Racer v0.9.0 RC5 released

Ruud

RACER Developer
Get it at http://www.mediafire.com/file/zdn8i0kntl3h579/racer0.9.0_rc5b.7z
[URL edited at 16-11-2012, 17:07 for some bugfixes]
Get a racer.exe/pdb bugfix at from http://www.mediafire.com/file/ny6a8gju5oaracb/racer090rc5c_exe.7z (which fixes that braking with locked wheels would give extra force instead of less).

A note about the audio: a bit more is planned to add to audio. Mainly an extra 'noise' sounds for each surface when going off the AI line. Then there's also an idea to use understeer & oversteer values to select samples, instead of taking skid values per wheel, since understeer sounds different from oversteer. Experimental a bit though.

Enjoy!
Ruud

Changelist:
- Ctrl-I now inverts debug readout colors (it used to roll through the debug readout views)
- Onyx compiler improved with bugfixes, type-casting.
- Onyx pointers (hm).
- Onyx now supports float const ('const float x=0.5'), while, for and do-while.
- Onyx supports basic yielding of scripts (coroutines, triggered each frame).
- Onyx internal function abs(), sqrt() added.
- A default Cg shader is created for materials without an explicit shader. To avoid black materials.
- car.ini's now accept wheel<n>.pacejka.negate_camber. Some TIR files/coefficents out there
seem to reverse camber (inverting influence on Fy tire forces). This option inverts camber sign
as it goes into the Pacejka formulae.
- lighting.cg no longer adds Ks (specular) to the ambient term.
- .f32 file support for textures in .shd files; future development for sky colors.
- Added $water_reflection texture map for shaders, in the same way $mirror exists. This works with renderer.water.*
to render a mirror image of the scene into a 2D reflection map, which can be used for a water shader.
See also water_f.cg/water_v.cg in data/renderer/shaders.
To be elaborated.
- The default debug text color is now white again.
- Timing is passed to the Cg shaders in TrackEd for some animations.
- Explicit low LOD steering model removed; use the model LOD available for the regular model (steer.model) (in car.ini)
- Car cameras can explictly turn the steering wheel on or off (camera<n>.steering_wheel=0 or 1). The default is 1 (added to data/cars/default/car.ini).
See also http://www.racer.nl/reference/carphys.htm#campos
- Number of materials in a track raised to 6000 (from 4000) for some nasty import tracks.
- TrackEd's generate template shader generated '<unnamed_QObject>' for unloaded textures.
- Added engine.shifting.cut_ignition in car.ini; instead of cut_throttle=1, you can leave throttle open and cut
part of the ignition instead. A value of 0.5 for example will output 50% of engine torque to the clutch/gearbox/wheels,
so is smoother while shifting.
- Autoclutch during shifting linearized; it was now squared, making for a less smooth experience.
- New combined slip method for tire forces; #7. From Pacejka's book, the Similarity method. Does not require
optimal_slipratio and optimal_slipangle anymore. More info on http://www.racer.nl/reference/wheels.htm#tireforces
- When the tire left the surface, slip angle and ratio were reset to 0. This was not realistic for a bumpy surface,
since you lose a lot of traction when the tire is bouncing a bit. Now it keeps on tracking slipAngle/Ratio.
- Different fonts (Eurostile)
- Added dyn_standard_bump_ao_f/v.cg shaders for ambient occlusion map (much like the mix shaders really).
- After all these years, on Win7/64bits with 32-bits Racer, got PerfKit working with PerfKit v2.2.0.12166 from nVidia ('debug 6 1').
- Added 'float serverTime' uniform for Cg shaders to get (an estimate of) the multiplayer server time. To sync vertex shader effects across multiple PC's.
- Added active differentials basics using Onyx. See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/differentials_active.htm
- Added a global 'lowpass' DSP option. Mainly used for testing for a future 'muffle' parameter per car to soften incar sounds.
- Added track audio per surface (in special.ini). If not defined, the default global surface type audio is used.
See http://www.racer.nl/reference/tracks_surfaces.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------

Bugs (currently known specific to RC5)
  • 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
 
Try turn off optimise Newton setting in racer.ini, also it seems tracked still optimised it and renews it when you load tracked.

So let racer rebuild unoptimised cache not tracked optimised cache.

Might not be the problem in your case Gizmo but I have issues with it!

Dave
 
Optimize set to 0. Cache Deleted and it still does the same. Im assuming Splines would fix the issue, But thats a bit of a pain as i planned to have it "open world" to a certain extent[/quote
I tried that to no success. It never did this in the older versions (Talking 0.6.0 Here)

Make sure that no polys overlap and that they are exactly next to each other.
If polys overlap Racer has no way of knowing which one to drive on. The best way to make your modules is to use a modeling program that lets you specify exact coordinates so your edges will match exactly.

Alex Forbin
 
Thats not an issue, Ive only overlapped them to avoid any gaps showing.

Ive just splined it and it works fine now.

That brings me to another question, Are splines limited to a "circuit" still? or can they be used to map City Roads for example?
 
I've done the same as you Gizmo with drive on polygons (aka use_mesh_hits=1), WITH splines for the AI who can then cut kerbs, corners, and generally get pretty wild without having to fit exactly on course, across many surfaces that are separate DOF, and Racer works fine.

You shouldn't need any overlap, perfectly aligned verts is the only sure fire way of getting a good result!

Dave
 
I've done the same as you Gizmo with drive on polygons (aka use_mesh_hits=1), WITH splines for the AI who can then cut kerbs, corners, and generally get pretty wild without having to fit exactly on course, across many surfaces that are separate DOF, and Racer works fine.

You shouldn't need any overlap, perfectly aligned verts is the only sure fire way of getting a good result!

Dave
I managed to find the cause!

I'm building a Japanese, Elevated style Highway. I have modeled the concrete supports underneath, Every time i drove over one of these "supports" thats when the car sank through the track (or "Bumped" at speed).

I Minor set back, as i wont be able to simple "copy and paste" the track sections. Its a Shame Zmod unifies objects when you copy several at the same time
 
This is where being creative with how Racer works might be helpful.

If you reduce the height of the supports, let Racer build the cache, and then increase the height of the supports/export again, you will get a nice model but with a cache collision mesh that doesn't have so many problems.

Or, you need to model with more consideration for overlapping/intersecting surfaces. Anything where the wheels might get needs to be a single solid surface... having any driving surfaces overlapping near each other is bad news!

Dave
 
Ive gone back to the drawing board, The way i was doing it, was building the track in "Chunks" rather than Surfaces. But this had weird collisions with the walls and center barrier as the Road, as the Road, Wall and Barrier had the same collision flag (As it was all a Single model)

So i think i will have to separate each chunk into Road, Support, Wall and Barrier. Will Dramatically reduce how quickly i wanted to build the track, But thats a sacrifice it looks like i have to take!
 
Care to post some screenies of the models you tried using?
266130_10151169311028015_9712794_o.jpg

202065_10151169311098015_356717316_o.jpg

413228_10151169311093015_1308882980_o.jpg
 
Ah ok... yeah I can see why Racer might have an issue with that if there is an up-pointing face on the top of the support.

The ideal solution is to make it one true mesh where the support is cut into the road section proper so it's a single cohesive mesh.

You can still build modular pieces, just build each one with a bit more care... no real way around it but it'll pay off in the end I think!

Dave
 
I'm having an issue with this same problem right now. Something must have changed, no matter what I do Racer insists on detecting the bottom of a bridge through the top, even though I have it separated by over a meter AND the bridge bottom is a separate object without any collision flag. I can't think of an instance where we need Racer to try to detect something that far away.
What's up with this Ruud?
I just remembered another problem, that's probably related. I have a lot of problems with cars falling though the track on tracks with large polygons. hmmm.


Alex Forbin
 
Ah ok... yeah I can see why Racer might have an issue with that if there is an up-pointing face on the top of the support.

The ideal solution is to make it one true mesh where the support is cut into the road section proper so it's a single cohesive mesh.

You can still build modular pieces, just build each one with a bit more care... no real way around it but it'll pay off in the end I think!

Dave

I need to seperate the walls/ barrier from the road model anyhow. As I'm gettin strange collisions with them. As they are current classed as the same flag as the road (as its a single model)
 
I need to seperate the walls/ barrier from the road model anyhow. As I'm gettin strange collisions with them. As they are current classed as the same flag as the road (as its a single model)

Hmmm ok. As said, generate the collision cache without the supports, then load them in after without collide flags I guess.



Alex, that does sound weird. I've had some problems with cones falling through my track at load time and the optimise newton thing fixed it for me. I've recently had trouble with co-incident surfaces tapering out to 30cm of height difference. The wheels would often still drive on the 'floor' underneath and not on the bumps, or toggle between the two in a bad way :D

Obviously that is reasonable, but if the gap is a metre then that is worrying as you NEED polgyons there if you want to make a bridge or something hehe!

As per large polygons though, I've not had issues with that. I have a one large polygon track, super flat, 10km x 10km in size.

Not sure if the newton optimise thing impacts telling Racer which surface wheels should use but definitely check with it turned off Alex... I never had issues in the past on my test track but maybe 6 months ago my cones disappeared and it was due to this 'new' optimised newton tree that didn't work so well on flat surfaces (which my test track is!)

Dave
 

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