RCT Discussion / RCTGL update.

04/27/04 - MS6 
Whew. It's been over 5 months since the last update, but I do have some important news.
I have started what I am calling "The Great RCTGL Rewrite." The code is going to be a lot cleaner, which means that it will be easier to add new features in the future, and a lot of the old garbage that was in the previous version will be gone.

Most importantly, this new version will include some significant optimizations which will improve the speed quite nicely. Instead of calculating optimizations while the program was running, I am now compiling the park ahead of time. I am also improving the optimizations on the landscape, and adding optimizations to walls and paths (they didn't exist in previous versions). All of these changes, plus many more, will give a nice boost of speed for everybody.

These important changes to the framework will also make it easier for me to add things like supports and tunnels (and tunnel entrances) in the future.

The future of RCTGL is looking very bright at the moment. I've spent almost an entire week working non-stop on this rewrite, and I also have access to a source control server, which will make development much easier. Screenshots will be posted as new material becomes available. Since I am improving the existing models, hopefully these screenshots will be here sooner rather than

RCTGL

Good to see its still being made.

Yay! I love RCTGL.

Eat your heart out Chris Sawyer.






Actually, RCT 3D is looking pretty cool, but RCTGL will offer the chance to see something like WOMB in 3D. Can you imagine that?

I love you DH!

Way better than that shitty RollerCoaster Rider or whatever it's called

Rollercoaster Ride wasn't great, I'll say that, but I'll also say you probably couldn't have done much better.

I coundn't, but then, I was expecting a little more from it.

Actually, RCT 3D is looking pretty cool, but RCTGL will offer the chance to see something like WOMB in 3D.  Can you imagine that?

You already can Albeit a little fuzzily...but yeah!

rctgl.com won't work.. rctgl won't work!!! ack!!!

someone! save me! send it to me..

must have new version

Ah yes. My people.

As Nic said, I'm making huge progress wth RCTGL. I don't think there has been a single day in the past couple of weeks that I have not worked on it in some way, shape, or form.

There was a period where I didn't touch it, but now I'm back at it, and doing some hardcore x-tr3m3 coding. Putting so much work into it will help me:
- get personal enjoyment, because I love the game, and I can't wait to see where this goes.
- improve my coding skills. I've already learned a lot, and I plan on learning more as this evolves.
- land a sweet job. It seems that everyone is very impressed with this program, and it will only get better.

I had to start rewriting it in order to add some of the advanced features I'm working on (tunnels, ghost train doors/windows, and supports, anyone?). The rewrite will also include a nice speed boost, which means that I'll be able to put more detail into other areas.

Instead of determining what to draw and how to draw it at run time, I now compile maps into long lists of polygons, and I only draw what's visible (Eh, I probably didn't explain that too well). I also include more items to optimize. I used to only optimize the landscape surface in one dimension, and now I optimize it in oth directions, as well as optimizing paths and walls and ride elements. All of this will make the loading time a litle bit longer, but the program will run nice and fast when it's done (assuming you have a decent system).

Oh yeah, I'm also in the process of replacing all of the tree textures with textures taken from real trees. I'm searching the intarweb for similar textures, modifying them with Photoshop, and throwing them into RCTGL. While I still have a lot of textures to replace, the results from the current texture set are stunning. The goal is to use 100% original textures for every aspect of the program.

When I get home, I'll try to post a screenshot of my latest progress. I don't know why my domain name isn't working.

If you want to get to the site using the old fashioned way, go to http://www.progoth.c...arkhelmet/rctgl

We should race to see which gets done first: RCT GL or WDE?

this link works..

had to figure that out myself, the other one links to rctgl.com as well... found that earlier.

*proud

EDIT: but the one after that doesn't... atleast i got to read what was on the front page =P.

i'll wait i guess..

Edited by Evil WME, 11 May 2004 - 02:52 AM.

Okay, I was bored at work, so I fixed the site

The domain name still doesn't work, but all links on the actual site should work now.

linky

Dammit, Dark... there's so much awesomeness. Keep up the good work!


And RCTGL5 still runs like crap on my system... though I did manage to get it running by telling XP to run it in Win98 mode. Ah well, such is life.

rct3d is going to put you out of, uh, a hobby.

But RCT3D can't render any LL parks in 3D...

SF

The only feature that would make me buy RCT3D is backwards compatibility. Obviously that won't happen. Thank god someone actually cares enough to create a great program like this. DarkHelmet, you're a saint in the RCT community.

The only feature that would make me buy RCT3D is backwards compatibility.

You never know...

You never know...

Judging by the way the videos look there obviously won't be any backwards compatibility. The scenery isn't even all the same.

Interview with David Braben;

You can't import complete parks from RCT1 & 2 into RCT3 but you CAN import coasters from the earlier versions

I'm also glad someone from the community is making this great 3D program!
Thanx DarkHelmet for all the time and effort so far, and keep it up, because all your work will be appreciated by the community...
btw, personally I think RCTGL captures 'the true RCT-feel' better than RCT3D, but that's just personal I guess...

SF

Thanks for all the support, guys. A new screenshot will be up tonight, assuming my internet connection at home actually works (it's been very sporadic lately)

Adix - Milestone 5 was less successful than I had anticipated. Turns out that it didn't work on a LOT of people's systems. I'll do a lot of outside QA before I officially release the next milestone.

Asperix - Absolutely not. Obviously I'm still working on it now even though I know RCT3D will be released. Why would I stop when its released? Besides, I can continue to add features that RCT3D won't support (such as custom RCT2 objects). There's also a good possibliity that RCT3D won't support some of the hacks we've used in our parks.

Also, RCT3D and RCTGL are slightly different products. RCTGL is designed to provide a realistic 3D view inside any RCT/CF/LL park. Since there is no gameplay involved, I can use more resources to make the graphics look nice and realistic. IMO, RCT3D looks pretty cartoony and screams Sim Coaster/Sim Theme Park. I want to avoid that at all costs.

Coaster Ed - Hah. Thanks, dude. I think you'll be even more impressed when you see the newest screenshot.

gir - You may not be that far from the truth. There is a possibility that they reduced the number of textures to conserve resources. Instead of having 7 different palm trees, they may only have one or two now.

Six Frags - Thanks a lot. The goal was to make something that literally places you in the middle of a RCT park. I may be straying away from that slightly due to the realism I'm trying to add to RCTGL. For example, my models for ride elements are going to be based on actual rides. It should be easy to differentiate between Vekoma track and B&M track. In addition, I am replacing every single texture, which will add to the detail in the game, and make RCTGL legally friendly. It sure woud suck to put all of this work into RCTGL only to have some lawyers tell me to stop because I ripped some textures out of the game.