So I discovered that the frame had an instability issue due to triangles again. The right side and the rear of the frames were being deformed due to node collisions with triangles. I am using the HR welded front race config to test the stability of the standard frame since it is the most intense one that is controllable and since fixing the triangle issue, I shaved off 10 seconds on my time at Suzuka! The time is still a fair bit lower than before the tire changes, but it is significantly more stable up to 140 mph and requires very little fighting to stay in a straight line at higher speeds. If you notice a bit of shaking or a tendency to pull to the right, that would be due to the triangle collisions.
Post weekend update: I managed to fix one of the oldest issues with the kart, which is the way the wheels expand more on the outside than the inside. This was caused by my need to try to make the wheel hub nodes match the mesh rather than align with the rim of the wheels, which caused the wheel to twist and tighten the inside of the wheel and loosen the outside. Now that this is no longer an issue and that wheel stability is at expected levels, I can finally start narrowing down tire instability issues for real this time. I also tightened up the welded front arms a bit, which helped with some of the bounciness, redid the engine mounts on the v10, and added variable lift coefficients to the unrealistic wings. It feels good to work on a problem knowing that I am not just battling symptoms.
I have made a ton of progress with the kart tires and then realized that it's impossible to drive at night. so I made a headlight for the kart. It is a pigeon headlight, but mounted in a custom housing that is made to kind of look like the headlight housings you'd find on old-ish ATVs. This also made clear a few texture issues that only show up at night, which will be fixed with the next update as well. I am getting closer to being happy with the kart tires to the point of posting an update, but I am still working out a few bits here and there with the welded front configurations to make them more stable, fixing a few mesh issues, and tuning the rest of the on-road variants. After the next update, I want to start working on more cosmetic items. Such as body paneling, fenders, and possibly a roll cage.
Welp. I got the configs sorted and since it's the weekend, I started on the cosmetic bits. So far, I have a body kit based on the SBR, Dunekicker, and Hopper. Right now, the Hopper is the only one jbeamed, but the other two show up just fine. The jbeams for each are going to have to be custom due to combining several parts into one, the smaller size, the lighter material, and the custom connections to the frame. Each one has accommodations for the functional headlight since I intended the bodykits to be plastic shells like those you find on power wheels cars Below are screenshots of each as they are right now. SBR: It is fairly low and with smallish wheel wells, so it is only suited for configs with smaller wheels Dunekicker: Designed for the 750cc SC configs. The grill is missing so the functional headlight can shine through Hopper: A full rollcage (kind of) and wheel wells big enough for the biggest tires in this mod. The hole in the grill is for the headlight, the shell completely detaches, and is fully jbeamed.
Since a lot has been done, I figured I'd come in and provide an update as to the changes so far: I will be updating this post rather than making a new one when new changes are added. Frames: Fixed triangle collisions Removed rear triangles on the standard frame Disabled mesh breaking on the main frame meshes Wheels: Fixed strange expansion and twisting behavior Adjusted wheel node positions Changed wheel offsets Tires: Significantly improved stability of kart tires Added Hard, Medium, and Soft variants of the kart tires Hard and medium are going to take some tweaking, but they function about as I expected so far. Significantly improved bounciness and stability of the bubble tires Aero: Added downforce coefficient slider to the unrealistic wings Changed the angle of the wide front wing to match the mesh Engines: The engines for the raised axle no longer emit as many particles Changed positions of some nodes Created new engine sound for 750 and 1000cc engines Adjusted inertia of the 1000cc engine so it shouldn't die so easily under a sudden load Cleaned up sound files The non-cvt engines no longer sound like there are multiple when idling Reduced sound file lengths Lined up on/off sound files All of the above seems to have fixed the issue with the 1000cc engine sound getting mixed up Redid engine mount beam structure This was done in order to allow the rear subframe to break off without affecting the engine On the standard and raised axles, the engine now primarily connects to the axle beams Transmissions: The race CVT now has adjustable rpm targets and gear ratios. I might make the stiffness adjustable as well, but it seems to be fine for the engines that use it Exhaust Changed positions of nodes to better match the mesh on the sport and 250cc exhausts Intake The non-cvt intake has been separated from the engine mesh This is in preparation for something stupid I have planned Suspension: Added a front ride-height slider to the welded front suspension. Changed the beam structure of the welded front slightly Further tweaked the camber and caster precompression Dummy: Changed dummy model and jbeam structure to be based on the updated model from the maluch mod Changed dummy lean behavior to be based on lateral g's instead of steering input This is done via lua I am still new to lua, so expect behavior to improve with each update. This significantly improves stability during slides since the dummy will not lean to the outside of a slide when countersteering I may bring back the steering-based lean as an option if it is requested or if I find that the auto lean doesn't react right for non-sliding driving Other: Added Bodykits: Body kits are intended to be simple plastic shells, so head and taillights are cosmetic only SBR Fully Jbeamed The front hood also significantly changed to accommodate the new headlight Dunekicker Fully Jbeamed Hopper Fully Jbeamed The only one with a roof, which can help only in slow-speed rollovers The entire shell can break off during a crash. Added a front headlight Affects aerodynamics Can separate from the frame Tweaked configs to conform to new alignment changes. Changed center dummy model Updated brake mesh Updated standard rear axle mesh Set up breakgroups so the front wheels are no longer driven when the front subframe breaks off, but the engine does not break with a 4wd or AWD transfer case Tons of mesh improvements
I am getting close to finishing the next update. Hopefully, I will have enough time this weekend to iron it out for an early week release. TO DO: Redo new engine sound The original recordings got corrupted and they were peaking way too often anyway Fine-tune new dummy articulation (DONE-ish) Replace the existing offset dummy (DONE) Retune all configs (DONE) Test new tire values at all speeds (DONE) Do a final check on new and updated meshes. (DONE) Redo thumbnails for configs that have significantly changed since they were first made. (DONE) Fix up config names and descriptions (DONE)
I decided to make a major change to how the dummy leans. Instead of being based on input, the dummy now leans counter to the direction of lateral g-forces. With this change, the dummy will no longer lean to the outside of a slide when countersteering. This will probably take a lot of tinkering since it is lua based and I am new to lua coding. I have it functioning well enough for now, so it will be released in its current state with the next update. However, along with the rest of the kart, I will be working on tweaking the code to make it more customizable and predictable in future updates. This thankfully did not push back the release date since it was a fairly simple change, so I just need to get the tuning redone, some thumbnails redone, fix the new engine sound, and fix up config descriptions. Which I think I could have done by tomorrow night.
It was a good decision to change the dummy Jbeam, the old one didn't have a realistic weight distribution which was probably noticably messing with the handling
Yeah, this one has a noticeable effect on the handling beyond absorbing bumps. If you set the lean to be overly sensitive, you'll notice it will drag the kart the direction it's leaning. Thank you for putting it together and letting me know about it! --- Post updated --- The next update will be focused around the dummy. I want to get it to the point that the dummy appears to react realistically to g-forces, so to accomplish that, I will be spending the next bit tweaking the lua and also adding longitudinal reaction. The longitudinal reaction will keep the dummy from clipping through the seat as well as resist stopping forces. Of course, I will also be keeping an eye out for any bugs reported and get those patched asap. I will also be taking a closer look at the textures. Since I have made generalized textures, I will be going through and making sure that each mesh that uses them looks okay. I will also be revisiting the frame texture since it looks like the skin map is at a different resolution than the base texture.
Tonight, I will be posting an update to address the issue with the offset dummy breaking the lua. I forgot to add the longitudinal lean to the offset dummy. The update will also include a few updated textures and mesh additions/changes. The most noticeably changed texture will be the exhaust, which is a much less reflective material than before. Other texture changes include limiting or removing seams on the kart frame, of which there should be none! If you see any please let me know. Other than that, there have been a few tweaks here and there to the dummy articulation, but nothing that changes the overall performance of the kart as of yet. Here is a picture of the new exhaust texture. It is WIP, but it looks a lot better.
why do the front and back axles have different wheel sizes available --- Post updated --- also driving the one wheeler kinda makes me want a honda 3 wheeler in game for even more horrific deathtrap fun
Which sizes do you mean? I apologize, I haven't looked too closely at which are on the front or rear, just that they are stable. Some of them are holdovers from my mod for the traquer kart, though. The ones purpose made for this mod are: Front: 4x4 (only on front) 4x6 6x1 6x4 (only on front) 8x6 10x1 10x4 16x4 Rear: 4x6 6x1 8x6 10x1 10x4 16x4 The rest are either the leftovers from the tracqueur kart or ones that I forgot to delete.
Yeah, the 6x4 and 4x4 tires are normally too wimpy for the rear end. However, I might just add them to the rear in the next update.
I wasn't able to get everything upload-ready before too late last night. However, the update is currently pending approval. It adds a few WIP items as well as updated textures. Textures: Exhaust texture redone No longer super shiny I may add skins for the weathered/new paint There are still noticeable seams in the texture Frame texture redone The paint now much more closely matches the damage and is not pixellated There should be no visible seams The entire kart had been much more meticulously uv unwrapped There should no longer be any stretched-out textures Parts: Added a snorkel for the non-cvt engines For now only on the irs and standard axle At the time of the upload, I was only able to test the irs version fully Added a snorkel for the dummy It is found in Dummy > Head > Helmet
With the newest update uploaded, I figured I'd get together a changelog. This post will be updated as each change is made unless it gets buried. Old Parts: Frames Added mesh helper nodes to prevent the front of the center frame from distorting after a crash Exhaust Added more nodes to all exhausts to aid in proper deformation Adjusted node weight to maintain previous weight Aero Redid break groups and strengths of front and rear wings. The front wing should no longer spread into infinity Rear Suspension Independent Rear Changed mesh grouping for rear upper arms Added detachment to the rear subframe. One Wheel Redid torque coupling Added lateral limiters to prevent the arm from twisting Added suspension arm support to keep the arm in place if the coilovers break Doesn't quite work 100% yet Redid rear arm geometry Adjusted rear hub geometry Added vertical limiters to simulate the articulation limit of the drivetrain with the engine and is in addition to the coilover limiters, so removing coilovers will no longer break the articulation Adjusted suspension travel to match reality It is roughly 3 inches Front Suspension Adjusted standard coilovers to match newly found travel value Adjusted front limiters to match the new value This results in a lot more arm movement than the rear gets due to the geometry difference Engines Adjusted 150cc engine mounts Removed leaked breakgroups from all engines. Added roundness to the fins of the non-cvt engine mesh Dummy Tweaked conditions that cause the dummy to lean It now decides whether to lean based on whether one of the following is met: Steering input is greater than 0 and the lateral Gs are greater than 0.1 The kart is sliding sideways Changed head support beams to prevent it from getting stuck under normal rollovers Powertrain The front diff will no longer be powered if the rear breaks off. Seats Seats no longer clip through the floor Brakes Added animation to the brake lever New Parts: Frames: Added experimental long frames They have an adjustable seat position, but this interferes with the dummy's lean They significantly improve high-speed handling. Front Suspension Added a new set of handlebars. Accessed under "steering" in the parts menu Rear Suspension Added longer travel coilovers to the one wheel rear suspension Tires Front 18x8 Sand Runner Tires (modification of Meo's sand tires) 16x4 Street Scooter Tires 18x4 Street Scooter Tires 23x4 Street Motorcycle Tires Rear 22x11 Sand Paddle Tires (modification of Meo's sand tires) 16x4 Street Scooter Tires 18x4 Street Scooter Tires 23x4 Street Motorcycle Tires Body kits Added a new pigeon body kit for the one-wheel rear config Textures: Updated exhaust texture Updated floor texture Added skins for the rusty metal and exhaust textures to make them look new for the New Paint skin Added engine textures for the New Paint skin Changed reflectiveness of weathered paint New Parts (WIP) Spoiler Longer Frames Sand Tires Pigeon Body kit 18 and 16x4 Scooter Street Tires 23x4 Moto Street Tires New Textures (WIP) Spoiler
I figured I'd make a post to say what I need to get done before I upload the next update. The items listed above were either issues discovered during testing, old deformation issues, or things I thought would be fun or funny to work on. I am still working on fine-tuning the dummy reactions, but it is significantly better now. It still tries to lean when not sliding, which causes the dummy to push the kart side to side at high speeds when the tires become unstable. My plan to combat this is to add a parameter to have it check if it is sliding or if the lateral g's are greater than 0.1 with any steering input. My reasoning is that in general, you would not lean unless you are counteracting a slide or turning since you wouldn't be able to predict and react to sudden jostling. The other idea I have is to find a way to completely disable the hydros and only have those beams provide minor spring to hold the dummy upright unless either there is steering input or if the kart is sliding sideways, but I do not know if this is possible. The only big thing remaining before the next update is to add a jbeam structure to the new bodykit, which I should be able to complete fairly soon.
Okay, I have the update ready for upload! This one turned out to be much more intensive than I anticipated, but it does significantly increase the quality of the kart overall. It primarily focuses on the dummy leaning and the one-wheel rear configuration, although many of the improvements made to the one-wheel rear frame bled over to the rest. The remainder of the changes and additions were either long overdue fixes or items that were fun/funny to work on. This one will break any custom configs that use the dummy due to needing a CMU active at all times for the dummy to tell if it is sliding. It is as simple as adding one in the frame section of the parts list and if you change the frame, one will be added automatically. The one-wheel rear config was a setup I was avoiding working on for some time due to it being 100% custom and having little to no reference to work off of. However, the changes made with this update significantly improve the stability and handling of this configuration. Plus, the pigeon bodykit aids in preventing the inevitable rollover. One thing to point out about this configuration is that the front suspension is intentionally weak as the coilovers used were meant for a scooter that weighs roughly a third of the kart and they are situated in such a way that prevents them from utilizing all of their spring rate due to the extreme angle they are situated in. A full changelog is in the post two earlier from this. For the next update, I plan on overhauling the tire selection. The current naming convention and selection of tires for each rim are inconsistent and I would like to finally tackle getting them all standardized. Of course, this will not limit what I work on since any issues I find while testing the tires or just playing around will be addressed.
Quick nit pick that annoys me, why is this kart spawning in traffic a ton? Is there a way to lower the chances of it spawning when enabling traffic? It just looks weird when I’m playing on maps like River Highway and American Roads
The chance to spawn was actually set by the Info Generator mod and I didn't think it would set it quite that high. Now that I look at it, some of the configurations are more than 3x as likely to spawn as the base i4 Legran! Thank you for letting me know, I will add the changes to the update I am uploading tonight. If it still shows up too often, please let me know so I can lower it further if needed.
