Hey racers, after several months of hard work, we're finally ready to release the Racecraft 0.5.0 update in Beta version.
This is a really HUGE update in terms of technology. These are the foundations of the game and should be almost completely built to allow us to add all the game modes which are going to build the core gameplay of Racecraft.
This update contains:
- Gameplay: Added collisions between cars (Race mode)
- Gameplay: Added slipstream (Race mode)
- Gameplay: Added virtual mirror in HUD
- Gameplay: Huge improvement to AI behavior
- Gameplay: Procedural generation of AI profiles
- Gameplay: Semaphore on starting line
- Gameplay: Standings on position billboard
- Gameplay: Improved rules for race regularity and disqualification
- Graphics: Car mirrors are now working
- Graphics: Lighting management in night conditions
- Graphics: Rendering pipeline ready and compliant for VR (WIP)
- Graphics: Fixed bad illumination in some special cases
- Procedural engine: Improved walls/fences distribution
- Procedural engine: Improved track assets distribution
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Kerbs models/type
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Mega structures
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Track/buildings on starting straight
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Generic vehicles
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Track/recovery vehicles
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Marshall characters/stands
- Procedural engine: Added new asset: Cameramen characters/platforms
- Performances: Pre-generated track shaders during scene loading (which caused a lot of hiccups)
- Performances: Scenes transition is now seamless
- Performances: Smoother frame rendering
- Performances: Slightly optimized texture generation and memory occupation
- Performances: Reduced performance impact of dynamic reflections
- Performances: Fixed subtle crash in updating dynamic reflections on some configurations
- Performances: Slightly reduced CPU workload during rendering
- Performances: Fixed SMAA executed before tone mapping in post processing chain
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General: Bugfix and general polishing
This update will be released to the public in a few days, but before doing this we need your help.
We'd really appreciate if you can help us in testing this HUGE update and report any issues or problems on our communication channels (as stated below).
To download the update, you can access the BETA branch from Steam following these steps:
1) Right click on Racecraft on your Steam library to open the context menu
2) Click on the "Properties" entry
3) Open the "Betas" tab (if you don't see it, restart Steam and repeat steps 1 to 3)
4) Enter the code "proceduralbeta" (lowercase, it's case sensitive) in the "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas" and click on "Check Code"
5) If the message "Access code correct, private beta 'beta' is now available" appears, the Beta should be available
6) Select BETA from the dropdown menu above (if you don't see BETA, restart Steam)
7) The update will be downloaded automatically if you have automatic updates on
8) When you want to go back to the official version, select NONE from the dropdown menu
Reply ONLY to this thread if you experience issues or bugs and send the crash reports through the Crash Report game utility. Always indicate the following details when reporting a bug/issue/crash on the thread:
- Your Steam ID
- Windows OS version
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Hardware specs
IMPORTANT NOTE
We know there are some game crashes and unfortunately some people can't play, but several times these issues stem from outdated graphics drivers or operating system, so we highly recommend to check if your OS is updated and if you have the latest graphics drivers installed.
Known issues
- During Early Access, saved tracks and all related elements (ghosts, other options) will be wiped frequently because of technical upgrades to the procedural engine and other parts of the game. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
- The game stutters during the first couple of generated tracks: this happens because it's generating and caching shaders
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If you have more than one control device connected to your system, disconnect the one you're not using to avoid crashes or calibration issues
Thanks for your support and good testing!
Racecraft DevTeam
