2 Drive line to different path questions. | Forums

[Euphoric Fusion]

If you have to pick a speed for the bike to be ejected as it were from the alternative checkpoint then we can never get a natural transition from one line to the other.
That makes my idea pretty useless. Oh well back to the drawing board. :/

[rlmergeuser]

If you have to pick a speed for the bike to be ejected as it were from the alternative checkpoint then we can never get a natural transition from one line to the other.
That makes my idea pretty useless. Oh well back to the drawing board. :/

From what has been stated, it does appear that a smooth transition won't happen, but if you use a camera that goes behind a container, transition about half a second of non-smooth, whilst behind container, then re-emerge, and it's as if a transition never happened, especially if the camera is in the same place. The time between switch and force being applied can be as little as .033 of a second, which is imperceptible.

[Euphoric Fusion]

Hiding the transition would work, but it would be like a magic trick.
You would know that something happened whilst your attention was diverted.

[rlmergeuser]

Hiding the transition would work, but it would be like a magic trick.
You would know that something happened whilst your attention was diverted.

I don't see any other way, really. If you have the transition in plain sight, there's going to be a perceptible pause without hiding it. I guess a firework in the foreground could also do the trick. Something short and snappy, as long as you've got your placings right. As I say, the actual pause need only be for 1 frame.

I wonder if it is possible to, rather than give a force, actually set the bike's speed to it's prior level after the transition.

We're at a point now that the only way of getting the idea perfected is to actually use the editor and see exactly what is possible.

[RetiredRonin]

From what I understand of Paha's post, you can make it pretty close.

Take the speed from just before the warp, use the datasource to set speed after the warp.

Sure, it may not be EXACT, but it should be pretty darn close.

[rlmergeuser]

I have been thinking about this quite a bit so here is how I think it could work.


Triggers (T) in yellow, checkpoints (CP) in blue.

Here is how I imagine the track layout.
So the track would be one complete line that turns to the right at CP1, then loops right back on it's self after CP2 and joins back at CP3 which is in the same place as CP1.
The line then goes to the left and finally joins back at CP4 which is in the same place as CP2.
The red shaded area is part of the line that will not be ridden but is needed to create a full loop.

Still with me?

It might help if your diagram distinguished better which "lap" each checkpoint was on: checkpoints 1 and 2 are "attached" to lap1, but checkpoints 3 and 4 are "attached" to the same physical points, but on the driveline lap 2. The "lower route" is lap 1, the "upper route" is lap 2.

Lets say for now that the right path is on the ground and the left path is above ground (eg on platforms, pallettes, buildings etc).
At the point where the first triggers are let's have an imaginary obstacle which has a high and low route.
If you stay low then you will just continue on to CP1 and drive the right of the track up to the CP2/4.
If you stay high then you can go to the left and drive that way to CP2/4

I really like this idea, and it's the most natural way to operate this split (since riders are already used to choosing between a high route and a low route in tracks.
Although, having a more obvious left/right split where the bike either dramatically veers left or right could be a big surprise for the rider.

Now the triggers should (hopefully) determine which area of the track is open/closed. Bear in mind that the triggers should be EXACTLY in line with the checkpoints and not like the diagram.

T1) The low route.
Touching the ground disables visibility and activity of CP2 and CP3, therefore disabling the left hand (high) route.

T2) The High route
Hitting the trigger will disable CP1. This is where it gets tricky.
The trigger will need to be perfectly aligned with the checkpoints so that when you hit it, it will in effect "teleport" you to CP3.
If we can maintain the bikes velocity and state (rotation or position of X,Y,Z) using the bike as a data source (if possible) when performing this line jump, then it should be unnoticable.

T3) Hitting this will teleport you to CP4 (again hopefully unnoticable)

Assuming that T3 is on lap2, no teleportation is necessary. You are already on lap 2 and will naturally follow the path to the end.

T4) If going the low route, T4 will disable CP2 and teleport you to CP4 to finish the track.

Overall, this looks good.
In fact, only 2 teleportations are necessary:
1. A jump near the beginning if they choose the "high route"
The high route is really on "lap 2", so we need to "skip ahead" to that point. When the rider nears the end of the track, they will naturally proceed to the finish.

2. A jump near the end if they choose the "low route"
The low route is on "lap 1", so they just follow it from the start. When they reach the end "junction", they will need to warp to the end so they don't follow the loop around.

It also occurs to me that you would REALLY have to test your triggers well! If they are somehow able to avoid the trigger, they could find themselves following the big roundabout, which might not even be driveable!

[Euphoric Fusion]

All makes sense to me and if we can take a data reading of the bike's speed just before the line jump and apply it after, the teleport effect could be passable.

[rlmergeuser]

It also occurs to me that you would REALLY have to test your triggers well! If they are somehow able to avoid the trigger, they could find themselves following the big roundabout, which might not even be driveable!

Simple answer on this one. Make the triggers really big so they couldn't be avoided at all.

[rlmergeuser]

All makes sense to me and if we can take a data reading of the bike's speed just before the line jump and apply it after, the teleport effect could be passable.

Yep, it'll just require some playing around. I'm convinced we can make it look seemless, even without smoke or explosions or a big beam crossing in the foreground.

At 2:53 in the Tutorial #25: Data Sources, he shows us that we can get the "game character speed". I think that's what you are referring to.

Starting at 3:30 in the same video, it shows how you can use the "Object Properties" data source to read the (x, y, z) position of an object, as well as angle, direction, velocity, and angular velocity values of an object. I hope its not necessary to manually save and re-apply all these attributes individually, but it sounds like we probably could if absolutely necessary.

Edited to add: it's not clear yet whether we would use the "Object Position" event (coming in lesson 29) to apply those values to the bike, or the "Bike Control" event, from lesson 22. We will just have to wait and see...

[Euphoric Fusion]

I knew I'd seen all that somewhere so thanks for going back and verifying it.
I just want the new editor now so I can friggin' try it out!