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World Racing Series => Mods => Topic started by: Torque on November 23, 2015, 02:53:25 PM

Title: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on November 23, 2015, 02:53:25 PM
I wanted to start this thread for the people that are working on dirt oval content; so we have a place to share tips, tricks and progress. It looks like there are a few of us. Hopefully this will help build interest with others.

I have been working on a track and doing some testing. I have also started work on a street stock. My first test with the track was with the material layers. The first layer with the dirt texture is set to have "medium" grip. The second layer is green to represent a "high" grip tacky surface. The third layer is orange to represent a "low" grip rubbered up surface. The top layer has a thickness of .012 and the middle layer thickness is .025.

I was impressed with the results. The areas with the most sliding and tire spin wore down first. I did some testing with a friend in which we ran approximately 250-300 laps.

Some things to note:
-The more the track deformed the longer it took for my friend to connect to the server.
-As the track deformed lag increased. (Most likely due to my slow internet but it worries if even a dedicated server could handle a full field of cars)
-Deformation was only caused by the rear tires
-A large slide would cause a major drop in frame rate
-The track deformed too fast to be realistic at the current material thicknesses/deformation rate.

We used the road car with modified physics for our testing.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on November 23, 2015, 03:20:02 PM
Looking good man but why arnt u using the sprint? , yea gonna suffer slow down but at the same time this is the first game that has given us these features so good with the bad for now . heres my current project
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on November 23, 2015, 05:03:38 PM
Quote from: AUSSIEDIRT on November 23, 2015, 03:20:02 PM
Looking good man but why arnt u using the sprint? , yea gonna suffer slow down but at the same time this is the first game that has given us these features so good with the bad for now . heres my current project

We are using the road car as a platform to test physics for the street stock. They have the same suspension geometry (double wishbone front with a solid rear axle).  The sprint car is too unstable at the moment to be able to run any consistent laps.

Looks like you are making some good progress on your track. Have you been able to run any laps on it yet?

What materials are you using for each layer? How thick are they?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on November 24, 2015, 01:36:57 AM
Ahhh fair enough man. I'm finding the sprint awesome aside from the heinous undetsteer.

Thanks Yea going good but slowly but I keep rebuilding objects so it's taking a bit longer. Yea have the track running but haven't got deform running yet so that's the next thing I'm doing Western Springs new Zealand
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on November 25, 2015, 03:06:47 AM
Any thoughts on whats going here? cant seam to get my car to drop
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on November 26, 2015, 02:42:14 PM
That is strange, can you drive around like that?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on November 26, 2015, 03:34:37 PM
Yep drives around perfectly. I know how I would fix it in rf but yeah no idea where to start.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on November 26, 2015, 07:09:39 PM
Does it do the same thing with all the cars? Does it follow the contour of the track?

Almost like there is a phantom object in there with no texture.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on November 29, 2015, 01:39:50 PM
if your curious ill send you my folder and see if you can make sense of it because I'm REACHING THE END  of my teather
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on November 30, 2015, 01:41:50 PM
Sure, you can try emailing it to me at majortorque72@yahoo.com.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Cory_Hayes.11 on November 30, 2015, 03:41:26 PM
hey lads, any chance when yous have finished these tracks you could make one of them like quarter scale for an outlaw kart in Kart Racing Pro, a couple of us are working on it and are going to need to make physics for the kart but we will need to test it on a proper track... so yeah... if yous are keen some time down the road to do that it would be mint :)
Photo credit to Ian Bushey (DrKarter)
(http://i.imgur.com/u28Nplx.png)
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 03, 2015, 01:09:11 AM
Can you use a track made from a height map in KRP? If so I could make a test track pretty quick. Would the kart work in WRS?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Cory_Hayes.11 on December 03, 2015, 02:50:24 AM
I THINK we can use the heightmaps in KRP andddd the kart could technically go into WRS but I would have to kill all suspension physics
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on December 03, 2015, 08:30:52 AM
Have you had any luck putting heightmaps into wrs and getting deformation working torque?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 04, 2015, 01:48:09 AM
Quote from: Cory_Hayes.11 on December 03, 2015, 02:50:24 AM
I THINK we can use the heightmaps in KRP andddd the kart could technically go into WRS but I would have to kill all suspension physics

Do I need to do anything special to make the height map work in KRP? I can send you my test track to try. If that works I can make a test track for the kart.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 04, 2015, 01:51:56 AM
Quote from: AUSSIEDIRT on December 03, 2015, 08:30:52 AM
Have you had any luck putting heightmaps into wrs and getting deformation working torque?

Yes, the track I showed in the first post is made from a height map and has 3 layers. The deformation is working as it should.

Have you sent me a link to your track? I haven't checked my email lately.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on December 04, 2015, 04:38:06 AM
three layers? or three materials . yea i linked you but ill link you again in here as ive updated the file since. still having no luck.... unfortunely

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qv65cy07k346tl/Western%20Springs%20-%20Copy.rar?dl=0
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: TFC on December 04, 2015, 12:31:16 PM
I thought GDub posted that he found some errors in your track and to pm him? It's the only reason I didn't take a look. If no joy I will take a look this afternoon.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on December 04, 2015, 01:48:07 PM
hey man , yeah he found I had the wrong size in my hmf it was 1025 instead of 2049 however correcting this did not fix the issue unfortunely...tried to follow geos videos closely as I could ive even tried starting from zero clearly I'm doing something wrong. if you could have a look that would be muchly appriciated
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: smOkey_wil on December 12, 2015, 02:11:25 AM
Awesome! Thanks for this thread, much love to you guys. Keep it up.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Fauntleroy16 on December 15, 2015, 04:14:06 AM
Some shots of us testing the track
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 17, 2015, 02:07:16 AM
Hey Aussie, I finally got around to looking at your track. I saw a few problems. The first is that the size and scale should be the same in both the THT and HMF files. The second is that the scale should be a positive number. The scale should be the total height of your map in meters. The third is that the material layer thicknesses should match  in both the THT and HMF files.

I tried to update things and try it myself but for some reason the map batch file isn't working since I upgraded to windows 10.

See the attached picture for a reference.


Torque
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: bison160 on December 17, 2015, 06:45:30 PM
First peak at my test/learning project. I have a lot of the trackside models done, just been playing with getting textures looking acceptable and haven't got them in yet. If anyone has any idea how to increase the draw distances, please let me know!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 19, 2015, 07:29:50 PM
Looks good Bison!

We need to round up some people to do some racing some night.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: GasFactoryRacing on December 20, 2015, 12:39:33 AM
Would any of you swell gentlemen be able to point me in the direction of somewhere I can get 3ds Max 2010? I have 2014 but there seems to be no support for sim modding on the newer versions of max....

Team_GFR
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 20, 2015, 01:02:01 AM
I have been using blender, gimp and the fbx to edf converter. The converter is certainly buggy but I have been able to make it work for me so far...
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 20, 2015, 01:09:44 AM
I see over on the MX bikes forum they are trying to get a community project going. Anyone interested in doing this for WRS dirt oval content?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 20, 2015, 07:32:58 AM
New screenshots from testing.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Fauntleroy16 on December 20, 2015, 07:43:52 AM
more testing ( trying out the hi res screen shot option)
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Fauntleroy16 on December 20, 2015, 07:44:40 AM
after about 200 laps....
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 22, 2015, 04:29:45 AM
I did some more work on the textures. When the track is "rubbered up" it now reflects sun light. I have tried to get the track to reflect the car but I haven't been able to get it to work. I don't know if it is possible on the soil terrain. If anyone knows how to make the car reflections work let me know.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 22, 2015, 04:31:41 AM
More pics.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Fauntleroy16 on December 22, 2015, 04:59:51 AM
https://youtu.be/7DOHsONiGr0
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: bison160 on December 22, 2015, 02:32:26 PM
Very nice guys!

This is a much more accurate version of the phases a track goes through than PiBoSo's knoxville. On Knoxville, the track is light, and the tire marks make it darker.

On your track, it appears to start out with some moisture in it, then the tire marks dry it out, and eventually polish it over and rubber it up.

Also, what track is this? Looks a bit like the track I'm working on....Lernerville. But without any trackside objects, it could be any one of 100's of tracks...lol.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on December 22, 2015, 07:48:18 PM
Thanks bison. The track surface only uses three material layers. The deformation does an excellent job of blending them together as the track wears down.

The track is loosely inspired by Albany-Saratoga speedway. I am pretty much just going by the seat of my pants as this is my first track. I plan to add a wall on the front stretch and a few track side objects. Then I will release a beta version.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Fauntleroy16 on January 12, 2016, 04:36:40 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J4b0CPssFI&feature=youtu.be
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: bison160 on January 12, 2016, 08:44:14 AM
Looking great man!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on January 13, 2016, 03:01:07 PM
Thanks bison. How is your track coming along? Any luck figuring out why your objects weren't in the right place?


You are welcome to run some laps with us some night. We are on most nights between 8pm-11pm EST. I have been debating renting a teamspeak and dedicated server to leave up 24/7 but it doesn't look like there is enough interest built up yet.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on January 19, 2016, 04:34:12 AM
Here are some updated screenshots showing progress on the track. Hopefully I will be releasing a beta version soon.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Hawk on January 19, 2016, 04:52:24 AM
Looking very good mate!  ;D 8)

Hawk.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: LOOPATELI on January 19, 2016, 11:13:55 AM
Really nice job!!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on January 21, 2016, 03:53:03 AM
A beta version has been released. Check the track section for the download link.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on January 26, 2016, 03:04:16 AM
Well, work has begun on a street stock. I needed a little break from the track. My plan is to do 3 body styles eventually... a Monte Carlo, Camaro and a Nova.

This is my first real model in blender. I am happy with it so far. The models I used in the track were made In a mechanical design CAD program and exported to blender for simple refinements.

I have put the body into the game with some very crude wheels but I need to work on the suspension geometry and location. It also looks like the scale might be off and I noticed a couple areas where the shading doesn't look right.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: ditchs14 on January 26, 2016, 05:04:41 AM
oh boy oh boy oh boy!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Phathry25 on February 02, 2016, 03:24:28 AM
Quote from: Torque on January 26, 2016, 03:04:16 AM
Well, work has begun on a street stock. I needed a little break from the track. My plan is to do 3 body styles eventually... a Monte Carlo, Camaro and a Nova.

This is my first real model in blender. I am happy with it so far. The models I used in the track were made In a mechanical design CAD program and exported to blender for simple refinements.

I have put the body into the game with some very crude wheels but I need to work on the suspension geometry and location. It also looks like the scale might be off and I noticed a couple areas where the shading doesn't look right.

Did you find a rough guide for importing a model somewhere?  Trying it blind, but not getting anything to show up in the game.  :(
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on February 02, 2016, 04:29:10 PM
I have not seen a guide. I have just read through all the forums (wrs, gpb, krp and mxb) to see what others did and have had problems with. There is not much information out there and I can't think of a good place to send you for information off the top of my head. Alot of what I have done so far has been trial and error.

I started with the road car (sl_rd) as my template. Currently my body file is sl_rd.edf. You can export multiple models into this edf file. You need separate .edf files for your tires. You need at least two tire files ((1 for each side of the car) 1 should be rotated 180 deg). Your tires will be located based off its 0,0,0 location in the model and the inputs to your geom file.

I think a quick and dirty way you should be able to get a model into the game would be to save a copy of the road car and change only the file names needed to make it show up separate in game. Export a file with your chassis, body etc... (Any non moving parts). Save it as sl_rd.edf. Replace the edf file in the car folder with your newly created one. This would only be a start. You wouldn't have any tires. Adding moving parts is another layer of work.

Can you post what you have tried so far? It might help in the troubleshooting process. 
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: h106frp on February 02, 2016, 04:58:49 PM
Quote from: Torque on January 26, 2016, 03:04:16 AM
Well, work has begun on a street stock. I needed a little break from the track. My plan is to do 3 body styles eventually... a Monte Carlo, Camaro and a Nova.

This is my first real model in blender. I am happy with it so far. The models I used in the track were made In a mechanical design CAD program and exported to blender for simple refinements.

I have put the body into the game with some very crude wheels but I need to work on the suspension geometry and location. It also looks like the scale might be off and I noticed a couple areas where the shading doesn't look right.

In blender edit mode select all (a key) and be sure to set mesh>faces>shade smooth to get a better idea of in game appearance

In the mesh properties then set the smoothing angle to something other than 'auto'. This should be the same as the one you use later in the converter.

Then you can adjust your face angles to get a clean smoothing (shading) of the surface.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on February 03, 2016, 03:39:44 AM
Quote from: h106frp on February 02, 2016, 04:58:49 PM
Quote from: Torque on January 26, 2016, 03:04:16 AM
Well, work has begun on a street stock. I needed a little break from the track. My plan is to do 3 body styles eventually... a Monte Carlo, Camaro and a Nova.

This is my first real model in blender. I am happy with it so far. The models I used in the track were made In a mechanical design CAD program and exported to blender for simple refinements.

I have put the body into the game with some very crude wheels but I need to work on the suspension geometry and location. It also looks like the scale might be off and I noticed a couple areas where the shading doesn't look right.

In blender edit mode select all (a key) and be sure to set mesh>faces>shade smooth to get a better idea of in game appearance

In the mesh properties then set the smoothing angle to something other than 'auto'. This should be the same as the one you use later in the converter.

Then you can adjust your face angles to get a clean smoothing (shading) of the surface.

Thanks for the tip! I have been trying to figure out how to do that. Do you have any recommendations on the smoothing angle or do I just set it by what looks right?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: h106frp on February 03, 2016, 08:48:30 AM
Trial and error really as it depends on several factors. 'Slide vertice(s)' will become your new favorite tool  ;)

The surface shading algorithms are gradient information based so in areas with few edges you will find the shaders struggle to define details. One trick if you cannot juggle the angles and get a nice result is to run an extra line of edges to form a flat plane just before the edge of a panel or other feature to tighten the gradient and improve shading quality. As i demonstrated here;
http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=3024.msg47024#msg47024 (http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=3024.msg47024#msg47024)

The PB exporter defaults to 60 degrees so i guess that 50 to 70 are a reasonable range to try but you really need to decide on one angle and apply it to all parts.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Steven on February 03, 2016, 01:36:32 PM
In Blender another possibility would be to use Edge Split (a Modifier). You can set a general angle as well but you can also set a specific edge as "sharp" (Ctrl+E -> Mark Sharp). When exporting I guess the edges are actually cut so in the fbx2edf converter you just have to tick "Recalculate".
I haven't done any "complex" models yet so I don't know what's the best and if there are any disadvantages with Edge Split.
Since I didn't know about "Auto smooth" I always used Edge Split when trying around.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on February 10, 2016, 11:02:43 AM
starting to take shape , just testing some ideas
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on February 11, 2016, 01:44:41 AM
Quote from: AUSSIEDIRT on February 10, 2016, 11:02:43 AM
starting to take shape , just testing some ideas

Cool, did you ever finish that other track you were working on?
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Raffurty46 on February 11, 2016, 05:40:48 AM
Really cool to see what you guys have done so far!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: AUSSIEDIRT on February 11, 2016, 07:43:00 AM
Thanks guys

@torque I've still got my previous track but due to the fact I couldn't get it to work I decided that I would start from zero and work my way threw again just following the tutorials. I was hoping that I'd be able to make a base from one large height map however it appears that my height map is just a bit to rough to use one height map as when I lower the scale to bring the banking up I also make the terrain to short so I'm not sure WHT I'm going to do yet but it's a work in progress kinda have to make it drive able first hopefully on the weekend I can have a play it's this bit that usually screws me up as so far I haven't been able to make a track with height mapping that was colideable
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on March 15, 2016, 03:21:53 AM
We have been making some good progress on the Street Stocks. The physics are coming along great. They are a blast to drive! A few more tweaks and a little more model work and we will be releasing a beta version. Check out the screenshots that are attached.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: bison160 on March 15, 2016, 07:04:26 AM
SWEET! I bet those are a blast Torque! Looking forward to trying them out!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on March 21, 2016, 03:12:21 AM
Coming soon...
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Phathry25 on March 21, 2016, 04:36:04 AM
How soon?  I am getting antsy.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on March 21, 2016, 02:00:54 PM
Quote from: Phathry25 on March 21, 2016, 04:36:04 AM
How soon?  I am getting antsy.

Sometime this week for everyone but you! ;D You will need to wait until the full release.
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: ditchs14 on March 21, 2016, 11:56:12 PM
yes!!!
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Phathry25 on March 22, 2016, 04:28:31 AM
Quote from: Torque on March 21, 2016, 02:00:54 PM
Quote from: Phathry25 on March 21, 2016, 04:36:04 AM
How soon?  I am getting antsy.

Sometime this week for everyone but you! ;D You will need to wait until the full release.

Whatever!  I'll just make my own mod then!

(https://i.gyazo.com/f1c17a157e9ba46eb1ab0eceaf2519f2.png)
Title: Re: Dirt oval content
Post by: Torque on March 31, 2016, 03:03:50 AM
I have made some progress on the catch fence. Still need to work on the wall textures though.
(http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/oo274/Beer72/CFNC_1.jpg) (http://s383.photobucket.com/user/Beer72/media/CFNC_1.jpg.html)

Street Stock Action!
(http://i383.photobucket.com/albums/oo274/Beer72/screen059.jpg) (http://s383.photobucket.com/user/Beer72/media/screen059.jpg.html)