WIP Gizmo Trail

[1977malibu]

i have the 6.5 version but i have a really strong computer its top of the line

 

[KS95]

Still need the info :tongue:

 

[Alexander Knoll]

i have the 6.5 version but i have a really strong computer its top of the line

if you have a strong computer, top of the line.....why you don't use the 0.8.32?

 

[1977malibu]

i have tried it...but when i got to play lie 8.32 it wont load the driving screen....so i just stick with the 6.5

 

[twister77]

@1977malibu

What's the video card you are currently using?

 

[camsinny]

i have tried it...but when i got to play lie 8.32 it wont load the driving screen....so i just stick with the 6.5

The newer versions of racer need to rebuild the object cache for collisions, Gizmo's Trail is the longest wait I've had to endure due to the sheer size of it.
If you're patient it should show up after a while.

 

[boomer541]

Oh, yes post your Qlog errors!

Sorry I forgot, KS95. Must have been a senior moment.

 

[QuadCoreMax]

Oh, yes post your Qlog errors!

Sun Apr 17 17:48:31 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (monument_bridge_sign.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:31 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (monument_bridge_sign2.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:32 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (grass_sign_yasgurs.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:32 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (grass_sign_farm00.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:32 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (grass_sign_farm01.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:32 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (mountain_trail_sign.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:33 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_bump_sign0.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:33 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_bump_sign1.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:33 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_sign_south.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:33 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_snow_sign_south.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:33 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_sign_north.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:34 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_snowman01.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:34 (WARN): [racer/1212] PRigidBody:CreateConvexHull(); model (rockys_snowman02.dof) has more than 1 geob - only the first used for convex hull
Sun Apr 17 17:48:39 (WARN): [racer/1212] No splines found; minimap is disabled.

OK, testing with a G25 with the default special.ini, hm the noise really needs to be lower => 0.001 - 0.009

Map is huge, I checked the Nord from Shift, it's about ~36mb all 'unpacked' files & it's the biggest one. So, it somehow dramatically needs some performance :
(for those who having fps issues => in racer.ini change texture quality=2 or 4)

1. Convert tga/bmp to dds => faster loading / fps increase
2. Textures could be packed into bigger ones & less textures would be needed

Things that could be better :

1. AI splines (for various reasons, steering wheels smooth driving, reset car, future traffic features...)
2. some UV issues : the roofs of your buildings, some UVs could be scaled to have 'by default' a better texture resolution (texels=texture pixels)....etc.
3. the map MUST be closed on every map border edges, put some mountains & walls all around.
4. some of your collision objects needs to have their correct collision meshes to avoid jerks in the dynamic simulation
5. some textures needs to be edited to get 'tiled' perfectly, so you won't see any seams in your long walls, i.e

Anyway, it's a cool map with some more work, it could become something completely freaky !

2 advices :

1. For texturing, 2 choices basically, you can extrude along a curve/path (NURBS) a road piece (quad) & when converting you have 'by default' all your UV's correctly layout. The other one, once you've 'planar projected' your UVs, scale them within the UV space [0, 1], so normally you would do a 'horizontal' stretch/resize for your road piece. (for sure depends on the orientation of your camera when done, so eventually do a 90° rotation of your UVs or UV shell.)

2. For packing textures (means reducing the nb. of textures), it's just a matter of copying the whole image & layering, merging the whole, & outputting as a dds. You could also use bump maps, they really makes things deeper, more real. The same could be done with UVs where you pack some of your trees UV into 1 texture/UV map => 2048x512 px i.e. => a bunch of tree models in 1 texture => for a 512x512px original tree & creating a new texture 2048x512px, you could then have : 4 trees in 1 texture ONLY....same goes for everything, so think UVs when modeling ultra open maps. => I tend to mod racer.ini texture max. size to 4096x4096 which works like a charm ONLY with dds files, doing the same with tga/bmp => 1-3 fps per map approx.

Doing this, I guarantee you'll end up with a track @ 50mb uncompressed...so roughly 4x times more perf.

Other little things, like for the night, you could add some 'emissive' value to your shaders + some custom alpha funky layout, to give that illusion that buildings are somehow 'alive'.

Also, to drop the poly count (how much polies do u have now ?), the road going in the mountains could become an offroad for example, I would more focus in the town...& create more generics & reuse them across the map.

 

[luthobu]

"Anyway, it's a cool map with some more work, it could become something completely freaky !"

@QCM: Thanks for this and for taking the time to test and comment. Really appreciated.
Just remember, I started making it on an old no-cg version of Racer, and have had to
change things time and time again as Ruud changed Racer versions and behavior. After
a while it just got tiresome to see that all the effort I put into the track was reverted by the
new changes in the Racer versions. Like the reflections from the windows that used to be
there. I loved that feature and it gave a sense of life to the track. What a shame.

Also, it is actually still an alpha, but I released it as a Beta since I intended on taking a
longer break from Racer until a decent and final version is available. In fact, I have taken
a break from ALL sims as I have way too much to do already anyway.

But, I read your post, and after thinking about it for a while, I found I was grateful for
you taking the time and making an effort to improve on game quality. That is good.

So, I just popped in to post this. And, hello to all of you, see you at the next crossroad

 

[Tomm93]

Do somebody have the NO-Cg version in this track. I still run racer 6.2 but i can't run it with the file NO-Cg then i have download a newer version of racer but i can't run cus my graphic card can't run it.

Grtz

 

[luthobu]

FWIW, that track is a total mess. I tested it the other day and was amazed at how
much I crammed into it without even finishing the details on each part. Still, I only
did it for fun, don't take it too seriously.. I might do a cleaner version one day, but
not today. I am actually making an improved CG version of Small City with additional
roads, bridges and houses - for my daughter! She loves that track and still a huge
Racer fan.. Take care all and thanks for the interest in the tracks!

 

[Harey]

FWIW, that track is a total mess. I tested it the other day and was amazed at how
much I crammed into it without even finishing the details on each part. Still, I only
did it for fun, don't take it too seriously.. I might do a cleaner version one day, but
not today. I am actually making an improved CG version of Small City with additional
roads, bridges and houses - for my daughter! She loves that track and still a huge
Racer fan.. Take care all and thanks for the interest in the tracks!

An updated Small City? Sweet! that was one of my favored tracks to just cruise around on. (one of the few tracks I would actually drive like a normal person, on occasion)

 

[Splashonda]

I would actually drive like a normal person

You know that a normal person doesn't do burnouts in a kindergarden's parking ground right?

 

[Harey]

You know that a normal person doesn't do burnouts in a kindergarden's parking ground right?

hence why I said on occasion lol

 

[luthobu]

Update: This track is to big to fix, so I am going to trim it down a bit
before doing any more work on it. It will still be big enough, but this
track is going to take a loooooong time to complete. Don't hold your
breath.

 

[KS95]

It's amazing that you will even still update these tracks, so thanks for any thought put into them.