Share your trial times (STK 0.8)

[E-Dragon]

Yay got some new records in
Bovine Barnyard : 48:48
and XR591: 1:13:13 2 shortcuts per lap

I guess I wont try Around the Lighthouse, Hycienda, Zen Garden and Minigolf Mishief , because in Lighthouse and Zen Garden there are too cheap shortcuts .I don´t like Minigolf Mishief ( you can´t accelerate very much and I´m too dumb for that 3rd shortcut ).
Hycienda is ok, but I don´t want to try it all the time only in order to get that shortcut here.

The tracks I like are those where you can accelerate to maximum speed and keep it until the and by skidding, using nitro and zippers.
Tracks I dislike most are those, where you can´t speed up a lot and I hate flying away on some tracks, because you are too fast and the track is too uneven ( like the curve after the tunnel in XR591 ).

[bonifarz]

*updates* (+/- some typos )

The tracks I like are those where you can accelerate to maximum speed and keep it until the and by skidding, using nitro and zippers.

Yeah, agreed. That's why tracks that used to be dull and boring shine in the 0.8 release =)

And here's a previous note about stacking of max speed modifiers.

• 23 m/s is the regular top speed on flat ground,
• nitro adds up to 5 m/s,
• a zipper adds 4.5 m/s and
• skidding addds 4.5 (to 6.5) m/s,

[Ancalagon]

I've been a little busy recently, and I've not yet be able to challenge the record you do E-Dragon, but I manage 1:10:39 and 1:10:38 on Scottland today (nearly the same amount of skids as usual).
I think beating the line of the 1:10 is possible when I consider the best times I did on the first and the second lap (something like 0:35:50 and 0:34:10), but it's quite hard to manage to peak at both.

[E-Dragon]

Hello again

I think beating the line of the 1:10 is possible when I consider the best times I did on the first and the second lap (something like 0:35:50 and 0:34:10), but it's quite hard to

after reading that post I had to try this challenge and got 1:09:91 , so it IS possible , try again some times and you will beat the 1:10 mark.

Other new records:

The Island: 1:25:70 without a shortcut, 1:25:18 by using a shortcut: after the second bridge you can slowdown, turn left onto the grass and drive above those rocks,so you skipp a curve. So you are a little bit faster than normal.

star track: 1:19:93 so it is also possible to go under 1:20 here

[krash]

Hey, some more times.
sry, i didnt count the skidding :/

Track: The Island
Time : 01:26:27
Shortcut : 0
Skidding : ?
Kart: Hexley

Track: Old Mine
Time : 01:13:75
Shortcut : 0
Skidding : ?
Kart: Suzanne

Track: Bovine Barnyard
Time : 00:47:68
Shortcut : 2
Skidding : ?
Kart: Emule

Track: Snow Peak
Time : 01:02:92
Shortcut : 0
Skidding : ?
Kart: Suzanne

[E-Dragon]

Thanks krash.
After I saw your times, I wanted to defend my records so I found some new shortcuts.

Bovine Barnyard: 46:48 with new shortcut (maybe you know)
in the end you can jump over that hill in spite of taking the curve

Old Mine: 1:09:89 also with new shortcut:
you don´t need to drive around the circle where the bridge is, it is possible to directly drive up on the left side of the hill insstead of driving under the bridge (yes bridges again). The disadvantage of this shortcut is that you can only get one nitro maximum than four

Snow Peak: 1:02:61 (no new shortcut here)

Some more shortcut-records:

Scotland: 1:06:71 at the end you can skip the long curve by driving directly over the river via zipper

Northern resort: 1:02:29 at the 3rd curve you can use the snowhill, a stonetower is standing on to zipper you above an invisible wall, to the spot before the second bridge

XR591: 1:06:08 at the beginning drive to the right side (not inside the tunnel !) onto the tunnel and turn strong left. With enough speed you will be abel to jump up to the track again (to the part, where the track is beginning to be in the air)

The jump mechanics are too abusable. With enough speed you can fly or climb up nearly everywhere.

[Ancalagon]

Finally under the 1:10 on Scottland
I've completed the track in 1:09:89 without shortcuts and 1:05:73 with the one E-Dragon mentionned.
The one with the shortcut should be the more "easy" to overcome, since improvement is still possible in the way to take the shortcut (Or so I think. Didn't have really too much time to try it more and more yet)
On the contrary, without the shortcut I really don't know if it is possible to get really a better time (I mean, more than ten or twenty hundredth of second under the 1:10). But it's true that since his beginning this topic has provided a lot of awesome record, and more awesome improvements of those records (the records sets by E-Dragon on nearly all the tracks are a good example).

[bonifarz]

[...] it's true that since his beginning this topic has provided a lot of awesome record, and more awesome improvements of those records (the records sets by E-Dragon on nearly all the tracks are a good example).

Yes, that is true. What I really like about the records posted here is that people seem to be playing fair and having fun. The times are truly amazing, yet there was no reason so far to suspect anybody was cheating.

The boards are updated, so watch out for typos and other silly mistakes

I found some new shortcuts.

Concerning these, none of them were new to me, but for some I am really surprised they allow you to get even that much faster. E.g. on XR I assumed you were avoiding the tunnel from the beginning. In case you missed the third shortcut there: Where the path splits just go straight.

Thanks everyone and have fun!

[betharatux1]

not just post record and screenshots, maybe some players can add videos on youtube or forums with minimum quality

[Ancalagon]

For the videos, I've already posted a few, but it's a bit tricky to find the good set of parameter to have it work properly. (and since I'm a bit stupid, I haven't write the good how to somewhere so I cannot give too much tips ^^)

[hiker]

not just post record and screenshots, maybe some players can add videos on youtube or forums with minimum quality

Hmm - I never really got around finishing the ghost replay feature (it should come sometimes in 0.8*), but it might be kind of usable:

if you press ctrl-F10, a replay file will be created in the location where the config files are. When you then restart stk with the --ghost option, and start the same race, you will get a ghost kart off the recorded race. Though the ghost kart is not really ghosty

You should be able to exchange ghost race this way as well.

This feature is not really ready yet, but I think for the professional driver here it might be useful already.

Cheers,
Joerg

PS: Note ctrl-F10 might interfere on linux with windows manager

[Ancalagon]

This ghost replay seems indeed to be a promising feature, but I've just tried it and I'm not sure of when I have to press Ctrl+F10: at the beginning of the race? at the end? before the count-down?
When I restart STK with --ghost, and replay the same track the shell tell me "Reading replay file '~/.config/supertuxkart/olivermath.replay' " but nothing seems to change...

[bonifarz]

Hmm - I never really got around finishing the ghost replay feature (it should come sometimes in 0.8*), but it might be kind of usable

Hey, thanks for the clue. I was aware of this feature on the roadmap, but I am surprised you already have a semi-functional implementation in the current release - great! Since recording a replay history of user input takes much less information than recording a video, people with weaker machines can also record something at a reasonable frame rate. (Side note: Demo recording and replay works really perfectly in red eclipse, but surprisingly, people rarely ever share replay files of time trial games, although the learning curve for fast times is very steep in RE. I am curious how this will turn out here.)

[bonifarz]

Allright, I just found the time to play with the replay/ghost feature and it works like a charm.

All you have to do is

• play a game just as usual until you finish a race
• once you are done hit F10 to save a history file
• then hit F10 a second time to save a replay file
• restart STK with the --ghost flag to enable ghost playback

Recording works both with or without the --ghost flag.
Replays are loaded once during startup, so you need to restart STK if you want to playback the latest ghost data.

I think we should put some zip files with collections of replay files in the header of this topic.

EDIT: Attached an example replay file.

[Ancalagon]

I've followed the step by step explanation, but still no ghost with me when I drive...
The shell tell me it's all OK, taht the replay file is open and the evenement are handled one by one, but no visual effect on game.

[bonifarz]

And what about my attachment above, can you playback that one? I tried STK 0.8, maybe things are different in the more recent SVN branches.

[Ancalagon]

Ok, I've managed to create my own replay, and your one work quite well too.
It will be a very interesting thing to be able to play against your own best time, and against others too.

[Ancalagon]

And here is my first replay, with a new record on Scottland without shortcuts, after just two or three race against my previous ghost set around 1:10:80.
I think it could really kick up our progression curve to drive against those ghost.

[krash]

hey, thats great news!
gonna try it out & will report back soon

[hiker]

Hi,

All you have to do is

• play a game just as usual until you finish a race
• once you are done hit F10 to save a history file
• then hit F10 a second time to save a replay file
• restart STK with the --ghost flag to enable ghost playback

There should be no need to press F10 twice (I am even wondering why this works). Just press ctrl-F10 should be all that's needed. If not, let me know.

We didn't finish this in time for 0.8 - it mostly needs graphical improvements to make the ghost karts see-through, and some GUI code to select the ghost and manage your own ghosts (e.g. do we want to allow only one ghost recording per track? If not, we have to name them, ...). Then we have to find a way of handling the number of laps in a record file. Also we want to add some compression to the data files to make the smaller.

Replays are loaded once during startup, so you need to restart STK if you want to playback the latest ghost data.

Hmm - Iirc that shouldn't be the case, STK should try to open a replay file every time a track is loaded, and if it finds one, it is loaded.

We would also be interested in using replays for a challenge or two in story mode.

Cheers,
Joerg

[Ancalagon]

Since we talk about possible improvement for the ghost kart, is it possible to add to the replay the visual effect related to when the ghost has used nitro or skidding?
I mean when the track is run against the ghost, it could be more "realistic", in a way,to see the nitro and skidding particules effect behind the ghost when the player have used it during the record of the replay.

And for the procedure to save the replay file, I did the same as bonnifarz except that the second time I press Crtl+F10 instead of only F10.
I've just tried, the use of Ctrl+F10 is enough to save the file, just be sure that neither of the two key is assigned to another command in your keyboard config.

[bonifarz]

There should be no need to press F10 twice (I am even wondering why this works). Just press ctrl-F10 should be all that's needed. If not, let me know.

Thanks for your feedback, Joerg. Right, Ctrl+F10 works fine, I was just trying different things and wondering whether saving a history file is important, so i posted this alternate route. As I have not looked up anything in the code, this was just some (time-) trial-and-error

STK should try to open a replay file every time a track is loaded, and if it finds one, it is loaded.

True, that makes sense. I was just wondering why i had to restart STK to playback newly recorded replays... maybe that was related to recording in ghost mode, that sounds like a good scenario to trigger glitches

We didn't finish this in time for 0.8 - it mostly needs [...]

That list of improvements looks very reasonable. Setting up new gui elements is probably a tedious thing to do. But hey, the feature is already impressive and very useful. I agree with Ancalagon, some indication for the use of skidding, nitro and zippers would be very appreciated. That does not have to be the visual effects, some on screen info about recorded key presses could be enough. That reminds me of demos in the title screens of old arcade games. Also: Ghost replay with some indication of key presses could be a useful aspect for future tutorials.
Other features that could be useful: An indicator for the ghosts position on the track outline and notifications about lap times, both just as for regular karts. Some trail for the ghosts could also be nice, much like skidding marks, but colored.

We would also be interested in using replays for a challenge or two in story mode.

That sounds more tricky when interactions between multiple karts need to be recorded.

[Ancalagon]

After a few more ghost training (which could be very, very frustrative and where you understand a lot more how much can cost you small trajectory error), I've improve again my time on Scottland without shortcuts.
I'm now in 1:09:68, 0:35:55 in the first lap, same amount of skids as before.

scotland 00'35"55-1'09"68.zip

(114.43 KiB) Downloaded 283 times

[EDIT]
After Scottland, the old mine: I broke my record three times in a row 1:13:21 (first lap in 00:37:31),1:12:68 (00:36:98) and now 1:10:75 (00:36:19).
No shortcuts, something like 22 to 23 skids.

The Old Mine 0'36"19-1'10"75.zip

(128.61 KiB) Downloaded 281 times

I've not yet run against the last record ghost, don't know if substantial improvement is possible. (the same goes for the one on Scottland).
[/EDIT]

Also: Ghost replay with some indication of key presses could be a useful aspect for future tutorials.

Quite true, the only problem is that to see the ghost and the way he drive, you have to be near him. For exemple, if you want to see how I've managed to do this time on Scottland, and learn a few tips of the record, you have to be able to drive the whole track in less than, say, 1:12:00 or 1:11:00 to not loose sight of the ghost. Just try. (Even me sometimes I've felt depressed by the distance between the ghost and me...)
For now,I think the video stays the best way to make a new driver discover the game and the how-to to improve his speed and times.

[bonifarz]

Thanks for the replays, Ancalagon. And thanks again to Joerg for letting us know about the feature.

the only problem is that to see the ghost and the way he drive, you have to be near him.
[...]
For now,I think the video stays the best way to make a new driver discover the game and the how-to to improve his speed and times.

Yes, staying somewhat close to any of your ghosts is hard!
I did not explain the tutorial aspect well - a replay in ghost mode is quite different to a replay in spectator/TV/demo mode, which you might know from other games (e.g. RE).

[E-Dragon]

Nice Ancalagon ! Your times are great !!!
That ghost feature seems to be really usefull, but I don´t know how to run those ghosts.
So I can only upload mine If you want. Would be nice, if someone explains me exactly how to get that ghost driving I still didn´t get that .
Also: In F-Zero X it was possible to drive with 3 ghosts at the same time, which is really cool in my opinion.
Here some awsome link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eyHF5gMejY
(for more crazy f-zero driving you can watch world records on some other tracks)