The Re-Volt Network

Welcome to the RVGL project page

RVGL is a cross-platform rewrite / port of Re-Volt that runs natively on a wide variety of platforms. It's powered entirely by modern, open source components. We currently use:

The industry standard OpenGL for the graphics. Both legacy and modern OpenGL devices are supported.

OpenAL Soft for the audio. This is an independent, software implementation of OpenAL that provides various backends for different platforms. It also supports audio streaming facilities (OGG, FLAC, MP3).

SDL2 for input - keyboard and various joysticks, gamepads and controllers, and other platform specific support (threads, timers, etc).

ENet, a lightweight UDP library for networking.

RVGL Launcher

The recommended way to install RVGL is using RVGL Launcher, a cross-platform launcher and package manager.

Find out more about RVGL: Changelog | Documentation | Support
You can report bugs and suggestions on The Re-Volt Hideout forum.

Download

These are patch-only downloads of RVGL. You need the original game data to use these patches. Get the game data and soundtrack from Re-Volt I/O. Pre-built full game packages are available too.

Current version: 23.1030a1

Setup: Windows (32-bit) Windows (64-bit) macOS Android

Portable: Windows (32-bit) Windows (64-bit) GNU/Linux

Other Platforms: ODROID OpenPandora

Extras

Dreamcast Pack: This pack includes Rooftops and 14 additional cars. Get it here.

Controller Map: Android app that allows generating SDL Game Controller mappings. Get it here.

News

RVGL featured on Kotaku

Of All Things, Re-Volt Is Still Being Patched (27 Oct 2015)
"...it's incredibly heartwarming to see something as good as Re-Volt to be supported, not only for so long, but so competently as well."

"It's the remote control racer that was pushed out by Acclaim's Cheltenham studio in 1999. The fans have been keeping the game alive through hell or high water since 2004, working through the wilderness and the hazards of having a mobile developer pick up the IP in 2010." [Read more]

RVGL featured on PandoraLive

RVGL Makes Racing Fun on the Pandora (01 Mar 2016)
"Probably the best racing game you will ever get on Pandora."

"...even though the game is, frankly, old, it still looks great to this day. I'm not sure I can say the same thing of many other games from 1999, but that's a testament to the great design the original developers were capable of, with limited polygon count and texture space at their disposal. And kudos to the RVGL team which made it possible to run this game on OpenGL, paving the way for a Pandora port." [Read more]

RVGL in the ODROID Magazine

RVGL - Re-Volt on OpenGL (April 2016 issue, p24)
"The multiplayer mode is especially fun, and having the option to play on split screen on the same ODROID makes it even better."

"Re-Volt is a racing game like no other. Rather than racing big fancy cars against friends on tracks like the famous Nürnburgring, or racing karts on fantasy tracks, you instead race with radio controlled (RC) cars. This gives the game a very unique perspective, since you play from the point of view of tiny RC cars in all sorts of fun courses such as supermarkets and backyards. [...] RVGL is a reimplementation of Re-Volt in OpenGL for modern PCs. The RV-Team, and especially Huki and jigebren, have done a lot of work to get this 17-year old game to work on modern platforms and were nice enough to allow us to make a port for ODROIDs too." [Read more]

RVGL on the Re-Volt I/O blog

RVGL on the Pandora (06 Mar 2016)

"The combined effort of ptitSeb and Huki has brought us a port of our beloved game to the Open Pandora handheld. It is based on a recent version of RVGL and it works just like any other version of the game." [Read more]

RVGL - First Alpha Release! (02 Mar 2015)

"RVGL is Re-Volt redone with open source tools! It works on Windows and Linux natively. It's pretty exciting. If you wanna take Re-Volt to the next level, go here and give it a go." [Read more]

Features

What's new in RVGL:

Graphics

RVGL uses the cross-platform OpenGL API to bring Re-Volt alive in rich, high resolution graphics. Some of the supported features are automatic aspect ratio correction, resizeable windowed mode and gamma correction in fullscreen. Further, various graphical options including Anisotropic Texture Filtering and Antialiasing are natively supported. RVGL is also capable of automatically generating mipmap levels that help improve performance. Check these options out in Options -> Video Settings.

Further, the game now utilizes a new rendering engine based on programmable shaders. This shader-based rendering engine is expected to have significantly improved performance on modern GPUs and better power efficiency on laptops and mobile devices.

Pro Tip: Press the F11 key to toggle between Fullscreen and Windowed mode at any time.

Pro Tip: Take screenshots by pressing the F8 key. Screenshots are saved in the game's profiles folder.

Split-Screen

We bring you 2 to 4 player Split-Screen multiplayer support to PC, previously exclusive to Console versions of the game! Configure up to 4 different controllers, or share the keyboard. Number Pad is assigned for Player 2 by default, allowing you to play with your friend with no prior configuration. That's not all - you can have CPU cars playing along with your friends in Split-Screen mode! Enable them from Game Settings -> Multiplayer CPU.

Pro Tip: Once you and your friends have finished, use the Accelerate / Reverse keys to spectate CPU cars - watch 'em lose.

Multi-Player

RVGL features a low-latency Peer-to-Peer Multi-Player mode built on ENet, with optional Multicast support. Race (or Tag) with up to 15 other players from anywhere in the world, with 8 additional slots for spectators. We use UDP Hole-Punching to ensure that players behind home routers are able to play together without additional configuration. The game abstracts away the complexities of NAT so that players from the same Local Network can play, at the same time, with other players from around the world!

In-Game Lobby

In-Game Lobby

A mention about RVGL's Multi-Player support wouldn't be complete without Spectator mode and Late Joining support. That's right - jump right into an on-going game and get ready to race when the host restarts the game. Multi-Player chat messaging is improved with an in-game lobby - accessible at any time by hitting the TAB key, and support for International Keyboard Layouts. Type with élan - dead keys and AltGr are supported natively.

RVGL's Multi-Player support is fully cross-platform - this means players on Windows, Linux or an Android mobile device will be able to play together.

Pro Tip: Type a quick message while racing by pressing the F12 key.

Hosting a LAN party? Join us on Discord and let us know!

Original Soundtrack

RVGL is capable of playing the original soundtrack from hard disk. When downloading game assets, be sure to get the package that includes soundtrack. If you happen to have an original Re-Volt CD in your possession, you can rip audio tracks in one of the supported formats (Ogg, Flac, MP3 or uncompressed WAV), and place them in the game's redbook folder as tracks numbered from track02[.ogg] to track15[.ogg]. Check the Documentation for more info.

Additional Content

Dreamcast Content

Rooftops

Content exclusive to the Dreamcast version of the game are an optional integration to RVGL. The Dreamcast Pack, available from the Extras section, brings the Rooftops level and 14 additional cars, including BigVolt and BossVolt. Some of these cars come with alternate skins that resemble their PlayStation 1 counterparts! Choose between them from the Car Preview screen.

If you grew up playing Re-Volt on Dreamcast, you'll find more info in our Documentation on how you can relive the Dreamcast experience with RVGL.

Custom Content

Tons of user-made cars and levels have been made for Re-Volt over the decade, and RVGL remains compatible with all of them. Check out the top-rated content on Re-Volt World. RVGL has greatly extended the possibilities to allow user-made content to not only match, but supersede the original. Consult the Documentation for an exhaustive list of all options available for track and car makers. Below is a glimpse of what's possible with RVGL:

For Levels:

Kadish Sprint

Kadish Sprint

For Cars:

Naval Baron

Naval Baron

Rich user-made content is produced these days in Blender. There is a WIP Blender plugin available from here.

Advanced options

We support various Launch Parameters that advanced users might find useful. You can find a full list in our Documentation.

Screenshots

Windows, GNU/Linux

Android

OpenPandora

Videos

RVGL featured on Kotaku

RVGL running on the OpenPandora

Nerd3 Completes Re-Volt (RVGL)

Rookie Championship November 2017

Re-Volt - Rc Racing Mayhem

RVGL Gameplay (Split-Screen)