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Messages - Asdrael

1006
Setups / Re: SX starter guide
September 10, 2016, 07:34:43 PM
Reserved in case I babble too much.
1007
Setups / SX starter guide
September 10, 2016, 07:34:23 PM
Update to Beta5: Changes in bold.
TLDR: Suspension work better making SX behaviour more predictable, in particular rythm sections. Slightly better traction helps making big jumps. Slightly lighter front ends requires more tact to brake hard, and a better front end control in woops and on full throtle take off. Overall, SX difficulty went down slightly as it is easier to hit big rythms and be consistent, but harder to push it hard on hotlaps due to whoops and braking requirements. Difficulty order of my tracks: JS7 SX South < SX2016 Rd2 < SX2016 Rd1 < SX 2016 Rd3 < JS7 SXNorth. Expect lap times to be slightly slower than in Beta 4 (around 1s for a 1min lap).


Since I have seen people on youtube or online stuggling a bit with SX in general, I just wanted to contribute with a quick guide on how to get started in SX in MXB. Of course, it is subjective as to what to do and why, but what follows has been how I could make it work for me.

Before the actual guide, a few words of infinite wisdom ( ;D ).

In MXB, and at least on the tracks I have made, SX is a matter of finding the flow of the track. If you try to approach each section trying to "make it", basically, you won't. You will always be faster doubling through nicely than forcing a triple in nose high that you'll case. Hoh, and you'll have more fun too.

In order to achieve that, you need to be smooth with the bike. Which requires you to know what the bike is doing and how the physics work. The big NONO currently (beta 5) is having the bike center of gravity moving around too quickly - inertia WILL throw you off. That includes changing the bike lean on a jump / bump (unless you know what you are doing and you are scrubbing / whipping but this is a starter guide). You will be able to jump smoothly even if the bike is leaned, as long as the angle doesn't change. Also, you will wash the front end and/or back end out if you give too much gas on a berm. This is realistic, but can be surprising in a game. The way I have found to control this better comes in three steps:

1. Know what your bike and rider are doing

1.a. Camera
I am extremely uncomfortable running in the 1st person bike view because I have no idea how my rider is positioned and how the bike is moving around him. Same in 3rd person as I lack the perspective. I have found the 1st person chest mount to be best for it, with the following settings:

In Settings / Simulation: FoV 110, Tilt 50%, Pitch 30%, no corner anticipation.

This allows me to always have at least the front fender moving around in sight, and estimate the lean of the bike without getting dizzy because of too much movement.

1.b. Controls
Set up everything to your taste binding-wise, but in terms of control you want to dampen your input slightly, and make sure you control the lean of the bike perfectly. There are two schools for that: either stick = lean angle, or stick = movement. I belong to the first school (this is the Direct Lean option). You also want stability help. It's not "cheating", as the devs confirmed it was for testing purposes but intended to be put at 100 or close to it at all times. I see it as "hours spent in the gym in the off season". The higher the Stability Help, the more your input will have effect on the bike. In Beta 5 you can get away with lower Stability Help settings (down to 60% or so), making you turn sharper but have a harder time in the whoops. I currently run mine at 70% but do not recommend it when starting out.

In Settings / Simulation: Stability help 90% ; in Settings / Input: Direct lean 90%. 0 riding helps (beside automatic tire changes, I'm too lazy). I have found out that Automatic Rider F/B Lean is overridden when you give Rider F/B Lean input, but kicks in when you dont. Up to you if you want that, it can help when starting out but don't get bad habits - you'll need it off at some point.

Do not overlook the controller settings. They are very powerful and can drastically change your experience from "I barely touched the stick what the hell" to "wow this is not even responding". I run with somewhat of a mellow setting to allow me to be more stable when approaching jumps and berms, at the cost of turning a tad slowly.

In Settings / Input:
- Lean : 100% Linearity ; 0-0% Smooth ; 100% Gain
- Throttle: 100L 30-10S 100G
- Brake: 75L 50-25S 100G
- Rear Brake: 100L 100-100S 75G
- Rider F/B: 100L 0S 100G
- Rider L/R: 100L 0S 100G
Beta 5 changes rundown: trying to diminish the spinnind/washing out by replicating the natural smoothing that comes with real bikes commands, in particular how disk brakes work.

Deadzone to taste according to your controller quality... Do NOT overlook this. Beta 5 made the bike more responsive in general. In the whoops in particular, any unwanted input can result in swapping out. Your goal is to set your deadzone at a level which does NOT give any input when fiddling around with your finger on the controls. Do not worry if you hit 20% or so, it's normal on a worn cout controler and will not impact when you actuall give an command input.

2. Bike and bike setup

Everyone has a favorite brand, I know. Every single bike can run SX properly (125KX, 450YZF, whatever). Save yourself some frustration, get on the MSM 250F or the YZF 250F. Those two are the most neutral and balanced, the MSM being soft, the YZF being rigid. The 450F are overpowering at first (heck, even now). The 250 2 stroke require you to already flow or they will bog down / throw you off. The 125 2 strokes are like 250 2 strokes without the power ;)

The first things you should do are:
- Changing the gear ratio to 13/52 (in the pits, Drivetrain)
- Changing the tires to Med Soft (in the pits as well).

You do not need to touch the suspension for now. Both of those bikes run great stock. Maybe put a harder spring on the MSM forks and shock if you feel it rebounds too much.

Suspension setup tips
Start off by reading the Suspensions Tutorial by StoneRider. This will help you achieve a base setup that you will need to tweak for SX. I usually proceed with those steps once I have around recommended sag values:

    • Fill up the oil in the fork to 130.
    • Get the rear a bit soft with slow rebound (lower bump / higher rebound values). This helps traction and whoops control.
    • Get the front a bit harder to move (higher bump and rebound) but decrease it's preload bit a few clicks.
    • Ride a lot and see how it behaves.[/b]

    A few pointers:
    - bottoming out the rear shock throws you sideways in the air.
    - bottoming out the front throws you nose high uncontrollably when jumping hard.
    - whoops is a matter of a softer rear with a stiffer front.
    - jumping slightly nose high constantly can be lessened by going down one spring rate (fixing your preload afterwards of course).
    - it's not too bad bottoming out the rear on jumps slightly as long as you retain traction and whoops stability. Bottoming the front is a no no.


    3. Track riding general tips

    I would strongly suggest you start with either the SX South (clay) of the JS7 compound made by TheFatController and me or the Factory SX training facility made by Pacopastor. Both tracks are the most forgiving SX tracks I know of.

    Once again, try to find your flow and don't force it. This is the most crucial aspect of SX.

    Couple of tips I learned the hard way:

    - whoops should be approached by shifting one gear up (if you are coming in in 2nd, shift up to third) in neutral position. Let the bike settle down into the first 2 whoops with very low throttle, start leaning back, then put around mid throttle. Hitting the rev limiter is a sign you have too much throttle. Get in straight as an arrow, do not try to change direction other than using rider lean (if even). Let go of your lean stick.
    - berms are not a launching pad. You should be braking coming in, and accelerating slowly until you are straight up again.
    - engine braking is huge on the 4 strokes. Throttle control while landing and taking of is the key to flow the rythm sections. Rule of thumb: never have 0% throttle taking off and landing. Wide open will also shoot your front end high. Use Rider F/B lean to compensate.
    - don't try to straighten up the bike last minute on obstacle faces. You'll be smoother taking off with a small but stable angle.
    - yes, you can seat bounce. No, you should not need it anywhere on those two tracks.
    - if you find yourself nose or end high too often, try to look at your replays to see if you are bottoming out.
    - slightly moving forward on big jumps take-off helps the bike move naturally nose down toward the landing.
    - slightly moving backwards at the end of the tables helps the bike jump further to the next obstacle.
    - at least on SXSouth of the JS7 compound, taking the outside lines and doubling in is very easy and not a big time loss at all (except the northern set of whoops, take the left turn then roll the first bump taking the outside line, the double is tricky, as is the inside line).
    - with a light front end, be very careful when grabbing the front brake and trying to turn right away. You WILL wash out. In particular when the front suspension is working it's way back up (typically 1 or 2 seconds after coming out of an obstacle like jumps or whoops). Either let engine braking do its job and stabilize the bike, or brake as you land. For this reason,  SLOW DOWN at the end of a whoops section if a turn is coming up. Don't expect to get out of the whoops and slam the brakes, it won't work.


    Now, get on the tracks and practice. You'll most likely change the settigns around a bit to suit your taste and style. After a bit, you will feel like you need to change the bike setup. Or try new bikes. Or whatever. At that stage anyhow, this guide will be too basic for you ;)


    As a reference point, using exactly those settings, and NEVER touching Rider FB/LR lean on a stock MSM250F, I can run SXSouth on the fast lines (tripling in) around 52s laptime consistently.
    1008
    Off Topic / Re: Guitars anyone?
    September 10, 2016, 03:36:33 PM
    Just saw this topic by messing up search between websites :D

    I have a couple of guitars.
    Ibanezes mostly: RG 7620, RG 2027XXV, Universe (2008 version), SZ520QM. As well as a custom 7 strings Skervesen.

    As far as amps go, I have a VHT Delivrance 60 and a Fryette Sig:X running to either a 2x12 V30 cab or a 1x12 VHT cab.

    I wont list all pedals but I currently have on my pedalboard a Jemini, a Boss NS2, Hall of Fame TC Electronics, a cheap delay and a Pitchblack tuner.
    1009
    Support / Re: Racing online
    September 10, 2016, 03:30:07 PM
    I guess you bought the game and have it registered.

    If you are sure you have the track and the bikes required by the server, it might be that some of your bike data is corrupted. Happened to me already. I fixed it by deleting my complete bike folder and reinstalling the bike pack (this one HERE for example). Make sure you back up any custom paints you might have!

    Also, make sure you are allowing MXB through your firewall / antivirus system.
    1010
    General Discussion / JS7 Practice session - Sept 11th.
    September 10, 2016, 01:30:50 PM
    Heya.

    Wanted to organize as a bit of an incentive to all play together an online session tomorrow (so Sunday September 11th) at
    - 9pm CEST (Berlin, D)
    - 8pm BST (London, UK)
    - 3pm EDT (New York, USA)
    - Noon PDT (San Fransisco, USA).

    Hopefully I didn't mix up the time zones ;)

    It will be held on the GTX 2 server running the JS7 Practice track.

    IMPORTANT: You need the track from HERE and the bike pack from HERE. Skin packs are optional, but if you want to see me and TFC in all our glory you will need the CRF HRC bike skins and the FOX packs 1 and 2.

    TFC and I will be there. If some of you want to, I don't mind "coaching" a bit on the SX tracks so you figure those out faster.

    Hope to see you there!
    1011
    Media / Re: Videos
    September 10, 2016, 01:12:18 PM
    Quote from: TheFatController on September 10, 2016, 01:10:01 PM
    Nice! I still have an edit in the works, lost for what song to use though..

    Megadeth - Duke Nukem theme or bust. Or ATR - Speed if it's a hotlap.
    1012
    Media / Re: Videos
    September 10, 2016, 12:50:10 PM
    Goddamn we built a path along the east side of SXS to reach the National track smoothly!  ;D

    Thanks for putting videos up!
    1013
    Media / Re: Mx Bikes - Screenshots!
    September 09, 2016, 03:53:09 PM
    Damn they look awesome. Particularly fond of the first one - somehow the shadows are perfectly aligned with the sun position and objects, plus the rider positions look realistic...

    Problem with the screenshots on the SX tracks is that without any ground objects on those practice tracks it's difficult to know where and what happens. But this national track really is screenshot-land
    1014
    Tracks / Re: JS7 Compound by TFC and Asdrael
    September 09, 2016, 10:09:52 AM
    As TFC said, the goal was to have it playable online for everyone to try to push up activity. The 4K initial verison we had was very laggy on some computers so we decided to drop to 2K and go with simpler textures, trying to giv eit a "just pampered" look.

    As for the layout, regarding the SX, I messed up :p We decided to go with the Google Maps layout (2016 apparently). I open Google Earth, do the SXSouth, and then realize it's the 2015 version on Google Earth but the 2016 on Google Maps. Woops. Decided to go with it as we both liked the track and it was easy and forgiving enough, as the goal has been from the start to have an easy and a hard SX. Then decided to go with the 2016 SX North as it has a start lane and doesn't look as boring as the 2015 one.
    1015
    Tracks / Re: JS7 Compound by TFC and Asdrael
    September 08, 2016, 09:01:09 PM
    Well I hope you guys will enjoy it after putting some laps in.

    @ the server host - I think it would be better to put up the Free Practice layout instead of the National layout so people have proper resets when they try to do the SX tracks. Free Practice layout start line and split lines are the same as National, only the centerlines makes a detour through the SX. No checkpoints there either, so runing the national loop on the free practice layout will give your proper lap times. Thanks for hosting it though :)
    1016
    1. Start your game and the track.

    2. Stay in the pits (don't drive off, just stay in the spawn menu) and hit "Track Reset" a couple of times.

    3. Don't touch anything and go have a coffee, take a walk whatever. Let the game do its thing a few minutes at least.

    4. Exit the track and then the game. At that stage, you still haven't ridden at all.

    5. Start everything again. The track should be 100% reset now and clean.
    1017
    General Discussion / Re: Soon...
    September 08, 2016, 01:57:01 PM
    1018
    Tracks / Re: JS7 Compound by TFC and Asdrael
    September 08, 2016, 12:58:48 PM
    Aaanndd... it's out  ;D

    I'm really glad TFC and I came together for this on his own initiative. It was a great experience teaming up with this cool dude. As he said, and even if he came up with the National and me with the SXs initial drafts, we had enough back and forth that we can consider this whole compound a real team effort. Except the Blender effort, this is all his. /hatsoff.

    So all in all, happy building it, and even more pleased with how it turned out - I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as we do. Just don't fall in the trap of spending more time trying to make nice screen shots insteaf of riding it ;) Hope to see you online!

    (hoh and don't pussy out, enable deformation at least in offline play. Even in SX it's very doable!).

    - PS: if you want the game to get more traction in the MX gaming community, it's up to us now to try to make cool youtube videos out of all the material we now have. hinthint.
    1019
    Bug Reports / TrackEd camera bug
    September 07, 2016, 03:44:42 PM
    Latest version of TrackEd (1.20).

    It seems the Arc cameras appear correct in Track Ed (X/Y/Z, movement) but in game the Z direction seems reversed. There might be a sneaky "-" showing up somewhere during saving / exporting / importing.
    1020
    Bug Reports / Re: Mx bikes keeps crashing
    September 07, 2016, 02:37:32 PM
    Might be a driver not coping with the game crashing. Updating or reinstaling your sound drivers might help.

    Other than that, I can't really help more sorry :/