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RoweRC 0.1.9 for RC Tandems 2.2.7
RoweRC 0.1.9 supports RC Tandems 2.2.7 (Epic build 13f07161e8). It brings back APEX Wangan City with grounded road height and banking, a height-matched driving camera, and city barrier contacts. The Pickup and Supra RC shells are included.
Install and play
- Both players update RC Tandems to 2.2.7 and close the game.
- Extract
RoweRC-prototype-0.1.9.zipand run./Install.ps1from the extracted RoweRC folder in PowerShell 7. The full installer is required when upgrading from 0.1.8 or earlier. - If APEX Wangan City 1.0.0-test.4 is already installed, reuse it. For a new install, put the intact ZIP in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\RoweRC\Maps\Inbox, choose F8 → Maps → Reload custom maps, and restart RC Tandems. Download APEX Wangan City - With Steam running on both PCs, the host selects APEX Wangan City and chooses Host friends in F8. The guest joins with the lobby code.
The local 2.2.7 playtest recorded city contacts and driving beyond the stock 18-metre arena limit. Two-PC play and live car-to-car contact on 2.2.7 still need a playtest.
RoweRC 0.1.8 - APEX city test build
RoweRC 0.1.8 - APEX city test build
Preserves the 3D APEX city and adds grounded road height/banking, city obstacle contacts, matching camera height, and support for driving beyond the native 18-metre arena limit. Stock tracks keep their native pawn tick. Deformation remains off.
Downloads
Both players need RoweRC 0.1.8 and the same map ZIP. RC Tandems Epic v2.2.5 / build 1801ffbdfe, UE 5.7.4 is required.
Existing RoweRC 0.1.6 / 0.1.7 users
Use F8 -> Maps -> Check for mod update, wait for the download, then close RC Tandems so it can install. Relaunch afterward. The helper carries and automatically extracts its verified terrain dependency; the previous updater does not need a new file-type permission. A clean/full install remains available above; extract it and run RoweRC/Install.ps1 with PowerShell 7 while the game is closed. Upgrades from 0.1.5 require the full installer.
Add the city map
Keep the map ZIP intact and copy it to %LOCALAPPDATA%/RoweRC/Maps/Inbox. Open F8 -> Maps -> Reload custom maps, restart RC Tandems, select APEX Wangan City, and choose Load / change host map. Use the native Drive button if the game opens at the Bench. Guests then follow the host's selected map. The updater and lobbies do not download the city ZIP automatically.
Validation and limits
105 backend checks, 11 Lua collision checks, terrain/contact tests, live height/banking and camera checks, all four native arena limits, stock-track tick restoration, and installation through the actual 0.1.7 updater passed. Release archives and map payload hashes were verified.
Experimental test release: a full city lap and two-PC driving/impact acceptance remain unverified. This supplies grounded driving; airborne dynamics are not implemented. Some source texture images were not supplied, so some surfaces use their imported material colors. Car contact remains experimental and the host enables it in Online.
Source commit: ce14efd. Checksums are in SHA256SUMS-0.1.8.txt.
RoweRC 0.1.7 - collision only
RoweRC 0.1.7 � collision only
Removes cosmetic dents following collision-time lag reports: contacts no longer copy shell geometry, construct procedural meshes, deform vertices or replicate dents. Both bundled shells use mesh outlines extracted offline, so enabling contact avoids reflecting 301,383 Supra vertices into Lua. The Pickup and Supra shells, Online/Car/Maps menu and rim-metallic slider remain included.
Both players should install 0.1.7. Existing 0.1.6 users can use the signed F8 updater, then close the game to install. Alternatively close the game, extract RoweRC-prototype-0.1.7.zip and run RoweRC/Install.ps1 using PowerShell 7. Upgrades from 0.1.5 require the full installer. Supported Epic RC Tandems: v2.2.5 / build 1801ffbdfe, UE 5.7.4.
Car-to-car contact remains experimental and starts off in each new lobby; the host enables it in Online. Native driving stays local. Two-PC impact feel and sustained smoothness require playtesting; the earlier access-violation reports are still under investigation. This hotfix removes the expensive deformation path, without claiming that every crash is resolved.
Validation: 99 backend checks and 11 Lua collision checks passed. Six native solver-to-owner contacts (three on each shell) were acknowledged in an empty test lobby without a crash. This is a local fixture, not two-PC acceptance.
RoweRC 0.1.6 - shells, cleaner menu and cosmetic dents
RoweRC 0.1.6 — shells, cleaner menu and cosmetic dents
Both players can select the new Pickup and Supra RC shells from F8 → Car. The release includes all six cooked shell files, a saved rim-metallic slider, native-shell restoration, and a menu split into Online / Car / Maps. Shells retain the game's body color and the game retains local driving physics.
Upgrade instructions: update Epic RC Tandems to v2.2.5 / build 1801ffbdfe, close the game, extract RoweRC-prototype-0.1.6.zip, and run RoweRC/Install.ps1 in PowerShell 7. Upgrading from 0.1.5 requires the full installer because its updater only accepts the old game build and cannot install shell containers. The shell files are included in the archive; the new updater supports these files for future releases.
Cosmetic denting is included for body paint sections. Mod car-contact impulses can add dents; Reset Car repairs them. Dents do not alter wheel/chassis collision shapes. Wall impacts are not connected to deformation. Custom-shell dent messages now pass validation for reliable peer replication.
The shell-switching crash caused by retaining an Unreal asset wrapper after its mesh could unload is fixed. The corrected build passed 14 native shell changes and six forced garbage collections, with stock restoration working. Both shells cooked under UE 5.7.4 with zero errors and warnings and loaded in the installed game. Native deformation and reset checks, managed packet/updater checks and Lua lifecycle checks were also run.
Experimental contact uses the game's pinned native pair solver with actual mass/inertia, an upright body footprint and four tire shapes. Contact starts off and can be enabled by the host in Online. Native car contact, cosmetic dents and Steam names are included, but real two-PC impacts and custom-shell/dent visuals remain unverified. No newly cooked custom track is included.
Steam transport still uses development App ID 480. Both peers need this same release and the supported game build.
RoweRC 0.1.5 - experimental car contact
Experimental car contact is available from the in-game F8 menu. Both players need 0.1.5. The host selects Toggle experimental car contact (host), then both players close F8 and enter Drive. Contact starts off in each new lobby.
- A convex footprint from the actual body mesh plus four tire cylinders follows body choice, wheel placement and steering.
- The host resolves relative contact speed, off-centre yaw and sliding friction. Each owner applies an acknowledged impulse to its native driving simulation.
- Upright heading interpolation is smoother, network packets omit duplicated bridge/debug data, and F8 shows Steam ping, arrival jitter and update cadence.
- Existing automatic updaters can fetch this release. Use F8's update check to request it immediately, then close and reopen the game after the update-ready notice.
This contact model follows the game's upright XY-plane physics. It uses a convex body outline, equal nominal 1.5 kg cars and geometry-derived yaw inertia; it does not provide 3D triangle contacts, deformation or tumbling. Latency can delay the visible response. Two-PC collisions and the latest subjective smoothing changes still need playtesting, especially across a UK connection.
Validation: 85 backend checks, 19 smoothing checks, 6 appearance checks, 8 native-adapter checks and six Lua parse checks passed. A local native fixture generated five collider shapes with 88 points, produced a 2,346-byte pose/dynamics packet, and applied and acknowledged a computed contact on the real car. The other car in that fixture was simulated, so this does not establish two-PC contact acceptance. The host's F8 toggle was also checked in the installed game.
Supported: Epic Windows RC Tandems build 3c46a39f90, Unreal 5.7. Steam transport continues to use development App ID 480.
RoweRC 0.1.4 — smoother remote cars
RoweRC 0.1.4 — smoother remote cars
Remote cars now render on engine frames instead of a separate 16 ms polling loop. One movable parent drives the whole remote assembly; static body/chassis parts no longer need individual world-transform calls every frame. Wheels still animate relative to that parent.
The Steam helper replaces its coarse Windows Forms timer with a coalesced timer that dispatches onto the same STA thread. It sends each new local snapshot, removing the extra 50 ms gate that combined with the old timer to produce roughly 10–11 pose updates per second. The game continues to export approximately 30 snapshots per second. Both PCs should update for the higher send cadence.
Interpolation uses cubic body positions, a monotonic playback clock, bounded clock-speed correction, an adaptive 120–240 ms buffer, and small-error blending after prediction. The buffer expands for slow/jittery peers; that trades some visual latency for steadier motion. Prediction remains capped at 100 ms, stale cars expire, and actual resets snap instead of sliding.
Suspension compression no longer changes the appearance identity or repeatedly replaces the car. Actual body/paint/rim/tire choices still update. Appearance scans reuse component/material lookups, and UI/file polling is throttled independently of rendering.
Validation: warning-free Release build; 70 backend checks, 17 smoothing checks, six appearance regression checks and five Lua syntax checks. A native local fixture measured 202.9 remote-render updates/s with a 20 Hz input, a 146 ms buffer and zero predicted frames in that sample; local export measured 30.5 Hz. These are observed samples, not guaranteed frame rates. All 80 appearance parts remained intact and peer cleanup completed without a Lua error. Fresh two-PC driving acceptance is still needed to judge the remaining jitter and new send cadence.
Update from F8 → Check for mod update, wait for the download, then close and reopen RC Tandems. Existing signed updates, host maps and missing-body fixes remain included.
RoweRC 0.1.3 — body fix and update notifications
RoweRC 0.1.3 — experimental
Automatic update checks now run at startup and every 10 minutes while the game is running. Once a signed update finishes downloading and its installer starts, a banner appears over gameplay: close and reopen RC Tandems to install. The banner does not pause the game, capture focus or intercept clicks. F8 retains the detailed update status. A ready update remains ready instead of being replaced by a later check's status.
Players on 0.1.1 or 0.1.2 can use F8 → Check for mod update, wait for the download, then close and reopen the game to install 0.1.3. The periodic checks and gameplay banner are available after that upgrade. This release also fixes missing remote body shells and chassis when the sender uses a stock car the receiver has not loaded locally. UE4SS now receives the full asset object path, and visual replacement waits until every mesh and material resolves. Failed loads keep the previous complete car and retry, rather than committing a partial chassis.
Live validation: the affected green Nissan 180SX now loads all 80/80 parts over Steam, and the guest confirmed the body is visible. The gameplay notification preview rendered without pausing the car updates. Validation also includes 70 backend checks, 11 smoothing checks, four asset-loading regression checks and five Lua syntax checks.
Custom maps still require compatible cooked content. Neither playing an already compatible cooked map nor importing its RoweRC ZIP requires Unreal Editor on the player's PC. Raw source assets still need a compatible cook before the current loader can use them. No engine is installed or maps downloaded by this update.
RoweRC 0.1.2 — experimental
RoweRC 0.1.2 — experimental
F8 now includes a Steam lobby browser with public listings, friends-only room discovery, player counts, map names and one-click joining. Friends-only hosting remains available; public hosting is a separate explicit choice. The host still chooses the map and guests follow automatically.
Remote cars now receive the sender's stock body, visible chassis, rims, tires, body paint and rim paint through checked, acknowledged appearance snapshots. Each remote car owns independent material instances. Four wheel transforms and four hub transforms synchronize steering and wheel motion, and six native motor loops synchronize volume and pitch with gain based on car-to-car distance.
A 120 ms snapshot buffer replaces per-packet chasing. Body and wheel rotations use quaternion interpolation; prediction is limited to 100 ms, and car resets clear the buffer.
Both players need 0.1.2 for the new visual/audio features. From 0.1.1, use F8 → Check for mod update, wait for the download, then close and reopen RC Tandems. Future startup checks use the signed feed. Stock game build 3c46a39f90 and Steam development App ID 480 remain required.
Validation: zero-warning Release build, 70 backend checks, 11 smoothing checks, and five Lua syntax checks. A real public Steam lobby was created and found by the browser. Native local tests confirmed a remote body swap to Toyota Supra, independent red body paint, different rims, moving wheel transforms, active motor volume/pitch and cleanup across 80 components; a complete 29,880-byte native appearance snapshot validated and reassembled from 17 chunks. The original 0.1.1 updater also downloaded and verified the public 0.1.2 package, waited for game/helper exit, installed its eight files and wrote a successful receipt. The earlier 0.1.1 real two-PC session confirmed visible car updates through Steam Networking Messages.
The new appearance, wheel and motor-audio features still need a two-PC driving test. Friend-room discovery, sustained driving under varied latency, connected-guest map changes, custom cooked maps and cosmetics/tune persistence across map travel also remain unverified. Cars remain visual ghosts without physical contact. Custom asset/texture downloads, voice and chat are not included.
RoweRC 0.1.1 — experimental
RoweRC 0.1.1 — experimental
The host chooses the lobby map. Guests join by code and load that map automatically; subsequent host map changes propagate through a single committed lobby-state value. Guests cannot override the map while connected.
Reliable peer handshakes now operate during map loading. A Steam P2P fallback retries stalled primary connections. Send failures are retained in status/logs, with peer readiness and packet counters in %LOCALAPPDATA%/RoweRC/bridge/session.log.
The in-game F8 menu checks a signed update feed. Future compatible releases download automatically and install after the game closes, with backups and rollback. Game files, settings and other mods are excluded from update payloads.
Both players must install 0.1.1 once; 0.1.0 lacks the updater and uses an incompatible wire protocol. Future updates use the signed feed. This remains an experimental mod using Steam development App ID 480. Remote cars mirror local appearance and do not have physical contact.
Validation: Release build without warnings, 49 standalone state/protocol/import/update checks, both Lua modules parse under Lua 5.4, real Steam lobby create/leave smoke check. The previous build's local native rendering test showed a separate car made from 80 static mesh components; that local test was not a real peer connection.
Two-PC verification on October 31, 2026: the guest confirmed a visible remote car. Local logs show a connected Steam Networking Messages session, matching Tandyz map paths and 1,985 accepted car updates without a connection error. Both-player visibility, map changes with a guest connected, and sustained driving under varied latency remain to be verified. The installed helper also verified the live signed update feed; applying a future release through the full download-and-exit flow remains to be tested.