Stk-code: Have at least two checklines on each official track

[Alayan-stk-2]

@auriamg wrote "we usually just want tracks to have at least 2 checklines in general".

So I thought a list of official tracks which don't have enough checklines would be useful.

• [x] Nessie's Pond. Suggested additional checkline : one on the bridge. Also make the grass slow down the kart again to avoid the grass-river shortcut. Otherwise, add a third checkline in the middle of the big curve before the arrival.
• [x] Fort Magma. Suggested additional checkline : somewhere in the middle of the lava bridge.
• [x] Green Valley. Suggested additional checkline : somewhere in the "tunnel".
• [x] Black Hill Mansion : the track will be replaced in the next release, so not very important. Though it will be probably released as an addon. A checkline at the entry of the mansion would work.
• [x] STK Enterprise. Suggested additional checkline : in the curve which is all the way down in the minimap.
• [x] XR591. It has multiple checklines but it's cheesy. Suggested additional checklines : in the middle of the last virage. Also possibly one at the point where the road splits in two : it's currently possible to just jump ahead and shortcut the curves.
• [ ] Hacienda. It may have multiple checklines (I've not checked but I think so), but it's possible to gain significant time by cutting through sand after the bridge. Much less gamey than what is possible in the other tracks though.

[auriamg]

Nessie's pond and Green Valley done.

As for Fort Magma and Enterprise, both of these are pretty 'corridor' tracks (especially enterprise), so I don't think many exploits are possible. If no exploits are known, that doesn't seem to matter much

As for hacienda and XR591, if people have the skill and creativity to perform the little shortcuts to shave off a few seconds, that's fair game as far as I'm concerned, they deserve it and it can be part of the fun. We're more concerned about skipping significant chunks of the track.

[Alayan-stk-2]

If you don't think exploits are possible for Fort Magma and Enterprise, just check this out :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPBbhFifvnc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o-qoeKGHTs

Basically, with how the game currently works having only one checkline pretty much guarantees an exploit.

For XR591, aside that even one 3-seconds shortcut can trivialize races ; the issue is there are 3 significant shortcuts. The first one permits to avoid 3 curves ; win 4-5 seconds ; it is extremely easy to pull off (much easier than following the normal path once you know about it, no skill involved) ; the second is less efficient but still gains another second. The last shortcut close to the finish line is worth 4-5 seconds or so, which is a lot. It can be done consistently once you learn the spot to use it. Put these together, and you've reduced the lap time by 20-25%. While the second can be more or less ignored, the other two are very significant.

See : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUu7NqYUqFk

Though the 3rd could also be solved by some physics change : on direction change, keep only a portion of speed, based on how close the current direction is to the previous (with scalar products). This is much much simpler than real inertia. When the kart turn, it keeps accelerating and its speed shouldn't change (except if it had a zipper or so active) ; but it would completely stop flying after hitting a rock.

EDIT : To be clear, going 10% faster means cruising to an easy victory. That's currently the difference between a good player and the AI. So if a relatively-easy shortcut to use allows to shave off 4-5 seconds in a 45 seconds track, it's trivialize the race. An interesting shortcut is one that can give 1-2 seconds but can go very wrong, like the Nessie's through grass and door to the bridge.

Also ; rather than the full distance check I proposed in the other (closed) issue, maybe a simple fix to block the counting of checkline when driving in the wrong direction would be useful for addons tracks ?

[auriamg]

Fair enough. I've updated Fort Magma and STK Enterprise

[auriamg]

XR591 has been tweaked to mitigate the issues. They may not have been fully plugged, but most of the shortcuts are now much harder to use

[auriamg]

Mansion done, that should cover all the main issues

[Alayan-stk-2]

Thank you !