Improvement Suggestions

[Brendon Pywell]

I don't know everything so if you have thought of a brilliant idea, then let me here about it.

I value everyone's opinion but please don't feel too bad if your idea doesn't make it into BTB. Ease of design, speed, development time, priorities and game engine abilities all need to be considered when I mark out what's in the next release. I already have over seven pages of features I want to add to BTB so perhaps yours is already on there. I won't be listing it here as I don't want to influence your fresh thoughts, and nor do I wish to raise false hope. I only like to list things I know I can deliver.

Please don't post your same idea over and over again. No ones opinion is more important than anyone elses.

 

[Davesta]

A suggestion for the camera tool:

Would there be a way of making the activation zones different shapes rather than just spheres? At the moment it can be quite tricky to add good cameras to tight tracks.

 

[buckets]

A suggestion for the camera tool:

Would there be a way of making the activation zones different shapes rather than just spheres? At the moment it can be quite tricky to add good cameras to tight tracks.

Thats how they 'work' in rFactor.

 

[svenieshoarma]

X-Y-Z

Is there a way to see the coordinates (x-y-z) in the 3dView? Then one can place objects on the exact spot. In all the other views you are able to do what the coordinates are...

 

[eno72]

terrain panels

Presently the terrain tools are very effective, but I find really limiting the fact that you can add only up to 4 panels per side. When making large areas it would be nice to have a few more (in v0.5 this was possible).

 

[jay_p_666]

Eno72 ... so I'm not the only one who think this !

I already made a suggestion about that. 4 panels is enough, but what we need is a box to type how much row (sections) of polys each panel use on width...I attached picture on page 2 of this thread.

 

[woochoo]

I find in 3D view the fence node 'balls' get in the way of moving the fence nodes in precision situations. it would be cool if we could change their display settings like size and transparency or have them change automatically depending on the current zoom level. the same probably applies to object nodes as well.

selection of multiple fence nodes for moving/copying rather than all or none.

On cameras, i don't think BTB sets the default 'orientation', so when you press 'end' and scroll through the trackside cameras they aren't all pointing at the track but generally off into the wilderness somewhere. otherwise i think the cameras are pretty ace.

 

[woochoo]

here is another user-friendly suggestion.
a button or automatic function where the materials are given their existing name on import of a .3ds in xpacker. i've used the .dae format and they seem to carry it themselves, but for some reason .dae has given me errors the last two times i've tried, so i've gone back to .3ds.

 

[jay_p_666]

Call it like you want, a function to copy/clone/duplicate a track by holding C when moving track selected nodes. This option is badly missing for me.

 

[Ghoults]

Here's one more from me:

Could the control points for the walls and objects be made clearer and bigger? I mean, when dealing with longish treewalls and such the control points are sometimes very hard to see due to their small size and hard-to-spot color. Also the control points that control the curvature of the walls (the pink ones) are sometimes hard to find because they blend into the terrain too well.

 

[jay_p_666]

Sometimes you need also smaller control points, that depends from the object you have.

Every situation is different.

 

[woochoo]

the ability to select polygons by matierial. this would help finding and eliminating both lost polygons from the mesh and lost materials from the materials list.

finer degrees of rotation for objects, maybe have a 'wide/narrow' toggle. probaly more relevent to larger objects.

someone else mentioned earlier about having the tool boxes as a tool bar, so when you select a tool, it appears in a bar below or next to the existing bar. the boxes do often get in the way and when you minimise btb the boxes stay up front. user selectable docking?

 

[woochoo]

select locations for track loading images

direct access to appropriate variables in the text files like:
grip, bump etc in tdf
fog in scn
prac, qual, race times, north direction, lat/long, sun colours, lap records etc in gdb

 

[still_bacon]

1. We need a change that would make it a seamless transition between tracks using some stitching option similar to the current terrain anchor merge function. (poly/vertex welding). Either that or the ability to select a node as a starting point, and create a sub track (like Pit lane or a run off area) that is part of the main track.

2. The ability to select a point in an edit window (like walls or track section) and type the x,y figures manually and have them resized to the tracks current measurements (eg make a wall node 1.5m high by 0.3m from the centre). Currently, we drag and place the points, but for speed and accuracy, typing would be better.

 

[zaxxon]

Keep the text file and give error debugging info

One of the most important features of BTB is the posibility of changing values directly on the Venue.xml file. Do not change that. If the file is going to be saved binary format may be it would be quickier, but it would be a step back in my opinion. BTB would lose interest for me.

Sometimes the track does not work on the RBR game, and we have no info about what the problem was. This is really disappointing: after hours of hard work the track is useless and we do not have even a hint of what the problem is.

Thank you

 

[42Cliff]

a nice feature would be a option to set the grade of a road segment.

 

[jharro]

Sometimes the track does not work on the RBR game, and we have no info about what the problem was. This is really disappointing: after hours of hard work the track is useless and we do not have even a hint of what the problem is.
Thank you

about RBR bugs/crashes, you do have the log file in temp folder, the crash dump file and ultimately you have a forum where you can upload your problematic track and ask for help.
if you don't ask for help and you don't let us know you've had a problem how can we even try to find and fix the errror? so you see works both ways, but you're still right about one thing, the rbr plug could use better error checking and we're working on it.

 

[ThreeDays]

This is probably going to sound like a noobie comment, but, since that's what I am, just bear with me for a second (but brace yourselves! ).

How about an AIW editing tool? The camera tool is great, and the lights are coming in 0.7, so the AIW would be a logical step, methinks.

And how about the possibility of adding the terrain before the track? I find it a bit of a hassle sometimes to edit the terrain around the track because all the nodes start moving around. Maybe it's just lack of practice, but I'd thought about this several times before reading this post. Just create the terrain and then move the track around without affecting the surrounding terrain. Someone mentioned a similar idea in a previous post, but it involved importing elevation data from another program.

Finally, a user guide, please!

 

[zaxxon]

about RBR bugs/crashes, you do have the log file in temp folder, the crash dump file and ultimately you have a forum where you can upload your problematic track and ask for help.
if you don't ask for help and you don't let us know you've had a problem how can we even try to find and fix the errror? so you see works both ways, but you're still right about one thing, the rbr plug could use better error checking and we're working on it.

You are right: I can ask in the forum.
I knew there was a log in the temp directory, but with no useful information on crashes. Everything seemed right.
¿Where is the crash dump file?
I was not critisizing: BTB is phantastic. I just pointed out two things that are important for me.
If you are working on BTB you are doing a great job.

 

[chub_pearson]

How about an AIW editing tool? The camera tool is great, and the lights are coming in 0.7, so the AIW would be a logical step, methinks.

I'm not sure this could be done in BTB as you need to drive the car to set the waypoints, especially with the fast line. But you never know where Brendon is concerned!

The ISI editor looks frightening, but it's quite easy to use once you get the hang of it.

 

[Steppenwolf]

Not related to the editor itself but to the license system:

I think you should rethink that draconic system. I know i should have read the small printed stuff before i made the purchase but its easy to miss... Only found out afterwards that the license is for one PC only. Well this sucks because i work on my track at work during breaks and also at home. In other words i have to buy another license for my PC at work. That pisses me off quite frankly, even rFactor itself with its 5 activations allows me to install it on two PC's.

The allowed hardware change only once every couple of months is a pain in the ass too. My work PC gets updated quite often (i work in the video game industry), so when my boss decides that i should get a new CPU i cant run the track builder for around 2 months in the worst case? Thats really stupid, way worse then the worst DRM that i ever have heard of.

Don't know why you have to be so extremely paranoid about pirates for your niche product. I'm sure the people who appreciate this program will be happy to pay for it anyway. The great editor and being able to download additional content was reason enough for me to to pay for it.

You should really allow at least two licenses per user. For the people who have to change hardware and the people like me who want to work on their tracks from two different places.