Noob convert rf track to rf2

I've been looking around to try to understand what to do to convert tracks from rf to rf2. I know very little about modding. I dont have rfactor and i want ro be able to race on specific tracks in rf2 without asking people to convert them.
So i had a look around but im not sure if i understood the basics
There's a great tutorial that shows to convert a track with 3dsimed.
I dont have 3dmax nor 3dsimed(i downloaded the demo but i want to see if can avoid using it)
Can i do a minimal conversion(let's leave realroad out at the moment) using just blender and gjed?
Blender would convert gmt and gjed would create the scn file.
Am I on the wring path? Im happy to have a basic track.... the more I'll play with comverting the more I'll understand hopefully I'll improve and do more than just simply converting

Thanks in advance for any reply

 

Im not a blender expert (use max), but if you can somehow get a track from RF1 into Blender, Then you would export from Blender an FBX file.
The FBX file is imported into GJED, where you do the material and object assignments.
You then export from GJED.. which will create the .GMT files and the .SCN files
You will need to the write the other files yourself (.GDB, .TDF etc)... but you can copy and paste from other tracks and edit them where needed.

Getting the track into Blender maybe the problem, others can tell you if there is import tools from GMT to Blender.

 

Blender has script to import gmt and scn files, I guess i just need to put my head down and learn the basics of gJed, hopefully I won't take months

Thank you very much

 

Buy 3dsimed and start from there, diving into lots of scripts etc. is really starting in the deep end.

 

There's a tutorial about track conversions on YouTube, it's where I learnt.

Here's the video:

 

If your just starting out and have no idea yet about modding then follow the above tutorial and you will get what you want in the shortest and easiest time frame. 3dsimed is worth it.

If you have some understanding about modding then using another method would be preferable. It will take a lot more time but the results are worth it.

I also recommend 3dsmax, but as long as you can save to .FBX you will be fine.

 

If you already dropped the ball, you may aswel give up now - it IS a steep learning curve however you decide to go at it...

 

At the moment im very busy at work... i played a bit with blender a while ago because i always wanted to learn 3d.. i certainly don't expect to wake up one morning with all the knowledge. It takes few months to understand the basics. I was only wondering if it was possible to convert without 3dsimed but i think that with it converting is so straight forward that I'll probably buy it. I can't keep asking others to convert tracks for me. Im sure at the beginning they'll be terrible.. i did already imola 60 and i can get the cars in. I need to study better how the realroad works... there's plenty out there... thanks everyone.

 

I apreciate and can only confirm your reply, keep your head high, but DO ask

 

I manage to convert a track to rf2 following the video tutorial. I think I picked a track with a lot of stuff that need to be changed but maybe is the best way to learn about everything.
I put the realroad in the converted track but I don't think is right.
Primary texture is the original one coming from the rfactor version and then I added racegroove and marbles and all the new channels for real road.
The road is darker than it should be as if it was already saturated with rubber and no distinctive racing line; It looks like racegroove is all over the road instead of just on the racing line.
Also I cant see any marbles forming even after 1 hr with 20 cars and realroad at 15x.. maybe it's all related?

I apologise if it's a stupid question, It's ahrd to start from almost zero

 

your realroad isn't working due to the extra textures not being UVW mapped. You really cant achieve this in 3dsimed. For best results the racegroove needs to be mapped to the fast path of the AI. This can only be achieved in something like 3dsmax. Once this mapping is correct you will also see the marbles.

 

Thanks for the reply, I think I sorted it out. I'll study the video and see if i can achieve it with blender and gjed, I'm a newbie with everything.
Realized that when i copied the material the bias of the channels where set to zero ( original was -4), so the road look darker and harder to spot if racegroove was working.
I also modified racegroove and painted it black so i could see if it was working.
Racing line works, not enough polys on the track made it look weird, also rotated the texture 90 degrees.
Still a long way to go but i can't believe I learnt something already.
Thanks for the video, it'll be very helpful

 

You are a cluey guy. You can achieve some results like you have proven to your self. What you have done is great understanding and solving problems. Only problem is you can't map to the fast path in 3dsimed and you loose a heap of normals detail when you export from 3dsimed. Export from gjed will be better than simed.

 

I have usually managed an acceptable compromise with realroad in 3dsimed without having it mapped to any path. The important thing is to adjust UV scale, which can be done in simed, so that the texture repeats at best possible interval, then it won't look too bad even if it's not mapped.

You should avoid using much negative bias, it causes aliasing issues on edges. Recent ISI tracks use mostly 0 bias, most problems with it can be compensated by using using 16X Aniso.

 

Hi Balzer,

As it has been said, 3dsimed has very limited UV mapping options. However, it is useful to learn how to use them since they can be helpful.

You can scale UV mapings using different scale for U and V. You can also copy UV coordinates from an existing channel to another one. This is helpful for defining racegroove and marbles (same channel) using the centerline which is the one used by main texture channel. You might need to scale in either UV to properly strecth it.

There are some other UV transforms which I don't understand so I don't know how useful they can be.

You may need to rotate some texture since I dont think it is possible with 3dsimed. Tricks like painting or using different textures to better locate how a texture is mapped are also useful.

I would like to learn other texturing techniques. This ones may do the trick for asphalt. However for properly texturing terrain, it is a must.

I'll also check the linked video. I wonder whether using 3dmax or blender for this. I would prefer to use blender since it's free.

Can someone tell if there are many differences when using both programs? Recommendations?

Enviado desde mi ONE A2001 mediante Tapatalk

 

Thanks guys, I'll do a lot of research and reading on my day off. Texture mapping is still a bit obscure to me. Still haven't managed to get gjed working with the track. Lots to learn. I'll post againg if I get stuck. Thank you all for your help so far

 

hi guys.
i followed the tutuorial, but doing all as said, starting the track in dev mode, it reults in a CTD. is it possible, that something has changed with new builds?

cheers andi

edit: nevermind. it was the tdf file, as mentioned in another thread.
cheers andi