Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

I'm just totally stoked to actually get to play it.:D

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

I finally made 20 points: http://vimeo.com/9115291

Last video for now. I think this is sufficient proof I have no life.

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

LOL - Glad we could help :)

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

I'm sorry if this is an extremely easily answered question, but I honestly have no idea how to get this thing to work. When I open up fifth gear, I start my server, and then when I show up, I see no robots. I read the document on installation instructions and stuff, but it still doesn't say how to actually go about picking a robot/playing around...

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

I also have that problem, also whats a server people are on?

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

You need to open 2 instances of 5th Gear to play 1v0. One server, one client.

It's a LAN game, for now. Not online :(

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

Alright thanks very much

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

When Pacman goes off the side of the level, he magically reappears at the opposite side of the screen.

When you drive your robot into one of your goals, you magically reappear at the opponents' end of the field.

The Pacman Effect or the Pacman Easter Egg seemed like logical names for this "feature". :)

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

Thanks Art - Reappearing on the opposite side of the field sounds like something to put on our bug list

ttld and ford - To amplify what Chris said - In a full-up 5th Gear set-up, right now, you would have 7 computers on a LAN, and pick one to be the server computer (the location where the sever instance of 5th Gear will run). The other 6 would be split 3 and 3 between the red and blue alliances. The red and blue folks would each pick robots and drive styles (with their bot's location on the field determined by when they each lock in their choices) and then someone would start the match on the server.

Right now we have not purposefully given the software the ability to tolerate the relatively long communication delays that would come with having a bank of public server computers sitting on the internet somewhere so that clients from all over the planet can link into those hypothetical public servers. So right now you get to supply your own server.

However, as Chris pointed out, you don't have to run the server software on its own computer (physically separated from the client software). We have purposefully kept the complexity of the game low enough so that typical school and home computers can handle running the server software and one client's software simultaneously on a single computer.

When you want to use 5th Gear solo, you can start it up twice on the same computer. Tell one instance to be the server. Tell other instance to be the client (if its not a server, then it is implicitly a client); and tell that client that the server's IP address is 127.0.0.1 (aka the Loopback Address of the computer they are sharing). The client will be where you pick a simulated robot and play, and the server can be ignored during each match after you use it to start that match.

Blake
PS: Sounds like we need to clarify this in our documentation and/or in our on-screen hints.

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

Thanks for the help. I got it working, and it's pretty legit when it works. :P And yeah, probably somewhere it might help to add that. :D

I was also wondering if there was a way to change the controls on the keyboard layout. Right now the WASD layout is a bit awkward. Also, the program tells me to press the red button to send ball back into the field, but I don't know how that translates into the keyboard.

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

WASD is a pretty standard setup for a lot of FPSes and keeps drivebase motion on the left hand, traditional for most games. In short, I like it.

Enter grabs a ball, Space kicks it, and [Left?] Shift returns a ball.

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

If you have an Xbox 360 USB controller, you can plug it into your computer and use it to play 5th Gear. That's where the red, green, blue, etc buttons come from.

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

windows only? no linux?

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

Folks - One of the things we knew we needed to do is to supply some on-screen graphics that would illustrate how the Xbox controllers make the simulated bots move.

I attached a sample (below - click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version) for use Tank Drive to steer one of our Holonomic robots (you can strafe and move diagonally, in addition to normal Tank Drive motions) - If you think I need to revise it, let me know.

I need to do three more: Tank Drive Skid, Arcade Holonomic, and Arcade Skid.

Blake
PS: We used to have the Keyboard and the Xbox user-controls show up in the on-screen hints. I'll ask the other guys if we took them out on purpose.

Re: 2010 5th Gear FRC Match Simulator
 

5th Gear has XNA underneath it to give us a "game" software framework. As much as I might grumble about losing portability because of that; I do very much like that it gives us a possible path for some day migrating onto Xbox game consoles.

Software projects are full of trade-offs; just like building a FIRST FRC robot. Learn how to wisely evaluate and execute those trade-offs now and you will have a skill you can emphasize in job interviews a few years from now.

That said, like you, I want to have a Linux version running some day; but first we will have to isolate all of the XNA code into modules that are mostly-decoupled from everything else, and then find (or write) a suitable Linux -compatible utility that can replace XNA. If we have to write one, well, that is no small task.

So, neither you nor I should hold our breath waiting for a Linux version; but I hope there is at least some comfort in knowing you aren't the only person looking forward to having one some day. ;)

Blake
PS: Just in case it isn't obvious - We don't have a Mac version either. Right now - Windows is your buddy for 5th Gear. We developed and tested it on Windows XP. Trying it out on Windows 7 is a subject pregnant with possiblities. :)