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Reiza September 2019 Development Update

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Renato Simioni, Oct 1, 2019.

  1. Renato Simioni

    Renato Simioni Administrator Staff Member

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    Hello again everyone :)

    September has been another busy month in an ongoing run of busy months that shall continue as we push flatout with development of Automobilista 2 - so let´s cut to the. chase and go straight into what we´ve been up to this past month.

    AMS1 / rF2 Bundle Updates

    We still have a few updates and fixes pending for these two releases which (at the risk of sounding repetitive) are due out soon. Please bare with us a little longer here :)

    AMS2 Community Skins

    We have recently announced in our development forum (restricted to Reiza Backers) that those who joined the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign will have the opportunity to become part of Automobilista 2 by submitting their own paintjob and driver name for any of the various fictional or semi-fictional series which will be present in the sim. and for which backers can apply to become one of the official drivers in Automobilista 2.

    If you are a Backer and a capable skin painter, check out the various topics in Reiza51 for instructions on how to apply.

    All talented skinners are welcome to come showcase your skills by submitting your application for any of the many series in Automobilista 2 open for community skins, such as this revamped Formula V12:
    003.jpg

    For the more prolific skinners out there, be advised we are also on the lookout for someone to join the team in an official capacity - if you´re interested in taking this a little more seriouslu shoot me a PM :)

    New and familiar Brazilian Series for AMS2
    001.jpg
    As previously announced AMS2 will see the introduction of Brazilian Sprint Race Series. Powered by a 260HP V6 engine with RWD, sequential 6-speed shifter and with a central driving position, this car serves as an excellent training tool for several types of racing and should be a perfect option for door-to-door action.

    006.jpg

    AMS2 will also continue to feature the popular Brazilian Formula Vee, the popular trainer now in its latest model featuring a new engine and suspension geometry.

    Making the Game Engine Tick

    Back when we were developing Stock Car Extreme into Automobilista, a small but significant adjustment we made was bumping the physics tick rate from the original 360hz to 720hz, along with controller rates from 90hz to a (potential depending on setting) 360hz - what this effectively results in is noticeably higher fidelity from physics and better feedback for the controllers, as the game is running physics calcs and outputting feedback at a faster rate.

    With the Madness engine we have been looking into it again and finding some good room for improvements. Tick rates are a simple thing to change but something to experiment with carefully as audio, physics and controller rates all interact within the game engine and ought to remain somewhat in sync, so a good deal of testing is needed to find the balance between what rates bring significant improvements without causing problems or performance issues.

    The original tick rates had to mind performance on lower end consoles where there are more performance bottlenecks - given we don´t plan to release AMS2 in these consoles and PC hardware has continued to evolve over the years, combined with the fact our assets are generally lighter on resources has given us a little more leeway to tune up those tick rates and get a bit more fidelity all around.

    The biggest boost this time so far has been on the audio front where tick rates have been bumped to substantially higher rates than it was and higher than the AMS1 audio engine (which ran @ 120hz) - the difference is even visible when analyzing the graphs below, showing two 100ms chunk of audio curves under the old and new rates:

    Old Audio Frequency
    014.jpg.png
    New Audio Frequency
    picturemessage_hm4fvgwf.u2t.png

    This naturally also results in substantial higher fidelity audio in-game, particularly with high revving F1 engines which are capable of covering a respectable RPM range over 100ms.

    You can hear what we´ve got so far in the video below featuring 3 of these high-revving engines over a lap at Interlagos - (please keep in mind the usual WIP disclaimers):


    On the physics front, the margins for upscaling tick rates were smaller as both physics and controller tick rates were already set at 600hz,but physics has also been bumped up to AMS1 level @ 720hz, as when you´re trying to tame a 1000bhp monster on slicks over standing water you need all control you can have - see for yourself :)


    As before all videos are captured with fairly standard system specs (i7-3770k CPU @ 3.50GHz, 16gb RAM, Geforce GTX 1070) so rest assured we´re not planning on blowing any gaskets here :) on the contrary, AMS2 should remain very accessible in terms of hardware requirements.

    Grinding the Tranny - Manual Transmission Model

    Further development on the physics have been made on the drivetrain model, specifically for cars with manual boxes so as in AMS1 the driver can´t get away abusing his gearbox speedshifting or skipping gears without clutching or rev matching.

    Here again we´re fortunate to rely on SMS legacy code which was somewhat similar to what we had in AMS1, so re-enabling it and merging with our own model has been relatively straight-forward - it´s already working reasonably as can be seen in the video below:


    Obviously everything seen and heard here is early WIP and subject to a lot of fine tuning, but the good news is that this compounds what is overall a more advanced model which will among other things eventually include damage to gears and gearbox altogether from recurring miss-shifts.

    London Team Meeting

    One of the catalysts for the recent developments has been our team meetings in London - for those not aware Reiza doesn´t have a physical studio so devs work from their own location worldwide, and all team work is done remotely. This is suits us fine generally but we also find it productive and personally rewarding to get together once in a while to perform a few days of intense in loco team work.

    Unfortunately not many from Reiza could make it this time but the London setting wasn´t accidental as there we also got the opportunity to meet some of the key people at Slightly Mad Studios, and for a few days consult with some of their lead devs over various topics regarding the development of Automobilista 2 with the Madness engine.
    IMG_8397.jpg
    From left to right: SMS Andy Garton, Myself, Reiza Dom Lovric, SMS Ged Keaveney and Reiza Dave Stephenson

    From the start of the relationship SMS has proved themselves to be great and enthusiastic partners, generous with their time, knowledge and assets, without which we wouldn´t have a chance of meeting the very aggressive development schedule we have set for ourselves with Automobilista 2. This again proved the case in London where we were treated with great hospitality and able to feed on their expertise, for which we are most grateful.

    004.jpg

    That cover it for September! We have a couple more updates to go so expect things to pick up steam from now onwards with more info about the development of AMS2 and our longer term goals for it, the premium licenses we are in process of securing and everything else we´re aiming to deliver for it´s initial release and continuous development over the coming years.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2019
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  2. Alexandre Sene

    Alexandre Sene Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

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    :hurrayreiza:
     
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  3. Rodrigo Dutra

    Rodrigo Dutra Don Perina Racing AMS2 Club Member

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    Yeahhhh!!! :):):):hurrayreiza:
     
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  4. CrimsonEminence

    CrimsonEminence Administrator Staff Member AMS2 Club Member

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    I'm a little bit sim racing horny:hurrayreiza:

    P.S. Good idea by focusing on showing gear grinding and sound examples after doubts of the capabilities of the new foundation!
     
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  5. Mauricio Leiva

    Mauricio Leiva New Member AMS2 Club Member

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    amazing job Renato....
    looking forward for this masterpiece
     
  6. Daniel Silva

    Daniel Silva New Member

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    Tudo muito bonito, tudo muito legal, mas quando vão falar sobre o multiplayer?
     
  7. rocafella1978

    rocafella1978 Member AMS2 Club Member

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    fantastic layout and details, thanks for sharing! good luck to you and best of success for the rest of the road ahead!!! :hurrayreiza:
     
  8. tlsmikey

    tlsmikey Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Super excited. Really looking forward to officially licensed content. Hoping for GTE and Porsche cup car.
     
  9. NavyFlipperHUN

    NavyFlipperHUN Balazs Floszmann AMS2 Club Member

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    Can't find any words! Amazing!
    :hurrayreiza:
     
  10. Bull Shark

    Bull Shark Later has long since begun. AMS2 Club Member

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    Nice nice... great to see Oulton Park. Although when I compare this with PCars 2 it looks a lot more empty. Buildings etc..
    very exited to see the vids.
     
  11. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

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    Fantastic update ! :hurrayreiza:

    Imagine if the RSR actually sounds right :p it was pure madness in pC2 !
     
  12. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Free speech matters AMS2 Club Member

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    Early WIP my friend ;)
     
  13. Bull Shark

    Bull Shark Later has long since begun. AMS2 Club Member

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    Yeah I know. :D
     
  14. F_B

    F_B Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Really excited for early access.
     
  15. SmaSy

    SmaSy New Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Nice to finally have updates on the physics and audio fronts!!
    Keep up the pace and good work Reiza!!
     
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  16. Erik Geelhuijzen

    Erik Geelhuijzen Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Thanks Reiza. Love the progress you are making. A bit worried though about the shadows on the tracks shown in the video's, especially at Interlagos, the first straight (the shadows of the fences) and the main straight start/finish (the shadows of the buildings). I hope this is because of the WIP-status of the tracks and not something caused by the graphical engine of SMS?
     
  17. Ernie

    Ernie Active Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Perhaps some console players would disagree, but i love the clear statement about "no compromise for current-gen consoles".:cool:
    Maybe this will change someday with a newer and more powerful generation of consoles, but actually i see it as a very good thing to not sacrifice physics tick rates just for compatibility reasons regarding "older" consoles.
     
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  18. Scraper

    Scraper Well-Known Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Thank you for a fascinating and exciting update. That new Formula Vee should be called Formula Va-va-voom!
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2019
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  19. Atsuki

    Atsuki Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Great news! This is how a development update should be!
     
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  20. AircooledPoly

    AircooledPoly New Member AMS2 Club Member

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    Great update, thank you guys.
     

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