Tracks Hot Air Balloons

123rem · Jun 28, 2018

I've been to over 30 motor races across the world and have never seen a hot air balloon at any event. Why are they featured in most modded tracks?

Also, not everyone spectator wears light blue jeans and a bright red t-shirt.The only acceptable predominant colours for spectators is dark brown/black.

garyjpaterson · Jun 28, 2018

Assetto Corsa forums 2015, is that you?

*added link for those who didn't get the reference

123rem · Jun 28, 2018

garyjpaterson said:
Assetto Corsa forums 2015, is that you?

WTF

Oh, it's garypraterson.......nevermind

Fat-Alfie · Jun 28, 2018

123rem said:
I've been to over 30 motor races across the world and have never seen a hot air balloon at any event. Why are they featured in most modded tracks?

Really? This was Spa last year

garyjpaterson · Jun 28, 2018

Yeehaw

Oh wait, I do apologise. Thats much too much fun. No smiling here, no sirree. Sim racing is serious stuff, no doubt about it.

Shigeno427 · Jun 29, 2018

123rem said:
I've been to over 30 motor races across the world and have never seen a hot air balloon at any event. Why are they featured in most modded tracks?

Also, not everyone spectator wears light blue jeans and a bright red t-shirt.The only acceptable predominant colours for spectators is dark brown/black.

Simply as you opted to insult Gary who I've always found very helpful, I'm inclined to adopt a slightly less friendly tact than usual and say:

30 races, that's quite the sample size, that must be a statistically significant proportion of all the motor races ever, right?

EDIT:

Perhaps as many race tracks were based at airfields, making them quite an ideal place to launch a hot air balloon from.

They would also provide a good view of the race, and they are a fantastic place to put sponsorship as everyone can see it, all the time.

Perhaps it's just less common now than it used to be but is a nice way of adding some more world detail without repetition or poor animations being immersion breaking?

Mascot · Jun 29, 2018

Hot air balloons are awesome at all racetracks, virtual or real. As are:

Helicopters
Light aircraft
Airships
Microlights
The Red Arrows
Flocks of birds
Blimps
1950's UFOs

garyjpaterson · Jun 29, 2018

The devs don't want us to know about it, but this is the arcade slider, hidden deep within the settings.

Turn this down to 0%, and the simulation value rises. This ensures absolutely no happy thoughts enter your mind when driving in AC. You'll have a permanent frown in no time!

AccAkut · Jun 29, 2018

garyjpaterson said:
The devs don't want us to know about it, but this is the arcade slider, hidden deep within the settings.

Turn this down to 0%, and the simulation value rises. This ensures absolutely no happy thoughts enter your mind when driving in AC. You'll have a permanent frown in no time!

don't overdo it tho, or Steam will automatically install L.A Noire

Karl S. · Jun 29, 2018

123rem.ini

TROLLING_VALUE=0

Yawn...

123rem · Jun 29, 2018

9 worthless replies and I'm trolling.

ltcars · Jun 29, 2018

123rem said:
9 worthless replies and I'm trolling.

If I may interpret "their" trolling, you have built a reputation for firstly underestimating the effort it takes to build a mod and secondly giving bad reviews for good mods. So you may be regarded as a troll so you get trolled back

Fat-Alfie · Jun 29, 2018

Just trying to have a little fun...

Shigeno427 · Jun 29, 2018

123rem said:
9 worthless replies and I'm trolling.

Unless my counting is off (it might be) one of those 9 replies was your own?

I also made the effort to actually reply with some thoughts as to why hot air balloons may be near race tracks, I'm not sure what other sort of reply would add worth?

Mascot · Jun 29, 2018

My reply was a little flippant (hey - it's Friday) but to be deadly serious for a second: I love seeing hot air balloons in the skies above my virtual racetracks.

Except the jet black harbinger of doom ones that @jim lloyd does, of course - those just fill me with an uneasy sense of foreboding.

Stereo · Jun 29, 2018

when this comes over the horizon and the track loudspeakers start in on the imperial march, you'll know a race is about to happen.

guidofoc · Jun 30, 2018

123rem said:
I've been to over 30 motor races across the world and have never seen a hot air balloon at any event. Why are they featured in most modded tracks?

Also, not everyone spectator wears light blue jeans and a bright red t-shirt.The only acceptable predominant colours for spectators is dark brown/black.

I think the serious answer is that AC does not support animated track objects, it does support things like hot air balloons though so people tend to use them because they add a bit of life to the tracks. Some more "advanced" modders have replaced the balloon with other things such as airplanes, blimps or birds (if I am not mistaken Feldbergring has birds, Watkins Glen and Donington have airplanes, Riverside has a GoodYear blimp). Personally I do like having some additional "life" in a track, so to me they are welcome.

In case you do not like them, though, which is absolutely legit, in the original AC forum post which debated this years ago there are instructions on how to remove them. Here:
"The balloons are simple add-on kn5 files. Look for the kn5 files that are 1,257KB in size and rename them so they will not load. It should not cause any major errors and definitely won't cause a signature mismatch online. "

For spectators I have no idea, you may be right. Certainly they are not a strong point of AC. One thing I would advise is to avoid using a hostile tone with modders, after all they are working for us mostly for free or for a beer. And if you have a suggestion just show your examples of what is wrong and what it should look like, that will bring the point home instead of creating useless debates.

jim lloyd · Jun 30, 2018

Haha wow. This is My take on this is. The effort it took to write the post in the first place. Could of been spent doing a little research and fixing the things you don't like for yourself. Voila, your happy. No body takes the hump. And you never know you may catch the modding bug and start creating things to your own liking.....

Problem is you may start to feel a little bit of pride in the things you create. Post them here. And then your world crumbles. ..as you realize what a hateful crule place the world is...