Darkaiser | OnlineCTR (2020) - Update Report: Character Rotations, No Collisions, etc. @Darkaiser | Uploaded July 2020 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
In the new v36 release of OnlineCTR, we have new useful features.
github.com/niko1point0/OnlineCTR/releases
Players can now see the rotations of other players, which includes steering, powersliding, and spinning out.
Collisions between players are now disabled, so if players touch each other, they will not bounce. This used to be extremely annoying and it is now fixed.
Item boxes are now disabled (until we manage to make the weapons working).
Niko is not working on OnlineCTR a lot these days, he is mostly researching and documenting how the game works, which will benefit OnlineCTR in the long run.
The jump from 2 players to 4 players required 6 months of research without updates to the game. With more research, a lot of improvements can be made.
v36 has also a tutorial that helps explain how to set up the server and the client, while also explaining how to avoid bugs. v36 now detects network disconnection in server and client, while also handling them appropriately. This means a NodeServer can be left unattended, without needing anyone to watch it. One NodeServer hosts one race. This is a big step towards building a cluster of NodeServers, and a MasterServer to handle them all. That won't happen for a long time though.
In the new v36 release of OnlineCTR, we have new useful features.
github.com/niko1point0/OnlineCTR/releases
Players can now see the rotations of other players, which includes steering, powersliding, and spinning out.
Collisions between players are now disabled, so if players touch each other, they will not bounce. This used to be extremely annoying and it is now fixed.
Item boxes are now disabled (until we manage to make the weapons working).
Niko is not working on OnlineCTR a lot these days, he is mostly researching and documenting how the game works, which will benefit OnlineCTR in the long run.
The jump from 2 players to 4 players required 6 months of research without updates to the game. With more research, a lot of improvements can be made.
v36 has also a tutorial that helps explain how to set up the server and the client, while also explaining how to avoid bugs. v36 now detects network disconnection in server and client, while also handling them appropriately. This means a NodeServer can be left unattended, without needing anyone to watch it. One NodeServer hosts one race. This is a big step towards building a cluster of NodeServers, and a MasterServer to handle them all. That won't happen for a long time though.
![Crash Team Racing (Aug 5, 1999 prototype) - Citadel City & N. Oxides Challenge [PART 4]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QgpW3YUdoqU/hqdefault.jpg "Crash Team Racing (Aug 5, 1999 prototype) - Citadel City & N. Oxides Challenge [PART 4]
The August 5th, 1999 build is a preview version of CTR built a month and a half before the final NTSC build date of September 24th, 1999. This beta version was widely given out among North-american video game magazines to be used in preview articles before the game is released.
A full documentation of the differences can found at: https://tcrf.net/Proto:Crash_Team_Racing/August_5th,_1999_build
Download the game, patched and ready to go: https://hiddenpalace.org/Crash_Team_Racing_(Aug_5,_1999_prototype%29
This build has protection to prevent people from using the disc outside of Naughty Dog, or their reviewers.
Protection level 1:
If the disc does not detect a special memory card dongle, then the game will not boot. It is as simple as if you see a string on the memory card, then boot. If the string is not on the memory card, then freeze. Interestingly, the dongles internal name is E3 dongle Copyright 1999 Naughty Dog, Inc., leading to believe that it was made specifically for E3 demo but later reused in subsequent builds.
Protection level 2:
After the game boots, there are 7 function pointers that are assigned incorrect values, which are incremented by an RNG before being executed. If a controller dongle is inserted, the controller will inject data into the RNG, then the RNG will increment the incorrect function pointers to the correct function addresses. Without the dongle, the incorrect pointers will execute, and crash the game.
In previous videos, we only had one function pointer working correctly, by setting a breakpoint before execution in no$psx emulator, and overriding the value manually. There were several bugs and instabilities.
Niko has spent over a year researching the retail game (94426), so within a few days, he finally was able to find how the entire function pointer system worked, and insert ASM that forces the RNG to return one value, which corrects all 7 function pointers, allowing the game to run.
Niko also fixed one of Naughty Dogs mistakes that was present even with the dongles, that would prevent the game from loading Relic Race on Slide Coliseum and Turbo Track.
In the link below, there are miscellaneous content for this prototype:
- GameShark codes that allow you to instantly beat Adventure Mode 100%, and unlock all rewards.
- A guide for playing the original ISO by making your own memory card dongle, and using GameShark to apply the rest of the fixes.
- We documented exactly how the ISO was patched, to learn how it was done.
Miscellaneous Content:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/sh93l6fmimh3e16/CTR+(1999-08-05+prototype)+-+Misc+Content+(Updated+2021).zip/file
Huge thanks to almarkowbender, gdias/Darkaiser, Gh0stBlade, let-over-lambda, mementomori/madmarsrocks, Niko, and psx-collector for making this release possible.")
![Crash Team Racing - OnlineCTR Tests [ModSDK v3 Preview] (6/8)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Sc-_M-Snc1M/hqdefault.jpg "Crash Team Racing - OnlineCTR Tests [ModSDK v3 Preview] (6/8)
Download the public beta of ModSDK Version 3.0 here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4qHbD5SK4iRY9JQgABx3BWsR6JcTIs8/view?usp=sharing
These two simulations are offline tests, representing client functions for what-will-be a new online multiplayer experience. As much as we want to start making new official releases of OnlineCTR, we need to sharpen the axe before chopping the tree.
1. Overhead Names
With brand new GTE and Camera Matrix research from the decompile effort, we can now make names appear over the heads of each driver. At some angles this looks perfect, at some angles it breaks a little. Still being worked on.
2. Driver Data
Position, Rotation, Animation, Lighting, all perfectly working for the first time ever. We still need to work on skidmarks, boost fire, exhaust, and weapons. In the video, position is offset on purpose, for the easy ability to compare.
When these prototypes are fully working, there will indeed be a return to OnlineCTR, and with ModSDKv3, it will work fully cross-region in every version of the game
Full package gets published to Github in July. Stay tuned for more.")
