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Improved sand track

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2019, 19:22
by SvenAndreasBelting
Hi guys
yesterday I worked a little bit on the offical sand track.

I did a few graphical improvments and smoothed some parts of the road.

Bildschirmfoto von 2019-10-16 16-45-30.jpg


sandtrack.zip
(1.69 MiB) Downloaded 400 times

Here is the the result.

Greetings Sven

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2019, 20:14
by eltomito
I like it! The chandeliers inside the pyramid will be nasty in multiplayer... :D

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2019, 22:53
by theodorepringle
Good work! It looks very nice.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 21 Oct 2019, 23:51
by Andet
Dang, this is a great improvement! Nice work! The pyramid section is especially nice. :)

Just one thing: it seems some of the off-road doesn't slow you down

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2019, 05:06
by QwertyChouskie
Wow, huge improvement! Great to see you continuing work on STK's tracks!

My only concern is online play compatibility with 1.0's version of the track. Maybe use scripting to disable collision on the newly-added objects when racing online? Not sure how hard that would be, but if it's doable, it would be great to see this in 1.1!

Also, how's the new snow track coming? :)

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2019, 10:50
by Alayan
Looks much nicer, and the smoothing of the road is nice in the pyramid. The popping effect is annoying, but STK having currently no proper way to adjust rendering distance is the main culprit for this.

However, this isn't be 1.0 compatible sadly.

Andet is also right about some of the off-road not slowing down the kart, this is linked to the texture not being set up to do so.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2019, 18:47
by SvenAndreasBelting
eltomito {l Wrote}:The chandeliers inside the pyramid will be nasty in multiplayer... :D

Yeah maybe I should think about a different solution to get the lamps inside the pyramid.


Andet {l Wrote}:Just one thing: it seems some of the off-road doesn't slow you down

Oh yes I see, my fault ;)


Alayan {l Wrote}:The popping effect is annoying, but STK having currently no proper way to adjust rendering distance is the main culprit for this.

I guess you mean the popping of the palm trees and the other assets?


Alayan {l Wrote}:However, this isn't be 1.0 compatible sadly.

I could make a version without smoothed road and I could set all added objects to ghost.


QwertyChouskie {l Wrote}:Also, how's the new snow track coming? :)

Well it hasn't chanched that much sadly. Maybe I should post it in the forum to get some new motivation :D

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 22 Oct 2019, 19:59
by Alayan
Yes I was talking about the popping of the palm trees and other assets. As it's relatively open and there is contrast between the LoD objects and the environment, it's quite visible.

SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:I could make a version without smoothed road and I could set all added objects to ghost.


To be clear, I appreciate the road smoothing, but it breaks compatibility, so indeed a version without it would be needed. For the added objects set to ghost, they would need to be off-road (thinking of these chandeliers in the pyramid). Otherwise they'd influence regular driving.


SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:Well it hasn't chanched that much sadly. Maybe I should post it in the forum to get some new motivation :D


If that's what it takes to get you motivated, then do it.

iirc I already sent you some comments on stuff to try and improve.

The feature of moving scripted obstacles will require some work on our side, but once 1.1 will be out it will be a nice project, it would really add to STK's gameplay.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 23 Oct 2019, 08:14
by theodorepringle
Here are some more detailed comments after further testing:

- The balance between the alternate paths is much better in this version. In the 1.0 version the left path is just slower than the bridge path, and more difficult as well, because of the turns and the bananas in the path. In this version it's far more interesting, because there are item boxes instead of bananas on the left path, as well as additional nitro. The left path may well actually be slightly faster now, at least for the first two laps.
- In 1.0 entering the pyramid in normal (or exiting it in reverse) is awkward, as the kart doesn't stay on the road well, especially with a heavyweight. This is fixed for the bridge path in this new version, but I think that for the other path this could still use some improvements, particularly in reverse.
- I think that an Egg Hunt for the track could possibly be interesting.

SvenAndreasBelting {l Wrote}:Well it hasn't chanched that much sadly. Maybe I should post it in the forum to get some new motivation :D


I would definitely like to test the snow track!

Alayan {l Wrote}:To be clear, I appreciate the road smoothing, but it breaks compatibility, so indeed a version without it would be needed. For the added objects set to ghost, they would need to be off-road (thinking of these chandeliers in the pyramid). Otherwise they'd influence regular driving.


I think that due to compatibility issues it probably shouldn't be in 1.1 unfortunately, even though it's much better than the current version.

Alayan {l Wrote}:The feature of moving scripted obstacles will require some work on our side, but once 1.1 will be out it will be a nice project, it would really add to STK's gameplay.


Would the "moving scripted obstacles" be different from the type of obstacles that are seen in Minigolf, Black Forest, Old Mine, and Fort Magma?

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 24 Oct 2019, 07:48
by deve
Sven instead of trying to keep compatibility, I would rather use different name for this track (or in worst case wait for STK 2.0). It would give you more freedom, because I love your Black Forest and I know that you can make really good tracks.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 24 Oct 2019, 09:25
by eltomito
deve {l Wrote}:Sven instead of trying to keep compatibility, I would rather use different name for this track (or in worst case wait for STK 2.0). It would give you more freedom, because I love your Black Forest and I know that you can make really good tracks.


Exactly! Call it Grains of Glory, or Swift Sands, or Saucy Sands Sans Sense of Science or something, and put it in the add-ons so that people can start playing it now in its best form!

Now that people need to have the same version of every track for online gaming, I guess it's a bit harder to roll out new versions of the same track.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 24 Oct 2019, 10:34
by charlie
Or stop fretting over a small problem and just improve the track and encourage people to upgrade their STK installation.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 01 Nov 2019, 14:05
by dumaosen
Agree with Charlie. A new version is encouraged so we shouldn't take too much care of old versions.
Also some sandstorm effects are a bit bad... (shot #1)
Also the ground in Pyramids are a bit unnatural (shot #2)
Also after soooo many objects added isn't it a good idea to add an egg challenge?

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 27 May 2021, 18:01
by Ray
I love this.
It is better than original.
It should be made official track.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 27 May 2021, 18:31
by QwertyChouskie
I'm pretty sure that's the plan for STK 2.0. All the 1.x versions are network-compatible, but 2.0 will inevitability break net compatibility in order to add/revamp/replace tracks.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 11 Jul 2023, 06:51
by dumaosen
Hello, Sven
Do you have any plans about updating the sand texture to the latest one of the current official version? I personally think it's way better than the one used in your improved track. And thanks again for your great work.

Re: Improved sand track

PostPosted: 13 Jul 2023, 23:47
by SvenAndreasBelting
dumaosen {l Wrote}:Hello, Sven
Do you have any plans about updating the sand texture to the latest one of the current official version? I personally think it's way better than the one used in your improved track. And thanks again for your great work.

Have you checked the newest version of the track in the add-ons?
I used a modified version of the new texture in there.