The last few weeks have been very crucial for the development of Liftoff. Not only did we finish the Race Editor (not to be confused with the Track Builder) that allow you to add functionality to your Tracks, but we also completely revamped the internal flight behaviour code.
This update includes
Changing parts has a more profound effect on the flight behavior.
We've replaced the old throttle curve with a curve based on Cleanflight. You can now change the Mid and Expo value just as you would there. You can find these values in the flight controller settings in the pause menu.
Mid (a value between 0 and 100%) allows you to set the percentage of output you generate at 50% throttle. You can adjust this to have the drone hover at a comfortable stick position.
Expo (a value between 0 and 100%) allows you to adjust the curve of the throttle. A higher value allows more precision around the mid point and faster acceleration towards the edges.
We added the option to move the minimum throttle position in the controller setup window. If this is set, any throttle below that percentage will be considered zero. You can use this in game controllers to use only the upper half of the throttle stick (or some other value that feels good). It can also be used for controllers that don't exactly return zero and consequently can't arm the drone. Setting the value to 5-10% should solve that issue.
Drag has been tweaked somewhat.
The Race Editor has been added. With the Race Editor, you can create your own Races for custom-built Tracks. You can share and install Races in the same way as Tracks.
The Track Builder now has checkpoint items. These can be used for Races. There are gates with predefined checkpoints and freeform checkpoints.
The Track Builder has a Checkpoint Toggle Tool.
A number of new items have been added to the Track Builder.
Some changes to the existing tracks
The quad now has collision points under the motors so it can "stand on its feet". This should make skidding slightly easier.
A reset will be triggered automatically when the quad has been upside down for a while.
The way in which Track, Race and save files are handled has been changed slightly. Your save file (formerly known as Player.xml) can now be found at:
[Your Liftoff Installation Folder]/Liftoff_Data/Saves (Windows)
[Your Liftoff Installation Folder]/Liftoff.app/Contents/Saves (Mac)
A variety of small bugs have been fixed.
