MoDyEn Lite 1.0.0.2 (DLL version) now on Asset Store!

Hi Guys,
I'm glad to let you know, that MoDyEn Lite, the core of my Advanced vehicle simulation package, has made it to the asset store officially!

Heres the original thread (wich for some reason got moved under WIP section):
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/mo...irst-version-is-finished.283020/#post-1902332

Heres the development thread:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/motorsports-dynamics-engine-a-k-a-modyen.126046/

Demo's:
Public demo 1 (PC only atm!):
Windows Test demo v1.0.0.8 (To confirm if the package works or not!)

Purchase:
Asset store Online!

Documentation in the works, so please be patient and if something really bothers you, feel free to ask it directly from me via facebook page or forum message.

Unity4.6.1 with custom IBL shaders:



Unity5 version WIP:


Drifting:

Racing:

Setup Guide:

Basics:
Basically you have an physical object that is connected to the track with 4 contact points (wheels)
It requires user input to be driven, for this you have the GameCarController.cs script.

Logics:
Every car is balanced for it's setup and every setup behaves differently. Also there can be "false" setups on cars, making them impossible to be driven at high speeds etc. Some cars have more weight in the front and some more in the back. The weight ratio usually defines how oversteering or understeering the car is. Theres also the center of gravity heightwich plays a huge rolle on car's roll angle, set it to high and you will flip the car.

Drivetrains:
There are different type of drivetrais, where 3 of them are commonly used, Front, Rear and Four wheel drive. Drivetrains expand to drivetrain layouts, commonly used layouts are FF, FR, MR, RR, FA, MA & RA.

1. Front Engine, Front Wheel Drive (FF)
   • This is most common drivetrain layout. It is used for all the low cost economy car like Toyota Camry/Corolla, Honda Civic/Accord, Mazda Protege/Millenium, etc.
   • FF cars are more front heavy. It can counteract with the understeer characteristics exhibited by front wheel drive cars. The overall effect is that it has slight understeer in all acceleration situations. This actually makes the car more stable in city driving.
   • The main reason for building FF cars is that it is cheaper to build. Steering, engine, transmission, wheels and so on are all very close by, there is no need to build long axles to transmit the engine power to the other end of the car.
2. Front Egnine, Rear Wheel Drive (FR)
   • This is most common drivetrain layout for luxury sedans and low end sports car. Examples are Mercedes sedans, BMW sedans, Mazda Miata, Honda S2000.
   • One of the characteristics of these cars is that they usually have a almost neutral weight distribution due to the driving axle that traverses from the front to the rear.
   • Since the weight distribution is neutral, to attain higher acceleration potential, the car needs to be RWD or AWD (see the bottom for math-oriented people). For not powerful enough engines in passenger cars, RWD is good enough to exploit the potential.
   • RWD cars exhibit oversteer under mild acceleration and understeer under heavey acceleration. The oversteer characteristic allows an RWD car to accelerate after exits from the apex and hence attain higher speed when it enters the straight. For details, please refer to the Understeer and Oversteer section and the Cornering Line section.
   • Front-mid-engined car like S2000 can turn faster than normal FR cars because it has a smaller moment of inertia.
3. Mid Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (MR)
   • This drivetrain layout is usually employed by high end sports car and most of the formula one race cars. Notable examples are Porsche Boxster, Ferrari Modena.
   • Mid-engined is the configuration that has the lowest moment of inertia and hence it turns the fastest.
   • Weight Distribution is a little bit biased to the rear and hence more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
4. Rear Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (RR)
   • This is one of the rare drivetrain layouts. Notable examples are Porsche 911 Carrera and the original Volkswagen Beetle.
   • Rear-engined cars are similar to mid-engined cars but they have higher moment of inertia and are even more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
5. Front Engine, All Wheel Drive (FA)
   • There are two types of cars that employ this drivetrain layout. The first type includes cars that want to provide traction on all four tires such that you can move the car around in snow or unfavorable terrain. Examples are Subarus, Audis, BMW 330xi. The second type includes high power sports car. Examples are Nissan Skyline GTR, Mistubishi Lancer Evolution and so on.
   • For high power sports cars, the reason for AWD is to exploit all the traction of the four tires to attain the greatest acceleration possible (see bottom for the gory math details).
   • Most AWD cars are rear biased in which they allocate more torque to the rear than the front. Therefore they all have mild oversteer under mild acceleration.
6. Mid Engine, All Wheel Drive (MA)
   • MA car was built in the same spirit as FA cars but the mid engine configuration reduces moment of inertia and hence makes the car turn more quickly. An example is Lamborghini Murcielago.
7. Rear Engine, All Wheel Drive (RA)
   • RA cars are an extension of RR cars. They take advantage of the AWD to exploit full acceleration potential. An example is Porsche 911 Carrera 4.

Suspension:
Suspension is the part wich is commonly miss understood in setups. Suspension has to be set up right taking in count the weight ratio and drivetrain layout. Basically if theres more weight in front you need stiffer springs in front to balance the car. Ofcourse you can go very speciffic to achieve wanted behaviours with suspension, this is where actual racers spend their most time, suspension alignment and stiffness.

Anti-roll bar
Adjust the stiffness of the anti-roll bars in the front/rear of the car. Keeps car
from rolling excessively through the turns. This aids in camber control for the
tyres so we don't have to run excessively stiff springs or camber angles. It
also gives an easy way to adjust over/understeer balance. The stiffer a specific
anti-roll bar is, the more weight transfer that end of the car will handle and cause
that end to loose traction sooner. So stiffening the front will tend towards
understeer (front will wash out) and stiffening the rear will tend towards
oversteer (rear end will come around).

Springs
Adjust the stiffness of the springs. Lessening the stiffness yields better
grip but slows response time to driver input. More stiffness makes the car
respond more quickly to driver input, but yields less grip.

Fast Bump
Controls the rapid UPWARD movement of this suspension corner following bumps
and curbs. Called "Fast" because the damper is moving *up* (compressing) in a
rapid motion, usually above 100mm/sec (use telemetry). So this adjustment
controls how a tyre conforms to the road as it's negotiating the leading
edge-to-peak of a bump or road undulation. If you find the car pushing to the
outside of the trackin a "skating" fashion over bumps, then soften (lower)
this parameter. If find the car floating and changing direction erratically,
then stiffen (higher) this parameter. When in doubt, go softer

Slow Bump
Controls the mild UPWARD movement of this suspension corner caused by driver
input (steering, braking, throttle). Called slow because the damper is moving
up (compressing) in a slow motion, usually below 70mm/sec damper speed (use
telemetry). Used to affect chassis balance while we are transitioning into,
and out, of the corners. Decreasing this number will speed up how quickly this
corner accepts weight transfer while we are transitioning. Increasing will slow
it down.

Fast Rebound
Controls the rapid DOWNWARD movement of this suspension corner following
bumps and curbs. Called "Fast" because this damper is moving down (extending)
in a rapid motion, usually above 100mm/sec (use telemetry). So this adjustment
controls how a tyre conforms to the road as it's negotiating the peak-to-trailing
edge of a bump or road undulation. If you've changed the bump parameter, then it's
usually a good idea to change this parameter in a similar manner.

Slow Rebound
Controls the mild DOWNWARD movement of this suspension corner caused by
driver input (steering, braking, throttle). Called slow because the damper is
moving down (extending) in a slow motion, usually below 70mm/sec damper
speed (use telemetry). Used to affect chassis balance while we are transitioning
into, and out, of the corners. Decreasing this number will speed up how quickly
this corner gives up - or "sheds" - weight transfer while we are transitioning.
Increasing this parameter will slow it down.

Packers
Adjust the number of packers. Extra spacers put in to adjust how soon the
bump stops come into play to limit downward travel of the chassis. The more
packers, the sooner and more effective the bump stops will be at limiting travel,
but can cause chassis instability over bumps and heavy vertical G-force corners -
like Spa's Eau Rouge. Use only if necessary as a last resort to avoid chassis
scraping.

Camber
Adjust the angle of the wheel in relation to the driving surface. Negative camber
makes the top of the tyres tilt inward towards the centre of the chassis, and
helps give better grip through the corners. Though used less frequently, positive
camber means that the wheel tilts outward, which gives some stability in a
straight line but less grip when cornering. Ideal camber can be tuned by the
tyre temps. You want the inner temps about 7-10C hotter than the outer temps,
slightly less at the rear. For a road racing car , you will use only negative
camber. The amount is dependant on the type of suspension the car has and the
amount of roll resistance (springs + anti-roll bars) utilized in the setup. The
stiffer the roll resistance the less negative camber you need. The less efficient
the suspension the more negative camber you need.

Toe-in
Adjust the degree the front of the wheels angle towards or away from each
other. This affects the directional stability and initial turn-in, but too much
toe in any direction can slow the car down with increased rolling drag. On the
rear, usually you want toe-in (positive parameter), as toe-out (negative parameter)
creates instability. On the front, usually you want a slight amount of toe-out
(negative numbers) as this helps turn-in. Too much toe-in in either direction can
cause understeer.

Ride Height
Adjust how high the bottom of the car is off of the ground. The lower the ride
height, the less suspension travel, and the lower the car's centre of gravity
will be. Adjusting the ride height too low can make bumpy tracks tricky because
the car is more likely to bottom out.
Aerodynamics:
Automotive aerodynamics is the study of the aerodynamics of road vehicles. Its main goals are reducing drag and wind noise, minimizing noise emission, and preventing undesired lift forces and other causes of aerodynamic instability at high speeds. For some classes of racing vehicles, it may also be important to produce downforce to improve traction and thus cornering abilities.

Front Splitter (Front Wing)
Adjust the level of downforce applied by the splitter. Adds front-end grip at
speed. The higher the number, the more air the front wing deflects, the more
downforce and drag (slowing top speed).

Rear Wing
Adjusts the level of downforce at the rear of the car, and the main adjustment
for Aerodynamic balance. After deciding on a front splitter for the track type,
you use the rear wing to dial-in the aerodynamic balance. Keep in mind
that the more rear wing parameters used the more aero drag you will have, slowing
top speed. (drag and lift/downforce parameters are defined seprately, but a real wing has both parameters)
These are the main parts you will need to configure on a car to deffine it's behaviour compared to it's power to weight ratio. Once you have found good setups you can start adding more power to the vehicle and start fine-tuning the parameters.

As for engines and gear ratios, that info is freely found on the net for most of known vehicles and setup is quite plug and play actually.

A few car specification data examples:
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
BMW E30 M3

Sources:
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3

 

Looking Good Sir

But the controls don`t work with other controllers
How long before you start releaseing tutorials ..

 

Thank You!

Could you please tell me, what's the mark of your controller and if you can confirm that it works with other unity projects?

Also is it a wheel or a pad? If it's a wheel, then it's a problem, because I only have a g27 to use and test with.

As for tutorials / documentation, I'd like to release them in the start of 2015. But in fact, there is a small tutorial scene wich should teach how to easly create a vehicle. But there are alot to cover, so A "beginner to pro" type of tutorial is required indeed. Because car's require knowledge on setup etc.

 

It is a Logitech Dual Action Rumble Pad ..

Looking at the grade of physics you have integrated you will need to release tutorials very soon ..From the demo it seems pretty challenging so just hurry with the tuts so you dont get to much headaches .

 

The tutorials will follow, thats no question. Because A product will need good learning material aswell.

But for a person who comes from a sim racing background, or infact any racing background should instantly understand what each parameter does.
They are all mostly the same in simulators. Because a simulations point is to mimic and recalculate real life behaviour through formulas and mathematics, If the formuals are correct you can use data found in real life sheets, suspension dampers etc. etc.

Surely this version is named as Lite (wich actually is the core version) so it will be a better use for a semi sim racing environment, but with realistic handling.
One of such example could be the great title by Turn 10 studios, Forza Horizon.

 

You know i was saying the same thing.The demo, it feels alot like forza horizon handling and i am.very impressed with the feel of it.

The fell i get using the keyboard is not that bad but to using it whith a racing would definately amp up the experience.

Am very mich interested in your package for a massive game am planning on with my team so i was wondering

**which ai systems available now will you support

**what are the price ranges for future versions

**what new features will you be bringing to the table or is this just a standalone physics system

**will it utilize unity 5 physics improvements

 

Thanks! And yes I'd heavily recomend a gamepad, nto exactly sure why your pad doesnt work, maybe you should try
a programm called x36ce it will mapp your inputs to x360 pad ones(wich is what I use and would recomend using for the demos)

As for ai system, basically every ai system will work, because the code is heavily optimized and follows the correct Object-oriented programming paradigm, so it's compatible with basically everything, through a script that may contain only 4-8 lines of code.

For example, car AI usually requires about 4 inputs to controll a vehicle, throttle, brake, handbrake, steering. Then the variable simply get passed from MoDyEn to an AI System.

Price ranges & future versions, well currently I have 4 planend versions, lite(core), pro(advanced simualtion detail)
and both source versions, source licenses will be much pricer and I'm going to discuss them personally through PM or fb Page message box. As for the pro price it will be around 500 €, but it will be released only after the lite version has been expanded to support other platforms and bugs that may apear in the first couple months. I want the pro version to be as perfect as possible.

New features, well there are some to come and I'd like to surprise the community with them

Unity 5, what I've found out at the moment is that the beta version has some bugs and some conflicts appear while importing the plugin. So speaking of Unity 5 is currently out of the topic, we have to wait untill U5 gets stable. But in theory once it's stable, MoDyEn should work right out of the box with U5 Improvements.

 

Thanks very much fore the info but one more quick question.

Am still trying to understand more of how a car system responds in order to mimic it to game level , could you direct me to any useful websites on the internet that may contain like for example a novice to pro guide to understanding the parts of a car and its physics?

thanks in advance
@Kxng@

 

I can give you a small rundown about cars in general,

Basics:
Basically you have an physical object that is connected to the track with 4 contact points (wheels)
It requires user input to be driven, for this you have the GameCarController.cs script.

Logics:
Every car is balanced for it's setup and every setup behaves differently. Also there can be "false" setups on cars, making them impossible to be driven at high speeds etc. Some cars have more weight in the front and some more in the back. The weight ratio usually defines how oversteering or understeering the car is. Theres also the center of gravity heightwich plays a huge rolle on car's roll angle, set it to high and you will flip the car.

Drivetrains:
There are different type of drivetrais, where 3 of them are commonly used, Front, Rear and Four wheel drive. Drivetrains expand to drivetrain layouts, commonly used layouts are FF, FR, MR, RR, FA, MA & RA.

1. Front Engine, Front Wheel Drive (FF)
   • This is most common drivetrain layout. It is used for all the low cost economy car like Toyota Camry/Corolla, Honda Civic/Accord, Mazda Protege/Millenium, etc.
   • FF cars are more front heavy. It can counteract with the understeer characteristics exhibited by front wheel drive cars. The overall effect is that it has slight understeer in all acceleration situations. This actually makes the car more stable in city driving.
   • The main reason for building FF cars is that it is cheaper to build. Steering, engine, transmission, wheels and so on are all very close by, there is no need to build long axles to transmit the engine power to the other end of the car.
2. Front Egnine, Rear Wheel Drive (FR)
   • This is most common drivetrain layout for luxury sedans and low end sports car. Examples are Mercedes sedans, BMW sedans, Mazda Miata, Honda S2000.
   • One of the characteristics of these cars is that they usually have a almost neutral weight distribution due to the driving axle that traverses from the front to the rear.
   • Since the weight distribution is neutral, to attain higher acceleration potential, the car needs to be RWD or AWD (see the bottom for math-oriented people). For not powerful enough engines in passenger cars, RWD is good enough to exploit the potential.
   • RWD cars exhibit oversteer under mild acceleration and understeer under heavey acceleration. The oversteer characteristic allows an RWD car to accelerate after exits from the apex and hence attain higher speed when it enters the straight. For details, please refer to the Understeer and Oversteer section and the Cornering Line section.
   • Front-mid-engined car like S2000 can turn faster than normal FR cars because it has a smaller moment of inertia.
3. Mid Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (MR)
   • This drivetrain layout is usually employed by high end sports car and most of the formula one race cars. Notable examples are Porsche Boxster, Ferrari Modena.
   • Mid-engined is the configuration that has the lowest moment of inertia and hence it turns the fastest.
   • Weight Distribution is a little bit biased to the rear and hence more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
4. Rear Engine, Rear Wheel Drive (RR)
   • This is one of the rare drivetrain layouts. Notable examples are Porsche 911 Carrera and the original Volkswagen Beetle.
   • Rear-engined cars are similar to mid-engined cars but they have higher moment of inertia and are even more prone to oversteer under mild acceleration.
5. Front Engine, All Wheel Drive (FA)
   • There are two types of cars that employ this drivetrain layout. The first type includes cars that want to provide traction on all four tires such that you can move the car around in snow or unfavorable terrain. Examples are Subarus, Audis, BMW 330xi. The second type includes high power sports car. Examples are Nissan Skyline GTR, Mistubishi Lancer Evolution and so on.
   • For high power sports cars, the reason for AWD is to exploit all the traction of the four tires to attain the greatest acceleration possible (see bottom for the gory math details).
   • Most AWD cars are rear biased in which they allocate more torque to the rear than the front. Therefore they all have mild oversteer under mild acceleration.
6. Mid Engine, All Wheel Drive (MA)
   • MA car was built in the same spirit as FA cars but the mid engine configuration reduces moment of inertia and hence makes the car turn more quickly. An example is Lamborghini Murcielago.
7. Rear Engine, All Wheel Drive (RA)
   • RA cars are an extension of RR cars. They take advantage of the AWD to exploit full acceleration potential. An example is Porsche 911 Carrera 4.

Suspension:
Suspension is the part wich is commonly miss understood in setups. Suspension has to be set up right taking in count the weight ratio and drivetrain layout. Basically if theres more weight in front you need stiffer springs in front to balance the car. Ofcourse you can go very speciffic to achieve wanted behaviours with suspension, this is where actual racers spend their most time, suspension alignment and stiffness.

Anti-roll bar
Adjust the stiffness of the anti-roll bars in the front/rear of the car. Keeps car
from rolling excessively through the turns. This aids in camber control for the
tyres so we don't have to run excessively stiff springs or camber angles. It
also gives an easy way to adjust over/understeer balance. The stiffer a specific
anti-roll bar is, the more weight transfer that end of the car will handle and cause
that end to loose traction sooner. So stiffening the front will tend towards
understeer (front will wash out) and stiffening the rear will tend towards
oversteer (rear end will come around).

Springs
Adjust the stiffness of the springs. Lessening the stiffness yields better
grip but slows response time to driver input. More stiffness makes the car
respond more quickly to driver input, but yields less grip.

Fast Bump
Controls the rapid UPWARD movement of this suspension corner following bumps
and curbs. Called "Fast" because the damper is moving *up* (compressing) in a
rapid motion, usually above 100mm/sec (use telemetry). So this adjustment
controls how a tyre conforms to the road as it's negotiating the leading
edge-to-peak of a bump or road undulation. If you find the car pushing to the
outside of the trackin a "skating" fashion over bumps, then soften (lower)
this parameter. If find the car floating and changing direction erratically,
then stiffen (higher) this parameter. When in doubt, go softer

Slow Bump
Controls the mild UPWARD movement of this suspension corner caused by driver
input (steering, braking, throttle). Called slow because the damper is moving
up (compressing) in a slow motion, usually below 70mm/sec damper speed (use
telemetry). Used to affect chassis balance while we are transitioning into,
and out, of the corners. Decreasing this number will speed up how quickly this
corner accepts weight transfer while we are transitioning. Increasing will slow
it down.

Fast Rebound
Controls the rapid DOWNWARD movement of this suspension corner following
bumps and curbs. Called "Fast" because this damper is moving down (extending)
in a rapid motion, usually above 100mm/sec (use telemetry). So this adjustment
controls how a tyre conforms to the road as it's negotiating the peak-to-trailing
edge of a bump or road undulation. If you've changed the bump parameter, then it's
usually a good idea to change this parameter in a similar manner.

Slow Rebound
Controls the mild DOWNWARD movement of this suspension corner caused by
driver input (steering, braking, throttle). Called slow because the damper is
moving down (extending) in a slow motion, usually below 70mm/sec damper
speed (use telemetry). Used to affect chassis balance while we are transitioning
into, and out, of the corners. Decreasing this number will speed up how quickly
this corner gives up - or "sheds" - weight transfer while we are transitioning.
Increasing this parameter will slow it down.

Packers
Adjust the number of packers. Extra spacers put in to adjust how soon the
bump stops come into play to limit downward travel of the chassis. The more
packers, the sooner and more effective the bump stops will be at limiting travel,
but can cause chassis instability over bumps and heavy vertical G-force corners -
like Spa's Eau Rouge. Use only if necessary as a last resort to avoid chassis
scraping.

Camber
Adjust the angle of the wheel in relation to the driving surface. Negative camber
makes the top of the tyres tilt inward towards the centre of the chassis, and
helps give better grip through the corners. Though used less frequently, positive
camber means that the wheel tilts outward, which gives some stability in a
straight line but less grip when cornering. Ideal camber can be tuned by the
tyre temps. You want the inner temps about 7-10C hotter than the outer temps,
slightly less at the rear. For a road racing car , you will use only negative
camber. The amount is dependant on the type of suspension the car has and the
amount of roll resistance (springs + anti-roll bars) utilized in the setup. The
stiffer the roll resistance the less negative camber you need. The less efficient
the suspension the more negative camber you need.

Toe-in
Adjust the degree the front of the wheels angle towards or away from each
other. This affects the directional stability and initial turn-in, but too much
toe in any direction can slow the car down with increased rolling drag. On the
rear, usually you want toe-in (positive parameter), as toe-out (negative parameter)
creates instability. On the front, usually you want a slight amount of toe-out
(negative numbers) as this helps turn-in. Too much toe-in in either direction can
cause understeer.

Ride Height
Adjust how high the bottom of the car is off of the ground. The lower the ride
height, the less suspension travel, and the lower the car's centre of gravity
will be. Adjusting the ride height too low can make bumpy tracks tricky because
the car is more likely to bottom out.
​

Aerodynamics:
Automotive aerodynamics is the study of the aerodynamics of road vehicles. Its main goals are reducing drag and wind noise, minimizing noise emission, and preventing undesired lift forces and other causes of aerodynamic instability at high speeds. For some classes of racing vehicles, it may also be important to produce downforce to improve traction and thus cornering abilities.

Front Splitter (Front Wing)
Adjust the level of downforce applied by the splitter. Adds front-end grip at
speed. The higher the number, the more air the front wing deflects, the more
downforce and drag (slowing top speed).

Rear Wing
Adjusts the level of downforce at the rear of the car, and the main adjustment
for Aerodynamic balance. After deciding on a front splitter for the track type,
you use the rear wing to dial-in the aerodynamic balance. Keep in mind
that the more rear wing parameters used the more aero drag you will have, slowing
top speed. (drag and lift/downforce parameters are defined seprately, but a real wing has both parameters)
​

These are the main parts you will need to configure on a car to deffine it's behaviour compared to it's power to weight ratio. Once you have found good setups you can start adding more power to the vehicle and start fine-tuning the parameters.

As for engines and gear ratios, that info is freely found on the net for most of known vehicles and setup is quite plug and play actually.

A few car specification data examples:
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
BMW E30 M3

Sources:
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3

​

 

Hello everyone

I can say im modyen customer nº1 but sinse i didnt buy it from asset store im unable to review and rate it there, im customer sinse 2013 folowing the betas and updates sinse there so here is my recomendation, i came from a simulation background and i can say modyen is a quality package for a racing game development, its acuracy on vehicle dynamics are realistic, the params can be a bit overwelming at first but with some time and proper documentation is possible to acheive great results, Ravel is a talented programer and vehicle phisicist.

 

Thank you for the feedback Paulo!

 

The port to Unity5 is in progress, at the moment 64 bit versions of unity will not support the asset out of box!

 

New version(1.0.0.8) live now! With Unity5 support and OSX bundle. But there are some issues with this version, so there will be a 1.0.0.9 release shortly.

Current issues:
-Windows Builds only work with x86 mode, while the plugin is for both platforms
-OSX builds have constant backfiring for some reason.

Windows Test demo

 

Hello Ravel, the package contain a demo scene?