I was struggling with two possible ways to implement this Tree Edge Alpha (TEA) thing. It can't just be switched on for everything, as in my test, because it does cause sorting problems and too much loss of frame rate. There was the possibility of switching it on per object, which seemed simple but for technical reasons would require two extra passes in the draw. The other possibility was switching it on per texture, but this doesn't allow the possibility for a texture to have TEA switched on in one place and off in another. Finally I've come round to a better plan, which seems totally obvious, to do it per "material". Each material (just a few bytes) being a reference to a texture (many kb) and some relevant options. So the same texture can be used in different ways in different materials without taking up extra texture memory. It's actually an underused concept in LFS but is vital for future graphical improvements. To use it properly there's a little rearranging of code to do, so that will take a couple of days. Then some research into the existing tracks figuring out which surfaces need the TEA enabled. Some is obvious, e.g. tree objects! Some will need a bit more care.
It's all well worth while because it improves graphics for everyone. It's also relevant to the DK2 patch because pixels are so big in the Rift, jagged edges and aliasing show up worse than they do on monitors.
I don't want to come over as an annoyance (not my intention) but do you know if you plan to work on some InSim changes/improvements for next official patch or will this one's focus be on DK2 and graphical improvements "only"?
I still secretly hope some InSim surprises may come soon. Either way it would be nice to confirm if these are still on your todo list or not so the excitement remains manageable
Hi after downloading latest patch a problem has occurred with the car skins, was ok before,im not using 3D just normal mode.Ive attached 3 screen shots from ingame.First picture just to show im using 0.6F8
Hey Scawen, thanks for liking and implementing my suggestion once again(after the cached packets on connection).
I'd like to make 2 little hopefully easy to add as well suggestions.
1. Add support on this for remote loaded layouts(from clients instead of just server)
char LName[32]; // the name of the layout last loaded (if loaded locally)
2. If it ain't that hard, once you have set a "starting position" it will override the track's maximum pits with the server's maximum cars on track. For example AU1 has 16 slots max, by setting a starting position, it will set them to the maximum "cars on track" which is usually 32 by the server.
That looks funny. Cars with brown and black tape From the second screenshot (mrt in pits) I see an error "cannot load shaders" therefore I can only conclude you might not have the shaders folder LFS needs in .6F8.
Or use the extracter directly on LFS folder, and replace all files.
I can see that you are motivated to refresh LFS code, cool news !
Even if I think that the graphical engine needs a complete re-code, for the moment it's not the #1 priority, so good news Scawen, continue like that !
I really want that the communauty helps you to develop a fully new graphical engine, because we can see that sometimes you are overloaded with all these community request. Maybe one new member in developpement team (or simply by working with your community) can help you
Fascinating - it seems like the Rift is really providing a stimulus for all sorts of not particularly visible stuff that's really making a difference - every frame matters. On a broader level, the immersiveness of the Rift is an interesting proposition - perhaps the visual language of games will move towards more diegetic and participant based rather than TV-like.
Hi guys, can I patch the demo or do I need to buy a s1 or s2 license ? . I have tried but it says I am on 0.6f . If I uninstall the demo and buy from your site will I still need to patch the game ? Many thanks
If you buy S1 or S2 (I'd go for S2!) you'll be granted to "unlock" your (already downloaded) Demo, which is the latest officially released version, 0.6F. This will unlock the relative S1 or S2 content.
If you mean going to the 0.6F8 patch, its not listed in the main downloads because it is a TEST patch. You don't need a license to download patches. but if you want to use the latest official patch, you dont need a license either.
?? of course you can, it's just replacing the .exe file and sometimes adding/replacing some data files, but the test patch is ordinary LFS.exe with all features.
"I have tried but it says I am on 0.6f"
you either didn't extract the patch correctly, or you are running the old .exe file.
1) I don't understand... what should it do and what is the purpose?
2) Same again, I'm not sure what you mean, is it a bug report or a feature request?
I must warn you I will be quite reluctant to add new requests at this time, to my very long list of things to do.
As they said, the demo can definitely be patched. Just follow the patch installation instructions exactly. If your version says 0.6F then you have not correctly installed the patch, because then it would say 0.6F8.
I think he means the following. Once the feature
is implemented there is is no reason anymore to limit the max amount of cars in race (or on track). Setting the limit to 32 (or more) on all tracks seems to be a pertinent suggestion. For example, at the moment, Autocross track is limited to 24 (or is it 16?) cars in race if my memory serves me right. Why not lifting that limitation by increasing it to 32?
EDIT: Only S1 tracks seem to be concerned by this limitation. And if in open config mode only Autocross track has this limitation.
EDIT2: Perhaps a small improvement would be to remove this max cars on track limitation on Autocross. All tracks (in open config mode) can handle 32 cars on track except for Autocross. But perhaps there is a reason Autocross has this limitation?
Ah but it's not a starting position. I don't have any plans to implement something complicated like that (custom grids). It's just, "move this existing car to this position" and nothing more.
So, the number of slots for starting positions is really not related. They are limited by the number of "pit start positions" but it's really not easy to update that without releasing an updated track, which we don't have plans to do.