Devblog - Crown Vic Remaster

This is not an update, if you're looking for the previous update, go to previous post.

Hello derby fans. I thought I’d take a moment to talk about the Crown Vics, where they stand, and what work is needed to bring them up to par with current standards. In the meantime, if you were hoping for more information about the Imperial, I will be posting a daily picture in the Teaser Images channel in discord for $8+ members.

RDP’s first original vehicle was the square body Crown Vics, which had an initial release of just over 2 years ago. Quite noticeably, they are the least refined vehicles in the RDP lineup, and in my eyes, a stain on RDP as a brand. To illustrate my point, if the remastered shockers were an 8/10 in quality to me, the crown vics are more like a 3/10 as an overall product. There are a few reasons they fell behind so much. The first of course is that I’m much better at my job now. The second is that all full frame vehicles compound improvements off of each other. While the Crown Vics were the first car, the 76 Oldsmobile was derived from that, sharing much of the same structure. Improvements made to that car were then carried on to the Cadillac, which had its own improvements that were carried onto the next vehicle, and so on. This creates a bit of a positive feedback loop in the development of cars, but leaves the cars furthest away in release order without the constant small tweaks that eventually lead up to a much higher quality deformation. Despite the growing disparity in quality between the Crown Vics and new vehicles, a gap much larger than most players realize, they are still a popular car. That should bring reassurance to fans of the vehicle, because I believe the final product of the Crown Vic remaster will leave its fans immensely satisfied. The main issue with all of this is the huge undertaking that reworking these vehicles will require.

• The most outwardly obvious issue is the models. Each body will need to be completely remodeled & retextured. Doing every Vic body is the biggest reason this is going to be a long process. For this reason, I will be picking a single body to start with. I don’t intend to work on nothing but Crown Vics for the foreseeable future, so some of the Crown Vic variations will be left behind in their current state for some time, and I may even find that the best option is just to remove the old bodies until it is their time to be redone. My current plan, which may change, is to do one Ford body, then another non-Vic related project, then come back for the next Ford, and repeat. The good news is that the first one to be done will be much of the legwork for future bodies, and successive Fords will be an easier & shorter project. For people who are hoping for new bodies that haven’t yet been introduced into RDP, please be patient as I would like to tackle existing bodies first.
• While we are on the topic of models, I will do my best to ensure the new UV maps line up with the old ones as close as possible so old skins still work (as was done with the shocker) however, square bodies will be completely redone and those skins will not line up anymore, for the ease of having a better UV layout for skin makers.
• The amount of different frames makes them very difficult to balance and adjust, and almost impossible to test changes to the frames. The number of selectable frames will likely be cut down to two or three; 98-02, 03, and perhaps HD frames. Players have also requested more tilt options. This is also a much more complicated process than it seems, as every variant of tilt added is an entirely different frame to adjust, & is a process much more complex than just changing the geometry. The likelihood of more tilts being added reduces with the number of different frames. That isn’t to say that some day I won't be totally satisfied with the frames, and can choose to add more, but for now, for the sake of quality, this will likely be restricted.
• Humps and rear rails need complete overhauls to perform as I envision. Ideally players would be able to achieve tight rolls & have rigid rear frame rails, while having more accurate hump deformation. The entire back halves of these cars as they exist now are nothing remotely close to what I believe they should & can be.
• Every bit of the bodies need to be revamped, from floors to the roof, fenders, hood, doors, trunk. Everything as it currently is will be completely scrapped and overhauled or replaced.
• Since the addition of the Crown Vics, I’ve started implementing more advanced concepts into the deformation of vehicles, such as structural degradation, where car structure can be compromised and body can become softer as it bends. This is especially noticeable in the Shockers, and to a lesser extent, the Roundbacks. Of course different cars suffer from this to different degrees in real life, but this concept helps reward hard hits in ways that weren’t possible before. One of my biggest long-standing issues with RDP is that it often feels impossible to beat another car with aggressive driving, and I hope that someday this feature allows that to be possible in a realistic way, while still allowing vehicles to achieve a satisfying roll.
• The cars of course need numerous unmentioned adjustments and changes, so if you’re concerned about their front end strength, their weight, or things like that, rest assured I have considered every aspect of these cars.