Ranch

[Marv]

The Ranch



History



We started working on this track when R6 and URV visited me (Marv) in May 2016.Our plan was to create a track while the guys were over at my house so we started drawing a plan on a large sheet of paper.We started modeling immediately and shortly after, the base mesh was more or less done. Some additions like the canyon made it into the track a year later.



We started adding more and more details to the track and came up with more ideas as time went on. In late 2017 we found ourselves in a situation where we had a track with a great concept and track flow. Still, there were so many things that had to be worked on. We took it too far. An open track like this isnot an easy project. Despite all the difficulties and lack of motivation, we pushed through it and here we are now.



I developed a Blender add-on along the way which helped me to work out all the details and the lighting. Managing all the instance files, applying propertiesto all objects and making them look right would not have been possible otherwise. You can find the source code on my GitHub (maybe GitLab atsome point) profile: yethiel.



Thomas and I started a sprint in August 2018 to finally get the track done, mainly because another All's Fair competition was coming up and we showcased the track in the previous one already. So we thought it'd be nice to get it done by then. The version we played in AF 5 wasn't perfect but it had the reverse version set at night which Huki and I added extended features to RVGL for.



Thomas did a ton of MakeItGood work on his Thinkpad. The track ran at like 15 fps and I'm super thankful he's been putting up with such a big project. He did all the annoying stuff I never bothered to learn (and yet have to implement in my Blender add-on).

At some point the AI nodes wouldn't save anymore. Rather than doing them again from scratch, I just moved the church to the left side of the train station. It used to be right behind the saloon.

Even though I'm getting a bit anxious when I open the track file in Blender, I'm extremely proud of what we achieved.
I've always collaborated with Thomas when I made tracks (he always did the MIG stuff for me). This is our first true collaboration. You wouldn't believe how much working on this together connected us. Thanks Thomas for bearing with me when I was in a bad mood or hard to work with. It means a lot to me!

-Marv

---

Ranch.... A beautiful plan and a beautiful execution, hopefully you think the same. Back in 2011 I met Marv through Re-Volt Live or something - and we always had worked on smaller and bigger projects before - yet there was never one that we could consider finished! Ranch is our first work where we put blood, sweat and tears and we are absolutely satisfied with the result.



There were of course moments where we needed to support each other and I will never forget those moments, I think that is what made this project special. I must point out that Ranch was an open track, it was always designed to be. This track type does not suit Re-volt specifically - it is more suited for Red Dead Redemption or GTA. But we liked the challenge. This means everything had to be modeled and be taken care of - which took a lot of time, whereas the only downside is the amount of polygons has to be rendered in a view, which lowers your FPS. If there's something that Ranch has taught me - is that teamwork can totally push you through and real friendships can come into existence



Thank you for playing this track and reading this readme, I hope you will enjoy the experience we created for you!

-Thomas

---

Requirements

This track requires at least RVGL version 18.0731a.
You can get it from rvgl.re-volt.io.

Shaders needs to be enabled, otherwise the track will not look right.
Do so in rvgl.ini which can be found in the profiles folder: Shaders = 1


Features

• Reversed version set at night
  • Separate skybox, instances and .w
• Texture animation (river)
• Custom materials
• Custom water splash particles
• Custom moving objects (watermill, windmill)
• Custom sounds
  • Ambient
  • Skid sound on wood
• Custom loading screen
• Custom music
• 1023/1024 instances (the limit in RVGL was raised just for this track)

Collaborators

The amazing soundtrack is Odie's work.

Some models were contributed by the community:
Cacti: Tubers
Church: Mighty Cucumber
Shiplight: From RVGL by Allan

Thanks to all the people who tested the track and provided feedback!

You can read more about technical details in the track's readme file.

So here it is.


Download

Misc.

Alternate plant PRMs (uses pureblack instead of PNG alpha, better for old hardware)

[hide=Older versions and Changelog]

ranch_2019-01-18_1857.7z
Fixed properties.txt (black dust)

ranch_2018-08-27_1302
Fixed reposition bug (near canyon)
Improved AI nodes
Improved cam nodes
Added repos-triggers
Added cam shorten trigger at the waterfall
Fixed disappearing faces (rocks)

ranch_2018-08-22_0218
Added Saffron's challenge times

ranch_2018-08-22_0008
Initial release
[/hide]

Leave a review on RVZ: http://revoltzone.net/tracks/32494/Ranch

[Mace121]

I could make a Dukes of Hazzard reference right about now...

[Mace121]

I tested the track, and it still works on RVGL 18.720. It looks damn good, even with the lowest draw distance, I could still see some range. I liked the music, the scenery looks gorgeous, but many of the scenery collision is lacking (possibly the rushed finish). It's one of the best-looking tracks I've driven on this game. Nice work.

[Marv]

Glad you like it!

I tested the track, and it still works on RVGL 18.720 [...] the scenery collision is lacking

It's either because the instances didn't load in the reverse version (outdated version) or because we overlooked something.
Try updating and if that doesn't help, please tell us which parts are missing collision

[kiwi]

Ohhhh yes, it's out. Can't wait to have a closer look today in the evening.

I've found a "bug": In both versions (RVZ and Full), the loadlevel1.bmp and loadlevel2.bmp are wrong. In the reversed versions it's correct.

[607]

Turn on shaders? :o I've been wondering if I was ever going to do that. I might, now... it's a good time for it, shortly after the end of last season of my YouTube series.

[Marv]

Ohhhh yes, it's out. Can't wait to have a closer look today in the evening.

I've found a "bug": In both versions (RVZ and Full), the loadlevel1.bmp and loadlevel2.bmp are wrong. In the reversed versions it's correct.

How is it wrong? Normal and reversed are two different loading screens and they look alright to me.

Turn on shaders? I've been wondering if I was ever going to do that. I might, now... it's a good time for it, shortly after the end of last season of my YouTube series.

Hehe, I guess you're a bit late
If shaders are disabled, most plants, lights, particles and everything that's transparent disappears. It's also a good idea to turn them on performance-wise.

[kiwi]

Ohh...so it's really supposed to look like this (See below)? Feels a little bit strange, but if you want it to be that way, OK. Just thought, there would be much prettier landscapes or detail pictures (like you also using for loadscreen 3 and 4, for example). There's so much blue, that I thought it was a mistake, or a wrong crop

[Marv]

Hmm... I don't really get what you mean. There's text on the upper parts of the loading screen anyway so no space is wasted.

[kiwi]

OK...my fault...I thought loadingsceen1 to loadingscreen4 are 4 different loading screens. I didn't know, that this 4 pictures will be put together to one big picture in the end.

[607]

OK...my fault...I thought loadingsceen1 to loadingscreen4 are 4 different loading screens. I didn't know, that this 4 pictures will be put together to one big picture in the end.

Haha, that's amazing.

Hehe, I guess you're a bit late
If shaders are disabled, most plants, lights, particles and everything that's transparent disappears. It's also a good idea to turn them on performance-wise.

I might be, but I guess I was waiting on it becoming the default, and the remaining bugs (mainly concerning MAKEITGOOD edit modes, I believe) to be removed.

[Black-Revolt001]

Problem to correct at this place in reverse mode ... The car stops net at this place during a jump.

[Marv]

Problem to correct at this place in reverse mode ... The car stops net at this place during a jump.

You need to drive further on the right

[SebR]

found a bad repo under the floor in normal mode

[Black-Revolt001]

On the other hand, there is a problem of behavior of the vehicles, it turns too fast ...

[Pyves]

As mentioned above by SebR, I also encountered a repositioning bug, hopefully you'll be able to fix those!

Apart from that, amazing track, great job Marv and Thomas, you've obviously put a lot of hard work here. The visuals are really stunning and I like the music a lot as well. The overall atmosphere is great, the night mode in reverse is a brilliant idea. I don't yet come close to beating the AI cars at this point, but I'll definitely do some more practising! You've set the standard quite high, looking forward to seeing more high quality tracks built like this.

[Black-Revolt001]

It just misses the marking of the starting line

[Tavisco]

Oh man, such a nice level! It feels better than most (maybe all) stock levels, great work done here, really! It feels like it's pushing the game engine to it's limits, pretty awesome

[Marv]

Thanks for all the feedback!

found a bad repo under the floor in normal mode

fixed

On the other hand, there is a problem of behavior of the vehicles, it turns too fast ...

I can't see that

It just misses the marking of the starting line

I don't think that's necessary

---

We just pushed an update with the following fixes:

Fixed reposition bug (near canyon)
Improved AI nodes
Improved cam nodes
Added repos-triggers
Added cam shorten trigger at the waterfall
Fixed disappearing faces (rocks)

You can download it from the main post.

[Andor]

Hello everyone, today im here to talk about Ranch.
A track which got dubious amounts of praise when it came out.
But was it justified, or were masses just blinded by the eye-catchiness of the graphics and concept?

Let us dive in.



1. The Concept and History behind Ranch

The concept of ranch is very intriguing, i mean, who wouldnt want a wild west feeling track,
expanding from solely the ghost town to well, out into the desert?
Which admittedly gave way to more experimentation, and gave a larger sense of scale,
but ultimately ended up giving the player much more space to drive around than ever needed.

The story behind ranch is heartwarming and truly inspirational,
and it can be read through on:
viewtopic.php?f=11&p=1353
Today we are taking a look at the finished product.



2. The Graphics

The track got exceptional press on the graphics side,
which i completely agree with, as the creators went above and beyond
to make this track look as beautiful as it does.

With that being said, the graphics never really pop out of the dull,
orange-centered palette that they are generally centered around,
giving the track the proper, albeit boring wild western look.

If you look at a movie based on the wild west, you can clearly see that
all of the focus is usually centered around the action, and it doesnt
get lost in the details.
The point of western movies isnt the ghost town itself, but rather what
happens in said ghost town.

And i am in the unfortunate position to tell you there isnt really anything
going on in this ghost town, action-wise.
Graphics alone cannot make a track exciting to drive on,
there needs to be some meat behind all the skin.



3. The Raceline

The aforementioned Meat of the track.
The most important part of any kind of racetrack.

Frankly, the setpieces used in Ranch feel disjointed and forcefully connected,
often times with long stretches and annoying hairpins.
The track feels like it was made with the intention of it being an
open world map rather than a tightly designed racetrack.

This is obvious because the raceline is not coreographed or conveyed properly,
and it has to rely on the directional arrows the game gives you.
With no directional indication displayed on the raceline, i sometimes struggled
to find the proper way to go, and that should not be an issue.
Learning the track should not be a struggle.

Looking at the setpieces themselves i often feel like they use up way too much
space in exchange for very little function.
The pieces that would deserve more attention, like the saloon get 0.5 seconds of actual
screentime, while other more hollowed out areas like the train station get a lead up,
yet fall flat.

There are also many many empty straights used not only to connect pieces,
but on parts like the sawmill, where it really drives attention away from
the mill itself hence you dont have to do anything, you just drive past it,
and most of the time, your choice of path wont matter.


All in all, Ranch cant help but feel a little underwhelming
to be classified as an instant classic.
I give it a rating of 3.75 out of 5.

[Marv]

I give your review a rating of 3.75 out of 5

[hide=Mod note]
I merged your topic with the Ranch topic. Consider posting the review on RVZ instead.
[/hide]

[Stvictorar]

I guess this path is supposed to be invalid?

https://streamable.com/vpk4b

[Huki]

Ranch was updated to fix an incompatibility issue with the last RVGL release.
Consider re-downloading from the first post.

[Pyves]

I'm using the 23.1030 version of the game on Android, there seem to be some weird black smoke effects around all cars on this track: https://ibb.co/K5H7Z1X

[Huki]

I'm using the 23.1030 version of the game on Android, there seem to be some weird black smoke effects around all cars on this track: https://ibb.co/K5H7Z1X

It's possible that your version of Ranch is outdated. Can you try again with the latest version of the track from the first post? It should be this one: https://files.re-volt.io/projects/ranch/ranch_2019-01-18_1857.7z