Livery add-ons & Textures

Discussion in 'Wish Lists' started by D.Painter, Apr 14, 2017.

  1. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    There's interest discussion going on in another thread that has invoked this thread.
    We all know add-ons for liveries has been a ongoing issue with rF2. The current system is really so limiting to the end user to add new liveries, Teams, Drivers.

    We understand the thinking behind the added liveries to go into the setting folder. With the new packaging system we as end users can't add teams the same way we used to in rF1. If we do and re-pack the mod it basically breaks it. Giving it a new ID number so now it's no longer compatible to the original mod. We can just imagine the mess we'd have if everyone that added a new team to a mod repacked it and shared it!!!!! Haha...

    We know that leagues are doing this. This way they can change cars to personal rides and don't have the limitations that are there when we use the skins system we have available to us now.

    Firstly the current system does work. It shares your livery and/or new team cars with others online. For this, it's good.

    What can be done to fix this?
    Well this is from me personally but was mentioned just recently by another member.

    When we create a new team there is a text file (.rcd text) and a folder with a single DDS texture, a copy of the original livery from the car you've used to create your Virtual ride from named alt.DDS. This is the one we over write with our new livery when saving to DDS.

    In the rcd. text we have the ability to change the drivers name, Car number, Team name, Description.

    This is a example off one I've created for the Porsche in the GT3 World Series Mod.
    //[[gMa1.002f (c)2016 ]] [[ ]]
    GT3WorldSeries
    {
    FlyingLizard 80 ( When creating this file, this line is the new drivers name. This is the name the game reads from the folder that holds the DDS textures with the same name.)
    {
    Team = Flying Lizard Motorsports (New team name)
    Component = STK_Porsche_991_GT3R (Mod it from. Don't edit)
    Skin = alt.dds (alt skin. You can edit this but it makes no difference if you do)
    VehFile = 991GT3R_16077IM.VEH (This the Vehicle file your new livery well use)
    Description = #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports (This shows in the car select window, menu.)
    Number = 80
    }
    }

    This system is sound enough and don't break mods so they want work online that does happen when re-packing mods.
    Sorry for the long winded run down on the current system but I feel is was needed for those reader that don't understand the system to at least try and make some sense of it for them.
    End of summary.

    To Studio 398,
    This system seem to work well enough. But it's limited. What I and a few other would like to submit is a few changes to the rcd.

    //[[gMa1.002f (c)2016 ]] [[ ]]
    GT3WorldSeries
    {
    FlyingLizard 80
    (Firstly change this to the TEAM name. This is the read line for the game but when we are working with the skins we have to recall drivers name to corresponded to livery, team we're working on. Most people can't remember a drivers name that drove for a specific team in a specific season or round.)
    {
    Team = Flying Lizard Motorsports
    Component = STK_Porsche_991_GT3R
    Skin = alt.dds
    VehFile = 991GT3R_16077IM.VEH (VEH files have lines that aren't available in the rcd file. Can we look at this more closely so we can use this as a secondary VEH file?)
    Driver="Lucus Luhr"
    Description = #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports
    Number = 80
    }
    }

    So the rcd. will read something like a usual VEH file, something like this,,
    EXAMPLE
    //[[gMa1.002f (c)2016 ]] [[ ]]
    GT3WorldSeries
    {
    FlyingLizard 80
    {
    Component = STK_Porsche_991_GT3R
    Skin = altFLM_80.dds
    GenString=1 // 1-michelin tire/2-pirelli tire/3-yokohama tire/4-continental tire
    Number=80
    Team = Flying Lizard Motorsports
    PitGroup="Group01"
    Driver="Lucus Luhr"
    Description= "#80 Flying Lizard Motorsports"

    OPTIONAL
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    FullTeamName= Team = "Flying Lizard Motorsports"
    TeamFounded=
    TeamHeadquarters=""
    TeamStarts=0
    TeamPoles=0
    TeamWins=0
    TeamWorldChampionships=0

    This would help to make this system more user friendly by opening up the available option in any given mod.
     
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  2. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    Textures.
    To Studio 398,
    ICON's. Currently they don't work for virtual ride's. As much of a pain they are a lot of people would like to have them working so they can at least get a idea what a livery looks like with out opening them in tuning window. Or better!! Be able to move through the liveries in the tuning window.

    I maybe wasting time with this because it maybe one thing that's been addressed in the new UI.

    To all modder, 3th Party and Devs.
    Blur rims!
    Personally I think this is a wast of time but a lot think that it makes their screenshots look more realistic??
    But now we end users have to live with the dev's idea of rim color and brands. Off cause it's so simple to make them all black! What's with that?
    I understand in some cases were black hides things but if you have to do that your admitting to yourself it's rubbish and you really should fix it, make it right. Right?

    To blur a rim enough for a screenshot I'd say we only really need one blur texture. In replays the rims have a animation rotation + a blur texture. I have build and tested this. The second blur added with the animation rotation in so many cases make the rim look like there's no spokes in the rim at all. In my opinion this is going a little to far.

    To the point!.
    Two textures for rims. One still, one blur. In a few mods that I've looked at we have two GMT files. Each with a texture assigned. So we have Texture, Rim on a still rim. Texture, Rim Blur on a secondary GMT Blur rim.
    In this case there's no reason why we can't have WildCard textures for this style of rim blur. So we as end users can change the rims color and brand using two textures, Static and blur in our Virtual rides folder.
    Yes, It works.

    Off cause this doesn't work when the Dev uses animated texture. You can WC the rim so a color change will change the static rim but not the blur. In this case the rim color reverts back to the default color when blur texture loads. It maybe possible to use Multiply on all the rim textures and have a color square as the WC texture and the Rims shading will go over it as it loads to game using a shader with multiple defuse but this I haven't tested so it's only a theory at this point.


    These are my thoughts on it. I think it's past time to address this. There was a time we'd see skin for rFactor mods all the time. Now we're battling to see one a month! It's not because our community painter are not wanting to!
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2017
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  3. bwana

    bwana Registered

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    Not having a clue about skinning but great informative post for those who do . Well done.
     
  4. Juergen-BY

    Juergen-BY Registered

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    I allways thought, the rcd files are meant to be used as performance overrides for the AI`s and for track overrides, too? Isn`t that a bug, that virtual teams get a rcd file by default, just in case, if i understand the op right? Just a question...
     
  5. Gijs van Elderen

    Gijs van Elderen Registered

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    A qoute from @MaD_King :

    Hello all, Kloche indicated me some league have trouble to create Virtual Ride, so I put here a manual way to make them with an example on the ES mod / Oreca03 Nissan

    1/ Where are put the Virtual Rides
    So, the virtual ride you create are set in the the UserData\player\Settings\ of you game.
    For each mod, there is a folder created that correspond to the component name.
    For the Endurance Series, it's ER_ESrF2
    So your virtual rides will be in this folder for the ES mod: UserData\player\Settings\ER_ESrF2

    2/ Select and prepare from existing car in the mod
    Each time you want to create virtual ride, you need to create a folder and a file.rcd corresponding.
    We will take an example for an Oreca03 car.
    A virtual ride, is a custom car based on an existing car in the mod/game.

    So first step, is to choose in game the car you want to start from because you virtual ride will inherit default part from this one (color of rims, tire brands, ...) .
    To found all the car available in the mod, got to Installed\Vehicles\ER_ESrF2\1.00\
    We are working on an Oreca03, so I will uncompress the ESP2_ORECA03_TEAM.mas (in a temporary directory) with the Mas2.exe tool (found it here Support\Tools\ )
    All the *TEAM.mas are not encrypted and can be extracted to check the important information to do skins.

    Now you have all the .veh for the Oreca03. A .veh is the description of a car in the mod.
    I make a search in file of the information seen in game, like the name of the Team: 14WEC SMP Racing #27
    I found that is the file: ESP2_ORECA03_144027.VEH

    Now I'm able to create manually my Virtual Ride based on ESP2_ORECA03_144027.VEH.

    3/ Doing my own Virtual Ride

    Safest way is create a .rcd ingame:


    3.1/ Doing the .rcd file
    So a Virtual Ride start with a .rcd fil.

    The content of a .rcd is:

    Code:
    //[[gMa1.002f (c)2016 ]] [[ ]]
    EnduSeries
    {
    ESP2_ORECA03_441
    {
    Team = HL Racing
    Component = ER_ESrF2
    Skin = ESP2_ORECA03_441.mas
    VehFile = ESP2_ORECA03_144027.VEH
    Description = PRIVATE - #441 HL Racing
    Number = 441
    }
    }

    The description of the fields is:
    ESP2_ORECA03_441 => Technically, it's Driver name and name of the associated folder where the skin is for the .rcd (On our online league, we use unique technical name based on unique numbers)
    Team => The name of the team you want to get in game
    Component => The name of the component (mod) you use to apply the virtual ride
    Skin => The name of skin.dds or skin.mas (see after for details)
    VehFile => The name of the .veh used in reference from the mod
    Description => The name you want to see in game when selecting a car
    Number => The number of the car (that will be use in game)

    3.2/ Doing the skin .mas file
    Now to complete the virtual ride , we need a folder containing the skin in addition of the .rcd
    So we will put the skin into a folder named ESP2_ORECA03_441 to be compliant with our .rcd informations

    A skin can be a stand alone .dds, but for the Endurance Series shall be in a .mas because for a car there are several parts to compose a whole car.
    To know the names of these parts, open the ESP2_ORECA03_144027.VEH and read the comments, you see:
    Extra0="EXTRABODY"
    Extra1="CHASSIS"
    Extra2="STIKERS"
    Extra3="EXTRABODY2"
    Extra4="EXTRABODY2"
    Extra5="RIMS"
    Extra6="HELMET"
    Extra7="CHASSIS"
    Extra8="RIMSBLACK"

    This indicates for example, if you want to make a skin, you have to pain the body, and the extrabody and the extrabody2.
    Som whant also to customize the helment and the driver suit, each lead to get a .dds file, then all have to be in a single .mas

    So, I prepare my skin like this:
    ESP2_ORECA03_441.dds
    ESP2_ORECA03_441EXTRABODY.dds
    ESP2_ORECA03_441EXTRABODY2.dds
    ESP2_ORECA03_441HELMET.dds
    ESP2_ORECA03_441DRIVER.dds

    Then I put these files in ESP2_ORECA03_441.mas with Mas2.exe

    [​IMG]


    3.3/ What I need to get at the end
    So now you are able to test you skin in game, you must have in your directories:
    UserData\player\Settings\ER_ESrF2\ESP2_ORECA03_441.rcd
    UserData\player\Settings\ER_ESrF2\ESP2_ORECA03_441\ESP2_ORECA03_441.mas

    4/ Testing my Virtual Ride
    Got to the mod, and you will see an additionnal team named: PRIVATE - #441 HL Racing
    [​IMG]
    You will see it using the Tuning button
    [​IMG]

    Hope this help you. This can be applied to any mod.
    If you have questions don't hesitate
     
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  6. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    The rcd file is a basic version of a Veh file. Here's a run down.

    //[[gMa1.002f (c)2016 ]] [[ ]]
    GT3WorldSeries (Mod name)
    {
    Lucus Luhr (Driver name for virtual ride. This also is the name you use on the folder that contains the virual cars DDS file.)
    {
    Team = Flying Lizard Motorsports (New Team name.)
    Component = STK_Porsche_991_GT3R (This is for the category that's on the bottom of the Veh file normally)
    Skin = alt.dds (Like a defaultLivery = in the Veh file but here you need to add alt to the names of all the DDS files in your new cars folder. They all must have alt in the name or they want work.)
    VehFile = 991GT3R_16077IM.VEH (This is the Veh file of the original car used to make the virtual ride from. The new car will use the same conponent.)
    Description = #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports ( This is what you see in the cars section menu as a additional car.)
    Number = 80
    }
    }
    Unfortunately the ICON's don't work on virtual cars.

    As you can see there's no physics changes. The AI don't get any advantage from a rcd file. It's mealy a limited Veh file for your virtual ride. (Added team / livery) Nothing more. No performance upgrades.

    You can select AI edit. These are sliders and affect all the AI, not individual cars. If talent files are added to a mod, these can be set to individual Drivers. The Drivers name is used for the file and a entry is set in the Veh file for the car that driver uses. Then you may see a difference by percentages in the AI drivers performance but I don't see mods being made that add them so the AI all have the same aggressiveness, Speed, and so on as per how you AI edit them yourself in-game.

    I hope this clears a few things up for you all.
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2017
  7. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Registered

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    Clear as mud ,lol
    I wish i understood anything from this thread :( i mean i understand the words and can read the whole lot but, lol what did i just read .
    o_O:confused::(
     
  8. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    Don't worry about it. Took me a while to get my head around it also. The penny will drop soon enough.
    Like I always say, "It's easy when you know how!" Haha...
     
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  9. Gijs van Elderen

    Gijs van Elderen Registered

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    If you select your Virtual ride: "AI EDIT" is selectable: You can edit the AI talents for that car to get more variety of AI behavior and the AI aren't choo choo train.

    GRAB_000.JPG

    This is for offline purpose ofcourse. But i can take that same car online and use it in a league, if i wish and allowed by the leageu admin ofcourse.
     
  10. Juergen-BY

    Juergen-BY Registered

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    Apologies, but this is complete wrong. The rcd files in a car`s mod are used to do any performance upgrades to the ai`s, besides some settings in the hdv files...The rcd Files are the AI`s talent files.

    Just a short sample, how rcd files are used:

     
  11. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    I'll repeat.
    The rcd file used to add a new team / car to the mods original car list has NO affect on performance.

    It is the case that the Talent file is also a rcd. This doesn't make any difference to the rcd files used to create a virtual ride car.

    Gijs van Elderen
    Not sure that using my post to infer the AI are choo choo trains is fair or warranted. We all know this isn't the case at all but you've given all readers here that I don't understand that fact.

    I also are very aware you can edit the AI (Talent file) for your virtual ride. I'm also very aware that setting the Talent files all at 100% does not give a AI driver special powers that he can over ride the cars performance values and make him some sort of super hero!
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2017
  12. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    Just as a point of interest, I searched my installed content and have found only one mod that is using a Talent file. None of the ISI content have one. The only Talent file apart from this one is a example in my Dev mode folder. But this I already knew but just to be 100% sure I did double check.
     
  13. toebee

    toebee Registered

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    [SHAMELESSPLUG]Mine does[/SHAMELESSPLUG]
     
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  14. D.Painter

    D.Painter Registered

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    It's so funny and typical that one has taken half a sentence out of all the posts here just to post SHAMELEESS my dose.
    I appreciate that yours dose and acknowledge that your not alone, there are others. One off which I have, Not yours obviously.

    I find your post pointless. And the WAY you did it,, Well. Read the post just above yours!!

    Come on people! This thread was to help make the skinning of mods more user friendly and help people understand the processes involved.
    But instead we dwell on single lines creating post after post going over things that have no bearing on the topic at hand.
     
  15. 2ndLastJedi

    2ndLastJedi Registered

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    When i select "Ai edit" and make changes will that change only that skin or all of that car type? And i can only select Ai edit for a car i choose to drive so will it just hold those settings until it is a Ai car?
     
  16. toebee

    toebee Registered

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    Apologies for mucking up your thread.
     
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  17. Juergen-BY

    Juergen-BY Registered

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    Not sure where you`re looking, but most of them have a talent (rcd) file. They`re stored into the mas files.
     
  18. MarcG

    MarcG Registered

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    That's incorrect, most if not all ISI cars have a talent file, it's usually in one of the vehicle mas files. At work so can't be more specific with exact location but they are there, and yes rcd affects the AI as that is the talent file.
     
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  19. MarcG

    MarcG Registered

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    Skip_Barber.rcd is in the SkipBarber_Car.mas for example
     
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