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Versions of SimCar which save replays in files Downloads & some details
With the version of SimCar available below the replays can be saved in files. A replay consists in the positions and rotation matrices of the moving objects which compose the vehicle, saved ~20 times/second.
MD5: 5acc2f431a2c15a281b619b6d3c98de3
With the second version the replays can also be saved in files, but a replay consists in the input controls used while driving. When watching a replay, the simulation runs ~exactly as when playing. For this to work, the framerate was locked at 32 frames/second and the input controls are saved at each frame.
MD5: 10dabb6b2afab85984322deddf6dbdbf
With this method the replay files will only have a few kB each, but one problem is that the simulation is not guaranteed to run correctly, especially with car 1, which has the stiffest suspensions, although as can be seen in the video below, it does work sometimes. The physics calculations are performed with floating point numbers and when running 2000 simulation steps/second some errors will accumulate, although the floating point numbers used in this version were set to double precision (i.e. double instead of float). The saved replays with cars 2, 3 and 4 should usually work properly on your computer, but if you recompile the game to generate a different executable file, some problems will occur with your already saved replays. I included 2 replays saved by me, which should work properly if you watch them with the compiled versions provided here, details inside. In the game Stunts from 1990 the replays are saved the same way as in this version, but some people have worked to convert the replay files
saved by the game into files which somewhat resemble those saved by the first
version, above.
I've been working on a project to create a bridge between
ReplDump
,
which extracts detailed information from replays, and
R5E, my graphics engine.
[...]
Anyway, the Painter's Algorithm sucks. It appears simpler and faster, but you have to do lots of
things to make it look decent because deep inside, it really never is. It is very tempting to
just completely switch to a Z-buffer-based engine core, but I guess that's for later.
The following video shows 2 replays recorded by me with the second version.
About races
The game Stunts from 1990 has an option in the menu called Opponents, through which a car controlled by the computer can be added to the landscape while playing. This feature is to be appreciated for a 3D game made in 1990, especially considering that SimCar doesn't have it. Some newer games do, such as TORCS
,
but without the stunts:TORCS (The Open Racing Car Simulator) is a driving simulator. [...] TORCS was built with the goal of developing Artificial Intelligence for vehicular control and has been used extensively by the machine learning community ever since its inception.
Other games don't, but some people are interested
in developing programs which drive the cars in those games automatically.
After making many small adjustments in his code, the bot stopped hitting
the walls
[...]
"In practice, it's been a real nightmare to get this thing working properly,"
Finally, after three years, the AI-trained bot became unbeatable.
.
Semai children are never punished or forced against their will. If
a parent asks a child to do something and the child says "I don't want to," the matter
is ended.
[...]
The games Semai children play are non-competitive. [...] Modern games are also
played but with significant modifications. A game of badminton for example uses
no partition nets and keeps no score.
:
Founded in 2001, ZakStunts is the longest running Stunts competition. It's all about freedom and fun: you can race with any car, and all tricks and shortcuts are allowed.
Those competitions generally consist in people recording replays in files, with Stunts (1990), then comparing the replays, usually based on the time recorded by the game when the driving is finished, and then declaring some winner(s). As can be observed, the text quoted above is self-contradictory. It says freedom and fun: you can race with any car, which means we give you freedom, so you can do exactly as we say.