Our ReVolt Pub

Just a silly Question about the way the editor handles All of the Zones and nodes in the editor.

Ok... I am no expert on the RV editor ( actually I have never realy used it) but it seems to place the track zones and AI onto the track for you, is this correct? and is there a way to utilise this function in Custom Extreme tracks?

I know it means an indepth look into the coding again but there may be sombody out there who may be able to look into it as it would make releasing tracks far quicker.

It is something that I have not as yet heard anyone speak about, so i thought i would bring it to the front and brain storm this for a while.

Onto another point!.....

I am looking for people who are willing to realy rip the water out of the RV files in order to create the following...........

A team of us who are still fully into Re-volt and who are willing to have a real good go at creating a new feel to the whole game!

1 New front end.

2 New set of Stock cars for each catagory.

3 New Model sets (even if they do have to use certain modes from the original)

4 New tracks for all categorys ( My Fave area)

Now i know you are all going to shout " Already gone through all this before!!!!"
But have we realy? not fully, as every now and again sombody comes up with somthing new in editing that none of us thought possable!!

This bloody Tsunami group has pissed me off a little bit with there Arcade thinggy with little or no concideration for the remaining Online Re-Volt community and to that end I say we give Acclaim entertainment a final tribute by making this outstanding game push further than any of them would ever thought possable.

I am in the process of findin out as much as I can about the way RV does things but I am no Coder I am a 3d Max editor, but I am doing all I can to do the following.....


Change and edit the way the frontend works as in the cam movements and selection processes.

Find out where the Texture IDs are worked out and try to increase the amout of textures it uses ( which would be one of the most important things on the list)

Find a way to utilise the RV editors AI and Zone function for the new Tracks.

So I am calling out to anyone with any Ideas or help for this ( Hobbie ) Project.

Lastly to the copywrite stuff.
I dont realy know the ins and outs of this but what I do know is that this will be for us in the community only, and no money would be made from any alterations we make, So I cant see many problems comming our way there.

Any other info on this subject would be cool but as for me , I dont give a stuff, I see this as an Acclaim game and they are no more, so balls to emm all Ill rip the guts out of this Game if I had the know how.

Sorry for the novel but I have been thinking of this for a long time and i think that it would be a fun thing to do.

If my spelling is bad I am sorry lol

Mike...

We have all been around this game for a long time now (7 years for me i think) So I say we start to look further into it.

Skitch2 @ Sep 13 2005, 11:35 AM wrote: Ok... I am no expert on the RV editor ( actually I have never realy used it) but it seems to place the track zones and AI onto the track for you, is this correct? and is there a way to utilise this function in Custom Extreme tracks?

There is already a function implemented into revolt to automatically add the Ai Nodes.

It's called "Create racing line from Ghost Car". It's called by pressing CTRL+6.

To create such a racing line, you must be in time trial (so the custom tracks must be placed in a stock track directory).

Then do some laps, and when you have found your best way, push CTRL+6 to create the IA nodes.

PS: I never tried this function.

For TrackZones, the van be builded with ASE2TAZ (for tracks created with 3dmax). For other, they must be place by hand.

I created a tool to reverse the TrackZones (for making reverse tracks). This one seems to work. Only tested with lego tracks for now.

I'm working on Pos Nodes and IA Nodes too (but it's more difficult). The program is ready the the result file crash the game

Create AI nodes isn't possible, the function you are telling about, cd, is only to create a line you have to report manually on AI nodes.

I don't know anything in coding, but I learn to use 3ds...

I am with you !!!! If you want of me...

[sorry for english]

Yup heard and tried them ones already and it doesnt place the nodes for you it only effects the race line linked to placed nodes.

What I was trying to get at was this.......

When you create a lego track in the editor you export it to the game and the editor places the track zones and the AI in the convertion. So I want to see if there is a way to utilise the same process with custom Extreme tracks. A tool to read the track mesh in the .w and create and place the track zones pos nodes and AI for you. It seems feasable to me in thought but may be much harder to impliment lol.

Could never quite work out how to make the ase to taz and viz work it all seemed a little to fiddly for me but I spose its like anything realy, you need to learn it properly for it to be simple.

But if anyone does know how to set up the ase to Taz and Viz and write down an idiot proof step by step guide for them i would be real interested!

I get lost when it says write a list thinggy. A list in what exactly?? On a bit of scrap paper and wave it infront of my PC and hope Max reads it??

So yea if I could work out the Viz and Taz thing that would solve it realy.

Brain storming Theme Ideas for the new tracks would be a good idea too.

I would also love to know how to create the rendered textures like in the stock tracks. I have played about with textures for ages and can never get the same quality and effect as the ones in the game. (Gabor has managed it with Quake and venice) and getting the same quality of textures would be essential for the new stock tracks.

I have worked out the exact poly structure that RV uses, so the tracks will have the same clean sharp look as the original ones and will run as smooth so there wont be a problem there. any way i could go on and on so ill stop there for a bit.

Skitch2 @ Sep 13 2005, 10:35 AM wrote:I am looking for people who are willing to realy rip the water out of the RV files in order to create the following...........

A team of us who are still fully into Re-volt and who are willing to have a real good go at creating a new feel to the whole game!

1 New front end.

2 New set of Stock cars for each catagory.

3 New Model sets (even if they do have to use certain modes from the original)

4 New tracks for all categorys ( My Fave area)

Now i know you are all going to shout " Already gone through all this before!!!!"
But have we realy?  not fully, as every now and again sombody comes up with somthing new in editing that none of us thought possable!!

I agree 100%

Although I have no coding or 3D modeling skills, I am with you in this project and wish to offer my help in any way possible, basic beta tester or any MAKEITGOOD specifics... just ask.

As for specific in's and out's of individual file types, I think darksabre is your best bet.
He has found out a lot, including finding the length of the track from the .pan file (pos nodes) , figured out the moving graphics and a fairly detailed list of the majority of the AI node priorities.

As for new track suggestions, well, you know what type of tracks I like.
But they would not be right for the project to succeed, as we need to envisage the basic concept of what Re-Volt is all about, Remote Controlled cars in an ordinary (or even extraordinary) world.
A definate track would have to be a new Toy World or even an idea I've had for a while, a combo of Toy World and Supermarket : Toy Market ?

As for new stock cars, are we talking altogether brand new creations with similar low poly bodies or would be selecting from the vast list we already have, but just with new paint jobs. And would we be creating similar stock parameters as per current rating.

As to the new in game models, yes they could be different/new but wouldn't they still have to use the same routine/movement as set out by the game.

Wow! now you've got my head buzzing
OK! sign me up, let's go for it......

Good project skitch! When I have time, I will complete this page from the ali site and in particular the multi-frame thing. The others files formats are here but in french and not with the conventional structures explanation. Need time to convert them into correct structures explanations as ali' site.

IMO, the good things to do now are :

• Mail Namco, which is the new licence owner, to get exact files strutures and, maybe (the dream ) get the source code.
• Make a 3D Editor ONLY for re-volt that will be able to use all the particularities of revolt's files. New creators will have no difficulties to make proper extrem tracks with a tool like this.

All of that will be a good departure point to make a revolt 1.2 and maybe a revolt 2...

Nice to see your with me peeps!!

And yes getting the code would be a dream come true lol.

I have built the concept for a new toy world Ultimate track already that follows on from the stock ones so ill keep your market and toy mix in mind.

Glad to have you on this darksabre we need a body with some code ripping skills lol. manmountain throw all you can at track and car and game modes at this as it will all be looked into.

This must be a casual thing mind you as we all have real life work duties to keep up with so look at it as a hobbie to keep us pushing forward with the game and maybe we can get it up to date again.

I have plenty of ideas and designs for tracks going on at the mo and one of them is a realistic RC sim mode for manmountains joy of running RC tracks lol I think this would be a good add on for the the game along with the comedic Stock style.

Like you say, my brain is buzzing with things to do, but I still need to find a way to increse the amount of textures to use as a first port of call as this would lead to a massive leap forward in track style and quality.

I got to go to work for now so ill be back on later.

Bye fur now.
Mike......

yo scitch2 & da community
i like your idea about renewing the game,
you wrote many important things, for example the increasing of the used textures, because one cannot be smart enough to do a really nice track from such low number of textures.
as for the nodes: i dont understand exactly, (maybe my english is too poor) do you have problem with setting the nodes with the inner editor? man, you have made beautiful tracks!!!
hmmm, oops, the net coffe is about to close, i will come back soon....

ok, i came into another net coffe
so: how did you make nodes and zones for your high quality tracks if not with the RV editor?
oops I think I dont know something: RV editor is what? isnt it the inner editor of the game? (you know the makeitgood menu)
as for the improvements: yes, lets make the Revolt2!
there is a documentation about the ase2taz and ase2vis which is enough for you to understand its working, but is it possible that you dont know it?
your tracks (and other's 4xample Gabor's) are the best extreme costums, so on the first look i thought i am reading a topic written in 1998, lol.
sorry for flashing beetween the themes but I hadnt time to think out what i wanted to say.
i allways make tracks by importing ase file into .w file and .prm file (and many times .vis file and .taz file too) from max with the so called ASETools, a fine working util, dont you use this?
as far as i know the making the nodes is possible only manually with makeitgood.
my next track will come out within 2 weeks (i will send it to sjampo today or tomorrow to test it and to look for bugs) pls dload (from arto's site) and try it and if you think i can help you in modeling in this new revolt-revolt pls write me.
ok this letter is a confusion, lol, i hardly speak in english and maybe i misunderstood your words, but one thing is sure: if you need a max modeler in your (our) project here is a hungarian mad man ready to help to bring revolt2 into the world.

Hi Human, glad to see your on board.
If you need any testing or AI help, I'm always here,

(Skitch2 @ Sep 13 2005, 07:31 PM)
When you create a lego track in the editor you export it to the game and the editor places the track zones and the AI in the convertion. So I want to see if there is a way to utilise the same process with custom Extreme tracks. A tool to read the track mesh in the .w and create and place the track zones pos nodes and AI for you. It seems feasable to me in thought but may be much harder to impliment lol.

Could never quite work out how to make the ase to taz and viz work it all seemed a little to fiddly for me but I spose its like anything realy, you need to learn it properly for it to be simple.

But if anyone does know how to set up the ase to Taz and Viz and write down an idiot proof step by step guide for them i would be real interested!

If you could create Skitch's idiot proof guide, then please do.

Just to clarify, Re-Volt comes with it's own official Track Editor (lego tracks only), which is found on the main menu.
The MAKEITGOOD editing is a cheat mode editing believed to be left by the creators of Re-Volt, and found and utilised by the RV community.

lol I do know all there is to know about the makeitgood code i think and I know how to place Zones and AI. But if we could have RV add the T zones and its basic AI node set up along the track like it does in the games editor it would save loads of time as the AI would only need tweaking by the tallents of manmountain there!

It is just a time saver is all i am getting at.

As far as the ase to Taz and Viz go , I have looked at the docs many times and cant for the life of me work out how to implement it , much like the glue programme eludes me. Maybe i am just a bit thick when it comes to any sort of written commands to make things do stuff, i dunno. I need to be taken Step by step by sombody in order for it to sink into my wee brain lol.

I know that once I have been shown the proper way to write thist list (where, how and what in) ill slapp my self in the face for being so silly, but untill then i am resorting to the old long drawn out makeitgood way hehe.

wow i have got so many ideas buzzing around my head for all this at the mo that I am actually story boarding track sections and ideas on paper lol.

Over the last year or so I have been making about 30 different tracks of all different themes, just waiting to be fully polished and finalised for the game. so I am sure that between mine and any other tracks you guys make, we can have a fully new set of (Picked by a bunch of peeps in the community) stock tracks and cars for the re vamped game.

I know that in its essance it will be the same old RV but that is the whole point ( why make a RV2 that aint like RV?) RC revenge springs to mind lol. But i think that we can build a worthy RV2 using a fully tested and stonking engine that does everything we want it too ( even more if we could just tweak it sumwot).

It was thought that the mirrors for the floors couldnt be done untill I saw the file staring me in the face, but we did it. The multi frame textures were not even in the running until it was done. Hell, I even made a fully working teleportation system lmao.

We have rain, fog, sunny skies, skid marks, Gravel, snow and ice, polished floors, out doors , indoors, realistic, not so realistic, any god dam worlds we can think of at our disposal, so I think getting the code properly looked at and opend up as far as poss is what we realy must do now.

Mike now gets down off of his soap box and stops the lecture lol. ( i am just excited i spose lol.

im afraid some kind of raping the Lego Editor to make us AI and Pos Nodes and especially track zones, which i personally find most time consuming to place (not to tweak tho, mind you) is not possible.

i guess the only reason why it works with the track editor is the fact that it's based on squares. i mean, what you could do is make a track with shapes similiar to a lego built one, build a lego one and use .fan, .pan and .taz, then tweak from there. doubt it would do much good tho.

im supporting the whole idea of RV2, doubt i can give much tho.

The lego editor has predefinided ai, pos nodes or track zones. When you build a lego, each pieces get the default values. For exemple one track zone by piece.

And it's not impossible to write an auto tracking prog. This exists for need for speed underground (1 or 2 I forgot). The prog help you to drive by analysing the track.

I think that for revolt we need a basically set of tracks zones, not more.

For visiboxes, tuxator has writen a general optimisation in his freevolts prog, so maybe it can be adaptated to writing visiboxes.

Now lets be honest to our selves here, what Skitch is hoping for is a quick, user friendly and easy way of auto placement of Zones and Racing line (AI) for extreme track creations, right ?

Now I feel that as a well informed/communicated team we don't really need to focus on creating these tools if the process can be done by current means (albeit time consuming) by community/team members that specialise in that particular area, which IMHO would forge a stronger community spirit.

Although the tools would be quite useful, I feel it's a goal that just exceeds our requirements for the RV2 project. Unless of corse the creation of such tools unlock crucial insights into Re-Volt.

Just my little 2 cent's rant, pay no attention if you wish.

Just one more thing, I'm not keen on the "RV2" title, as it wont be all new (unless someone unlocks and rewrites the RV engine), so I would ask you all for your suggestions of an official title to this project.
Here is my offering : Re-Volt Revamped

How about Re-Volt Re-Charged

RV2 is only the code name manmountain

And with good graphic motor (as irrlicht in the tuxator's freevolts) and physical one (as newton for exemple), we can make a new game that supports all re-volt's files...

hey community,
well, the sad thing is that i cannot understand you because my english is poor, and i never bring dictionary with me when i go to work, lol
so what i do understand: skitch want to use a smart prog with UI to set the nodes and zones etc.
as far as i know the nodes cannot set automatically, but there are users and programmers like cd who knows much more about this theme.
only the viziboxes and zones can be made in max and converted by a converter from ase into taz and vis...which is a very good think fo a maxer like you skitch.
well, skitch, its not difficult to make the zones with max. if we read the same documentation, im afraid i cannot tell you more.
oops, sorry i have to go now, ill be back soon...

im here again,
so, dear skitch, is da asetools prog installed on your pc?
if yes, i try to explain how to convert ase into taz in this forum.
dudes i wish i could understand every word you wrote above.
i dont have net connection now and must to go to net coffes to talk with you, a little bit weary thing, and takes many time.
as for da renewing of the game: i think its a nice idea to update the whole game to fit da todays requirements. da most difficult things in track making are da limits of da game, low number of textures, keeping fps on high value etc.
so i think it woud be nice respect to da authors and to da game to strenghten da engine, to make it possible to use more and bigger textures etc.
i dont know how to do it, (im only a max editor, like skitch) i dont know is it possible at all, but da game needs it i think to survive.
lol, skitch i did feel da same when i saw da dos-window and was asked to write in commands, etc., but came over da difficulties, thx to God, lol
if you want me to, i will write some tips about ase2taz and ase2vis, but be patient please, because i dont even know when will be da next time when i can sit down to a keyboard, , things are so cruel without a connection .

hey manmountain, thx for da mail and da offer.
my next track is at sjampo, as you know, well, i wish to upload it to arto's site as soon as possible, but da next one cannot escape from your AI-workshop ).
ok, i gotta go again
revolt foreva!

ase to taz and viz can be done in max which is a good way to go one i have learnt how.

As far as the name goes i dont give a monkeys left uncle what its called as it is realy RV1 tweaked up a bit just for us.

I am not hoping for a new game that is fit for making millions I just want to see how far we have all come as a comunity and how well we can all work together on a tricky project like this would be. It may fall on its bottom, it may just work and help us undersatnd the locked up parts of the engine.

I sit here month after month and watch people like your selves release tracks and cars by the bucket load. people race them for a bit and then wait for another new one. Wouldnt it be cool if a few of us made summit a little bit bigger than just one track or one car? Imagine releasing a pack containing a new front end , fonts , weapons (probly just in looks), tracks , cars, increrased textures, new animated models, well i could go on and on, and I know that any alterations to any code would have to set into the game engine so people wold have to dowload the modded game aswell.

Please dont take the project to seriously, just help me look deeper into the game and well see what happens.

It would be nice to see what we as a team could come up with by brainstorming this idea. It may be that we just produce some new tracks and cars with added new effects but any forward step is a good one.

manmountain you are bang on about forging spirit by alowing team members who like to do certain parts. For one If I knew that I would only need to worry about the track mesh and nothin else I would have a blast in max withougt that feeling of omg ill have to AI and viz this lol.

That is how it is done in the industry i think so it must be a working formula lol.

Ok heres what I am looking into at the mo.

Who has the code for Re-volt, and ill try to pester them for info.

Track mesh ideas, and themes that lead to 2 or more tracks per theme. other max users could do the same if they have time.

Finishing the bloody Max to Trax tutorial, That would help all new tracks made by max editors have the same construct in poly size and spacing to help the FPS and overall quality.

Work on a new front end using the same cam and selction modes that it uses now ( this may change if anything is found to help change the whole process).

look into how the Stock textures are made and make lots more to fit any themes that come up.

Please keep in mind that there is still a quite large community of online racers that need new material for this game in order to keep them happy and playing so ill be releasing tracks as usual for them and I hope you all keep doing the same.

Rick and hil and human and many others are and have been track making monsters and its real fun to see the wonders they make. Cillit Bang had me crying with laughter as I rip the water out of that add every time its on tele lol.

But I think That the cars are going to be the most important part of this idea and there are some fooking ace car people out there and Me&Me you say you couldnt bring much lol i would most definately dissagree.

But so far, from posting the first idea tho now this has already been sort of a good brain storm, positives and negitives are what its all about and well take the good bits and use emm.

Mike..

I haven't read all posts, because like human my english is a bit too poor....
So for now I have understand that you need ideas ?
Be sure all trackmakers have ideas , but not always the level to create what they want .... I personnally want to learn how people like you skitch, human, all other, can create so much with that facility...

Perhaps I need to do more tutorials. I wanna work for you please...

ok, skitck, I understand everything, especially because i took a dictionary, lol.
but i understand your standpoint too.
this max 2 trax tutor is not known by me, who is writing it?
as i promised i try to write da basic steps of converting an ase into taz&vis.

you need da followings:
-asetools installed with da ase2taz& ase2vis modules
-any text editor prog to write a listfile (details below)
-max, to export an ase from it

basic steps for a .taz file: (tips and explanation later)
-U make your nice .max file- if you want zones, this file will contain simple boxes, you dont have to convert them to mesh or poly, just place them into da track's max file where you want them to be placed.
-U export them (of course only the boxes for zones) in ASCII format into an .ase file to da same directory where da ase tools are installed (important)
-U type a so called listfile. this is a simple text in ASCII format, i used to do it with notepad or wordpad and later i rename it with total commander by deleting its extension, because the .txt extension is not good for us. this file must be placed in the same dir where da ase is exported and da tools are installed.
-U run the ase2taz through da dos prompt (i mean the dos window, start menu/run/cmd/ok) default directory must be da same again, if you are there, you call da prog in by typing this: ase2taz. if da default dir is not we need, U change it like this: type into da window: cd/space/desired directory/enter
-so you type ase2taz and da ase file's name after it with space beetween them. da listfile's name must be "tazfile" without extension, but you dont have to type in it, da prog will find it for itself to use it for da conversion (remember: same dir) ase file's name must be da track's folders name (like da other files in da tracks folder)
-da conversion begins and da prog write a taz file into da dir (da same dir again)
-U pull da taz from da dir into da tracks folder, and U are ready

da list file:
-simple text, ASCII coded, no extension
-U have to list da names of the boxes which are previously named in max before da export into ase.
-U have to do this by listing each of them in a new line like this:

box01
box02
box03
box04

and so on.. very simple work.

tip: because U want many zones, U can give a simple name in max to the first box, and instead of creating a new one, copy another one and max will name it automatically by increasing its last number (as you know it) i used to name it to "a01" and all da boxes wear da same but with increased numbers: a01, a02, a03 and so on

substance:
-ase2taz converts da ase into taz
-it needs one ase file and one text file in da same dir where it is installed
-ase file (contains simple boxes made in max) mustbe named like da tracks folder
-text file must be named allways "tazfile", no extension
-prog works by typing into da dos window: ase2taz/space/name.ase/enter
-important: da ase file's name must be typed allways with its extension, of course with da .ase extension,
-i type a line here as an example:

c:/ase2taz ship1.ase

these are da basics. seems to be difficult at first but becomes to be very easy by da third or fourth time.

I hope it can help you skitch. vis file is something like this, but a little bit more difficult because there are cam(boxe)s and its boxes, this little extra work on the list file (and in max too), i explain it too, if you want me to.
You have to know that its not allways suitable to make viziboxes by converting an ase, because in max you dont see so clear where a box for a cam must to be placed, its not so clear that what object will be covered by it ( in revolt's "real world" you easily realise from a point of view that what is seen from there.


cya, greetings to da whole community

Skitch2 @ Sep 17 2005, 10:38 AM wrote: But I think That the cars are going to be the most important part of this idea and there are some fooking ace car people out there and Me&Me you say you couldnt bring much lol i would most definately dissagree.

But so far, from posting the first idea tho now this has already been sort of a good brain storm, positives and negitives are what its all about and well take the good bits and use emm.

first paragraph of the quote: ty Skitch, appreciate it. what i meant was along the lines of i dont consider myself a very skilled track maker really and cars really are the lesser effort in RV, imho. also, i dont have the time and determination that i used to have sadly.

second paragraph: yes i agree, this has been quite a good brainstorm indeed.
lets hope we can make sth out of it.

Thanx human for the info ill look it over.

Max2Trax is a tut I am writing dood!

I have been making the dam thing for about 2 years but every time I think that I am getting somwhere with it I manage to find better ways to do stuff and that makes the Tut out of date lol. I am now at last to the point where my Max work as far as RV goes is about as good as its gonna be (Images of Giza) << That was a test for me to see how far I could push the poly count in a track and still have it run smooth.

Before I go on, I think that all of the Custom tracks are absolutely stunning and I would never dig at any of your work, evryone has there own way of doing things and I love that fact, but this next ( chapter lol ) bit is just a way, I have been toying around with for a long time. So if any of you have input on other ways to go, or dont agree with me on anything, please say so and ill add it to the tut.

The point to prove here is this! Look at the new Track from RickyD and go into the edit mode and fly above the track, you will see that many of the main ground or background polies are of a non consistant size, many are quite big and this does 2 negitive things to the RV engine. 1 is that it spreads the texture over a large area which increases render time and can look a little bit blurry. 2 the most important negitive atribute is this: It forces the game engine itself to perform, non consistant math processes, example: If I was to type the number 100 on a calculator then hit cancel then repeat it then cancel then repeat then cancel, i would be able to do it quite quickly as I woulnt have to think too hard about it, But if I was to type 1546 then hit cancel then 3647 , then 4767398 then<<<< you get the picture lol ( my little analogy ) it takes lots more brain or computer thinking to do, which slows "Me" and the RV engine down.

Another point with this is that , the Farclip and the fog start settings, use the polies in a very cool way. If you have large polies, the far clip has to pass completely over the poly to clip it, so behind the fog you will have a fully rendered poly that you cant even see, as it is bigger than the far clip setting. but if you had consistant smaller polies and you set up the fog and F,clip properly the rendering engine will be clipping smaller polies just out of visual range, which massively improves the render speed.

I have worked out over the years , what I think is the best poly size to use with the RV engine and along with things like (Peeps are gonna think that this is a bit odd ) Breaking EVERY vertice in the mesh, essentially doubling the vert count of a mesh helps the RV engine. All of my tracks I make now have a poly count of upwards of 40 thousand polies and in max I break each poly into single objects, this makes the ase to .w convertion 5 times faster and increases frame rate in RV.

All of this and tonns more will be included in the Tut along with Step by Step instruction from setting up max and RV to finishing a tutorial Track.

Me&Me, You say cars are the lesser effort?? without them RV would be a real dull game lol. Look at the concept art in the gallery, sum of them cars need to be made lol. I would love to use some of that art in the project. and as far as perameter stuff goes I still concider you as the master. I have known you for quite a while now and have loved your work over the years.

LOL dunno what is wrong with me lately I could type all day long hehe........

hey skitch, yo commun,

im look forward for this tutor skitch, its very good thing that you are writing it.
this "breaking" theme is very interesting ( im talking about da vertecies).
my last track ( coming up this week) contains 36 000 polys, so im interested in this question.
i will check&try this modif on this track, however it runs very smoothly, da fps is beetween 60-100 % of da maximum of my system on da whole track.
fps is a thing that makes me thinking again and again by every track.
i realized (maybe im wrong) that if da same poly wears different textures, it has influence to da fps.
what dou you think skitch, is it possible?
as for da thing about da little and big polys i agree with you.
i have never tried how da vertex-modif (break or weld) makes influence to da fps, but now i will try it, thx for da info.
what do you think, is da conversion time clearly indicates da probable level of fps?

A couple of track ideas that come to mind are a few old one's but not yet developed.
1) Bowling Alley and/or Games Arcade. (Real world layout)
2) Pin Ball Machine, something on the scheme of the Ford Focus TV addvertisement. (Pure fantasy)

3) Something I have had in mind for a while (but never had the skill's or tool's), Winter Games, ski/slalom slopes, ski jump and cross country all in one track, it would need some kind of chairlift or cable car area with either a Farce Field or a AI Node transport trick, to get the cars back up to a higher level. The track would not need to be huge, each area could lead directly on to the next. An obvious ice track but the use of the ice surface property need not be used for the whole track, some parts could be slightly slippery and some basic bump.

4) Another idea I have just had is Seaside Outing, (more of a UK thing), A simple undulating beach leading by ramp to the promonade and along the sea wall, then a small detour to the pier before returning to the beach. The racing line can incorporate a trip under the pier while dodging of the water breaks and sand castles. Fabit's Playa track is something similar but not quite.

That's it for now, if I think of anything else ... I'll be sure to annoy you.

I Have a pinball Table in the works manmountain as well as a bowling alley which ST and I will be doing. I like the snow themes aswell so ill look into them.

Step 1 of the interactive Tut is almost finished and I think that it will be very helpfull to new Max editors aswell as vets who want some new trick so it wont be long before its finished.

Each step will be about 15 meg but fully streamable as well as a dowloadable version. Ill try to keep the files as small as poss but to fit all of the relivant stuff in will need a fair amount of space. It is a flash Video tut along with narrative (by me ). All i need to do after it is completed is gain purchase to some web space to hold it all. I am looking into a good host for the site today so i hope all goes well.

Lots to do after work so ill be off.

Later.... Mike....

I have updated the ali's page on the re-volt files' structure with the multi-frame thing. You can see it here.

COOL! sounds like fun. I've been trying to make more realistic R/C cars for Revolt for some time now. I can model the cars and set the base parameters, and manmountain could tweak them if he wants. The question is do you want them based of the original cars or completely new versions. I've also been toying with the idea of a completely new in race HUD design. Over the years I've also made some models for some tracks I'd like to see in Revolt, I just never completed them. Here's a list of those ideas, and I'd gladly donate the models I've made for them.

"Rain Delay" - a rainy day at a small town airport
models done or almost done
a cessnna plane
a beegee style plane
a spits plane
partly completed hanger

"Junkyard Jubalee" - a race threw an auto salvage yard
models done or almost done
a junk car with doors open to drive across the bench seat
the base for an old school bus
some subway cars
yard crane
models needed
a full size van with doors open or removed to drive threw
yard lot with garage

"Little Johnny's John" - a race as a hotwheels size car threw a bathroom
this one is almost complete just need to revamp the textures somewhat

"Building Zone" - A race threw a framed up house
models done or almost done
skid steer
skil saw
shovel
saw bucks with boards laying on them
air compressor
hammer
tool box
table saw

"Lunar Speedway" - a race on the moon
models done or almost done
Giant crater
moon base
some odds and ends track pieces

"Circus" - pretty self explanitory
models done or almost done
big top tent
cannon
hoops

here are just some track ideas

a race on a aircraft carrier
a race around an old grounded paddle wheel river boat in a swamp
a race in a las vegas grocers
a race in a shopping mall

Just let me know what you want.

Hi IB!

Track ideas are great !

I will post later about what may be needed for new tracks.

At the moment a sort of consistancy needs to be reached as far as tracks for the project,What I mean is,all of the new tracks must have the same sort of feel to the original stock levels with new themes to give the new project that RV 2 feeling. Most people have far better PC than when the game was first launched so pushing the poly count up on new tracks wont be a problem. But if all the track editors who will be making the new Stock tracks are using all manner of poly sizes there will be a sort of custom feel to them which would be nice to avoid.

Of cours Editors will be making Custom tracks as always but it would be kinda cool to have a full set of total replacements for the Stock levels.

The Hub idea is well welcomed and would be great to see. So if you can do it please do.

Same goes with any new ideas that would change the look of the original.

I am off to work on me Tutorial again, speak to you all later.....

Is it possible to add a special section for UFO in the Frontend ? It could be very fun to make some tracks for that car only, with traps in air to avoid, some FX effects and new textures to make a good alienized environment...
I'm actually working on a track like this, but not for the probe UFO car, but it would be great if this stupid editor of 3dsmax didn't create me so many bugs....

If you need somebody to create texture, concept/concept arts, logo's,
trackdesigns and cardesigns, I'm right here!

(for a small example of my drawing skills, this sig below here is also made by me...)

Btw, if its possible (maybe a little too much), wouldnt it be an idea to add an extra
game mode, thinking about mission driving...

Dont know if its possible to add triggers on the levels, but it would be cool, you know.

And maybe, when its possible, you could name the game: Re-Volt 2: Missions

Please explain what you mean by "Missions", as there are already Championship, Time Trial, Practice and Stunt Arena, all where you can collect the Stars required to access and release other parts of the game.Which is sort of an on going mission.

Also, what do you mean "add triggers on the levels", I was under the impression we already did. Which or what kind of triggers are you talking about ?

Manmountain @ Oct 5 2005, 03:34 PM wrote: Also, what do you mean "add triggers on the levels", I was under the impression we already did. Which or what kind of triggers are you talking about ?

Oh sorry, triggers are a spot in the level that will activate something
when you enter this area, maybe I have worked a little much with the unreal engine.

And with missions, I was thinking about, bringing objects to someone/something,
destroy something, etc.

Know what I mean?

Hi all,

I am behind this 100% as well, I am not good at coding or stuff but I am happy to give as much time as possible in helping where I can.

I have read ove the posts here and one or two things come to mind.

Skitch2 has got me thinking about this simple solution to AI & POS nodes automaticaly being created when exporting, and it goes with out saying that would save a heck of a lot of time, now I dont have a solution on how to impliment this but my thinking is this.

The lego tracks export with the nodes in, we know this is done within the editor part of the game now I might be way off here but that is a seperate exe file to revolt (has anyone tried to have a closer look at that file?). Also the exporter knows what the track sections are like as they are predifined by the editor.

So ............

What about a front end on the track make utility that works in the same way as the lego editor? I have no idea how you could do this but the track sections are set, all be it 100's of them and I know this is not much use to the max users but it could unleash some great tracks like sky garden etc, and a interface where you could say drag track pieces out to a workspace and move them about and they clicked together so no joining issues maybe the ability to change some textures and so on.

Damm, now my head is buzzing with ideas, a bit different from the original topic but still.

The other thing I was thinking about was, lets just say if were able to get the code are there people in the community who could work with it?

One of the biggest problems I see for the future, with the game as it is compatability !! is there a way we can patch the game to be more Modern PC frendly, not that different to the TMM Car Fix util

Now is that all.................. that will do for now, I am going to quizz a mate of mine who is beta testing for EA games, and see if there are any bods who might be woth tapping up for info.

I will be keeping a close eye on this board and I will post if I have any more comments/ideas/solutions or win the lottery, so I can enploy someone to do this for us

piN

What about a type of game like this :

In some areas are placed many objects, drivers will have to get the most they can...

PS : The noik : have you made some maps ?

Well, I only know some texturing, love to draw, but building tracks...

I indeed had some tracks, but their gone now.
Although I still have some unfinished textures for toytanic,
wanted to make a ghostship of it.

Wowowow ! Very great idea !

Edit : I've see what it looks like in game, continue please !!!

PD : When i've said maps I spoke about unreal

Killer Wheels @ Oct 12 2005, 07:37 PM wrote: Wowowow ! Very great idea !

Edit : I've see what it looks like in game, continue please !!!

PD : When i've said maps I spoke about unreal

Oops, thought you meant RV, in the unreal editor I've made other things,
didnt build levels, I found creating new skins for the gen mo'kai's more fun. (UT2004)
Its great to work with shaders in that game, can make the most oddest things.

And I can try to finish some more textures and see if I can partly build the ship.
I also had in mind to do something special with the *.bmq maps.
I can use these to to make the textures change at a distance.

The_noik @ Oct 13 2005, 06:37 AM wrote: And I can try to finish some more textures and see if I can partly build the ship.
I also had in mind to do something special with the *.bmq maps.
I can use these to to make the textures change at a distance.

Ow year ! Some nice effects for a strange environnement ! ^^

Hehe I am still around and buisy with RV stuff.

Its nice to see the ideas still flowing in this topic, thats why I posted it.

Firstly, I think a ghosty theme for a track set is a must as I am already making a track inside an old church with Grave Yard so a haunted Ship would go along nicely with it.

As for the other stuff that Has happend lately heres whats bin goin on.

I sent Part one and part 2 of my tut to a lad in chat who has never used Max or done any RV editing at all and he followed the tut steps with ease, so My new tut idea seems to work ok. I shall be pummeling along with that till its finished.

I am making new Tracks when ever I can ( time permitting).

Iron Bob Has sent me some new 3-2-1- go models and I think that they are stonkingly good so i hope he can come up with more to compare to and some nice new on screen looks to the hud.

On that note. If there are any of you who want to have a go at the fonts in the front end along with the graphical look of the 2d stuff in the front end please have a go at it and send emm to me. I will throw them all in the pot and between us all we will pick out the best of them for use with the Game update.

I am thinking of changing the pickups for the game to give it a new feel so all of the GFX that relate to the colour and look of the Pickups will also have to change (woo hoo what fun).

Anyway rip it about and have a bit of fun with it and if you come up with anything good bung it my way and ill store it all and sort through it.

Skitch_2@hotmail.com

I've been working on the fonts page to get a new set of fonts in the HUD. This is the same page that puts the fonts in the front end. When I have all the font locations mapped out if anyone else wants to give it a shot I'd be more than happy to share the map layout and any info I find.

On another note, like Skitch2 said I've created a new set of 1-2-3-GO! models. Plus since I sent those to him I've also made some new pickups (though I haven't quite figured out how to keep them from being shaded by each track, it has to be a trigger in the model file itself). I've also changed the accelerator bar from balls to stars. I would like to change the whole look of the accelerator bar but from what I can tell the simple panel models and their maps and locations are hard coded into Revolt itself. If anyone would like to see/help on the work I've done or has a comment or suggestion either post an e-mail address here or drop me a line at rjposey@yahoo.com

Let's GIT-R-DONE

All loading screen are found on 12 BMPs in the gfx folder and the
main menu room (frontend) can be built like any other track. Here's a picture of my Anime Frontend: Picture

Hee hee, anime style....cool!

Erm...I need to know if I'm needed, or else I'm going to start working on my comic,
which needs my full attention.

And I'm getting my Wacom tab next month, that will speed things up!

Everyone is needed, just be there when the call goes out,

Sorry guys, bit I'm hooking off.

Because...soon I'll start my study at the art college!
It seems that my portofolio looks good enough to get in without a certificate.
...
...
...sorry...

(btw, my new website is up, felt like letting you
know: Noik-Art , Its still small, but it is something...)

lol I dunno

Things are running a wee bit slow at the mo but have no fear all will be good in the end.

I am buisy at the moment Kickin Humans Tail in max lol Well a bit of harmless competition never killed anyone hehe

Bring it on Human!! mwahahahahah!!!!!

Lots of love

LEO

Lol only jokin .

^^^^^^^^^
The tutorial is still in production but it was delayed due to a chest infection that stopped me speaking for a week ( the girlfriend loved that) so I couldnt record the naration hoo dee humm never mind.

I will crack on with it tomorrow.