Update to all the carts, treadmill and mousewheel

Hi !

I was working on the Racing System (yes, I'm still at it !), getting ready to release it, when I was told about a crash on the Chariot, occurring after some time of intense use. A crash is a serious bug so here is an update to fix it... but also to bring you a few more features that I had been working on over time, in parallel with the Racing System (a lot of people were requesting these improvements anyway, so it was bound to be released quickly).

If you own a Chariot, a Sulky, a Phaeton, a Dogcart, a Mousewheel or a Treadmill and it is v1100 or below, then this update is for you.

- Fixed : Memory too low on the Chariot (couldn't make the script crash on any of the other carts, yet they all use the same base script) => optimized the memory footprint, hopefully it won't happen anymore now.

- Fixed : Made the root prim of the Phaetons bigger, as ponies tended to make it tilt forward due to its small base. As a result, it couldn't climb over steps anymore because of its bumper being very close to the ground.

- Changed : Made the boost a lot more tactic and useful (see below).

- Changed : Made it clearer when the handbrake is engaged (see below).

- Changed : Show which config is in use, on the menu. Due to the optimizations on the memory footprint, we can no longer select which hitch to apply what configuration, the configuration now applies to all the hitches.

- Changed : Made the Maintenance menu smaller and more consistent with the other menus.

- Changed : Made the name of the portable rezzer consistent with the cart (the Chariot and Sulky's were named "Portable dogcart rezzer").



Besides the memory optimization (resulting in not being able to apply a config to one hitch only, sorry about that, but that feature was never used anyway), there are two highlights in this update :

The boost used to add to the pulling power, meaning more acceleration... and marginally more speed. But it didn't really make sense. Now the boost is taken like a temporary higher gear shift (see it as "Speed 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9"), which really multiplies the top speed. Not by much, but the speed gain is significant enough to be noticeable and useful in a race. But not overpowered. The ponies now have 6 levels of boost instead of 4 (from 125% to 250%, in 25% increments), and decreases one level every 2 seconds. Each level of boost removes 1/8th of steering power, so the ponies can steer even at 250% boost, but not much.

The handbrake confused a lot of people, as when it was applied, no way the cart would budge. This would make people think the cart was broken, while it was behaving as designed. Now the handbrake emits a sound (like before) when engaged and disengaged, but also a message on the chat, a mention on the menu and a message to any pony who tries to move while it is engaged. That way it will be clear what to do when the cart won't move.

Finally, the update is also valid for the Mousewheel and the Treadmill, simply because they use the same scripts, and because they could benefit from the boost (more energy to the Battery, if any, but also more distance covered, so you can make races on two Treadmills side by side, for example).


To update your carts, Mousewheel and Treadmill, simply click on them, go to "Maintenance..." then select "New version ?" (with a question mark to indicate that it interrogates the server). You will then receive the updated version (the latest version is now v1101), and you can delete the old one.

If you are the owner of a pony sim and have significantly modified your carts (I'm thinking Bridled By Force for example, but there are others in this case), and really really don't want to make the same modifications over again, you can contact me, and I will give you a copy of the main script as well as the Seat script, so you can replace them yourself.

Have fun !

Marine