update please!!!

[al167]

hey all
just curious how everyone is going with reflex. it seams there is only a handfull of us releasing tracks at the moment.  is anyone working on new stuff, will there be a future compiler and if so how far away will it be and what will it include?, will there be a td zone for reflex online? is it also possable to release alive tracks for reflex as a dlc pack?
cheers Allan

[mcm2boys]

Hi Allen

Sorry for the lack of news, i am still working on Reflex, although it has been very slow because of real world issues i've been dealing with. I have started work on an editor which will use the compiler code. I am basing it on the UneashedToo editor, but i am stripping that way back, since that was built on MCM2 code and was becoming buggy and unstable. I am working on making a general editor which i will then write plugins to support different titles.

Since it looks like Reflex is the last title to come out of Rainbow in this series i will continue working with Reflex until the editor does everything that i want it to do. The time scale is always hard to predict, i would hope that something that does what the copiler already does is only a few months away. It will then be easier to add objects and splines to the editor which will make raceable tracks and would come soon after that.

We will also need a track installer, since Reflex needs DLC files to add tracks to Reflex. It's no longer possible just to add the track files to a folder to make them appear in game. So i've also started on a track installer, but there are some details to work out about how tracks are distributed and then added to the DLC files in Reflex, so that they can still be uploaded to different community sites and still be seen by the installer.

The zone is trickier. I like the idea and have been giving it some thought, but it will probably mean intercepting the Steam files and replacing them with our own, which sounds like a lot of work and could quickly get us in trouble with our Steam accounts. Since the Steam servers are still working, and i believe it will continue to work even though RBW are now closed (THQ will probably not turn down any last minute profits they might get through Steam sales) and it seems to be driven by advertising, i don't see a need to do this right away. For me the editor is more fun to write and more important.

The alive tracks are very similar to Reflex tracks and could be transferred from xbox to PC formats once we have all the formats worked out. So that is possible in the future with some minor changes if it turns out that there are new features in Alive that aren't possible in Reflex.

Hope that brings you up to speed..

Laurie

[al167]

Laurie,
that's all good news to me!!! (apart from the thq/rainbow bit!)

the idea of an editor over a compiler sounds heaps better!!!
looks like reflex is here to stay.

cant wait for the new editor now!

just one more thing, will it include bike/rider skinning?

thanks for the update, much appreciated

cheers Allan

[DirtTwister]

I have started working on a tool that will let you add bike skins.  I have had a bunch of things at work that have kept me from working on it.  The first release of it will have a slot for each brand and model (at least that's my plan).  I still need to finish the creation of the DLC that would work that way so that it can be tested.  I have already tested DLC that replaces an existing bike skin.

I'm hoping to be able to dust it off and wrap it up shortly.  I hate to give a time line.

[Fixer]

Thanks for the Updates! It's funny because some of us here @ TD don't even know what's going on, I know everyone is busy with their personal lives and I'm just waiting to see what happens.

It's also funny that someone can come on and ask a question about progress and get real answers.

Seems most paid game companies don't answer questions and don't even patch their buggy code once the game hits the shelves.
Seems they think most people are stupid and will keep buying their games, that was true for a while but that won't work forever as in in Alive-Rainbow-THQ

I know more and more people won't buy games from certain developers-series,I used to love Call of Duty but they ruined that in so many ways, I won't give them my money anymore.....