General AC Modding Manual 3.0

[brotto marco]

Hi guys, let's begin by explaining what this thread is for.
I am making a guide for all Assetto Corsa modders, called "The Assetto Corsa Modding Manual 3.0". It includes how to create vehicles and tracks, and at the moment there is also a quite simple AC user manual.

The resource is available in this blog of mine, downloadable free of charge:
https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com
(yeah, the memes are just trying to be fun)
In the same website there is also the archive of all the old releases.

This guide is trying to be as objective as possible. As you will be able to see I am already doing most of the work of research and proofreading, but if you want you can help me here. You can make suggestions and point out errors, you can also write down things you want to be added (can be a few words, a sentence, or even an entire paragraph, that's on you!).
If you have ideas, try supporting them with some evidence. We can then discuss about them.

I shall point out that English is not my mother tongue, however I'm trying my best. Also, I'm not very into visuals, I prefer the physics side of modding, so I think you can understand where I will need help the most (and maybe you will notice in the manual itself). I am actually working on a couple car mods from scratch while I'm learning, probably some already saw them.

A little reminder: please try adding the sources to what you write (if you do), because I have to add them to the credits. This is an educational project, under the Fair Use terms.
If you don't have a source and you aren't sure, I recommend to add a header above your post, so that they can be distinguished easily for a later briefing. Like this, at the beginning:

[NO SOURCE]
Lorem ipsum etc.

If what you want to write actually flows out of your own mind or experience, then I guess it's fine even without a source. That's how it goes for many aspects of modding.

Oh, I almost forgot; obviously the names of those who will contribute will be added to the Credits.

About the time: I don't have an exact schedule, I work on this project when I have free time; no pressure, please. I should update once or twice a month. If there are any delays or unforeseen events, I will let you know on the blog, as these are more personal matters.

 

[Sven Hielscher]

I really appreciate your effort with this and am truly looking forward to the next iterations! It's also very amazing how many things you have included. However, I believe some contents are a bit too much for a modding manual. So here are some suggestions/requests for future versions of your manual:

• Size of the modding manual can be reduced dramatically (IMO you should do that because over 500MB is really massive and not neccessary):
  • Do not use pictures that are beyond 150dpi and compress pictures before export to PDF.
  • Do remove unused/cropped areas from the pictures.
  • Do not use full-page-sized pictures for chapters (they often look fractured in a PDF anyway).
  • Move the AC Manual part into a separate document.
  • Move the telemetry part into a separate document (not sure this actually belongs into a modding manual!?).
  • Remove the "scientific" or "theory" parts from the manual (e.g., section on sound theory: 20 pages are so that show great passion of yours on the topic but I believe this section is only distracting the readers and only very few will actually read it).
• Suggestions to improve readability and accessibility:
  • Create a ToC for the whole manual using your headlines (up to level 3 maybe). Place it at the very beginning, right after the cover page. In the PDF that should give you bookmarks and also allows some PDF readers to show bookmarks as the outline (easier to navigate in a long file).
  • Make all headlines clearly larger than text, e.g., level 1 has 14pt, level 2 has 12pt while the text has 10pt, and increase the distance to previous and following paragraphs. Also you should consider using section/chapter numeration for everything that is a header or separator (again, making navigation easier).
  • Make all figures centered to better separate them from the text.
  • Put all code or citation with an indent, so they are clearly separated from the text. Also try using a mono-space font type for all of them.
• Some general items:
  • I think you should keep the conversion/ripping part to the bare minimum, if not delete it. So instead of telling people where to get stuff from, just describe the general way of converting or bringing an already finished model (mesh with UV and textures) into the game.
  • You do use many pictures from unknown sources or without reference. This is a true copyright nightmare and not easy to change, but I strongly recommend you add proper source references to those (also to text you copied from Wikipedia or other sources).
  • I'm not sure which software you use to create this manual, but I strongly recommend to make use of all the great publishing features that MS Word or LO Writer and other software offers: Automatic numbering, styles, ToC generation, hyperlinks, references, list of tables, list of figures, etc.pp. If you need some advice or help, please let me know. For writer I would already have a template available here that might come in handy (if you actually use LO Writer). Beyond that, there would also be online publishing, e.g. via Sphinx Documentation (see my example, the rFactor2 Modding Manual here and here).

 

[brotto marco]

Thank you Sven, I will respond to the most important stuff you mentioned:

Size of the modding manual can be reduced dramatically (IMO you should do that because over 500MB is really massive and not neccessary):

I know, but I don't have enough time to optimize it. I will try my best to optimize it in the future, however I cannot guarantee. It would add more steps to the publishing. And I want to deliver high quality content, you shall zoom on those pics and still be able to read them.

Move the AC Manual part into a separate document.

Sorry, this won't happen, there are basic details fundamental to the modding parts. It's functional to the rest of the document, and it would have less meaning per se.

Move the telemetry part into a separate document (not sure this actually belongs into a modding manual!?).

Won't happen either, telemetry is probably the second most important part of the manual after the scripts, it's fundamental to understand if your vehicle physics are correct and to debug any inherent problems. You cannot make accurate mods without it. I don't care that only few people will do it the right way.

EDIT (seen your post below): People who are willing to mod AC are usually not very well knowledgeable of it at all . See the number of low quality mods out there . And good mods have problems too. Here on RD I've already seen well made cars with wrong parameters for the drivetrain and fuel consumption for example.

You do use many pictures from unknown sources or without reference.

All the illustrations will have their sources and copyright references in the credits. There already are some, it's just that it takes a lot of time to put all of them together. Don't worry, I will sort that out with patience. This is valid also for the text sources.

I don't think a Table of Contents (ToC) for the whole manual would be very useful. At this stage the book should be read in its entirety, otherwise you will miss many things that are considered prerequisites in the continuation . I'm writing it in such a way that you can begin as a neophyte and progressively become a nerd, so from my perspective you shouldn't skip anything, especially if you read it for the first time. In my opinion the ToCs I wrote for each PART are sufficient, as those are also the steps you need to make. They are more lists of what-to-do than ToCs. But this may change, who knows.

About conversions, I don't see why I shouldn't include them. They can be legal if done the right way: getting models from anywhere if you have the authorization from their copyright owners is not a crime at all.
My only afterthought is whether or not to list all the methods, but there are also not many games worth converting from.
If you have the permission or not to convert,

By the way, I've been using MS Word to write the doc since the beginning, don't worry .

 

[Sven Hielscher]

I know, but I don't have enough time to optimize it. I will try my best to optimize it in the future, however I cannot guarantee. It would add more steps to the publishing.

Well, removing full size pictures is a very quick thing. Also exporting a PDF with lower DPI is just a couple of clicks

On the manual and telemetry etc.: I don't really agree as I believe most people who are willing to mod AC, will likely be well knowledgeable of AC already. Also there are so many **** mods out there, I don't actually believe all modders use telemetry at all So you could just keep those parts simple in the modding manual and refer to other document that comprehensively deal with these topics. However, it's only a suggestion and you decide

 

[brotto marco]

New update 0.25 is here!
Check it out:
https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com

Little hint.

Also, following Sven's suggestion:

Size of the modding manual can be reduced dramatically

Now there is a low-res (72 dpi) version available, for those who have problems with their Internet connection (honestly I believe that people who download gigabytes of mods should have no trouble at all downloading the Hi-res version). Keep in mind that some pictures may become unreadable.

It's more of a sample/quick test. With the next releases I will try with 150 dpi for the low-res, I believe 72 is too low. Should become around 150 MB. Or I can do it immediately. Nah, later.

 

[Sven Hielscher]

Now there is a low-res (72 dpi) version available, for those who have problems with their Internet connection.

It's not a problem of connection. The "issue" is that you would have to download it again and again with each update, like download 500Mb just for adding one page (exaggerated). It's simply not very efficient, you know

 

[brotto marco]

New update 0.26!
Check it out:
https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you happy holidays!

I changed the low-res version to 96 dpi and that will be its standard from now on.

 

[Emery]

I changed the low-res version to 96 dpi and that will be its standard from now on.

Sweet! The low-res version is a nice way to preview the standard one to decide if the manual is interesting enough to devote disk space to it (don't worry, it is).

 

[brotto marco]

New update 0.27 is out!!
You find it here:
https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com

A LOT of work went into this one.

Is it really falling? Nah, it's going upwards my friend....
This is not AC, this is ascension simulator. You have just reached a new level.

Also, sooner or later this thread should be made sticky (pinned).

 

[bradinggs]

Thanks man, looking forward to going through it all and putting something together.
edit: Okay, just did a quick page through... this is massive, well done on the time and work you have done and certainly looking forward to seeing your updates! Certainly on my reading list come the weekend and evenings.

 

[brotto marco]

New update 0.28 is out now!
Go immediately get it on https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com

or this Audi will take care of you with much love .

 

[brotto marco]

New Anniversary update 0.29 is out!
You should take a look at it, here: https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com

If you do it wrong, Enzo Ferrari fires you from work .

By the way, now the low resolution version is at 144 DPI. It was unreadable at 96 DPI. I believe 500 good megabytes are better that 250 bad megabytes.

Spoiler: READ ME!

(Removed the insta-rickroll for April fools.)
Old trap links:
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxTzj35CrhX28NZy7_mYeEuBpVhRE5Nxxk
https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com/2023/04/trolololololol.html



(if you couldn't tolerate the rickroll, you took yourself too seriously)

 

[brotto marco]

Removed the trap rickrolls for April fools of the post above. The joke lasted long enough.

 

[brotto marco]

After quite a while, the 0.30 release is out. For me the next two months will be really busy.
But now, enjoy.

Link: https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com/

See you for the next update!

 

[brotto marco]

So, who forgot about the manual? This time you "missed" release 0.31. It wasn't worth it.
But the new 0.32 is out!
A lot of improvements this time, including file size!
Go get it here: https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com/
If you don't, somebody will.

 

[brotto marco]

This time we're (I'm) publishing the release 0.33 of the ACMM 3.0.
Many things have been changed.
Link: https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com/

The next release will (hopefully) help with the estimate of moments of inertia, for those interested.

 

[brotto marco]

Here we go, the release 0.34 is here.
As I wrote in the previous post, there are now formulas to estimate the total inertia of various types of vehicles (RWD & FWD passenger cars, vans, trucks and utility cars). Racecars will require a bit more complex methods, that will come eventually.

Link: https://assettocorsathemanual.blogspot.com/

I believe the bad luck of this thread is being in the Assetto Corsa Modding Discussions subforum. Not many people come here.

 

[brotto marco]

######################################################

One can definitely make mistakes, what's important is to fix them
Since this support thread is referenced in the manual, I will post the info just here.
I feel sorry because this mistake is quite noticeable, should've checked better. I typically do, but this time I was tired.
You should download the pdf again, but there are no differences in the text, just the formatting.

Luckily I save copies of the Word document from time to time, so I could check the tabulation values I had used previously and restore them. Always backup your work guys, it is a blessing! (now that I think about it, I will make another copy )

Everything was painless and hopefully people will not notice .

Oh well, let's get back to work now.

 

[aku3607]

This is freaking thorough man. I did have one question, I belong to an online community, that is looking to solve a problem server side, and I've got an idea how i'd go about it, however I can't tell if the server-side scripting can also be done in python, or if there's something else?

 

[brotto marco]

This is freaking thorough man. I did have one question, I belong to an online community, that is looking to solve a problem server side, and I've got an idea how i'd go about it, however I can't tell if the server-side scripting can also be done in python, or if there's something else?

Hi, I do acknowledge your question, but there is one issue with it: it's too generic.

From a mathematical standpoint, there are infinite solutions to problems with more variables than equations. This means that the problem is not well-posed.
But in your case, you do not mention the equations nor the variables to solve in the first place.
In simpler words, you aren't explaining the problem enough in detail, so I can't really tell what you want to achieve.

As a small suggestion: from my experience I learned that when you ask anything to knowledgeable people, you have to be knowledgeable yourself. Not to the point of knowing the answers, but to the point of making specific questions. This is the norm at university (mainly with teachers, who can get annoyed pretty fast), and I believe this can bring anyone's skills to the next level.

During this period of the year I don't have time for modding due to real life business, so I'm sorry but I can't really help right now.
However, I will try to give you an answer based only on what you said.
There aren't many languages adopted to interface with Assetto Corsa, since there is a communication between the simulation side in C++ and the Python frontend with "exchange" functions, which are not that many, their purpose being the creation of in-game apps. Otherwise, you could use Lua, brought by Custom Shaders Patch, that allows very cool stuff to be done in Assetto Corsa with hooked functions (injection). But then I don't know if anything you want to make would work server-side.

Besides, this is not a thread dedicated to modding questions, but to people who help the creation of the manual, so I suggest you to post a more specific description of the issue you're facing in a separate thread of the AC modding Discussions subforum, or in the "AC Modding Questions Thread", here:

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/ac-modding-questions-thread.129295/

There are certainly knowledgeable people right there. Hopefully this helps, good luck with your projects
______________________________________________________________________________________
I take this opportunity to warn the people who are waiting for a new release that there won't be any at least until the end of February, due to personal real-life deadlines.

_______________________________________________________________________________________