[RELEASE] Nordschleife Tourist v1.65 beta

Discussion in 'Locations' started by pleclair, Aug 4, 2013.

  1. ZeosPantera

    ZeosPantera Registered

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    I'd love to try my hand at a profile but getting the track into the developer side is a pain in the ass.
     
  2. Kevin Karas

    Kevin Karas Registered

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    Well I always love your profiles but to be honest. I personally think in this one it seems that the sun isnt really shining. Ok normal ISI profile is a bit too yellow but in yours it simply looks like an overcast without any sun. In my opinion of course. All in all it looks better than default in any way ;)
     
  3. pay2021

    pay2021 Registered

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    Many thanks!!!! Again! :)
     
  4. ZeosPantera

    ZeosPantera Registered

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    Which is why I want to make my own. Go strait to noon and burn that track with the summer sun!
     
  5. Nelson

    Nelson Registered

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    although I do not really like to race on long tracks like the nordschleife, I'd like to thank pleclair for his commitment. I really appreciate your work and your time spent on this project. I tried 0.91 some days ago and will check 0.96 soon. Thanks to tosch as well...

    had some good time back in the days at Rock Am Ring music festival :) the long straight was a camping site then
     
  6. speed1

    speed1 Banned

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    Once the track is in dev mode it is quite easy to handle.
     
  7. ZeosPantera

    ZeosPantera Registered

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    Yes well it is getting it there.
     
  8. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Registered

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    I wonder why I am not able to select any HDR profile for this track? Your files are in the settings folder where they work on every other track.
     
  9. Tosch

    Tosch Registered

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    You are right. There is a problem with all converted tracks. The textures where made for a non hdr environment (rFactor 1) and they work perfect with hdr disabled. To make them "compatible" for hdr you have to "remove the sunlight" from the texture.
    As an example let's say you need a grass texture for a track. For rFactor1 (non hdr) you should take a photo under full sunlight. For rFactor2 you should wait for some clouds and take the photo when the scene is overcast, because the sunlight will be added by the hdr lightning. That's the reason why some textures from converted tracks glow in neon colors. They where made to look sunny and you make them look even more sunny by adding hdr lightning.

    There are two ways to remove this unwanted sunlight.
    You can desaturate and color balance all textures. That is way it should be done.
    You remove the additional sunlight in the hdr profile (Sun T Lum). That is a temporary solution to make the track enjoyable until the first solution is done.

    Maybe you have the wrong file path. The settings folder is "rF2DataFolder\UserData\player\Settings\Nordschleife_Tourist".
     
  10. pleclair

    pleclair Registered

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    That is great info there Tosch. Thanks!

    Will be updating all textures and I'll be desaturating them for you, for the next hdr (and probably final) hdr profile.

    Can you send a screen of a regular rf1 texture (would be most helpful from nords) and one you modified so it is acceptable for rf2? That would help me have a guideline to work on.

    BTW, awesome screens you submitted! I might just change my mind soon regarding HDR :)

    Regarding the track, it will take a lot longer than I expected. Well, I was expecting it to take a lot of time at first, but when someone mentioned I could mesh smooth the surroundings, I then thought I could get away with it a lot faster.

    Turns out it doesnt work that way. The mesh is either too badly constructed or too complex to do this way. Whatever I tried since yesterday night to make it smooth properly didnt produced desirable results. Basically it tears up holes in a lot of places. Everywhere there is a corner with few edges on one side, and multiple in one corner, that region will be torns apart from smoothing.

    I tried to apply smooth groups, and althought it helps, it stills create smaller holes.

    I tried many different solutions and it is basically all the same. I also tried to add a mesh smooth modifier and play with more settings there, all the same.

    A faster solution I thought, would be to create extra edges along side of the track mesh, and apply the smoothing to the inside part, leaving the outside unsmoothed. I havent tested, but I think it should work. But the track edges will stay rough and edgy... would like the track to appear smooth and as in real life.

    So this leaves me with one solution, pull all edges that are apart from the neighbour one, and snap them to it. It will take a lot of time, but in the end, it will produce the best result, I think.

    I'll be done with 2 sections now, will soon export and try it in game and see if I can still spot cracks in those two sections... if all is good, then I'll move on.

    Just wanted to let you know that the 0.97 version will take a while to be ready.

    EDIT: Also tried to create an undershadow object, and it sure helps, but since the cracks arent all happening with the same grass textures, and even happens in some curbs (those with concrete extensions), it doesnt look right.

    Sure beats the sun's color... but isnt right.


    EDIT2: The first thing I tried yesterday, was actually add edges along side of the track, to smooth inside of it. Then I thought I could use those loops around the track to have real painted road lines.

    When I thought about the track side not being smoothed, I then simply detached the road lines to a separate objects, and I'll be working on texturing them later on.

    Depending on how fast I figure this stuff up, it could either appear in the 0.97 or 1.0 version, or later.... but the road line objects are made at least!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 30, 2013
  11. Guimengo

    Guimengo Guest

    The proper way of getting it done sounds nice. If it takes a month or more it will certainly be worth the wait, so I'm certain I'm not alone when I say to just do it thoroughly at your own pace :).
     
  12. wgeuze

    wgeuze Registered

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    Best thing to avoid messed up sides of the road is to connect edges and snap them to the road. The extra edges can be confined only real close to the track and merged later on, something like this:

    [​IMG]

    Those holes typically are caused by unwelded vertices in the road surface, and any other for that matter. Look for the weld option in the Editable Poly modifier (use a small theshold).

    edit:
    For real painted road lines, the easiest option of all is to slect the road polygons and do an inset. This way, the width of the lines will be correct everywhere, no matter how wide the road itself is at any point. You can just type in the amount that you want, for regular white lines I usually take 20 to 25 centimeters.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 30, 2013
  13. Isarmann

    Isarmann Registered

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    Thanks for all your work on this, pleclair...

    Just testing the "double-smoothed" .96 version; came back in here to report a hole in the track... I see you're aware of it!

    I decided to post anyway, because, reading the above, it sounds like there's holes everywhere--- but I only saw one. It's in the last banked left-hand turn, before the long sweeping right onto the final straight. A big, scimitar-shaped hole, but easy to avoid. I took screenshots of it, if you want to see them.

    View attachment 9600

    In general, though, I thought the smoothing worked well, and although I wasn't looking for flaws closely, I didn't see anything else out of place, until I saw the funny colors associated with this hole.

    Anyway, I find the current version an improvement, and I think overall any issues with the track have gone down.
     
  14. Marvin Morgan

    Marvin Morgan Registered

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    pleclair I have to let you know though please don't alter colors or textures etc. so it will fit for HDR only. Remember alot of people run with HDR off since it's a pretty hefty FPS hog in rF2 right now.
     
  15. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Registered

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    I had that folder, but was using an older one (I guess) called Ring_Tourist. Not totally clueless given the file name of the HDR files... ;)
     
  16. John.Persson

    John.Persson Registered

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    Should be made for HDR, and the people running without HDR should be the ones the get's the downside really.

    If we now have to choose a path what way to go. The game is made for modern hardware. We should not let old hardware limit us the potential of having a great looking track and feel.
     
  17. Guimengo

    Guimengo Guest

    Made for HDR should mean that once rF2 develops further, the non HDR should look good too when there's improved lighting and shadow casting system. So those who don't run HDR (I alternate) will not miss out anything in the future.
     
  18. Marvin Morgan

    Marvin Morgan Registered

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    Well if pleclair wants as many people as possible to run the track then making the track look good without HDR is the way to go. If he wants a few elite people to use it then by all means throw the kitchen sink at it where only a Cray Supercomputer can run it effectively. Alot of tracks in rF2 look better , and alot look great without HDR. This should be one of them. When graphics get finalized in this game then we can go from there but I would say make the track look great without HDR first.
     
  19. Tosch

    Tosch Registered

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    The top left is the default grass texture. Do you see the yellow touch? This is what I mean with build in sunlight. The bottom left is a modified texture. I used Photoshop for this (Image-Adjustments-Color Balance...). Both textures on the right are from Lime Rock. Just pick something that looks good with hdr and adjust the colors so that it looks like your reference texture. Note the values you have modified and repeat the steps on all grass textures.

    I don't see a problem for non hdr users. If ISI tracks look good for you it should be here the same.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. ZeosPantera

    ZeosPantera Registered

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    I think ruining it for the people running all max is *NOT* the way to go. We all can't be stuck with poor good graphics just so slower older cards look OK.. I want it to look insane on a super high end card and just MEH on older cards (like it does now).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 31, 2013

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