Help with 3DSimEd to edit a mod car's mirror and export again

Shovas · Nov 17, 2023

I have registered 3DSimEd and can open a car and can even see the mirror material but I'm not quite sure how to proceed with changing its aspect ratio and then, most importantly, how to export the .gtr(?) file again.

Would really appreciate some step-by-step instructions

Thanks for any help

IMC '67 · Nov 17, 2023

Here's how I do it:

1. Right click on the car object that includes the mirror material and then choose "Object..." followed by the name of the actual object.

2. Then choose "Isolate object" (4th button in the second row) from the "Object Instance Edit" panel on the right of your screen which will open the object in a new window.

3. Click the "Edit" tab in 3DSimEd's main menu at the top of your screen followed by "Editing Materials".

4. Click the MIRROR entry in the Material List and then the "Rescale Tex" button.

5. Here you use the "Scale U" and "Scale V" values to change the aspect ratio of the mirror image. U = horisontal and V = vertical.

6. When you're satisfied with the aspect ratio, use the "Offset" values to position the image within the mirror. Click the "OK" button.

7. Click the "Export" tab on the main menu followed by "GTR2" and "Save Model Data".

8. Save the object .gmt file to the car's main folder. (You can later pack all your edited object files into the relevant .gtr files but it's not necessary and much more convenient to have the object files loose in the folder for future edits).

Shovas · Nov 17, 2023

Thank you so much. I'll give that a go.

Shovas · Nov 18, 2023

Okay, so I'm comparing a mod car with the stock BMW M3 GTR and the scales are both 1.0

The only difference I can notice, to my untrained eye, is a different shader: The mod uses "T1" while the GTR uses "Cube Map Add Alpha Reflect T1".

The high resolution MIRROR.BMP I'm using works fine in the GTR (and any stock GTR2 car) but not in a number of mods.

Is it the shader?

I tried changing the mod's shader to the same, exporting the gmt to the .car file's folder and now it crashes when going out on track.

The Iron Wolf · Nov 18, 2023

scale is always 1.0. What will happen if you say 2.0, it will stretch or shrink (don't remember) twice from the _current_ scale. Just try and you'll see (in game).

Shovas · Nov 18, 2023

When I update Scale U or Scale V, click OK, and then check it saved its back to 1.0.

Is that right?

The Iron Wolf · Nov 18, 2023

Shovas said:
When I update Scale U or Scale V, click OK, and then check it saved its back to 1.0.

Is that right?

Yes, that's how it works, but mapping is updated. So it is important to have resource backups.

IMC '67 · Nov 18, 2023

I forgot to mention that it will be much easier to do the mirror adjustments if you're actually seeing what you're doing in 3DSimEd and don't have to start the game every time to check the changes. I'm using a modified mirror.bmp file to achieve that.

Example for the P&G Lotus Elan cockpit and side mirrors

The shape of the balls help to determine the correct aspect ratio, and the ball colours and white borders the position within the mirror frame. I have attached a .jpg version below (since the forum doesn't allow .bmp attachments).