A few questions to the developers of Super Tux Kart:

[8-Bit]

Hello, I've been playing Super Tux Kart for around 6 months, and I have to say that I have found it pretty enjoyable! However, if a developer or moderator could please answer the following questions it would be much appreciated:

1) When I went up to 0.7, one of the few things that bothered me was that the explosion's physic property on the karts was extremely buffed, is there a way that I can manually edit it so that the karts keep their speed momentum while airborne like they did in 0.6? I found it pretty comical that you could knock people flying right off the track, and it felt a lot more satisfying getting hit by it then losing all of your momentum. (Which happens a lot due to how common bowling balls and cupcakes are, especially with the new ability to shoot the latter backwards)

2) Is there a polygon cap on STK? I've wanted to create objects and tracks (or, at least, attempt to), but I also want to make sure in advance so I wouldn't overdo the models. I've had prior experience in both gmax and blender, though I'm rusty with both of them. On a related note, what is a recommended polygon count for the tracks and models?

3) When I installed 0.7 on windows 7, the stadium track does not load into the track menu, even though it's there in the folder with the tracks. Could someone send me the 0.7 version by itself? (If it's the same as in 0.6, I'll just move it over)

4) How would I add a checking script to determine whether a kart model is being used in a race or not? With the add-on pack, there are now over 20 drivers, so it looks strange when there are still duplicates on the track.

5) No offense to whoever created the model, but why is the mascot for Python a hooded cobra? lol

6) Is there a chance that AI will be implemented into "3-Strikes battle" in the future?

7) I know this has been asked before, but is post-impact invincibility being considered for future builds?

8) It's not really a question as much as it is a suggestion, but will it be possible to modify the "follow the leader" mode's timer in the future? It could be really cool if it slowly decreased by 5 seconds every time someone was eliminated (though without going lower than 15 seconds).

9) How long does it typically take to get the models for the tracks from the idea board to being functional and distributable, typically? (I know it's probably a few weeks/months, but I'd like to know how much of a project it would be if I attempted it)

10) Is it be possible to modify where the skid marks start spawning when a kart initiates them?

11) How easy [or not] is it to get animations running in the game?

Thanks in advance, this is one of my favorite freeware games.

(I haven't gone too deep through the source quite yet, so I apologize if some of these are answered in it.)

[Auria]

Hi,

thanks for the feedback.

Regarding 1), no currently there is no way to get other kinds of explosions, the 0.6 style explosions were removed because they were too random, sometimes being hit would give you a huuuge penalty, sometimes it would even help you.

2) We don't have a strong limit, but try not to go over 60K (this is what our heaviest tracks at this time do). In the future with LOD and more features it should be possible to make more detailed tracks without big performance hit

3) This is about Windows so I leave it to Joerg

4) did you select the "all" group of karts? currently the AI picks karts within the currently selected group, so if you selected "standard" there will be no add-on karts in the race

5) we didn't make this one, since it's an add-on, so I can't comment

6) Yes there is a chance, we just can't say when

7) Actually, this is currently available in SVN versions of STK and will appear in 0.7.1

8) Not sure I understand, sorry.

9) This is largely dependent on how experienced you are, how detailed you make the track, how much time you spend on it; it can range from a couple days to a couple months

10) At this point I don't think it is. We have a ticket in the tracker to make them match the wheels better

11) Well the question is a bit vague, but if you know blender and can read our guides on the wiki it will be straightforward

Thanks for your interest

[8-Bit]

1) Alright, I actually felt the opposite way about the "huge penalty" part, but I understand. (I've lost more races from being hit by a 0.7 cupcake than a 0.6 cupcake) If you ever do change it again though, I'd like to see at least some of the karts' momentum kept.

2) 10-4, what about for karts?

4) Yes, I've had the add-on drivers and the regular drivers in the same race, but I still ended up having multiples of some of the drivers, regardless.

8) What I meant to say is that it'd be pretty useful if there was a way to toggle how long the timer lasts in Follow-the-leader mode, it's usually 20-40 seconds, which can feel a bit long after a while, even with only a few cars.

Thank you for the quick reply.

[hiker]

Hi,

1) When I went up to 0.7, one of the few things that bothered me was that the explosion's physic property on the karts was extremely buffed, is there a way that I can manually edit it so that the karts keep their speed momentum while airborne like they did in 0.6? I found it pretty comical that you could knock people flying right off the track, and it felt a lot more satisfying getting hit by it then losing all of your momentum. (Which happens a lot due to how common bowling balls and cupcakes are, especially with the new ability to shoot the latter backwards)

More importantly it would sometimes throw the karts on places where it was not supposed to go (e.g. I once had a kart ending up with the chassis on a fence post or so, and all wheels in the air).

2) 10-4, what about for karts?

Re kart number of triangles: check http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/Mak ... t_tutorial - I am not sure if the number of triangles listed there is somewhat outdated though.

3) When I installed 0.7 on windows 7, the stadium track does not load into the track menu, even though it's there in the folder with the tracks. Could someone send me the 0.7 version by itself? (If it's the same as in 0.6, I'll just move it over)

I think that's because it is a battle mode, not a normal race track. Atm we don't have a race track (for racing) anymore.

4) How would I add a checking script to determine whether a kart model is being used in a race or not? With the add-on pack, there are now over 20 drivers, so it looks strange when there are still duplicates on the track.

Which addon pack exactly? If you used an older one, it might be that some of the karts are not supported anymore. So how many karts do you actually see in the kart screen? If this is still an issue, the please open a ticket in out trac system, and list the karts you have installed, and what track/mode etc. you selected, and which karts were selected.

...

8) It's not really a question as much as it is a suggestion, but will it be possible to modify the "follow the leader" mode's timer in the future? It could be really cool if it slowly decreased by 5 seconds every time someone was eliminated (though without going lower than 15 seconds).

Have a look at the file data/stk_config.xml. It contains:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

  <!-- Time in follow-the-leader after which karts are removed.
       The last values applies for all remaining karts.
       time-per-kart Additional time added to the interval
       for each kart in the race. -->
  <follow-the-leader intervals="30 20 10"
                     time-per-kart="1.5"  />


Feel free to add more intervals, and change the timer per kart. Let us know if you found better values to use, we could then replace the current values.


...

11) How easy [or not] is it to get animations running in the game?

For karts or for tracks? Both is possible, though certain combinations (IPO animated skeletal animations with collision) might need some debugging, since no one has actually used them so far. But we are certainly looking forward to get tracks using this, and if there should be bugs, we'll fix them. Check with our wiki for details (search for kart exporter and track exporter).

Cheers,
Joerg

[STKRudy85]

1) When I went up to 0.7, one of the few things that bothered me was that the explosion's physic property

I'm agree

2) Is there a polygon cap on STK? I've wanted to create objects and tracks (or, at least, attempt to), but I also want to make sure in advance so I wouldn't overdo the models. I've had prior experience in both gmax and blender, though I'm rusty with both of them. On a related note, what is a recommended polygon count for the tracks and models?

Nice you're welcome

5) No offense to whoever created the model, but why is the mascot for Python a hooded cobra? lol

You can find python kart on this forum :
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1032

7) I know this has been asked before, but is post-impact invincibility being considered for future builds?

Can I suggest the idea to have a fast restart if acceleration button is pressed on the good time