BTB Pro 0.8.9.1 Beta

Brendon Pywell · Jun 17, 2011

Any current BTB Pro user wishing to help test the latest release, please follow this link.

http://www.bobstrackbuilder.net/pro_users/beta_test.aspx

Please give feedback into this thread rather than emailing/PMing me.

The licenses for this Beta release are now being generated daily.

The main new features are:

3d window now renders the Add/Bump/Specular materials so what you see in BTB will be very close to what you get in game.
More advanced materials blending and editing.
Reload textures by pressing F5. This allows you to edit a background image in one application, save it, then load the changes into BTB without having to reload the entire project.
Global smoothing of track and terrain. This removes the sharp edges that form between the track and terrain, or between adjoining terrain areas.

Let me know how you go.

RBR Installation

This install uses newer shaders so RBR needs to be updated. Copy the following files and folders from BTB into your Richard Burns Rally folder, and overwrite if prompted.

BTB\Support\RBR\Plugins
BTB\Support\RBR\RX_CONTENT
BTB\Support\RBR\d3dx9_35.dll

Bugs Fixed for release 0.8.9.1:
- Blend Background image not selected in combo box when re-opening the surfaces window. This causes other crashes if not reselected.
- Changing blend type in the surfaces/wall window not working.
- When blend type is background, confusing left/right/foward/backward options to be disabled.
- Wall blend rotate not working.
- Fix bug that allows you to delete the background image even when it is used in materials as a blend image.
- Fix when background image is moved, surface and walls that use them as a blend image are not immediately recalculated.
- Allow scale/offset when blend is Globally mapped.

To Do:
- Look At/Fix RBR specular export.
- Fix AIW path so with is limited to drivable track surface.

UPDATE: 28 April 2013

I am back working on this once again (finally) but I have numerous hurdles to overcome. Old PC died, so I now work on a laptop and need to reloading all development software. The good news, it's a Win 7 64 bit laptop so next version of BTB will HAVE to work on Win 7. The bad news, I have to install new versions of the development software and possibly make changes to the code - this will take time and I've no idea how much.

marcobost · Dec 2, 2011

I'm sure that here we have few people that know Brendon very well and personally... i.e. look at someone that builded Easter Creek Laser few years ago... but if no one answer... I can only say that now only a few people are educated. In fact, to answer to a question, in general, first of all means to be educated... I'm sorry for my way to explain my ideas, due to a poor knowledge of English, but I think that this general concept is enough clear.
I.e., I'm developing the G.I.D. Plugin for rFactor together the main author Max "Fazerbox" and I receive tens of emails everyday, where people ask for any kind of info and I spend hours to answer to all people... FOR FREE!

marcobost · Dec 3, 2011

It runs again, thank Brendon!

Alberto Montanari · Dec 3, 2011

thanks Brandon !!!!

Davesta · Dec 3, 2011

Thanks Brendon!

I've donated $20, will happily donate more when the beta is released with an automatically updating license.

Alberto Montanari · Dec 3, 2011

where is it possibile donate ?

marcobost · Dec 3, 2011

go to his website, login and the button PayPal will appear...

RichardHessels · Dec 6, 2011

Thanks Brendon!

To everybody who uses this great tool for so many hours but did not pay for it yet. Please do!!

Simracing would be a lot less exiting without this great piece of software!!!

Hopefully the new license will be available in a month from now.
Otherwise this frustration starts all over again.

gazzari · Dec 11, 2011

Testing great so far. Global/Per Meter/Panel is a great change, but still not powerful enough as you cannot rotate a texture in a global material.
This picture shows what would be a really powerful feature. Lawn mowers dont change width when cutting, Tarmac machines dont change width when a narrow section of road is reached. Being able to have textures stay parallel while the geometry is converging would be a dream.
Ideal has been photoshopped!

liquido · Dec 16, 2011

Hi every, today I want to show some bugs and in the other hand, some tools of the new BETA 0.8.9.1

I´m working on Windows 7 32bit home edition. GPU = nvidia 8800gt

Firts the bugs:

1. Flying objects after minimize BTB (but you can save the proyect and everything is OK, like before)

2. green spectacular on RBR, hope you find the solution....

3. masive terrain modification goes wrong ( BTB takes a lot of time to make the modification on terrain, you can get not response on your SO and finally BTB crash, but this Beta works better than last one.

Great Tool - track blend.

Images are 1000 times better than words to explain that.... great work Brendom!!

BTB goes better and better in each update, hope Brendom find the key to solve the green spectacular bug, any way RBR looks great without spectacular maps as you can see in the track blend example.... you can use the blend to simulate shadows over the track and it looks really nice.

This Beta works better than firts one talking about to load new textures on materials inside BTB, no problems until now and I have done a lot modifications to test it.

No problems on track blend and surface materials, every thing works fine runing the same proyect that crash with the firts Beta 0.8.9.0

It is not a bug but when you are editing large objets with the rotate tool, it is still less precise than you need, the problem is the same as before.... (I remeber that someone said it before... maybe Davesta) when you finish and go to other tool, the selected object make a little change on the same direction that you did, and it becomes a problem ehwn you are working with large objects.

cheers.

liquido · Dec 19, 2011

Hi again, I got some troubles after replace some materials from a track... in BTB I can see the changes and everything is OK, but when I export to Rfactor or RBR I got diferent things, some missing materials and features like fit nealty in surface materials seems to be ignored.

In example I show you the BTB proyect :

and this is what I have in Rfactor

marcobost · Jan 3, 2012

once again the automatic system for the monthly renewal has locked. No words at this point... I suppose that it must work alone if "automatic"...
And, with the very closed release of rF2, I hope that Brendon will take in mind to spend some time on developing the new export features.
As we all said so many time to annoying, we are ready to pay the new version, if stable and updated for the main features that still not working, but if the author doesn't care for it... we stay in the "Limbo"

Erwin Greven · Jan 3, 2012

This complaining thing gets annoying too. Maybe you should look in your http://www.bobstrackbuilder.net/pro_users/license.aspx page.

marcobost · Jan 4, 2012

maybe you must see the right page... and maybe you will see that after 30 days of use, there is no way to reactivate the beta license... once again. In the past (first 3 months) the system worked fine, then last month only after several notices about it Brendon reactivated the system and now, again it doesn't work.
This is a fact... your link is related to the current version and here we are speaking about the beta, like the thread says.

http://www.bobstrackbuilder.net/pro_users/beta_test_download.aspx

gwaldock · Jan 4, 2012

I think you are missing the point of Erwin Greven's post; "This complaining thing gets annoying too" means that redundantly negative comments about BobsTrackBuilder's licensing system are wearing thin on some of us. I cannot speak for others but (because I have owned multiple copies of BTB Pro since 2007, I bought a copy of BTB Evo immediately after the launch of Brendon's beta in June 2011 and I have used every version of the beta that Brendon has been kind enough to share with our community) I can assure you and any other doubters that BRENDON HAS NEVER FAILED TO REACTIVATE THE LICENSE of any version of BTB within 24 hours. I cannot explain the (seemingly constant) problems that you have encountered but, while I sympathize with your misfortune, I feel that it is necessary for someone to present a counterpoint to your opinion / comments. BTB is an excellent program, his licensing system has always worked flawlessly (for me) and Brendon's GIFT of an open beta only increases it's value. Anyone who does not wish to accept the terms of a monthly license renewal should not build projects with the (FREE) beta and should not harass its creator.

That said, Happy New Year!

marcobost · Jan 5, 2012

Thank you gwaldock for your comment. For sure is my poor English that doesn't give me the chance to be understood.
I never complained the licence system and I never had any kind of problem in the past years, as well as I used BTB under Vista and 7 64 bit encouraging people to use it, because of it works fine under those OSs with some advices.
I was also contacted by Brendon more than 2 years ago to test the BTB under Vista 64bit (I stored tens and tens of tech emails about it if you can believe to me), but it was the time Brendon worked on his project. All we know what happened at the end of 2009.
I'm saying that just to clarify that I always was and I'm still am on Brendon's side!
I pushed in the past and I'm still pushing now to find the way to have new versions of BTB and hoping Brendon will find the motivations to go ahed to develop his jewel. I think that for Brendon is not only a financial trouble the BTB "affair", but one of the way this community could follow is to ask Brendon for paying the new version(s) of BTB. Few dollars for a software like BTB and for all the hours of happyness that give us (me, at least) has no price.
I hope to be well understood in my feelings also if my English is not correct.

As I said I never was in troubles with the licence system, since the end of november, where the beta licence system failed. It means that when I went to the page where I have to send the ID file, the page still showed to download the old (expired) licence. After several emails to Brendon it made the system working again, so every people that had the expired licence was able to download the new one.
We know that the beta licence expires in 30 days, so every 30 days you must go to that page, resend the ID and download the new licence... but again the page shows the old licence and there is no way to send the ID file.

Is not my intention to annoy anyone with this discussion, but it is a fact. I repeat that I always received the licence for the 0.8.0.3 every time in time (as you said at least within 24 hours), that I would like to find a way to say "thank you Brendon", but at the same time I must notice that the beta licence system (that works in a different way) once again doesn't work.

Excuse me gwaldock and all other people if I seem not enough clear, or if I seem not educate, but it isn't my intention, for true!

gwaldock · Jan 6, 2012

Thank you for your explanation marcobost. Its all good; you and I simply see things a little differently.

As you stated, your comments are intended to be motivational, constructive criticism for Brendon's benefit while I feel that he simply needs to be left in peace while he sorts things and can possibly reconnect with the fun and joy that he once derived from BTB. As far as I know, I was one of the first people to purchase BTB and, as I recall,Brendon stated very clearly that it was a "work in progress" and a labor of love. In other words; Brendon devoted countless hours to the creation and evolution of BTB BECAUSE HE WAS HAVING FUN DOING IT! It seems to me that everything changed when he began to take things too seriously and attempted to morph BTB into what other people told him it should be. Eventually, any remaining pleasure that BTB may have brought him was probably destroyed when some worthless, unmitigated *SSHOLE cracked BTB and then distributed it publicly (which precipitated the adoption of the draconian licensing system employed by Brendon ever since).

Maybe I am missing something but I can see no happiness (or benefit) to be gained from being pressured, berated, threatened or harangued by online postings and emails and I suspect that Brendon has not seen it either. I hold him blameless for retreating from people who feel that they are entitled to dictate / suggest what is to be done to "improve" his remarkable program and how it is to be licensed to them.