From 9643e021987a43e072254f85174d702fff302980 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Cyd Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2026 18:20:03 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] The physics rate is the play testers' question now RP412PHYSICSHZ documented in environ.ini, under TARGETFPS where it belongs, with the three rates worth testing: 25, the arcade pods' rate and the step the original handling was tuned against; 50, the middle road; 100, the smoothest contact response. All three divide the engine's millisecond clock exactly and all three are verified bit-identical across frame rates. The entry says what to feel for - hover bounce, wall hits, how the pod takes a hill crest - and asks for the rate alongside the verdict, because whichever one the testers pick becomes the canonical physics for PC and pods alike. It ships commented out: the default stays the frame-coupled game everyone knows until that decision is made on purpose. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 --- RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+) diff --git a/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp b/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp index 0f1764c..4f122a9 100644 --- a/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp +++ b/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp @@ -199,6 +199,29 @@ namespace "# default is 60; the arcade pods shipped at 25.\n" "TARGETFPS=60\n" "\n" +"# The physics step, in steps per second - the option under test.\n" +"#\n" +"# 0 (the default) is the game as it has always run: the simulation\n" +"# advances by however long each frame took, so the frame rate IS part\n" +"# of the physics - a pod at 30 fps falls, corners and collides\n" +"# differently from one at 144. Any other value here decouples them:\n" +"# the simulation advances in fixed steps of exactly this rate whatever\n" +"# the display does, and the SAME race plays out on every machine -\n" +"# measured bit-identical at 30, 60 and 144 fps.\n" +"#\n" +"# The three rates worth testing, all exact on the engine's millisecond\n" +"# clock:\n" +"# 25 the arcade pods' rate - the step the original handling was\n" +"# tuned against, coarsest contact response\n" +"# 50 the middle road\n" +"# 100 the smoothest contact and terrain response\n" +"# (Rates that do not divide 1000 evenly - 60, say - quietly run at the\n" +"# nearest millisecond step instead; the log says so if you try one.)\n" +"#\n" +"# What to feel for against 0: hover bounce, wall hits, how the pod\n" +"# takes the crest of a hill. Report the rate with the verdict.\n" +"#RP412PHYSICSHZ=50\n" +"\n" "# How long one background pass may spend drawing cockpit gauges, in\n" "# milliseconds. The gauges and the MFD/map displays are redrawn in the\n" "# time left over after the 3D view; on a big, busy map there is none\n"