Hi guys, As in the title; what do these files do? I understand in the pm file; the locations of the suspension is given for instance. But in the chassis file; there is the same thing. I downloaded a suspension editor (the simple version from reactor central) and am able to open up the hdv and pm file in that one. I can change the positions......okay........ Do I have to change the positions in the chassis too? There are some explanations in the dev corner, but most of the links are dead. Also there is a spreadsheet which I opened; I have no clue what to do with it..........these things are going from the point; "you know" but to learn; not enough information. What is different in the pm and the chassis file? I want to do things as perfect as can be, but I have to understand first Please help me out a bit??
The ini is used with ptool. It is the next evolution. PM is simpler, INI allows for chassis flex (and maybe more suspension types?). I'd suggest not touching INI until your PM is perfect and finished.
Thanks for your respons lordplansington. So, for now; the pm is important and when it comes to adding chassis flex, than the ini is up for fixing?
Yeah that is the approach I'm taking. Rf2 will auto-build you a base INI using PM when you are ready to take it to the next level. When I get back to it, I'll be taking a deep look at that spreadsheet. I might have to make too many educated guesses to make either ptool or the spreadsheet work. Crap in, Crap out.
Understood guys, thanks for the info; hopefully ISI gives us some more info and/or we can find out things more too.
Sorry for not having posted before as I had promised. I have made some time at work to check my modding notes, but I realised I don't know much that isn't in the official documentation. In the following link you can see a how-to to create flexible chassis, in it you can also see that the weights of the different chassis parts are specified in this new file format, leading to a much better inertia calculation. http://rfactor.net/web/rf2/devscorner/introduction-to-physics-tool-ptool-and-flexible-chassis/ If you want me to share the explanation of the hdv file entries, just let me know.
Just to be clear, the .HDV references a .pm file, then you create a new chassis.ini file and refer to that instead. So you don't generally maintain both; if you already have a .pm file or use tools that will generate one you can later replace it with an .ini file that will let you do more, or you can create an .ini file from the start. Either way the .pm file can be thrown away afterwards.
Thanks for the info and the link guys. I tried the ptool but it won't load the chassis file First I tried the sheet from ISI, but that didn't work either; the wheel are not attached to the car........? I took over all the values except the dampers; they were in the HDV and had values that took the wheel center as 0 point; I recalculated, but that didn't work. Now I'm trying my luck with ptool, but......crap. How do wheel attach to the car? ALL is in the pm file, right? If these values should change; are the wheels coming off of the car? Or are they "virtually fixed" and will be attached always? There should be another file giving the values for the body than? They are already in the pm and chassis, but if you change them and the wheels come off...... Lol, I don't get it anymore. Seriously thinking of letting it go and just drive a bit from now on. However; have no joy in that anymore too Have to keep myself busy, but this isn't good for my ticker.
Thanks LeStrat, that site is well known, that's not the problem. I know my main problem(s), first it's the language (especially with technical terms), which isn't my native language and the second is, that i'm not a studied engineer I would need a manual for dum b as s es, where it goes: ...take the value X from file Y and enter it in this field or..... get the measurement from point X to point y and fill it in here.....and so on. But seriously, when i open the ptool and load the auto-generated ini file, i am overwhelmed with the question "and now?". When i have a week where is nothing else to do, i will get a technical dictionary and try to understand what i have to do, to get a chassis.ini which is made for my car.
I just planned to create a thread "How chassis.ini interacts with/replaces suspension.ini", but seems like this thread is good to use. I have been doing geometry for one car not long ago, but only touching PM file. I have been told that Chassis.ini has taken over suspension.pm, and that it is only for AI now, I wasn't and still I am not really sure if it is entirely correct. I definitely thought that I had vehicle handling changes as i was progressing through suspension.pm, breaking handling, then fixing it and getting it good after a while. Or it was big placebo. So if I read your post correctly it makes sense to me, that suspension.pm is used if it is linked from HDV file, but chassis.ini could be linked instead, and in that case .pm file would be obsolete, right ? I also wonder what chassis.ini does if it is not linked through HDV, then it only works for chassis flex calculations ? So... if I have it like this: [SUSPENSION] PhysicalModelFile=very_good_car.pm UltraChassis=very_good_car_Chassis.ini Then PM would be used for geometry calculations, and chassis for flex ? And if I had it like this: [SUSPENSION] PhysicalModelFile=very_good_car_Chassis.ini UltraChassis=very_good_car_Chassis.ini Then I can throw away/back up .PM file ?
I would agree with what has been said before. The chassis.ini is the next step. Like the pm, it does define the suspension geometry and tire, and spindle positions. And additionally the chassis.ini allows the flex chassis feature and improved steering system. And if a chassis.ini is present, the pm will be ignored, like it is said in the devmode skip barber hdv: // If both .pm and UltraChassis lines are present, Ultrachassis will take precendence
I can see how chassis.ini can be replacing .pm file completely. I am still going to do some "investigation", because I just can't accept that I am that stupid and working on .pm for several days was just one long continuous placebo. I think that could have been possible, and that experiencing changing chassis roll, and increasing stability as I was eliminating bumpsteer was all just placebo... I remember also doing some slight changes for values in .hdv, so it could have done a trick, for example when changing rideheights, rideheights is a tweak for a geometry after all.... did it all a month ago or so... I was also using Leonardos Physics tool for visualizing changes. This pretty much resonates with TBC vs TGM stuff. Don't put a tin foil hat on me just yet. Basically, when I'll have time, I will try to induce massive camber gain or bumpsteer at front through .pm, and will post the thoughts and what I notice. Edit: All is true, definitely .pm is obsolete. I doubt if AI does even use it. I simply removed ultrachassis line from HDV, and made it so that only PM was used. Made some terrible geometry. As soon as entered game steering just winded up all the way to the right, and left side just gained ton of camber, at the same time AI just drove perfectly fine. After that, just out of curiosity I have tried the geometry which I have worked on, seemed like it could be fine, but steering was oscilating a lot, even though from external view it looked like wheels are steadily going straight where they are pointed. So basically it was first time I have tried my actual geometry, and learned that it needs fixing, somewhere. So two big placebos taken down today, and shame. I have to take a rehab, realizing that I have only really worked on just .hdv so far...
