speed-dreams-code/TODO.txt

Top TODO list (some may be included in 1.5.0, some others not):
---------------------------------------------------------------
Foreword: Have a look first at trunk TODO : here, only sdl-port specific things.

Cars:
- move RGB files to PNG for lower disk footprint
- create textures for nascar-* (Eckhard)
- improve damage management (see Andrews ideas in the the devel list,
  under the title "Thoughts on collision damage").
- fix to high wheel inertia on many (if not all) models.
  See the devel list post "Low speeds".

Tracks:
- move preview images to JPEG for lower disk footprint

Menus:
- enable intuitive double-click for "Select/Unselect" action in the scroll-lists
  of the driver select menu
- new menu for human driver car setup : may be only a reduced set of parameters
  would be accessible first, with default values for others ; some thinking work
  about which go in this set wand which don't.
- Go on with Brian's XML menu infrastructure :
  * move new guimenu.h/cpp functions Create*, Get*, Load*, Read*
    to a new dedicated source file (guixml.h/cpp ?)
  * rename these functions to be consistent with Gfui API (add a GfuiXML prefix ?)
  * add support for keyboard shorcut XML description
    (with defaults like for F1, F12 ... and also customizable ones).
  * add support for dynamic background image.
  * add support for menu specific property/value in the XML file, 
    to remove hard-coded constants from the menu C++ code
    (Ex: x, y positions for non-always there controls ... see creditsmenu.cpp)
  * move the whole thing to a GfuiXMLMenuDescriptor class, for nice access
    to menu properties, controls, objects ... by their name or index (in the XML file)

Robots:
-

Program: 
- Simu V3 : integrate Christos' improvements from Torcs CVS HEAD :
   * 1. Discovered that corner velocities are not correctly calculated
     2. Stabilised CollideZ() code - removed corner velocity from calculation
        of reaction forces.
   * updated the viscous coupler so that it is symmetric (July 2009)
   * Changed some things in the rolling resistance calculation (July 2009).
     Now it works as advertised, i.e. sand is sticky!
- network gaming - work in progress (Brian)
- More GCC 4.3 compatibility (Mart, Jean-Philippe)
- fix game crudely exiting in several situations where an error message to the user
  (or simply skipping the requested action) would be preferable :
  * start a race with no driver
  * start a race that uses a driver that is no more in the install tree
  * start a race on a track that is no more in the install tree
    (by skipping the "Configure Race" step)
- enable the user to save race configuration (track, drivers and cars)
  for any race type, and to reload it later from the associated XML file list
- just load ssggraph once to avoid weird crashes when going back to the options
  menu and coming back to the race (just the Linux version was affected, and even
  this just under special conditions, the Windows version does not work the same
  way concerning this) - Back-port from Torcs r1-3-1 branch
- as we want to increase the details (cars, tracks, ...), think about better and deeper
  management of the level of detail, filtering-out objects that are not in the focus
  of the camera (if not already done somewhere ?), from a "high" level for close objects
  to a "low" level for very far objects, with 1 ou 2 intermediate distance levels.
  As an example, use the auto-generated 3D wheel model for low levels (decrease its details),
  and the designer-shipped one for high level (increase its details : more round wheels).
- replay feature - Work in progress by Adam Skoblinski
- break the 1-1 link between human drivers and their driven car = enable human driver
  to choose their car when choosing the opponents = in race configuration ; beware of
  the career mode where human module interfaces are used in a non-obvious way
  (look at thread "Driver select bug in sdl-port" in the devel list for Mart's
   explainations about it, and how the above can be done in a simple way).

Other:
- finish the Mac OS X port (with CMake) : ~95% done.  Compiles completely but does not run. 
  Plib is the biggest source of headaches. CMake integration still unfinished in that way.
- get rid of the Windows .def files stuff (through MS dllimport/dllexport macros)
  for defining shared libraries interface, except for the robots, for which these files
  are automatcally generated in the sdl-port branch (through a CMake macro).
- fix Windows main.cpp::init_args setting local dir twice if command line specified
  (the default value in <My documents> should only be set if not command line specified)
- think about how to integrate Haruna's fictious racing teams backstories in the game
  (ex: LS1 in 'LS1 team "backstories" (for fun)' devel list post)

TODO for 1.5.0 or after (some are current on sdl-port and career branches)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tracks:
- move all track dirs that are directly under data/tracks to data/tracks/road, dirt, ...
  in the repo, and update CMakeLists.txt

Cars:
- move textures to PNG for saving disk space / download time
- create / setup new LMP1 car set (Andrew)
- setup new Indy car set (converted by Xavier from GP4 game)
- complete / setup F1 car set (including Formula One by Andrew Sumner,
  F1-torcs by Vincente Marti, and models converted by Xavier from GP4 game)
  BUT: what about Manfariel's F1 2009 models?
- get rid of real car manufacturer names (replace by fictious but user-firendly ones)
- get rid of real brands / logos (replace by fictious / GPL / FAL ones, but beware of the logos
  often being non GPL/FAL-like licensed) 
- add petrol, bewy and mf1 to SuperCars set, as proposed by Wolf-Dieter
  BUT: There are still no front-engined cars!!
- check in the Pacejka book to see if the way mu is computed from tire load
  (= tire load sensitivity) is OK (simu V2 / wheel.cpp / SimWheelUpdateForce function)
- setup / test new LS1 car set (Haruna, Andrew)
- ALL CARS: Check competitive balancing of all carsets once physics engine is switched over to
  simuv3 rather than v2; should be done on a regular basis.
- ALL CARS: create LOD models to reduce graphical stress in big-grid races or on low-spec CPUs
  (or worse, both :/)
- rework the current stock car model to the newer model 'Car of Tommorrow'
- Hillclimb car with over 800 bhp?
  BUT: Is it fun?
- increase volume of backfire sound and gear shift sound

Robots:
- setup USR and Simplix robots for reworked 4WD carset.
- setup USR and Simplix robots for new LMP1 carset.
- setup USR and Simplix robots for new Indy carset.
- setup USR and Simplix robots for completed F1 carset.

Menus:
- adjust the credits file (remove GLUT)
- add options in the Open GL menu to enable/disable multi-sampling
  and change the "multi-sampling level (?)".
- Smart 3D view showing the selected car when choosing it


Program:
- improve command key management in human.cpp (there's 2 arrays indexed
  by the unicode of the keys (!), whereas we only use no more that 25
  different keys ; for the moment, these arrays were limited to 4096 items,
  but this is probably not sufficient in Japan or China ...
  => we must find a better indexing of these array, to use the really needed
     minimum number of key entries in these arrays (may be with some king of
     indirection ?)
- Support for 3rd party robots, cars and track. 3rd party robot builders 
  should be able to use our CMake macro's, so we need to make some changes
  to these macros and install them in such way that a robot can find it
  during compilation.
- fix trackgen not being built.
- Implement simple memory leak detection by overriding malloc, calloc, realloc, strdup,
  free, new, delete ... etc in order to save informations about the caller
  in the allocated block (use macros to override and __LINE__, __FILE__ ...
  to collect infos about the called ... but there's the new/delete difficult case).
- introduce human driver assistance features, like Line Assist System (LAS)
  and Instructor's Braking System (IBS) ;
  also improve human skill level management in order to prevent rookie players
  from winning too easily (by limiting car capabilities, and particularly removing
  the extra-grip and replace it by driving assistance) and to scale driver assistance
  availability / capabilities ;
  add also something for preventing you from smashing into the back of the car in front
  (see Haruna's detailed post on the subject and associated thread http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=e17477d90904182050lc339f5cy6b4908ed8dc1723%40mail.gmail.com&forum_name=speed-dreams-devel)
- introduce AI vs AI duel tournament mode for casual robot programmers (similar to 
  R-TYPE FINAL's 'VS AI' mode); with varying car types, tracks, and robot competence
- Add co-driver/navigator signals and sounds for dirt and certain road tracks to be
  used in rallying game modes

Other:
- regularly merge-in changes from trunk
-