Fine tuning specific sections of AIW

[MPortnoy]

As the title suggests, I want to know if there's a way to fine tune specific sections/corners of a fast path (AIW).

I've redone completely fast and pit paths before so I'm somewhat familiarized with the process but there are few cases in which AI is slow only in one or two corners in which I'd like to avoid redoing the whole thing if possible.

I've tried moving the line manually using shift+arrows and the "normalize curve" feature before but it actually made it worse.

 

[Ace King]

Using the Normalize Curve feature is a very bad remedy that's not meant for this issue and usually makes the problem worst and manually moving the Fast-line in a turn is very tricky and doesn't create a natural turn for the AI to follow thus usually will make them slower thru that specific turn.

I been making new AIW's and fine-tuning them since the very early days of rF1 so i learned a few nice tricks over the years plus gathered some very good AIW info from various sources. I really love rF2 for being able to fix specific turns as you're asking without needing to make an entire new AI Fast-Path. This trick saved me hours of additional work and will allow you to transform a average AI into that well known saying "Alien strength" lol

Here is the very easy solution i learned from a source, Hexagramme:

You simply record a new path, what I like to call a "patch path", where you focus on problem corners, and then copy that new part unto the original fast path.

(You have your fast path, with perhaps one corner that you aren't satisfied with)

1) You then select "name new path", call the new path whatever you like, for example "patchpath".

2) You then record and drive the lap, but this time the only thing that matters is nailing that one corner.

3) Finish the lap, save, exit and reload the track.

4) Now you go into the path sub menu, select your original fast path as "path (w)" and the new patch path as "path 2 (g)". You will now see the two paths overlaid together, w being white and g being green.

5) Next, go to the problem corner and select all the main waypoints covering that corner.
It's a good idea to start marking waypoints from a point where the two paths are right on top of each other, otherwise you'll get a nasty kink like the one you get on the finish line!

6) When marking the last waypoint the same thing applies, pick a spot where the two paths are right on top of each other.

NOTE: A good idea is to make the beginning and the end waypoint selection on a straight piece of the track before and after the corner in question. Manually smoothing paths in corners can be a huge PITA.

7) With all those WPs selected you should now see the "selected waypoint menu" (rF2 switches to this menu as soon as you have one or more waypoints selected).

8) Open the "manipulations" sub menu and click "copy path 2 (g) onto path 1 (w)".
You will now see the change where the paths have merged together!

9) Now "deselect" all waypoints!

10) The last thing to do is to look for any kinks at the beginning and the end parts of the path. Also observe the AI driving past those points, that'll make it obvious if it needs any further smoothing.

Good Luck

 

[MPortnoy]

Excellent!! Thanks for the clear and detailed explanation, this is exactly what I was looking for

I've read in some other posts that you've modified lots of AIW's so I was hoping you'd chime in.
Will try it over the weekend!!

 

[MPortnoy]

@Ace King
Reporting back, I was able to modify single corners on my first 2 tracks. It worked to perfection and was indeed pretty easy.
Thanks a lot!!

 

[Ace King]

Great to hear it all worked out.

 

[MPortnoy]

@Ace King may I ask you one more thing?

I've been having some issues with the pit path lately and was hoping you could help me figure it out.
When I redo the fast path of a track, I sometimes find myself also having to redo the pit path following the steps of the AIW tutorial...

1) Go to the point where the car will leave the fast path and click "record new path"
2) Drive through and out of the pits to the point where it will join again the fast path and stop recording.
3) Click on "Add new path and mark as 1st pit"
4) Select the last waypoint on the pit path alongside a waypoint further down the main path and "join as branch" (get success message)
5) Do the same thing on the other end with the first pit path waypoint and a point before it on the main path and "join as branch" (success message).
6) Save waypoints, exit and reload

Up until this point everything seems to be working fine, but this is where I get stuck....

After reloading, I go to either end of the pit path to try and normalize the curve between the pit and the main paths, select a few waypoints on the pit path but when I try to move it towards the fast line using SHIFT+arrows, the pit line doesn't move at all.

Do you have any idea what I could be doing wrong? It's happened on the last 3 tracks I've tried to modify lately but remember having doing it months ago without any problems

Thanks

 

[Ace King]

This is an adverse effect you may experience more times then not when attempting to fix a track. Because you didn't begin the AIW editing process in it's proper sequence order and attempted to fix a issue by shortcutting this sequence then this can sometimes be your undesirable results.

So, we do whatever we can to doctor and fix the AIW in hope that it works out good enough and if your not satisfied with your results then there is no other alternative but to start the AIW process from the very beginning if my following method doesn't help!

Ex.1) Le Mans 2017 - Improve the Pitline's exit transistion to the fastline so i determined for the best results it needed a brand new Pitline. After it was finished i then tested the AI in a qualify session and discovered that the AI would continue to run fastlaps until they ran out of fuel on the track and would just sit on the track. I made sure the Pit-in and Pit-out connections were properly done correctly in which they were but i decided to make a another new Pitline just incase something went wrong but after testing the new Pitline it still produced the same results with the AI.

Ex.2) Over the years where i made new Pitlines the AI would drive thru the Pitlane and exit without ever going into their Pitbox or returning to their garage!

NOTE: These Pitlane issues were resolved by using the "Find Corridors" search. The only problem with this procedure is it will reset all your Corridors that you might have previously adjusted in problem areas so you need to redo all that again.

PS. So, i would use the "Find Corridors" in hopes that it helps with your problem and if it doesn't work then make a another new Pitlane and then follow it up again with "Find Corridors". If it still doesn't fix this issue then you need to decide if this issue is worth the trouble to start the AIW process from the very beginning! Note: you can exclude needing to redo the garages and pitboxes!

Best of luck!

 

[MPortnoy]

I see. I had a hunch that not doing the steps in order could be the cause of it.

Le Mans 2017 is one of the tracks I'm having issue with. I can get the original pit line to move but it's not good enough to provide a good result so I decided to create a new one but it won't move.
And in Okayama I get that other issue you describe where cars just drive through the pit lane without ever entering the garage.

I'll try using "Find corridors" in hope it works!!
Cheers

 

[MPortnoy]

@Ace King
Once again you saved the day!!
Find corridors did it for me. Now i have smooth pit transitions and cars entering the garage on the 3 tracks i was having issues with.
Thanks a lot

 

[Ace King]

Great news!