Our ReVolt Pub

jig wrote:Well, to keep you waiting patiently, I can just say that next release will also feature:
- Reverse support for user track.
- Support for any amount of user Stunt tracks.
- Support for any amount of user Battle tracks.

Yay! Track Makers can now start creating new cool Stunt Arenas & Battle Tag levels that don't need to replace the stock ones. Very cool guys!

I also have a question about how you are going to introduce the new AI changes:
Will all the game modes like Simulation, Arcade, Console, etc. increase their difficulty?
Or are these AI improvements going to be introduced in a new game mode higher than Simulation?
I wonder these because it is hard for any new player to beat Re-Volt's AI already.
Affecting the natural game modes wouldn't keep compatibility in multiplayer, would it?

About the AI inprovement, will AI also beselectable in Multiplayer if you lack racers?

New graphic bug from alpha 610 to last 825
on track Catfish Cove



the road appear as untextured, but on previous alpha and on revolt 1207 it is



I found this bug on Blender too

I can confirm SebR's bug here. First I thought this was due to a badly sized texture, but all textures in Catfish Cove is actually 256x256. I also tried to save the texture again just to see if there was a bug with the *.bmp itself but it seems to be the road mesh something is wrong with. And apparently you can only notice this in 0610

In fact there is actually something wrong with the texture "catfisha.bmp". A tool like XnView indicates a OS/2 BMP format. If I save it in Windows BMP format the texture loads normally (both in Re-Volt and Blender).
Now, I can't tell why this format variation was supported before and is not anymore, but that's no big deal. Just update this texture with proper format and all will be ok.

If the bmp is stored as 24bits (R8 G8 B8) = no bug on revolt and blender
If the bmp is stored as 32bits (X8 R8 G8 B8) = BUG ...

but if I remember HUKI said that 32 bits textures are enabled now on revolt ?

"Huki Posted: May 27 2011, 09:01 PM" on alpha 525 (the last one before 610 )

X8 R8 G8 B8 is probably seen as fully transparent (because of the unused X8).
Try with A8 R8 G8 B8 and it should be ok.
We should check the code it sounds quite easy to fix (not sure it is worth the pain though as using 32bit without Alpha doesn't really make sense anyway...).

32 bits A8 R8 G8 B8 work fine and 32 bits X8 R8 G8 B8 don't ...

what is the difference between them?

sebr @ Oct 23 2011, 08:11 PM wrote:32 bits A8 R8 G8 B8 work fine and 32 bits X8 R8 G8 B8 don't ...

what is the difference between them?

A8R8G8B8 has 8 bits of Alpha. X8R8G8B8 has 8 bits of.. nothing. There is no reason to use this format. If a texture is 32bit, re-volt expects it to contain alpha info. Instead it finds "nothing", which is taken as zero alpha, making the whole texture transparent.

About the bug in Catfish Cove, we have to read the width and height from a certain location in the bitmap file. Since this bitmap is in a different format, we ended up reading some garbage values instead and the bitmap was rejected. Older versions don't need to read the width and height, guess why.

i was going to say something but i ve changed my mind

Got another simple idea make a way to show people's ping.

Not to be a troll, but there is a suggestions topic for suggestions.

I got some weird bug on Jailhouse Rock. There are big green spinning spheres in some places, for example right after the race's start, where the red blinking light should be. They appear when i get close enough.

ElvenAvenger wrote:I got some weird bug on Jailhouse Rock. There are big green spinning spheres in some places, for example right after the race's start, where the red blinking light should be. They appear when i get close enough.

No problems here. In fact, I see nothing at the place where the blinking red light should be (as it's a custom feature only available in Wolf). Can you take a screenshot showing the green ball?

gdfsgdfg wrote:Got another simple idea make a way to show people's ping.

In Dev mode, Press Enter on the numeric keypad during an online session. And yes, there is a suggestions topic for suggestions.

Cosmo_Kramer wrote:i ve decided to donate my entire life savings to you, huki and jigebren! i was going to say something but i ve changed my mind

No no no, go ahead, please..

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/37/greenbug.png/



Here's the picture. Shows 1 of the big green spheres. There are also more in other places, at some point i saw 3 smaller spheres on the ceiling.


Im fairly sure they shouldn't appear

ElvenAvenger @ Oct 26 2011, 04:04 PM wrote: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/37/greenbug.png/



Here's the picture. Shows 1 of the big green spheres. There are also more in other places, at some point i saw 3 smaller spheres on the ceiling.


Im fairly sure they shouldn't appear

That seemed to me really funny.

Can you tell us which patch you were using?

ElvenAvenger @ Oct 25 2011, 12:42 PM wrote: I got some weird bug on Jailhouse Rock. There are big green spinning spheres in some places, for example right after the race's start, where the red blinking light should be. They appear when i get close enough.

I'm thinking you tried to use the jailhouse rock install/uninstall.bat's and something went fairly wrong

Pranav @ Oct 26 2011, 05:43 PM wrote:

ElvenAvenger @ Oct 26 2011, 04:04 PM wrote: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/37/greenbug.png/



Here's the picture. Shows 1 of the big green spheres. There are also more in other places, at some point i saw 3 smaller spheres on the ceiling.


Im fairly sure they shouldn't appear 

That seemed to me really funny.

Can you tell us which patch you were using?

0.825 alpha.

@Dave i never used the bats after installing it once, never uninstalled the track since then.

i just try it and no bug ...

... since i change FOB file ...

if you use the wolf one you get the bug on rv1.2

sebr @ Oct 26 2011, 07:47 PM wrote: i just try it and no bug ...

... since i change FOB file ...

if you use the wolf one you get the bug on rv1.2

Thanks, that helped me. I redownloaded the track and put in the levels and gfx folders. No more scary spheres. No lights either.

Hey I have the same bug, I just forgot to tell it because at the time I played the track I had no internet

I'll try to redownload the track when I have some time, hopefully that will fix it.

About the Jailhouse bug, I'm pretty sure it's either:
- because as Dave said, you've already run the install.bat
- or because you've eg. copied the Jailhouse files from another Re-Volt installation where Jailhouse custom objects where already installed.

Anyway, it's easy to verify. Check the size of the file "jailhouse.fob":
- if it's 1012 B you shouldn't get the bug.
- if it's 3.55 KB you have the custom .fob installed and you'll get the bug.

SebR wrote:if you use the wolf one you get the bug on rv1.2

Hmm, I don't think so. WolfR4 does not modify any file, eveything is done in memory and disappears when Re-Volt is closed.


BTW, the next v1.2 release should support custom model.
It will be a bit less thorough than with WolfR4 (it will not be possible to modify Objects properties as in the custom.ini file) but it will be very easy to use: the custom models just have to be placed in the track directory to be detected when the track is loaded.
For example, if a "pickup.m" file is found in the track directory, it will be used instead of the default model...

That's great news! I'm looking even more forward to the next release now. ^^

Custom models, including skymaps? My prayers have been answered.

So we're closer to "full custom"(or how was this called) on 1.2 now?

jigebren @ Oct 27 2011, 03:22 PM wrote: Anyway, it's easy to verify. Check the size of the file "jailhouse.fob":
- if it's 1012 B you shouldn't get the bug.
- if it's 3.55 KB you have the custom .fob installed and you'll get the bug.

that did the trick, thx for the tipp jigebren

jigebren @ Oct 27 2011, 03:22 PM wrote:

SebR wrote:if you use the wolf one you get the bug on rv1.2

Hmm, I don't think so. WolfR4 does not modify any file, eveything is done in memory and disappears when Re-Volt is closed.

I mean if you have renamed "jailhouse.fo_" as "jailhouse.fob", you get the bug on rv1.2

I never said that it was a wolf bug

Yep, with skymaps...
And yes, we're closer to "full custom", or "Custom tracks" as I called them in WolfR4.

@SebR
Never mind, I thought you meant: "if you use the wolf onCe".


About current v1.2 development:
As any track maker is likely aware of, 3D sounds only worked with stock tracks, so it was unfortunately just not possible to add sounds to user tracks. Well, it was with WolfR4, which allowed to use any sound from one stock track (eg. Nhood sound, or Ship sounds, etc.).
Now, not only will it be possible to add 3D sounds to user track, but any sound from any stock track should be available at the same time... And hopefully the wav files should be customizable as well (not done yet).

I just have one question:
- Does anyone has already noticed any slight hang when racing Toy in the Hood 1 just a bit before the first Basket ball is thrown?

I'm just wondering because this Ball model is loaded during the race (not before the race, as other models), and I'd like to know if the loading can be noticeable on some computers... (though I have never noticed it myself, for info).

No never. I also just tried it with my netbook (~20fps depending on the current scene) and I didnt notice any significant changes.

If it is not loaded during the loading sequence, then when exactly is it? At the beginning of the race or when it actually has to be displayed on the screen (which means the second you see it)? Or by some kind of trigger that activates when you (or the AI) drive through it?

Also I assume that this "on the fly" loading will take significantly more time if more models are loaded than only one basketball (of course ).
maybe we should do some kind of performance/stresstest map?

Hello, Huki

The Re-volt has a certain limit to add instances and other objects on a track, and some times this quantity is not enough. It would nice delete this limit in the Re-volt 1.2. So there would have problems in the creations of the track editors and no concerns.

Correct the limit of objects is also important. An example is the PickUp, we can put several of them on the track, but only some appear. Correcting this error would be corrected automatically the bug of False PickUp that does not appear when there are many PickUps on the track.

Another problem of the Re-volt MAKEITGOOD to be corrected. When we put many instances, some of them stand without data collision, the NCP file. I know if you do this the tracks will be heavy, but I think it would be best.

Allan1 @ Oct 31 2011, 07:29 PM wrote: Correct the limit of objects is also important. An example is the PickUp, we can put several of them on the track, but only some appear.

This is determined mostly by the amount of cars you have out on the field... I believe that you get 4 pickups for every car or some ratio that i don't remember.

allan1 wrote:Another problem of the Re-volt MAKEITGOOD to be corrected. When we put many instances, some of them stand without data collision, the NCP file. I know if you do this the tracks will be heavy, but I think it would be best.

Maybe... but i don't know if that would make things too much (If it can be done at all).

jig wrote:About current v1.2 development:
As any track maker is likely aware of, 3D sounds only worked with stock tracks, so it was unfortunately just not possible to add sounds to user tracks. Well, it was with WolfR4, which allowed to use any sound from one stock track (eg. Nhood sound, or Ship sounds, etc.).
Now, not only will it be possible to add 3D sounds to user track, but any sound from any stock track should be available at the same time... And hopefully the wav files should be customizable as well (not done yet).

So... we can use custom sounds mixed in with the stock Re-Volt sounds?

jig wrote:I just have one question:
- Does anyone has already noticed any slight hang when racing Toy in the Hood 1 just a bit before the first Basket ball is thrown?

Not that I can recall... but I do have a pretty old PC (10 fps if I'm lucky) that's begging to be dug up again, so maybe I'll take another look...

Dave wrote:This is determined mostly by the amount of cars you have out on the field... I believe that you get 4 pickups for every car or some ratio that i don't remember.

I think not, Dave. The Museum 1, for example, if I'm not mistaken has a total of 22 PickUps, when a car drop a fake PickUp it does not appear, even with smaller numbers of cars in the same race.

Dave wrote:Maybe... but i don't know if that would make things too much (If it can be done at all).

I think it would be best. It will not do anything delete the limit if the NCP does not load at the time of the race.

Allan1 wrote:The Re-volt has a certain limit to add instances and other objects on a track, and some times this quantity is not enough. It would nice delete this limit in the Re-volt 1.2. So there would have problems in the creations of the track editors and no concerns.

At which times is 64 Instances not enough? Unless you are using the instances to create a whole track, IMO 64 should be plenty for their true purpose - being duplicated background models. In a situation where you are using Instances to create the whole track I would suggest the use of RV-Glue as it has the ability to create a world file from Instances.

Not that I wouldn't mind seeing this limit vanish but personally I would probably prioritize that lower - mainly because it likely will cause incompatibility issues with older Re-Volt versions.

Allan1 wrote:Correct the limit of objects is also important. An example is the PickUp, we can put several of them on the track, but only some appear.

Dave_o wrote:This is determined mostly by the amount of cars you have out on the field... I believe that you get 4 pickups for every car or some ratio that i don't remember.

Dave got it right, since release 11.0710 4 pickups is generated per player - someone else has been suggesting more pickups earlier which resulted in that if I remember correctly. Also, the false pickup bug should already be fixed, if not a long time ago, then at least in the latest Alpha release. Are you using 11.0825?

Allan1 wrote:Another problem of the Re-volt MAKEITGOOD to be corrected. When we put many instances, some of them stand without data collision, the NCP file. I know if you do this the tracks will be heavy, but I think it would be best.

Personally I see the 16000 triangle limit as a challenge and not an obstacle. Again I wouldn't mind if it was removed, but I don't think that will be possible to do that in any near future partly due to incompatibility issues and a lot of work implied.

Increasing the poly number for a track would mean to edit the source file. No?

miromiro @ Nov 1 2011, 09:01 AM wrote: Increasing the poly number for a track would mean to edit the source file. No?

If you mean the .w and .ncp files, yes.

AFAIK no matter how much collision there is in the world NCP file, Re-Volt will only load the first 16000 triangles approximately. What I meant by "incompatibility issues" with older versions is that you can't just control which triangles are a part of the first 16000. That is, unless you chronologically create your track from bottom up which sounds like a very clumsy job to me.

I would probably wait with implementing something likes this until there is absolutely no advantages in using Wolf combined with 1.1 i.e. when all features from Wolf has been implemented into 1.2. I'm looking very forward to that moment myself.

Urnemanden @ Nov 1 2011, 09:43 AM wrote:At which times is 64 Instances not enough?

No. I was talking about the limit of INSERTED instances, not those who we put into the track folder, 64 for me no problem.

urnemanden @ Nov 1 2011, 03:44 PM wrote:Re-Volt will only load the first 16000 triangles approximately.

Exactly that I said.

Kenny @ Oct 31 2011, 11:39 PM wrote:If it is not loaded during the loading sequence, then when exactly is it? At the beginning of the race or when it actually has to be displayed on the screen (which means the second you see it)? Or by some kind of trigger that activates when you (or the AI) drive through it?

It is loaded when the car enters the trigger zone, and only the first time the model is needed (for the second basket ball in nhood1 the model is already in memory, for example).

Also I assume that this "on the fly" loading will take significantly more time if more models are loaded than only one basketball (of course ).
maybe we should do some kind of performance/stresstest map?

Yep, it should be possible to replace the stock basketball.m file with a more complex custom model and see it the loading time becomes noticeable. Keep me informed if you ever try.


And we have no plan to increase the 16000 polygons limitation for now. As a track maker myself I really don't feel the need of it. We things are done properly, it should be more than enough...

you can try on Freestoyl2: the beach ball at the end of the lap
and Palm March: the 4 or 5 lights turning on near the "S" bridge on the cavern

never noticed any slight hang at all

jigebren @ Nov 1 2011, 11:02 PM wrote: Yep, it should be possible to replace the stock basketball.m file with a more complex custom model and see it the loading time becomes noticeable. Keep me informed if you ever try.

heheheh... I replaced the stock basketball.m with the cas1.prm from Closed Castle, and as you might expect, there is definitely a hang up when it comes time to load the basketball (castle?). The result, strangely enough, wasn't really the castle bouncing... but... I don't really know what was going on. But when the bouncing stopped, this is what it looked like: linky

Ok, thanks for the test, Dave.
So pre-loading the model used by the object thrower actually sounds like a valid option...

Is the next release going to be an Alpha or Beta?

What's with this "Car started over finish line" error in -dev mode? Does it really mean anything? Because I get it before a race but I can race a track like normal, without any problems...

Dave-o-rama @ Nov 11 2011, 06:31 PM wrote: What's with this "Car started over finish line" error in -dev mode? Does it really mean anything? Because I get it before a race but I can race a track like normal, without any problems...

Dave, this error occurs only on your latest track. I don't find this error in any other track.
Did you get this error in any other track?

this appens only on traks who STARTPOS on inf track file is set after racing line "id : 0" space position on makeitgood ... not a bug only an info message ;-)

Pranav @ Nov 11 2011, 02:39 PM wrote: Dave, this error occurs only on your latest track. I don't find this error in any other track.
Did you get this error in any other track?

I get this on a few tracks, actually. I can't recall any off the top of my head, but if I come across any I'll post 'em here.

sebR wrote:this appens only on traks who STARTPOS on inf track file is set after racing line "id : 0" space position on makeitgood ... not a bug only an info message ;-)

Indeed... but this isn't really hurting or changing anything, is it? I'm afraid I don't see how this helps anyone. Perhaps someone could enlighten me?

One such track is SS Route Revolt.

To me, the "Car started over finish line" is here because it does make sense to ensure that all cars actually start behind the finish line.
I don't kow if there is some case where not doing so can really cause trouble (care seems to be taken in the source to minimise the impact of it). At least in time trial for example, as the timer is launched when crossing this line, you'll be racing as soon as the track is launched. And the first lap will be slightly shorter than the following...

Anyhow, I suggest you just avoid this situation as we'll consider it unsupported in case of any trouble (even coming from an eventual modification of v1.2).

Phantom @ Oct 20 2011, 10:21 PM wrote:I also have a question about how you are going to introduce the new AI changes:
Will all the game modes like Simulation, Arcade, Console, etc. increase their difficulty?
Or are these AI improvements going to be introduced in a new game mode higher than Simulation?
I wonder this because it is already hard for any new player to beat Re-Volt's AI.
Affecting the natural game modes wouldn't keep compatibility in multiplayer, would it?

Kajeuter @ Oct 21 2011, 04:12 AM wrote:About the AI inprovement, will AI also beselectable in Multiplayer if you lack racers?

Just in case nobody noticed. We don't expect a fast answer.

INVISIBLE CUSTOM CARS
So, I've found some kind of bug. I've got a lot of custom cars, but some of them are simply invisible, either if they're selected by AI or by me. Burner told me that it's the bit differences, that the 32bit cars appear like that. What should I do? Can you fix this?