Welcome...

M

Michael Juliano

Track Team
For track modding questions, this will be the place to come. Luc and I will do our best to answer questions as time allows, but you should understand that we won't be able to spend hours per day here. So, if you ask a question that has already been answered that may not get a direct response from us--between the search function and other users you should be able to get the answer you need. Also, if we don't get to your questions right aware please hang in there and one of us will try to get you an answer as soon as we're able...

In the near future will be providing DL links for some of the docs we've already written. Be warned that these are also WIP, and will grow/expand as more questions asked and answers provided. They may also change as features continue to evolve.

With the holiday's coming up, and the inevitable flood of questions that I know are coming, it is going to be rather hectic here. Again, bare with us....

Lastly, remember that this area is for track modding-related discussions only. Any other questions about other subjects will most likely go unanswered here. Please try to stay on topic and use the appropriate areas for the question at hand.

This is going to be an exciting time. Enjoy the ride and we'll see you all on track very soon. Happy Holidays...
 
Hello

First thanks scott and luc for your times. 2 Question i have.

First When about to be coming the tools for creating tracks?
Second How does that because of the sun reflection, because we have to note that?
 
Senna94 said:
Hello

First thanks scott and luc for your times. 2 Question i have.

First When about to be coming the tools for creating tracks?
Second How does that because of the sun reflection, because we have to note that?
Click to expand...

The tools, as things stand right now, will be included with the beta release install. So when you get that you will have the tools. As for the second question--sorry, I'm not 100% sure what you're asking about sun reflection I'm afraid...
 
Thanks for youre answer Scott. I mean the reflection from the sun to the objects from the Track.
And is it possible that it does not rain in tunnel? for example: Monaco, Abu Dhabi the pit exit.
 
Senna94 said:
Thanks for youre answer Scott. I mean the reflection from the sun to the objects from the Track.
And is it possible that it does not rain in tunnel? for example: Monaco, Abu Dhabi the pit exit.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... Well, you could either mean "reflection" as in wet reflections, or "sun" specularity. Our documentation does include sections about how to set up reflections, as well as some suggested specularity settings. In either case, I think we already have you covered :)

Yes, we have a method to prevent rain in areas such as tunnels, under bridges, and in the garage. All that will be documented soon as we just got that ability not too long ago...
 
Scott Juliano said:
Hmmm... Well, you could either mean "reflection" as in wet reflections, or "sun" specularity. Our documentation does include sections about how to set up reflections, as well as some suggested specularity settings. In either case, I think we already have you covered :)

Yes, we have a method to prevent rain in areas such as tunnels, under bridges, and in the garage. All that will be documented soon as we just got that ability not too long ago...
Click to expand...
great news. Big thanks scott
 
Hey Everybody and thanks for your time guys! :)
My questions:
Plugins will be provided for 3DsMax 2012 32bit right? What about the 64bit Version? Will ISI provide them soon or will someone else be able to produce them easily and quickly?
Would love to Start producing a track, but only have 64bit Version at hand...
 
Hi Scott and Luc,

First of all, congrats and thank you for your hard work with rF2. ;-)

As we are so close to the beta, I dare to ask some question (which might be answered before elsewhere)...

About internal file/folder structure of rF2.

Is track folder/file structure similar than rF1? Do we have similar folder structure with different layouts (TrackMain\TrackLayout1 ... TrackMain\TrackLayout2... etc.) with their own scn-, cam-, aiw- and gdb - files?

About GMT converter, material plugins and shaders.

Do we finally get rid off setting up different dx stages (dx7, dx8 and dx9 in rF1) separately in 3ds max?

How much setting up proper shader to certain material (like "Bump Specular Map T1" for road material) differs from rF1 shaders? Do we still work with same principals (with shareds) as we did in rF1?

Is there any new type of textures (other than diffuse, normal, specular, additive, multiply and cube) what we need to create for new shaders?

In few words, how new GMT importer differs from old rF1 converter? What additional features are build in the new converter, which were not in older converter.

And MOST IMPORTANT question... Does these new tools work with 3dsmax (32 bit) 2011 or 2012..?

Thank you again and Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Cheers!

Jka
 
Hi,

Your questions have been answered in the past, but let me give a few short answers:

- The development folder structure remains the same; the difference lies in the packaging, for which we'll have decent documentation.
- At the moment, rF2 is DX9 only, so the DX7 and 8 stages have been removed.
Editing materials is done pretty much the same way as before, so the workflow will feel very similar.
- There are a few extra options and rollouts in the exporter, which are documented (well, I'm writing a section on one of them at the moment!).
- The tools do work for Max 2011, currently 32 bit only.

Happy Holidays!
 
While we expect the tools to work with MAX 12, we honestly haven't tried them yet on it. Currently, our tools only work for 32 bit versions of MAX. We have talked about making 64 bit versions, but compared to everything else they are a bit lower down on the priority list as I'm sure you can understand.

JKA, for mod development the file structure of cars and tracks remains the same with one exception--instead of "\gamedata" it is now "\ModDev" (for mod development--clever huh? :p ). Within that there is still "\Locations", "\Vehicles", etc. When a track is in a loose file development stage you can only test it using the "Developer" version of rF2, which comes with the beta install. It'll all make a bit more sense once you see it in practice and read through some of the documentation we currently have....
 
Luc and Scott,

Thank you for this information.

Autodesk has kindly overhaul their gfx engine (and partially file structure) again with Max 2012. They claim that 2011 plugins and scripts should work in 2012 also, but I'm not so convinced about that... ;)

My main concern with 2012 is gmt converter operation without errors. Though 2012 has more powerfull texturing tools and some other nice features, it's probably safer to stay with 2011 at first.

I'm lucky to have maintenance contract with Autodesk, so I can use older 2011 as well...

Do you have a plan to release this documentation before beta exe?
 
Yes, I've heard about the changes in Max 2012. Earlier versions are always a safe bet in the early stages.

About the documentation, well, that depends on how quickly we can write and put it all together :) .
 
Luc Van Camp said:
- The tools do work for Max 2011, currently 32 bit only.
Click to expand...

Hi Luc,

will the plugin be compaible with older versions of 3ds Max also? Me, for example, I'm using 3ds Max 2010 and I don't want to change anything on it :p

Thanks for a fast reply and happy holidays
Philipp
 
Well I don't know what version of ISI tools I have, but they work fine with Max 9. Can I expect these new(?) tools work with 9 -version as well?

BTW, Autodesk software has become free for students. Of course allowing only non-commercial work. I don't know what Max versions they have, but probably this new 2012. So it would be nice if ISI tools will work with that version as well...
 
Scott or Luc
once you have say a basic track from rF1 converted,
what are the most important extras that will be needed to add to the track.?
wet surface, and other damage to TSO's ?
have the material names changed and or are there any new material names that may add different effects.?
is the rubber build up added by the game like the race grove in rF1.?
same question about the drying line on a wet track.

and will the in game tools open a rF1 track to convert.?
and will 3Dsimed be something of the passed, or will it be useful with rF2.?

Thanks for all the hard work.
 
What are the important extras? The track surface has to be set up for RealRoad, and some work needs to be done setting up reflections. That's the biggest challenge in Max during the conversion process. Some material names and settings need to be adjusted to enable some of the technology. These are all documented.

Perhaps the trickiest part will be the HDR profile for the track. This will be different for each track, as the wide range of textures used for different tracks will obviously create different results. The profile is something that will require a bit of trial-and-error experience at first, until you understand the various HDR settings and the effect they have. The procedure will be documented, but it does require the artist to develop a feel for the settings.

Since you're the author of the rF1 track, you already have the old Max file, and there is no need to import it again. The only thing I can suggest at the moment is to clean up your existing Max-files (backup!) so they are clutter-free when you start converting as soon as the beta is released.

I never used simed so I can't comment on how useful is can/could/will be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top