slip the clutch to get it to go in reverse otherwise you just spin your tires and sit there. Harey
• Can't run strict=1, can't check car/track for errors!!! Boomer541 post
• When trying to use tracked to check key cameras the only yellow track section that appears is with the first camera (On carlswood). the p-key does nothing and the splines are different than on ver 090 RC3. Boomer541
• The three speed wipers Don't do three speeds. pos 1 - off, pos 2 - nothing (S/B intermitant.), pos 3 - normal sppe, pos 4- fast speed. Boomer541
• In a replay if you use the console you can't send a console command because the enter key has turned into a slow-mo toggle. This means as soon as you use the console in a replay, you are stuck and need to close Racer a 'messy' way. Ie, escape key no longer exits the race. Mr Whippy
• Multiplayer broken!

 

[Mr Whippy]

Speaking of reverb, speaking of reverb... yeah I think it broke in another recent version too, but can't be sure.

The last few versions have been really variable in what works and what doesn't.

I'm still on RC5c here and have been for a long while... fingers crossed for a solid version that at least fixes all the stuff that wasn't broken before, and looks at making the newer features at least a bit reliable

Dave

 

[boomer541]

I'll second that Mr. Whippy!

 

[GizmoPower]

Multiplayer not working. Car on server ok! But client car dosent move at all.

 

[GizmoPower]

Sorry. That was in RC5
RC6 dosent even want to load when joining multiplayer

 

[Alexander Knoll]

have you tried it with hamachi? i had it working for me and my son....not verry well but..it works...

 

[GizmoPower]

No, never tried that.
It´s been a while since I have played around with Racer

 

[Alexander Knoll]

btw...THX for the server! will see if i get some laps...

 

[Minion3425]

Multiplayer not working. Car on server ok! But client car dosent move at all.

Multiplayer does indeed work, but the person who hosts has to set expected_cars= value in the racer.ini to the number of cars connecting. So if its just you and one friends playing set expected_cars=2; if its you and two friends set expected_cars=3 etc.

You'll be sitting at a black screen with the console spamming you info until everyone connects, then it will start as usual. Sometimes it bugs out and if that is the case just have everyone restart racer. Then try again, works fine for me and my friends

 

[Stereo]

In RC5 you need to restart the race (shift+R) to give client cars the countdown. I haven't found a racer.ini setting to fix it except as above, expecting a certain number of players.