Hey everybody, I'm Zach, and I'm working with Dennis Palatov to put the Palatov D2 into rFactor 2. A separate set of volunteers have already put the Palatov D4 into rFactor 2, and this car is next on the list. I'm new to rFactor, and this is my first time putting a car into rFactor 2. I'm quickly finding it's not as simple as I had hoped it would be. I have a very good 3D model to start with. It needs optimization (it's 2.7 million polygons!) but it's straight out of the CAD used by Palatov Motorsport, so it's the pinnacle of accuracy: I've followed Car Modding Workflow v1.0 from the Developer's Corner, and the first hindrance I encountered is the .pdf's continued reference to "rtrainer". Am I correct in assuming whatever car that was has been replaced by SkipBarber? That having been said, I followed the workflow document through editing test_car.gen as best as I could with the differing SkipBarber files. At this point, the document claims "the new car should now be visible in game ... of course it is still using rtrainer visual assets." However, it's not quite working for me. Opening the tuning screen (is this what accesses D2_spinner.gen?) results in a grey screen which never loads a car or environment, unlike the SkipBarber, which loads a garage with the car in it. Attempting to race with the D2 at this point does not use the SkipBarber visuals, but appears to use the SkipBarber sounds and performance, as expected. The car instead appears as a low-poly untextured yellow hatchback, as seen below. I suppose that's some default model when no model is loaded. I'm using a Steam installation of rFactor 2, but I have a separate Lite + SDK installation as recommended by Radar to fix a gJED shader error. I have a student copy of 3ds Max 2017 and I'm using RJames's workaround for the incompatible 3ds Max plugins. I'll use this thread to post updates and progress, but I feel it's mainly going to be me asking for help to get this project racing. I humbly ask that this community will help me make this project a success. For starters, is there a better tutorial I can follow? The dev's corner .pdf documents seem out-of-date and I haven't been able to find any other "beginning-to-end" tutorials so far. Any ideas on why the SkipBarber model isn't showing when I load the "D2" (with SkipBarber assets)? Once that's sorted, I can move on to exporting models to prove to myself that I've got something working, then I'll begin optimizing and texturing. Thank you for reading this. I look forward to completing this project and giving back to this community. Edited to add: I'm already proving my newcomer status. Admins, could you please move this thread to Car Modding? Apparently I wasn't in the right forum when I wrote this.
Ok guys someone helps him!!! I really love the Palatov D2 shapes, would be great if Palatov will put the full roster here!! ...can we have both versions? Maybe the next licensed car for rF2, I hope yes, I am bored of street Lotus or KTM stuff...something new and exotic like this will be great! There are a lot of less know car producers here wich need some space on simracing, like Palatov, Panoz, Superlite Cars, Ultima, etc...
Try this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nes838sg5neoz2p/Palatov_D2.rar?dl=0 Extract that to your moddev/vehicles folder. Hopefully this will get you started. Rename, replace or add GMT:s to maps and do the same to the entries in .gen files
@DaVeX, I'm sure once I get the basic process down it will be no trouble to chop the roof off and make a roadster variant! The two body styles are mechanically identical underneath their skins. I believe Dennis wants to get the D1 into rFactor 2 too, once I've got the D2 done. There will be more Palatovs after this first one! Thanks for your enthusiasm; it's very encouraging! @Jokeri, thank you very much for providing that download for me. I'm currently at my other job, so I will take a look at it when I get home tonight and hopefully make some rapid headway!
Your main issue will most likely be the search paths, at the top of the gen file. Make sure those are correct, and make sure you're not loading anything that doesn't exist. One missing part and the yellow car appears.
Sincerely I think the last thing you must do is to have that HiPoly loaded into rF2. First of any other thing, you need to generate the new 3d that can work into the sim. We, that developed the D4, were waiting since year(s) for finding a guy able and with enough time to make the 3d and we are still waiting for him... Without the right model, all the rest is useless.
I won't be attempting to use the high detail model in-game. I'll be creating new models from the CAD 3D that I have to ensure accuracy while reducing the poly count to an acceptable number.
Because nobody asked me for it and I read with surprise and happiness just now this thread. No problem on my side, but, as I said, I wasn't able to find any available modeler (for free). I never abandoned the idea to develop the D2!
Perfect! Once you will have the main 3d model (I mean the "body" at least), you will be ready for thinking to have it working into the sim. Now, believe me, don't care for it! My answer can sound rude, but it isn't. This is the right workflow you have to follow, at first you must take care of the 3d model at max resolution that anyway can work into rF2 (look at latest ISI models to see how many polys for a body, more or less, can be used for the first LODin).
@Slow Motion, I'll get started on making an acceptable body model when I get home, and we can continue once that's done! I'll be back with questions as they arise.
Good luck! You are right about it not being simple - I'd definitely be taking as much help from Slow Motion as is available
Just a small update for now - I've started modelling the car at a poly count acceptable for in-game use. No materials yet. Just a few parts are done: the dashboard, shifter, and two switches on the dashboard. And the wireframe. About modelling - are separate objects fine for rFactor 2? That could make texturing a pain, but that's a point I'm not quite to yet. I tried the folder @Jokeri uploaded, and half of the cars are yellow blobs, half are Skip Barbers. Sooo... improved over what I had done but not quite 100%. I'll worry about that once I have good models!
The more separate parts you have the more time it takes to set up your gen files because each mesh needs its own line in gen. Generally I'd try to have one mesh per material where ever you can. But obviously this can make modelling difficult because in blender for example different parts may need different modifiers and some parts just can not be combined into one. Also for rf2 parts like brake calipers and bumpers need to be separate because calipers need to be able to move while bumpers don't. You also want to make the bumpers separate so they can fall off. I think when your model is completed you can use 3dsimed to combine multiple meshes into single gmt which will only reduce the number of lines in gen file. Naturally when you do this step you need to rework your gen files. I don't know if there is an fps benefit in rf2 if you have 100 gmts listed in gen or 30 (less is usually better). You don't want to make each button separate though so don't have 1000 gmts . As for gen file if you get any errors when loading the parts listed in gen the devmode will load that yellow car. Missing gmts cause the yellow car to load. Missing textures seem to give errors and then make rf2 crash. Errors in upgrades.ini usually just cause a crash. Errors in the paths in the gen files cause a yellow car. Errors in gmt files (sometimes gjed for example outputs bugged gmts when you switch shaders or change invisilibity) cause a crash with no errors. I've not yet found anything useful in the moddev log traces. The way rf2 crashes seems to be more indicative about what kind of problem you have than anything else.
