Make your voice be heard - A Re-Volt survey (Results)
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:27 am
Hello everyone, the survey has ended and here are the final results.
On these statements, the people voted as such:
- I am proud to be part of the RVGL community. 77.1% - YES, 22.9% - Left unchecked, so NO
- My opinion(s)/feedback about the game is taken into account by the staff and developer members. 43.8% - YES, 56.2% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I enjoy racing online. 68.8% - YES, 31.2% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I am being informed about changes (New RVGL versions, online (I/O) pack changes, etc.). 87.5% - YES, 12.5% - Left unchecked, so NO
- The online races feel repetitive and dull. 6.3% - YES, 93.7% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I wish there was more diversity in tracks. 29.2% - YES, 70.8% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I wish there was more diversity in cars. 18.8% - YES, 81.2% - Left unchecked, so NO
Now, regarding the connectivity type question of "Which connection type do YOU think and feel is the best for online races?.
The answers were compiled into a ranking (1st being the most checked option, 3rd being the least checked one).
1: hybrid P2P
2: noP2P
3: P2P
Some of you chose to leave some feedback. We appreciate the feedback and always try to give back to the community.
Here are some questions and comments that were left to us and the staff and developers took their time to answer some of them:
Q: Connect Bonus cars with Custom ones
A: The bonus pack was created as a way to still give access to content that was previously removed from the I/O packs. Asking to connect the two packs is like asking to bring back all the content that was previously removed from the main pack. Also, it would go against the modular nature of the packs. If anything, I plan on making them more modular, not less modular.
Q: Too much tracks
A: No, reducing the amount of tracks is against the point of the I/O content.
Q: I wish there was more frequent pack updates.
A: I'm doing the best I can. at the moment I am still the only person actually pushing the updates. When we have enough volunteers willing to work with me on them, using git and mimicking my workflow, then it's possible we will get more frequent updates. We also need to improve the distribution system, as it's very clunky at the moment and makes it a bit of a hassle to set up a new update. Not to mention the changelogs/blog posts, and so on... And when I have to balance all this with real life as well, then yeah, no wonder the updates are a bit infrequent.
There's also the problem that it's sometimes difficult and lengthy to decide what goes in the updates, especially with the car pack -- a lot of suggestions, and a lot of differing opinions. I don't aim to make everyone happy, but I think it's still important to make most people happy, while also trying not to go against the original vision of the I/O packs. So, of course, that takes time to figure out.
Q: Consider replacing Illusion with something that does not cause eye cancer.
A: Illusion was initially included due to the entertainment provided by the initial confusion players had on the track. However, now that most of us are used to it by now, it is indeed simply one of the least visually appealing tracks in the pack, and it's not exactly appropriate for the pack anymore. We'll consider moving it out once we can get a few more stock-like tracks in.
Q: Sometimes the ping is insanely high, resulting in an unfair situation when it comes to weapons. If I hit my opponents several times, they wouldn't react and sometimes I'm hit by a rocket that hasn't even been launched
A. Ping tends to be higher in centralized mode (i.e., sessions launched with -nop2p). With the advent of Hybrid P2P mode, which attempts to use direct P2P connections between players and falls back to centralized mode when that's not possible, it is expected that P2P will become the de-facto standard for online sessions in the near future. This should help keep pings low and gameplay stable. Players that appear grey to you in the lobby are those that are not directly connected to you.
Q: Wish I can already have CPU on my multiplayer session without some kind of trick.
A: It's planned, but no deadlines yet.
Q:To be honest, I don't really know the difference between P2P and noP2P races n_n' Actually, I raced with no problem until now
A: P2P means peer-to-peer, which is a connection mode where players are connected directly to each other. So, in a 16 player session, you are connected directly to 15 other players. In general, this requires that all players have done port forwarding. RVGL uses a technique called UDP Hole Punching to work around this limitation and establish P2P connections even without port forwarding. This works most of the time, but in rare cases, routers might block this behavior. Centralized is an alternative connection mode where players are connected only to the host. Messages from Player A to Player B must pass through the host, which acts as the middleman. It's considered more stable, since you're guaranteed to see everyone that the host sees. The down side is that it can increase the delay for messages to arrive and thus have a negative impact on gameplay.
Q: The only real difficulty I'm experiencing regarding this community is finding a halfway decent tutorial on track making, though I'm learned in 3dsMAX and still trying to figure out Blender, but when the time comes where I'm confident enough in my abilities I know that if I ask anything in the discord it'll get answered. I'm really enjoying the community and game right now. I think it's awesome.
A: Start with the documentation for the Blender addon (https://re-volt.github.io/re-volt-addon/html/index.html), and good books or video tutorials on Blender. The tricky part is finding up-to-date tutorials considering newer versions of Blender keep evolving. The Blender user manual is always up-to-date (https://docs.blender.org/manual). Of course, don't hesitate to ask for help on the Discord server.
Q: Please fix the ramps bugs, especially Skating Toys, Re-Ville and Rooftops.
A: The goal of the RVGL project is not to update the original game files. This rules out fixes for most stock tracks. Fixes for DC pack content, including Rooftops, can be considered if it's clear what needs to be changed and why. Problems with custom tracks should be reported to their respective authors and / or the I/O team.
And finally we took the time to appreciate the positive comments as well. Thank you! We appreciate and love your support!
"you are doing good!"
"The racing and user created content are great, and making one of my favourite games into something truly special. ..."
"I love Re-Volt"
"The dev's and staff are doing a very good job of having these races, no matter the importance, at very good times while including every time zone in consideration. Thanks."
Thank you very much in participating in the survey. See you on the track!
,Geromu, as well as the RVGL developers, discord staff members and the event hosting team.
On these statements, the people voted as such:
- I am proud to be part of the RVGL community. 77.1% - YES, 22.9% - Left unchecked, so NO
- My opinion(s)/feedback about the game is taken into account by the staff and developer members. 43.8% - YES, 56.2% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I enjoy racing online. 68.8% - YES, 31.2% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I am being informed about changes (New RVGL versions, online (I/O) pack changes, etc.). 87.5% - YES, 12.5% - Left unchecked, so NO
- The online races feel repetitive and dull. 6.3% - YES, 93.7% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I wish there was more diversity in tracks. 29.2% - YES, 70.8% - Left unchecked, so NO
- I wish there was more diversity in cars. 18.8% - YES, 81.2% - Left unchecked, so NO
Now, regarding the connectivity type question of "Which connection type do YOU think and feel is the best for online races?.
The answers were compiled into a ranking (1st being the most checked option, 3rd being the least checked one).
1: hybrid P2P
2: noP2P
3: P2P
Some of you chose to leave some feedback. We appreciate the feedback and always try to give back to the community.
Here are some questions and comments that were left to us and the staff and developers took their time to answer some of them:
Q: Connect Bonus cars with Custom ones
A: The bonus pack was created as a way to still give access to content that was previously removed from the I/O packs. Asking to connect the two packs is like asking to bring back all the content that was previously removed from the main pack. Also, it would go against the modular nature of the packs. If anything, I plan on making them more modular, not less modular.
Q: Too much tracks
A: No, reducing the amount of tracks is against the point of the I/O content.
Q: I wish there was more frequent pack updates.
A: I'm doing the best I can. at the moment I am still the only person actually pushing the updates. When we have enough volunteers willing to work with me on them, using git and mimicking my workflow, then it's possible we will get more frequent updates. We also need to improve the distribution system, as it's very clunky at the moment and makes it a bit of a hassle to set up a new update. Not to mention the changelogs/blog posts, and so on... And when I have to balance all this with real life as well, then yeah, no wonder the updates are a bit infrequent.
There's also the problem that it's sometimes difficult and lengthy to decide what goes in the updates, especially with the car pack -- a lot of suggestions, and a lot of differing opinions. I don't aim to make everyone happy, but I think it's still important to make most people happy, while also trying not to go against the original vision of the I/O packs. So, of course, that takes time to figure out.
Q: Consider replacing Illusion with something that does not cause eye cancer.
A: Illusion was initially included due to the entertainment provided by the initial confusion players had on the track. However, now that most of us are used to it by now, it is indeed simply one of the least visually appealing tracks in the pack, and it's not exactly appropriate for the pack anymore. We'll consider moving it out once we can get a few more stock-like tracks in.
Q: Sometimes the ping is insanely high, resulting in an unfair situation when it comes to weapons. If I hit my opponents several times, they wouldn't react and sometimes I'm hit by a rocket that hasn't even been launched
A. Ping tends to be higher in centralized mode (i.e., sessions launched with -nop2p). With the advent of Hybrid P2P mode, which attempts to use direct P2P connections between players and falls back to centralized mode when that's not possible, it is expected that P2P will become the de-facto standard for online sessions in the near future. This should help keep pings low and gameplay stable. Players that appear grey to you in the lobby are those that are not directly connected to you.
Q: Wish I can already have CPU on my multiplayer session without some kind of trick.
A: It's planned, but no deadlines yet.
Q:To be honest, I don't really know the difference between P2P and noP2P races n_n' Actually, I raced with no problem until now
A: P2P means peer-to-peer, which is a connection mode where players are connected directly to each other. So, in a 16 player session, you are connected directly to 15 other players. In general, this requires that all players have done port forwarding. RVGL uses a technique called UDP Hole Punching to work around this limitation and establish P2P connections even without port forwarding. This works most of the time, but in rare cases, routers might block this behavior. Centralized is an alternative connection mode where players are connected only to the host. Messages from Player A to Player B must pass through the host, which acts as the middleman. It's considered more stable, since you're guaranteed to see everyone that the host sees. The down side is that it can increase the delay for messages to arrive and thus have a negative impact on gameplay.
Q: The only real difficulty I'm experiencing regarding this community is finding a halfway decent tutorial on track making, though I'm learned in 3dsMAX and still trying to figure out Blender, but when the time comes where I'm confident enough in my abilities I know that if I ask anything in the discord it'll get answered. I'm really enjoying the community and game right now. I think it's awesome.
A: Start with the documentation for the Blender addon (https://re-volt.github.io/re-volt-addon/html/index.html), and good books or video tutorials on Blender. The tricky part is finding up-to-date tutorials considering newer versions of Blender keep evolving. The Blender user manual is always up-to-date (https://docs.blender.org/manual). Of course, don't hesitate to ask for help on the Discord server.
Q: Please fix the ramps bugs, especially Skating Toys, Re-Ville and Rooftops.
A: The goal of the RVGL project is not to update the original game files. This rules out fixes for most stock tracks. Fixes for DC pack content, including Rooftops, can be considered if it's clear what needs to be changed and why. Problems with custom tracks should be reported to their respective authors and / or the I/O team.
And finally we took the time to appreciate the positive comments as well. Thank you! We appreciate and love your support!
"you are doing good!"
"The racing and user created content are great, and making one of my favourite games into something truly special. ..."
"I love Re-Volt"
"The dev's and staff are doing a very good job of having these races, no matter the importance, at very good times while including every time zone in consideration. Thanks."
Thank you very much in participating in the survey. See you on the track!
,Geromu, as well as the RVGL developers, discord staff members and the event hosting team.