Racer

Ruud

RACER Developer
Welcome to RaceDepartment. :)
As RSC has been offline for quite a while, RaceDepartment has been gracious enough to host a temporary Racer forum.

To kick it off, here is Racer v0.8.0. Warning: all things are set to target relatively high-end graphics card. nVidia 7950+ somewhat. Onboard cards will not do.

The download is at http://www.racer.nl/download/racer080.zip (42Mb).
If you have an ATI card, Cg shaders may not work due to a bug in Cg 2.1. Try the patched racer.exe from http://www.racer.nl/download/racer081a_patch.zip (1Mb).

Hope you can enjoy it!
Ruud

The patch (really a preview of v0.8.1, so interesting for nVidia users as well) changes these, although no data files are included you can check out some things already:
- Added envmap.live_track.sides_per_frame to set update count of live envmap
- Car.ini camera<n>.view variables were read, but never used. Removed loading them, they are (and were) obsolete.
- LOD (level of detail) for objects is now adjusted to take into account the camera FOV (normal FOV=50).
- Split fullscreen_shaders directory into LDR and HDR variants (data/renderer/fullscreen_shaders_hdr and _ldr).
- Added car.ini engine.idle_method to avoid throttle being slightly open all the time. See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/engine.htm
- Now enforcing engine.stall_rpm to be at least 100 rpm less than idle_rpm to enable the new idle_method 1.
- Added engine.braking_torque_curve to specify a curve for the engine braking instead of the linear parameters.
(the Lambo now uses such a curve for demonstration)
- Modified smoke particles to have no velocity. Also increased the brightness somewhat.
- Bloom map was 16-bit, now 8-bit.
- Added car.ini audio.skid audioset based on skid amount (around 0..2). This allows subtle scrub sounds before
going to screeching & screaming.
- Added 'gearwhine_off' audioset for gearwhine under deceleration circumstances.
- Fuel consumption was based on engine output torque, added internal friction (engine braking torque) in fuel use calculations.
- Renamed racer.ini variable 'collision.report_car_trk' to 'collision.report_car_track_collision'
- Added car.ini's reboundstop_len and reboundstop_k for much the same as a bumpstop, only to prevent wheels falling through susp<n>.maxlen
see http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/suspensions.htm#reboundstops
- susp<n>.restlen no longer needs to be smaller than maxlen. It ignored precompression that way.
- Added fuel.rof to overrule the fuel grams/liter parameter. Normally it's around 700 for regular petrol.
- Added views.ini 'invert' field (0/1) which inverts the variable (like 'factor' which multiplies it)

The list of changes since v0.7.3:

- Bugfix: OpenGL3.0 drivers would crash Racer due to a mistake in getting some extension function pointers.
- Bugfix: track's with special.ini gfx.time below 1000 (10am) were not interpreted correctly.
- Bugfix: turning on projected lights no longer kills some 3D dials
- Heavily modified Cg shaders. Also added a lot more. See http://racer.nl/tutorial/gpushader.htm
- Projected lights used alphafunc, which made lights on semi-transparent object pixely.
- Added car.ini's model_reverse_l/r models for true rear lights. This should do away with the views.ini hack to add reverse lights.
- Modified live track envmapping to not do all sides every frame. Lots faster.
- Removed dbg_stats tree in racer.ini (it was obsolete).
- Added 'clouds' script command for Cg-shaded skies, added 'clouds' uniform float parameter for Cg shaders (0..1).
- Also added 'clouds' in a track's special.ini (env.clouds)
- Added resolution.vsync to sync to display frequency or not (0=max fps, 1=sync, >1=set interval)
- Added moving helmet (+pilot body) model option in car.ini. See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/helmet.htm
- Raised the number of possible flares for each car to 20 (was 10)
- Simple (single-polygon) shadows for car views without a body model are now turned off.
- Removed 'fx.sky_enable' option. The sky is always on.
- Removed 'gfx.reflections' option. Was/is obsolete.
- Added graphics.show_names to be able to indicate driver names floating above cars.
- Added mirrors.texture.fbo setting to render into an offscreen framebuffer object (faster)
- Added mirrors.texture.fbo_samples setting to enable anti-aliasing of the mirror.
- Added HDR rendering basics (renderer.hdr.enable=1). Uses data/renderer/shaders_hdr directory if enabled, shaders_ldr otherwise.
- Added Bloom rendering for HDR mode (renderer.bloom.enable=1).
- Split data/renderer/shaders directory in two: shaders_ldr and shaders_hdr. HDR is the way to go. LDR will be deprecated.
- Added ini.auto_lights setting (0/1) to determine with time-of-day controls a car's light automatically
- Added shader 'reflect' material property for reflective Cg shaders (in the same line as diffuse, ambient, specular etc).
Use this in conjunction with [dyn_]shader_reflective_v/f.cg for example.
- Added car.shd/track.shd 'motion_blur' variable to turn off motion blur velocity map generation for certain shaders (wheels mostly).
- Added auto-exposure settings for HDR rendering (racer.ini:renderer.auto_exposure.*)
- Added fx.sun.auto_time_of_day to track real current (PC) time for the time of day in Racer
- Added fx.sun.fast_time_factor to set time speed. Normally 0 for no time change, 1 for realtime, >1=faster than realtime
- Added fueltank in cars. See data/cars/default/car.ini (fuel.* settings). Currently in alpha. No fuel means no throttle.
- Added fuel view variables for views.ini files (for cars). See http://www.racer.nl/tutorial/fuel.htm for details.
- Added formatting option for views.ini; 'float_1' displays a value with 1 decimal (for example: 123.4).
- Added 'sample_hold' option for view elements to get slow-updating dials (mostly useful for digital dashboards)
- Added fx.sun.flare option to remove sun flare. It doesn't match with the Cg sun position.
 
Hi Alex,
i found some entrees in the QLog....file heavy_imp_1.wav is missing and then i copy the files from rF in to the audio folder and it works:dance2:

LG Alex

Confirmed here too.:) It appears that it only picks up some of the impacts,
is it based on some sort of collision velocity? I really notice it on rollovers.
(I tried short samples too)Maybe it will help once the other samples are active and they can work over each other.

This brings up another question I've had, when starting
an engine the starter sample always plays to the end even if the engine
starts, it seems that it would be better if the sounds were only active
while needed. For example if a car is scraping down a wall, the sound
should stop once the car is not touching the wall any more even of it is
not to the end of the sample.
Whaddaya think?

Nice stuff
Alex Forbin
 
Hi Ruud, the fuel consumption variable in the default ini should be loosened to something around 2-3.xxx ... Most cars don't have the fuel usage of a Veyron anyway ;) .

I set the default value to 2.500e-5 , on the car shown below this resulted in about 12 litres/100 km in 5 @ 250 kph (still in second gear, it easily broke the 30litre mark for a short amount of time).

Bug:
No fuel consumption if rpm does not change, see images, same happens for idling in neutral.
 

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Confirmed here too.:) It appears that it only picks up some of the impacts,
is it based on some sort of collision velocity? I really notice it on rollovers.
(I tried short samples too)Maybe it will help once the other samples are active and they can work over each other.

This brings up another question I've had, when starting
an engine the starter sample always plays to the end even if the engine
starts, it seems that it would be better if the sounds were only active
while needed. For example if a car is scraping down a wall, the sound
should stop once the car is not touching the wall any more even of it is
not to the end of the sample.
Whaddaya think?

Nice stuff
Alex Forbin

Hi Alex
The collision sound system has to pick up 4 wave samples as impact sounds, and plays one of them randomily when a collision is detected
So to get them work properly u have to copy four collision sound file form RF and renamed them to heavy_imp_1,heavy_imp_2,heavy_imp_3,heavy_imp_4, then put them in the racer's audio folder.
 
Hi Alex
The collision sound system has to pick up 4 wave samples as impact sounds, and plays one of them randomily when a collision is detected
So to get them work properly u have to copy four collision sound file form RF and renamed them to heavy_imp_1,heavy_imp_2,heavy_imp_3,heavy_imp_4, then put them in the racer's audio folder.

Thanks for the tip gtpdzbiz, if you want a laugh park your car against a wall.


Alex Forbin
 
  • bendy

Found an intersting way to beef up my frame rate - In the nVidia control panal, set the anti-aliasing mode to "Enhance the Application Setting" it REALLY put my FPS up by a considerable amount, from the starting position it has gone from tipping 50 to tipping 110!

Now if only I knew why it worked as setting it to "off" "override" or "application controlled" all had the same result...
(this all with me back on motion blur method 4)

PS: This is pretty consistant, I did a quick lap of carlswood in the lambo, on the replay using track cameras:
Worst Framerate: 92.308
Average Framerate: 115.631
Top Framerate: 131.579
 
Not entirely; from racer.nl/newcar.htm where it explains 'invert':

value=rawInputValue
clamp(value,min_value,max_value)
value=value*factor
if(invert)value=1/value

The factor comes in BEFORE the invert. So you'd need factor=0.01, not factor=100. I've tried that and it seems ok, although I haven't checked the numbers exactly.

thx ruud.. i was doing correctly.. the problem was the font used :S

- waiting for "real" average consumption km trip/fuel liters (odometer/fuel_avg)
 

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Racer Screenshots

Hi folk! here i am, amgfan... i was tired about my old nick.. so.. here is my new :D lol

and here is my picture... i was bored last day and did jaab's azuris olivia, in my garage factory. Put BPM Booster S engine inside, and got it rwd with front engine..... now it is very funny to drive.. :dance2:

*final version, Black/red

Front V6, 310hp, fwd. new brakes, Active EPC traction system, and now it is more civilized to drive. But the idea is to be a wild car, for professionals drivers :skywalker:
 

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  • Tiberius

Ruud, would it be possible to set force feedback friction per car rather than in the controls.ini? At the moment with the G25 I've got friction set at 3600, seems about right for a large car like the XJS but far too heavy for something much lighter like a Caterham or an open wheeler.

Also, would it be possible to add a tyre scrub effect to the FFB? Like an extra friction which weights the wheel while the car is stationary and decreases as the car begins to move and the caster offset and tyre pacejka force takes over? Maybe something which multiplies the lat grip at low speed? Perhaps it could go some way to simulating speed sensitive steering too?


FBOs seem to work differently on my 9600GTKO than they do on your
system. I take a major framerate hit (from 350-400 to 45-55) with a lot
of tearing and since the old shaders don't pick up the MIE scattering
they look odd (high contrast compared to everthing else). I'm also not
able to get the motion blur to work in the latest version. (tried updating
the drivers already.)
I assume it is my card since there have not been a lot of similar comments
and I ordered the card within hours of its release (9800GTS weren't out).
My biggest concern is development, how will my cars look on other machines now?

Alex, it's the same here...the FBO's take a lot of power, even on my new one. Getting framerates I'd never thought possible a few years ago in some games, runs Racer without any FBO's touching the vert sync nearly all the time, really smooth...chuck in the HDR and a car with some large textures and I'm down to 40-60fps but still smooth, increase the screen res to 1600x1200 and it's down to 16fps and stuttering badly. Just one of those things, the extra detail and lighting is nice but you pay for it with perfromance :-/.


I'm working on a
set of sounds and setting that someone can just drop in to a current car
and have good sound.

Nice. I tried (without much luck) to make some decent long/lat skid samples, ended up using the Lambo's...a full soundset would be great though. Also, samples which play when you hit the bump stops and touch the brakes (squeal as you touch the brakes, depending on disc temperature?) would be great too but I'm happy for now :)

Cheers, Bruce.
 
  • Tiberius

Have we got working indicators yet?

Not really sure, I remember Ruud added the variable somewhere but (I think) it was just a faked gauge like the old reverse lights. I'm adding turn signal models to my cars now, in case they are included at some point...but no idea whether they're in yet, I don't think they are.
 
That's cool, but the way Jabb's car is set up, a FR conversion would handle badly. A V6 would make it exceptionally front heavy, and RWD would be bad. There would be little weight over the drive wheels, resulting in no traction = bad handling.


Keep it FWD.





Hey AMGfan, you think you could tune one of my Aviva's? (When they finally get done)
 
That's cool, but the way Jabb's car is set up, a FR conversion would handle badly. A V6 would make it exceptionally front heavy, and RWD would be bad. There would be little weight over the drive wheels, resulting in no traction = bad handling.
Keep it FWD.
Hey AMGfan, you think you could tune one of my Aviva's? (When they finally get done)

Changed to FWD and now it handles a lot better. It will be fwd.

About Aviva, yes, i like to do it :)
 
Ruud, would it be possible to set force feedback friction per car rather than in the controls.ini? At the moment with the G25 I've got friction set at 3600, seems about right for a large car like the XJS but far too heavy for something much lighter like a Caterham or an open wheeler.

:)

Cheers, Bruce.

Hey Bruce,
Actually we already have it just put the following in the car.ini, I put it right after the number of wheels in the car section. It is just a this is just a percentage of the total feedback (0-1)...

ff_factor=0.26

See ya
Alex Forbin
 

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