Raydium CQFD Corp

If you're a Raydium SVN user, you may have noticed that a few things are upside down since a few hours ... The reason is simple: Raydium now handle correctly TGA file format, including RLE compression and "flipping bits" (revision 799, thanks to ouille). Since its beginning, Raydium was reading TGA as if the "y flip" bit was set, whatever it was or not. But as a lot of files in the repository were created without this bit set, Raydium now reads these files upside down. And everything is broken.


Don't panic. Oh no, wait, do !

We've changed almost all textures in the official R3S repository so the y-flip bit is set. Everything should then looks OK again, all you have to do is refresh you own files, using one these two methods:

1 - Use the "--repository-refresh" command line tags with all applications. It will force the application to download modified files from the repository. But remember to fully use all functionalities: for instance, with test6, you must run the demo, fire a rocket, fire a bullet, add a crate (space key), ... It's the only way to be sure that all textures will be used.

2 - Use our magic texture pack : http://ftp.cqfd-corp.org/raydium_repo_f ... xtures.tgz
In this archive, you'll find all textures available (and fixed) in the repository. Just refresh your own data files with all this, and everything will be OK.

You may have to fix your own textures, too, so be vigilant when launching your applications using this new Raydium release, to be sure to detect all flipped textures (if any). You can use any Gimp-like application to reverse your TGA files. We may also provide a small tool to help you doing this on a big amount of files, just ask for it in the comments.

We'll also ask you, please, to report any trouble with "official" textures from the repository, we may have missed something.

We apologize for all this, and be sure we do our best to avoid compatibility breaks, but TGA reading abilities of Raydium were too limited to cover all needs, so this rewrite was mandatory.

Sorry, again, for any inconveniences caused, and have fun with this new TGA reader ! (tip: Blender and Raydium are now friends about TGA)

Last days, we've seen Raydium Windows SDK and Raydium Mac OSX SDK updated, thanks to ouille and st, respective maintainers of these projects. You can find all this on the download page, right now.

And I just remember that Linux users will find the nightly SVN snapshot, as usual, with a lovely, nice, shiny, glossy, up-to-date and complete release of Raydium.

Subsidiary question: guess what's my favorite OS ?

If you're a serious reader of Raydium's forum or our SVN feed, you've probably seen the amazing work-in-progress of st, our Mac guy.

And he did it !

MacOS X is now an official target for Raydium ! This was requested by many developers and users since years. So you can now expect to see Raydium games for MacOS X, starting with the upcoming st's port of ManiaDrive. Of course, all our next games will also support natively this target at release time, including ManiaDrive 2 (aka ManiaCrash) !

You can find the SDK in the download section. (direct link)

You can have a look to the forum thead about this new Raydium port, and report your experience with this brand new SDK.

Release notes for this SDK:

Requirements:
- Xcode 2.4 or higher.

Includes:
- Latest Raydium Subversion revision R709.
- Universal binary dependencies for all kinds of i386 and PPC architecture subtypes.
- Xcode 2.4 compatible project files.
- iCompile script to easily build and test applications using a terminal.
- Application template including the Leopard ready IconsFileStore Raydium logo.

Instructions:
1. Download the Raydium SDK for Mac OS X.
2. When the auto-mount option was disabled, double-click the disk image to mount it.
3. Drag & drop the Raydium folder wherever you like to install the SDK (e. g. /Library/Raydium or ~/Library/Raydium).
4. Start up Xcode and load the Raydium.xcodeproj or open a terminal and use the iCompile script to build the samples.

No news here since 2 years !



We were so busy working on Raydium and on applications that the website was a bit ... abandoned, in facts. I'll make my best to make sure it will never happen again.

What was done in two years ? A lot, really. Let's try to sum up things. Sure, we made hundreds of various bugfixs and cleanups (more than 200 commits), but we've bigger news for you, such as new full, up-to-date, and maintained Win32 SDK. This SDK is built around Code::Blocks, but can also be used without this IDE, with provided command lines tools.




On the other hand, we also made a big license switch. The whole project moved from GPLv2 to a dual-license: LGPL and BSD. This allows everyone to use Raydium like they want, without conflicting with their own license(s), commercial or not, and allow us to keep rights on our code.

A lot of work has also been done on the engine's documentation, now completed (HDR, MyGLUT, PHP scripting, web server, media path, ...) and fully up-to-date.

But also an amazing number of other things, like:

- new camera features, such as multiple viewports (see test8.c demo), mouse ("freemove") camera, orbit camera, ...
- improved Linux configuration scripts
- new RayODE features, as gravity control, motors monitoring, rays full support, motored universal joints, mouse picking, custom physic frequency and timestep, hinge2 limits, new element-point-to-world-point (and vectors) helpers, onboard camera on static elements, ...
- improved and updated Blender import/export scripts
- easy support for internationalization
- added a FPS limiter (useful to limit CPU usage of an application)
- updated TRI mesh file format to support up to 4 textures per vertex (useful for shaders)
- updated shader support, with automatic tangent vector computation (and smoothing) in shaders, so TBN matrix is now super easy to build (see bumpmapped parallax mapping demo in shader_test.c). It's also now possible to access shader parameters from PHP scripts.
- added support for anisotropic filtering, texture compression and texture freeing
- up-to-date binding generator for Python and Java !
- joysticks/pads/wheels support for win32
- LiveAPI support for win32 (webcams and other VFW sources)
- made an official switch to ODE 0.7 (and any recent release of ODE is compatible, too)
- updated video playback API, now featuring synchronized audio (OGG) and playback speed control
- updated media path feature
- added "init_load" feature, allowing to fully setup an application from an external text file (lights, fog, skybox, ...)
- added replay support ! With slow-motion, rewind, recursive-recording, ...
- added Raydium contribs, as a collada importer, a completion symbols generator for the Geany text editor, but also Raydium contrib applications like a kart game, ragdoll demos, wiimote demo, shaders demo, ...
- added an experimental sprite engine
- updated camera path recorder, and added a camera path player
- ...




We're now pretty close to release a new stable version of Raydium: 0.800. The last stable release was the 0.680, from 2005...

Stay tuned !

A new "running demo" is now available for Raydium: Volcano. This demo features a water shader example, and a lot of particle effects.



A video is available and the source code is available in SVN.

Since a few weeks now, Raydium provides a support for GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language), allowing Toon style rendering, Normal Maps, Water effect and so on. The doc is not ready yet, but a demo application is available in current sources and SDK, and a water demo will come (very) soon.





A video is available for water effect :

click here: http://freeway.raydium.org/captures/rayShaderWater.avi

Also, new effects are about to be added to the engine, including environment maps (reflections) and ... HDR post processing !







More to come !

ManiaDrive 1.01 is ready and announced !





For its first public release, ManiaDrive hits the floor ! In less than 24 hours, this release generates more than 50 GB of uploaded data, 1 200 downloads, 150 000 hits on Raydium and ManiaDrive websites, almost 200 online players, ...

This is what we can call a success for this second big Raydium game. Let's see how things will move, now !

Refs:
ManiaDrive website: http://maniadrive.raydium.org/
OpenGL.org: http://www.opengl.org/news/permalink/ma ... ic_tracks/
LinuxFr: http://linuxfr.org/2006/05/13/20804.html

En conclusion de cette ManiaDriveParty :

- Mode réseau quasi complet, et fonctionnel même pour des joueurs en ADSL
- Site web totalement refait et les échanges jeu-site passent maintenant par des services web (merci PRoSPeRe)
- De nouveaux blocs : looping et blocs de décors manquants
- Bande son sélectionnée (26 Mo)
- Beaucoups de bugs trouvés et d'améliorations divers (20 commits)
- Nouveaux circuits (compatibles mode solo) : be_accurate, bump, good_jump et off_road
- De la fumée pour l'échappement de la voiture (vicentev, dernière minute)
- ...

Le jeu n'est pas encore prêt pour une sortie publique, il y'a encore un gros travail à fournir pour créer de nouveaux circuits, et probablement un éditeur de circuit plus efficace que mania2, mais on approche d'une bêta voire d'une démo publique !

Merci aux participants !







---------------
Conclusion of this ManiaDrive Party:

- Network mode is almost complete and functional, even for DSL connected players
- Totally new website, using WebServices for game-website transferts (thanks to PRoSPeRe)
- New blocks: looping and missing landscape blocks
- Sound track is now selected (26 MB of music)
- Many bugs corrected and enhancements (20 commits)
- New tracks (ready for solo mode) : be_accurate, bump, good_jump et off_road
- Exhaust pipe smoke, by vicentev (last minute commit )
- ...

The game is not yet ready for a public release, a huge work must be done on tracks, and probably a more intuitive track editor, but the game is almot ready for a first beta release and, why not, a demo !

Thanks to every participant !

Bonjour, Hi. See below for an english version of this document.

Si vous recevez ce mail, c'est que vous avez, d'une manière ou d'une autre, été lié au projet Raydium/MeMak de CQFD Corp. Ceux qui suivent le projet au long de son évolution sont probablement au courant de la situation, que je me permet de condenser dans un rapide résumé pour les autres. Lors des premiers signes de maturité du moteur 3D, Raydium [1], nous nous sommes réunis (pour un total de près de 30 personnes !) en mars 2003 pour jeter les bases d'un projet de grande envergure, MeMak [2], jeu (massivement) multijoueur basé sur un univers rouillé et poussiéreux. Si ce dernier projet en est encore au stade de l'ébauche, le moteur 3D lui a continué d'évoluer assez fortement, grâce au travail d'une poignée de contributeurs.
Un premier jalon a été posé lors de la sortie de NewSkyDiver [3], en février 2004, un jeu d'arcade très simple basé sur un jeu Atari (2600) ou le but est de sauter en parachute pour poser un personnage sur une aire de petite taille en dépit du vent. Le jeu a été annoncé sur quelques sites dédiés aux "jeux Linux" et a remporté un succès inespéré, provoquant par exemple un écroulement des 3 serveurs à disposition pour les téléchargements, et ce pendant plusieurs jours ("150 000 hits en un mois, 10 000 scores enregistrés, pour un total de près de 350 joueurs classés, et des news spontanées sur des sites tiers", extrait du wiki [4]).

Exceptionnellement, j'ai donc préféré informer l'ensemble des inscrits au forum du projet [5] de la sortie très prochaine de la prochaine (grande !) étape de démonstration des capacités de Raydium : ManiaDrive. Le jeu se présente comme un clone libre de l'excellent Trackmania du studio Nadéo, c'est à dire sous forme d'un jeu de voiture très orienté arcade se déroulant sur des pistes acrobatiques ou le but reste simpliste : terminer chaque circuit en le moins de temps possible. Le jeu est nerveux, rapide (les pistes excèdent rarement la minute), et propose un mode réseau, comme l'original. ManiaDrive jeu est déjà très avancé, et je propose donc d'organiser un grand rassemblement autour du projet pour livrer un jeu du meilleur niveau possible à l'issue d'une "ManiaDrive Party" de 2 jours, organisée les 19 et 20 novembre, à Nantes. Toute personne intéressée est conviée !

Les domaines à couvrir sont les suivants :
- Site web : captures d'écran, mode d'emploi du jeu et de l'éditeur de niveau, vidéos, ...
- Développement : éditeur de niveau intuitif, correction à la volée des trouvailles des bêta testeurs
- Beta Testing : réseau, support windows, scores pour les nouveaux niveaux
- Son : recherche (conception ?) de morceaux libres pour la bande son
- Contenu : création de nouveaux niveaux avec l'éditeur "mania2" et création d'une "suite" de niveau
- Graphisme : nouvelles textures et nouveaux éléments de circuit, en remplacement des versions actuelles et création des quelques pièces manquantes.
- Hébergement : mise en place de miroirs de téléchargement pour faire face à la probable charge lors de la sortie publique du jeu
- Communication : rédaction des news sur les grands sites dédiés au jeu vidéo libre, échanges jeu-site
- ... !

Si la demande est confirmée par plusieurs personnes, il est prévu d'étendre ces deux jours à l'IRC [6] pour permettre, sans barrière géographique ni de langue de se joindre à ce grand rassemblement.

Les conditions pour participer sont simples : un minimum de motivation et une machine avec une carte 3D, disposant d'un Linux ou d'un windows avec des pilotes installés. L'ensemble des autres opérations (installation et configuration de Raydium) pouvant être réalisés sur le site, avec l'aide des habitués.

Je vous demande donc, quelle que soit votre position géographique, de vous "enregister" à cet événement [7] si vous êtes intéressé, dans la langue de votre choix. Le nombre d'inscrit va déterminer les modalités précises de la rencontre (lieu et horaires). D'avance, et au nom de l'équipe, merci de votre implication !

Voyez à la fin de ce message pour la liste des liens.


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Hi, Bonjour. Voyez ci-dessus pour une traduction française de ce document.

You receive this mail because you've been involved in CQFD Corp's Raydium/MeMak project, by any manner. You may kown that during first matury signs of Raydium [1], in March 2003, a big meeting was organized (almost 30 peoples !) in way to launch the MeMak (big) project [2], a massively mutliplayer game featuring a dusted and trashed background. If this project's still on its early stage, the 3D engine have grown, and is now full featured, thanks to a small team of contributors.
A first milestone for the whole project was NewSkyDiver's [3] release, in February 2004. NSD is a simple arcade game, based on the gameplay of an old Atari (2600) game where the goal's to land on a dedicated platform, despite the wind. The game was advertised on a few "Linux Gaming" websites, and this release was quiet a success, since all 3 downloading mirrors went down due to the heavy load, for a few days ("150 000 hits for a month, 10 000 score records, with 350 ranked players and voluntary news on some other websites", says the wiki [4]).

So Exceptionally, I've decided to inform every forum member [5] of the upcoming release of the next (big !) proof of Raydium abilities : ManiaDrive. The game is a free clone of Trackmania, the great game from Nadéo studio, and is an arcade car game on acrobatic tracks, with a quick and nervous gameplay (tracks almost never exceed one minute), and features a network mode, as the original. ManiaDrive is now almost finished, and I would like to organize a big meeting around this project in way to release the best game possible at the end of this "ManiaDrive Party" of 2 days (19 and 20 November), in Nantes (France). Any interested people is welcome !

What we must do:
- Website: screenshots, game manual, level editor manual, videos, ...
- Development: intuitive level editor, bug corrections (following beta testers reports)
- Beta Testing: network, windows support, scores for new levels
- Sound: free sound tracks (research or creation)
- Levels: level creation with "mania2" editor and "set of levels"
- Graph: new textures, new track element models to replace existing one, and creation of missing elements
- Hosting: strong downloading mirrors, since we can expect an huge load at release time
- Communication: news writing for "free gaming" websites, game-website exchanges
- ... !

If the need is confirmed by many peoples, we plan to extend the two days to IRC [6], in way to allow anybody to participate to the meeting, without any geographical or languish limit.

To participate, You only need a bit of motivation, and a computer with 3D support, with Linux or windows with drivers. Raydium installation and configuration could be done at the meeting, with the help of team members.

So, I'm asking you to confirm your participation to this event, whatever is your country and your language, if you're interested. "When" and "Where" are to be determined, depending the number of participants. In the name of the whole team, Thanks !


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Refs :
[1] http://raydium.org/ (fr, en)
[2] http://memak.raydium.org/ (fr, en)
[3] http://skydiver.raydium.org/ (en)
[4] http://raydium.yoopla.org/wiki/NewSkyDiver (fr)
[5] http://raydium.yoopla.org/wiki/MeMak (fr)
[6] #cqfd / eu.undernet.org or us.undernet.org (fr, en)
[7] viewtopic.php?t=279 or mail : xfennec-AT-cqfd-corp.org (fr, en)

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Since a few days, Raydium is now hosted with its own domain, raydium.org.
The main site is now http://raydium.org/ , the forum (about MeMak and/or Raydium) is now known as http://memak.raydium.org and you will find every "Raydium powered" application as a subdomain:
http://skydiver.raydium.org/ for NewSkyDiver
http://maniadrive.raydium.org/ for ManiaDrive
And so on ...

Please, update your bookmarks !