BTB Noob! Failure Exporting to rfactor after addition of background image/blending

Howdy folks

ive just been trying this btb software out over the xmas break from work. very nice little piece of software. really sucks you in! i jumped in the car and did a GPS datalog of the old parramatta grand prix circuit in syd, and have been having a blast modelling this track...

i did a few test runs exporting to rfactor just with the raw tarmac to see how things were going, not probs! had a drive, fell off the edge etc etc!

THEN, i went and added a background image to blend with my newly added terrain, and nope, rfactor refuses to load the circuit. gets about 1cm into the progess bar and starts pinging at me, the error boxes are shortlived as rfactor crashes, but i saw reference to the background image file in one of them

thoughts? ive checked the exported folder and all the files (to my eyes anyway) appear to be there. where to next? can i upload my project file for someone to have a look at?

i did try to paste up the contents of my value.bin file but being binary its all jibberish. do you want it anyway? i wasnt sure?

edit: heres my uploaded value.bin file:
http://www.v-eight.com/multimedia/Venue.bin

system is a dual core p4D 3.0GHz, 4GB ram, 1gb 4650 radeon

thanks for your time!

cheers
ed

ed@v-eight.com
 
yep, sure is right there in the folder.
just saw rfactor is also whinging about a grass file (which i assume is the one blended with the background image)

just thinking, the only other thing i did to the model prior to the export failure is that i seem to have merged all the nodes in the track accidentally whilst toying around with the terrain. i didnt complain about it at the time as the averaging smoothed out a few corner radii, but wasnt sure if that was the correct thing to do or not. BTB didnt care about it so i carried on (i'd finished contouring the track anyway)

ps - ive stuck the value.bin file on my server, see link in first post

cheers
ed
 
For rFactor, the texture sizes need to be 2x2, 4x4, 8x8, 16x16, 32x32, 64x64, 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024, 2048x2048, etc, etc. (although there is no point going over 2048, it is just too big.)
They do not have to be square, they can also be rectangle ie, 128x1024, 256x512. as long as height and width is one of those numbers, you will be fine

[ED] it is best to save the image as .dds or .tga

The Nvidia photoshop plugin will allow you to save dds, also there is a dds plugin for Gimp.
 
yup, that worked! many thanks

though, the only way i could get rid of the old background image was to delete all my terrain! btb wouldnt simply let me remove that image as its was still being used for blending, and i couldnt seem to turn the blending off??

anyway, not that much work (yet) i remaking the terrain with the new image and blending.

side note though - as i was testing this, i found the track was speed limited to 78km/h - any reason for this? i coldnt find anything in rfactor to explain it, and assume ive got a speed limiter (like a pit lane thing) from btb effecting the whole track... help?

thanks again
ed
 
hi,

Can you describe how you proceed to blending with a background picture please, I placed a background image of 1024x1024 at a location of the circuit is a texture blending of primary and background image 80 % and the game crashes every time at start of loading.
I think the game crashes because it can not find a name reference material for the background picture but how they learn that since the image does not come with a pack of texture, we can not give him any time name equipment. The image is present in the case of the circuit after the export but this does not work.

thank you

@+
 
dont know. youve done what i did and mines now loading/running fine

quick question though... since i had to go back a few steps, how is it that i can blend my track nodes again? i did it by mistake last time, and it made everything so nice and smooth, id like to do it again :)

cheers
ed

ps - it was a pit gate intersecting the track
 
hi,

you just put a background image in DDS format, and makes your blending it works?
in the window background, is what you have to touch the image or did you relocate?
I have changed the placement and size using the handles, is that this could come from there, I do not know because once exported it retains its original size of 1024x1024.

@ +
 
yup, i saved it as a .tga tho, not dds, and yes, i resized it with the handles. it all worked fine for me. im porob not the best person to ask tho, ive only really just started playing with this software

cheers
ed
 
Ed, I don't understand what you mean about blending track nodes. Do you mean smoothing the track corners? or blending the outside of the track with the terrain material? Or by any chance, are you using version 9?
-----

Tazaoux, I take it you have added a back ground image and can see it in the editor.

In Materials editor,,,
Highlight the terrain you want to blend before you apply the blending. (Either Lasso or Single)
If it is the whole terrain you want to blend, select and highlight all the pieces in the left column of the Materials editor. (click the top one and drag mouse down)
Click the 'Select all faces' button (the button to the left of 'Split') .
In the Blending drop down menu, select 'Background Image'
Then set the blending and the percentage. **If you type in the percentage value make sure to just click the up down arrows on the blend value box once one way and once back, that will apply the blending percentage.
You don't need to touch the image, it can be any size or shape in the editor. You do however need to make sure that it is itself a size I mentioned before.
 
Yeah i think i mightve been wrong about that. not sure as i cant see any way to repeat what i thought i had done last time. shame! would be really great if there were a blend, or a 'flatten' or 'raise and lower' tool such as for the terrain...

and no, not using version 9. there is one?
 
Hi,

not ben sorry but this does not work.

I place and resize my background image in TGA with handles to its location, it does not cover the entire global land surface, then the editor field, tab material, I select to test a few faces that I touch and applies a blending of 80%, either by typing the number directly or with small arrows as you describe. in the 3D window the mix is clearly visible, but once exported to test the game crash of the early loading of the track.

if you have screens to explain the process, because I begin to doubt the functionality of this option.
thank you

@+
 
Ed, version 9 is in Beta now, it has a track texture blending option.

Tazoux, when it crashes, do you get an error message? Sometimes the error message hides behind the game and when you kill the game the message goes away with it. To see the message, alt+tab out of game then alt+tab back into game, if there is an error message it will display itself then.
 
Hi,

ben just no, I have no error message that might help identify the problem, the game crashes and closes directly, even the trace file of the game has no information on the cause of the crash as the game farm Immediately after you click the button to go on the tour, this one did not even have time to start loading, so not clear exactly where the problem comes.
Have you managed this operation blending Mianiak you?

thank you for your time on this problem ;)

@+
 
If your texture is 1024x1024 and in tga format, everything should work. It might not be the terrain, it could be something else that's causing this.
Firstly, before you do anything more, 'save as' a new name.
Now with a safe copy of your project backed up you can start to troubleshoot the issue.

Use an rFactor default mod. (Open Wheel Challenge is good).
Load a default track (Toban) to make sure the game itself isn't broken.
Then once you know the game works fine, load your track. With any luck it will crash, that means we have confirmed the issue is with your track.

The first place I'd start is the blending..
Highlight all the terrain and remove the blended material. Export and try to load it.
If that fails, then replace all the terrain texture with the default BTB grass texture, also the road to default BTB road texture. Export and try to load it.
If that fails, then clear all the AIW information, then re append it, Export and try to load it.
etc etc etc, just remove models one by one until you can load the track.
**Make sure to do only one thing at a time, or you will waste time going back and forward.
 
Hi,

thank you for these explanations, but the problem for me is already identified is the blending.
I have just been re going to test my runway after rework it to something else, the track works perfectly.
The game crashes only when I mix texture with a background picture (for field course), I recharge my track in BTB, removes the blending, and the track works perfectly again, I did not find any object, road or anything else, it is the operation mix two textures that crashes the game
Therefore it would be useful to have some screens of the progress of the operation, point by point to see what I do not perform properly for this operation.
thank you for your time.

@+
 
I was able to get a similar problem only when the image dimensions were not powers of 2. E.g. if your image is meant to be 1024x1024, make sure those are the actual dimensions, and not something like 1024 x 1023.
 

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