WIP Alpine Hills

Kennett Ylitalo · May 25, 2011

Alpine Hills:

Location: some where in imaginary Australia, the great Alpine Road serving as an inspiration.
Length 13.9km, elevation ~350m. 55 corners ( 27 left 28 right.:wink: )

This project turned out better than i expected so i'll share it. EDIT: ( old info... There's a Cold Laps style event planned (no chance of practice before the race) so i'm releasing the public version of this in two weeks, right after that event. I do need a couple of guys from here to do some beta testing online. I have an access to a good server so that's no problem. I would use our own drivers from simracingsuomi.com but because of that cold laps event, well you understand my dilemma.)

Here are some screencaps from game and BTB (excuse about the shadows, just put them there..):

Erik Tveit · May 25, 2011

Looking great dude!

FerrariMan96 · May 27, 2011

Awesome

We really need some more of these types of tracks in old style.... some of my favourite tracks are Longford67, Reims, Rouen les Essarts, Nurburgring...

Kennett Ylitalo · May 27, 2011

So, is anybody up for beta-testing? I really would like to test this track before the event as my last track failed twice in the similar situation. That was really embarrassing and won't like it to happen again. I need to know if there are performance issues, bugs or such and to test it's functionality online. The reward is to have the track before the launch and to get your names in the credits.. and possibly in the Lap Record too.

There's a short video from earlier developement stage here:

Erik Tveit · May 27, 2011

Well, I can try to beta test. But I can't fix any problems, just report them.

Kennett Ylitalo · May 27, 2011

Erik Tveit said:
Well, I can try to beta test. But I can't fix any problems, just report them.

Thanks, i'll PM you a link to download.

FerrariMan96 · May 28, 2011

I'd like to do some testing, but i can't guarantee i'll get much time.

I might be able to do some testing later today/tomorrow

Lee Knight · May 28, 2011

Looks VERY nice & I like longer tracks too!
Will this be released in other formats (rFactor?) or will I have to reinstall Race'07?

Kennett Ylitalo · May 29, 2011

FerrariMan96 said:
I'd like to do some testing, but i can't guarantee i'll get much time.

I might be able to do some testing later today/tomorrow

I'll PM the link. We'll be doing online testing some time next week. As i'm unemployed i'm available at any time.

Lee Knight said:
Looks VERY nice & I like longer tracks too!
Will this be released in other formats (rFactor?) or will I have to reinstall Race'07?

Just Race07 but if someone is willing to convert i'll be more than happy to share the credits

Kennett Ylitalo · May 31, 2011

Just finshed testing online, a million thanks to Erik. I needed to see the server load and is there any weird stuff but no bugs was noticed.. Apart from that "flash" on eriks screen., didn't have that on mine.. The start is little bit different from other tracks, it's located way before the actual start/finish line. I made it so, so you can organize a rolling start with out using the games own rolling starts, since it's very buggy online. And you can finally use Rolling start on first race and standing on the Race2 without a formation lap... The rows are 35m apart, it creates a nice line of cars to the first tight turn, otherwise i was afraid there would be a huge traffic jam in every start..

I'll be releasing this some time next week, after the launch party.

millen · Jun 2, 2011

Awesome, this track looks great, glad to hear it's not far from release.

I came back too late, I would have gladly tried to help beta test. Good to hear it all went well. now I wait for the download link.

Cheers, look forward to more tracks from you.

Erik Tveit · Jun 2, 2011

A hard track to learn, a very hard track do master.

Ross Balfour · Jun 2, 2011

This looks absolutely brilliant, one of the greatest layouts and design I've seen - and the srceenshots look brilliant, can't wait to give this a go :thumb:

Erik Tveit · Jun 2, 2011

It's brilliant Ross, so many unexpected corners. :wink:

FerrariMan96 · Jun 5, 2011

+1 Erik

This is a great track, 250 kph through sweeping bends into hard braking zones in a Ford Matech

It has a Le Mans-slash-Nurburgring-slash-old-style-50s-slash-60s-Grand-Prix-circuit-sort-of-feel (couldn't help myself there

)

Kennett, this is a great track. It is probably a little late for constructive criticism, but I'll give some anyway incase you want to release a v1.1 or v2.0 later....

#1: I don't really like that ditch on the side of the road. I know that you might have put it there to stop corner cutting/using more road than allowed, but it's a little unrealistic IMO and it seems to 'suck you in' - I think you may have used a sand material.

#2: I'm also not a massive fan of the 'desert sand' texture you've used - It looks a little like bark chips

Other than this, the track's great.

Also, as I live in Australia, I think you PMed me asking for an opinion as to how the track would fit as being an Australian Track... It's pretty good, but there are a few minor things that could be changed improve it...

First of all, even though I've never been to the US, from all of the pictures, movies etc. I've seen, the track looks like it's from there rather than Australia for a few reasons:

#1: On a lot of Australian country roads, the trees are a lot closer to the road (often less than 5 metres away) unless it is a major highway.

#2: More Gum Trees would make it feel more Australian

There are some in one of BTB's default xPacks, I think it's called Rural xPack or something... More shrubs and small trees would be good in the desert-ish section...

#3: We drive on the left in Australia (just like in the UK), so your speed limit signs are on the wring side of the road. Just being picky here

#4: I'm also not so keen on the road texture, Australian country roads tend to have white stripes down the middle, not yellow.

Other than these small points, the track is great and I cant really blame you for the point's I've made because you don't live in Australia... I don't even know if you've ever been here

DISCLAIMER: Any criticisms made on the track is based on roads in South Australia, my memory is fuzzy when it comes to how roads look in other states...

EDIT: BTW I don't want you to feel pressured to make all or even any of these changes, they're only suggestions.

Kennett Ylitalo · Jun 5, 2011

Thanks for feedback, higly appreciated.. There's a lot to do for future versions, for ex. trees closer to track

just to make shadows more effective.. Also i plan to do 60's version, more pumps and patches, different road texture etc. Nothing huge as it needs to fit inside existing project but i've already perfected that trick while making Botnia trackpack.. But only if i find time, as i start a new job monday.

Bark chips, heh. Don't like it my self, it will be changed. Have to put it somewhere else in the world then, much easier than to start changing massive amounts of objects.. And, no, never been down under, this track looks more like it's from europe or states, probably. Expect v1.0 to pop up sometime around monday/tuesday.

And of course i ran into late problems.. Some of the collision walls, that were already tested, suddenly reversed direction.. They let people out but not back to the track.. Replaced them in a hurry but the new walls are not doing their job everywhere.. Well, not a moajor hurdle, just have to shorten them and add few panels as they are now over 1km long with 100m panel size.. I think that there are gaps in the bottom because of that, long sixe, hard to tell when they are transparent and can only seem them wella in wireframe mode..

Kennett Ylitalo · Jun 5, 2011

Okay, there where too many bugs to release 1.0. But because the event is now over i can release the 0.9 version: http://cream.galleria.fi/SRS/Tracks/AlpineHills_0.9_FIXED_by_CreamK.zip

And let the buglists begin:

GRID jumps...
shadows specially in later sessions (race2 is where the bugs are most visible)
AI line = middle of the road, some more tweaks in AIW (see GRID)
Fuel consumption a little high.
Some trees and LOD
collision walls (track borders)

Please, if you find more, tell me.

FerrariMan96 · Jun 7, 2011

Thanks for the new version :-D

That 'like' button really comes in handy

Kennett Ylitalo · Jun 7, 2011

I've need help putting the grid in place.. Now there's a jump as the cars spawn slightly underground. I tried manually input somoe values but results were not conclusive and it takes too long to test each individual grid-spot.. So a help is needed there, otherwise i have to resort to plan-b; to put the starting grid next to the pits, as that is relativitely straight and level, while the planned spot is anything but.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, i uploaded the track with out passwords, the link stayed the same: http://cream.galleria.fi/SRS/Tracks/AlpineHills_0.9_FIXED_by_CreamK.zip

Kennett Ylitalo · Jun 7, 2011

Forgot something tiny.. Somebody said good things about the layout. I modeled it with a thin wire (and a piece of string..) to get a natural flow and rhythm.. I deleted the original picture for some reason, brainfade.. Now it would be nice to compare them.