| Rigs of Rods | |
|---|---|
DAF TurboTwin in Rigs of Rods |
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| Platform(s) | Windows (XP/Vista/7), Linux, Mac (Leopard) |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| System requirements
512 megabytes Pentium 4/Athlon XP at 2 GHz or better |
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Rigs of Rods ("RoR") is an open source,[1] freeware, multi-simulation game which uses soft-body physics to simulate the motion and deformation of trucks. The game is built using a specific soft-body physics engine called Beam, which simulates a network of interconnected nodes (forming the chassis and the wheels) and gives the ability to simulate deformable objects. With this engine, vehicles and their loads flex and deform as stresses are applied. Crashing into walls or terrain can permanently deform a vehicle.
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Rigs of Rods was initially created as an off-road truck simulator, but has developed into a versatile physics sandbox.
Prior to version 0.28, the game was limited to typical land vehicles with wheels, but plane and boat engines have been added since. All engines allow for a wide range of customization, leaving virtually no boundaries. Vehicles are built using vertices connected by beams. Vertices (or "nodes") are influenced by the stress on the beams that connect them. If a beam is too stressed, it will deform, thus altering the associated nodes position which ultimately alters the appearance and handling of a vehicle. Vehicle configurations are stored in plain text. Simple 2D skins can be made to wrap the vehicle, and can be supplemented with static mesh objects. Recent development has allowed for static meshes to be deformed according to a skeleton of nodes, much like the system in the game 1nsane. This system is known as Flexbody, and has been included since version .36.
The mapping system uses terrain data defined in a raw image file, such as that found in a digital elevation model which can be used to form a realistic surface. Terrains can be made using any other program that can generate a black and white raw image format. This also means that maps can be made from any image.
As a sandbox, Rigs of Rods has no fundamental gameplay goal, but scripting support contributes to missions and game play interaction like the timing of checkpoints along a road or dragstrips. Previously, Lua was supported as the scripting engine, but it has now been replaced by AngelScript since version 0.38. Multiplayer support allows up to 16 users to simultaneously interact on a playing field.
The game has a developer-supported community which forms groups and plans multiplayer events. Popular activities include off-roading, racing, crashing, monster truck rallies, roleplaying, and casual play.
One of Rigs of Rods' prominent features is the ability to be customized in various yet plentiful ways. Most common of these modifications include creating content from scratch, but can also mean modifying someone else's/your own work in order to augment/alternate it.
Vehicles are one of the most popular types of add-ons. They are created using node/beam and can support 3D models/meshes added to them. The chassis' are text files with three basic extensions: .TRUCK (for land vehicles), .AIRPLANE, and .BOAT. Within these text files, many possibilities are at play. Engines, camera views, wheels, light sources, 3D meshes, and much more have their respective position in the file.
Similar to Vehicles are loads. These are also text files, but with the extension .LOAD. These include trailers, containers, pallets, crates, and anything that isn't driveable/operatable in the real world (however, some of these loads have an option to be operated/driven for complicated reasons). These are generally more simple to make due to the nature of not having to deal with engine code, suspension/shocks for wheels, and camera views.
Without terrains, none of the above content would have an environment to be interacted with. Terrains are defined by RAW image formats (usually .RAW but .PNG images are sometimes used). The heightmaps for these terrains must be grayscale or else they will not function properly. You can use any program to create terrains as long as it exports heightmap images compatible with Rigs of Rods. Textures and water levels also come into play when making terrains.
Objects are 3D mesh files (in OGRE mesh format) that are non-interactive and that can be placed onto a terrain. This would include buildings, roads, bridges, structures, scenery, and sometimes trees/vegetation.
There are tools for creating vegetation for a terrain in accordance to a heightmap. This includes grass, trees, shrubs, and bushes.
Usually more system-intensive than normal RAW-powered terrains, mesh terrains are a possibility. However, these are considered "laggy" in contrast to traditional terrains.
Most vehicles, terrains, and content has a texture file(s) that are wrapped around the 3D mesh or node/beam structure. With any image-editing program you can alter these images to your own ability. A majority of the game's textures are in .DDS format to save space yet maintain superb quality. An alternative to these can be .PNG or .JPG formats. A common problem users encounter when skinning (texturing) a vehicle is that a vehicle's 3D mesh is mirrored, so the texture gets mirrored in accordance to the model.
Rigs of Rods has a Multiplayer feature that has existed since version 0.33.[2] It is accessed via the Configurator in-game, and gives you options to select a server, select a nickname, enter a user token, amongst other features. Rigs of Rods Multiplayer once had vehicle-to-vehicle collisions[3] but it was later removed due to the instability of it. However, vehicles can still latch/hook onto each other and even pull themselves to a certain extent in Multiplayer. Multiplayer is subtly different from Singleplayer modes; for example, pre-spawned loads that would appear on a map in Singleplayer does not appear in Multiplayer. In an addition to that, other things like animations, and sometimes flexbodies, will not work in Multiplayer (these are subject to change, however). The Multiplayer mode is mostly used by users who like to operate vehicles together such as cruises, off-road fests, and what-not. Although, there are now races with leaderboards possible in Multiplayer.[4] There are mixed views on whether Multiplayer is stable or not. Some experience smooth gameplay whilst others often run into connection problems.
Rigs of Rods hosts a forum community[5] of over 2,000 users. This forum is the first resort of all Rigs of Rods-related issues/topics, such as news, creations, communication, and development as well. The most perceptible use of the Rigs of Rods Forum is to distribute/share add-ons and modifications. There are many forum threads that have work in progress and released creations, made by third-party users for the most part. Users will also often share their content and footage in video/image form for others to see. The Rigs of Rods Forums are also used for releasing official versions and news for the simulation.
Physicist Brian Beckman described Rigs of Rods as "one of the best driving simulations I have ever seen."[8][9] Rigs of Rods was featured in PC Gamer UK in the Christmas 2007 edition.[10] French magazine MicroSim previewed Rigs of Rods in their June 2008 issue.[11] Rigs of Rods author, Pierre-Michel Ricordel, was invited to talk about the game at the French convention, Libre Software Meeting on July 10, 2009.
12> http://table.supersized.org/archives/108-Rigs-of-Rods.html
