Racer v0.8.37 released

Ruud

RACER Developer
Just in time for X-mas. ;)

Get the new version at http://www.mediafire.com/?hc44aiq5izp4iqi
Then get the racer.exe/pdb which fixes reflections at www.racer.nl/temp/racer0838_alpha.7z

At some point we're going to have to call it v0.9rc1, since this one does a little tweaking to the graphics intensities (energy conserving) and sets cast_shadow to 0 by default. Most shadows will disappear; a huge fps boost until you put shadows back in shader files (.shd).

Merry Christmas!
Ruud

The changelist for v0.8.37:
- Added views.ini keep_aspect property to maintain aspect ratio for static images. See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/dials.htm
- dyn_standard_reflect_window_f.cg now uses alpha as reflectiveness as well; opaque parts get less reflection
- TrackEd's AutoAseToDof has improved error messages on bad submaterial usage.
- TrackEd: some (progress) dialogs never appeared. Copy flags to group didn't work.
- TrackEd now colorizes the Collide and Surface flags in Props mode (F4) for easy tweaking of flags.
- standard_bump_detail_f.cg had a hardcoded 12x scale; now it uses the scale defined in the .shd file
- The garage track is not shown in the 'Select Track' screen anymore.
- Added log.events.host/port settings for remote racer tracking (niche usage).
- Lidar data (track.rld files) can now be sorted and driven on. Pro use only.
- Added car pitch/roll in body AND world coordinates in the Ctrl-9 debug screen.
- Added 'analyse shaders' command to check all shaders (track.shd/car.shd).
- The shaders default 'reflect' value for each layer is now 0 (was 1).
- Final tweaks in the shading system; energy conservation for diffuse and specular. For diffuse colors, this
means diffuse colors are divided by PI (assuming diffuse colors are kept between 0 and 1), and specular
colors are being corrected with (n+6)/8*PI.
See also http://www.rorydriscoll.com/2009/01/25/energy-conservation-in-games/
- Timers are now in microsecond accuracy using QueryPerformanceTimer(). Multicore machine issues?
- Profiling is more accurate due to the better timer accuracy. More graphics divisions added.
- Shader cast_shadow property by default is now 0; it's better to explicitly define shadow-casting materials
since you don't need a lot of shaders to cast shadows to still get a good image.
You *will* need to add cast_shadow=1 lines for shaders that you want to cast shadows.
- Depth texture setup optimized for shadowmapping; quite a big fps increase.
- Added look/left right controls (look_left, look_right) to dynamically look left or right (Q/W by default)
- In your controller file you can add global.left_right_look_velocity to set left/right look velocity (default=250)
- In your controller file you can add global.left_right_look_max to set the max left/right look angle (default=45)
 
Not all car shaders will potentially need shadow casting though.

It does make some sense to default it to 0 to force authors to think which shaders NEED shadows, but once again, authors who don't already exclude shaders they don't need from shadow casting might just add shadow casting to all shaders by default again hehe...

Ammonds, are you getting reflection maps on your cars? So far many of us are not getting car reflections in 0.8.37, but you are saying cars look better!?

Dave
 
No reflections here either, wonder if it's related to the qlog error I get, same as Boomer posted (typically!). Tried old style envmap, render once, render once a frame & different side options, no reflections.
Rearview mirror works though
 
hmm...noticed this too...FBO??

Code:
Sat Dec 24 15:01:44 (ERR ): [racer/608] DFBOTexture ctor: OpenGL error (1282): Der Vorgang ist ungültig.
Sat Dec 24 15:02:10 (ERR ): [racer/608] DBitmapTexture:FromBitMap(): OpenGL error (1282): Der Vorgang ist ungültig.

...and what is this tcam error?

Code:
Sat Dec 24 11:58:13 (WARN): [racer/6620] tcam.cam0.radius is 0; your camera MUST have a radius; correcting to 10
Sat Dec 24 11:58:13 (WARN): [racer/6620] tcam.cam0.zoom_edge may not be 0; correcting to 10
Sat Dec 24 11:58:13 (WARN): [racer/6620] tcam.cam0.zoom_close may not be 0; correcting to 10
Sat Dec 24 11:58:13 (WARN): [racer/6620] tcam.cam0.zoom_far may not be 0; correcting to 10

...still no reflections...:mad:
 
Thanks for the new version Ruud, I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get coal this year for Christmas.

Same here, reflections are broken, I'm guessing an OpenGL problem since I've even tried my old shaders and they don't work either...
Sat Dec 24 15:52:30 (ERR ): [racer/3208] DFBOTexture ctor: OpenGL error (1282): invalid operation

Sound bug has not changed, the sound is appx. 1/8 what it should be until I pause the game, either through pause, replay or the reload car command in the console.

I was really hoping for some camera script functions this time.
The left/right view doesn't work here either.

I agree with adding the explicit shadow option, it's a good optimization option to have.
An odd thing about the shadows, with NO shadows my framerate is 20fps FASTER than with. Wierd.:confused:

Merry Christmas!
Alex Forbin
 
Alex Knoll, That second error is on Roggel and it is an error in the camera section of the special.ini file. I posted the fix in the track thread.

trired all cobinations of shadow nad shadow_mapping, 00, 01, 10 and 11. Get no shadows or Glog error except for shadow=1, shadow_mapping=0 which is a transparent car shadow only. With 300 cars/tracks it is going to be a lot of work to get shadows again which add a lot to the realism.

Will have to try Alex Forbins no shadows and see if I get faster fram rate.
 
Alex Knoll, That second error is on Roggel and it is an error in the camera section of the special.ini file. I posted the fix in the track thread.

trired all cobinations of shadow nad shadow_mapping, 00, 01, 10 and 11. Get no shadows or Glog error except for shadow=1, shadow_mapping=0 which is a transparent car shadow only. With 300 cars/tracks it is going to be a lot of work to get shadows again which add a lot to the realism.

Will have to try Alex Forbins no shadows and see if I get faster fram rate.
Bob, not only on Roggel! It's close to ALL Tracks....
 
No No No guys, that shadows shader option, IMHO, should be automatically handled as well by the Cg + source code, we want most stuff running "DYNAMICALLY"...we want Racer to become smarter & quicker to work with & NOT THE INVERSE !

This shadow feature should be DELETED !!!

Also, as showed in the OFF TOPIC thread, what about other engines types, please Ruud & Mitch, consider it, like H2, electrical or even air compressed engines could be implemented & bring people to think differently...

You know exactly what I'm talking about :)
 
No No No guys, that shadows shader option, IMHO, should be automatically handled as well by the Cg + source code, we want most stuff running "DYNAMICALLY"...we want Racer to become smarter & quicker to work with & NOT THE INVERSE !

What did you have in mind, rather what do you mean they (shadows) should be done automatically in the shader code?

Also has ANYONE been able the get reflections working yet? I can't believe such an obvious bug made it to a release.

Alex Forbin
 
imo i think that the shadow, should be coded in, so your not spending half your time, working out how to do the shadows..maybe i';m just lazy..or i a little daft lol

reflections, no they arent working,
 
world racing 2, had it's own damage and shadows engine, i'm not sure how they did it, because i'm not a programmer, but i'm sure someone out there who is waaaaaay smarter than i am lol (insert sarcasm here haha) will work it out and make everyones life easier lol...i just come up with the ideas, you guys do the creating lol,..i'm sure ruud, would have some idea on how to do this..it would also alleviate the need for "shd" as well..that could be done away with..but hey it's just an idea...

reflections yep all good...cheers
 
I wish Ruud would just implement a feature where you just scan in a photo of the car & track u want to drive and presto! you're in it. Even better, how about just reading the scene from your mind?

(second thought, mind reading wouldn;t be that good, mosta u guys would just end up driving a pair of breasts around pimpville central) [/sarcasm]
 
Lol not sure how to answer that, with wr2 we had a small app called mtkit, we would set transparency and reflections in that, maybe ruud could build something like that,vdamage was a basic 100poly box, formed around the shape of the car...
 

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