#792 Multiplayer
In most other racing games, setting multiplayer game is trivial:
1/ choose multiplayer menu
2/ select splitscreen/local network/internet
If split-screen selected
3/player 1 choose his car
4/player 2 choose his car
5/select game mode
6/launch the race and everything is ok
In SD it is a mess
1/define human player 2
2/choose a race mode
3/choose configure and add player 2 in opponents
4/choose AI opponents
5/launch the race
6/ press "(" to split the screen !
7/ press TAB to select right screen (there is no visual feedback to see wich screen is selected"
8/ press F2 to choose a driver view !
9/ press page up/down to put the camera on the correct screen
Moreover, all these modifications will be saved, if next time you want to do a single player race you just have to change everything again !
+1 for these analyse
You missed the recognition that once set up, it will be OK for the next race session.
Re "7/ press TAB to select right screen (there is no visual feedback to see wich screen is selected"
There is a little green square in the bottom right of 'active screen'.
There is code which (attempts to) select the Human driver as the displayed one, this could be extended to automatically split the screen into the correct number of humans.
Does anyone race with multiple identical controllers (except me that is :-)), how would we be supposed to guess what axis/buttons did what?
We have to (should be) carefull that we don't "dumb down" the interface and break the complex/cockpit setups.
Welcome Menu
Single Player
Multi-player
Options
Credits
Quit
Welcome Menu > Single player
Mode 1 (ex. Practice)
Mode 2 (ex. Quick race)
Mode 3 .. (ex. Carreer)
Welcome Menu > Multi-player
Split-screen
Local network
Internet
Welcome Menu > Options
Controls
...
what is already in options
...
An idea of a more multiplayer friendly menu :
Welcome Menu > Controls
Player 1
Player 2
...
Player X (we have to choose a maximum number of players in split screen, 2 seems ok to me).
Welcome Menu > Controls > Player X
what is currently under "Configure player > Configure selected player's controls"
Bah... you typed quicker than me....
Do we need a 'quick multiplayer' wizard in the menus to get us this, but still allow us to hand specific a practice/race session?
For reference STK uses a schema where similar controllers have same configuration.
At the start of a multiplayer session everyone presses a button on their controller to enter the race and then selects their cars. The race master then selects track/laps/etc.
This might be sensible to defer a while, if we think a new menu system is coming soon...
Except if you want to do a single player game again you have to change things back and so on.
There is a little green square in the bottom right of 'active screen'.
Ok I missed it, but if you don't know it, you won't see it.
I don't understand the point here.
Does anyone race with multiple identical controllers (except me that is :-)), how would we be supposed to guess what axis/buttons did what?
We have to (should be) carefull that we don't "dumb down" the interface and break the complex/cockpit setups.
Sorry:)
I agree with that.
SVN version will do split screens up to 6 way; either 6 monitors (I wish I had this) or as 3x2 array.
If the 'Span Split' option is enabled it uses the 6x1 arrangement for a single view, thus allowing bezel compensation/etc.
I believe that we can have up to 16 active controllers, but each person may be using more than one (especially if cockpit setup).
Regarding controllers; mostly I think that multi-players will have a mixture of controllers and will want to do different functions with different buttons/axis. If they are set up before this is a non issue.
I don"t think that remake all menus for 2.1 was a good idea ... report Release will be too long.
Remake a new arrangement is a good idea for 2.2
Replying to rvlander:
That looks like a great layout. The Player controls always seemed difficult to get to for me.
+1
Code to assign screens to humans is here:
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/speed-dreams/browser/trunk/src/modules/graphic/ssggraph/grmain.cpp#L672
which is immediately overwritten by what's in the config files. We'd need to make a choice on whether to use config or suggested number of screens.
Originally posted by: in reply to:↑ 3;
tomlowshang
Replying to rvlander:
All of these could be multplayer, even practice. Technically, the non-practice modes are already multiplayer, if you accept the AI robots as players. The way I see it, I should be able to add (multiple split-screen) local players, remote players (if network race is configured), and (perhaps even remote) AI to any race mode. This is probably beyond the scope of this ticket. Sorry about that. :)
How is a "Local network" game different from an "Internet" game?
Replying to tomlowshang:
In theory, local network is able to manage robot (not work fine for the moment).
With internet game, because lags connections only humans can run.
After some discuss and and that I was looked how was the other games (commercial) many games used local network and internet game.
First I would like to correct some mistakes I made :
1 - 9/ press page up/down to put the camera on the correct screen, I meant car
2 - Welcome Menu > Controls is Welcome Menu > Options > Controls
I forgot to mention that after the multiplayer menu would come the race mode selection menu and the choose car selection menu.
As for adding several local players in a network game, well, is this very useful (it would be a "almost-if-not-unique" SD feature!)? If it is, this could probably be done deeper in the menus with Welcome Menu > Multi-player > Local Network >...> Add another local player or just like said simon just by anyone clicking on its controller.
All of this has to be thought further. I gave a raw solution which of course need to be refined.
But first we have to ensure : do you all think that local multi-player settings and controls configuration are real problems ?
r5167 fixes the selection to the correct number of split screens.
Related
Commit: [r5167]
Multiplayer isn't much fun while only one player can hear their engine. The fairest way to race is with no sound, as it's impossible (I find) to ignore the sound of one's opponents engine.
If something can be done to make both car sounds audible in a two player race (one on each channel, as has been suggested before, would be best), then by all means add the feature to the menu. Otherwise it may just lead to disappointment and feature requests.
If it becomes possible to provide an individual stereo pair for each of up to six players (sound cards with ten outputs are available), then SD may well become very popular for local multi player racing.
The sound situation for multiplayer was discussed in detail:
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/speed-dreams/ticket/155
Without the user having multiple OpenAL backends this is not possible, as we're placing mono sounds in a 3D sound stage. Each multiplayer would require their own 'sound stage' to work with, and then we're getting into a system which might as well be a network race.
We should be careful we don't break the posibility of advance sound stages (ie. 5.1 audio output) or 'butt kicker' type 2nd audio channel.
Thanks for that Simon. Do you think it's worth featuring MultiPlayer mode in the main menu as suggested, while the sound limitation exists? I think if it's prominently featured, as is, anyone trying it will ask the same question.
If they ask the question... they might just go ahead and fix it. Splitting this off as seperate request:
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/speed-dreams/ticket/795
Given the discussions about pushing a new release in the near future, we'll have a while before the menu changes can be implemented.
Diff: