Powerboat VR News

Ahoy There, Skippers!

This update introduces the "Mega Cities" that I've been working on. No longer will a city be made up of just 10 buildings! Now they stretch along the coastline much like real cities do with smaller buildings on the outskirts and towering skyscrapers towards the middle and is much closer to what I had in mind for the game.

They are still procedurally generated so you may well see things like trees stuck inside buildings etc but I'll get round to fixing those at a later date. For now it provides a fantastic background for boating!

You'll also notice that even though the cities are now huge performance isn't reduced by much and in some areas it will be better. The game now tends to run at a higher frame timing - but it is more constant.

The starting location is actually one of the highest density areas of the map as 4 terrain/city tiles are in view at once so it's a good bench marking site.

There are still optimisations to be done and almost certainly I will need to split the cities into detail levels to reduce overall density to help out lower spec'd machines.

Please ensure you are "opted in" to the BETA branch to get this update.

Ahoy There, Skipper!

I am very pleased to announce that the new 900km2 (30km x 30km) island map is now ready for you to test.

I have launched it as an opt-in beta test so for those who don't know how to opt-in to these things please follow the instructions below...

1. Go to your Steam library and find Powerboat VR
2. Right Click on it and go to properties
3. A window will pop up, click "BETAS"
4. From the drop down you will be able to select "betatest - Map Beta Test"
5. Close the window and Steam should schedule an update for Powerboat VR which should be 2.2Gb in size.
6. Once it has downloaded you can run the game and enjoy the new map.
7. If you want to revert back to the old version just repeat these instructions but select "None" from the BETA drop down.

BAD POINTS (Hence the beta release)
Loading time is quite slow - it can take a while before everything loads ok so please be patient. I've already fixed this but haven't had time to rebuild everything for release. Expect an update tomorrow.

First of all there is definitely a performance hit on the new map - not huge but it may be enough to cause reprojection on some machines. As a guide my test system (i9-9900k / RTX2080ti) I get around 7.5ms - 8ms when driving around the map. in a race this increases to around 11ms - 12ms, enough to cause some reprojection. However, there is plenty of optimisation to be done on the new map so I am quite sure this will come down in future updates.

The new map contains the same number of races and delivery points but they are now spread out a bit more because of the map size change. This makes the MFD map somewhat difficult to use as the icons and names get too small to read and the map doesn't zoom out far enough to see much more than the 1st island. I will try to fix this tomorrow.

GOOD POINTS
It's a new map - and it's huge. You start off in the roughly in the middle of the map so you have 15km in any direction to explore. I'd estimate that even using the Typhoon and hitting its maximum speed of 100kts it will still take about an hour to circumnavigate the edge of the map let alone visit the interior islands!

The whole area has been covered with new high resolution textures both on land and beneath the sea. While the terrain itself has been modelled more realistically with lovely smooth beaches sloping gently into the sea. The fish also react to the new terrain better as the depth is more constant so they know where to swim. They can still clip through the ocean floor though (another thing to fix!).

The race tracks length have been increased so they are more suitable for powerboating. The races now last longer and, trust me, you'll need the extra length if you are going to beat the new race AI which has had a bit of an upgrade. They're still a bit dumb in situational awareness (I'll be fixing that shortly) so they do tend to collide but they now haul ass and are just as fast as you. Please remember that the AI uses an identical copy of the boat you are in, physics and all, so if they beat you it's not because they cheated! ;o)

I have modified the ocean waves so they are slightly smoother and they also flow a bit slower mimicking the swell of an ocean a bit better. This also gives you a little more time to react to large waves and have at least an attempt at steering round them which will be important shortly because...

The new engine/boat management system will hopefully be coming next week. This update will mean the end of just holding the throttle open and hoping for the best. You'll need to manage your engines by reducing revs when props come out of the water as well as choosing the gentlest racing line where possible to reduce damage to the boat and yourself! Expect things like water ingress, mechanical failures, electrical failures and also a simulation of the physical punishment you are experiencing. These will all be togglable with varying levels so you'll be able to configure the game to your preferences.

Today's update...

1. Added the ability to configure gaming devices to control the boat while in VR so you can now drive your boat with a gamepad, wheel, joystick etc etc.

Controls are configured via the menu that pops up before the game starts in VR. All VR controls are marked as "Player 1" and cover everything from steering the boat, interacting with the MFD and adjusting you seat position.

Once configured, start the game and then go to the Settings Menu > Game Settings and activate the "External Control" option. This option is saved once set.

You will still need a VR controller to interact with menus and grab cargo and this will be addresses shortly.

Ahoy There, Skippers!

As part of the control system update I have added a hybrid VR control setup to the game. This system allows you to control the boat using your VR controllers rather than having to actually grab the controls.

I actually prefer driving the boats like this.

In each boat there is a new GREEN button which toggles the "Remote Control" system on and off. With it switched on you can apply throttle with the trigger and steer with the thumbstick/touch pad. You can still grab the controls if you want allowing e.g. if you want to steer using the virtual controls but like the throttle on the trigger then you can do this.

Please note that there is currently no reverse on the triggers and that when the "Remote Control" system is on the virtual VR controls will re-centre after being released rather than stay where they are with the system off.

In the next day or so I should complete the rest of the control update which will allow you to configure pretty much any physical control system to control the boat e.g. Wheel, pedals, joypad etc.

Ahoy There, Skipper!

The new update today includes a total overhaul of the cargo delivery system.

Instead of a random system, each cargo collection point will have a selection of different "Missions" for you to complete. These missions are curated so that everyone gets the same cargo, same weather and the same boat to complete it and they each have a little back story and may even involve you getting off your boat!

At the end of the mission you will be awarded a score & rank based upon the cargo you delivered and how fast you did it.

These scores are saved locally but will be uploaded to a Steam Leaderboard in the future.

Boat physics have also been tweaked and a new volumetric fog system has been added while the ocean wave system's detail has been improved and now uses the Beaufort Scale to match waves to weather conditions.

As always, you are invited to the Powerboat VR Steam forums to give feedback and post ideas and, with this new update, ideas for missions would be most welcome!

Happy Boating!