Hello LFS mods users.
We have allowed through review a few "track mods" which use an "object" mod to represent the scenery of a track.
A small central physics object (LOD2 or LOD3) is created and sits on the ground, while LOD1 represents the scenery. There was a problem with the scenery disappearing if the viewpoint was too far from the origin.
Mod creators were able to get around this by using a hacked LOD distance, but we don't want to allow such hacks. It's better to release a fix for the issue.
At the same time, I had a note on my list for the development version about a bad calculation for the view radius of some mod vehicles with subobjects (that has become a problem since the addition of moving subobjects).
Two of these track mods have been waiting to be published and it seemed a good idea to help them and solve the view radius problem at the same time.
Now, the distance from an object is calculated as the distance from the object's bounding sphere instead of the distance from the object centre, which solves the problem. It is impossible for a lower LOD to be selected if you are within the bounding sphere of LOD1.
If you would like to join a server that has a track mod, you should use the new test patch 0.7F7 (or later) available in the test patch forum:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/110607
If you are developing a track mod you should use the new editor test patch 0.7F7 available in the mods forum:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/111321
Future development possibilities:
The track mod support is not very good at this time. It is a bit obscure as a player needs to "drive" the track mod and it has to enter as a physics object and settle on the ground. Our mods system was obviously designed for vehicles only. It would be nice to properly support such objects in the future, for example:
1) A new object type "solid" or "track" which does not enter physics at all and cannot move
2) Increased number of collision triangles for unmovable objects
3) Place a track mod as a layout object instead of using a player slot and start position
Examples (1) and (2) look quite easy to add (in an incompatible version) while (3) is a lot more complicated.
There is no time to develop such features at the moment. I am just pointing out that there is a possible future for track mods that goes beyond this current minor improvement. Track mods might not have to be a whole track but could be a bridge, a podium, or some other type of stationary object.
We have allowed through review a few "track mods" which use an "object" mod to represent the scenery of a track.
A small central physics object (LOD2 or LOD3) is created and sits on the ground, while LOD1 represents the scenery. There was a problem with the scenery disappearing if the viewpoint was too far from the origin.
Mod creators were able to get around this by using a hacked LOD distance, but we don't want to allow such hacks. It's better to release a fix for the issue.
At the same time, I had a note on my list for the development version about a bad calculation for the view radius of some mod vehicles with subobjects (that has become a problem since the addition of moving subobjects).
Two of these track mods have been waiting to be published and it seemed a good idea to help them and solve the view radius problem at the same time.
Now, the distance from an object is calculated as the distance from the object's bounding sphere instead of the distance from the object centre, which solves the problem. It is impossible for a lower LOD to be selected if you are within the bounding sphere of LOD1.
If you would like to join a server that has a track mod, you should use the new test patch 0.7F7 (or later) available in the test patch forum:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/110607
If you are developing a track mod you should use the new editor test patch 0.7F7 available in the mods forum:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/111321
Future development possibilities:
The track mod support is not very good at this time. It is a bit obscure as a player needs to "drive" the track mod and it has to enter as a physics object and settle on the ground. Our mods system was obviously designed for vehicles only. It would be nice to properly support such objects in the future, for example:
1) A new object type "solid" or "track" which does not enter physics at all and cannot move
2) Increased number of collision triangles for unmovable objects
3) Place a track mod as a layout object instead of using a player slot and start position
Examples (1) and (2) look quite easy to add (in an incompatible version) while (3) is a lot more complicated.
There is no time to develop such features at the moment. I am just pointing out that there is a possible future for track mods that goes beyond this current minor improvement. Track mods might not have to be a whole track but could be a bridge, a podium, or some other type of stationary object.