All of you who have tried to drive the RC 2 vehicles will have noticed that most of them drive like barns on wheels. So I'm currently tweaking the script files to make tanks more steerable again. I will document some of the changes to the script files here to make it more transparent to interested testers. First try, tanks still turn slow, you need to step off the gas to get around sharp corners. But the sluggish feeling is remedied: "Steering" Changes (mediocre maneuverability, less than 2.12; BE only) Jeep: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 50 (this has the most effect since most people drive full speed without braking) steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.4 (this one seems to make steering sluggish, but if its lowered the jeep seems to spin out more) slowcarspeed: 15 to 30 fastcarspeed: 30 to 60 AFV: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 80 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 0.8 slowcarspeed: 15 to 20 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 APC: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 70 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.0 slowcarspeed: 15 to 25 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 Med Tank: degreesSlow: 40 to 60 degreesFast: 20 to 60 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.0 slowcarspeed: 15 to 25 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 Heavy Tank: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 25 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.2 slowcarspeed: 15 to 20 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 At the moment I use those values to tweak. Those seem to do something too: "slowsteeringrate" "2" // this is the speed the wheels are steered when the vehicle is "slow" "faststeeringrate" "0.5" // this is the speed the wheels are steered when the vehicle is "fast" "steeringRestRateSlow" "4.0" // this is the speed at which the wheels move toward their resting state (straight ahead) "steeringRestRateFast" "2.0"
Ah you're right, I have changed the file for the CV but failed to write it down. It's comparable with the APC values but tuned for the slow standard engine it uses. At the moment I'm trying to get the vehicles to work for both 3 phase and slow engines. 3 phase = danger of spinning, slow engines = danger of turning too fast, being glitchy. Well I have tested the values again and compared it to 2.12. They all need to be increased else people will find tank combat "slow" and more boring I presume. In addition to that maneuvering on emp_escort with the values still proves to be difficult, you really need to go slow around the corners. Will probably have new values tomorrow. Only got an insanely agile AFV done, which is just hilarious to drive with 3phase.
Recent changes + test results CV: degreesSlow: 40 to 60 degreesFast: 20 to 70 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.2 slowcarspeed: 10 to 20 fastcarspeed: 20 to 30 slowsteeringrate: 2 to 3 faststeeringrate: 0.5 to 1.5 steeringRestRateSlow: 4 to 4 steeringRestRateFast: 2 to 2 Testing showed it drives agile and is very easy to handle. Will probably keep the values this way. Jeep: degreesSlow: 40 to 60 degreesFast: 20 to 60 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.4 slowcarspeed: 15 to 30 fastcarspeed: 30 to 60 slowsteeringrate: 1 to 3 faststeeringrate: 0.25 to 1.5 steeringRestRateSlow: 4 to 6 //testing steeringRestRateFast: 2 to 6 //testing skidallowed: 0 to 1 (strange, lets see what it does) Testing showed that you shouldn't switch skidflags, there is a reason for them being set this way. Absolutely fucking undriveable. AFV: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 80 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 0.8 //must set back to 1.0, too quirky slowcarspeed: 15 to 20 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 slowsteeringrate: 2 to 3 faststeeringrate: 0.5 to 1.5 steeringRestRateSlow: 4 to 6 //testing steeringRestRateFast: 2 to 6 //testing Drives like a charm with fast engines (gas turbine upwards) but is a brick with standard-bio-coolant. A real brick, needs changing. APC: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 70 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.0 slowcarspeed: 15 to 25 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 slowsteeringrate: 2 to 3 faststeeringrate: 0.25 to 1.5 steeringRestRateSlow: 4 to 6 //testing steeringRestRateFast: 2 to 6 //testing Fast version drives like a charm. With slower engines it gets an acute case of brick, fine tuning needed Med Tank: degreesSlow: 40 to 60 degreesFast: 20 to 70 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.0 slowcarspeed: 15 to 25 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 slowsteeringrate: 2 to 3 faststeeringrate: 0.25 to 1.5 //think here was the problem for the med tank steeringRestRateSlow: 4 to 5 //testing steeringRestRateFast: 2 to 3 //testing Fast version drives like a charm. With slower engines it gets an acute case of brick, fine tuning needed Heavy Tank: degreesSlow: 40 to 50 degreesFast: 20 to 25 steeringExponent: 1.4 to 1.0 slowcarspeed: 15 to 20 fastcarspeed: 30 to 30 slowsteeringrate: 2 to 3 faststeeringrate: 0.5 to 1.5 steeringRestRateSlow: 4 to 4 steeringRestRateFast: 2 to 2 Fast version drives like a charm. With slower engines it gets an acute case of brick, fine tuning needed. Standard-Bio-Coolant engines aren't really fun to drive, they feel extremely gimped. Maybe look into upping speed values of all engines.
It appears that it's hard to set ultimate values for different engines... But as far as I investigated, the code that reads this is Valve's, We can't easily change it :-|
If you adjust steering you also have to adjust suspension. Adjusting rear damping values very slightly may give you extreme changes. I noticed that too when I tweaked BE's jeep so that you can drift with it in the same way as with NF's jeep but because BE's jeep is just a cube on wheels therefor it has EXTREMELY horrible driving abilities making it extremely hard to work correctly when driving forward AND backwards. NF's jeep is low and wide so the suspension changes aren't that extreme on it and they give NF's jeep very good steering and drifting. So. When you adjust steering, adjust suspension too.
@ Reef: True, thats what I have been told, thus the endless meddle with the script files in hope of betterin. @ Weedy: Thanks, I'll try to alter the suspension values although I don't yet grasp the pseude physical relationsship between steering and suspension. Anyways I presume harder suspension = more stable.
make sure to fix the vehicle maneuvering of every vehicle when they are upgraded as well. IE. "LOLS 3-PHASE LOLS" Spin-outs are nice and all, but they fucking stupid. Sometimes it's like driving on ice through a marble-sized hail storm.
You can't really do too much for tweaking handling between engines because different engine scripts only let you change horsepower maxspeed and a few other things that effect other stuff. I was playing around with some stuff and thats one of the problems is different vehicle settings work well/poorly with different engines. Not sure how easy it would be for mootant to allow different vehicle scripts to be used with different engines.
No wai. Just jam on turn key and let go when your about 1/3 way through the turn you want to make. None of this slowing down BS
All these changes to scripts are done with slowing down code enabled. We should try if it's possible to make tanks drivable without limiting tank's horsepower while turning. I'll upload changed server/client.dll here and we will see.
it did work once so why wouldn't it work again? only problem was the 3phase jeep and LT flipping over, but surely you guys can think of some other solution to that
I think it would be best if you added engine-specific settings in the vehicle script files, tied to the research branch. In that way, you have full control over the movement, no hacks or workarounds.
Yeh maybe it's better to allow a value in the script turn the slow down on or off, m00tant, that way it can be turned back on any time with vehicles that just don't work very well without it.
What I think would be best is for each engine being able to change all the turning values extera as well as being able to turn the slowing down on/off and maybe increase/decrease the slowing down effect. Dunno if it is possible.
I agree about getting rid of hacks and workarounds. Some things need to be recoded. (more work, yes, but a lot nicer in the long run)
That would make things easier. Would also enable handling upgrades to tanks in the future. Basically some of the values inside the specific chassis files would need to move into the according engine files. I'm still not done with the brenodi vehicles, now the med tank starts spinning out with 3 phase... but drives well with slower engines. Just the other way 'round, gah. If I use this "simple technique" I can drive overpowered overagile afvs that are way faster than LT's or even jeeps without a problem. Thing is, 50% of the retarded club will just keep the buttons pressed, either willingly or due to lag resulting in people going "uh, shit vehicles now, kthxbye"
Well, improved things a bit. I increased all engines speeds a bit to compensate for overall slowness of the mod. Adjusted BE vehicles steering accordingly. Vehicles kinda okay now: Brenodi: AFV APC CV HEAVY ARTY Jeep is still a bit crazy but I think I have improved it. Med Tank still needs more work but its bearable. Northern Faction: LT APC CV HEAVY ARTY Jeep is wacky. Med tank likes to spin out. And yes, the engine changes are necessary. I'll post values when I cleaned the scripts of wacky tests I done. Edit1: Looking into slight horsepower increases. Edit2: My testers find the medium tanks a bit "edgy" to turn. Heavy seems perfect. Jeep is def. improved but 3phase spins out.