Racer v0.8.36 released

[Ruud]

A good date for an update. ;-)

Racer v0.8.36 is at http://www.mediafire.com/?i6rnbmthb5sr3dh (52Mb)

I'm going to investigate the cameras; the location wasn't right when we modified them relative to the nullpoint, but I seem to have some trouble getting them right in the Lambo. I'm away for a week first though...

The changes:
- Bugfix: script parentheses could cause confusion: 'paint sin($a*0.8)+10 at float[2]{ 50,50 };'
would give numbers between -1..1 instead of 9..11 (priority conflict).
- Bugfix: the camera locations not relative to the nullpoint. This does mean
you should move your camera positions!
- Added 'terminal' console command; this opens an output window. Also added dev.terminal in racer.ini to open it at startup.
See also http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/development.htm . Useful for content development as well; seeing warnings quickly.
- Entering of console commands is now also possible in the menu screen (although not many commands work here).
- Added 'debug <path>' to show a subtree's values live, much like the Ctrl-1 to 9 screens.
- data/cars/default/car.ini contained a differential tree which was not used; now split into 'differential' and 'differentials' (the latter is preferred)
- FMOD upgraded to v4.36.5 (fmodex.dll)
- Added 'reload globalviews' console command to reload data/gui/globalviews.ini
- Added damage parameters to default/car.ini (damage is still very alpha functionality)
- Added views.ini type 'clip' (for example for a filling bar) - currently it stretches the image though
- If a car's view0 was empty, Ctrl-9's second subpage could crash
- Added 'get focus car' script command to retrieve the car in focus (unlike 'get local car' for example)
- 'doc scriptfuncs' now opens the file after creation.
- Pacejka player could not edit 'a0' in Pac96 mode.
- Pressing Ctrl-0 twice would crash
- racer.ini's collision.report_car_track_collision now shows collisions between objects in the console
- DOF_Fix had an endless OpenGL error loop
- Endless roads possible by defining endless.min.x/y/z and endless.max.x/y/z in a track's special.ini
See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/endless_track.htm
- Newton upgraded to v2.34 (newton.dll)
- Movables initial state is now no longer to freeze; this to fix framerate issues (although it's a little slow at the first few frames).
- Added generic model align_axis property, to fix one of the axes of a generic model (to prevent rotations; only 2 endpoints are defined).
This was done for Boomer's IMP car, to keep a suspension model from rotating when moving.
- Added susp<n>.susp_y_change_per_rad (around 0.01 to 0.1) to dynamically move the suspension attachment point for geometric effects.
- Ini.exe would crash when adding a non-existing key
- Added 'show lidar' and 'hide lidar'. High-end laser scanned tracks only (alpha development).
- Added 'lidar movex <v>' plus movey and movez commands to translate Lidar data to match the track.
- Gearwhine sample now also uses jitter (similar to the engine).

Enjoy!

 

[camsinny]

Excellent, thanks Ruud!

Re-modelling the 458 (again) this weekend, hopefully I'll see a nice jump in framerate!

 

[Stereo]

Is the endless track feature going to see future updates, or should we pretty much take it for what it is?

Could also make an alternate garage with it, where the car's driving on an endless straight line.

 

[Alex Forbin]

Cool features Ruud. Any hints about how to get visible damage to work?

Alex Forbin

 

[aadilf1]

Hmmm... Interesting update, Whats the changelog in Newton physics then?

 

[KS95]

Nice to see an update, enjoy your weeks break

 

[boomer541]

Thanks Ruud!
Generic suspension can now make some really interesting suspensions. It works great on the Hillman Imp!

 

[Raphael Buthmann]

The cameras are messed up D:

 

[Cosmo°]

Thanks for the update, Ruud

The framerates seem improved on tracks with movables indeed, that's nice. I can also confirm that most of the bugfixes work, though I haven't managed to test all of them yet.

This susp_y_change_per_rad feature seems a little odd - since it linearly adjust the susp_y point, depending on your value's sign, turning the steering wheel one way rises the body, but lowers it when you steer the other way. I'm assuming the idea was to have it simulate the arc shaped motion (in sideview) due to the steering axis inclination, with the body being in the lowest position at straight ahead and raised position at either lockstop?

If so, what about trackwidth and wheelbase changes? I have to say that I'm not looking forward to having these fiddled in like this as well - the system is getting tedious to set up, while still being restricted to linear changes only... a full 3D coordinate based suspension system would make all the simplified geometry effects obsolete and potentially give us dynamically changing motion ratios etc, on top

 

[camsinny]

Hey Ruud, have there been any changes to the CTR plugin for Max?

EDIT:
Also, with the new clip viewtype, is there any way to snap the values? i.e. say you're using the fuel_normalized var (0..1), can we make it so that it rounds to .125 values?

i.e. in the 458 the fuel gauge has 8 steps from full to empty. It'd be cool if the clip snapped to each box.
Or would that be better to do with the "map", like a stepped graph? It works, but it's clumsy...

 

[Alex Forbin]

Thanks for the update, Ruud

If so, what about trackwidth and wheelbase changes? I have to say that I'm not looking forward to having these fiddled in like this as well - the system is getting tedious to set up, while still being restricted to linear changes only... a full 3D coordinate based suspension system would make all the simplified geometry effects obsolete and potentially give us dynamically changing motion ratios etc, on top

+10 here! I agree the suspension would definitely be better as a full 3d system. I think the physics are good enough now that it would make a noticeable difference.

Alex Forbin

 

[Mr Whippy]

I think lots of these additions confuse matters too.

For instance, camber with steer is currently set due to the influence of both kpi and castor, so adding this latest variable means we are almost fully setting up the front wheel suspension in 3D just to check what the values are at the extents of the steering ranges to then get these single linear values to then input into the car.ini...

We then ALSO have to set the kinematic trail manually from the values above (use castor angle and wheel rolling radius to calculate it), and THEN we also have to input the scrub radius value manually to get the Mz values changing appropriately.


I'm feeling that having a proper 3d system would be much easier now, and more accurate!

That way we can also tie 3d models to the different physics parts of the suspension too, which should make some people happy



By all means add these features, but they are getting to the point where an author that goes to the lengths to get good figures for them, they are actually needing to get data that surpasses what Racer can use, just to back-calculate simple linear values.

Curves would be better, but then authoring is even more complex!

3D systems just seem lots better, I guess that is why rFactor implemented that method all those years ago. It just makes sense beyond a certain point!


Dave

 

[twister77]

Racer v0.8.36, sound broken in Linux (Ubuntu) with Wine 1.3.31

 

[Alex Forbin]

The camera offset still seems to be broken. If you turn the car from left to right you will notice that the camera moves in an arc around the centerpoint of the car and ignores the x offset entirely.

Alex Forbin

 

[radome]

Racer v0.8.36, sound broken in Linux (Ubuntu) with Wine 1.3.31

Could it be a conflicting fmod shareable object? Maybe if you have a script to merge new releases it didn't include the new fmodex.dll?

This is not to imply that I've had success. I haven't tried it.

 

[Alex Forbin]

Racer v0.8.36, sound broken in Linux (Ubuntu) with Wine 1.3.31

My sound starts out very low, if I reload the car through the console it comes back up. If the car is reset it can lose the sound entirely, although not always.

Alex Forbin

 

[Harey]

The camera offset still seems to be broken. If you turn the car from left to right you will notice that the camera moves in an arc around the centerpoint of the car and ignores the x offset entirely.

Alex Forbin

I noticed this as well, as some of my cars don't have a good driving view yet preset, so they arc around when you turn, even when you go or stop it seems to do this a little as well.

 

[Alex Forbin]

Thanks for the confirmation Harey.

Alex Forbin

 

[johnthelemon]

Still can't connect to the lobby, it says the same thing, that I need at least 0.8.7
If anybody can check this, I'll appreciate it. No need to start a network game, just enter the lobby and see if it connects.

 

[DavidI]

Still can't connect to the lobby, it says the same thing, that I need at least 0.8.7
If anybody can check this, I'll appreciate it. No need to start a network game, just enter the lobby and see if it connects.

Same here, it says I need 0.8.7.