Tracks Pacific Coast 1.0

[Phoenix77]

Seems fine now, but maybe Chris has a better eye and you have to wait for his opinion

Thanks mate, yeah I think so too... Even though I'm not that mad on these "Y" bushes anyway but I will have to decide on a cut off for things like this... and move towards a release... and further tweak things while people are driving the new road.
After driving the GTO along here... I'm almost feeling guilty that people are using 0.824 lol

The difference is night and day!

 

[Jim Layee]

Do it !!

 

[Phoenix77]

Do it !!

I'm seriously tempted.. But on the other hand... It has to be as correct as possible for a 1.0...
There are also around 100 issues with the terrain vertex normals... creating black shading areas... Like this...

Unifying the normals have sorted out most of it... But I probably need to know more about editing the normals before release, and my terrain needs some final time consuming small tweaks.

It could speed things up if someone reading this fancies an AI recording mission, and they think they can record a Fast, Consistent line... not easy over 23km... It takes around 9 minutes to record the line... then when you exit, it takes another 30 - 40 mins to save... Time I'd rather spend elsewhere at the moment. Also the edges of the valid AI line need sorting, probably with Esotic's AI tool. Quite time consuming on this long track.

As a benchmark... If you can drive Southbound in less than 9:39 in a Porsche GT3 RS on the current version and can record AI lines... post an in game screenshot
Then I can sort the foliage and other bits while some fast lines are being recorded..

I was aiming to get this released by the 24th of this month, but unfortunately that's looking pretty unlikely.

 

[Hachiroku_88PL]

You can always release it as a 0.825 version, so much more digits for upgrades before 1.0 I think it is hard for one guy to catch all bugs anyway, so even this potential 1.0 will have some minor fixes to do, as more and more people will discover the map. It is your call when to publish the Coast, I know you want it to be perfect, but sometimes "ready enough" is better for the development, especially when you have great community like here on the RD

No rushing though

 

[SS454]

This is looking amazing and I am anxiously wanting an updated resource. Do you intend to release the next version with the bushes overgrown onto the road surface though?

 

[guidofoc]

Can't wait! I'm planning a lot of AC for the weekend and next week.. so if by any chance you release something.. joking keep on the great work!

 

[Phoenix77]

You can always release it as a 0.825 version, so much more digits for upgrades before 1.0 I think it is hard for one guy to catch all bugs anyway, so even this potential 1.0 will have some minor fixes to do, as more and more people will discover the map. It is your call when to publish the Coast, I know you want it to be perfect, but sometimes "ready enough" is better for the development, especially when you have great community like here on the RD

No rushing though

They are all fair points mate...
I'll aim to get a one year update on here Sunday... even if it's a 0.95
Anyway even when it is a 1.0 I can always continue updating...
And I have to agree about the cool community on here...
Undoubtedly the best place for anything sim related

This is looking amazing and I am anxiously wanting an updated resource. Do you intend to release the next version with the bushes overgrown onto the road surface though?

Thanks hopefully you won't be anxious much longer
Those bushes are just a test, They're not even the right size at the moment...
Also the trees are just a starting point

Can't wait! I'm planning a lot of AC for the weekend and next week.. so if by any chance you release something.. joking keep on the great work!

You might be in luck then... I'm aiming for an update on Sunday... even if it's a 0.95... Get your Ferrari's ready... I think you'll have some fun in the 288 GTO along the new PCH. Thanks, glad you're liking the progress

 

[Hachiroku_88PL]

OK, it is time then to think of some excuses for my boss why I am late at work on Monday

 

[aphidgod]

Claim it's something highly contagious, they ask fewer questions that way.

 

[Phoenix77]

OK, it is time then to think of some excuses for my boss why I am late at work on Monday

Introduce your boss to sim racing... then maybe they won't even be in on Monday

Claim it's something highly contagious, they ask fewer questions that way.

You sound very knowledgeable on the subject for some reason lol

Thought I'd better add some top down shadows to the pine trees..

 

[aphidgod]

Ha... I'm actually self-employed so it's very difficult to fool my boss re: my physical condition.

 

[Phoenix77]

It shouldn't be too difficult to confuse your boss.....
If you... I mean your boss... has too many beers

 

[Phoenix77]

I'm possibly going to leave the bushes until a future update...
and until after the terrain is smoothed near the road edge.
But there will be plenty of these...

And they also look ok at midday

 

[Phoenix77]

That's the bulk of the trees done... Seeing as all I've shown is the Northern gas station... here's the South gas station with some trees...

and there are a few trees in between

And seeing as I haven't shown it yet... Here's what the mansion looks like....

 

[Phoenix77]

Working my way through my snagging list...
One thing being setting the LOD distance setting for barriers, trees, gas stations
so they're no longer rendered at a certain distance.
I might fine tune these later... But as it is, this should help the performance nicely.

The track is getting a maximum DIP of 4,000... That's a bit high... But the current version (0.824) is getting something like 18,000 with all the individual bush objects.
Once I merge all the road signs / sign posts into bigger clusters, it will be lower.
The signs won't be perfect anyway, as I'll redo them all when I put the textures into a billboard.

 

[Phoenix77]

By the way... I'm not going to mention the 8km of sideroads that have been put in... I'm only mentioning it here... So if you've followed this thread you'll know that they're there.... Keep it a secret shhhhh ...
Then if you happen to disappear out of sight during a police chase... They'll never know where you've gone lol

There are 6 sideroads, including the mansion driftway.
(I would call it a driveway but you'll see what I mean when you drive it )

 

[SS454]

wow those tree's make it look so much more immersive. I think v0.9 is ready to release today. Thanks in advance.

 

[Phoenix77]

Thanks mate, yeah they really help... along with the normal map over the terrain... The road edge transitions...barriers, road signs... chevrons in both directions, side roads, dirt tracks... the mansion... and getting the road placed much more accurately than before. and if I get time... telegraph poles.

Thanks again to Amir Vodokotlic for reminding me about SAS Planet...
The road is MUCH more accurately placed because of this

And thanks again to Movo for reminding me about the simple ksalpharef setting...
I'm still forgetting to do it sometimes... But at least I'm remembering what setting is out of whack

I'm still aiming for uploading v1 tomorrow... I'm going to call it that because pretty much everything has been redone... and the road is basically a v2.0...
Plus I'll call it what I want to call it lol

It won't be perfect, but it's getting close to how I envisioned it before I started.

 

[Phoenix77]

There's always one tree that trys to fly

 

[Phoenix77]

I'll add some more detail in a future update... But adding the cypress trees helps