VWSR S1: Virtual World Series by Renault

[Jeff Brown]

I can get my skin in game and working, but everything is colorless. Only Black, white and grey seem to show. Similar to what Stefan was saying about his gold showing up as silver. I noticed you don't seem to have this problem with the race department skins, do you know how to fix it? I tried gimp and paint.net.

 

[Ray Lilley]

I managed to get a skin to render however, the Alpha layer imprints the artwork(that is not actually in the PSD file I received) onto the surfaces. So I am in the process of working on the alpha layer to clean such stuff off.

From what I have read from the article link I posted above, the alpha layer is for the reflectiveness of the different surfaces.(?)

13/03: ProblemSorted.

 

[Dennis May]

Driver: Dennis May
Team: Pedal to the Metal Racing
Car Number: 81
Will use RD Skin: No
I have read and understood the general info thread, and the overall league rules: Yes

 

[Dennis May]

what about using Mid-Ohio instead of Portugal

 

[Lee Ross]

Portugal is great for the Meganes, nice combo. Would love Mid Ohio though, dump Watkins, it's so bad, it hurts my eyes. It's like racing a game from 95 or something

 

[Marco Bijl]

We are still in doubt about that one.

1 of the reasons I am in doubt is that I contact the maker to see if he will do an update on the road surface. The track itself is very nice to drive, it's just that the build is crappy. If it will be updated, we definately want it to stay in. If it does not get updated, it might be replaced.

In terms of MidOhio. I am going to test that in a few hours. If I like it, it is very possible that it will be entered in the league. I just want to check on things like FPS, driveability, surface, grip and stuff like that.

So more news on that later on

In terms of joining when in Race session,

If you join during a race session, you are joining "pending a free session". Not sure how it looks on the client side, but thats what we see in the game, and on the server. When I see there is someone on a server in a race session, I will try to join myself, to see what happens at the client side.

 

[Marco Bijl]

Mid Ohio is not tested yet. As I said in the general info thread, the tracks presented are based on what was present when I set up the topics. Before signup closes, the definat track list will be known. I am pretty sure we will add MidOhio, but thats depending on the outcome of the tests I will do first.

 

[Marco Bijl]

The RD Skins are setup in a different way. They are not alternative skins (xxxALT.dds), but replacing skins. I also tested them in a different way, as I made them in groups of 3.

@Jeff,
Can you tell me how you test the skin? I assume you save or convert it into .dds DXT5, and what do you do after?

@Ray,
I am not 100% sure what a Alpha layer does in this type of use. Can ask if you really want to know, as I am sure it works the same for all games (Race07, rFactor1) and there are a lot of experienced skinners there. Let's see if we can get some experienced skinners to join in the conversation in this thread.
You say you sorted the problem. What did you do? Just out of curiosity.

@Joakim,
Did you do anything special when testing the RD Megane skin?

 

[Magnus Dahlgren]

I'd thought I share my little knowledge on skinning!

The alpha-layer is there to create 'metallic-effect' and overall shinyness. I looks like an ordinary layer but its only in b/w-greyscale or whatever you want to call it, white means the most metallic/shiny, and black means least metallic/more matte effect. So say you have painted a white side on the car, go into the alpha layer and paint the same part white, when saved correct it will show up in the game as metallic, yellow will be gold etc. Hopefully some of you may understand!

And to Jeff Brown- To me it sounds like you've saved in DXT5 NM and not DXT5 with interpolated alpha.

And to Ray Lilley- Indeed I noticed too that the in the 'official' templates released by ISI the alpha layer from one of the blue Octane Meganes where present and has to be fixed(painted).

 

[Stefan Woudenberg]

Hmmmm... intresting Magnus. I think I understand why my car is silver instead of gold. Will do some testing with that layer.

 

[Magnus Dahlgren]

Here is a picture giving an example, I know its not the best colours to show off with but hopefully youll be able to see that the overall car gives reflection while the red doesnt and that the white has become completely reflective.

 

[James Scanlan]

Driver: James Scanlan
Team: seven motorsport
Car Number: 7
Will use RD Skin: No
I have read and understood the general info thread, and the overall league rules: Yes

 

[Marco Bijl]

Thanks for the inside here Magnus! That's a clear explantion! Appreciated!

 

[Kieron Swart]

Driver: Kieron Swart
Team: White Knockels Simracing [WK]
Car number: 68
Will use RD Skin: No
I have read and understood the general info thread, and the overall league rules: Yes

Freaking hell im sure I had changed the name LOL :oops:

 

[Lee Ross]

Ok Marco, fair enough

 

[Marco Bijl]

A question to you all...

Mid Ohio has been released. The track looks good to me, so I want you to test it as well.

I have set up a test server. To join, follow these steps.

- Download Mid Ohio here
- Install Mid Ohio (UNtick the box Show Mods Only)
- Download the RD Mod here
- Install the Mod (RACEDEPARTMENT.COM Meganes @ Mid Ohio Test)
- Join the online server RACEDEPARTMENT.COM TEST
Password is the regular club pass.

Let me know what you find in the General discussion topic please

 

[Lee Ross]

Is the server up all the time? I will jump on tonight, didn't realise the server was running already

 

[Marco Bijl]

Yes I will keep it open. Just did a run there.. Damn, this is very nice!! Track is awesome to drive with the Meganes! It really is promissing. To me, the question is not if we are going to switch a track, but more which one we are going to take out I really like it.

I am uploading a video as I type this. Will post it here.

One nice detail. There is a camera helicopter flying over the track. I had it pass over me once now, and actually drove through the shading of the chopper! Very nicely done. Can't wait to get a new GPU to enjoy this on full settings

 

[Lee Ross]

The Meganes feel wonderful there, you can really feel the new tyre model and the grip. Really shows off the physics and tyre model and will make for some great bumper to bumper racing

 

[Marco Bijl]

My first laps with the Megane on Mid Ohio. Very nice experience!