Sunday, June 12, 2011

Trucks & Trailers graphics stress test

The game should start appearing on the store shelves towards the end of next week, and we were contemplating what to put here on the blog to further promote it. We have shown a lot already, you may already be too tired to appreciate another set of regular run-of-the-mill screenshots after seeing so many various scenes from the game and the recent gameplay video.

So we thought we would show you something quite different, something that would be in line with the motto of this blog - to show you things "behind the scenes" and "under the hood" as they happen during development.

So here is a very short video with footage from a graphics stress test that we did to understand how putting animated pedestrians into the scene will influence graphics performance.

Keep in mind though that staying within desired graphics performance is only one aspect of having people in our games. We need to address the problems of developing believable AI code for pedestrians, and gameplay consequences of potentially putting them into areas where the player's vehicle could hit them.

In Trucks & Trailers, we used the simplest solution of having pedestrians in the game only as a sort of decoration, putting them only into areas not accessible by the player's truck. Implementing pedestrians in our future games remains an open question.

62 comments:

  1. It looks like on some rockfest. :-D

    Thanks for video; in fact I'm very interested in "taking look under the hood", where we can see some technological progress, but even more "behid the scenes". You know, some kind of presenting your team; let's say interview with your programmers or artists, designers or different topic, like article about some interesting technologies you're using. And so on... Are you thinking about something similar? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The pedestrians look very good, and in the mirror as well. You said that you would put the pedestrians in areas not accessible to the player, which is easy to do in T&T because the areas that you drive in are restricted. However, in ETS2, pedestrians would have to be placed on sidewalks to make them realistic, but you would have to place fences around all sidewalks in order for pedestrians to walk without being hit. A suggestion is to make the screen go black just before the player hits a pedestrian, and then continue the game at the same position, but without a pedestrian in front of the player.

    Thank you for all your work SCS. You're doing a great job. I will definitely be buying T&T and ETS2!

    ReplyDelete
  3. About the issue of not being able to hurt the pedestrians. Isn`t a solution that the pedestrians aren`t collided,i saw this in some others games. then you would just drive through them,therefore no need for age restrictions.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks Good SCS, Just Pre-Ordered My Copy On Amazon!
    Cant Wait.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very nice scs...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the peek, fun to see. (c:

    Also, I agree with Chris above - just make us run through them, they are they for making things come alive, not simulate accidents or whatever. At least the option (a toggle) for those whose machines can handle it would be nice.

    As for their AI, true, that is probably the most work for you, but I do not feel you have to do too much. Even if they never cross a street or anything, merely wander back and forth on the pavement, it will still breathe life into the game. (c:

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice, please try to make it so that the pedestrians can cross the street and that they can be driven through (like a hologram) but if the player hits them, he/she gets a penalty. That would be nice, but even if you couldn't do that, it would still be a great game.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for the video SCS. Can't wait till release.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Farming Simulator 2011 has pedestrians in the game walking on paths by the roadside. You drive/walk straight through them if you try to 'kill them'. So please include them in ETS2 with an option to turn them off to keep everybody happy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good job.
    Cya
    TrucksimCom
    Mods & More www.trucksimulator24.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Please do not give any opportunity kill pedestrians. Driving through them is not a very great idea, either. There could be heavy fines, if you try to terrorize them.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Error Correction: Please do not give any opportunity *to* kill pedestrians.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can see from the video that the pedestrians are restricted to a circle that the truck drives around. In the video there is no fence, so this means that you easy can have the pedestrians on the sidewalk without any visible fence. Since you made them for the first time in t and t, I think that you cannot take them back again the same year. You try them out in ETS 2, and if there are any problems you remove them from future games. I think this is a great idea. If you are not capable of placing them where the truck can drive, you can simply place them on the sidewalk and make an invisible fence between the road and the sidewalk. This way the driver cannot run them down.
    When it comes to crossing the road, you can make so that when the light goes red you cannot drive over the sidewalk.
    When it comes to penalty for driving them over, this is simple to take away in the game. At least in ETS 1, you can just go to a file and make Police 1 to Police 0.

    Make the game more difficult to hack please. I suck big time in data, and even I can hack your game. Get free money, get the time to go faster and more.
    Please make a mod map to ETS 2.

    Sorry my grammar.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wrong word use corrected.

    "you can make so that when the light goes red you cannot drive over the sidewalk"

    Shall be:

    "you can make so that when the light goes red you cannot drive over the pedestrian crossing"

    Sorry

    ReplyDelete
  15. Pedestrians in ETS2 Please

    ReplyDelete
  16. Not to be pedestrians in ETS2

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pedestrians is MUST have in ETS2.

    ReplyDelete
  18. u know i rather see people like at a rest area or truckstop or waiting at a busstop in the city


    thanks
    bobby h
    {aka} heroic trucker from truckpol forum

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nice video, 'though a little short.
    I see everyone has an idea regarding the "safety" of the pedestrians. Make them "ghost like" so you can drive through, or make the screen go black etc.
    Do you, people, know how much it'll take a modder to get rid of all these tricks and give everybody the freedom to collide with them?
    Then every eight year old will be able to smash into people, have them flying around like the a.i. vehicles, run them over etc. And mommy or daddy will see this and they won't care that their beloved child downloaded some mod from the internet, made by some "ingenious artist". They'll just see their child playing a violent game and never look beyond the name of the developer.
    If pedestrians will ever find their place in ETS, it should be "hard-coded" into the game, so tampering with this cannot be done by just anyone.
    Just a thought...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi SCS!

    Please include pedestrians in ETS2! Driving through them would be best option, because then you would not need to calculate any collisions (good for performance). Like someone above mentioned, the main purpose for them to be in this simulation is to make the place more living, and thus improve realism.

    BR,
    Osmo
    Finland

    ReplyDelete
  21. Don't include pedestrians in ETS2... They will make lag in the game and it's not even needed. When you drived through Hard Truck Across America or German Truck Simulator you didn't even thinked about pedestrians and the climate was still excellent. No need to add pedestrians, they will just ruin the game.
    Don't you people want a big map in ETS2?
    So if they won't worry or even think about adding pedestrians in ETS2, then they have more time for the map.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The pedestrians won't ruin the game, they add a dose of realism to the game.

    ReplyDelete
  23. cool,for sure i will try that too before the ets2 will come:D

    pozdravuju z prahy,je vidět že češi eště pořád hry dělat uměj ;)

    ReplyDelete
  24. I think the developers are afraid for gaming intelligence pedestrians. The fact that pedestrians are pictures of people. If these pedestrians will be down, crush, then the game will have to put an age limit and the additional prefix "There are scenes of violence."

    Therefore, it is not that the schedule does not allow fine to play with pedestrians, and that the behavior of pedestrians still need to hone and refine.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ohaha, can you not read? In my comment above yours I wrote:
    "When it comes to penalty for driving them over, this is simple to take away in the game. At least in ETS 1, you can just go to a file and make Police 1 to Police 0.

    Make the game more difficult to hack please. I suck big time in data, and even I can hack your game. Get free money, get the time to go faster and more. "

    This is the same thing you said, just said another way.

    They are already informed about the hacking of the game.

    When that been said, I like your idea "If pedestrians will ever find their place in ETS, it should be "hard-coded" into the game"

    @Anonymous June 12, 2011 11:59 PM, when it comes to the map of the game, the size has already been decided. The pedestrians will help the game be more realistic, this is the point about any simulation. Make the game as realistic as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Maybe i have a suggestion, bringing pedestrians in ETS2 without having scenes of violence:

    Maybe the Pedestrians can be programmed so that they can only walk only on the sidewalk. If the com to an end of sidewalk they will bounce at an end of the sidewalk. In the same way you could make the sidewalks a bit higher. so its impossible to drive on an sidewalk, and its impossible to hurt the pedestrians, because the truck will stuck on the sidewalk.

    ReplyDelete
  27. @ ohaha

    "If pedestrians will ever find their place in ETS, it should be "hard-coded" into the game, so tampering with this cannot be done by just anyone."

    Nothing stops this from being done with either "ghosts" or "fade to black" (and, if keeping it "real", probably loss of driving licence, meaning game over, man, game over!), thus meeting your requests for (mostly) non-moddable.

    Kind of like a lot of things already are. (c:

    Mind you, I would not mind seeing mostly stationary people; just people at the beach (anyone remember those empty beaches?), coffee shops, bus stops -- they would not have to move, even (as in move about) to give life to the place, and can thus be placed in "safe" locations or simply have a collision box around them (with or without penalty for "hitting" them). I have no need for serious AI in them, I do not plan to stare at them when playing. (c;

    They can even be like stationary objects or those "movers" that helicopter and so on, for all I care. They do add life to the scenery, though.


    Regardless whether pedestrians are included or not, I do hope there will always be a map editor in the game.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Bonjour SCS.

    L'idée des piétons reste une grande question. Mais vue que la fonctionnalité est là ... il serait fort dommage de ne pas la voir présente dans ETS2.

    Je pense que l'idée de l'écran noir est à exploitée.
    Il serait bien de mettre des piétons sur les trottoirs, passages piéton...

    Le système:
    Lorsque vous entrer en colission avec un piéton, un écran noir s'affiche et vous explque l'erreur que vous avez faite ainsi que le nombre de point que vous avez perdu sur votre permis de conduire.
    Ensuite, quelques secondes plutard. le camion est remit automatiquement sur la route.

    Voila ma petite idée que je souhaitais vous partager.
    Félicitation pour tout !

    Salut de la France.
    Titou.
    _____________________________________________
    Hello SCS.

    The idea of pedestrians remains a big question. But for that functionality is there ... it would be a shame not to see this in ETS2.

    I think the idea of the black screen can be operated.
    It would be nice seen pedestrians on sidewalks, pedestrian crossings ...

    The system:
    When you enter colission with a pedestrian, a black screen appears and you explque the mistake you made and how many points you lost on your driver's license.
    Then a few seconds again later. the truck is automatically resumed on the road.

    Here is my idea that I wanted to share with you.
    Congratulations to all!

    Hello from France.
    Titou.
    ( sorry for bad translation )

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi! Everybody is talking about pedestrians and hitting them....

    But nobody thinks about the ACCIDENTS/CRASHES ON THE ROAD? Cause the pedestrian accidents are much rare in real life than the road crashes...
    A good thing will be VISIBLE truck damage, not only a small icon "filling" up... The will be much more realistic with this

    Greets!

    ReplyDelete
  30. The game will be more realistic*

    ReplyDelete
  31. @TruckerGal
    I'm not saying it cannot be done, but, at this point (in my opinion) these pedestrians are just simple moving objects, just like the ai vehicles, which can be easily modified (as so many already did), thus easily stripped of any protection SCS might give them. And it won't take long before you'll see youtube videos of them crushed, thrown around etc. along with links to the respective mod.
    "Hard-coding" might imply modifying the game engine and that's another problem, all together. This may take time and effort which has never been included in the initial budget and may never be approved.
    Just a thought...

    ReplyDelete
  32. @ ohaha

    As I said, if they hard-code this, as many things are already (things modders would wish weren't) then it will be safer. But nothing stops people today from replacing cars or whatever with animated people/bicycles/cute bunnies/Cthulhu/whatever and already go on a (utterly pointless) "rampage".

    Heck, one can wonder this is why the motorcycle from 18WoS was removed. I miss those, but not to ram. dc:

    Thus, having hard-coded "ghosts", for instance, would be a fairly safe bet. Or make them like so many other objects, untouchable, even with a big rig at full speed.

    What I would like to see is something to make the cities (and so on) at least appear populated, even if it is stationary and walled in objects. (c:

    ReplyDelete
  33. TruckerGal who have the post abow mine have a point. But SCS can not take responsobility for what children and adult hack into their game.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ok, nothing stops the modder from replacing the cars with whatever they want, but those are not provided by SCS. This gets very delicate when it comes to politically correct stuff. :D
    I'd love to see pedestrians in these games but I'm also trying to understand the developer's position.
    It's similar to having real brands in the game. Most people think this would be great, it would bring realism and don't see why this is so hard to accomplish. On the other hand, the brand owner has its own doubts, probably hard to understand by the gamer, and things are not as easy as they seem.
    Maybe the easiest way is to plan the pedestrian trajectories in such a manner that they will never be reachable by the player. Maybe even make them run away and dodge out of the trucks way. Setting a safety radius around the player's vehicle might be the safest way to deal with this. And that can be "hard - coded" in a specially design engine, exclusive to pedestrians, and not available to the average modder.
    All I'm saying is the level of discussion cannot remain to just "please pedestrians in ets". Thiese people know what they're doing (I hope :D) and we should give them some slack!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. @Mikkel Adrian
    Why don't you just stop with the tampering of the ini-file then?
    How hard can it be?
    --------------------------

    Why this obsession of having pedestrians in the game?
    You spend most of the time on the open roads anyway.
    I couldn't care less, but to some it seems that it's more important to have people walking around the streets, than the game-play itself. Realism, hmm sure, but c'mon this is still a game concerning trucks and about driving them. Not to watch some pedestrians that are walking in circles.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Some people had trouble understanding why the "We want pedestrians in the game. "
    They are not pedestrian interests us ... watch pedestrians walk is not our goal.
    If we want, it's just to make the game more alive ... Yet it is simple to understand.

    I have another question ..
    The functionality of the pedestrian is there, then tell me. Why we should not put them in the game?

    Regards.
    ( sorry for my bad english )

    ReplyDelete
  37. Single roads in ETS2 PLEASE!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Not must be single roads in ETS2!

    ReplyDelete
  39. SINGLE ROADS, NOT MOTORWAYS IN ETS2

    ReplyDelete
  40. Preferably only RURAL ROADS (more caps, more true) in ETS2!

    People, why are you not reading articles that SCS posts? They said million times there will be huge road network as in reality: backbone highways and lots of single roads.

    Please stop asking for what they already confirmed.

    ReplyDelete
  41. @Eric. Your opinion is a bad opinion. I see that you cannot read. Many people have told why the pedestrians need to be in a realistic truck sim. I do not know where you live but in the most cities there are pedestrians. Not a single person has said that the pedestrians are more important than the game-play.
    And to your information I can let the ini-file be. I completed ETS without toggling with this file. SCS is the only game producer who I've been able to crack the game from. I said that they had to make the game more difficult to crack if they wanted pedestrians in it. This so than not an 8 year old child can remove the fines/ barriers/ fences we put around them just by chancing a number.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "Preferably only RURAL ROADS (more caps, more true) in ETS2!

    People, why are you not reading articles that SCS posts? They said million times there will be huge road network as in reality: backbone highways and lots of single roads.

    Please stop asking for what they already confirmed."

    Agree, people start reading SCS earlyer post about ETS 2, here you will find information about the map etc. If you have read all SCS posts and you do not find an answer to your question then you can post it here.
    Thanks for lissening and hope you reed this post.

    ReplyDelete
  43. @Mikkel Adrian
    I can't read?
    Ok, and you don't understand English!
    I said that it "seems" to be more important, due to the constant nagging in every fucking post about the importance of having pedestrians in the game. Don't take it word for word, use your brain.
    Do you understand, or shall i take it in Norweigan?

    ReplyDelete
  44. @ Eric, sorry I do not understand. You take it in norwegian pleace.

    ReplyDelete
  45. gizmosells-it not practical to include every rural road as it would take years to build a map that way. Structurally, the game should make minor improvements over time, and freeways should be 3% grade if possible to make it realistic and think with future games they will get there as computers and technology makes doing things in games easier. Pedestrians are fine long as they not on freeways nor on streets jaywalking. Trucks should have failure with tires, engines, taillights, tire-pressure etc. SCS software will get there with time, just keep buying the games so the funds are available for future games and improvements.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Release the people as a free mod. That way people can choice to have them in there game or not. And you do not have to worry about the game age rating, as they would not be included in the original brought game.

    If you knock one over though you should get 6 points, knock another one over and it is game over.

    ReplyDelete
  47. (only to Eric who swear)

    But what I think you said is:

    "Jeg sa jeg det later til at det er mer viktig pga den konstante masingen i alle kommentarene. Ikke ta det ord for ord, benytt gjernen din. Kjønner du, eller skal jeg ta det på Norsk?
    Am I right?"

    Are you from Norway, so that you can comfirm or not?

    So that you know I have dyslexia, read about it! Then you will understand why I take it word for word. I know what seams means.

    Hvis du kan norsk, vet du også hva dette betyr og kommer sansyneligvis til å skrive tilbake. Slutt å kødd, gå heller å stapp en av dem in i toeren. Unskyld men du ønsked ufint språk.

    (Sorry the norwegian tolk, but Eric said that we can not tolk in English.)

    ReplyDelete
  48. Haha sluta skäm ut dig.

    ReplyDelete
  49. du skulle ta det på norsk ikke svensk!
    PS: Du kjønner ikke norsk heller. Stemte det jeg trodde?
    ? betyr at du skal svare!
    hahahahahahahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  50. Why shall i answer?
    It's not that hard to understand.
    Your english and your lies are worse:
    "Sorry the norwegian talk, but Eric said that we can not talk in English."
    When did i say that?
    But just give it a rest please, no one is interested in our disagreements.
    Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Not must be single roads and pedestrians, just motoways and lot of bulldozer, combine, farm, chickens, pigs!!!

    Oh, and many tractor!!!

    ReplyDelete
  52. @ Anonymous.
    Someone wants single roads.
    Someone wants highways.

    In ETS2 it will be both.

    Those who want single roads can just drive on the single roads.
    Those who want highways can just drive on highways.

    I'm not sure if I got you correct because of your English but you want farms with chickens/ pigs and tractors? These farms will be mostly along the single roads. Some in the citys and some along the highways.

    ReplyDelete
  53. There was an easter egg in Haulin - alien flying saucer. Why not to place this model over every city and declare that all pedestrians were kidnapped? This could solve that neverending pedestrian question.

    ReplyDelete
  54. marinheiro poupuay (BRASIL)

    NOSSA!!...
    UM BOM TRABALHO !!!!!...
    MAS...
    INSERE BI-TREM NESSE NEGÓCIO(jogo) AEE SCS !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  55. "marinheiro poupuay (BRASIL)

    NOSSA!!...
    UM BOM TRABALHO !!!!!...
    MAS...
    INSERE BI-TREM NESSE NEGÓCIO(jogo) AEE SCS !!!!"

    What is this in english? Google translate did not work.

    ReplyDelete
  56. far beyond expectations :) Looking forward to ETS2 more and more!
    Waiting to drive Premium :D
    ***wheelking***

    ReplyDelete
  57. If you want to hit pedestrians, and like seeing people everywhere..... play grand theft auto. Most of the time is spent on the open roads. This seems like a huge hassle for SCS and a complete waste of time. Now what SCS should focus on instead, is wildlife. You see lots on the highway. Would be nice if you had to avoid them on occasion too. Much more important than pedestrians wandering aimlessly. I think if SCS are to implement pedestrians, have them do something instead of just walking around. Put them at the gas stations, fueling up, checking their oil, etc. Just please DO NOT make pedesterians who do nothing but aimlessly wander around the towns and cities.

    ReplyDelete
  58. In fact of the matter is that pedestrians should not be only for the surroundings and atmosphere - Pedestrians should be an integral part of the game. For example, for Bus Driver pedestrians are potential passengers. Here in the ETS2 pedestrians are employees of loading bases, warehouses, gas stations, service stations, motels, customs, traffic police, and many many more. In advanced games pedestrians is already direct participants in the game, but that we will not.

    ReplyDelete
  59. This is just an endless discussion. The descision is up to SCS, whether they will do pedestrians or not.

    The idea of wildlife is very cool. One more reason to choose for a big bullbar on the front of your rig hehe

    ReplyDelete
  60. I would like to make a proposal how to deal with pedestrians, to lessen gory effects. (for the boys out there :-) )
    If the player is going to hit them (in a distance about 1 m), simply let them disappear like a ghost. It would be great, if these aren't so angular or edged, like in T&T.

    It's also possible to implement an offence-system for every injured pedestrian a payment, but by the way, this is not so necessary...

    But enough of improvement-proposals, it would like also to contribute a bit.
    If you need assistance, i can do a bit work for you with AutoCAD Civil 3D in the summer break at my university.

    If you read this in the flood of posts you already got, simply send me a contact request to Sykpe "rob_roy_x" or reply to my post.

    Best regards,
    Rob

    ReplyDelete

Spam, offensive, hateful and other inappropriate comments will be removed and authors may be permanently restricted from commenting.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.