XPacks Discussion

Brendon Pywell

Bob's Track Builder
Expansion Packs (XPacks)

BTB organises all Objects, Materials and Textures into Expansion Packs (XPacks). They are theme based so that the textures for the road surfaces, walls, trees and ground all look good together.

2eyaohs.jpg


By bunching objects, materials and textures together encourages a more aesthetic end result – although you will be free to use whatever XPacks you like!

This encourages two things:

1. People using your XPacks will create Tracks that are more aesthetic. That is the textures will look good together. Check how well objects from the Australia Rural XPack look against the road/ground textures.

2. Game performance will be increased by re-using the same objects/textures in creative ways rather than adding more objects from a number of XPacks. Good XPacks will reuse materials/textures, eg. the Texture for a house roof may be used on several House objects. When it comes to rendering performance, texture/material reuse is good.
These points will become even more important as the library of XPacks grow. Imagine having 12 different tree XPacks and trying to find some that match your terrain/theme.

Installation

Each XPack comes in the form of a Zip file. Additional XPacks will be created over time and installing them is a simple as dropping the Zip file into the BTB\XPacks folder. BTB reads directly from the Zip file, there is no need to extract the individual files/folders.

The initial BTB installation will not include much XPack material; they need to be downloaded from http://www.bobstrackbuilder.net/pro_users/XPacks.aspx .

Adding to your Venue

You use “File … Expansion Packs” to select which packs you want to be available in your Venue.

Each Venue (project) you create will exist in its own folder and all Textures and XPacks used in your project will be copied to an “XPacks” sub-folder. If you want to edit a Texture that you added to your project, you need to edit the one that gets copied to your Venue’s folder.

Updating XPacks

Over time XPacks will gain more Objects and Materials and you will want to get the latest one. Simply download again and drop into you BobsTrackBuilder\XPacks folder.
Your existing Venues will need to be manually updated by copying the XPack into the project’s XPacks folder and overwriting the existing one.

Creating XPacks

A new utility called XPacker is included to help you create your own XPacks. It will not build your objects or textures, but it does help you to organise them into the required XPack structure.
Press F1 for more XPacker help.

Creating a community of XPacks

I am not artistic in the slightest so it’s up to everyone here to help build a library of XPacks that everyone can use. My time will be focussed on coding more BTB/XPacker functions so I am relying on you guys to help out by submitting more material.
If you have textures, objects and materials that you think would be suitable, contact me ( bob at bobstrackbuilder.net ) and I’ll be happy to organise them into a suitable XPack. All work should be your own with all copyrights respected.

These are the current themes I have in mind:
- Alpine
- Desert
- City
- Rural Australia (Ennis)
- Coastal
- Forest
- Haywood Club (WeirdBeard)
- Jungle
- Racing (I need cones).
- Savannah Grasslands (Raceking)
- Snow
- Woodland
Feel free to come up with more (ideally along with your own contribution) or make suggestions on how to better categories these themes.

Object Import Format

The importing of objects can be done using either the Collada or 3ds formats.

I would encourage anyone looking to import objects to use the Collada format as it is far more robust and isn't plagued by the shortcomings of the 3ds format. For Max, you can get a free plugin for import/export from http://www.feelingsoftware.com/content/view/65/79/lang,en/ though I think you have to sign up before you can access the downloads.

I am happy to do the organising if you wish to send the XPacks my way ( bob@bobstrackbuilder.net ). Please feel free to give suggestions on how they should be structured or into what existing XPack you think they could be added. The textures should be your own work as I cannot use other people’s textures without their permission.

Advanced Editing

Creating Content

When adding one more object/material I always create a new XPack and test just that one item making sure it works ok in all games. Once it’s ready then I copy the contents of that XPack into the destination XPack and re-zip it.

This isolates the work so that I can test many times without the possibility of adding more materials/textures than required.

Editing Content

XPacks are just zip files. If you wish to change just one item of a project, it can be unzipped and so long as it keeps the same folder structure, BTB will use the unzipped version instead (restart BTB).

Say for instance you wish to change replace the colour of the Default\Barn object.

1. Locate the [yourVenue]\XPacks\Default.zip.
2. Extract the shed01_end.dds and shed01_side.dds so that they are in a folder [yourVenue]\XPacks\Default\Textures\Objects\Building\.
3. Replace the shed01_end.dds and shed01_side.dds file with your own.
4. Start BTB.

Any of the files can be replaced using this method.
 
I think in Photoshop you can set part of the alpha channel to be white, black or a shade of grey. Black is transparent, white is opaque and grey is somewhere in between, with the darker shades being more translucent and the lighter shades being more opaque.
 
As I see in original RBR tracks, ground (grass, and terrain) textures used DXT1 RGB 4 bpp | no alpha and No MIP map setings. and no any bump, specular.., maps.
For road textures the same but only have: Generate MIP map - 4, and no any bump, specular.., maps...

For textures with transparents: DXT3 ARGB 8 bpp | explicit alpha and Generate MIP map - 4
If you in future think about conversations for original file format
 
Portable Tiolet in an xpack

Has anyone made an xpack with a Portable Tiolet..........you know the ones you see at construction sites.........

If so can someone point me to the xPack...........
If not can someone build one for me.......

Thanks in advance for any help....

PeterB
 
loudspeaker

My next track is nearly finished.
I just need some more objects, but I haven't found someone good so far (e.g. google sketchup).
Does anybody knows where I can find the Ambulance Van which is seen in a lot of selfmade tracks?
Although I would need a medical car and some big loudspeaker-poles like on the pictures.

Thanks in advance for any help....

Sebastian

59007500_68d0f190b0.jpg

speakerpole.jpg
 
I could REALLY do with a caravan as Ive still to successfully build an object in GSketchUp & Xpack it|
Im working on a local Hill Climb & besides a HUGE amount of tree's, it's the only thing holding it back really.....
And yes, I've tried but STILL it fails, & fails, & fails...........& fails.........
I must have my build method wrong OR another part of the process Im missing....

(edit)P.S. Thanks for the port-a-loo's too....
|That was about the only other bit missing.....!
 
Thanks R Soul,
Ive recorded/captured these a while ago (can upload if anyone wants 'em) but there's no sound & I'm too noobulant to workout whats going on there exsactly....
By the way, your track joining tutorial was DAMN useful!
(There was sound, it was per direction of main path departure AND I could pause, go & work & come back to play/pause & move on- a MOST excellent Tutorial....
I wish there was more like the!
 
My next track is nearly finished.
I just need some more objects, but I haven't found someone good so far (e.g. google sketchup).
Does anybody knows where I can find the Ambulance Van which is seen in a lot of selfmade tracks?
Although I would need a medical car and some big loudspeaker-poles like on the pictures.

Thanks in advance for any help....

Sebastian

59007500_68d0f190b0.jpg

speakerpole.jpg

Are you sure those are speaker-pylons? It would be unbeliavably unefficient to throw sound that far, especially as the pylons reside behind the grandstand with a roof. No direct line of sight to the main audience means the sound would be bouncing around the track creating huge multiple delays, phaseshifts etc and no one could understand a word they say. I know, many have heard that in some local football arena but most larger venues don't use the cheapest alternatives.

Unless they are those ultrasound speakers that can project the sound hundreds of meters without signal loss ( i doubt it, they are megaexpensive not to mention, came out commercially maybe two years ago at most) they most likely are lights. They do look like speaker horns but it's not a picture from RL so maybe the track designer got it wrong?

Edit: most definitely they are light fixtures, they are pointed over the grandstand. Speakers are like lights, they need to be pointed directly to the listener in order to have them work at optimum capacity. Those are pointed straight on to track and i don't think they are trying to get their message thru the helmets and over the engine roar. Not that it changes anything, you still need them in your track..
 
Well I guess you're right and the guys inside the grandstand won't hear a lot from the speaker.
I'm only trying to rebuild the track as near on the origin as possible...
And there they are definitely speakers and no lights.

But your timeing is good, I'm planing to build a floodlights - xPack.
Because I wanted to make some night versions of my tracks too.
The objects are on a good way, but can anyone tell me how to set a spot so that it is bright on the track?
Sadly that there are not so much working lights available at the time...
 
Well I guess you're right and the guys inside the grandstand won't hear a lot from the speaker.
I'm only trying to rebuild the track as near on the origin as possible...
And there they are definitely speakers and no lights.

But your timeing is good, I'm planing to build a floodlights - xPack.
Because I wanted to make some night versions of my tracks too.
The objects are on a good way, but can anyone tell me how to set a spot so that it is bright on the track?
Sadly that there are not so much working lights available at the time...

It is designed for maximum coverage not quality, also tech has improved a lot since the early 90's. It's horrible solution now but as trackbuilders, we just have to replicate not improve design..
 
Hey Kennett!
Did you found some time for sketching a safety / medical caravan or those speakers for me?
Due the time I'm waiting for it, I've made something else.
Upload is done, maybe someone need one of those

racetrucks.jpg
 
loudspeaker

My next track is nearly finished.
I just need some more objects, but I haven't found someone good so far (e.g. google sketchup).
Does anybody knows where I can find the Ambulance Van which is seen in a lot of selfmade tracks?
Although I would need a medical car and some big loudspeaker-poles like on the pictures.

Thanks in advance for any help....

Sebastian

59007500_68d0f190b0.jpg

speakerpole.jpg

Hey! I'm pretty new here, and new to all this kind of stuff, but I have been modelling in AC3D for a few years now. What is it you'd like, in what detail and what format? I could build a fixed floodlight pole or PA speaker pole, or I could, with some time, make a portable floodlight unit, with the towable generator, you know the ones? If you can get me a higher res image of the above, I could give it a shot.

Also, I have a question: I've got a few armco section objects that are miles better than the default BTB texture on wall solution. How would I go about getting these into BTB as a (string?) object, to behave like a wall? Same with 'ripple strip' kerbs, I have a new kind which I'd like to use, but I'm still brand new to the XPack utility.

I have some more questions, but I'll leave it there for now.

Thankyou all!

Glen.

N.B. Is that circuit from Gran Turismo, per chance? Looks a little GT stylie...
 

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