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GP Bikes => Mods => CAWS Mod Team => Topic started by: h106frp on May 07, 2017, 11:02:03 PM

Title: CAWS MOD team - TRACK RELEASE - Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 07, 2017, 11:02:03 PM
CAWS team, new version of Brands Hatch, V0.4

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ctW4QlgobdVDFhLUtRZ1NMczQ/view?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ctW4QlgobdVDFhLUtRZ1NMczQ/view?usp=sharing)

Any issues with loading or running the track may require the LAA hack for core.exe
http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=4850.0 (http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=4850.0)
Enjoy.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: nurb on May 07, 2017, 11:05:38 PM
Thanks CAWS :)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: nurb on May 07, 2017, 11:11:04 PM
I have tried the track and i cannot even load the track because it cores every time and ive never had this problem with any track :(
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 07, 2017, 11:24:12 PM
This is a big modern track, are you using the LAA core.exe?
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: doubledragoncc on May 08, 2017, 07:33:24 AM
Thanks guys will get it on database and test today

DD

EDIT: Just tried it and OMG I love you!!!! Brilliant work and great cams that work. I will e putting it in the championship instead of the snett

Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 08, 2017, 08:06:18 AM
Thanks for testing DD, noticed a couple of issues that want fixing for on-line racing (mainly pit definitions and some racedata), so a V0.5 is in the pipeline.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: doubledragoncc on May 08, 2017, 08:41:43 AM
Race wont be until 16th July with luck if you can do it by then.

Soooooooo happy to have this track like this at last

BIG THANKS

DD
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Grooveski on May 08, 2017, 11:47:46 AM
Another lovely job H.   8)







...and nicely done Nick with the camera set.  DD's right - it's a good 'un.   ;)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 08, 2017, 05:18:37 PM
the track sure looks great, however, maybe time for an upgrade for me, i'm not sure, but it's almost unplayable for me due to massive frame-drops, especially in the pit area, Druids, and then further along Dingle/Stirlings areas, just way too much for my rig, it seems.
thought it might be the mod bikes i was using, but i have the same issue with the stock bikes.
my specs:
i5 cpu, GTX480 w/1.5GB vram, 8GB ram, win 7 64-bit
wish i could give a happier report, Brands is my favorite Brit track  8)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Manu on May 08, 2017, 10:59:37 PM
Good job guys!
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 08, 2017, 11:50:53 PM
Thanks Manu.

@CapeDoctor - Not sure why your system should struggle quite so much.
Have you tried turning down the texture detail slider a notch? If I understand PiBosos previous comments this should significantly reduce texture memory requirements.
You could also try turning off shaders - the track uses quite a few. Most graphic cards from the last 10 years should have no issues with the basic geometry processing.

Might be worth running a quick benchmark on your system/video just in case something possibly needs updating on your system drivers side.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 05:45:20 AM
h106frp, thanks for that info - i turned my textures down to medium, and hey presto! now i can get to grips with what seems to be the best version of Brands so far!  ;D back to a steady 60fps, hooray!
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: HornetMaX on May 09, 2017, 06:56:17 AM
Lovely job h106frp !

I've seen a few issues but they are the usual stuff (some flickering textures, some weird alpha sorting in trees) but they may not be your "fault".

When will you brits run out of brit tracks and start covering what's missing in terms of MotoGP tracks worldwide ? :)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 09, 2017, 07:03:43 AM
No problem, from what I can gather it scales back the texture size by ^2 each time so it should reduce the texture memory requirement to a 1/4 of the precious setting each click.

If we wanted to future proof the models a bit I suppose we should texture them so the game runs well with the textures at the 50% setting, then as people get new hardware they can still increase the detail and enjoy a bit of new eye candy to reward the new purchase  :)

Glad you are finally able to enjoy the track.

Cheers Max, I have a few ideas that may help with the remaining flickering textures, but I am surprised by the tree Z sorting issues.
Still struggling with compiling issues for these 'new' style tracks using the existing tools so progress is slow but we do have a few more in the pipeline hopefully.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 07:20:35 AM
another great Brit track is Oulton Park, and i'm surprised we don't have a version for GPB yet. any plans in the works for Oulton, if i may venture to ask...?  ;D
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: tchemi on May 09, 2017, 07:26:46 AM
Awesome work H, but this makes me wonder if you may not have just opened the pandora box.
This kind of track should be the default quality for mods. But, why does it cost that much in memory and why other tracks like Aragon or Mugello don't ??
Are we reaching the limits of GPBikes ?
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Napalm Nick on May 09, 2017, 07:33:49 AM
I would say yes the limit is being surpassed. The track needs the LAA as do all the tools to make it.
Which is why we are backing PiBoSo when he says he is thinking of 64 bit-ing everything to bring the game into the 20th Century.

If we want this quality as the norm (and better) then I would suggest getting behind his idea with your best +1 finger  ;)

http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=4865.msg75002#msg75002
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: HornetMaX on May 09, 2017, 07:36:45 AM
Quote from: h106frp on May 09, 2017, 07:03:43 AM
Cheers Max, I have a few ideas that may help with the remaining flickering textures, but I am surprised by the tree Z sorting issues.
Didn't get a screenshot but I will next time I see it. There were a bunch of trees that were 1st row (with respect to the camera) but semi-transparent (grey-ish).
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 09, 2017, 07:44:57 AM
The semi-transparent is not the Z sorting but seems to be an artifact of using CK_ to resolve the Z sorting issue. I did ask a few questions about the best ways to tackle the issue of transparency but not resolved so far.

The problem of track size is mainly about texture memory - every time you make a texture twice as big (and we can only scale by ^2) it needs 4  times the memory, add a transparency layer and it doubles again, add a shader and another increase. Modern game engines can harness all sorts of trickery to lighten the load but I guess this sort of graphics engine overhaul is a way off when we still need stable network play and physics issues resolved.

Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Napalm Nick on May 09, 2017, 08:18:26 AM
Some people have increased their graphical settings in the. Ini  too so if they can't run these tracks it might be worth going back to default to try. No point raising it there then having to lower settings in game
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 08:47:25 AM
my gpbikes.ini has the following graphic settings in the [core] section::

[core]
replay = 128
bike_shadow = 512
bike_reflections = 1024
texture_quality = 1


if i have understood things correctly, the texture quality = 1 is the maximum graphical setting, so this is still set highest.
i turned down my replay from 256 to 128, and bike shadow from 1024 to 512.

this setting still keeps things looking pretty sharp, so i haven't made any further changes here.
with this setting, the first time i noticed a big hit was with this new Brands track.
following the advice given, i turned my ingame slider bar for textures from High to Medium, and that immediately made a huge difference for me.
Brands now well playable.
at least i can gather from this that it's definitely a system thing, as well, so when i do eventually upgrade to a 'bigger, better, faster, MORE!' machine, things should get proportionately easier to run at highest settings again.  ;D
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Toomes1 on May 09, 2017, 08:57:28 AM
i can't find where to download this LAA stuff, l go to the link provided but just see a load of information on how it works, no details on how to download LAA. Can somebody show me the way please.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Blackheart on May 09, 2017, 09:06:58 AM
Quote from: Toomes1 on May 09, 2017, 08:57:28 AM
i can't find where to download this LAA stuff, l go to the link provided but just see a load of information on how it works, no details on how to download LAA. Can somebody show me the way please.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/laa_2_0_4-zip.34392/ (https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/laa_2_0_4-zip.34392/)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 09:08:16 AM
hi Toomes,
if you go that LAA link, you should end up here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/large-address-aware.112556/

just scroll down to below the first couple screenshots, you'll find a set of attached files, 3 in total. i grabbed all 3 just in case, but i think it's only really the first attached file you need, called
laa_2_0_4.zip

hope that helps :D

edit:  Blackheart just beat me to it, lol
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: matty0l215 on May 09, 2017, 09:10:01 AM
BH beat me to it but

https://mega.nz/#!KZ5SzJqB!xgvhV0pLemTqZMdHu9Pw4hSN-rIsCuSmME7G-hFstjk
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Toomes1 on May 09, 2017, 09:15:28 AM
Haven't been on Gpbikes for sometime now but good to know it's still full of good guys....thanks very much people.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Napalm Nick on May 09, 2017, 09:19:34 AM
Quote from: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 08:47:25 AM
my gpbikes.ini has the following graphic settings in the [core] section::

[core]
replay = 128
bike_shadow = 512
bike_reflections = 1024
texture_quality = 1


if i have understood things correctly, the texture quality = 1 is the maximum graphical setting, so this is still set highest.
i turned down my replay from 256 to 128, and bike shadow from 1024 to 512.

this setting still keeps things looking pretty sharp, so i haven't made any further changes here.
with this setting, the first time i noticed a big hit was with this new Brands track.
following the advice given, i turned my ingame slider bar for textures from High to Medium, and that immediately made a huge difference for me.
Brands now well playable.
at least i can gather from this that it's definitely a system thing, as well, so when i do eventually upgrade to a 'bigger, better, faster, MORE!' machine, things should get proportionately easier to run at highest settings again.  ;D

personally I think your system should rock GPB but the main thing with the texture quality and other settings is this caveat

Quote1 gives the better quality and much faster loading times, at the expense of video ram usage and a performance hit.

increasing the others all affects VRAM and performance too.

As ever, its a matter of tweaking to get the best setup that works for ones machine.  Personally I haven't increased any of these since getting my new GFX Card so I also have some experimenting to do with these new High quality tracks.  8) :D
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 11:56:54 AM
Quote from: Napalm Nick on May 09, 2017, 09:19:34 AM

personally I think your system should rock GPB...


for the most part, it does, and always has in the past.
i just for the first time ever, started experiencing big frame issues when messing with the WSBK 2017 bikes on Mugello track(another thread) and the LAA hack.
then i loaded this Brands track, and it was a slideshow, lol.
i have played on some much bigger (size-wise, perhaps, not texture-wise)tracks previously with no issues whatsoever.
believe me, if i was having any fps issues before, you guys would've heard about it by now, lol.  ;D
anyway, settings turned down a notch, and all is good.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: vali_grad on May 09, 2017, 04:45:33 PM
Thank you !
Works like a charm, only with LAA  :) very close to assetto corsa quality :)
Finally I can fly on this and not cry for a full blown Nordschleife :)))
To me these too and cadwell park are top 3 on technical/euphoria level 8)
First time tankslapped the ninja (3rd turn), no crash, so its a winner ! :))
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: vali_grad on May 09, 2017, 05:13:54 PM
Quote from: CapeDoctor on May 09, 2017, 07:20:35 AM
another great Brit track is Oulton Park, and i'm surprised we don't have a version for GPB yet. any plans in the works for Oulton, if i may venture to ask...?  ;D

theres a mod track for AC, wink wink ! :)) {laser scan data!} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar5Q8-_13Qg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar5Q8-_13Qg)

{just installed it, the international layout with 2 chicanes is mind blowing :)) a real test for brakes and suspension though a slower/more technical track than brands hatch. tested with Mazda 787B by Kunos }
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: passerBy on May 10, 2017, 04:10:14 PM
Great job, CAWS!


Some nitpicking follows...
The grass texture seems a little bit repetitive and the track surface is maybe a bit more bumpy that it should have been. Other than that, love the track.
Hopefully, Oulton and Cadwell will follow ;)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 10, 2017, 04:17:39 PM
The track surface is a high def mesh and not billiard table flat, it is also quite an accurate representation ;)

It would be nice to add the 3D grass and some texture variance but we are already at the limits of a 32bit track compile  :(
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: passerBy on May 10, 2017, 05:43:28 PM
Quote from: h106frp on May 10, 2017, 04:17:39 PM
The track surface is a high def mesh and not billiard table flat, it is also quite an accurate representation ;)
Just felt a tad on the bumpy side even with the softest suspension practical (KTM RC8), but nothing too extreme :)
Not a fan of billiard tables myself (except for the real ones :) ), so for me it's best to have maybe a little more rough physical road texture than no physical road texture at all.

QuoteIt would be nice to add the 3D grass and some texture variance but we are already at the limits of a 32bit track compile  :(
That's a pity. Maybe at some point we'll see the 64-bit GPB at last :)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 10, 2017, 05:57:30 PM
Amongst the CAWS team we do have some unanswered questions about the new tyre spring values as these seem to have a big impact on how the suspension reacts to small undulations. Try riding very slowly over a modelled rumble strip and see what you think of the bikes reaction.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: passerBy on May 10, 2017, 06:08:29 PM
Quote from: h106frp on May 10, 2017, 05:57:30 PM
Amongst the CAWS team we do have some unanswered questions about the new tyre spring values as these seem to have a big impact on how the suspension reacts to small undulations. Try riding very slowly over a modelled rumble strip and see what you think of the bikes reaction.
Ah, so you think it might be the tyre spring values? I never gave that a thought, to be honest. Thanks for the idea, I'll check what you suggested later and tell you.

Just to clarify, I use the directsteer=2 mode on a G27 wheel with FFB, so I might be more affected than others. On the other hand, I think this mode might be more useful for testing new bikes and tracks than either the default steering or directsteer=1 without FFB.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Syd on May 10, 2017, 07:33:51 PM
h106frp : Beautiful track.  Thanks!
My rig is a little old, so I didn't think I could play it and sure enough I got a lowest of 18fps on SF straight with my existing grahics settings (all maxed out), but with textures at minimum, fps is back up to 100 or more, plays nicely and not that much different to look at. Thanks for the advice on that.

I did find an infinity hole in the track, though not somewhere you would go unless incredibly stupid (aherm). In my defense I was admiring the lovely scenery. If you set off from the pits there is a concrete block with the Brands Hatch sign on the left, drive into it and you go down under.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 10, 2017, 08:14:12 PM
Thanks for the bug report  - noted  :)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: CapeDoctor on May 11, 2017, 04:42:17 AM
you guys probably considered this already, but i'm going to put in an early request for a possible conversion option for the Indy layout?
in fact, seeing as some such as myself have had to turn down graphics settings a bit, it might be more playable on full graphics, with the shortened version.
not sure how it works, but it seems like if you could simply 'chop off' the entire GP part, and move the bollard/markers, and hey presto! a top quality Brands Indy version, and easier on the memory, too?
probably not that easy, lol. but still... got my request in early ;)
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: h106frp on May 11, 2017, 07:18:45 AM
The correct method is to make a new sub folder with the alternative layout - but this does keep the original track model.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: passerBy on May 11, 2017, 04:42:59 PM
Tried riding over rumble strips today... Can't say I noticed anything weird. Maybe I just didn't know what to look for. What surprised me, however, is that they weren't very bumpy at all, which is nice :)

Giving it another thought, the track bumpiness seems to be on par with other circuits modeled for GPB, so I guess it's fine.

Changing tyre pressures on the RC8 didn't really help me with getting a smoother ride. Too bad, I hoped I could dial out the FFB harshness without reducing the FFB strength.
Title: Re: CAWS mod team - New track Brands Hatch
Post by: Syd on May 11, 2017, 07:33:21 PM
The MV triple is great around this track. Best fun I've had in GP Bikes for some time. Being Ago for while 8) Actually, it would be nice to have a full grid of MVs growling around here. Can you imagine the noise!