various Community development: Project DRIVE (working title)

[TDUZoqqer]

So, yeah. Uhm. Let's go, I guess.

Hi folks. I was gone for quite a while on the forum and from modding TDU. To be fair, TDU bored me, I was so deep in the 3D-modeling and rendering materia that TDU was just not a challenge for me anymore with the (hands down) very limited modding possibilities. Don't get me wrong, I can't complain what a 11 year old game still is capable of. But, let's be honest, it's way off from today's standards.

 

As of this matter, I would like to introduce you my little big project I spent quite some time coding and learning in the past weeks:

 

Project: DRIVE

 

I know, from the screen on it looks really poopy, sorry for that. That's actually the only screenshot I have of it right now.

 

"But Zoqqer, dafuq is this?"

 

Glad you're asking. Project: DRIVE (working title, as mentioned) is the idea of creating an online multiplayer sim'ish-but-more-arcade'ish open world racing game. I can't hide my Test Drive Unlimited roots here, more to that later.

I loved TDU and you can't deny I was quite in the game. But as deep as I was in it (nohomo), over all the time I found more and more bits and pieces I would like to change or add, but as you may know we don't have the source code for the game and Atari went bankrupt before seeing my E-Mail (doubt they'd reply anyway, but still, you get my point).

 

Long story short

 

I have heard of the Unreal Engine 4 some years ago at my internship, and have seen potential and personal desire to make this engine run a car I give it to work with. After some mess-arounds with it and absolute zero knowledge about coding and scripting I decied to give it up and mod on TDU. You can find my first tries (actually one pic Ras' posted in my thread a decade ago) here on the forum, though nobody really cared, which I'm not mad about. :)

After a long while (two weeks ago to be exact) I randomly found a new Unreal Engine video on youtube, and decied to give it another shot. This time with a basic idea of what I actually am planing to do.

I liked the idea of TDU2, but they just missed it to be the real successor. That's basically the idea. Make a cool game with features TDU2 missed.

 

 

By the way, I am a disaster at coding, especially C++, and I needed a reaally long time to find myself into the engine again, but now that I am capable of doing the very basics it will only get better.

"Okay, but what is it all about?"

 

The biggest reason of doing this is practise. I'm really into games, and although I won't make it into the gaming industry with my skills whatsoever, I still have interest into making real time sims. Unfortunately, UE4's default vehicle physics are made more for arcade games (Rocket League was made with UE4), but I'm trying to get the most out of it to make it somehow enjoyable.

 

 

And those are the features I am planing-to-but-unsure-if-I-can realize:

 

 

-making the most popular cars around be playable ingame

-online mode for the tdu oldschoolers to meet up and maybe cruise around, although many people aren't ready to give up TDU for a game of a rookie dev

-customization! Yes, adding bodykits, change rims and sizes, add spoilers, interior trims, change leather colors, exterior colors, window tints, light tints etc (no performance for now)

-customizeable license plates (german vanity plates for now)

-fully working lighting system, with parking markers/DRL's, lowbeam, highbeam, highbeam flash, fog lights, indicators and hazard lights

-working aerodynamic parts on cars which have them (eg. Murciélago bat wings, Carrera GT spoiler, Bugatti spoiler and so on, you get the idea)

-convertible roofs

-window roll up-and-downs

-working gauges, including digital ones, mileage, digital speed, gear displays etc

-fuel system with realistic consumption and saving data in savegame file, so you won't start with a full tank when you enter the game but drained it before

-meetup points with forzavista-ish vehicle indepth view (opening doors and stuff)

-dynamic day/night cycle

-weather changes

-cool vehicle sounds

-basic traffic AI, no cops for now

-pedestrians on the sidewalks you can brutally run over (lel, just joking)

...

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Progress:

28. February 2018

 

18. August 2018

First public tech demo preview by DonnieBrasco:

That's the literal working list I have atm:

UPDATE 27. February 2018: I have a totally different way of going at some of these points, so those are pretty much outdated, and everything listed here were the basics I am totally capable of doing now)

 

 

Tasks in queue

Finished tasks

WIP tasks

Cancelled tasks (reason)

 

Fixing/current tasks:

-finetune physics (created new physics, point outdated)

-create custom physics

-fix caliper clipping

-subtile backfire (it's working, it just need some workaround for a logical firing)

 

Camera:

-camera switch (cockpit to 3pc, later more-bonnet, bumper, second back)

-clamp orbit cam

-rear view cam

-idle camera sequence (like when you stay idle without Inputs for some moments, the camera will Switch to a sort of "Stalker cam" like in GTA5)

-shake on speed

-add new cameras (bonnet, bumper, second back)

 

Animations:

-Needles fuel, rpm and speed

-steering wheel

-window controls

-animate fix wiper so it goes back to park position instead of just stopping

 

AI:

-bus rig and import

-setup ai path control

-use bus as ai (ai test)

 

Level:

-basic roads (debug environment)

-ai spawn parked cars (level bp)

-create fix improve day night cycle

-enable lights by nighttime (track to levelbp sky)

-create make rainy weather look better

-rain / sun switch (by input for debug, random switch later)

-foggy weather (+track fog lights to it if intensity is *x) (I think it is quite overkill and nobody needs it)

 

Detail tasks for later:

-rear view mirrors by 2d cam

-adjustable interior camera (like tdu)

-skids

-interior badges (light, indicators, handbrake) (when interior done)

-digital gauges:

_-mileage

_-current gear

_-clock (track to levelbp sky)

_-fuel level

-manual interior lights (overkill, nobody will ever use it)

-useless crap input list which you need to press shift for

-engine kill switch

-convertible roof input

-high beam+brake lights/nightlights rear+fog+front indicators intensity fade

-fix indicators

 

Ideas/unsure if realizeable/too complex now:

-adjustable rear view mirrors? (Idea)

-Road marks reflecting (found a method where this is not necessary anymore)

-add a "pause mode" where you can orbit (or walk) around the car (like autovista) and open parts and enable lights (debug everywhere, later in specific areas) (idea)

-cruise control (input>get current speed>set speed?)

-fuel system+save float/amount of fuel in savegame

-save mileage in savegame (digital gauges float+analog gauges rot float)

...

 

 

At the moment, only Rassva and me are involved into the project, but I am the only one who is actually coding.

 

And that's the whole point of the thread:

it is not for showing off or something - not at all, I actually would like to make it a community project.

 

So if anyone has a basic idea of anything of the following, please let me know!:

-Scripting C++

-Blueprint scripting unreal engine

-unreal engine shading

-3D modeling

-environment design

-character design and animation

-UI design

-Audio design (raw wav's are fine)

 

.. or if you have anything else you want to work on.

 

Please remember, this is a community project, there is no release date. Also, in case I really will finish it one day, this will remain FREE forever and forum exclusive, as I don't have commercial rights on the 3D models, textures, brands or software, so I can't pay anyone who will be involved, sorry about that.

So, yeah. Let me know what you think. I doubt I will ever bring it to an enjoyable point, but I just wanted to work on a racing game with you guys.

 

Have a good one :)

Edited December 23, 2018 by TDUZoqqer

[Eudemon]

This is awesome and I wish you guys, and any and all who join, the very best with this. With the history of what you know and the lessons learned from the failings elsewhere, this could turn into something special.

 

I will look forward to watching our for the updates on this. :D

[Ryzza5]

Would you say the focus is on 'just cruising' or on 'playground' areas\games (i.e. think Burnout Paradise or Forza Horizon)? - the latter might make up for any shortfalls in handling and be fun for forum members to muck about in. All the best with it.

[TDUZoqqer]

Would you say the focus is on 'just cruising' or on 'playground' areas\games (i.e. think Burnout Paradise or Forza Horizon)? - the latter might make up for any shortfalls in handling and be fun for forum members to muck about in. All the best with it.

 

I'm afraid custom events are above my level of programming yet. I can make basic AI race you but they all would be really primitive and easy to beat. For now, the goal is to make a more or less solid concept to work on, what happens after that - i dont know. I might have a basic idea of how to create open world events later then, but not yet, I'm afraid

[robillard3381]

That's a big and cool project, I wish you the best for it!

I don't know anything about coding, but I have a solid experience in modding for shift 2 and now for pCARS, so if you think I can help you in some way, tell me. I would be happy to work on this promising project ;)

[Rassva]

Here are some progress vids:

[TDUZoqqer]

That's a big and cool project, I wish you the best for it!

I don't know anything about coding, but I have a solid experience in modding for shift 2 and now for pCARS, so if you think I can help you in some way, tell me. I would be happy to work on this promising project ;)

 

I'm happy for every single voulenteer! Let me know what you can do and I'll find something for sure. At the moment I need to setup basic functions for one car, but when I'm done, you might help me rigging cars - when you are able to do that. Otherwise - Materials, unwrapping and texturing would be really appreciated.

[Eudemon]

@Rassva That's looking real nice for a start. Was surprised to see all the lights working and the sunlight flowing across the bodywork, guessing this is because of the game engine you're using having a lot of this built in?

 

This is going to be fun to watch progress. :p

[TDUZoqqer]

Was surprised to see all the lights working and the sunlight flowing across the bodywork, guessing this is because of the game engine you're using having a lot of this built in?

 

We're lucky UE4 has some post processing activated by Default. on the flip side, it is the characteristic unreal engine graphics we are running at the Moment, unless I will Color grade it somewhen later (what most likely will happen any time soon), the graphics will tell later that it's unmistakeably running on UE.

 

The reflection is coming from the shaders UE4 offers with some tweaking I did, although many of the shaders are not final yet - car paint shaders are quite difficult to achive to look realistic - as an example how good car shaders look like, which I can't program yet:

 

 

My shaders are really caveman-style, whilest the example is in year 3017. I definitly Need to work on them a bit :) same with carbon fiber. Might not be visible in the example Videos, but on cars with bare carbon fiber pieces it will be really important. That has a lot to do with layer coats, anistropy and translucensy (it might Sound chinese to you guys - anistropy is the fake direction Switch on the surface like you can see on carbon fiber, translucensy is basically the transparency of the upper coat of the car paint, etc). We'll see. I Need to figure out those things, but it's more of a Detail Topic for later :) Unreal engine offers amazing automotive shaders on their market place, but - ugh. $15..

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, please Keep in mind - I'm not trying to make an AAA game. I could leave the shaders as they are, as they aren't really bad, but I think it's better to work on something when it's totaly realistic to improve when you dig in it a Little bit and not just giving up :)

*EDIT END

 

In the meanwhile, my Goal is to fix some minor things this week. Like, the caliper rotating together with the front wheels by turning (now it's static), physics tweaking (gear ratios and tire friction), camera Setups - at least the Switch between first Person and chase cam, and maybe bring HUD needles to work.

 

Still looking for someone who can draw me some UI design sketches, or any GUI sketches in General - for menues etc. Otherwise that will be the Topic for next week.

 

Greetings :)

[Eudemon]

Just keep doing as you do and new things will be learned and you'll be able to put new techniques into practice. Also, hopefully you will get more people onboard with the project who can help it grow.

[TDUZoqqer]

A proper non-poopy picture of the highly WIP interior.

[grandstand]

I am liking what is being said and shown here from you two about this. Good luck and I really like the idea of watching a project like this develop from its beginnings. :p

[Ryzza5]

If you want to email me some UI design requirements\desires I might be able draft up a few basic mockups.

[TDUZoqqer]

If you want to email me some UI design requirements\desires I might be able draft up a few basic mockups.

 

That would be really cool! Thanks a lot. I still have my [email protected] adress.

[TDUZoqqer]

:bump:

 

 

Just a short dashboard demo. Just got to setup the needles tomorrow and the dashboard is done. :) it has digital gear display, speed, clock, session- and lifetime mileage. Many warning/signal lamps are glowing aswell, like hazard, fog lights, indicators, high- and lowbeam, parking brake and low fuel level. Also gonna finish the base camera setup and set steering wheel movement, then I can go on to finetune the level. Working on the weather and stuff like that.

Also, mirrors are working great. Window wipers work like a charm, and car physics are slightly improved.

 

Apparently I had the Automotive materials pack from unreal purchased already, but it turned out they are way over the top for a (yet) so simple game like mine is. So I'll just gonna leave them like they are for now and work on them later somewhen.

 

By the way, there is a guy on youtube of the name Math B streaming vehicle scripting, shout out to him, as his tutorials are insane and helped me a lot with my project.

 

More pics and vids later this week :) Hopefully with basic UI then.

[Djey]

Best of luck with your project Zoqqer, I'd be glad to help, yet I've no time for this ...

 

However, if you need some tools/scripts or help with coding, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

And the most important thing is ... have fun and experiment! It always pays somehow :cool:

[TDUZoqqer]

Best of luck with your project Zoqqer, I'd be glad to help, yet I've no time for this ...

 

However, if you need some tools/scripts or help with coding, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

And the most important thing is ... have fun and experiment! It always pays somehow :cool:

 

Sounds cool, thanks for the offer! Although I don't quite know if and how UE4 can Support third-Party Tools just yet :mhmm:

 

Anyway, I adjusted some materials, animated the gauge needles and steering wheel yesterday, but all of the sudden screwed some things up and all Looks really bad right now. I'm gonna Need to fix it before I can Show some WIP vids here :) Might be a 3DS Max Export issue, so it might take a bit till I find out what it is. :bsad:

[Djey]

Sounds cool, thanks for the offer! Although I don't quite know if and how UE4 can Support third-Party Tools just yet :mhmm:

I don't know about UE4 engine mechanics still, just offering help to potentially get assets from other games (in respect to copyright, of course :D )

 

For my part, I will explore unity development in my spare time (would address wider range of devices, but with less advanced features than UE4, for sure !)

[TDUZoqqer]

I don't know about UE4 engine mechanics still, just offering help to potentially get assets from other games (in respect to copyright, of course :D )

 

Of course copyright, I always tag people :nods: I'm still looking for some garage assets. I modeled Garage Condo as the demo garage space ingame (This to be exact), but I suck at prop modding, not talking about that I don't even have time for it. So if anyone got an idea where to get some assets from - just bark! :)

 

EDIT: Oh, nevermind, the Google Sketchup warehouse models seem to be just what I am looking for for first :)

 

For my part, I will explore unity development in my spare time (would address wider range of devices, but with less advanced features than UE4, for sure !)

 

You most likely will find your way through Unity more than me. Also gave Unity a shot - even managed to make a veeeeeeeeery primitive racing game - but since it's only C++ and Java based -- and I don't know neither - I gave up really quick. Unreal might be less of a favorite for a car game, but for me it's easier. Everyone's own cup of tea tho :)

 

PS: I finally managed to un-screw up the game. Sat the whole afternoon, set everything back like it was, but gauge needles are still off.. Well, screw that. Gonna fix it later. Quick WIP update Vid tomorrow :)

[TDUZoqqer]

:bump:

 

I promised you a WIP video today - here it is!

 

Sorry that it's so dark, Krut decied to screw up the quality.

 

I didn't show some things, I realized later. Window wiper works, although it need some adjusting. Windows are about to work, but not yet. Gauge needles are obviously out of place, but they are technically working too, so it's fine for now. Also, I put some basic materials on the interior of Condo, although as you can see it's far from being done. Still requires a lot of modeling and texturing (and lighting, obviously). Camera's work "meh" too, need to fix it somewhen. Also the rear view mirrors are working, but are kinda glitchy, probably gotta hit up some guys from the Unreal Forum about it somewhen.

 

Sooo, yeah. That's the progress. Working on it 5-6 hours a day, result is quite nice if you think about that I didn't know any relevant information about programming a game about two weeks ago. :)

 

Let me know what you think. Criticism and suggestions welcome.

[Djey]

That's very nice features and great car choice to begin with :D

 

On the other hand, do you plan to show what is current state about physical engine ? (dampering, jumps, collisions, weight transfer, drifting ...) Having this large, flat playground makes it difficult to watch for vehicle behaviour.

[TDUZoqqer]

On the other hand, do you plan to show what is current state about physical engine ? (dampering, jumps, collisions, weight transfer, drifting ...) Having this large, flat playground makes it difficult to watch for vehicle behaviour.

 

:whistle: :run:

 

Yeah, I know the Level is not the very best to show-off the physics Situation, I am about to make some roads and stuff to have at least a Basic sense of Speed in the debug. Although the main physics isn't REALLY the top notch to show-off just yet. Yes, everything works in theory, but adjustmets is the key. Springs on cars like the Murciélago are very stiff so there is not much room for playarounds actually. Speed is nice, its capable of making real-world 325 km/ph and stuff. Unfortunately the engine works only with a torque curve, which is not really accurate, in Addition to that. had to Setup 400nm of torque at 0 rp/m to make the car at least hit 100 km/h in under 20 seconds (ugh). Maximum torque Output had to be set up to 800-ish so the Transmission could work with it. So yeah, not quite a sim.. Talking about Transmission - gear ratios in UE4 are the weirdest Thing ever. I think it's somewhere like that: 1-1.8, 2-1.6, 3-1.4 etc.. So also, not really what I was aiming for. Realistic numbers made the car slow AF. But AWD differential works like it should. That's something, I guess. :lol: Gonna Show a physics demo as soon as I have a debug Level.

[Speeder]

Does UE4's physics engine supports softbodies?

It could definitely improve physics realism (and also gives nice car damages, like BeamNG did).

 

Anyway good luck with your project, you seem to be already on a good path. :)

 

(btw imo you should reduce bloom intensity at night, or interpolate the camera exposure to avoid moon über-shininess :D)

[TDUZoqqer]

Does UE4's physics engine supports softbodies?

It could definitely improve physics realism (and also gives nice car damages, like BeamNG did).

 

Yeah it does for sure, personally not quite in the progress and level to try it out right now, I got to be honest :) Gonna give it a try later somewhen, when I'm a bit more into the engine.

 

E: UE scripters say Soft Bodies are not possible in UE. Idk. Don't need to try then. :cheeky:

 

(btw imo you should reduce bloom intensity at night, or interpolate the camera exposure to avoid moon über-shininess :D)

 

Ugh, yeah, post processing is still really basic and barely adjusted. Only disabled auto-exposure, as it was annoying as hell at night. Made the night brighter than the day :lol:

 

Thanks for the suggestions :)

[Darkboy]

It looks great right now :D I did a lot of modifications to the TDU (for your own use) but as you said too much in this game could not be changed ... I would like to help in making this new game but my experience with programming are weak :( In TDU I focused on creating new better quality textures, so programming unfortunately I do not know how it working. I keep fingers crossed for this project :happyspin:

 

PS:Sorry for my bad english but this is not my native language :sorry: