Project Orbiter Racing League (Offline) Dev Thread

[wehaveaproblem]

Update: current package to v1.1, addressing the few issues with version 1. I also tweaked a mesh and edited the manual.

Ok, so the Orbiter Racing League is released.

It's out of beta and running smoothly, but there is plenty more dev that could be done. So this thread is dedicated to bug reports, ideas, questions, suggestions, contributions etc etc. It is for discussion of OFFLINE play only. If you wish to discuss multiplayer with OMP, then please join the racing forum group instead.

Current version is: v1
Download: [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4126"]Orbiter Racing League[/ame]

Cheers
WHAP

 

[agentgonzo]

Marvellous WHAP! I look forward to downloading it. I'll have to dust off the old scenario files and see how many burnt out XR2s I can scatter around Wideawake International!

 

[TSPenguin]

The thread is totaly fine. Announcements are absolutely OK. (Although this will produce quite a bit of traffic because many people will spam reload )

 

[Dig Gil]

At last, isn't it?

 

[wehaveaproblem]

ok, it's up on OH, there's a thread in the addon forum.

Your sponsorship shall finally be seen by the world, Dig

 

[cinder1992]

You may want to rethink that last turn on GR-WIN1. The approach angle to the runway plus the distance to the runway is a recipe for 'splodin XR2s. :rofl:

to prove my point, a motivational poster:

 

[Face]

Finally! Great work WHAP, it was long enough in "beta" to be considered release-worthy .
Should I apply this release to the ORL repo on BB, too?

cheers,
Face

 

[wehaveaproblem]

lol cinder, you might want to consider a different final turn/approach instead! That last bend and decent on to the runway is designed to be tricky... and dangerous! You think it's tough single player, you should try it with 4 other ships nibbling at your 6 lol.

Seriously though, it is supposed to be tricky if you stretch the envelope. Balancing all the required variables into the cleanest and fastest run is what the challenge is all about. We had some great races where that very bend decided who the winner would be. Airbreak ftw lol.



Face, the contents of this release is all taken from the repo download you linked me in PM, so there should be nothing new except for the documentation. That and a few folder renames (ORRL to ORL). So not sure it's worth updating atm. I need to ask computerex to re-compile the mfd and the gate dll with all references to ORRL removed, replaced with ORL instead. At the moment some of the file names maintain the old ORRL prefix, which I want to be rid off in the long run. It's no major thing, but needs to be done at some point.
So prolly not worth updating the repo with this until all that is done. But it's your call, might be nice to have the complete offline pack on there too.

WHAP

 

[agentgonzo]

I downloaded it last night and had a quick play - unfortunately the only time I'll be able to play orbiter for the next week or so :-(.
Anyway, I have a couple of suggestions:
* I know that people will dump fuel etc at the start to get better times, but the scenarios should be modified so that the craft don't take passengers. An XR2 in a race with 13 passengers just seems silly!
* You could modify RCPMFD (if it does not already) to get the name of the chkpt value from a field in the scenario file. That way, you can specify in the scenario file which chkpt file to load and you don't have to put the instruction in the description of the scenario and load it manually - it's just waiting there for you when you
* The page variable for the RCPMFD should be held in the RCPMFD class itself, rather than the MFDData class. That way, you can have two RCPMFDs up, showing different pages (ie, one with the checkpoint data and the second with the map). At present, if you change the page in one MFD it will change it in both.
* I'd also put a little sound (gong?) in there when you hit a checkpoint too, just to give the user a better idea when you have succeeded a checkpoint.

Anyway, those are minor things which may improve it. As it stands, it's a great achievement and very good fun! Thanks for including the code for the MFDs in there. This means I can make a few minor tweaks to them (like putting current data like speed and altitude next to the 'gate' data so that it's easier to read in a hurry).

Good work everyone who was involved! I crashed quite a few craft last night, especially on the final approach in GR-WIN1! It's a tough little alignment onto the runway at the end.

 

[Face]

Face, the contents of this release is all taken from the repo download you linked me in PM, so there should be nothing new except for the documentation. That and a few folder renames (ORRL to ORL). So not sure it's worth updating atm. I need to ask computerex to re-compile the mfd and the gate dll with all references to ORRL removed, replaced with ORL instead. At the moment some of the file names maintain the old ORRL prefix, which I want to be rid off in the long run. It's no major thing, but needs to be done at some point.
So prolly not worth updating the repo with this until all that is done. But it's your call, might be nice to have the complete offline pack on there too.

As the renames - due to trademark issues - will affect the online pack too, I think I'll incoporate your changes, maybe as second branch to begin with...

cheers,
Face

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Cheers for your feedback agent, you make some great little suggestions there. When I contact computerex about the mfd recode I shall put forward your suggestions for inclusion into the mfd.
Regarding the XR configurations. We never decided on a 'racing spec' for the craft during beta, we just allowed each person to tweak as they desired. So at present the vessels appear as default. But yes, perhaps I could at least remove the majority of crew as standard.

Face, sounds sensible. Once I get the mfd and checkpoint dll recoded, the last of the ORRL references will be gone, so then you can revamp the repo more accurately.

 

[Face]

Face, sounds sensible. Once I get the mfd and checkpoint dll recoded, the last of the ORRL references will be gone, so then you can revamp the repo more accurately.

Ok, I have made the branch already... http://bitbucket.org/face/orl-offline

Let me know if you have some new changes to be added there...

cheers,
Face

 

[computerex]

Hello guys

Agentgonzo - The MFD does read the track data from the scenario file as far as I know, but that particular feature was added after the scenarios were made, so the scenario files as of right now have no track data. As for having independent pages, that could be done if you don't mind your MFD page switching to the first one every time you switch views. Orbiter destroys the MFD classes when not in an internal view, so the page will be initialized to the first one every time (MFDData is there to prevent that from happening).

BTW the MFD itself I don't think contains any ORRL references, however the vessel class for the check points is ORRL_CHKPT...Will change

 

[wehaveaproblem]

I think agent just meant to read the track checkpoint file name from the scenario file. As, at the moment, you have to load it manually after reading what file to load in the scenario description.

And as to the ORRL references. I tried a crude whip-round of file name changes and came unstuck. it crashed when I loaded the checkpoint file. log said there was no "ORRL/ORL_Start" or something. So there are some references somewhere I think. But whatever you can be bothered to dev further would be fantastic. The MFD, as is, enables us to race and does what it needs to, so no hurry. And the file names is no biggy. it's just good to keep things consistent.

 

[computerex]

Hi. WHAP, try this. With a working installation of the add-on, load a racing scenario, and it's associated checkpoint file in the MFD. Then do a quicksave, exit out of the simulation, and load the quick saved scenario.

BTW you will get that error because as I said, the CHKPT vessel class is called ORRL_CHKPT.

 

[agentgonzo]

As for having independent pages, that could be done if you don't mind your MFD page switching to the first one every time you switch views. ... (MFDData is there to prevent that from happening).

Orbiter allows you to identify the left/right MFDs via MFD_LEFT, MFD_RIGHT and a load of MFD_CUSTOMx identifiers. You could have a hash table (or vector) mapping each MFD with the page it was on, so that you can have two MFDs on different pages, but also having it go back to the selected page when your change focus, as you said.

I think agent just meant to read the track checkpoint file name from the scenario file. As, at the moment, you have to load it manually after reading what file to load in the scenario description.

Correct.

I also thought of something else last night, but have forgotten what it was... Oh, that was it - at the end where it prints out your time and average speed, it might be nice to print out a load of 'split' times, ie, the time (and speed if you want) at each checkpoint. Just a thought.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

ah, gotcha computerex. So that way I effectively pre-load the course into the mfd section of the scenario file? I could easily redo the .scns like this. Am I understanding you right?


And Agent, another good suggestion. I was actually thinking something similar. Computerex, is it possible to have a little splash screen or message box popup at race end with all the race info on it, nice and big like in the centre of the screen. Be handy for time screenshots and such.

Finally, can I be really lazy computerex and ask you to email me any re-compiles you do of the mfd and CP dll? have you got my email from beta still? if not, I'll PM you. cheers.

 

[agentgonzo]

Computerex, is it possible to have a little splash screen or message box popup at race end with all the race info on it, nice and big like in the centre of the screen. Be handy for time screenshots and such.

I'd vote against putting it in the middle of the screen. I think on an MFD would suffice, and if it's in the middle of a screen then it takes away some of the immersion of the game. Also, from a technical point of view, you will either get flickering when you do the draw, or you will need to hook into the vessel class - something that we have found can make orbiter crash if you have more than one thing hooking (eg, this MFD and OMP) at the same time unless *both* addons are written with common code.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Fair points about my splash screen idea Agent, I just figured something nice and clear would be cool. But I was unaware also of the technical issues connected with that. So aye, if it goes in there, a race summary page on the mfd would suffice. Although again these are all lovely added extras, computerex, so whatever you can be bothered to add.

 

[computerex]

OK. I am cleaning up the latest release on OH a bit. I took out all references to ORRL in the MFD/the checkpoint vessel. I noticed that there was no logs directory inside the checkpoint directory. That meant no logs were created keeping track of the flights that were done. Example log attached. Will email you the latest WHAP once done.

http://download760.mediafire.com/wammmwnvlxyg/zgurcnjtr1k/gr-win1.chkpt_7-23-2009+16-47-2.html
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=809191506dab8969e62ea590dc5e5dbbe04e75f6e8ebb871