News and Updates on the Rigs of Rods truck simulator, based on an advanced soft-body physics engine.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

RoR 0.28 is flying

The much awaited 0.28 is ready for download.
It includes a flyable Antonov 12. The flight physics I used are state of the art in flight simulation (better than Microsoft Flight Simulator, and almost similar to X-Plane, which I highly recommend).
  • Flying forces (lift, drag and moment) are computed for each wing segments according to actual airfoil characteristics measured in wind tunnels. The interaction of these forces and the aircraft frame determine the aircraft trajectory and attitude. There are no cheating, no cooking, only decentralized aerodynamics!
  • Prop wash (the effect of accelerated air behind props on wings) is taken into account.
  • Induced drag accross full wingspans is taken into account.
  • Accurate simulation of variable pitch, constant speed turboprops.
There are still more aerodynamic features to add and enhance (like accurate fuselage drag), but this is a good start.

From the readme:
main commands are indicated on the dashboard.
Engine start/stop: click on the "ON" buttons
PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN: throtle
R: Toggle reverse thrust (there is a bug that makes reverse disengagement difficult)
UP/DOWN, LEFT/RIGHT: control aircraft (available only in keyboard only mode)
Z/X: control rudder
1: Flaps up (1 notch)
2: Flaps down (1 notch)
I: reinitialize airplane position
B: brakes
P: parking brakes
F1/F2: close/open cargo bay
O: secure cargo

Operation of the airplane: see any good flying manual.
Flaps should be put a bit down for takeoff and even more on landings.
The plane has a weird behaviour at low power settings, so be prepared, and do not fully retard throtles until on the ground.
The key for successfull landings is stabilized approaches. The key for successfull landings is stabilized approaches.
Cargo loading: only the Tatra can fit in the cargo hold. It must be parked at the back of the hold and secured there (O).
Do not park the truck at the front end of the hold or you'll have a wrong center of gravity and crash at the end of the runway.

Beware: the game will crash if you select the Airplane in the "Rig a Deal" shop.
The terrain is a bit small for this plane, so be prepared to turn a lot around. The hard stuff is to land properly. The key for successfull landings is stabilized approaches. So align with the runway far enough, and avoid banzaï-style landings. The simulation is accurate (read: hard), the plane is a bit underpowered (I suspect due to an excessive computed fuse drag), so be cautious: this is always a good suggestion when flying!

Also, the airplane hits a bit hard the performances, so I hope it will be okay for most of you. I'll try to optimize. You may also expect a program crash when crashing the plane too hard. What did you expect? ;-)

Also in this release, a superb Volvo FL6 from Aimee Walton, some bug fixes, but no progress on the editor.

Enjoy, and good flight!

41 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

HAha, i got This Before you even changed your home page :)

27/8/06 20:10

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really appreciate it Pricorde. Uploading to a few diffrent mirrors now.

So whats next in this little adventure? a boeing 747 maybe? :D

27/8/06 20:30

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, i nearly Forgot 8( IT ROCK!!!

27/8/06 20:31

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

very good

27/8/06 21:19

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Big thanks!

27/8/06 21:23

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Only one word : AWESOME :D

27/8/06 22:24

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

747? Why think so small? A380! Would definitely need bigger terrains then though :D

27/8/06 22:27

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

*drool* and a moller sky car... with propellers ... ;) *droolevenmore*

27/8/06 22:36

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Only bugs I've noticed so far are with my own Volvo ... ooops! :D

The full length dashboard is too long for it and stick out through the doors, and the mirrors are still adjusted for driving from the right hand seat. Also the badge in the left corner of the windscreen is really annoying when driving from that side :D

27/8/06 22:56

 
Blogger pricorde said...

What's next? I would be tempted by a helo, and some heavy roping action... I would do the giant Mil MI26 of course... max payload: 20 tons.
One problem is that a well simulated helo is very hard to pilot: you need 4 control axis, and a very good visual feedback.
But I won't rush for this one, I have to finish a bit the An-12 first.

27/8/06 23:05

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If I was a programmer in your position Pricorde, I would do a little bug fixing and optimize things a bit before it gets messy.

1 bug to fix would be to sort the problem of when you put 1 create on top of the other, the top one will fall into it.

That is also the same with any truck/trailer you put a box on, it jumps into it.

And maybe make the maps tileable, so when you go off one, you go to the top of it again :D

27/8/06 23:45

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was playing around with crashing the plane, and I noticed something. If I crash the plane straight down into the terrain so it flattens completely and every part stops, the game keeps running, but if I crash so one wing gets ripped off and the rest of the plane keeps moving, the game crashes before anything happens to the rest of the plane. This makes me think that the game-crashing-when-plane-crashes-really-hard thing has something to do with the aerodynamics. It's just a guess, but I hope it helps.

Keep up the awesome work!

28/8/06 00:37

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was flying, lost altitude, clipped a building and broke an engine, and it slowed the game down a LOT.

28/8/06 04:44

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

keep up the good work very happy whit the plane hopefully we soon get a new map whit a bigger airport and maybe whit light beside just as fight silumator :D:D

28/8/06 10:00

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great job pricorde, but the front wheel on the plane is very easily broken, and it should turn with the rudder instead of the ailerons.
Otherwise nice work.

28/8/06 15:02

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great game. I love it. But instead of improving the vehicles/creating new ones, I think the next version should be all about bug fixing. One of the most annoying things are vehicles falling through each other during transport.

30/8/06 08:22

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the rudder controls are backwards.

31/8/06 02:04

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

on the tandem-trailer you must work.. i cant lock it correctly on the truck :)

31/8/06 18:11

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great work man! I really enjoy the plane and the Volvo FL6. And the plane handles very well!

But i have to say i like Rig of Rods for the Trucks. Not the planes. So i have a request. :D

I would like a Volvo or Scania with a (dont know the name) trailer. A trailer with 4 axles. 2 front and 2 rear.

Like these: http://www.translink.se/produkter.asp

31/8/06 21:55

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I noticed a little weird bug, When the wheel on the airplane broke and engines were on the plane wasn't sliding on a runway. When i drove next to it with the truck that pulls other cars the plane started to roll forward. When i got out of the truck the plane stoped. It kept doing that all the time.
Great sim btw. :)

THanks

1/9/06 23:12

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey pricord, i made a forum http://rortruckmod.proboards106.com/index.cgi can you put it with your links?

2/9/06 02:58

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another thing that I'd like is better sound. I just love the sound of a Scania V8 (and I know all you dutch people totally agree) =)

Is it possible to sample sound from real trucks and put it in the game?

2/9/06 17:59

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I took my forum down

2/9/06 19:58

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

so never mind

2/9/06 19:59

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

4/9/06 01:06

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

4/9/06 01:25

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello, I write to you to thank you for making a bus not articulated for the following edition of the game.

You are an artist, already only it is necessary if there could be opened he and to close the doors (it is an idea).

Thank you again!!!

Sorry for my bad english...

4/9/06 14:10

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi,
i love the game!!i can fly the plane, but deffently can't land it! :p
too bad the map is so small, but i kno ur working on that ;). the normal brakes on the plane dont work well, i allways use handbrake,instead of taxi'ing i sometimes just drive,but cant brake :(.i'm going to begin and make my own road to make my "trucking company" more company-ish :D
anyways, keep up the great work!!!!!

4/9/06 19:18

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Any word about a possible future port to other operating systems like linux or MacOSX, the graphic part shouldn't be a problem since it uses OGRE.

4/9/06 19:47

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it would be extremely hard :( those are discsions you have to make in the begenning. thats why im learning java (yay!) It works on any platform. even cell phones(aint tecnology great?)

4/9/06 19:55

 
Blogger pricorde said...

Porting toward linux or MacOSX is possible thanks to Ogre, but I can't handle it myself. I would require a highly skilled developer, which I can trust.

4/9/06 21:00

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

cool.

7/9/06 02:22

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

could u make the dours work on the bus

11/9/06 17:00

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

its possible, but harder than you think.

11/9/06 18:04

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that crane is just awasome!!! it's one of the other things that makes ROR the greates thing ever.:D

a question?

a real driveable cranes had 4 or 5 telescopic booms in the main boom. is it possible to make that? maybe you could use the F3-4 and F5-6 for it. two telescopic part per F section (3-4,5-6 etc.)

11/9/06 23:28

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, crane is great! Cant wait to test it! Also the police car is very interesting, i hope you do new engine sound for him :)

Regards!

11/9/06 23:42

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

police car?!?!?!?!?!?

12/9/06 00:20

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks great, but unfortunately it crashes on my computer.

It appears to be a bug in wrap_oal.dll (I assume this is related to the OpenAL implementation, right?).

AppName: ror.exe
ModName: wrap_oal.dll
Offset: 0002af8b

Exception Information
Code: 0xc0000094 Flags: 0x00000000
Record: 0x0000000000000000 Address: 0x000000000d96af8b


RoR-0.27 seems to live longer than 0.28 before crashing like this.

14/9/06 00:38

 
Blogger pricorde said...

wrap_oal.dll is indeed OpenAL-related, so its sound-related.
I experience lots of strange problems with OpenAL with my soundcard hardware (an integrated soundcard)... All I can suggest is to try to switch the hardware/software sound setting.
Having a lot of trucks loaded at the same time may be also a factor.

16/9/06 17:53

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

those pics r getting sooooo interresting!!!

19/9/06 15:45

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

how about a fire engine? :D with working sirens and Radio:D should like that:D

11/10/06 20:03

 

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