Regolo Engine 1.10

Hi everybody, welcome to the Regolo Engine 1.10 release post.

This release represents an experiment I wanted to do for so long and was able to assemble only now. It's very different from the last ones but it's also the most exciting for me. It's an important evolution step and it's the perfect base for merging the two engine's souls, mobility and realism.

Let's have a look together!

Two important notices before going on.
Firstly, the new behaviours/functionalities in this release work through real time interactions, all of them. Be sure to check how to trigger them in the related section below.

Second point, I changed again a folder location since I wanted to put all the audio files in the new Custom/Sounds folder. RegoloEngineAudio is gone, now you will find everything audio related under <VaM>/Custom/Sounds/RegoloVR. Check more datails in the "How to use" section.
 

The 1.10 video

• 1.10 promo video 4K (new animations with music): https://mega.nz/file/x3wEDATB#ec52AcMx0fImFCtQKCVLw8jKWar7-Nwauy8m4ZijpmY 
• 1.10 promo video 1080p (a lighter version): https://mega.nz/file/AjA0RapI#GCqj_xDv_Un9U8BstI3Pr-hg3Ufj7fJBePQYyPHCVr8 

What's new

Here's an overview of the new stuff, check the next paragraphs for insights and instructions on some of them.

• new walking system
  - walking is now largely customizable in real time (speed, length, width, height, swing, attenuation and inversion of the different movements)
  - independent of the destination
• new Wanderer Anima:
  - girl will follow you everywhere
  - her walk is customizable as for above
  - she will stop near you
• new dynamic idle behaviour
  - stance not linked to a single position
  - set of reactions in idle linked to your glance, head and hands
• new standing kissing behaviour
  - it can be activated everywhere from idle
  - she will change position as in idle
• new rubbing up behaviour
  - she turns around and rubs up sensually against you
  - some interaction in this stance too (her head, her breast)
• custom mobility system for the boy
  - different body parts moved depending on the situation
  - different methods to free the head
• new walking section in the UI 
• standard walking can be customized as well
• now you can set "stop on new selection", "random play" and "starting song" in the config file
• global speed is now called animations speed and affects hands and feet morphs speed too
• expression speed added to UI and settable from config file
  - changes speed of facial animations (eyes and mouth) for next behaviour
• added new furniture known by the girl:
  * "AptChair"
  * "AptCoffeeTable"
  * "AptSmartTV"
  * "AptSmartWebTV"
  * "AptTVStand"
  * PlayerNavigationPanel is a destination now too, so you can just have it and the couch in order to have the plugin working. It's also mandatory for the Wanderer Anima since it's its starting point at the moment
• boy is placed on the couch at the beginning now if he's not there
• provided an handy skeleton room that offers the barebone version of the room to use as base for merge load
  

Fixes

• mix @Chair had fixed times for each stance instead of random, now fixed
• morphs stuck on interruption now fixed
• added to these last behaviours a number of old expressions that were left unused

Let me know if you notice something wrong, I will look into it as soon as possible.

The new walking

Since walking is the center of this release, I gave the user the possibility to customize it in many ways:

• you can find them in the "Walking" UI section
• they are modifiable in real time, so the girl will change the walking style while walking

Please consider that the stats of the rear steps are attenuated by a factor dependent on the step length, so you might not see the same movement every time for the rear step. This attenuation is customizable in the UI walking section though, there's a slide where you can choose the step threshold under which the attenuation will proportionally happen.

I will refine it further and give the opportunity to change even more things in next releases.
Also for now the new values can't be specified in the config file before starting but will add this feature in the next release.

I used a very standard walking style as default, if you discover a good arrangement for the indicators please let me know, I would love to try your styles as well 😊

The Wanderer Anima part I - the vademecum

I promise to make this short, but there are a lot of things to write up.

So, let's see what happens when you choose the new anima:

• girl will try to reach the PlayerNavigationPanel, that now it's also a destination
• boy will rise from the couch canceling any prior possession
• if you move your head (by possession or not) the rest of the body will follow
  - if you press "L" key on the keyboard or press both triggers on Touch controllers or put one of your hands on your stomach/belly you will be able to move your head freely and body will not follow (useful to look around without moving all the stuff) 
• girl will walk towards you using the UI walking configurations and will stop at your right side
• she will idle near you in never a fixed position
• while idling:
  - if you look at er she will look at you as well
  - if you look at her while idling she will not move, otherwise she will follow your right side
  - if you give her your hand she will catch it
  - if you give her your hand while idling she will react with her hands to yours and look at them
  - if you pat her head she will lean
  - if you go near with your face she will kiss you and caress you
  - if you touch one of her thighs long enough, she will come near, turn around and start rubbing up against you
• while kissing:
  - she will change stance with entire body as during the idling
  - she will touch your face and body
  - she will stop if you get away enough or remove the face, and go back to idle state
  -  kissing is subject to "kissing mode" UI setting, so face will follow your face dynamically or stay static
• while rubbing against you
  - if you put your hand above her head she will follow your hand with it, so you can customize the position a bit
  - if you touch her breast she will lean backwards to you with the head
  - if you move she will try to follow while staying turned (don't exaggerate). You can use the head movement to induce an hip movement
  - if you push her hip away she will stop moving and turn around again (I lowered the activation threshold but I'm not sure, if it doesn't stop moving just grab one of the red controller around the hips (pelvis etc) and pull it away, it works 100%)
• selecting any other anima or obsession will make the girl to go out of wanderer mode, while the boy will sit on the couch, canceling any ongoing possession

Obviously you can start with Wanderer Anima using the config file and specifying it in the "animaObsession" field (with edit at "true").

Please note that there's no sexual behaviour in this release, the "rubbing up" one is just a sensual one and in the video i was just lucky the rod finished inside. Next release will be more explicit.

If you want to use a different location, I provided an handy skeleton room with just the mandatory atoms. Just use it as base and merge load what you prefer. Only issue is with audio atoms that have default names and can be overwritten by other ones. I will change their names in next release.

Hope I didn't forget anything, as you can see there was a lot to tell 😁.

The Wanderer Anima part II - the discussion

So the old system worked fine, why ruin your life trying to put in place this monstrosity?

Well, it's simple.

Firstly, I like to have stuff evolving, I don't like to recycle too much and I see a lot of potential here. Moreover my aim is to make the girl more alive as possible, and movement is simply mandatory in this sense. The user should feel her presence, and being stuck at a couch is not exactly the best way to feel that way.

I know the previous behaviours worked smoothly and this is, like, a concept, but there needs to be a start somewhere to take the proper path, and I think this is it.

Since the beginning the engine has developed two different souls, one based on mobility and one moving towards realism/immersion through unpredictability. My endgame is to merge them in one complete experience, always trying to explore undiscovered places in the VaM universe. 

Even if this release was a time devourer I know I just scratched the surface, so your input in this case is really important. I got used to it but I'm the developer and it could not go any different I suspect 😜 .

What future holds in my head: I plan to work using iteration cycles here, so fixing in any release the mobility and its capabilities, the robustness of interaction, the fusion between old and new system, and obviously refining animations adding new ones.

Next release will try to add the first free sexual interactions, and also audio will have receive some love. Let's see if this system will pay off.

How to use it

Regolo Engine 1.10 has been built and tested 1.19.

• download your version
• put the zip file in the VaM folder and extract it there:
  - dll and config file will be placed under <VaM>/Custom/Scripts/RegoloVR
  - room files will be placed under <VaM>/Saves/scene/RegoloVR
  - Audio and Dance folders will be placed under <VaM>/Custom/Sounds/RegoloVR
• [optional] put the songs files you want the girl to dance in the  <VaM>/Saves/scene/RegoloVR/Dance folder
• [optional] edit the proper config file (RegoloEngine_E.json for Enchanter or  RegoloEngine_I.json  for Illusionist )
• load the proper room (RegoloEngineRoom_1.10_E for Enchanter or RegoloEngineRoom_1.10_I for Illusionist).
• possess the boy or align with him
• load the plugin on the girl (the dll file)
• [optional] choose an anima or obsession
• [optional]  change the UI options as desired

Detailed instructions about dance folder and dance UI can be found in the 1.8 release post.

Also an important recommendation: safest way to start over the plugin execution is to clear it, reset girl's pose manually (from the person -> control panel) and then reload it. The plugin tries to automatically reset the pose at every start but it's not always perfect.

Please remember the furniture list known by the girl, below. You can delete and add duplicates but there always must be one and only one couch with the guy over it. Also, don't create steeplechases and create a regular environment as the standard room provided, please.

• "AptSofa" (mandatory and just one) beside the sofa there should be at least one of the following known furniture (PlayerNavigationPanel for example, and they can be also more than one for type)
• "DreamHomeWebTV"
• "DSBR_Bench"
• "AptPatioChair"
• "AptBookShelf"
• "DSBR_Bed"
•  "AptChair"
• "AptCoffeeTable" 
• "AptSmartTV"
• "AptSmartWebTV"
• "AptTVStand"
• "PlayerNavigationPanel"

Bugs and caveat

- Consider always that anima and obsessions are mutually exclusive. Every time you choose one of them you lose the previous settings. You can check your current choice looking at the yellow info box at the lower left corner of the UI. 

- The Enchanter room tries to load 500+ audio files at the beginning, but it doesn't need to do that again if you just reset the plugin.  The songs for the dancing load at the beginning too (but can changed and reloaded in real time via UI).

- Being it totally procedural, there can be better and worse runs.

- Some behaviours have really a large spectrum of possibilities, so some unlucky variations are unavoidable. 

In the end

So this release is a bit rough but in my eyes it opens up a world of possibilities and frees itself from a fixed state, entering in the territory that represents the real strength of VaM, the freedom.

The engine is mature and 10 is a good number to rethink everything. But the wind blows strong in open sea and I have a lot of people on the boat with me, so I will be careful not to hit the rocks.

Speaking about this, I recently reached 100 people supporting me for my work and I'm amazed and speechless, so this final paragraph is to really, really, REALLY thank you for your help and the motivation you're giving me.

Thank you!

PS: I know some of you made requests  but the new systems took a lot of time, so will take a look later on, sorry about that.

See you in May!

RegoloVR