[Level Pack] Kart Rev - A SRB2Kart V1.5 Base Game Maps Modification [v1.6.X] 1.6

[Gunla]

Preview Video​

Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart Version 1.X has been around for some time. Many maps have been ironed out in terms of paths by patches from Kart Krew, and have had lots of work go into polishing them from developers and strong routes from players.

At times, this has resulted in some unfortunate exploits and adverse elements being abused and some tracks seeing the short end of the stick in netgames, despite the work that has been put into them from their mapmakers and players. What you see here is Kart Rev (short for Kart Revision), the product of several individuals coming together to make a base maps modification that strives to improve the netgames experience for Kart Version 1.3 in as objective of a manner as possible.

This is a major modification to the base game maps of Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart Version 1.3. A few disclaimers:

Spoiler: Disclaimers

• This is not V2, nor is this a V1.2, V1.2.1, etc. While many individuals, including a handful of developers, have provided comments or assisted in feedback for this modification, this should not be viewed as the work of Kart Krew and only as the changes of the individuals listed below. All changes and modifications seen here were done without knowledge of V2 that is not available to the public (and in most cases were not considered as V2's ecosystem will be different from V1.X's), so any changes you see here may or may not (most likely the latter!) will be present in V2 as it runs on a different gameplay loop that this modification does not balance for. Feedback for this modification should not go to Kart Krew.
• The primary purpose of this modification is to be run on Hard or Normal Speed netgames, with more elements being balanced towards Hard Speed. While changes were accounted for all speeds, please keep this in mind.
• This is not RA-compatible, nor is it made with speedrunning in mind as several cuts that are utilized in “Any%” speedruns are removed.
• No core game mechanics are changed. However, some modifications were considered with respect to changes made here (IE: KartMP, Haste), and the Diagonal Grey Springs from Community Resources are utilized.
• All edited maps have updated subtitles that include “Rev”, have updated map thumbnails and feature a changed lap banner (if they had one prior) to make it clear to players.
• This modification does not touch the Community or SMK cups. These maps were observed in a different sphere due to the nature of their origins.
• Changes were intended to fit in as well as possible within SRB2Kart’s basic canvas. Please do note that Rev does update some musicdefs, so you would want to load this before any music modifications. In addition, texture replacements have been added in Version 1.4 for Kodachrome Void.
• 46 maps in total have been changed in the Version 1.4.X series (v1.4.X): 37 from the Normal Map rotation, and 9 from the Hell Map rotation. No Battle maps have been changed.
• If you are reporting a bug, please check Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart Version 1.1 before posting. A texture that seems misaligned may be a base game element, or a tear in the sky that doesn’t look like a texture may just be a renderer quirk.

Spoiler: Authors & Testers

Authors

• Gunla
• ThatAwesomeGuy173
• runa
• Barkley
• Chromatian - Incorporated select fixes from KartMapFixesV1.1.wad with permission.
• AGhost - Incorporated select fixes from antiskip.wad with permission.
• SoupBowler - Incorporated Diagonal Grey Springs from Community Resources with permission.

A special thank you to the testers who assisted in providing feedback for this as well; without their feedback and assistance, this would not have been possible.

Testers & Additional Collaborators (non-conclusive):

• Tyron
• InstableGR
• Mariko
• PorterOfGames
• Julie Hikari
• Dankies
• wolfs
• Siregulus
• James
• SteelT
• Ibuki
• Trailblazer1
• Twillsky
• MrNin
• Cyron

Documentation:

• 1.4.X Series Documentation
• 1.3.X Series Documentation
• 1.1.X Series Documentation
• 1.0.X Series Documentation

 

[SeventhSentinel]

Welcome to Releases!

 

[Alessand97]

Nice

Thanks for all the effort put into this!

 

[MK.exe]

Oooo an Unofficial vanilla map update?!. This looks really appetising and will test shortly

Good stuff!

 

[GigaLem]

Something like this is something I'm most likely going to enjoy, but one thing I personally want done if it hasn't been done already. Have it so Crystal Abyss becomes OpenGL friendly, Personally I do not like the camera on Software mode but I can't play Crystal Abyss since it tanks the frame rate on OpenGL (I wanna say its like some sort partical effect or fog effect that lags it, I know because a friend had a map with a certain effect applied and it tanked the frame rate hard so he removed it) If something like that could be done, I'll be real happy.

But I'll enjoy playing through these touched up maps

 

[SoupBowler]

Copy and pasted from the Kart Krew Discord:

Ok so the Darkville ramp change felt rather unnecessary. Not only have I never seen people take this ramp in normal netgames for Vanilla, the removal of the split in the ramp so you can just ride through the middle isn't faster than just shoeing on the ground. In fact they take roughly the same amount of time.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270211185666686978/676917581684408327/Darkville_NewRamp1.gif

The only difference being if you go straight down the middle, you don't get another item...

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270211185666686978/676917677977239572/Darkville_NewRamp2.gif
If you aim for the floating item boxes with a shoe boost, that's also slower than just shoeing on the ground to grab them. So I really don't see how this encourages people to use the ramp more?

If you're wondering why the ramp is roughly the same as staying on the ground, it's the air time you get. Sure you captured the speed of a shoe boost going off of it, but the height of the slope slows you down regardless meaning you travel only slightly faster or about the same as your normal top speed when flying up. Maybe lowering the ramp's height and maybe having only one floating item set in the center instead of on each split path would make it more useful.

If I find any other critiques or bugs I'll post here again later. Still trying to collect my thoughts on the whole thing.

 

[Tyron]

Have it so Crystal Abyss becomes OpenGL friendly, Personally I do not like the camera on Software mode but I can't play Crystal Abyss since it tanks the frame rate on OpenGL

This is fixed in every major community build and the current "master" branch of Kart, was an issue with double thok barriers IIRC. If you can't compile for yourself, BIRD Mod includes the fix.

 

[Gunla]

Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.0.1, applying some hotfixes to 8 maps. In particular, a few significant changes have been made:

• Fencing has been applied to the bridge in Chao Circuit 2.
• The ramp in Special Stage 3 is surrounded by offroad now, but it is closer to the ramp to let low speed characters access it easier on Normal and Hard.

Detailed changes can be found in the Public Documentation Google Doc in the OP.

 

[Gunla]

Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.0.2, applying some hotfixes to 4 maps (Special Stage 3, Paradise Hill, Aurora Atoll, and Peach Gardens). Detailed changes can be found in the Public Documentation Google Doc in the OP.

From the seems of it, the most immediate updates and hotfixes should ideally be slowing down from here. There are some long-term goals that we'll be looking towards tackling and seeing what ways we can subvert some more under-the-hood issues, but for now, that'll remain under wraps; there are a few maps that will probably see some significantly more QOL-geared fixes down the line, however. I appreciate the immediate feedback with regards to everything, even if it has resulted in a more aggressive patch cycle than desired.

 

[SeasideDoe]

Hello, I've got something important to ask that can be patched soon-apparently it's possible to slide off of what I think is a death barrier in Egg Quarters.

 

[Gunla]

Hey Seaside,

Looking in, this appears to be an extremely rare occurrence of basically riding on a linedef that happens in Vanilla as well. From how it appears in the gif, you're landing on the linedef of a star post activator sector's ceiling and a death pit and thus the game is hanging you in the air until you are no longer riding the linedef and the game assumes you are in the star post activator sector, which is when you fall down in the other direction.

We're in the deliberation of how to handle our next minor and major updates, but this will likely be looked at in the near future, regardless of if the red spring panels are kept. Nonetheless, thank you for the report.

Vanilla repro: https://imgur.com/Z1KPBee

 

[Gunla]

Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.1 (or v1.1). There are quite a few changes, so we'll go through the most important non-map-balance ones here.

Some additional important credits are in order, namely:
AGhost for providing additional mapfixes and concepts to work with
MrNin for providing additional details on maps

6 Maps have been added to Kart Rev. These are:

Spoiler

• Green Hills
• Hill Top
• Sub-Zero Peak
• Silvercloud Island
• Cloud Cradle
• Volcanic Valley Classic

The rest of the major additions to the modification have been predominantly geared towards ironing out major skips.

All maps now have vote screen UI to indicate if they have received changes in Rev.

Documentation for 1.1.X Series builds will be located here and separate from 1.0.X Series documentation.

---

We do anticipate a few hotfix builds, ultimately some things slip through in testing and we ask that you bear with us over the coming days.

 

[Superjustinbros]

Here's one small thing I spotted almost immediately when playing Daytona Speedway.

You can climb up onto the edges of the bridge and fall down onto the track below, losing time.

 

[SoupBowler]

Looking at V 1.1, and I'm glad that more maps have been given adjustments! I do have a few small things I recommend considering for possible future updates.

Canyon Rush: I appreciate that all the problematic slopes having their physics turned off to prevent unfair launching situations, such as at the start, but there is still this one slope at the end that has a very high chance of sending players into the right wall if they exit the U-turn around the middle of the road.

Volcanic Valley: There's this one drop off after the third item set that can be taken with mid to high speed characters by using a blue mini turbo. It isn't a strong cut, but it is useful.

After that cut there is this single sneaker panel near the ramp cut that the player can take and barely cross the gap without needing a shoe.

Taking the cut without a shoe cuts a U turn so this is probably more worth weighing on fixing. But, I'll let you guys make the call on that. Thanks again for listening to feedback!

 

[Superjustinbros]

Two more things worth noting across a few Map Hell tracks:

In CK Dungeon Maze, the bridge over the lower section of track doesn't have a kill plane to respawn the player if they fall onto the earlier section of track. The track's icon also lacks the "R" label used on other modded tracks.

As for CK Cloud Tops 1, the texture for the grass edges of the clouds bleeds into the clouds themselves when you view them form this angle.

 

[Gunla]

Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.1.2, applying some hotfixes to 4 maps. In particular:

• Further cleanup on Canyon Rush final lap slopes.
• Fixed an error revolving around Pleasure Castle having an unintended missing checkpoint and debug item box.
• Fixed an error revolving around Dungeon Maze's thumbnail not being updated.
• Cleaned up and redid some of Cloud Top 1's geometry to remove the slime trail effect on Software.

Detailed changes can be found in the Public Documentation Google Doc in the OP.

---

While completely new changes and additions are currently not in the works for this series, the feedback on additional and new elements is completely appreciated; focus for the time being will be on immediate and necessary hotfixes.

 

[Superjustinbros]

A rather famous Sand Valley skip (at least in my opinion). Its hard to pull off but if you do it's more efficient than the U-turn normal path and the sneaker path.

As for the map hell side of things, the NiGHTS bumpers in Sand Valley are very likely to miss shooting you into the next set up the first time, so they have to launch you up a second time for you to continue along the route.

Edit:

I forgot to mention this "longcut" due to lack of collision in this one wall in Sand Valley.

 

[Gunla]

Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.1.3, applying some hotfixes to 3 maps. In particular:

• A Major Skip in Casino Resort has been removed.
• Further cleanup on Canyon Rush's fences.
• Cleanup on the indoor section of Sand Valley's walls and passthrough properties.

Detailed changes can be found in the Public Documentation Google Doc in the OP.

 

[Victor Rush Turbo]

So far I've been loving the updates that this mod has to offer! However, there's a few quick issues I'd like to point out:

Canyon Rush

There's a few more fences that aren't marked as solid. The red circle in the picture pinpoints the exact location:

I approached the fences from the exact same position as seen in the picture:

Silvercloud Island

Two things regarding this map. It's possible to get stuck in this little gap here:

There's also this building that isn't marked as a death plane:

CK Chao Circuit 2

This might be minor, but there's a chance that a player can get knocked behind the first halfpipe, resulting in a lengthy recovery:

 

[Gunla]

Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.1.4, applying some hotfixes to 7 maps. In particular:

• Canyon Rush's fence have had additional cleanup on Lap 3.
• Silvercloud Island has had additional softlock fixes applied.
• Fixed an issue revolving around Casino Resort's 8th checkpoint not being applied to a sector, and thus allowing it to be skippable.
• The raised flower areas in the start of Dark Race have had slope physics removed from them.
• Chao Circuit 2's 2nd and 3rd U-turns have been fenced off in the background, and the areas behind the slopes have been turned into death pits.
• Arid Sand's NiGHTS boosters have been moved closer to each other.
• Sky Garden's offroad checkpoint sectors now have proper offroad.

Detailed changes can be found in the Public Documentation Google Doc in the OP.