Project CARS Modding Questions & WIP

[JDougNY]

@robi3381
I think that deformation is due to the location of the bones. The best option would be to use a higher poly tyre from pCars. Otherwise, you would relocate the bones of each tyre to their proper locations in Zmod, export, then overwrite some data at the end of the file to correct what Zmod breaks on exported tyres.
Also, many of the tyres in pcars have bad bone placements, too.

 

[walken]

JDougNY, I think u know pcars better than creators themselves, so your cars, and other ones you 'touch', got an unique feeling !!! You have always a word to help modders ! thank you a lot !
Mexxx

 

[robi3381]

Thanks Doug!
Unfortunatelly, I don't find any pCARS tyre with the good size.
Have you ever managed to do this bones relocation? Which values do I have to change after the export?
And in Zmod, I only have to lower the "sidewall_left" and "sidewall_right" bones and export?

 

[JDougNY]

Thanks Doug!
Unfortunatelly, I don't find any pCARS tyre with the good size.
Have you ever managed to do this bones relocation? Which values do I have to change after the export?
And in Zmod, I only have to lower the "sidewall_left" and "sidewall_right" bones and export?

You can do a quick resize in 3dsimed then save using the "Update NFS Shift Meb" option. The "Update" option in 3dsimed retains all of the the bones and the tyre/tread should all rotate correctly after an update save. The other export option in 3dsimed would erase the entire rigging.

When I say that there are bad bone placements made by SMS, this is rampant in NFS Shift series, TDFRL and pCars. You'll find bones that are not located within the confines of the tyre, other times, the inner bead will deform upward into the rim and you'll see the bead bleeding through the lip of the wheel.

I do recommend the resizing of higher poly pcars tyres using 3dsimed over the use of zmod and hex editing of lower poly tyres from TDFRL. Back when I successfully was able to use a zmod tyre, I was just scaling. So, all I did was replace everything starting at 2,3,0 and ending at first material entry, with the data from the original meb.
Sections look to be...
2,3,0 - the uv mapping
5,8,0 - I believe to be a small section for the skeleton rigging
3,1,0 - looks like another section for skeleton rigging...but could just be a part of 5,8,0 (the pattern of the data changes and has the look of a new data section)

If the positioning of bones is contained in this area, then repairing what zmod breaks on export might not be possible. In my initial post, I was assuming it would be possible....but not yet tested. It does work for scaling, because that happens elsewhere in the code.

 

[robi3381]

I rescaled the tyres with 3dsimed, it works well, thanks! But is there a way to change the materials used in the meb? I would like to change the lotus materials used to the good 250 GTO ones, but there is a different amount of letters, and it crashes the game each time I try!

 

[LamboMantisMan23]

I rescaled the tyres with 3dsimed, it works well, thanks! But is there a way to change the materials used in the meb? I would like to change the lotus materials used to the good 250 GTO ones, but there is a different amount of letters, and it crashes the game each time I try!

Change material name in 3DSimED.

Worked for me

 

[JDougNY]

I rescaled the tyres with 3dsimed, it works well, thanks! But is there a way to change the materials used in the meb? I would like to change the lotus materials used to the good 250 GTO ones, but there is a different amount of letters, and it crashes the game each time I try!

I just want to mention that renaming materials does not work in 3dsimed when using the "update" option. In order for the naming change to take effect, the "Save Model.." option would need to be used. The "Save Model.." option strips away all off the rigging and breaks how the tyres function in the game. If anybody has every done this option for a mod that was released, they put out broken tyres (and I know this has happened).

It's very easy to hex edit any meb for new folder and file paths, once you understand that about the pad bytes/word.

Here's a writeup I had done in private before...
1) Everything follows a 4 byte pattern throughout the code.
2) There must be at least one zero byte after the material path/filename (see more detail on this below)
3) There is always a 32bit pad word afterwards (4bytes of zeros)
4) You can insert more bytes to make room for longer folder/filenames, as long as items 1, 2, and 3 are followed. Likewise, you can delete bytes for shorter folder/filenames following the rules of 1,2, and 3.

To go into more detail about item 2 above...
If the folder/filename ends at byte 3, 7, B or F, you would have two 32bit pad words after the name (8 bytes of zeros)

If the folder/filename ends at byte 2, 6, A or E, you would would have one zero byte after the filename, then one 32bit pad word (4bytes of zeros)

If the folder/filename ends at byte 1, 5, 9, or D, you would have two zero bytes after the filename, then one 32bit pad word (4bytes of zeros)

If the folder filename ends at byte 0, 4, 8, or C, you would have three zero bytes after the filename, then one 32bit pad word (4bytes of zeros)

NOTE: before making any edits, take note of the code that follows the current pad zero bytes/word of the material path/filename. After making your edits, that existing code should start at either bytes 0, 4, 8, or C, following your file/folder name and padding byte(s)/word.

 

[robi3381]

It worked! Thanks a lot! How do you know all those things, that's impressive!

But now, I have floating tyres... I tried to change the ride height, changing the position of the wheels, nothing works...

 

[JDougNY]

But now, I have floating tyres... I tried to change the ride height, changing the position of the wheels, nothing works...

What did you do before making those hex edits?
Did you do anything to the tyres in Zmod first?

 

[robi3381]

Not at all, I just took the lotus 40 tyre models, renamed them, imported them in 3dsimed, scaled them and export with the "update" option.
With the previous tyres, front wheels were floating a little bit, but now all the wheels are floating, and front are worse than before

 

[JDougNY]

Not at all, I just took the lotus 40 tyre models, renamed them, imported them in 3dsimed, scaled them and export with the "update" option.
With the previous tyres, front wheels were floating a little bit, but now all the wheels are floating, and front are worse than before

What I'm going to suggest is.....
Temporarily import your tyres into zmod and check the new height and width via "properties -> general -> boundary -> box". Record those width and heights. Exit Zmod without saving.
Open vdfm and edit all of the vertical offsets, tyre widths, and tyre heights to match.

 

[robi3381]

Yes, it's perfect now! I can't believe I didn't know this since all those modding years on s2u and pcars...

 

[gvse]

Hi all, I've been working on another car that's going to join our Hot Hatch Mod.

 

[Jerec]

Great! How many cars will the Hot Hatch mod contain?? Release before pCars 2 arrives?

 

[JDougNY]

Great! How many cars will the Hot Hatch mod contain?? Release before pCars 2 arrives?

We're planning to make 13 cars for hot hatch and we plan to release before PC2. I think we're making car #8 right now....lost track..lol

 

[gvse]

yeah, I'm almost done with Audi S3 and about to pick the next car, i.e. number 9!

 

[walken]

Yes, it's perfect now! I can't believe I didn't know this since all those modding years on s2u and pcars...

so we can hope for a 250 GTO !?!?!??!?

 

[JDougNY]

Another car for the Hot Hatch mod. Stop on over at Sam's Blog

 

[robi3381]

so we can hope for a 250 GTO !?!?!??!?

Yes you can! I hope releasing it before the end of the month

 

[Jerec]

The Hot Hatch mod end of the month?? Would be great!!