These are delayed news, in fact
everything has happened on 22 Oct, but Internet is so slow recently ;-)
KaM Editor has got one new magic ability (apart from
freezing on old PCs and randomly crashing on new ones, *jk). Magic Water
allows to align waterflow on all interconnected water tiles. Yay!
New version is available in KaM section (see map
editor).
MTKit 2.3.6
25.10.2010
New version includes faster MOX
loading, adds association of MOX files with the tool and has renamed
AFC11 light entry.
Newer news for KaM fans
03.09.2010
Updated and bugfixed version of KaM
Remake executable uploaded to
Google.code
page.
Older news
31.08.2010
Time for some older news I forgot to post about
- KaM Editor was upgraded to version 0.6c, which includes improved Windows
themes support and removed password protection from MAP files.
Where to download it?
Here,
the place where all newest KaM tools and KaM Remake updates are.
KaM Remake Fighting Demo
13.08.2010
Fourth KaM Remake Demo is ready. This demo includes several big features
most important of which - melee fighting! Other features are - improved
stability and performance, TSK and TPR campaign screens, replay
function, built-in map editor beta.
Forum discussion where you can get more info on status and ask your
questions.
Open-sourcing in progress...
02.02.2010
Fresh updates in WR-Toolkit (http://code.google.com/p/wr-toolkit/) are:
- EditCar tool (without password protection any more);
- Mercedes-Benz World Racing Manager;
- World Racing 2 Manager;
- Alarm For Cobra 11 Nitro Manger;
- Alarm For Cobra 11 Crash Time Manger;
- Alarm For Cobra 11 Burning Wheels Manger;
- Ferrari Virtual Race Manger;
- Alarm For Cobra 11 Highway Nights Manger (yet not working well);
- World Racing 2 Mission Maker tool.
Which means that by now WR Toolkit has 11 tools ready
for exploring. If anyone wishes to join development - please read last
pages of
this
games.reveur.de forum topic.
You can browse the source and download it with a program like
TortoiseSVN (but only registered people can make changes). Atm I'm
converting it to be Lazarus compatible, so that anyone can edit it
without need of expensive Delphi IDE
KaM Remake SVN site revealed
06.01.2010
Here's the link to the code of KaM Remake we are running together with Lewin.
It has been public since creation but we never told anybody the link
yet, until now!
You can browse the source and download it with a program like TortoiseSVN (but only registered people can make changes). There is an
Issue tracker page that is pretty much unused and the Changes page where you can see what
is being added and/or improved. Currently there are only a few more things to be done before the next demo, hopefully it
will be ready some time this month.
I did a quick test to open Highway Nights Demo models and it worked out
good enough. I didn't tried re-saving them yet. If anyone founds what
this "New" Light means - drop me an e-mail. Also bug-reports are
welcome, but bear in mind that I have limited free time for coding now.
P.S. Along that MTKit2 will have one nice feature from STKit2 -
color-boxes in lights and materials lists. It's a kind of a bonus.
There are updates in WR2 Maps
section, along with better layout there are 2 new maps available for
download - first one shows Landstr scenery (which was converted from
AFC11N long time ago) and other is SCGT Chatham which will be released
in few days.
On the other side
there are updates in Editing Tools section as well. STKit234 got
maintenance release and PTXTool2.1b has few bugs fixed :)
You can see some Chatham screens and discuss it in
forum thread.
WR2 Manager maintenance
21.04.2009
This is a maintenance release of WR2
Manager. There's only one notable new feature - now when you click on car
in car list you can see it's Race Class and thus if you are a modder you
can make your car to compete in the same class as other car. Still you
can't change the race class of that car, for this would bring MP issues.
P.S. Following tools have got
maintenance releases as well: FVR Manager, AFC11BW Manager, PTXTool.
STKit 2.3.4 finally
20.04.2009
Finally it's released!
It spent too much time on my HDD without any movement, in fact I haven't
added anything since few months. So I thought I wrap it good enough and
release 'as is'. If there are any bugs I could fix them later on.
So, what's new in this long awaited version?
- Added ability to open AFC11/FVR sceneries, though
use save function on your own risk, I didn't tested it at all!
- Added TRK generation! Now you can make tracks from scratch right in
STKit2
- Added warning for missing textures
- Added highlight for copy/paste properties
- Added option to choose top-down render resolution
- Added "Cast no shadow" to material properties (that's useful for
polygonal road lines in e.g. Rocky Pass)
- Added direction arrows to some triggers
- Various improvements
- Optimized LWO import, now it works good for sceneries upto ~1m polys
- Same optimization improves scenery fps performance in-game by ~15%
There's a new section added into Knights&Merchants area - Tips&Tricks.
There I put useful info on playing the game.
On a side note: KaM Editor v0.6 released.
Ferrari Virtual Race & new add-on manager
03.04.2009
Several days ago Ferrari has released new game created by Synetic - called "Ferrari Virtual
Race". The game is based on AFC11BW engine and looks much the same, but
features real-life Ferraris plus Mugello race track and, most important,
is available for free download! (Link,
you'll need to register before download)
What this has to do with my site? Well that's an easy
one - I'm making
add-on manager to allow to install new cars in the game. Hope to release
it in few days.
EDIT 04.04: Ferrari Virtual Race add-on car manager
is released and to be found in WR
Editing section
PTXTool 2.1 brings new controls
20.02.2009
PTXTool new version is available. Apart from speed fix for TGA export
there are some new controls I shall introduce now.
- First thing is support for non-PowerOfTwo images. PTXTool
appeared to be quite handy tool for creation/combining color images with
alphas into composite 32bit TGA images. Since now you can enable non-POT
support and work with images of any sizes no problem (e.g. 672x923).
This feature won't work for WR2 or other games, those usually need POT
textures.
- There's also
two color-picker buttons. First one (marked A) will create an alpha from
color you pick on RGB image. Second one will replace color you choose
with average color from the rest of the image. Both options are pretty
useful for color-key transparency textures where's transparency marked
as purple color. First to convert purple to alpha, second - to remove
purple borders along alpha edge in game.
EDIT: 2 bugs related to nonPOT images are fixed.
Since they are both minor PTXTool version didn't changed, it's still
2.1.
Video of KaM Remake
09.02.2009
Made a huge contribution to KaM Remake in past several days, almost 50kb
of coding (total of 320kb now, but still behind my biggest project -
STKit2).
So what's new?
- Static path finding A*, it doesn't includes unit-unit interactions yet.
- More work on FrontEnd / GUI, more buttons, more info on pages, almost
everything is rigged to gameplay (with exception of Ratios, Army
command, Save/Load/Music). Production orders, Store stats, etc.. Even
brightness control is working
- House building misses request for building materials, else is complete.
Laborers do build it and house gets built, just like in KaM.
- Delivery system includes bidding now. Serfs will prefer one deliveries
over others.
- Render system reworked to sort all objects, now units go behind and in
front of houses correct.
- Lots of refactoring and minor improvements on old code, more flexibility
(e.g. foreseeing new house types and walls)
Now to something really interesting - a video!
P.S. All graphic elements are made by KaM developers.
Better news
30.01.2009
STKit2.3.4 is coming along and it
will have a lot of nice features:
- Added warning for missing textures
- Added highlight for copy/paste properties
- Added option to choose top-down render resolution
- Added "Cast no shadow" to material properties
- Added direction arrows to some triggers
- Various minor improvements
- Optimized LWO import, now it works good for sceneries upto ~1m polys
- Same optimization improves scenery fps performance ingame by ~15%
... and something completely different - direct
import for SportsCarGT tracks (I wonder if anyone played SCGT though)
EDIT: STKit2.3.4 will also have built-in track maker
tool, thus allowing track TRK files creation from scratch. Already
tested with SCGT tracks and works good. The little wireframe area is my
experiment with multiple render frames.
Playing with AFC11 Burning Wheels
26.12.2008
Today I've got long awaited AFC11BW
DVD and immediately started writing AFC11BW Manager to install add-on
cars. Manager is done and you can download it. Sadly it can install only
BW models, WR2 models don't show up in game for some reason, looks like
they need some special tweak just like with AFC11CT. I yet didn't
figured out how to.
Notes:
- Addon cars go into "..\Your AFC11BW Folder\Autos\" folder
KaM Remake advance
25.12.2008
I've switched from ingame logic programming to user interface coding. So far so good, I'm very happy about how smooth it goes.
Had to develop own TKMControls, TKMButtons and etc.. All rendered in OpenGL (meaning fast and smooth).
With good luck tomorrow I hopefully get rid of Windows controls in KaM Remake frame.
Special thanks to Nick from
CJB forum, who helped me with KaM
reference screens!
KaM Editor has been updated to v0.5h.
New version includes several minor bugfixes and improvements, but most
important - it writes proper lighting values for multi-player maps.
Thanks to Nick and Lewin who pointed out the source
of lighting bug.
Kasulke has wrote tutorial which shows how to convert WR2
addon cars to
AFC11CT in just 14 simple steps. With his kind permission I host it on
my site.
See it in WR
Tutorials section.
P.S. Who knows ... maybe there will be such tutorial
for WR2>AFC11BW soon ;-)
Tools news
03.12.2008
WR2 Manager 0.3h - Fixed bug in addon mission installation.
STkit2.3.3 - improved LWO import and fixed few bugs.
Download from WR
Editing section.
STKit232
26.11.2008
- Added
preliminary live sound playback (activated in Sounds tab)
-
Improved OpenGL preview
-
Minor improvements in UI
-
Fixed bug when choosing grass MaterialMode with OpenGL render
-
Fixed bug with overbright objects preview
-
Bugfix in shadow tracing for big sceneries
-
More bugfixes
You
can download STKit2.3.2 and other WR2 tools from WR
Editing section.
AFC11 Burning Wheels (aka Crash Time 2) news
09.11.2008
Synetic has released demo of their next AFC11 game
called AFC11 Burning Wheels (also known as Crash Time 2).
You can get it from here:
Mirror1;
Mirror2;
Mirror3.
As for my input - I've partially decoded few scenery
files and made screenshot from above of the Stadt map, click on image to
see full-size version.
KaM Remake progress
04.11.2008
Been working on internal logic and optimizing memory usage. Slowly moving
towards 1st milestone - simple village functionality.
Forum discussion where you can get more info on status and ask your
questions.
WR2 Mission maker tool
19.10.2008
Beta is out. What's new - random mission maker. Create a mission with 6
random tracks, ideal for racing on Sunday evenings :-)
You
can download Mission Maker Beta and other WR2 tools from WR
Editing section.
Contest!
23.09.2008
I want to announce a contest for
everyone reading my site.
As
some of you might know I'm into writing my very own game - it's a jigsaw
puzzle. It's a Windows game (who would expect else) using good old
OpenGL, so it should work on almost any PC. Its Beta is near completion,
game is functional, but lacks content. So I'm looking for pictures
suitable for puzzle game. This contest would be especially interesting
for photographers and artists. Here are picture requirements and rules:
- Pics should be suitable for puzzle game (detailed,
different colors/factures, etc..)
- High-res images required, at least 2048x1536px
- All submitted pics are judged by me (Krom) and can be used in my
freeware game, no charges
- If you agree with these rules, sent pics to my e-mail address -
kromster80 (is at) gmail (dott) com
Since the game is planned to be freeware I can't
offer any real prizes or cash to the winners. Still I can offer your
pics distributed with my game with all credits and additional info you
like (e.g. links to your site), also I can offer beta version for
testing and play before it's release. And those of you who visit Moscow
can count on free beer from me ;-) Other suggestions and ideas are
welcome as well.
P.S. As you see there are 3 pics already, one by me
and two by Bigburman.
News about no news
23.09.2008
Since 8th of September I resumed my study, have found good part-time job
and have few other things running in my life. This means now on news and
updates won't flow as steady as before. In fact I have very little free
time left for anything PC-wise.
MTKit2 again
04.09.2008
There was a bug in "Save COB" function which made result COB files crash
WR2 in older version, so here comes v2.3.4. There are no changes apart
from this bugfix.
As usual you
can download MTKit2 and all other WR2 tools from WR
Editing section.
MTKit2
27.08.2008
New 2.3.3 version offers improvements in workflow for everyone using LWO
import. Now it supports quads. There are some improvements for AFC11
modders as well.
New Rims
18.08.2008
Out of nowhere I had this idea to
make and complete something really fast from scratch. I mean there are
too many projects running on and on, paused and resumed endlessly. I
didn't modeled for a while now, so it's good to recall some skills. So I
did new rims for WR2 in ~2 hours. Result is in WR2 cars section.
MTKit2 is getting few bugfixes and OBJ import in next
release, probably this week.
Mission maker
08.08.2008
New tool is in development, some of
you may remember it already appeared once in WR2 Manager, but was
removed due to bugs and no interest. This time it's a stand-alone tool
and I'm already happy with it. There are 2 kinds of missions it can
make:
- normal missions, which means all kinds of missions WR2 has
- random missions, these are championship/knockout missions where tracks
are placed random order, WR2 really misses that feature.
So far there are only stock tracks and sceneries available, but later on
that can change.
This week small contest was held at
tsgs.eu forum. Members submitted screenshots taken from AFC11CT.
Best screenshot to be used as CTManager loading screen.
I wish to thanks everyone who took part in this small
contest. I spent a lot of time choosing the best screen from all
submitted, it wasn't easy, there were many shots I'd like to chose, but
there can be only one best shot.
So .. decision was made .... and the
winner is ... Cobra 11 fan fred!
I hope to release CTManager in 3-4 days.
PTXTool 2.0
29.07.2008
PTXTool advanced to version 2.0. This comes from complete refactoring of
old code.
There's a built-in PTX compressor, no more need to have nvdxt.exe util.
It is designed in a way to preserve maximum quality when recompressing
already compressed images, which it does much better than nvdxt tool. In
other hand compressing quality of new images is not as good as nvdxt
offers. I'll keep working on it. As for now it's best to keep both
versions at hand and check results, which come better.
Apart from already supported formats (BMP, TGA, DDS,
PTX) there's a new one. Now PTXTool can view Test Drive Unlimited
textures (*.2db).
It's been a long time since CrashTime was released by Synetic. Why
there's a CTManager now? AFC11Nitro Manager wasn't much popular when
released. There wasn't big interest in CTManager either. These are two
facts. But coupled with another fact - boredom they produced the thing -
Crash Time add-on car installer, and it's almost done :)
It's no magic tool, this is just a manager, there's
still conversion work behind any car that will be brought to CT. Most of
it is physics and materials tweaking.
Anyone wanting to test a beta can
e-mail me: kromster80 -at- gmail.com
MTKit2.3.2
26.07.2008
Good news everyone!
MTKit2.3.2 is out. From now on you can preview all WR2 models with all
textures displayed.
Speaking professional talk MTKit2.3.2 loads and displays packed PTX
textures.
Where did that came from? Well, PTXTool gets refactored from very
basics. Part of that is all it's routines are easily accessible now.
Along with improved versatility PTXTool will also have built-in DXT
compressor (no more troubles with nvdxt.exe). It's almost done actually
:)
KaM Editor 0.5g
18.07.2008
Version 0.5g is completed. Here's list of changes:
- Fixed maps multiplayer compatibility
- Improved waterflow arrows
- Improved handling of errors in script loading
- Fixed loss of render area on extreme form resizing.
MTKit2.3.1
12.07.2008
MTKit2.3.1 is finished. Half a dozen of bugs were fixed. Wireframes can be
any color you like now.
Recent news
06.07.2008
MTKit2.3.1 is in progress. Half a dozen of bugs got fixed (thanks to
TomWin for report). Cinema4 import is under question, since its file
format description (v.10 "XC4D") nowhere to be found.
KaM Remake page is added. There I
will run it's log.
Site has got a shoutbox :-)
New MTKit2
30.06.2008
MTKit2 re-factoring is mostly done. Big parts of it's code are rewritten
and cleaned up. Now what does that mean to user?
- Improved MOX > LWO export (damage parts
aligned better now, still not perfect)
- Added 3DS import (for those who want to convert 3DMax models to WR2)
- Added CPO format support (now you can make/edit AFC11 collision shapes)
- Added UV map view (this makes creation of vinyls for cars much easier
and you don't have to contact car author)
- Improved UI and added some new minor features
WYSIWYG is still unfinished, I don't have enough
patience/time to replicate WR2 shading, although all required coding in
MTKit2 is done and only shaders code incomplete.
I may add other import/export formats if anyone can
supply me with extensive format descriptions ;-)
WR2 Manager again
22.06.2008
Another update to WR2Man is available in
editing tools section.
This time change is really minor - increased addon car limit. Now WR2Man
won't crash unless you have as much as 2048 add-on cars.
P.S. I'm planning to open FAQ section soon, if you
have any questions - mail me!
WR2 Manager
02.06.2008
Fresh WR2Man available in
editing tools section.
What's new? - 2 menu tweaks for WR2 CBS version. One to show additional
player statistics, such as total amount of drifts done or km driven.
Some values are still unknown, if you know what they mean - drop me a
letter.
P.S. That is only a tiny bit of menu tweaking. If
only anyone had real interest in it .. there are much more possibilities
than text adding or background changing in there.
AFC11 / WR2 Gallery
02.06.2008
Galleries are filled with car renders and some nice
screenshots made by Synetic
for their big titles AFC11CT and WR2.
Gallery contains MBWR wallpapers and other images I
found on my HDD. I've been collecting them ever since MBWR modding
began. That's not usual screenshots, I think they are quite interesting.
WR2 gallery will be filled soon aswell.
It's better late than never.
First snow mod for WR2 scenery is available for download in WR2 section.
Yes, it's as good as screenshot, even better in motion!
Gallery
25.05.2008
Gallery is back on-line.
Now there are various images inside - from screenshots to drawings. No
categories yet, but I plan to add them later on.
Bugfix
22.05.2008
Important update:
Since amount of WR addon maps increases and beats unpredictable counts there's a bug found in WR2Manager which gives an error if you have more than 256 tracks in all sceneries
installed together.
Now thanks to LS134 who first encountered and reported it - bug is traced and fixed.
You can download fixed WR2Man version 0.3e from
Editing section as always.
Hotfix and update
22.05.20088
MBWR Stadt first hotfix is done, it fixes gasstations texture and
includes complete traffic for scenery. Download in WR2 section.
STKit2.3.1 released, no big changes,
few minor improvements, check readme.
MBWR Stadt in WR2
21.05.2008
MBWR Stadt in WR2. Beta version released.
KaM Remake
21.05.2008
It's about time to announce my secret KaM project:
I've been working on it for some time now and already made some good
progress. I could finally be sure it's not going to die in a sandbox.
Predictably it takes it's roots in KaM Editor. Since that is a whole
another level of coding it took almost complete rewrite and restucturing
of code (huge thanks goes to my friend Alex who actually introduced new
core design). Still Editor code (especially it's graphic part) largely
reused. I'm still using same basis: Delphi6+OpenGL.
KaM Remake is planned to reach at least KaM TSK level without any
changes nor radical new features. Then we'll see. I don't want to plan
something out of reach now.
At the moment I'm working on building part of game. Just finished road
building and going to move on to houses
Project is started ~2 months ago. Working on 2 projects which use one
base, but became very different is uneasy. That is why KaM Editor gets
only bugfixes recently.
MBWR Stadt in WR2
18.05.2008
MBWR Stadt in WR2. Beta version release soon ... approx. in 2-3days.
You can download Stadt map, with all triggers shown, in WR2 section
already.
EditCar 1.5e
06.05.2008
Fresh bugfixed version of EditCar tool available since today. Edited
files should save correct now.
KaM Editor 0.5
25.04.2008
KaM Editor 0.5 released in Downloads>Other.
Major new feature - city planner which allows to import script files and
place houses/roads on map. So far script exports only houses and roads
info in a text format suitable for KaM script editors. This is more of a
test version though - suggestions are welcome.
To tell you the truth I'm very busy with another KaM project which is
very secret yet.
01.05 -
KaM Editor version 0.5c is available, number of bugs fixed (Thanks to
Lewin for bugreport).
03.05 -
KaM Editor version 0.5d is available, another couple of bugs fixed. New feature shows water flow direction.
05.05 -
KaM Editor version 0.5e released, another couple of bugs fixed.
STKit 2.3.0
14.04.2008
New version of STKit2.3.0 finally released today. It's been a long time
in development and includes lots of updates and new features. Here's
full
list:
-
Added simple car driving simulator -
Improved LWO loading, addon scenery performance increased ~20-150% -
Added particles routes maker (for snow/rain effects) -
Improved Animated objects setup and display -
Added Waypoint tracks handling -
Added auto-listing of Objects -
Improved shadow tracing -
Added shadow sharpness option -
Replaced batch loading with autoload function -
Improved Sky setup -
Improved track display -
Improved Triggers setup -
Improved grass generation, especially for MBWR maps -
Improved renderspeed ~10% -
Fixed and improved built-in ColorPicker -
Fixed street spline connection without shapes premade -
Improved Checkers render mode to show true texture resolution -
Added print screen to JPG -
Fixed three bugs in TRK making (Thanks to TomWin) -
V1\V2\V3 tracks are saved alltogether now -
Other small bugfixes and improvements
KaM Editor 0.4
02.04.2008
KaM Editor 0.4 released in Downloads>Other.
New site
01.04.2008
Old Mambo site replaced with custom built new design. I'm just tired of
Mambo plug-ins hassle.
Thanks to HanSolo for help with PHP stuff.
KaM Editor
29.03.2008
KaM Editor 0.4 is in progress, it will feature roads and houses placing.
But right now I want to show new shading it has. Very similar to KaM
game itself. It is done through standard OpenGL v1.1 functions.
Followed by TheKnight suggestion I did a cleanup in KaM Editor. I'm not
a fan of wood panels though. Did spent a whole few hours on polishing
terrain painting and still I'm not satisfied. Work goes on.
EDIT: Here are two screens - one from KaM and other from Editor:
screen1,
screen2.
EditCar update
23.03.2008
Thanks to Andis report at Borg's forum EditCar has one more bug
fixed and became v1.5d. It is
available in Tools section now.
Another Tutorial
10.03.2008
Revisiting old geocities site coupled with recent WR2 add-on cars
releases at Borg's inspired me to rewrite normal fixing guide. It is
available in WR-Tutorials section now.
STKit2 Tutorial
09.03.2008
LS134 tutorial is available in WR downloads section from now on. It
covers basics of scenery converting in STKit2. Whenever you want to get
it in German or just visit authors site - head to
tsgs.eu
Updating site
06.03.2008
Today I started making new site. I want to switch to something more controllable and less confusing
than Mambo CMS. Of course my new site will look not as sophisticated as
old one, but to be honest I don't need those fancy options Mambo can
offer so much.
MTKit2 news
03.03.2008
MTKit2 is under deep refactoring now. Finally I have enough motivation
to rip off pieces of old crappy code and replace them with scratch made
new ones. New version (it will be 2.3.0?) will take a lot of time to make and will
bring little to modders. But whole internal structure will be a lot
better and hopefully versatile enough to meet current AFC11 and
hopefully upcoming Synetic games.