Released Released New Material Editor! (Car Paints)

Discussion in 'News & Notifications' started by Christopher Elliott, Jan 31, 2019.

  1. Andrew Harper

    Andrew Harper Registered

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    Hi Alex, Yeah I tried a few reloads and also I noticed something else.

    The JSON file wasn't being updated (the time stamp was still old) but I noticed it updated when I quit RF2. So tried a few more times and that seems to have worked. Could just be a coincidence though! lol

    Seems to work now but I'm still a little bit nervous about it working properly.

    Car looks good in the sunlight, the flecks work well.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Yoeri Gijsen

    Yoeri Gijsen Registered

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    @Andrew Harper
    I believe the guides states that the region file has to be exported as DTX1, rather than 5. I'm not sure how this would affect the car's looks though.

    Also, I usually find that if the car does not update properly, the .mas-file is somehow 'stuck'. I exit the game, delete the .mas and restart to find everything working as intended.
     
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  3. Andrew Harper

    Andrew Harper Registered

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    Yes I tried the region DDS in DXT1 and also in DXT5. Doesn't seem to make much difference but as the issue I was experiencing at the time was chrome like I wasn't sure if the alpha layer in the region file was needed. No harm in trying :)

    Right so it may be the MAS file then, interesting. I noticed the time stamps weren't always updating on some of the files, so I deleted them and tried again. Thanks for the tip.

    I have noticed something in RF2 which is interesting. Collections of DDS files don't always seem to work properly. I've noticed the windscreen file in a custom car I did simply refused to load into the showroom. I had to delete the files and try again. I think this has only started since the last update, not a huge issue but can be a bit frustrating.

    Can we still group a selection of DDS files into a MAS file still? Can we group all the cars files? Or is the JSON file and smaller MAS file needed to be kept separate? Admittedly I haven't tried it yet, just curious to see what people have discovered.
     
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  4. juanchioooo

    juanchioooo Registered

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    dxt1 not alpha
     
  5. Frank Murphy

    Frank Murphy Registered

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    1. You can pick all your DDS files and put them into the MAS file. But at this time there is a bug and it "could" happen, that your extra files will deleted if you klick "RELOAD" in the showroom.
    Your skin problem:
    2. You must safe the region.dds as DXT1 (no alpha). You don't need the extra alpha layer but you can use it as an extra color layer.
    3. Check if you pressed "RELOAD" before joining the racetrack. Only after you have done that, the changes will be written to the JSON file.
     

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    Last edited: Mar 5, 2019
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  6. BigDuke6

    BigDuke6 Registered

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    Just a thanks for the help earlier, had a play and seem to have sused it out, if only just.
    sbent.jpg
     
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  7. Balazs Magyar

    Balazs Magyar Registered

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    Slurm!
     
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  8. Frank Murphy

    Frank Murphy Registered

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    Nice thumbs up!!! A Slurm skin is also on my bucket list (after finishing two Duff skins)
    :D
     
  9. Mikael Palusa

    Mikael Palusa Registered

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    Now that rf2 creates a .mas file for every .dds I'm currently working on for a car, the showroom used for watching the changes seem to look at the .mas file instead of the dds. My updated work on the .dds doesn't show. I can't keep deleting the .mas all the time for it to show my progress, so how do I solve this issue?
     
  10. Chris Lesperance

    Chris Lesperance Registered

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    Click on the "Reload" button. From what I understand, the game will update the .mas with the loose file textures.
     
  11. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    It's been normal practice that you reload the car in the showroom for the changes to show when your working with rF2 running.
    The only real difference is now the reload process reloads the Mas.
    End result; You need the Mas. Don't delete it. The game will generate a new one anyway and load the open DDS files to it. Reload the car and it will do the same thing.

    The one change that you may run into is if you save a DDS while rF2 is not runner then start it up, you will still need to open the car in the showroom, then reload it again for the Mas to be updated before the change will show.
     
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  12. Mikael Palusa

    Mikael Palusa Registered

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    The way it acts right now makes no sense at all. I have a .mas file now in my \mikael palusa1 with all the files I want rf2 to use for my car, with the livery, driver and extra0 and extra1 for gloves, plus the helmet. But in the showroom it doesn't load properly, just a plain white car. And inside rf2 it doesn't show up properly either. this automatic generating of the .mas files have only caused massive issues and now I can't even get the livery to show. If I extract the dds files from the mas, they are intact and have the correct images...
     
  13. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    As annoying as it is I think you'll find it's a necessary step towards the new UI and competition system so we're going to have to used to it

    Why isn't your car showing? Well, your not going to like this but it's your name. rF2 has never and still will not load a cars DDS files with a name that starts with P ! yes, that's right, It hates the letter P. First or last name, doesn't matter. Change or just remove the P from your drivers name and let us know what happens.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2019
  14. Keeper

    Keeper Registered

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    When clicking Reload, the game will only copy the base car skin and I think the driver or the helmet. All other files are not copied into the MAS, and will not load in game unless you put them into the MAS yourself with the MAS Tool. It's a minor inconvenience. Just don't worry about the extra files until you've got the car paint sorted, then open up the MAS2.exe (in rFactor2/Support/Tools), add what's missing and Save.
     
  15. Andrew Harper

    Andrew Harper Registered

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    I've done a few cars now without issue but I'm stuck on this one at the moment.

    I'm finding that texture setting is being applied to the entire car and I don't know why.

    I'm sure I'm missing something stupid, I probably need to take a step back and look again piece by piece.

    The region file looks fine, but if I select one colour (say green for the sponsor logos) and make it chrome (for example) it's applying chrome to the entire car.

    Region file saved as DX1 (no alpha). Car bodywork saved as DXT5. Colours used as per template, image flattened before saving as DXT1 (I tried with and without just to test).

    I delete the MAS file and JSON file before each "test" just to make sure.

    I keep thinking it'll be something stupid like a file naming that I've missed! haha.

    Anyone else had this issue?
     
  16. Daniele Vidimari

    Daniele Vidimari Registered

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    Can you post a screenshot of your region file?
     
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  17. Andrew Harper

    Andrew Harper Registered

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    Thanks for the help my friend.

    Upload of the region file below plus also an example of what happens when I select the black layer and set it to Chrome.

    You can see the sponsor logo's underneath (just about) but it's not isolating just on the black portion of the region file like on the other cars I've updated. All the other region options have no effect. I tried changing all the colours around, even removing black completely but same thing happens, select one region option and it's applying it to the entire car.

    So black would be carbon, blue is paint in this case (I did try swapping them around), red will be matt vinyl, white will be shiny vinyl and green shiny vinyl.

    Like I say, I'm probably just missing something obvious because I've done about 6 or 7 cars now and no issues, but if you have any ideas let me know :)

    Car livery saved as DXT5
    Region file saved as DXT1 - No Alpha
     

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  18. Daniele Vidimari

    Daniele Vidimari Registered

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    Did you create a new team? I see in your pic that you are the the directory 8ALT54A39EE3, while you should edit the materials using the custom team created after placing the alt files in the default directory.

    Cattura.PNG

    I just tried you region and everything is fine, so i think you just missed this step :)
     
  19. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    When you add a new texture (save to DDS) it needs to be applied. To apply a newly save texture you need to refresh the car in the showroom. This action installs the newer texture to the Mas. were it needs to be to work. This only applies to the body DDS, Region DDS and the json_ini need to be in the Mas. to work. So any change to either of these three files need to be in the Mas to stick.

    This applies to new virtual driver and/or a alternative skin for a existing car. Meaning you don't need to create a new VR to have a new skin in this system or the old one.
     
  20. Andrew Harper

    Andrew Harper Registered

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    Hiya,

    Thanks for the help and thanks for the answer, I deleted the extra files and tried creating a new team last night (so step by step via the S397 guide) and to my annoyance it still doesn't work. It's still applying the effect to the entire car and not just the one colour region.

    I've tried refreshing, reloading, creating team, this is really odd. I went back to the previous car I did and that works fine. I'm just trying to figure out what I did differently! lol :)

    Thanks for the help though, much appreciated. I'll have another look later on and see where I'm screwing up :)

    What I may do is move all the custom folders in the ORECA07 collection elsewhere and try again. I'm wondering if another file somewhere is interfering with the process. Unlikely but possible I suppose. Anything is worth a try.
     

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