Track: Dyson Speedway

Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 22 Oct 2021, 17:03

OK, I have added the timing function. I'm using a 5 seconds update interval. I doesn't seem to slow down my game noticeably.
The time bonus will be awarded when the final egg for the respective difficulty mode is picked up. In case of hard or Supertux mode, the timing also stops with the final hard egg. The hunt for the final space egg is not timed, which is OK to me.

Unfortunately I don't know a way to recognize if the game is paused. So the timing function keeps running in pause mode and the time bonus keeps decreasing.

Recent version: https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s ... _v0.97.zip
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby tempAnon093 » 23 Oct 2021, 04:38

It's a tough egg hunt but I like it! :) I tried for 40 minutes and got 14/19, 7/15, 2/19 (Spaceman and Floating Up). I did make it to the outside once but got lost before collecting any and didn't try again during this run.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 23 Oct 2021, 10:55

tempAnon093 {l Wrote}:It's a tough egg hunt but I like it! :) I tried for 40 minutes and got 14/19, 7/15, 2/19 (Spaceman and Floating Up). I did make it to the outside once but got lost before collecting any and didn't try again during this run.

Nice! Thanks for trying. :) I consider renaming "Falling Up" to "Floating Up" Bonus. :)
If you get reset outside you will be placed back inside the sphere, but if you made it outside once, additional cannons at the top gate area are unlocked, so it's easier to get outside again.

Yesterday I also tested the wip version online together with two other players and it didn't seem to be slower than the last version. There are over 60 egg hunt related tiggers now and so far I have seen no negative effect on normal racing and time trial modes.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby tempAnon093 » 24 Oct 2021, 07:54

RX1 {l Wrote}:I consider renaming "Falling Up" to "Floating Up" Bonus. :)

I actually like 'Falling Up' more, since the Dyson Sphere messes with the 'gravity'. :) I just forgot the name because I was in a rush.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 24 Oct 2021, 11:25

tempAnon093 {l Wrote}:
RX1 {l Wrote}:I consider renaming "Falling Up" to "Floating Up" Bonus. :)

I actually like 'Falling Up' more, since the Dyson Sphere messes with the 'gravity'. :) I just forgot the name because I was in a rush.

Alright, I'll keep "Falling Up", while in that particular case you are actually falling "upside-down down". :D ... but in some areas of the track you can also literally fall upwards.
There are many cool and funny effects you can create with the gravity / magnet function. I placed some eggs with the intention to let the players explore these things.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 13 Feb 2022, 00:58

Hello everyone,

I finally uploaded the new Dyson Speedway version to STK Addons site. It took a little longer because I didn't want to release another beta version.

Here is a summary of some of the improvements and additions that I have done:
  • Easter Egg Hunt support
    • individual egg hunt scoring system
    • custom eggs
    • moving eggs
    • dyson sphere outside model improvements and additional objects
  • top gate / tunnel entrance jump reset fixes and improvements
    • incl. workarounds using teleport function
  • graphical improvements
  • increased reflections for STK v1.3
  • section 1 reverse driveline fix
  • further road surface improvements
  • bottom gate bad reset fix / workaround
  • driveline optimizations
  • more reset walls
    • I tried to find a compromise that on the one hand helps less experienced players (who have issues finding their reset button)
      and on the other hand doesn't entirely destroy the fun of flying across the sphere when going off track
  • added a ReadMe file
    • with additional notes, information, tips and thanks

I also made some new videos.

The first video in the beginning sums up some of the key features of the track.
Then there are a few one lap demo runs that show the race track itself.
For forward and reverse direction there respectively is one fast lap and one lap with alternative lines and tricks.
Image
Medium quality: https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s/t9aeywrkCCTbNkJ (603.4 MB)
Lower quality: https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s/AFP4xFbAnnKtSjZ (296.7 MB)

I hope at least a few people try the egg hunt mode. I think those customized and moving eggs are fun and something new in STK.
I will sooner or later also post a spoiler video here, which shows how you can get all the eggs in 25 minutes. :)

It was pretty hard to deal with certain issues related to the unusual design of the track and some people said it would never work properly.
"Follow the Leader" (FTL) mode appears to be most sensitive when it comes to driveline, reset and race position issues. That's why I made a second video with two FTL runs, which shows that it works pretty well now. I had several way more flawless runs, but I think it's nicer to watch races where lots of stuff happens instead of flawless runs.
Image
Medium quality: https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s/odiL4sXQygSGfYG (382.7 MB)
Lower quality: https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s/jjycNigqY8wreQb (188.3 MB)


I'm pretty glad that so many cool things are possible in STK. Even if it wasn't easy, it allowed me to realize this track pretty exactly the way I wanted to. :)
Attachments
DS_Demo02_Title_xxs.png
Dyson Speedway demo video 2 - Medium quality (382.7 MB)
DS_Demo01_Title_xxs.png
Dyson Speedway demo video 1 - Medium quality (603.4 MB)
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby kimden » 13 Feb 2022, 13:38

Nice to see the updates, especially the egg hunt, that's an enormous amount of work! Sadly, I am unable to orient in 3D so well, so I don't think I can complete all eggs even with the tutorials lol

But it is very cool!
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Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby CrystalDaEevee » 13 Feb 2022, 19:09

Yesterday I saw that Dyson got updated so I digged in the addons menu, to find out the track added a egg hunt. At first I expected a bunch of eggs on a enormous track but not the amount of scripting I was greeted with, (and visual improvements). I decided to give it a go right away, getting most of the eggs, but then my laptop died and stopped for the next day. Today, I have replayed the egg hunt and within the next day of the update I have managed to complete it in like, 2 hours (could have been less if I didn't waste time trying to find the fried banana medium egg).
I am amazed at the effort put into this, definitely the most put into a track. I'm not a high score person in this case but was fun doing it. Hopefully the track is rated as featured cuz imho it deserves it, no cap. :heart: :heart: :heart:
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 13 Feb 2022, 20:01

Thanks a lot kimden and Crystal! I'm glad to hear you like the egg hunt. :cool: :)

Crystal, it's impressive how quickly you completed the whole egg hunt. I didn't expect someone would have done a complete run within less than 24 hours of the upload of the update. I'm sure you are the first one. To say it with the words of the egg hunt script: "You are a true egg hunt super hero!". :D :D :D
Your score of course is very high because you collected all the eggs and certainly most of the bonuses. The only way you can get much higher is the time bonus. If you get the final hard egg (in hard or supertux mode) in less than one hour, you'll score a time bonus that depends on how fast you have been.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby Heuchi1 » 15 Feb 2022, 19:47

Great videos! They showed me some parts of Dyson Speedway, that I would probably never have seen otherwise. ;-)
And the track is fantastic, of course.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 16 Feb 2022, 23:55

Yay! Someone likes the videos. :D

And thanks for the featured tag. :heart:
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby CrystalDaEevee » 20 Feb 2022, 21:06

I have finally finished porting the HD wipEout models onto STK, and of course, I have recorded some Dyson as promised (I will add the Fury ships if I ever get the Qirex Fury)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUECrTDf6ho

On the other side I had shown and improved my egg hunt time down to 36 minutes on the next day :p
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 22 Feb 2022, 19:36

CrystalDaEevee {l Wrote}:I have finally finished porting the HD wipEout models onto STK, and of course, I have recorded some Dyson as promised (I will add the Fury ships if I ever get the Qirex Fury)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUECrTDf6ho

Cool video! The style of those models really suits well to the track. It would be nice to see more of them, maybe in a FTL video where the pack usually is tighter together. Maybe there will be enough karts / ships to have a full starting grid with 19 bots. :cool:
Something I noticed is that those ships appear relatively small on track compared with the bots in my FTL video. Is this because of your camera perspective or are they just scaled that way?

CrystalDaEevee {l Wrote}:On the other side I had shown and improved my egg hunt time down to 36 minutes on the next day :p

Very nice time! :) :cool:
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 29 Apr 2023, 18:16

Hi everyone,

I will upload a new Version of Dyson Speedway soon. Beside some smaller improvements, the most interesting new thing probably is that I added several custom positional surface and environment sounds. That means I created or modified sounds (mostly by editing and mixing sounds which I found on freesounds.org or opengameart.org) and used them with the texture "on-drive" feature or by triggering sound emitters. They all properly work as positional sounds, so they can only be heard within a certain range and the loudness gradually decreases the further away you are.
I tried this before, but never got it working properly back then. I remember asking for help here or in the STK IRC channel and I was told that only certain sounds, which are already part of the game and listed in sfx.xml with the attribute positional="true" will work like this. But that is actually not true. They just have to be mono. Stereo sounds will not work, but you can make them mono and that way use any custom sound which is located in the folder of your add-on track.

Here is a list of updates I made for version 3 of this track. I also made a little video to show you the sounds and a few other things that were added or improved in the new version (see below the list).

  • improved long run Easter eggs activation
  • added Rescue Bubbles for blue hypertube 1 forward exit
    • also works as a fix for a possible reset issue in that location
    DS_V3_RescueBubbles.png
    Dyson Speedway V.3 - Rescue Bubbles
  • fixed on-drive force field sound
    • works properly as positional sound now
    • reduced bass and reduced cracking noise
  • added hypertube sounds
  • fixed forward top gate reset issue, that in some cases happened when jumping too high
  • model and graphical improvements:
    • improved "hex-tubes" model
    • section 2 spheres outside model (rings)
    • outside ball carrier covers (formerly green square things)
    • improved outside hypertube (Easter egg mode only)
    • improved "rotating" tunnel
  • nuclear blast line has a driveline now (again)
    • resetting is possible there now
    • no more false "wrong direction" message
  • added section 2 and center sphere (fusion core) sounds
  • orange sphere:
    • added a modified fire particle effect
    • improved collision and interaction behavior
  • Easter egg mode:
    • nuclear blast ramp lock
    • deep space launch lock
    • added some help for a certain medium egg
    • improved teleporter design and sound
  • improved fusion core drop teleport rescue for networking games
  • (many other things)

Here is the link to the version 3 update video:
Image
https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s/yG4WYmBtyDPARc6

Sorry, about the low resolution and the partially bad frame rates. I had to record on my 12 years old laptop, because on the faster PC here, the sound effects were not down-mixed properly from 5.1 to stereo (when recording with SimpleScreenRecorder).

Like I said before, I'll upload the new version soon. Anyway, here is a link to my recent WIP version of the track:
https://rjotz.uber.space/sc/index.php/s ... recent.zip

Last but not least, something I have not been able to get to work:
I tried to make custom particle effects with my own particle images. I've been able to modify existing particle effects before for my unofficial modification of the Valley of Ice track and I also modified the fire effect for the new version of Dyson Speedway, as you can see in the video. However, I have not been able to create entirely new particle effects, because STK only seems to allow images located within the games "textures" folder, but not in an add-on track folder.

This probably was the last (major) update for this track. Further updates will only be maintenance.


Greetings

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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby QwertyChouskie » 29 Apr 2023, 21:18

RX1 {l Wrote}:...


Super exciting! I hope that maybe Dyson Speedway can be included as a core track in STK 2.0, it's certainly of sufficient quality ;)
Last edited by QwertyChouskie on 30 Apr 2023, 07:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby SvenAndreasBelting » 30 Apr 2023, 00:06

QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:Super exciting! I hope that maybe Dyson Speedway can be included as a core track in STK 2.0, it's certainly of sufficient quality ;)

I have thought about that as well. Graphically it's my favorite add-on track. But I think that the gamplay would have to be heavily adjusted in order to work as a main game track.

Right know the track is too long and also a bit too hard/fast for a main game track.
Making the track shorter (essentially making the track more packed) cutting out the less interesting parts of the track and making the zippers less agressive, are the first things that come to my mind.

Shortening the track would also allow to get rid of the places that have an empty sourrounding (or add some to empty places).

Not sure if your'e interested to put some more work into this track since you said that this was the last major update.
Would be really cool to have a track like this in the main game tho!
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby QwertyChouskie » 30 Apr 2023, 07:41

SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:
QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:Super exciting! I hope that maybe Dyson Speedway can be included as a core track in STK 2.0, it's certainly of sufficient quality ;)

I have thought about that as well. Graphically it's my favorite add-on track. But I think that the gamplay would have to be heavily adjusted in order to work as a main game track.

Right know the track is too long and also a bit too hard/fast for a main game track.
Making the track shorter (essentially making the track more packed) cutting out the less interesting parts of the track and making the zippers less agressive, are the first things that come to my mind.

Shortening the track would also allow to get rid of the places that have an empty sourrounding (or add some to empty places).

Not sure if your'e interested to put some more work into this track since you said that this was the last major update.
Would be really cool to have a track like this in the main game tho!


Honestly I don't think much needs to be changed IMHO. Just unlock the track after the completion of story mode, as a "final gauntlet/ultimate reward" of sorts. It's pretty standard gave dev practice to have a final much harder level after defeating the main story/campaign/etc (think e.g. Dark Side/Darker Side in Mario Odyssey).

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I'd change for inclusion into the main game is removing that one part where your kart slides uncontrollably. I know it was intended as a feature but it really feels more like a bug IMHO, it's easy to end up at a 90 degree angle when you get to the end of it, which then stops your kart completely.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 30 Apr 2023, 14:08

Thanks for your friendly replies. :)

QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:Honestly I don't think much needs to be changed IMHO. Just unlock the track after the completion of story mode, as a "final gauntlet/ultimate reward" of sorts. It's pretty standard gave dev practice to have a final much harder level after defeating the main story/campaign/etc (think e.g. Dark Side/Darker Side in Mario Odyssey).

I would support that, if the majority of the STK staff members want it, too. ;)

QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I'd change for inclusion into the main game is removing that one part where your kart slides uncontrollably. I know it was intended as a feature but it really feels more like a bug IMHO, it's easy to end up at a 90 degree angle when you get to the end of it, which then stops your kart completely.

For the bottom gate I could activate those blue laser beams, that are used only in reverse direction so far, in forward direction, too.
DS_BottomGate_reverse.png
Dyson Speedway - Bottom Gate force field - reverse direction

But actually I think the force field slides are one of the most interesting features of the track and in race mode it is not that hard to avoid spinning. You just have to point your kart straight forward (don't turn) when you enter the force field. Even if the kart starts rotating, you can use drift key to make a little "jump" to turn against the rotation. Once you figured this out there should be only very few occasions where you might spin to 90° and if it happens you still have speed boost arrows right beside you to pick up the pace instantly.

SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:Shortening the track would also allow to get rid of the places that have an empty sourrounding (or add some to empty places).

Not sure if your'e interested to put some more work into this track since you said that this was the last major update.
Would be really cool to have a track like this in the main game tho!

That is actually what I have been been considering myself when I started creating this track back in 2020. The initial intention was just to create another Blender learning project which uses Bézier curves to generate road elements and to experiment with STKs gravitation / magnet feature. Most of all, I wanted to create a big and extremely fast scify-style track. I've always been aware that this would be too far out of the box for the main game. So I thought, if the track works well and the respons from the community is good, I could scale the whole thing down, change the texturing style more towards the STK-Enterprise look and add some more environmental modeling and animation. This second edition was supposed to be called "Warpcore Factory".

Unfortunately my work and private life has been using up almost all my time in the recent year(s). So I barely have been able to finish this version. I'm just glad right now that I'm finally done with this things and that I have been able to realize so many of my ideas. Beside that, the track was made with Blender 2.79 and the respective old export scripts. So for my next project I first have to update my skills to be able to use the recent tools. I already have plans to create something completely new.

Anyway, if STK staff members and players are interested, after a little break, I can imagine going back to work at Dyson Speedway and create this new edition. Actually I also have been thinking about creating a remastered version of Toy Block Raceway. It seem that it has become popular in online racing games and some players would like to see it on the main game.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby fracture » 30 Apr 2023, 15:48

QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:Honestly I don't think much needs to be changed IMHO. Just unlock the track after the completion of story mode, as a "final gauntlet/ultimate reward" of sorts. It's pretty standard gave dev practice to have a final much harder level after defeating the main story/campaign/etc (think e.g. Dark Side/Darker Side in Mario Odyssey).

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I'd change for inclusion into the main game is removing that one part where your kart slides uncontrollably. I know it was intended as a feature but it really feels more like a bug IMHO, it's easy to end up at a 90 degree angle when you get to the end of it, which then stops your kart completely.


I agree. Other than the one section where you have little control over your kart, I don't think anything needs to be changed. This could be the Rainbow Road of STK, a final test of skill which tests your ability to skid, brake (the one uphill section where slowing down is required to not fly off the track), avoiding bananas, and anti-gravity. It's definitely one of my favorite addons tracks.
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby QwertyChouskie » 01 May 2023, 20:14

RX1 {l Wrote}:...I could scale the whole thing down, change the texturing style more towards the STK-Enterprise look and add some more environmental modeling and animation. This second edition was supposed to be called "Warpcore Factory".


The style of Dyson Speedway is amazing, I wouldn't change it. The only thing I would even consider changing is maybe to use the "checkerboard" style boost pads for better visibility
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Re: Track: Dyson Speedway

Postby RX1 » 14 May 2023, 12:42

Version 3 is finally uploaded to STK addons now.

It took a little longer because I had to fix a few bugs in the end. Beside other things, there were some new reset issues, which were introduced with the recently (re)added driveline for the nuclear blast path. Now I remember why I removed it before the release of Version 1. :lol:

Furthermore, as a compromise for the force field sliding sections (which I will not remove), I added another warning sign (see pictures). I personally think that there already are enough effects and sounds that tell the player: "something special is going on and that's why you can't steer your kart here". However, now you can also read it on a sign. :)
DS_ForceFieldWarningSign.png
Dyson Speedway - warning sign: Crossing Forcefield - Adherence: 0


Overall the track contains many little tweaks and workarounds to make kart resets and the bot performance more reliable.
If you look at the dirvelines (in Blender) you will notice that some of them look a little weird. Some have a bump and some have a narrow section where they cross checklines. These are important workarounds. The bumps prevent bots from taking certain lines, because even if the option "ignored by AI" is set or if a driveline is direction specific, they sometimes would use it anyway. The narrow sections fix serious reset problems, which can appear when the driveline(-main) crosses a group of checklines in a highly banked or very steep section of the road. I figured out that in this case it's better when only one of the checklines from such a group is crossed by the driveline. I hope this particular problem will not be an issue in future anymore, since the more recent versions of the export scripts allow custom height checklines (as far as i know).
Beside that, there are the new "Rescue Bubbles", the teleport reset (when someone falls down from the top gate) and - in race mode - a ton of invisible reset walls and barriers, which all act as fixes for possible reset issues, too.

If you find more reset issues, other bugs or problems with the track, which are not listed in the "Known issues and solutions" section of the tracks/dyson-speedway/ReadMe.txt file, feel free to send me an e-mail or to post it in this thread, so I have a chance to fix it.
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