MTM2.com

I really should start writing down the little changes that I am doing because I don't remember what I'm working on anymore.

http://www.mtm2.com/~mtmg/misc/Beta0.31.rar (rar file - 68mb)
http://www.mtm2.com/~mtmg/misc/Beta0.31.zip (zip file - 82mb)

Changes from 0.31

- About screen and menu loading screen have been implemented. For all intents and purposes this is the final UI. I am NOT able to change the loading screen image before a race/rumble. It uses raw/act combination and when I tried going to a higher resolution than 1024x768 it starts acting all weird, even if the raw file that I am feeding it is the correct size. Likewise, simply changing it for a bitmap didn't work.
- Lowered the position of the lap time info so as to not be covered by the bloody menu.
- Compiled against DirectX7 headers (at least I think so, can't find a reliable way to test this out. MSI afterburner only says DirectDraw but does not give the version number.
- Added a blimp option in the graphics menu.
- Increased some vertices limits.
- Disabled a keyframe AV. This keyframe error ties in to ZK2 somehow.

So right before I wanted to post this I was able to crash ZK2 once, but I am not sure if I crashed it because I was toying around with the code. It only happened once. So please test it out guys.

At this point in time ZK2 is really the only problematic track on my end (in hardware mode). And I think it might have something to do with the huge amount of animated textures. I'm not quite sure how to fix it yet.

I plan on testing the multiplayer this week and if there are no problems there, I intend to release it as official in the weekend or early next week. Unless other issues come up of course.

In the meantime I think I discovered the reason for the fps drop. It's not actually the vertices that matter, it's how many 256x256 textures there are (either on the ground or on models). So I'm sure that this means the game isn't very efficient in dealing with the texture size.

I think old directX wasn't very efficient with large textures. Probably no way to fix that.

I tried googling the max texture size for directX 4 or 5 or 7 and can't find anything. My best guess is your loading screen exceeds it and you would have to tile it together instead. I feel like the internet has been purged of information for anything older than DirectX9.
The only relatively recent DX7 game I can think of is Mount & Blade Warband. I am not sure if that information could lead you anywhere though.

With how MTM2 seems to work, I half expected it to be a giant VB5 app with direct blitting to a picturebox lol

Honestly... it would have probably been more efficient and less clustered than doing it in C/C++:D

Yeah very hard to find information for anything earlier than Dx9, which is what makes it so hard to try and tweak things.

So far so good with the new beta. All the affected tracks are running fine.

I think I might be running different hardware than most (Windows XP, etc.) so is there anything in particular you want me to try?

Not that I can think of really. The game seems to me to be very black and white. If it likes the hardware it works the same for everyone (or crashes the same for everyone which implies something wrong with the actual code and not compatibility issues), if it doesn't like the hardware then it simply won't work at all. lol

OK just tried it online. Patch 0.31 will not work correctly but I am already working on fixing it. It's halfway fixed and hope to have it all good by tonight.

Wow! Well, game opened up in 1024 so I closed it, and downloaded and podded that zoon kitchen because you wanted us to try that, I ran it, and the beta rendered that track without a problem, it ran it on my typical graphics settings without a problem, around 50-58 frames/sec in 1024x768, soo..you said the problem was from being overloaded or something, so I was like.."no..I'm gonna run this thing into the ground", SO i gave it a real test. Well, I didn't go 8 laps with it because that would have been crazy LMAO I would still be racing 3 hours later lol, but anyway, I turned on like everything, music, show/hear commentary, every single graphics setting there is, full visibility, all of it, all computer opponents, 1920x1080, it's not gonna crash on my machine, but Windows 10 I got, I think you've fixed the beta for my machine, still low fps for me though at that resolution though..however..by the way that was an AWESOME race lol, you'd think after 18 years of driving in this game I'd be prepared for that track, holy wow that was an awesome track. Respect to those who made it.

http://i.imgur.com/jheOzxU.jpg


orrrr nevermind Fila just said this is the wrong track, but I thought this one was awesome too..

Nah, that's ZooN Kitchen 1. The sequel is the troublemaker.

Sorry I'm being bad

Nice job fila, i'll be testing this one soon

Oh, right...yeah Zoon Kitchen 2, yeah that one didn't crash either, 8 opponents, every setting, show/hear commentary, every graphics except Blimp because apparently that makes it crash, 20 laps, make fun of me if you want because my lap times suck, I don't care, flame me for running 20 laps, I really don't care. It was a waste of time. It didn't crash.

http://i.imgur.com/dgncBrv.jpg

Why would we make fun of you? It's a great track

New patch, no crash, even with blimp on.

Actually didn't really see any problems... except that the AI beat me....

Oh, and the flappy birds animations are messed up, but meh, the whirly bird is good.

I was getting about 45 to 60fps in kitchen 2. So acceptable.

Hey as a new feature, can you make a reset truck button? Something that causes the truck right operation? for those times we get stuck on our face or butt?

Haven't updated on this but I'm still trying to figure out this multiplaye crashing thing. Only once that is fixed (or at least have proof that it's somehow my computer at fault) will I release it officially and then move on to updating things further.

Maybe we should include the betas in this page?
http://mtm2.com/~mtmg/mtm2.html

Nah, I'm releasing it soon and will have it's own page.

I am becoming convinced my Windows 10 installation has gotten corrupted. Which is really impressive considering it's only 5 months old whereas I had Win 7 installed for 4 years and had no problems...

I can't start the game in glide anymore even though at the time of the beta release I was able to. Likewise the multiplayer crashes that have postponed the release seem to be only with my computer as others were able to play just fine.

Edit: Just ran a sfc /scannow and it basically confirmed windows is corrupted \o/ Microsoft...

Just reinstalled windows, that was indeed the problem. *shakes head*