Ballistic NG - Wipeout fan project

[bigsnake]

One small question. After the release, is the game open for propagation? I mean when the game will be release, can I submit it for showcase or possibly review to the 2nd biggest game e-magazine in Czech Republic? Or do you want the game to be known in AG racing fanbase or similar groups?
And the progress is sick! Great work! Is the multiplayer online?

Yeah you can submit it to whoever you like I've never really spent the time to get the game out there, I'm usually caught up with one thing or another. And the multiplayer will be online! I need to test it over WAN with some friends to make sure it works but I've had the lobby tests working just fine by hosting and joining locally on my PC and over LAN.

Quick question about the remake tracks. Will they require a copy of their respective games? If so, how will BallisticNG detect them? I kinda miss Gare d'Europa from 0.1

The remake tracks have actually been removed, the next release is just going to have original tracks and the unfinished XL track that Xpand worked on. They were originally just going to be in the game without any original data required on the basis that their names were shortened but I've cut them just to avoid all copyright, I would add the ability for the game to read Wipeout tracks but Aybe is already doing that with WXX-Rebirth.

- - - Updated - - -

Progress on multiplayer

I've got ships for each player spawning, there's no synchronization of positions and stuff yet but it's a start!

[Fredbob396]

The remake tracks have actually been removed, the next release is just going to have original tracks and the unfinished XL track that Xpand worked on. They were originally just going to be in the game without any original data required on the basis that their names were shortened but I've cut them just to avoid all copyright, I would add the ability for the game to read Wipeout tracks but Aybe is already doing that with WXX-Rebirth.

That's unfortunate, but perfectly reasonable. I suppose that just gives me more of a reason to follow the development of WXX-Rebirth

[Hybrid Divide]

Damn, I really wanted to play that spiffy remake of Silverstream you showed off way back when. I hope importing tracks is something you'd consider sometime down the road, even if WXX-Rebirth does it, too.

[GGeek]

Good start ! I can try the multiplayer if you want

[TheXTR09]

I finally played the latest release for now and still, great work there, Snake! The game plays like - take this as a compliment - racing oversized yachts at 200mph with your eyes closed. No glitches, well optimized, the project's going really great.

I'm still gonna sulk in a corner knowing I can't race in Spectre.

[GGeek]

I'm noticing some clear stuttering when playing on my rig, i tried setting the game's priority to high, which reduces stuttering but doesn't completely get rid of it.

Here are my specs

OS : Windows 7 Pro SP1 (64-Bit)
CPU : Intel Core i5-4570 (LGA1150, 4 Cores, 4 Threads) @3.2GHz
Motherboard : Asus B85M-G C2 (LGA1150, mATX)
RAM : 2x4GB Transcend DDR3 1333 MHz CL9
GPU : Gigabyte Geforce GTX 750 Ti OC w/ 2GB GDDR5
HDD : 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM

Nvidia driver version : 359.00

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Try disabling V-Sync or setting it to Adaptive. Also... Only 8 gigabytes of RAM? These aren't the dark ages!

That's unfortunate, but perfectly reasonable. I suppose that just gives me more of a reason to follow the development of WXX-Rebirth

If you still want the remake tracks and the HD graphics, you can download the 20th Anniversary build.

Progress on multiplayer

I've got ships for each player spawning, there's no synchronization of positions and stuff yet but it's a start.

I actually saw the multiplayer test video. Might I suggest a preliminary system clock synchronization, so that the countdown occurs simultaneously for everyone playing regardless of their latency? Portal 2 does something similar to that in co-op mode.

[GGeek]

Try disabling V-Sync or setting it to Adaptive. Also... Only 8 gigabytes of RAM? These aren't the dark ages!

Well, i'm a poor man ad i'm probably stick with this PC for a few more years, give me a break ^^

I will try disabling V-Sync.

[Xpand]

8GB of RAM is enough to play BnG and many other indie games (BNG only uses up to 300MB of RAM from what I've seen). Try checking if the game is using the nVidia GPU or the internal graphics processor. Also make sure no other CPU intensive programs are being run at the same time as the game, like internet browsers and such.

[TheXTR09]

Everyone said 8GB was barely enough today while I'm stuck with a 4GB, 2007-era budget rig with only 1GB of VRAM. I can barely play Black Ops 2 om Medium graphics. And I made a huge mistake trying to play Advanced Warfare on that clunker.

it's slower than the windows slideshow honest

[Xpand]

Low framerate is not necessarily due to too litle RAM, it's mostly related to GPU and CPU. Most games don't use more than 1GB-2GB of RAM anyway during gameplay, the recommended memory amounts have to do with the margin of space the game has to run in, it's very different to have a game that consumes 1GB of RAM running in a 4GB of RAM PC along with Windows and other applications sharing that memory, and the same game running in a 8GB rig. And usually the loading times are the thing that gets more affected by low RAM issues, since the chunks of data being loaded have to be smaller and more controlled, and that takes more time to do than to just load everything onto memory pretty much at once.
Too much RAM is not benefitial either since you end up buying an expensive RAM card just so your rig only uses like half of it.

[TheXTR09]

Yes, I'm very clear of that. I had a friend that complained that he had 12GB of RAM and he can't play NBA 2K14 well.

He had no graphics card.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

There was one instance were RAM was entirely the issue... I once had a laptop with only 512 megabytes of RAM. My dad had the Audacity to put Windows 7 on it, and MechCommander 2, a game from 2001 that ran just fine on Windows 2000 and XP, dropped to a max of 12 FPS... One RAM upgrade later (4 gigabytes), and it was running at 60 FPS again.

Back on the subject of BallisticNG, I am wondering if there is going to be anything resembling Mag Lock implemented on some of the tracks, despite the emulation of Wip3out / 2097's design. While I think appealing to a sense of nostalgia is awesome, I don't see any reason not to borrow ideas and experience from future generations of games, especially if it doesn't adversely affect the atmosphere or the flow of gameplay. Just look at the track designs that were possible in Pulse and 2048 through the Mag Lock system; something like that, crossed with the Wip3out / 2097 physics and art style, would be an awesome combination.

The only potential obstacles that I see would be some not-too-extensive changes to the camera and physics code. Maybe we can put it up to a vote to see if anybody else likes the idea?

[Xpand]

The only potential obstacles that I see would be some not-too-extensive changes to the camera and physics code.

Those are not small obstacles, you're pretty much asking for a modification of quite a large portion of code for a gimmick. Not to mention pretty much all of the track layouts are already designed and modelled.

[Hybrid Divide]

While I never had a problem with Mag-Lock, I do think BNG is better without it. There's PLENTY of room for unique track designs without throwing Mag-Lock into the mix, anyway.

[GGeek]

Yeah, the tracks as they are now are already pretty good in terms of flow and feel, i think that adding magstrips would ruin the feel a bit.

Not a focus on crazy track layouts, this isn't Trackmania Turbo
(For the record, Trackmania Turbo has a new environment, called Rollercoaser Lagoon, that has blocks that acts as magstrips, allowing you to create tracks where you race upside down, hence the reference)

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Those are not small obstacles, you're pretty much asking for a modification of quite a large portion of code for a gimmick. Not to mention pretty much all of the track layouts are already designed and modelled.

I never actually said they were small obstacles, "not-too-extensive" means that while it does require a lot of work, it probably isn't as much as you make it seem.

Maybe you guys should share the code and recruit help, and put it certain features down to a vote; "would it be worth the coding time?" type of thing.

[Ace3000]

As Adam has mentioned multiple times, the game was intentionally supposed to emulate the PS1's limitations. This means:

• No, borrowing modern game technology does not emulate the PS1 limitations. Modern game design is not the point. (Although it does utilise Unity)
• Yes, short render distances, jittering polygons and low-res graphics are required, since they are within the PS1 limitations.
• Vivid art styles, abstract lighting and shading and clean lines do not work with the PS1 limitations. Yeah, it may make it look like a PS1 game, but that's not the point.
• Yes, 128*128 textures are required, since, again, they're within the PS1 limitations.
• and Yes, the vertices and blank spaces between the polys are within the PS1 limitations, and so are allowed.

Adam is not trying to make a game look like a PS1 game, he's making it as if it was for the PS1, including all it's shortcomings. I am repeating myself many times over because I honestly don't think you get it. He's not trying to make a second SSGX.

[mdhay]

I had written a long-ish response to this and saved it in notepad, but I don't have access right now to the computer I wrote it on.

If the high horse you're on was any taller, you'd be huffing moon dust.

I didn't say that there wasn't any room, just that throwing away modern ideas just because they weren't present in the previous era is kind of silly.

...Modern ideas that were not in the games that are the direct inspiration behind BallisticNG, a game you seem to believe you're monetarily invested in.

do we really need 128 * 128 textures, or render distances where the road just around the corner doesn't exist, or where a polygon jumps around from pixel to pixel like crazy, followed by glowing white space ants the entire time? (Actually, the wobbly vertices and space ants are kinda cool.)

Deliberate choices, and one he made for his game. It's a challenge to work within limitations like this, and in the case of BallisticNG better than not using them. If that doesn't seem believable, then imagine 2097 with flat, low-res textures but with sharp dynamic lighting/ shadows, reflections and particles. It would look shite.

You should give this article a read.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Blake..._Pixel_Art.php

Pixel art as a concept cannot apply to low-res textures as it used to- one is optimisation and the other is a deliberate aesthetic choice regardless of resolution.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Okay, fine. I'll remove my post if that is what you guys want. I just didn't quite understand all of the factors, and the majority of my posts were woefully ill-informed. Just don't bite my legs off.