Work enumeration since the 29th of September (last experimental release) (not released yet):
Features:
- Force Feedback: We worked the last weeks on proper force feedback support, and we are currently trying the 4th approach to get it working better without the issues that are related to the implementation we used so far. The first results are promising but we want to deliver a very nice experience so we got to tune the way it works more 🙂
- Controls Binding UI (WIP)
- New parts choosing UI (WIP)
- OpenGL / Linux Support (WIP): We are currently pushing the first prototype of the gameengine out for testing: https://github.com/GarageGames/Torque3D/issues/587
- Torque3D render speedups (WIP): We are working on an improved Octree for T3D that will speed up the rendering quite a bit
- Imposter instancing (WIP): We are trying to speed up the rendering of the Tree Imposters by using Instancing
- Oculus Rift DK2 (WIP): We got the DK2 and started to add the support for it. It is a lot of work as the way it renders completely changed.
- Asynchronous shader compilation: reducing lag/halts when playing, funky material loading at startup now but reducing the loading times significantly
- FPS limiter: Max FPS is currently hardcoded to 60 to allow a smoother gameplay experience, will be set-able later on.
- Improve speed of generation for grass and other small objects when camera are moving: this fixes the microlag that occurs when driving fast.
- New HTML GUI for options/settings (supports live changes) (WIP)
- New CTRL + Space vehicle selector with filters and factory colors (WIP)
- Force Feedback Debug app: we wrote some helper applications that display the steering wheel position vs the applied force feedback
- Lua integration into Torque3D for simpler controller binding workflow (just started with it, WIP)
- Unannounced 3rd party steering thingy (not, we will not ruin the fun by telling you what the outcome will be)
Bugfixes:
- Fixed 360 controller zoom buttons sticking
- Fixed stretching parts on T75 when certain parts fell off
- Fixed occlusion handler for the headlights shining through under certain conditions
- Fixed several memory issues with the game
- Fixed combo box render bug within the UI, renders correctly now
- Fixed laggy main menu: reverted to older CEF version to use the software-only rendering which is a lot faster and easier on the CPU/GPU
- Fixed filesystem file change notifications: working recursively now, removing the need for empty directories inside the cache folder.
- Fixed “Parts Configuration” dialog from always popping up when hitting ctrl+r
- Remodeled the col mesh for the race stands
- Removed BeamNG watermark logo from the bottom left corner finally
- re-encoded mainmenu videos to 720p for increased performance
- Fixed bad video mode bug where the game’s res could end up bigger than the current screen’s resolution.
Content:
- Added tents. stadium lights to Hirochi Raceway
- Added parking lot to HR
- Added corner distance signs to HR
- Improved roadside visuals for HR by adding in lined edging to suggest maintenance + road materials
- Improved road barriers and rumble strips on HR (rumbles aren’t so high anymore)
- Improved the lighting on HR and ECA (the distance is more blue now, slight ambient changes as well)
- Improved terrain and grass colors for HR
- More work on the details of HR (more forest, decals, etc), improvements and texture additions
- Minor adjustments and additions to ECA
- Fixed a heightmap issue on ECA (there was a sharp pyramid sticking out of the road)
- Removed duplicate car on Small Island (it was sitting in the ocean)
- Added new startup screen
- Textured D15 flatbed trailer
- Lots of changes and fixes for T75 deformation
- Other minor vehicle tweaks and fixes
- Hamster wheel now detachable
Above changes are work in progress and are not released at this point but will be released within the next update.
New team Members: We are happy to have Ben and Bruno with us helping us on the C++ side and Yale and Svetlozar on the web/UI side of things.
Fatal webserver crash: We experienced a fatal webserver crash (RAID1 failed hard) last week in which we spent quite some hours into recovering the data, setting up the new server, etc.
New steering wheel hardware: we now got the G25, G27, Thrustmaster RS500 and Fanatec base v2 wheels so we can test the input and force feedback with different hardware.
Team meetup: for the first time, we were able to meet up in real life and nearly everyone was able to get to our office to work hard for one week from the same location 🙂
