Can speed of Karts be increased?

[aliendancer]

I'm using the following somewhat unusually configuration to play supertuxkart. I have a PCGamerbike which I use to move the Kart. It is a strange sort of contraption which I must pedal to move the Kart. It emulates the keyboard up and down key. To use this I run a program called PCGamerBikeConfiguration which tells the system the bike pedaled forward is the up key and backward is the down key. I currently have this set at 100% to get the maximum speed for the Kart. To use this configuration with Supertuxkart in supertuxKart I had to turn off Joystick support. I do however use my Logitech gamepad for all functions except moving the Kart. I do this by using a program called Xpadder to make the gamepad emulate the keyboard. This configuration works fine with one exception. The speed of the kart is not quite fast enough to keep up with the AI Karts even on the novice setting no matter how fast I pedal. I can sometimes win a race by bombing or otherwise slowing the AI Karts but its very difficult. Is there a way to either slow down the AI Karts or speed up my Kart? Any help you can provide would be appreciated.

[Auria]

Hi,

edit data/stk_config.xml

You will find, namely :

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

    <engine power="400 450 500"  max-speed="15 20 23" brake-factor="11.0"
            max-speed-reverse-ratio="0.3"/>


Where you can make karts faster. Now this will affect both you and AIs. So you can compensate by handicapping AIs:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

  <!-- A value between 0 and 1, change this to handicap AIs -->
  <ai acceleration="1.0"  />


By playing with these values you should get it to your liking

[hiker]

I'm using the following somewhat unusually configuration to play supertuxkart. I have a PCGamerbike which I use to move the Kart. It is a strange sort of contraption which I must pedal to move the Kart. It emulates the keyboard up and down key.

Interesting setup that. Can you share any pictures/videos?

To use this I run a program called PCGamerBikeConfiguration which tells the system the bike pedaled forward is the up key and backward is the down key. I currently have this set at 100% to get the maximum speed for the Kart. To use this configuration with Supertuxkart in supertuxKart I had to turn off Joystick support. I do however use my Logitech gamepad for all functions except moving the Kart. I do this by using a program called Xpadder to make the gamepad emulate the keyboard. This configuration works fine with one exception. The speed of the kart is not quite fast enough to keep up with the AI Karts even on the novice setting no matter how fast I pedal. I can sometimes win a race by bombing or otherwise slowing the AI Karts but its very difficult. Is there a way to either slow down the AI Karts or speed up my Kart? Any help you can provide would be appreciated.

I don't see a real reason for this. If the bike events register as keyboard events, they are digital, which means you either press the button or not. This means that the acceleration will be the same, independent of how much you paddle. Besides, on easy and mid level the Ai speed is only 90%/95% of the maximum kart speed. Maybe the bike constantly delivers pressed/release/pressed/release ... events, in which case the acceleration and top speed won't be very good (perhaps you only get up key events when you are going faster, down key events when going slower, and just a key release event when going with the same speed???)

Are you using a self-compiled version of stk? If so, I could help you adding some debug print to see what is happening.

Cheers,
Joerg

[aliendancer]

Thanks for the advice. The first solution I received worked. I'm still playing with the values as my first attempt made it to easy. The second poster was correct in that the bike constantly presses and releases. That way the faster I pedal the more often and longer the key remains pressed. I can regulate it by specifying how long the key remains pressed in relation to how fast I pedal. In fact I can plot it as a vertical line graph and for most games (Sonic Karts and pac-man world rally) 90 degree angle works well. For Supertuxkarts that wasn't working so I set it to a straight line at 100% so no matter how slow or fast I pedaled I'd get maximum speed but was still not able to keep up with the AI Karts. What worked was to handicap the AI karts. What I did was to set the acceleration="0.7". That actually slows the AI Karts too much so I'm playing with it and I would like to have mine as well as the AI Karts go a bit faster. I'd also like to see if I can go back to making the speed of the Kart depend on the speed at which I pedal. Anyway it looks like I can make this work now. I prefer Supertuxkarts over sonic and Pac-man as I can set the laps high enough to go for longer rides I found playing games like this one is the most fun way of exercising I've found. again thanks for your help.

Google PCgamerbike and you should find pictures of the bike itself. If you like I can get screen prints of the program that controls speed. Its on another machine so I'll get them later.

I've been experimenting with VR type exercise programs. For playing games I like the PCgamerbike best.

I have a number of other ways I can do VR training. I also have a TACX Bushido trainer (has a "brake" (the actual trainer) with computer which talks to a computer mounted on the handle bar which talks to my PC. I can ride any course I choose, ones they provide or use Google earth to create my own. If I'm going up hill the PC tells the computer on the break which then applies more pressure to the wheel and it becomes harder to pedal. If I take the bike off the trainer and ride it the handle bar computer will keep track of route and then I can reride it on my computer, Haven't actually tried that yet. I'm just starting to experiment. this set up is kind of expensive and although the vendor won't admit it very experimental and has some problems. If your good with computers and like playing with them you'll be able to get it working.

Cheaper is to use Cyber ExerCycle with a program called NetAthlon and a regular non-computerized bike trainer. You can also use this play games but I think for playing games the PCgamerbike works best.

Hope that's not more than you wanted to hear.

[Auria]

That sounds like a cool setup

But can't you map this thing to a gamepad instead? STK would sure handle better receiving an analog value than repeated press-unpress events