/shakedown-docs

Documentation for Shakedown Rally

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Welcome to the documentation for Shakedown Rally!

If you encountered a bug, submit an issue here.

Join my discord server to discuss about the game and get the latest updates.

FAQ

How do I reverse?

You need to shift down through gears (< by default) until you reach reverse gear. Will add holding brake to reverse at some point.

How do I fly the camera around freely?

Switch through the cameras (with C by default) until you reach the "Freelook" camera. Now you can hold right click to look around and move the camera around (with numpad keys by default). Sorry that it isn't that clear, I will add some in-game tooltips in the future.

Inputs are stuck at 50%/100%

If your steering, throttle or brake is stuck at 50% or 100% that means you have some unconfigured controller attached. Right now, the game takes all controllers attached and combines their inputs, and some steering wheels and joysticks use 50% for idle throttle and brake.

To disable controllers and only use keyboard, either disconnect your controllers, or set steerAxis, brakeAxis or throttleAxis to -1 in config.ini.

If you do want to setup your controller correctly, see this

Default controls

  • W, S, A, D - Throttle, Brake and Steer
  • Shift - Clutch (not needed when changing gears)
  • Enter - Toggle between auto and manual gear shifting
  • <, > - switch gears
  • N - Set to neutral gear
  • F - Unflips the car and adds 10 seconds
  • C - Switch camera
  • Esc - Open menu
  • Tab - Toggle HUD
  • Numpad + - Decrease FoV (zoom in)
  • Numpad - - Increase FoV (zoom out)
  • Numpad 8, Numpad 5, Numpad 4, Numpad 6 - Move camera forward, back, left, right
  • mouse scroll - Dolly camera in-out in orbit, or change movement speed in freelook camera modes Dev utils:
  • ~ - Toggle dev GUI
  • Y - Enter slew mode
    • When in slew mode, you can use orbit camera and movement keys to fly the car around, shift + scroll changes speed
  • F1 - Show suspension geometry
  • F2 - Show surface contact info Only when manual replay recording is turned on:
  • F4 - Start recording replay
  • F5 - Stop recording replay

Rebinding controls

You can set your own controls in config.ini [bindings] segment. Keys map to numbers that you can find on this page.

Alternatively, you can switch on outputKeyEvents = 1 in config.ini, then open the game and anything you press will be output on the screen, including gamepad buttons. You can then put the key number you get into the corresponding value in config and restart the game.

For example, to map throttle, break and steering to arrows:

steerLeft = 263
steerRight = 262
throttle = 265
brake = 264

(thx to Henke)

Analog axes

There are also 3 analog axes you can set for throttle, brake and steering. In config.ini you can set XAxis = to the number of the gamepad/wheel's axis.

You can see which number of axis belongs to which control in-game in the dev GUI: press ~ and look at Drive window -> Inputs -> Jostick axes will be listed there. Move your controls around to see which one is which. Then add the corresponding number of axis to the XAxis= parameter in config and press "Load Bindings" or restart the game.

If one of your controls is stuck at 50% when idle, put XAxisNormalized = 1, it will remap the range from 0.5-1 to 0-1. If the control is inverted then set XAxisInvert = 1

The default axes set are those of an XboX 360 Controller.

The game doesn't support force feedback yet, and multiple controllers are currently not supported.

Modding support

Yes.

See Modding

Command line arguments

  • -r or --resources-path "path/to/res" - provide a custom resources folder
  • -cfg or --config-path "path/to/config.ini" - provide a custom config file
  • -map "path/to/mymap.map.ini" - override starting map, relative to res
  • -car "path/to/mycar.car.ini: - override starting car, relative to res

Known issues

  • Trees in Monty have no collisions Fixed in v23
  • If you have at least one controller connected, it will override keyboard input and steering, throttle and brake on the keyboard will not work. No longer overrides controls, now it merges them.
  • If the game stutters on laptops, make sure you play the game with your dedicated GPU as many times laptops will default to integrated GPU. You can set that in Windows "Graphics Settings" Fixed in newer versions, it should always start with stronger GPUs now.
  • If the game looks blurry and you have a high-dpi screen, the OS might override the application setting. Right click on the exe -> Compatibility -> Change High DPI settings -> check "Override high DPI scaling behavior" and select Application from the drop down
  • There are some known issues with Windows 7 and Windows 11, please submit an issue with a log file if you are using one and have problems

Changelog

Build 849 (version 2)

  • Initial release

Build 869 (version 3)

  • Fixed neutral gear which caused crashes due to division by zero
  • HUD can now be toggled (default: tab)
  • Camera movement is now bindable and defaults are numpad arrows
  • Camera FoV can now be changed in any camera mode (using + and - by default)
  • Auto shifting no longer upshifts from reverse

Build 870 (version 4)

  • Fixed crash when alt-tabbing in fullscreen

Build 879 (version 5)

  • Logger now flushes on warnings by default so that log.txt gets filled before crashes. Custom flush level can be set in config flushOnLevel, increasing the number lowers the threshold level needed for flush
  • Added Windows version info to log

Build 902 (version 6)

  • Reverse lights now work
  • Onboard camera position can now be set in config
  • Wheel radius is no longer hardcorded and can be set in config
  • Added suspension debug lines
  • Fog parameters are now in [fog] section in config

Build 1068 (version 7)

  • Reduced body collision friction from 1x to 0.7x to reduce chance of car flying when hitting small bumps and slowing down when bottoming out. Can now be set in config.
  • Automatic shader reloading on window refocus is no longer enabled by default (can be turned on in config: hotReloadShaders = 1)
  • Ambient light color, fog color and shadow color are now exposed in config
  • Engine can now load meshes with 32bit indices (instead of previously only 16bit), which removes the mesh triangle limit
  • Basic setup for splat (mixed) materials, but they are a bit broken so not in use yet

Build 1068 (asset changes only) (version 8)

  • Monty track update:
    • Patched all holes visible from the stage
    • Added 2 new retaining walls in the serpentine section to make it more clear where is the edge
    • Flattened sides of the big tunnel entry a bit
    • Fixed lighting of birches at the last hairpin
    • Grounded some trees that were floating
  • Shader cleanup (no visible differences)

Build 1258 (version 9)

  • Analogue axis support for gamepads! Setup axes in bindings in config. By default uses Xbox controller setup. To be done:
    • No gamepad button support yet.
    • Deadzone setting does nothing yet.
  • Physics changes:
    • Changed steering behavior to support gamepad. Steering is more reactive now. (will be tweaked later)
    • Default car now has lower and stiffer tarmac-like suspension
    • Suspension force now dependent on surface normal
  • Default car now has 18 inch tarmac wheels (graphics change only)
  • Added headlights. Toggle on L by default.
  • Blended tansparency support. Spec17 car now has windows.
  • Splat materials support. But none in use yet. Hardcorded surface physics for now. Documentation for how to use it coming soon.
  • Changed the smooth follow camera (3rd person). It now has split horizontal and distance constraints, so the camera won't get so far from the car when at high speed and will still be "cool" in the powerslides
  • Added -cfg "your_path.ini" to CL args to support loading different configs

Build 1276 (version 10)

  • Joypad button support. Mapped to 500+ keys in bindings config
  • Added outputKeyEvents parameter. Set it to 1 in config to ouput keys that you press/release in the console.
  • Analogue axis deadzone settings now work
  • Exposed "smooth follow" camera parameters in config
  • Car's rear lights are now lit up when headlights are on
  • Removed annoying bright white pixels from rear lights on default car
  • Physics: Reduced steering stiffness to be closer to the old steering physics
  • Exposed gravity parameter in config

Build 1591 (version 11/12)

  • Controller presence no longer disables keyboard input. Axes inputs of both now add up and work simultaneously
  • Physics changes:
    • Drive friction is now applied to the drivetrain not to the whole car
    • Brakes now exclusively apply friction to the drivetrain (previously there was an extra legacy braking force). Expect much weaker brakes now.
  • Resizing the window in windowed mode now correctly rebuilds the framebuffer (game doesn't get squashed)
  • Headlights are now conical spotlights (instead of spherical blobs), they are much more powerful and add light to environment in a more correct way
  • Brakes now cast light onto environment when headlights are off
  • Fixed crash when splat materials are used but no splatsrc object exists
  • Added axes input HUD
  • Moved timing window to the upper left corner
  • Particles!
    • Grass now emits particles
    • Particles are affected by light and receive shadows
  • Graphical wheel movement height is now clamped so it doesn't penetrate fenders. Can be set with wheelMaxHeight in config. Can be debugged and live edited in dev GUI (~) and visible in gizmos, toggle on F12 (as thin yellow line)
  • No timing and countdown happens on free roam tracks (where checkpoints are not found)
  • Tracks can now embed starting positions in gltf/glb files with a dummy object containing strt in their name. Start position can still be overriden in config if overrideStartPosition = 1 is set
  • Improved surfaces, added more parameters: (hardcorded for now)
    • friction - applies braking force to the wheels
    • tireCMult - changes Pacejka Parameter C
    • steerMult - multiplies steering forces
  • Added surfaces: gravel, snow, ice, deep_snow (not used in game yet)

Build 1679 (version 13)

  • Fixed a memory leak caused by the new input GUI
  • Added to config:
    • Gear ratios are now finally exposed! (gearRatios and gearFinalRatio)
    • maximized - maximizes window on start
    • fov - field of view
    • torque_table now in one line
    • lightsIntensity and positions of lights (frontLightsPosition and rearLightsPosition)
  • Debug menu bar in dev GUI (~) for quicker saving of parameters
  • Dev GUI windows can now be toggled individually

Build 1786 (version 14)

  • Fixed major issue with collision response that caused the car to jump on polygon edges
    • ^ Except for the wooden guardrail in Monty, the car will still stick into that one
  • Increased collision friction again to reduce wallriding exploit, since previously mentioned collision issue was fixed
  • Added message queue. It only shows info about camera switching and switching between auto shifting modes for now
  • Split timings now show only temporarily after passing through checkpoints
  • Config now supports # as comment delimiter. Note that end of line comments are not supported (and never were).
  • Reorganized config [car] section to be easier to read
  • Automatic gearbox no longer gets stuck in high gear when braking to a stop
  • Added credits.txt

Build 1951 (version 15)

  • Added moveable (rigid body) objects:
    • Stage signs, stage arrows, chairs and tables are now destructible in Monty
  • Fixed reverse. No longer turns into the same direction on both left and right.
  • Slightly decreased turning when skidding on the spot
  • Key events now output to ingame message queue when outputKeyEvents is enabled
  • Pressing G or T no longer sends test messages.
  • Wooden guardrails in Monty now have smoother collisions and will not get the cars stuck
  • Modding: colproxy named material can now be set to a submesh for when a collision-only part of an object is needed
  • Shadow rays now pass through checkpoint triggers. A workaround where triggers had to be in unshadowed areas to not brighten the car is no longer needed.
  • Modding: Added mvbl tag for moveables (rigid bodies). For now only a mesh-bounding box collider is used. Objects containing stage_sign are also moveable
    • m=NUMBER can be added to the same object to set the mass of a moveable object. For example m=100 would make it weigh 100kg
  • Optimized box colliders by reusing those with the same dimensions

Build 1999 (version 16)

  • Engine optimizations
  • Monty:
    • One chair was unmoveable, now it is
    • Cars are now moveable as well
    • Fixed holes in town and after the first tunnel
  • Renamed monty_track to monty

Build 2061 (version 17)

  • Game now automatically makes sure it runs on the dedicated GPU on PCs with multiple GPUs. Setting manual override in Windows settings is no longer required.
  • Automatic gearbox no longer drops into lower gears suddenly when sliding sideways. It now uses total velocity, instead of forward velocity to calculate when to switch gears.
  • Added "slew mode" as dev utility, toggled by pressing "Y". In slew mode you can fly around the map when in orbit camera mode. Hold shift and scroll to change speed. Times will be invalidated if you activate it during a timed run.
  • More engine optimizations and cleanup
  • Added GLEW failed to initialize check

Build 2436 (version 18, demo version 1)

  • Added replay system:
    • Replay is recorded automatically every run (but can be turned off in config with autoRecordReplay if it causes problems on low memory/spec machines)
    • Replay can be played back from the new in-game menu, by hitting Esc -> R
  • Added in-game menu. Esc now opens the menu and pauses the game.
    • Restarting the run is now Esc -> Space key combo, instead of just Esc
    • You can finally quit the game PROPERLY, through the menu (Esc -> Enter) instead of just alt+F4 (although they work in the same way).
  • Timing is now calculated in physics update, making it more correct. Previously, times were longer if physics update couldn't keep up, potentially on slower machines.
  • Cars no longer slide off slopes when stopped
  • Fixed a huge drivetrain instability issue that caused all parameters to fluctuate when very small
  • Game can now also be paused by pressing P, you can then change the cameras as you wish and use it as a photo mode (don't forget Tab toggles the HUD by default, so you can take some screenshots)
  • Added helicopter camera
  • Renamed Smooth Follow camera to Chase
  • Mouse now automatically hides when idle, instead of having to press ctrl to toggle
  • Config changes:
    • Gravity is now part of [enviro] and starting position override parameters are now part of [track]. Previously both were in [car]
    • Added particle color parameters to config (temporary, until separate track splat system configuration)
    • You can now offset the orbit camera pivot for each car, by setting orbitCamOffset=
    • Exposed rollbar stiffness parameter in car config
  • Fixed orbit camera flipping 180 degrees
  • For modders: wheel material is no longer necessary as part of the car model, texture does not need to be named spec17_body any more (see modding updates)
  • This is the first version that splits paid and demo versions. The only difference between the two versions right now is that in the paid version:
    • The car configs is now split from the main config, allowing for easy car modding. Now you can load different cars with different parameters by switching the car = parameter in main config. See modding for changes (in demo version the config is still combined and model hardcoded to spec17)
    • Folder structure has changed, cars are now in res/cars/ subfolder
  • Added smoothing and noise to freelook camera
  • Rearranged car parameters for easier modification
  • Wheel base and track are now modifiable in GUI
  • Removed legacy HPM and PLY loading from engine

Build 2437 (version 19, demo version 2)

  • Game now starts in fullscreen again by default (broken in previous version)
  • Exposed freelook camera parameters in config
  • Mouse hiding logic is now using unscaled deltatime

Build 2465 (version 20, demo version 3)

  • Fixed bug where times would not be registered when playing a replay after finishing the stage
  • Tracks are now called "maps"
  • In paid version:
    • maps are now also split from main config and load from .map.ini files and have been moved to res/maps/ folder (similar to cars)
    • Removed demo-only params from config
  • Added startWithHeadlightsOn= parameter for night maps
  • Rearranged config parameters:
    • [enviro] is now [colors]
    • [scene] and [track] params merged under [map]
    • particle and start params now have their own segments
  • Split timings window no longer pops out when HUD is hidden
  • Changed "Loading.." screen to show Shakedown Rally

Build 2517 (version 21, demo version skipped)

  • Finland map!
    • Use finland.bat to run it
  • Sideways forces now use Pacejka based function instead of 2 parameter linear function. Can be configured in Plot GUI - "Side Tire". Added corresponding values to config.
  • Exposed drive and engine inertia to config
  • Introduced gravel surface (any material that has "gravel" in the name becomes gravel)
  • Known issues:
    • Tarmac setup is not really compatible with Finland, and gravel setup is not with Monty, mixing them will have unexpected physics. This will be improved in future releases.
    • Intro camera in Finland is poorly placed off-world. That doesn't change the gameplay tho.

Build 2595 (version 22, demo version 4)

  • Finland:
    • Now has a multiple surface road material (splat). But all of them behave like the old gravel for now, it just looks prettier.
    • Added basic treewall around the map
    • Set new Finland intro camera position.
  • Personal best times and splits are now saved in record.ini file, so will persist between game starts.
    • To reset simply remove the desired segment from record.ini
  • Fixed wheel rotation: wheels will no longer rotate weirdly when the car is tilted. Won a battle with quaternions.
  • Fixed steering input not showing during replay
  • Splash no longer pops weirdly when game loads
  • Modding:
    • Intro camera positions can now be modified per map.
    • Splat materials now require _SPLAT named layer, and must be exported with Data > Mesh > Attributes option, due to blender 3.6 gltf changes
    • Wrongly scaled checkpoints will now be reported
  • Vacation time: See ya in 10 days!

Build 2805 (version 23, demo version 5)

  • Replay saving and loading to a file
    • When playing back a replay use the Save and Load buttons to open a file dialog
    • Right now, you can load any replay at any track with any car, so make sure to load the correct track and car first, otherwise the car will most likely fly in the air
  • Headights state is now saved into the replay
  • New tarmac, gravel and snow wheel models for Spec17
  • Wheels are now motion blurred when spinning
  • Keyboard steering now progresses linearily, which makes it more precise. Additionally, you can now set custom attack (when key is pressed) and release (when key is released) rates in config under controls section. Analog steering is unaffected.
  • Monty updates:
    • Added barriers to outgoing roads so it's more clear where you are supposed to go.
    • Trees are now collideable
  • Fixed issue with records which would overwrite the file every time the track has switched (#6)
  • Car name has been added to record.ini
  • Fixed audio weirdly panning when turning in onboard view Modding:
    • Now you can use different wheel meshes from the same car model file. Set the wheelObject= to the name of the wheel model object, and it will look for an object that ends with this string. This allows having different visual wheels or tires for different setups, e.g. gravel and tarmac wheel. You can reuse the new wheels from spec17.glb if you so wish.
    • Custom audio clips can now be used for car sounds. See Right now there is only one engine sound (as in spec17), but planning to implement better multiple audio blending system in the future (see (see modding))
    • Cars can now have motion blurred wheels, with up to 8 blurred "steps". (see modding)
    • Removed gripMult and earlyTractionMult parameters as they are no longer used
    • sideGripMult has been introduced
    • blender 4 is now the preferred version for exporting

Build 2814 (version 24, demo version 6)

  • Finland now has splat-based road visible again. This was a regression introduced in previous version.
  • Added 2 new CLI arguments, -car and -map with which you can load cars and maps bypassing the config.ini settings. Also added Command line arguments section explaining each argument.
  • Cursor now won't automatically hide when in replay file dialog
  • Added "confirm overwrite" prompt to file dialog
  • Added PirxOS to thank you

Build 2847 (version 25, demo version 7)

  • New map: Sweden!
    • Launch it with Sweden.bat!
    • "Soft" collisions used for the first time in Sweden for the snowbanks
    • Collision particles appear when colliding with snow banks
  • spec17 with snow tires (existed before but wasn't used) handling has been tweaked for Sweden
  • spec17 gravel setup (used in Finland) has been tweaked, it is less floaty at slow speeds than before
  • Added drawFrameBuffer option to config. When set to 0 it disables pixelation and color crunching effects
  • Removed finland.ini as separate dupplicate config.ini is no longer required. Finland.bat launcher now reuses config.ini Modding:
    • Exposed surface parameters to map config.
      • Currently only works on splat materials.
      • Surfaces can be defined and then mapped to splat channels. See this section in modding or sweden.map.ini for example.
    • Moved map/gravity= parameter to physics/gravity in map config
    • Added graphics/mipBias= to map configs. This will override the graphics/mipBias= defined in the main config.
    • Soft collisions can now be added with sft tag in the name of the material
    • Exposed soft collision stiffness and damping parameters to map config
    • Increased possible number of textures and materials from 64 to 256
    • Added asset overcapacity errors. For example, if you attempt to add more than 256 textures the game will now error and prevent loading additional textures. Previously it silently crashed or displayed incorrect textures. Known issues:
    • Warnings will show in the console for missing surface parameters, this is expected and is not a problem since they are meant to use defaults. Will hide those false positives in a future build.

Build 3004 (version 26, demo version 8)

  • New map: Kenya!

    • Longest track yet, 10+km with slippery mud and dust that is hard to plough through
    • Launch it with Kenya.bat!
    • First map with multiple splat materials (one for the road and one for the grass field)
    • Soft-collision bushes

  • Spec17 model update and new livery

    • Added rear-view mirrors, antennas, front brake ducts, roof scoop, seats and remodeled the rear wing
    • New livery with much better UV unwrap (non-mirrored), also includes carbon fibre parts
    • In spec17/textures folder you can also find spec17_white.png, which is a clean body texture without the livery. You can use it to paint your own! (Put a layer on top with multiply blending). Then overwrite the spec17_body.png.

  • Navigable in game menu

    • Navigate with arrows or WASD, confirm with space or enter
    • Added some basic options (but they don't save to config)
    • Still work in progress
    • Shortcut keys no longer used

  • Gearbox manual-automatic mode no longer switchable with a key, use the menu instead

  • Many small perf and memory optimizations

  • Added optional logging for ini parsing so warnings will no longer emit for missing surface parameters

  • Added game-loading timer: you can now see exactly how many seconds takes from starting the exe to getting in-game in the console. After the game starts, alt-tab to the console and see Started game in: Xs

  • Fixed issue where car windows would sometimes be pitch black (shadow color wasn't being set to them)

  • Fixed issue where wheel speed would accumulate during the splash screen

  • Sweden now has different particle colors for different surfaces, not just all white

  • Log has been cleaned up a bit

  • All assets not related to cars and tracks have been moved to res/core to prevent duplicate loading in case cars or tracks have their own non-gltf assets.

  • Modding:

    • Maps:
      • Maps now support multiple splat material sets
      • Per-surface particle parameters. Can customize kick and trail particle colors and trail lifetime.
      • Surface parameters can now be edited live in-game through the dev window
      • Added more errors that should catch incorrect splat and surface setups
      • Game now crashes intentionally when track model file is not found. Previously it would load and the car would just fall through the empty void.
      • tree is no longer a supported object tag for removing collisions, since objects named street would become false positives. Now nocol is used exclusively.
      • All materials containing colproxy in the name are now become collision-only objects. Previously there was only one colproxy material. This allows combining with other tags like sft.
    • Cars:
      • Lights materials are no longer required to be the same as body material, they can have their own materials and textures now
      • _windows is no longer a special object, any object with alpha blended material will be treated as a window-like.
      • You can now set number of gears with gearRatiosCount=, up to 12 ratios (reverse + neutral + 10 forward gears) are supported
      • Error emitted if last gear ratio is 0, which is not allowed
      • Emissive shader now has alpha test (cutout)
    • Fog can now be quickly toggled in-game by pressing F4

  • Build 3013 (version 27, demo version 9)

  • Fixed regression where missing car lights objects would crash the game without error

  • Fixed regression where wheel blur wasn't working

  • -map CLI arg log entry would incorrectly show the path to the car

  • Nicer CLI args log formatting