Released (rFactor) Circuit of Babel 1.0

[wildside]

Finally, after an entire week with repeated computer overheatings, i finally made what it will be my first creation in BTB for an amateur track designer, where it spans a length of 8.57Km/5.32Mi, holding up to 58 cars. Holding the longest main straight of all fantasy tracks for rFactor out there and such crazy elevation changes giving this a run to enjoy.

You may have to apologise for an exaggerated amount of objects out there, but i want to leave with an esthetically pleasing track for eveyone, before it could bore someone.

Download: http://d8e3c756.cash4files.com
Mirror: http://******/9fIZA

 

[neteye]

amateur track designer but using links to earn money. yeah...
ill give you a chance und look at it.

 

[neteye]

xfinish and sectors should cover the whole trackwidth.
why on earth are there so many trees in the middle, which noone will ever see?
you should move the tree-wall texture a bit up, now even on 3d simed you see the bottom edge of the texture on the top of the wall. also, the best way would be: put some trees first, then the tree-wall and then nothing. only then it looks good (not flat) and save ressources.
the terrain near the track is very interesting in some places. sometimes so steep that it acts like a wall, but there is a wall behind it...? maybe have a look here: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/making-a-fictional-track-look-real.46259/#post-1035963 where some things like this are discussed.
like the terrain, the curbs are sometimes more like walls or jumps.
the grass-stone green texture behind the curbs should be turned 90degrees, looks very strange that way.
regarding the walls, why are they behind the trees in that one sektor with omg-so-many trees? see link above, i think it should be more consistent regarding "safety".
also, did you ever drive your pit exit & entry? thats a T-Junction, but not what you want on a racetrack. try highway-style entry&exit. also, the 200m pit-board is ON the curb. everyone would totally run it over the first time they get the turn right.
also please change the grass texture, the standard btb grass texture is way to often used, you can tell immediatly that an amateur did this track.

so, thats what i see on first seight... you dont ahve a 1.0 here, more like a 0.3, still very much work to do. you can really tell that you only took 1 week to build it.

greetings,
Neteye


PS: you should drive the old AVUS, then think about your longest straight advert

 

[Erwin Greven]

I can only repeat the comments above. It is FAR away from a 1.0 version.
Too many mistakes in the track. Try to imagine what a real track would look.
Right next to the track the grass and gravel traps should be at the same level as the track itself and flat.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

neteye had the old forum links, here's the current: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/making-a-fictional-track-look-real.46259/ That thread was very useful, am in huge debt to neteye for that discussion...

I was afraid that this would happen.. One thing i had to learn the hard way: track building takes time. A lot of time. you can create a driveable track with all the features it needs, make it functional and even esthetically somewhat pleasing in 6 hours. But to complete a track... For one man doing 8 hours a day, it takes a month, at least. I'm not kidding, from the first alpha release (100% playable track) to final beta it's hudreds of hours of work. There are shortcuts for a certain kind of tracks (country roads that consist mainly of randomly placed vegetation) where you can make it under a week (downside is that they have really no soul... Wertingen is a good example of a track that is created in three days..).

Trackbuilding is very close to composing music. The initial thrill, that first rush, flow of ideas is absolutely wonderful. Everything happens smoothly, every new idea is the best ever any one has thought of, you see where it's gonna end. But... You are the only one that sees that creation like that. You make up things unconsiously to fill the gaps. When composing, you may skip the long harmony parts, the second vocal entirely since it's simple, follow strict rules, that are intertwined with the melody: you can hear them in your head while others surrounding you can't.But finishing a masterpiece takes a buttload of sweat and tears. And coffee, that's our blood, right?

Finishing an artwork takes the longest. It's arduous task, boring, repetitive, a well trained chimp can do it. Or gold fish, it certainly doesn't require intelligence or creativity.

For tracks, that means taking care of viewpoints ( what you see on track, in car, what you see on TV cameras, what can you see with swingman view...those three viewpoints are used most in simracing. ) : Estimating material counts. Polycounts. Making highlights (pitbuildings, granstands, distant city skylines, mountains..). Every part you've done, needs re-editing. If the object has no purpose, it should not exist. You need to go behind every object in track, check where they are seen, what is hiding behind them. Why should be question for every triangle, why is this here? Can it be better? Filling gaps, moving things, adjusting mipmaps, optimizing. Optimizing. And once again, optimizing..

Don't lose the spark thou, it's nice to see someone that has discovered this wonderful world and is so excited. But be careful.. It's addictive as hell...

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Have to add.. Don't use ad-sites.. This comes up when i try to download: " File Blocked for Violation."... Mirror is blocked by my very strict set of javascript rules. Try Dropbox, Mediashare or similar. Nothing should stand in the way of players and you, downloads should ALWAYS be simply and hasslefree, not to mention security issues..

Just to show that i'm not full of air when giving advices.. Here's my progression:
2010:

2011:

2012: http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/cicada-gp.29603/page-4#post-1106136

First one got ~200 downloads. Second one got 3k+ on both Race07 and GTR2, my own fileserver downloads are not in the logs anymore so that prolly makes another 1k. Third one i hope will be classic. Hope is the word here. Not gonna happen, fantasy tracks never receive the attention of even poorly made real life tracks.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Don't be discouraged, we're here to help. I think that no one here can argue that i'm not trying my best to help new comers. And that i advice, is almost all come from these guys here in the first place (some may remember when i was this stoked up lad with loud voice and million ideas, 99,999 9 crap.. I owe you, big time ). If i would've not had a good friend with some experience of trackbuilding, my first release would've been complete crap (fortunately, you guys didn't see that..). He explained to me how tracks are suppoe to do, why those markers are there, why curbs are there. Why you need details, simply why everything you see on default tracks (and hi quality addons) is there.

The best feedback is negative. The only real feedback always is. It's no use of someone praising you to high heavens, you just become lazy that way. It's only a comforting factor when someone says "the best track ever", it gives no real value, it adds nothing to your skillset. When someone says, "this is crap" ( neteye was it you again, i believe it was, the whole "speedbuild" thing.... and thank you for that, i got the point finally) then you start to make progress. Allthou, when someone says it's crap, they should be prepared to give an answer why.. If you feel passionate enough for your track, you are about now fuming and ready to punch that screen hard enough to hit internets grandchildrens teddybear . That's okay, that's needed. In order for you to complete this task, you need to get a little bit angry first to gather enough energy.

 

[Erwin Greven]

He did upload it to rfactorcentral. And with no changes to the track.

Finally, after an entire week with repeated computer overheatings, i finally made what it will be my first creation in BTB for an amateur track designer, where it spans a length of 8.57Km/5.32Mi, holding up to 58 cars. Holding the longest main straight of all fantasy tracks for rFactor out there and such crazy elevation changes giving this a run to enjoy.

You may have to apologise for an exaggerated amount of objects out there, but i want to leave with an esthetically pleasing track for eveyone, before it could bore someone.

When you come with a statement of having the longest straight of all fantasy tracks, first investigate how many fantasy tracks are build and what the layout is.
I have build an fantasy track, the Hondsrugring, with a straight of 2500m. Some cars can take the esses flat out that comes after this straight. Adding another straight after the esses, the total lenght of this part is some 4200 meters.
Then you mention "crazy elevation changes". Drive a track like the "Alcazaba Speed Ring". http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Alcazaba Speed Ring
This track also has great elevation changes and your track is not topping this.
To me an esthetic track is a track which features realism, marshalls, realistic pit entry and exit. Good positioning of camera's. Features i sadly do not meet in your track.

I don't want to be rude or negative, we want to help in many ways. To help you building a good track which meets your imagination.

Hondsrugring: http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Hondsrugring