Textures, names and mapping.. (converting)

[luthobu]

Hi all..

Before anyone flames me for asking this question, bare in mind that I have been trying
for months on end to solve it myself, and I do not give up easily. And so I bite the dust..

What I am trying to do is convert some rFactor tracks to Racer - for private use(!)

With some help from my friends here at the forum (Racer part) we have managed to
convert some tracks from rFactor format to Racer DOF format, and even extract the
textures. I have also managed to create a track that actually works, with grids and all.

BUT.. a major factor remains, and that is the texture issue. I have managed to map the
obvious textures where names match textures, but not the more obscure ones, where no
texture matches any name in the mesh at all, or any in the mesh does not match any
"known" texture.

I know that this type of convertion has been done before (rfactor to racer), and I also
know that the texture issue is not a new "problem". I have even done massive online
searches for info on the problem, without any luck in finding what I need.

So, I now humble myself before the rFactor crowd and ask as polite as I am able, can
someone, pretty please with suger on top, help me solve this problem? How do I map
textures that do not match any mesh? There are soooo many tracks for rFactor that
I am guessing that at least ONE of you may know.. and if you do step forward, I will
be most happy.

Thanks for reading this long, tedious and a bit off-topic and boring post..

 

[NickDeFender]

I'm confused. I'm not familiar with Racer, does something in the conversion process remove the mapping? I've worked with all kinds of 3D formats and the mapping sticks with the 3D objects when converted. If not, you have a lot of work ahead of you. If it does, it's a matter of knowing what your textures/bitmaps are and matching to the appropriate materials. Still not easy but easier than remapping everything. A lot of times names of textures are similar to names of materials. If you experience 8.3 truncation, part of the name still might match. Otherwise it's matching appearance of texture to 3D object, tree to tree, building to building etc. My first post!

 

[luthobu]

@NickDeFender: Thanks for the reply and congrats on the first post The problem is not that there
are no texture names in the objects, just that none of the names match any of the textures. Some
have even 3 names in the object, and none of them match the textures. So I thought there might be
some kind of a "shader" that maps name to texture, as there is in Racer.

 

[NickDeFender]

It looks like solution is to use either 3DSimed or 3DMax with GMT importer. Either one will give you a complete rundown on all material shader values, names vs.bitmaps, once track is imported.

Unfortunately for your purposes it's a costly method that serves no purpose other than identifying material settings. I use both but 3DSimed is relatively inexpensive and can be an invaluable tool for file conversions, etc.

 

[luthobu]

Again, thanks for replying NickDeFender. I will supposedly have to rethink the entire idea.. at least that gives me time to finish my own tracks Maybe another solution surfaces in time. Tata for now.

 

[luthobu]

*bump*

Finally I got help from a friend with this one, so I will share: Extract the GMT's,
load them into Zmodeler2, open the Material editor and read the mappings..

Edit: Exporting the track to RBR from 3dSimEd generates a materials.ini that
can also be used for referance.