Our ReVolt Pub

Posted: **01 Sep 2010, 04:59**

MOH @ Aug 31 2010, 10:25 PM wrote:
The next Wolf release will have support for Panga and UFO effects, and it is very likely that I won't add any other custom feature as far as cars are concerned...
i hope this includes the ROTOR effects too

Hem, I don't think so...

jigebren @ Aug 30 2010, 11:39 PM wrote:Well, for simplicity's sake, I think I won't add the rotor and mystery effect. It would be a bit too tricky for a public tool.

I can add it. But I had not enough feedback to see if it would really be needed.
So I probably won't add it.

For the UFO and Panga effect, it's a bit different, I was able to find a setting in parameters.txt that is proper to each of these cars, so their parameters.txt won't have to be edited.
But I can't find a setting proper to Rotor (neither to Mystery). I could have used special values for the CLASS entries, but it mean that the parameters of the stock Rotor has to be edited, unless it will loose its Rotor property.

That's all. It's no big deal, but maybe it makes this feature a bit too much complicated (it's not really "complicated", but you see what I mean, it won't be as clean as other WolfR4 features). And I don't know if it's worth the pain.
And I forgot to say that with that feature, all rotor car (including the stock one) would have use the Glow engine sound...

EDIT:
If everything is ok, I should release the next WolfR4 version very soon...

Posted: **01 Sep 2010, 21:53**

Along with the new month comes a new WolfR4 release...

There is 2 new bugfixes:
The old Bomb pickup bugfix (when playing online) has been replaced by a new better one. The old one was only trying to prevent re-volt fom crashing when the bug occured. It worked in some cases, but there was still some cases where it could crahs. But the new bugfix should directly fix the source of the bug (it does not simply hide the bug).
(for beta testers: I have left the option to force the bomb pickup (in the DEV panel), please tell me if it's ok now).

The Ghost reposition bugfix should fix the issue (reported by Huki) with Ghost record when you reposition the car before the 1st lap has been completed (see description here).

But the main new feature is the support for special effect for user cars.
The car can now behave like the Panga (special spinner) and the UFO (drivable while in the air). Take a look at the changelog below to see how it is activated (Notice: it still works for stock Panga and UFO cars without any modification).
The Rotor and Mystery effects were also added, but only as hidden feature (because it would imply to modify the stock Rotor and Mystery cars), for car makers that want to have fun with it.

And also, there is now support for a Lobby profile. When this option is activated (the option is in the "Log" tab), a different setup of WolfR4 will be used when it is launched from RVHouse. This profile can also be activated/deactivated by clicking on the new little House icon.

And now, when you press the enter/esc/space key during the intro to skip the displayed image, the whole intro (the 3 images) will be skipped.

There is also several minor improvements, like a button to automatically detect the re-volt CD drive (check the changelog).
And I have chosen to deactivate by default 3Dsounds and EAX. I think it's a bit safer that way. Don't hesitate to tell me your opinion about it.

Changelog wrote:* Rel.10-09-01
Add: Allow special effects for user cars:
   Panga effect:
   When you add a spinner to car and set the "AngVel" to be "0.000000" (in
   the parameters.txt file), then the car spinner will behave like for the
   Panga car (the panda head).
   UFO effect:
   When you set the "Class" of a car to "2" (in the parameters.txt file),
   the car will behave like the UFO, ie. it will still be drivable while in
   the air (Notice: In that case, the engine sound will always be "Glow").
   Notice:
   As these parameters are already used by the original Panga car and UFO,
   no modification is needed for these cars.
Add: Allow special effects for user cars (2):
   These 2 effects are added as a hidden feature.
   It is activated by setting the following key to 1 in WolfR4.ini:
   "allow_special_car_effects2 = 1"
   Rotor efect:
   The car can still be drivable normally whe upside-down (if the wheels are
   big enough of course).
   It is activeted by setting the "class" entry to "4" in the car's
   parameters.txt file.
   The original Rotor car will lose its rotor effect, so its parameters.txt
   will have to be edited.
   The engine sound will always be glow.
   Mystery effect:
   The car mesh can be smooth, when the smooth property is set for some
   polygons (I don't know if there is currently a car editor allowing that).
   It is activeted by setting the "class" entry to "5" in the car's
   parameters.txt file.
   The original Mystery car will lose its mystery effect, so its
   parameters.txt will have to be edited.
   The engine sound will always be glow.
Mod: Bomb bugfix:
   Re-Volt uses to crash when playing online on some levels and a bomb is
   transmitted from one player to an other. This should now be fixed.
Mod: Move track buttons from "Option\Advanced" to "Custom Track" tab.
Add: Ghost reposition bugfix:
   Prevents Re-Volt from recording a wrong ghost when you reposition your
   car during the first lap of your first attempt to beat the time trial.
Add: A new button to automatically set the Re-Volt CD letter (when enabling
   CD music playback).
Mod: Now use BS_FLAT style for command buttons. Only toggle buttons remain
   displayed in 3D.
Mod: All Cheats state is now saved. All cheats are now on the same panel.
Add: Lobby Profile support:
   When the option "Use a different profile for online Lobby racing" is
   activated (in the Log tab), a different profile will be used when WolfR4
   is launched from a lobby client (like RVHouse).
   This profile can also be activated/deactivated when needed by clicking on
   the little House icon.
   Notice:
   The number of cars and laps, and the pickup activation are now saved in
   the WolfR4.ini file instead of only the re-volt registry settings (so
   that they can be included in the profile).
   The player's name, the track name and the Host IP are still read/saved
   from the re-volt registry (there are not included in the profile).
Mod: Internal code improvement/clean-up (mainly for the gadgets that trigger
   monitoring features).
Mod: When User Stunt tracks support is enabled, the StarList progression is
   not saved anymore in the registry (otherwise it could overwrite the
   progression of the stock stunt track when Revolt is run without WolfR4).
Mod: Allow to skip the intro:
   Now, the whole intro (the 3 displayed images) is skipped as soon as one
   of the space/enter/esc keys is pressed.
   It allows a quicker re-volt startup, and the intro images can still be
   displayed (when no key is pressed).
Mod: "Alternate edit camera keys" option now works for [F6] camera (freedom)
   and also for [F4] camera (edit), which was previously unmodified.
Mod: -no3Dsound and -noeax are now activated by default. I feel it's probably
   safer to let the user activate 3Dsounds and EAX on purpose only.

The new release can be downloaded here.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to say that the WolfR4.ini layout has been modified to support profiles, so I would recommend to delete your old wolfr4.ini file when installing this release (to clean up junk entries).

Posted: **03 Sep 2010, 00:45**

has anyone asked about the camera dip when the COM is too low?

For example the bikes that tilt can only tilt when the COM is below the floor, which makes the camera zoom in and point downwards, which is the only reason i havent made more bikes

I tried the newest version and its looking very good, i cant thank you enough for including all of the effects from the special cars

Posted: **03 Sep 2010, 01:35**

Nice with another large update. Everything seems to work fine tho we still have mystical crashes on RV House quite often (I am not blaming Wolf tho). I have two suggestions I would like to hear your opinion about.

CD-Check
Just like the old language selecting menu from v. 1.00, I thought it would be fun if you could make the 1207 require the CD again. What is the situation about that?

ENV on long/short distance
I noticed especially on Toy World 1 that objects only has ENV applied when being on a short distance from the user. Is that intended or was it necessary back then when the computer performance was lower than it is today?

Posted: **03 Sep 2010, 04:38**

MOH wrote:has anyone asked about the camera dip when the COM is too low?

Citywalker asked me quite recently about something similar but for the in-car camera (as I think it her favorite camera mode), resulting in the WolfR4 option "In-car camera attached on top of car".

For example the bikes that tilt can only tilt when the COM is below the floor, which makes the camera zoom in and point downwards, which is the only reason i havent made more bike

Ok, I think I have found a way to prevent that (I'm testing it to see it seems to work for all cars, and I think it's ok). Wait for the next release...

By the way, SebR has sent me a funny bike (MotoScorp) with uses the Panga effect to lean when steering (even motionless). It's really worth looking at...

I tried the newest version and its looking very good, i cant thank you enough for including all of the effects from the special cars

You're welcome, but thanks anyway.
I was not sure to include the rotor and mystery effect, but as you seemed interessed, I have finally included them as a hidden feature.

Urnemanden wrote:Nice with another large update. Everything seems to work fine tho we still have mystical crashes on RV House quite often (I am not blaming Wolf tho).

I hope the bomb bugfix is working, at last...
The only way that something can be done about any other bugs is either: to have a clear and accurate way to reproduce it, or to have someone able to capture a Dr.Watson log when crashing.

Re: CD-Check
But, why the hell do you want something like that to be implemented again???
And honestly, I don't feel like spending time on it... It's the same than if you asked me to try to re-enable some vanished good old bugs.

Re: ENV on long/short distance
Well, I have never noticed it, and I just tried, and still can't see it. Maybe I should try fullscreen to have a better image...
On which object do you notice that?
(also, maybe you should try with only 1 car in the race, preferably a stock one).

Posted: **03 Sep 2010, 21:43**

Re: ENV on long/short distance:

Maybe in 1999 the developers decided too much ENV
would slow things down in the game if used too much.
In Render settings in the Revolt options menu ENV (Shininess)
can be turned On and Off.

Off the top of my head I do not recall ENV applied
to anything found in the .w files of stock tracks.
ENV used by Object models or prms (with ENV On)
do not display the ENV until you are very close to
them.

ENV can be applied to things in the .w file with 3ds Max
or with rvGlue and the ENV will be displayed at any distance,
including very far away.
As a test I once applied ENV to an entire track and the
FPS did go down some.

Posted: **04 Sep 2010, 06:18**

hilaire9 @ Sep 3 2010, 05:13 PM wrote:Off the top of my head I do not recall ENV applied
to anything found in the .w files of stock tracks.

I think I've seen at least it in NHood1 on the garage doors.

And maybe I didn't noticed any difference it as I was precisely looking to the World Shininess, as objects were too small to distinguish something.
I'll try soon fullscreen, with a greater resolution...

Posted: **05 Sep 2010, 03:25**

I was looking at the helicopter in Toy World 1, while being in an online race. It always fly close to you while you are waiting for the count-down.

Re: CD Check
Well, I think it could be a nice way for me to find out when I actually have the CD inside my drive or not, while running Re-Volt. I often enter a race and forgetting inserting my CD which then causes no Re-Volt music the whole race (works fine if I manage to insert the CD while being in frontend tho).

Posted: **05 Sep 2010, 06:16**

Close Re-Volt process when the window is closed:
I have fixed another little bug of re-volt (which was introduced in v1207). Now if you close Re-Volt by using Alt+F4 keys for example, the Re-Volt process will properly be terminated.

Re: ENV on long/short distance:
Finally, I've seen clearly the ENV deactivated on long distance on the bottle in Market2.

Well, I'm quite sure I can modify that, but I'd like to know if it is really needed? I mean, is it worth a new option in Wolf4? (I'd be glad to have several points of view about that before considering implementing it, so please don't hesitate to anwser...)

Re: CD Check
I see, but honestly, don't expect this option to be added...

Posted: **05 Sep 2010, 14:14**

Re: ENV
Well, it would help especially on vertex/ simple colored objects like for example the helicopter and the ballon saying GO! I don't know how it will look like, so I can't say if it would make the playing experience better. Also, would enabling ENV lower the amount of ENV we can use in a track overall?

Water Animations (Objects)
As seen in Nhood2, Botanical Garden and other stock tracks, there is a water animation, which I think is mapped to the gfx image of the track. Can you confirm that or am I wrong?

Posted: **07 Sep 2010, 00:14**

jigebren @ Sep 5 2010, 01:46 AM wrote: Close Re-Volt process when the window is closed:
I have fixed another little bug of re-volt (which was introduced in v1207). Now if you close Re-Volt by using Alt+F4 keys for example, the Re-Volt process will properly be terminated.

That's great! Will you indulge our curiosity by revealing what caused the crash in the first place?

Posted: **07 Sep 2010, 03:17**

i noticed there is a texture size section, which has either 256/512 depending on the patch, would it be possible to have an option to go higher than 512, like 1024 (even if its a hidden option for peoples own use

), because id love to have the opportunity to see revolt in higher definition than 512, as it would be visually stunning imo. thanks

Posted: **07 Sep 2010, 05:47**

Re: ENV @Urnemanden
I don't think that making ENV visible for longer distance will directly lower the amount of ENV we can use in a track, as long as the simultaneous max. number of ENV is not reached. But may this max. number be reached, then it could probably make ENV artifacts more noticeable.

Urne wrote:Water Animations (Objects)
As seen in Nhood2, Botanical Garden and other stock tracks, there is a water animation, which I think is mapped to the gfx image of the track. Can you confirm that or am I wrong?

Not really sure, but after a quick look, I think the Water object is mapped to the "levels\toylite\water.bmp", and the Stream object type 0 is mapped to "levels\nhood2\water.bmp", while other types of Stream are mapped to "levels\ship1\water.bmp".

Arto wrote:Close Re-Volt process when the window is closed:
That's great! Will you indulge our curiosity by revealing what caused the crash in the first place?

We can't say it is a crash, it's simply that re-volt v1207 doesn't detect that its window is getting closed, so the re-volt process just keep on running (eating a lot of cpu as when re-volt is running normaly).

MOH wrote:i noticed there is a texture size section, which has either 256/512 depending on the patch, would it be possible to have an option to go higher than 512, like 1024 (even if its a hidden option for peoples own use wink.gif ), because id love to have the opportunity to see revolt in higher definition than 512, as it would be visually stunning imo. thanks

Well, it's already possible.

In the WolfR4.ini file, there is a "texture_size_val" entry. Just modify this value...
But beware that this entry is currently profile-dependent (it just makes me think that it doesn't have to be profile-dependent, I'll modify it it next release).

Posted: **11 Sep 2010, 14:45**

Jigebren @ Aug 24 2010, 12:52 AM wrote:I don't feel like a MP3 file is essential for a good track. Maybe MP3 shouldn't be included in the track archive but only available as a separate download? I don't know how Zach or Arto feel about that, as it would probably means an extra job to add this option to RVZT. [Link to Original Post]

We might need to do something similar for tracks textured in 512 res. Since I guess this feature only is used by a very few people here, it could be something as simple as a link in the description that will be available in the new RVZT once Zach has finished the update. But it would of course be nicest if the download is hosted on RVZT, so people don't have to download from different servers such as rapidshare where it might get deleted if not downloaded frequently enough.

Posted: **11 Sep 2010, 18:45**

urnemanden @ Sep 11 2010, 10:15 AM wrote:
Jigebren @ Aug 24 2010, 12:52 AM wrote:I don't feel like a MP3 file is essential for a good track. Maybe MP3 shouldn't be included in the track archive but only available as a separate download? I don't know how Zach or Arto feel about that, as it would probably means an extra job to add this option to RVZT. [Link to Original Post]
We might need to do something similar for tracks textured in 512 res. Since I guess this feature only is used by a very few people here, it could be something as simple as a link in the description that will be available in the new RVZT once Zach has finished the update. But it would of course be nicest if the download is hosted on RVZT, so people don't have to download from different servers such as rapidshare where it might get deleted if not downloaded frequently enough.

I'm kind of agreeing on both accounts... especially on the mp3 part, as it's not really necessary for the working of the track and takes huge amount of space. But at the same time, I'm not willing to put the work into implementing that unless there will be really need for it. You know, time wasted on unused features and all that. For now I think it would be best if people who support MP3 in their track just host it on their own web-server and post a link in the comments to it.

And another thing is the copyrights. The music business is quite strict with copyrights and all that silly stuff. We can't allow copyrighted music to be hosted on RVZT. So how do the authors know that some random mp3 in a track is copyrighted? Well, it can be quite tricky to know for sure, practically impossible. So that makes me think maybe it's best to not include mp3s in track zips, but post them separately in authors own servers. Not optimal solution, but perhaps the most practical.

Posted: **15 Sep 2010, 03:52**

i have two little problems, i cant get the 1024 textures to work,

and second, when i go into edit mode on a user track its not quite the same as on a stock track.

i usually make the .w then have a little drive around it before i make any track zones, pos nodes, ai nodes etc, but in Wolf it keeps resetting the car every 2 seconds, which means i cant test the track unless i make the rest of it. i also tried putting 1 big track zone but that didnt help either.

i hope this is an easy problem to solve

Posted: **15 Sep 2010, 05:23**

MOH, is this problem in Time Trial mode?

Posted: **15 Sep 2010, 06:10**

About MP3, I can't really tell more, it's mostly up to Arto and Zach to estimate the complexity of the task and decide what they want to do. Maybe I should add an option to exclude MP3 when packing track?

MOH wrote:i have two little problems, i cant get the 1024 textures to work,

Well, this wil change in next version, but for now, I think you just have to add a "texture_size_val = 1024" line in the "[regular]" section of the WolfR4.ini file (check that it doesn't already exist, and that you're are actually in the [regular] section). Then run WolfR4, check that the texture size entry displays "1024" and apply Texture patch to re-volt.

MOH wrote:i usually make the .w then have a little drive around it before i make any track zones, pos nodes, ai nodes etc, but in Wolf it keeps resetting the car every 2 seconds, which means i cant test the track unless i make the rest of it. i also tried putting 1 big track zone but that didnt help either.

Hem, I could be wrong, but I think I see dawning the syndrome "if something is wrong when I'm using WolfR4, then WolfR4 is necessarily responsible"...

Have you really tried to launch re-volt without WofR4?
Because I think that if you have just the world done (no AI lines, etc.) then the car position will constantly be reset (I'm not very experimented when it come to track making though, but I'm sure Hilaire or Urne can answer better than me).

Posted: **15 Sep 2010, 12:07**

It should all depend on which mode you are working with your track in. By using Time Trial Mode (the standard for track editing in Re-Volt) and selecting a custom track without a taz file, the car starts to reposition while on stock tracks this does not happen (tested on muse1). There is a difference between how the cars react in some Re-Volt versions, but I can't remember exactly what and which version. Perhaps changing version to DEV inside the hidden control panel would help, I'll test it later.

Re-Volt bug: F4 while being in reposition causes black screen
Another little bug I remember being annoying while working on tracks. If you Press F4 while your screen is black when the car is repositioning, your screen will continue showing black tho you are not using the car camera anymore.

Posted: **15 Sep 2010, 22:11**

@Urnemanden
But what way do you usually proceed to work around this issue when you create a new track?

I can fix the reposition stuff for user tracks in re-volt, but I'd like to know if it would really be an essential feature (and it would be better than trying to fix the [Re-Volt bug: F4 while being in reposition causes black screen]).

Posted: **15 Sep 2010, 22:53**

The best procedure for making custom tracks
is to built the track in an in-game track folder
(nhood1, etc) by renaming (to backup) orginal stock
track and using Revolt Level Renamer to rename folder and
all files inside of a new track to an in-game track.

After this is done; doing all editing in
Time Trial mode.
After inserting Track Zones and POS nodes you can
race the track to see the flow and get track length
and lap time. AI adjusting must be done in Single
Player mode, of course.

Before Wolf you had to rename to a stock track to even
be able to select Time Trial mode. With Wolf you can select a
track that is not named to a in-game stock track,
but you will get the constant repositioning of cars.

Maybe there is a setting in Wolf to prevent the repositioning,
I am not sure. But I will continue to built tracks in an nhood1
folder for other reasons (my rvGlue command templates are
written for the nhood1 name).

Posted: **16 Sep 2010, 00:22**

Ok, thanks for the answer, Hil.
I'm not sure if "Revolt Level Renamer" is refering to an external tool (but I think you know this feature is also integrated in WolfR4).
And there is no setting yet to prevent the car repositioning on user tracks, as I said just in my previous post, but I may plan to add it (I just wanted to know before if it would actually be useful).

Posted: **17 Sep 2010, 07:40**

I'm planning a new evolution of the Texture Size patch for the next WolfR4 release.

In fact, I have made some part of what was the 512 patch (now integrated in WolfR4) directly available from the custom.ini file.
It means that:
- each track can use a different texture size.
- you don't have to apply the Texture Size patch to use a track with another texture size. Only enabling Custom support will be enough.
- Textures size will be set by group. For example, it will be possible to use 512x512 texture for the world, and to keep 256x256 for Skybox, and use 64x64 for EnvRoll...
- it could even be used to load normally an old 256x256 textured tracks when you're using the global Texture Size patch.

Of course the global Texture Size patch (the regular patch) will still be usefull to have 512x512 textures for cars, etc.

And the next release will be also bring a lot of other minor modifications / improvements... like a global 'ResMod = 1' without the need to edit all parameters.txt file, or the possibility to race online in Simulation mode (not tested yet).

Posted: **17 Sep 2010, 12:11**

Wow, that sounds like great news! I will look forward to next release.

Re: Reposition Problem
I just tested if the reposition problem was on custom tracks in the DEV version and I can happily tell that it's not. I don't know if it will be something extra you will add or if it will be kept inside the DEV Panel, but it would be nice if there at leastwas a value inside the *.ini file to adjust that.

Posted: **18 Sep 2010, 18:00**

urnemanden @ Sep 15 2010, 07:37 AM wrote: It should all depend on which mode you are working with your track in. By using Time Trial Mode (the standard for track editing in Re-Volt) and selecting a custom track without a taz file, the car starts to reposition while on stock tracks this does not happen (tested on muse1). There is a difference between how the cars react in some Re-Volt versions, but I can't remember exactly what and which version. Perhaps changing version to DEV inside the hidden control panel would help, I'll test it later.

Re-Volt bug: F4 while being in reposition causes black screen
Another little bug I remember being annoying while working on tracks. If you Press F4 while your screen is black when the car is repositioning, your screen will continue showing black tho you are not using the car camera anymore.

all of this is not a wolfr4 bug

this is normal re-volt reactions ...

the best way to creat a track is to start an online race alone (no need of rvhouse or intertnet)

Posted: **19 Sep 2010, 02:06**

Sebr, that's corectly stated, the header also says it's a Re-Volt bug (meaning it's not WolfR4 bug).

Suggestion: A Save Button
Well, since it isn't that awesome to ruin your mood while racing in Time Trial by crashing (and no settings are saved) or by exiting Re-Volt and launching it again, I thought it could be nice if WolfR4 could save the Re-Volt settings for you just by a simple press on a button. If possible a keyboard shortcut would be able to do it as well.

Posted: **20 Sep 2010, 04:13**

About [Re-Volt bug: F4 while being in reposition causes black screen], you shouldn't have to worry anymore, because next WolfR4 release will introduce a new option to prevent automatic car reposition in user tracks.

Re: Suggestion: A Save Button
That sounds like an interesting idea.
But first I just have to say that I've already added a new "Quit" button (for the next release) that will act quite like the "Kill" button, but it will ask re-volt to quit, instead of simply killing the process. Of course, it's less instantaneous than the Kill button, but it's would be more recommended as re-volt should quit properly (and save its settings).
But settings could still be lost when re-volt crashes. So maybe a button to force settings saving at anytime could be nice, though I'm not sure it will be widely used...
I'll think about it.

Anyway, you should have noticed that WolfR4 doesn't have any keyboard shortcut for now. As I said before, I didn't know how to do it properly. I could have easily added 'local' shorcuts (ie. when the WolfR4 window is active), but to be really usefull here, shortcuts have to be 'global', to be usable even when re-volt is active (and WolfR4 is in the background).
But now, I may have found a way to do it. I haven't tested yet, but if it's actually working, I could add shortcuts to the most usefull features of WolfR4...

Posted: **20 Sep 2010, 11:49**

Re: Reposition
Sounds very useful, I'll test it out along with the other features when the next release of WolfR4 is available.

Re: A Save Button

Jigebren wrote:But settings could still be lost when re-volt crashes. So maybe a button to force settings saving at anytime could be nice, though I'm not sure it will be widely used...

On the other hand, you'll never know when Re-Volt crashes so in that case a save button would be superfluous. It can only be used properly if the user saves every time a new track is unlocked or a new record has been made in Time Trial.

If possible, you could also make WolfR4 save the settings every time Re-Volt loads frontend, or restarts a track. Or perhaps make it possible for it to remember the latest changes and ask if you want to restore those changes if a sudden crash happen (or Alt+F4).

Posted: **21 Sep 2010, 00:07**

Re: A Save Button
Yep, forcing re-volt to save the settings not only when quitting is probably the best solution. But when I quickly tried yesterday, I couldn't find a place to do it properly in the binary code. Now I have found a way to do it, so now, re-volt will be able to save the settings each time a track is loaded or restarted, and when going back to frontend.

WolfR4 shortcuts
As I said in my last post, I was trying to add 'gobal' keyboard shortcuts to WolfR4, and it seems to work now...

For example, Ctrl+F9 will launch re-volt, while Ctrl+F11 will ask to quit re-volt at anytime during the game.
Don't know if there is other options that really deserve a keyboard shortcut too.

Posted: **21 Sep 2010, 01:25**

this all sounds good! how about a shortcut to refresh car info? because i sometimes forget to do it through wolf before maximising revolt

Posted: **21 Sep 2010, 03:55**

MOH @ Sep 20 2010, 08:55 PM wrote:this all sounds good! how about a shortcut to refresh car info? because i sometimes forget to do it through wolf before maximising revolt

How about Alt+C ?

And that gave me another idea by the way...
Previously, I had to separate the "Refresh Cars Info" and the "Refresh Player's car" button because the "Refresh Player's car" can cause re-volt crashes. It was safer to let the possibility to run "Refresh Cars Info" alone.
But instead of using 2 buttons, WolfR4 will now automatically do "Refresh Player's car" after "Refresh Cars Info" is pressed when (and only when) the CHANGELING cheat option is active in the "Race options" tab (as the CHANGELING cheat is needed anyhow to use the "Refresh Player's car" option).
That way, it's 1 click instead of 2, and "Refresh Player's car" is still deactivable (in case it cause crash) simply by not activating the CHANGELING option...

Posted: **21 Sep 2010, 16:46**

I don't know if someone already say that (and if a fix is possible...)... But some days ago I made a multiplayer match with some of my friends on ZAG Soccer (I think that all of you know this track), and we had "duplication" object problem. When starting the soccer match, one of us (player A) was playing with a ball (that we cannot see), while the others 3 players (players B C D) were playing with another ball (that the first player can't see). So, A was playing with a different ball from B C and D, but there's only ONE ball on Zag Soccer!
We tryed to change host and to restart some times the multiplayer match... But it didn't work...
I hope you guys understand what I'm trying to say...

Posted: **21 Sep 2010, 16:58**

I also often notice that the traffic cones on nhood1 moves randomly as you drive into them. I guess colliding with objects just doesn't work very well in multi-player?

Posted: **21 Sep 2010, 21:11**

Re: Object "duplication" issue in multiplayer
The object identification in multiplayer has a bug (which also causes issue with the Bomb pickup).
Here is the first idea that came to my mind about the ball issue on ZAG Soccer track, you should try it (and please keep me informed):
- be sure that all players are actually using WolfR4 with the "Bomb pickup bugfix" option activated (in the Bugfixes tab).
- otherwise, if at least one player doesn't use WolfR4, then all players have to deactivate the "Bomb pickup bugfix" option.

I would of course recommend that all players use WolfR4 with all bugfixes options enabled...

Posted: **23 Sep 2010, 05:35**

A great new for Vista/7 users (which I'm not, but I have borrowed a Win7 system):

I have been able to get the loadlevel images properly displayed when loading a track in Windows 7 during a debugging session, by modifying the binary file directly in memory.

I've been trying to understand this issue for days, and I think I get it now... Well, I can't really tell that I understand the reasons of this issue, but at least I know a way to get rid of it.
This time, it doesn't look like a re-volt bug but rather as an incompatibility with the directx system provided by Vista/7 (at least as far as I can understand directx stuff...)

For now, I don't know yet if I will be able to fix it with WolfR4, but I have great hopes (and I have only tested in windowed mode, but I think it should work in fullscreen too (with -sli command)).

Posted: **23 Sep 2010, 11:46**

That is great news, Jigebren. That means I'll soon be able to enjoy watching the loading teasers I've made for the tracks I have installed without the need to restart the track first! Looking forward to hear more about this.

Posted: **24 Sep 2010, 04:04**

Ok, I have added the load screen fix to WolfR4, and it seems to work. The load screen looks perfect under Win7 in windowed mode and in fullscreen (with -sli). I hope it won't introduce any glitches, but at first sight it was ok.

And I should release the next WolfR4 version very soon now (as you'll see, the changelog is quite big already...).

Posted: **24 Sep 2010, 23:10**

Here is the new WolfR4 version.

There is quite a bunch of new features, but all were not thoroughly tested...
So please don't hesitate to tell me if you clearly see that a new feature is working properly for you.
Notice: all new features are branded in the interface with this symbol: [!]

Changelog wrote:* Rel.10-09-
Add: Command line switches for WolfR4:
   /autolaunch : automatically launch Re-Volt when WolfR4 is started.
   /autoquit   : automatically quit WolfR4 when Re-Volt ends.
   /onlineprofile : use online profile by default.

Some people told me they'd like that WolfR4 automatically launches Re-Volt so that they do not need to click on the launch button themselves (people are so lazy...). With these command line switches, WolfR4 can now be fully automated. Just create different shortcuts with the options you need.

Add: Create/delete Battle & Stunt entries in the tracks list context menu.
   Allows to reset the stars progression for stunt tracks.
Add: "In-car camera attached on top of car" option has beens renamed "Improve
   cameras behavior for low-CoM vehicles":
   It now also modifies the follow-car-camera (the default one in race) so
   that it should not point downward anymore with vehicles which have a very
   low CoM (Center of Mass), like eg. bikes.
Add: Quit Re-Volt when its window is closed:
   (Fix a bug introduced in Re-Volt patch v1207).
   Now if you close Re-Volt for example by using Alt+F4 keys, the Re-Volt
   process will be properly terminated.
Add: New entries in "custom.ini" file:
   - cam_follow_close_behind_look, cam_follow_close_behind_pos: to modify the
   second in-race car camera.
   - 'use_replay_cameras' has been moved from [options] to [camera] section.
   - 'load_abc_in_multiplayer', 'load_bottle_in_multiplayer', etc: allow to
   load these models (which are normally disabled) in multi-player mode too.
   - new [texture] section, with options to modify the track's textures size
   independently of the current global textures size.
   - several new entries in the [object_properties] section (for ultimate
   tweaking): you can now modify the radius of sphere collision for models
   like basketball, modify the brightness and color of lanterns, or even
   modify the train velocity...
Mod: In custom.ini, the default value is now written in comment just next to
   the corresponding key.
   Comments/help have been rewritten.

You should take a look at the custom.ini file content. It's content has been reworked a bit, and I have added new interesting custom entries to allow further tweaking.

Fix: The way custom track data are updated in Re-Volt memory has been improved
   (when refreshing tracks info while Re-Volt is running).
   I think WolfR4 could crash when going back to frontend if you have
   refreshed the tracks info while a custom track was loaded.
   And in case you have modified some parameters in the custom.ini file of
   the currently loaded track, it was likely that you had to quit to
   frontend then reload the track to see the changes. Now, a simple track
   restart should be enough (and not even needed for some parameters which
   can be applied in realtime).
Add: Quit button:
   Quite similar to the "Kill" button, but it asks Re-Volt to quit, instead
   of simply killing the process, thus allowing Re-Volt to save its settings.

This button would be very useful to quit re-volt properly at anytime without having to simply kill it.

Mod: Values in the Patch Tab are not profile-dependent anymore.

Once again, I recomment that you delete your old WolfR4.ini file, to clean up junk entries.

Add: Remove artificial in-air angular friction:
   [increases game difficulty, for expert gamers only]
   A setting touted by CityWalker for ultra-realistic races, it's equivalent
   to setting 'ResMod = 1' in 'parameters.txt' file of all cars (ResMod is
   usually set to 25 to prevent cars from spinning too easily when in the
   air, thus giving a driving-in-syrup effect).
   To quote her about this feature: < Take your time with the ResMod 1.0
   stuff. It’s really quite different and does need some practice on more
   complex tracks. But IMO, the added realism is a worthy reward >.
Add: Use 'Simulation' mode (in online race / battle mode):
   [increases game difficulty, for expert gamers only]
   Uses 'Simulation' mode instead of default 'Arcade' mode when racing
   online.
   Notice: it modifies only the local player's mode.
Mod: As the intro images can now easily be skipped (see "Allow to skip the
   intro" in previous changelog), the whole intro is not skipped by default
   anymore when a track is launched by double-clicking in the track list.
Add: Make shininess visible from a longer distance:
   Normally, shining surfaces quickly get deactivated as you move away from
   them. This option will double the ENV range.
   For example, it can easily be noticed when going towards the bottles in
   "Supermarket 2" track.

I think that doubling the ENV range is enough. I can make it even bigger, though I'm not sure it would be really usefull.

Add: New entry in the Track list contextual menu: "Clean custom.ini content..."
   It will remove all unused (ie. commented) lines and all empty sections in
   a custom.ini file. Only the 1st header (between the 2 "--- - ---" lines)
   will be preserved.

You can try this option before releasing your track. But beware: you can't go back. Maybe you should create a backup of your old custom.ini file before.

Add: New Track Packer option to exclude MP3 files when archiving a track.
Add: Force Revolt to save its settings each time a track is loaded or
   restarted and when going back to frontend, to prevent the loss of settings
   when re-volt crashes or is closed with Alt+F4.
Add: New option: "Disable auto car reposition for new user tracks"
   Prevents the cars from being constantly repositioned when no track zones
   (in .taz file) have been created yet (eg. when creating a new user track).
Mod: "Refresh Cars Info" and "Refresh Player's car" buttons have been joined in
   one single button.
   Notice: "Refresh Player's car" (which tends to cause Re-Volt crash) will
   only be called if the CHANGELING cheat is active in the "Race options"
   tab.
   Do not use this option at the very begining of the game, when the frontend
   is not even launched, as it will crash Re-Volt.
Mod: The way functions like "Refresh Cars Info" or "Refresh User Levels" are
   called in Re-Volt by WolfR4 has been rewritten to make "Refresh Player's
   car" less prone to crash Re-Volt.
Fix: Re-Volt version detection:
   It should not try anymore to launch Re-Volt when non-1207 version is
   detected (and a more explicative message is displayed).
Add: Fix load screen in Vista/7:
   [for Win Vista and later]
   Should allow to have the loadlevel images and the track infos properly
   displayed during the loading of the track.

This patch might introduce glitches, mostly with ENV rendering. Even though it's really not very likely, tell me if you find something strange with it.

Add: Admin right in vista/7: WolfR4 will request admin priviledges at start,
as it seems to be needed to be able to launch and patch another process.

I think this setting is needed, but I'm not 100% sure. Vista/7 users, please tell me your judgment...

Mod: Default value set for the fullscreen resolution is now the desktop
   resolution.
Add: Keyboard shortcuts:
   Ctrl+F9 : Launch Re-Volt
   Ctrl+F10 : Pause
   Ctrl+F11 : Quit
   Ctrl+F12 : Kill
   Alt+C : Refresh Cars Info
   Alt+T : Refresh User Levels
   Notice: These are global shortcuts, which means they are active as long as
   WolfR4 is running even if WolfR4 is not in the foreground.

This WolfR4 release can be downloaded here.

Posted: **25 Sep 2010, 04:36**

Been a little busy this week. I'll check all the new features soon

Jig wrote:
Add: Admin right in vista/7: WolfR4 will request admin priviledges at start,
as it seems to be needed to be able to launch and patch another process.
I think this setting is needed, but I'm not 100% sure. Vista/7 users, please tell me your judgment...

Yes, this is needed for Vista/7 users who have UAC on. If UAC is off wolf does not show this request, which is good.

Re - Vista Loadlevel Images: Ah i didn't know you were still working on this, thanks. Now there are no problems with the loadscreen images. I didn't notice any ENV glitches yet either. And yes, it's a problem with the new DirectX system and not the OS.

As a side note, lately i was working on compiling the xbox code we have for pc (trying to bring back compilable release version of re-volt). Once i got it compiled i checked these 2 problems re-volt had with my win7.
1) Display buffers problem - The code for -sli you posted earlier solved this. (use FlipBuffers() instead of Blt in fullscreen).
2) Loadlevel images problem - I still dont know the cause of this, but calling DrawSpruBox() just before the first loading pic DRAW_PRIM call solved the problem. I think some states that are set in DrawSpruBox() are clearing this problem, but im not sure. Maybe this is the reason the images can be seen when restarting a race..

Bug - Aspect ratio Patch: With the aspect ratio patch in the new release, there is this glitch.

Ticks under Reverse are out of place.

Quit Re-Volt when its window is closed (v1207 bug): It works offline, but when launched from lobby the fix doesnt work (process still remains after alt-f4).

Re - Simulation mode Online: Is there any way to know if the other player is using this? I hope there is

The global shortcuts are very useful.

I tried refreshing car info using Alt - C with and without CHANGELING enabled, in frontend and before the frontend was loaded, and there was no crash. But when refreshing car info in frontend with CHANGELING enabled, one of the 3 Wincars in frontend podium is changed to the current selected car (in my case Volken Turbo).

Posted: **25 Sep 2010, 07:26**

Huki @ Sep 25 2010, 12:06 AM wrote:Yes, this is needed for Vista/7 users who have UAC on. If UAC is off wolf does not show this request, which is good.

I have to remember to add this notice about UAC to the doc.

Re - Vista Loadlevel Images: Ah i didn't know you were still working on this, thanks.

In fact, I did give up, after several attempts... but I tried periodically, when I had a new idea. I was progressing a little more each time, until recently when I have been able to locate the issue precisely enough to finally fix it.

And it's very interesting that you're able to compile the source code by the way... Because I'm getting tired of binary patching.

Re: Bug - Aspect ratio Patch:
Yep, you're right. But it wasn't introduced in last release.
In fact, in the binary file, floating point values are shared in memory. As the progress Ticks are also using 320.0 and 240.0 values for their location, and these values have to be patched when modifying the screen ratio, the ticks locaction is moved as a side effect.
But it should be ok now: I have patched the progress ticks so that they will use another area in memory.

Re: Quit Re-Volt when its window is closed (v1207 bug)
Weird, I'll try to check it. Maybe there is another thread launched in that case.
Do you know if Ctrl+F4 actually closes the process properly in version 0916 ?

> Re - Simulation mode Online: Is there any way to know if the other player is using this? I hope there is
No, it not possible (at least, I'm quite sure it's not). The code was simply not designed for.

The global shortcuts are very useful. I tried refreshing car info using Alt - C with and without CHANGELING enabled, in frontend and before the frontend was loaded, and there was no crash. But when refreshing car info in frontend with CHANGELING enabled, one of the 3 Wincars in frontend podium is changed to the current selected car

Funny. And it should crash it you try it before the frontend is launched...
But well, I don't think I'll even try to modify/fix it, it's an advanced feature after all. Mentioning it in the doc should be enough.

Posted: **25 Sep 2010, 18:05**

Huki @ Sep 25 2010, 12:06 AM wrote:Quit Re-Volt when its window is closed (v1207 bug): It works offline, but when launched from lobby the fix doesnt work (process still remains after alt-f4).

In fact, it is yet another bug here. For me, not only the Re-Volt process doesn't end, it also crashes.
And from my test, it is present in re-volt v0916 too (while the remaining process after Alt+F4 was a v1207 only bug).

I think it could be similar to the bug that used to occur (in ancient time, before WolfR4...) when quiting a looby race session...
I'll see if I can do something about it.

EDIT: It should be fixed now...

Posted: **26 Sep 2010, 01:05**

Huki @ Sep 25 2010, 12:06 AM wrote: As a side note, lately i was working on compiling the xbox code we have for pc (trying to bring back compilable release version of re-volt). Once i got it compiled i checked these 2 problems re-volt had with my win7.

How'd you manage that, or did you just disable the networking code? I remember way back I took a look at compiling it, but the networking code was so much changed that I gave up on it.

Posted: **26 Sep 2010, 01:46**

huki wrote:When refreshing car info in frontend with CHANGELING enabled, one of the 3 Wincars in frontend podium is changed to the current selected car.

Strangely when i tried again now the bug did not happen. o_O

Re: Quit Re-Volt when its window is closed (Lobby multiplayer): Yeah it happens in all re-volt versions. Good to know it's fixed. And maybe it's a good idea to use ctrl-F11 instead of Alt-F4 from now on

-----

Jig wrote:And it's very interesting that you're able to compile the source code by the way...

Well, it took longer than i imagined (more than a month). The code was scattered all over, most parts in Src folder, some in FrontendSrc and some only in PC dev source. Everything works except multiplayer, but there are a few nasty bugs - cars have no speed limit, wheels dont spin, there is big trail of smoke, but i'm sure they can be fixed

Here's a quick screenshot (i'm not in love with that smoke

)

As you can see, all images drawn using DrawPrimitive have jaggy edges and are not drawn properly (best visible in the m in mph which looks like n). It only happens with Linear or Anisotropic filtering, not with point filtering. I've been dying to find out what causes this but don't have a clue. Maybe you can help if i send it to you by email?

Posted: **26 Sep 2010, 01:55**

arto @ Sep 26 2010, 01:05 AM wrote:
Huki @ Sep 25 2010, 12:06 AM wrote: As a side note, lately i was working on compiling the xbox code we have for pc (trying to bring back compilable release version of re-volt). Once i got it compiled i checked these 2 problems re-volt had with my win7.
How'd you manage that, or did you just disable the networking code? I remember way back I took a look at compiling it, but the networking code was so much changed that I gave up on it.

The network code we find in Xbox\Src folder is network.h and network.cpp. I'm sure that this file is not from acclaim (created by xbox developers) and it is not needed. The network code i compiled is from Xbox\FrontendSrc\ play_TEMP.h and play_TEMP.cpp. It seems to be the latest aug99 network code. Maybe i included parts of play.h and play.cpp from the PC dev source too.
Right now, i get "can't set session description" when trying to host. But i can reach the waiting room and start race, but i don't think anyone can join yet.

Posted: **26 Sep 2010, 02:36**

Huki @ Sep 25 2010, 09:16 PM wrote:Re: Quit Re-Volt when its window is closed (Lobby multiplayer): Yeah it happens in all re-volt versions. Good to know it's fixed. And maybe it's a good idea to use ctrl-F11 instead of Alt-F4 from now on

Sure, once you get used to it, the Ctrl+F11 - Quit - shorcut quickly become essential.
Alt-F4 should never be used anymore (Ctrl+F12 - Kill - is more powerful in case of trouble).

And I'm quite excited by the fact that you're able to run a recompiled version.
But we should open another thread if we keep talking about it, not to mix with the WolfR4 thread (which is already long enough by the way...).
I'm quite sure I can help, as for example I have already noticed some discrepancies between the source code and the binary file, as well as some part where it is better to use either FrontendSrc or xboxSrc.
Well, maybe I should learn how to compile in C++. For now, I don't have a clue about all this...

I've been dying to find out what causes this but don't have a clue. Maybe you can help if i send it to you by email?

Yep, feel free to do so, but I'm not sure I will be able to help you on this issue. Anyway, I'm curious to see the result.

Posted: **28 Sep 2010, 16:15**

Frontend loaded with wrong texture setting
Since all tracks in my collection is using 512 textures already, I thought that that I could just add a new 256 sized track by adding the line " texture_size_world = 256" inside the custom.ini file.

But when loading the frontend again, WolfR4 apparently didn't change the texture size back to 512, so the frontend and every track I loaded after that, looked ugly because the textures was too big.

Here is a little resume of my settings (because I got confused of what I wrote above):

- 512 patch applied
- texture_size_world = 256 applied on 1 track

This bug happens to be reproducable. I will do a few more tests of WolfR4 related to this feature later.

Posted: **29 Sep 2010, 03:21**

urnemanden @ Sep 28 2010, 11:45 AM wrote: Frontend loaded with wrong texture setting
Since all tracks in my collection is using 512 textures already, I thought that that I could just add a new 256 sized track by adding the line " texture_size_world = 256" inside the custom.ini file.

Yep, that how it was expected to work.
I will take a look soon.

<edit>
Well, it strange. I have just tested, and I had no issue...
Do you have something similar to that in your WolfR4 Log when quiting the custom track?
23:56:49. Loading Custom Track data: [your track here]
23:57:05. Re-Volt track loading detected: Frontend
23:57:05. Unloading Custom Track data: [your track here]
</edit>

For now, I'm working on fixing the source code with Huki, so I have not much time...

By the way, I wonder if WolfR4 will still be usefull if we can have a new compiled re-volt binary... I don't know for the network part, but barring that, this project is taking good shape.

Posted: **29 Sep 2010, 08:35**

Well, you can integrate the bugfixes and patches into the new binary, but for example on-the-fly car testing options will still be indispensable.

Posted: **29 Sep 2010, 15:38**

Sorry, but I cannot reproduce this bug again, tho I said I could in the last reply. Now everything works correct, which is wonderful!

Jigebren wrote:For now, I'm working on fixing the source code with Huki, so I have not much time...

Do what you find interesting, I'll try follow up on both projects and test them out when I have time.

Posted: **29 Sep 2010, 19:08**

urnemanden @ Sep 29 2010, 11:08 AM wrote:Sorry, but I cannot reproduce this bug again, tho I said I could in the last reply. Now everything works correct, which is wonderful!

Or maybe you did something different the first time that makes this bug emerge?
It could be something like refreshing the tracks info while a custom track is already loaded, for example. In previous WolfR4 versions, I think doing this could mess with custom patching/unpatching, it should have been fixed it in last release, but maybe there is still a nasty bug hidden in the Wolf's guts...
Keep me informed if you can make this bug appear again.

Citywalker wrote:Well, you can integrate the bugfixes and patches into the new binary, but for example on-the-fly car testing options will still be indispensable.

Yep, of course. In most cases, when I add a bugfix in the binary file, I also know what is the error in the source code, so all this work can probably be transposed quite easily directly in the source code. And the car refresh option could probably be added as a keyboard shortcut (in think it was already the case in a special re-volt version used by devellopers/car designers).

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