TUTORIAL Build your FIRST track - BASIC GUIDE

[luchian]

I don't know if I will have time sooner than a couple of days, but until then please READ the first post. I am almost sure that you didn't create the AC specific objects, like the spawn points.

Converting is not a simple matter of importing track to 3dsim, export to fbx, open and export in SDK. You need some additional step. Like creating at an AC_PIT_0 object, like renaming phisical objects (e.g. 1ROAD, ..). It's all in the 1st post.

 

[dpeters95]

Thanks luchian, I will go re-read that post. My biggest problem is that I have no experience with building a track from scratch. So, a lot of the info in that post is over my head. I watched that youtube video I referenced and looked like it was just a matter of converting over. Can I add and rename those things using 3Dsim or do I need to download and have to learn Blender or 3DSMax? And if I have to, which would you recommend as being easier to accomplish these tasks for a beginner? I will probably never create a brand new track. I just wanted to covert a few favorites over to AC for my own use.

 

[luchian]

The 1st post barely contains any information about 3d modelling. It's not its purpose (tons of tutorials on the net).

But it provides esential information to understand the structure of a track, so that AC can use it. Don't get discouraged, it's simpler than it looks. And when you'll get the general idea, the answers will seem natural to you.

AFAIK, you can't create new objects in 3dsimed, but I don't really use it so I might be wrong.

So here are a few options:
If you can create objects in 3dsimed, great. Just throw 1-2 cubes (or whatever shape) and name them AC_PIT_0, AC_START_0 (read the 1st post).

If not, you could also try to rename a couple of existing objects that could fit (your car might be spawn in weird direction, but could work)

Or, simply download free software Blender (also available in Steam), fire it up, load fbx, create 2 cubes, name them, export again fbx, then follow what you've done already.

Oh, and did I mention, read the first post ?

Good luck !

PS: if you do, I promise that "soon", I will make it more visual and easy to read and understand.

..sent from my phone.

 

[dpeters95]

Well, I just downloaded Blender but when I try to import the FBX file it says, Error, version 6100 not supported, must be 7100 or later... AGHHHH! I even tried a working AC track but I got the same error. I'm about to give up...

 

[dpeters95]

Ok, I loaded 3dsimed3 and at least found a way to rename objects so I renamed a start light hanging over the start/finish line to, "AC_HOTLAP_START_0". I then did what I have been doing to convert and tried to load it in "Hot lap" mode. It failed to load as usual.

I guess I will need to wait to see what you find when you get a chance to look. I did verify that there are none of the "AC_ anything_#" objects in the file by default. Which makes sense actually. Why would an rFactor track contain objects with the "AC" name.

 

[Pixelchaser]

ill give you a small tutorial on 3dsimed

load track.
position mouse where you want new object. right click and select memorise xyz
goto primitives tab along the top. and select new box.
in the new window press the MR button Memory recall.(loads saved xyz positions)
in the material tab, Add any material in the list.

then you need to change the pivot or origin (this is a point in space that every 3d object has, and AC needs it to be different, Y axis needs to point up.) so to do this in the opened window we change it there too. but I cant remember what it needs to be, but logically speaking one of the axis needs to change by 90 degrees, so try with X first on 90, then Y then Z, one of them will work after you have named the object appropriately. when you get to the ac editor, find it click it and choose to "not" render in the info area along the bottom on the left.

 

[dpeters95]

Pixelchaser, first of all, THANK YOU very much for your time. I truly appreciate the help from you and of course, LUCHIAN. Sometimes people in forums can be very unappreciative and just assume that others should help them. I'm not one of those people. In this case, all I really want to do is be able to convert a few tracks from rFactor to AC for my own use. And, I want to learn to do it myself but I am such a newbie at all this 3D graphics development it makes it hard. I really knew nothing about this stuff 3 days ago. I saw a youtube video describing how to convert the tracks and it looked like something I could do. However, now I realize that the person who made the video just ends it after converting to the kn5 file. He never addresses any other changes that are required or shows it actually running in AC!

Anyway, here is what I have found with 3DSimEd (which I have slowly gotten more comfortable with). I loaded an existing working AC track (baskerville_beta_08.kn5). It's a basic type track but I just wanted to see those cubes luchian wrote about. Well, there they were. So then I worked at trying to copy one and paste it into baku_16. After some head banging, I figured out how to do it (copy/paste/rotating the cube). I made sure it was labeled, "AC_START_0" and I placed it on the start/finish line using memorize xyz. I tried to load it in practice but still no go. I know luchian shows a lot of other cubes but I figured just to load it I could get away with one of them. I don't need pits or anything right now.

The other difference I see is that the rFactor track has big green rectangles at the start, pit in, pit out, sector1, sector2. They must be the AC replacement for cubes? I deleted them but it didn't seem to help.

I will take a look at what info you provided above and see what happens. I know I didn't choose to not render in the AC Editor. I am sure I understand now the conversion process from SCN to FBX to KN5 works. I think my problems now are that I really need to know what, at a minimum, MUST be replaced to make it AC compatible just in practice mode. Once I understand that, I will learn the rest later. For example, all the track objects in the rFactor track are labeled, "racesurface _t0_s11". Do all those HAVE to be changed to "1road_tracksurface" as listed in luchian's tutorial?

Sorry about the long post but just trying to pass along my current status... Please stick with me guys, my success will be something you guys can be proud of! :-D

 

[dpeters95]

Ok, well, I was able to follow the directions and I did not allow the box to be rendered but, the track still doesn't load. ;-(

I'm sure it's because I need to change more items in the track to make it AC compatible, I just don't know which... I am hoping luchian or someone gets a chance to check it out and let me know what I need to change to get it working. Thanks again...

 

[luchian]

Better news already . Keep at it, you are very close.

Let's assume you start the track in Practice mode only. The minimum minimorum that you need is:
AC_PIT_0
1ROAD for some surface.

You can leave whatever objects come from rF as they are. Unless you name them specifically for AC, they will remain graphical assets only.

After each small progress you make, please attach logs. (the single file named log should be enough).


..sent from my phone.

 

[luchian]

PS: the cube (or whatever shape) will be automatically made non-renderable once it has the proper name (AC_PIT_0)

..sent from my phone.

 

[dpeters95]

Better news already . Keep at it, you are very close.

Let's assume you start the track in Practice mode only. The minimum minimorum that you need is:
AC_PIT_0
1ROAD for some surface.

You can leave whatever objects come from rF as they are. Unless you name them specifically for AC, they will remain graphical assets only.

After each small progress you make, please attach logs. (the single file named log should be enough).


..sent from my phone.

1ROAD for some surface? You mean any road surface and just a portion of it or all roads, all of it? I ask because the baku_16 track uses a lot of sections to the main track. It's not one complete loop.

 

[dpeters95]

Well, I just added the AC_PIT_0 and it loaded!!!!!
It's not pretty but it loaded. My car drops from the sky and falls through the pit lane. Hard to believe I am still happy with that at the moment!
I assume it's got to do with the 1Road thing??? I'll wait for an answer to my above question before changing all the object labels. The baku_16 track has about 20 main track sections. Do I also have to rename the pit lane to a different label?

 

[Pixelchaser]

the game reads the numbers and interprets the object as collidable. no number and its not collidable. which means you fall though.

naming with "ROAD" also has an effect. it tells the game engine its a drivable surface with grip values.

ROAD GRASS KERB SAND are all pre defined surfaces that have certain grip levels etc. so its best to use that for simplicity.

all road parts need named 1ROAD001 1ROAD002.... etc. all grass parts can be 1GRASS001 1GRASS002 etc...

you got the track to load ! and you realise the spawn points where the cars start rely on the name and Y axis being right. btw you still probably to get to the axis part . that's the next hurdle probably hehe. if the car loads on ground and wont go anywhere, that is why. so naming of all objects are important. except where its just a visual object you cant drive on or collide with.

the big green rectangles are rfactors way of dealing with car start positions, start line etc. it uses a plane or box that the object passes through. AC doesn't use this , so you can remove it all. start lines in AC have a point on the left and a point on the right, the invisible line between them is what ac uses, so 2 points for start line, finish etc.

track parts are all split into pieces to help with memory, and performance reasons etc. also AC has a limit about how many polygons a single object is made from, there are limits. 35000 vertices a vertices is a point in space that forms a mesh. the wireframe patterns you can see are the points etc etc.

 

[luchian]

1ROAD for some surface? You mean any road surface and just a portion of it or all roads, all of it? I ask because the baku_16 track uses a lot of sections to the main track. It's not one complete loop.

All the surfaces you wish to drive on.
Pixelchaser gave some very good pointers.
ROAD, GRASS, KERB,.. are like keywords. They will give specific properties to that surface so that they feel like road, grass, kerb.

One small correction to Pixel's post: the limit for a single mesh is 65k values, not 35k .
To make it complete, these are 'values', so can be anything related to that mesh: verts, normals, uv coordinates. Anyway, don't worry about it, the editor will give you a message if the limit is reached.

..sent from my phone.

 

[dpeters95]

THANK YOU guys! I am off to start re-naming all the road surfaces. There isn't much grass to worry about because it is a street track, but, I believe there are some kerbs. Hopefully, these changes will allow me to drive the track for the first time!

 

[Pixelchaser]

good luck. the tools you have will allow you to learn more about how to make tracks by looking at them and their construction. 3dsimed material settings will help you set up your track to make it look nice. you just need to study various tracks and apply what you learn.

 

[dpeters95]

Success!!!!! I drove the entire track! And, I started in the Pit at the right location and facing the right way!

Now, can I ask what is the difference between "1OFFTRACK" and "RUNOFF"? I am using another surfaces.ini for example but not sure of these two labels. I need an area just the other side of the kerb that you can drive on which is sort of where you go if you understeer. I assumed it would be runoff, but it doesn't have a number in front. Won't the car fall through? I assumed, 1OFFTRACK was if you literally drive off the track... I also need to set my walls for collision and fix the lap timer. It just starts running and doesn't stop...

 

[Pixelchaser]

surfaces.ini tells the game how much grip a surface has. instead of using ROAD GRASS KERB SAND which are programmed to work automaticly regards game engine logics. you can name them yourself. and that's where they go. the surfaces.ini file. one does this to have multiple different grip values on multiple different pieces of track.

the single digit concept whilst related is something different. for example. 1WALL01 is a wall, but you cant drive on it unless there is surface entry for WALL, either a surface is .

1 collidable. or (no digit) not collidable. and whilst its collidable it can be drivable or not. so that's why you have the digit and the name together for an explicit drivable road surface object. --- but clear the digit concept out of your head now, its not related. its not related and just the question number 1 that the game asks, everything after this is a separate piece of game logic.

to clarify, an object can be Visual only, or Collidable. or Collidable and driveable.
visual = named object where name doesn't appear in surfaces.ini and not prefixed with 1-9
collidable = object name prefixed with any digit 1-9
collidable and drivable = prefixed digit and title with that title defined in surfaces.ini

the 1 digit not appearing in the surfaces ini is confusing you because you relate them together, but they not related. they just used together, so no need to make digits in the surfaces ini. just capital letter title of roads with "differing" grip values.

if a ROAD001 is not collidable , its not drivable. that's why it needs to be 1ROAD001. so its two stage process. 1 game engine looks to see if its collidable. 2 it then asks ,is it a drivable surface. it then looks for the name of the object and matches it so what is in the surface.ini file. fi there is no match, it still wont work. all must matchup.

btw, don't worry about the clock running, you need make a route for the AI to drive the track still and that requires a lot of learning. think about all this in terms of logic and what the game engine requires.

 

[dpeters95]

btw, don't worry about the clock running, you need make a route for the AI to drive the track still and that requires a lot of learning. think about all this in terms of logic and what the game engine requires.

Oh, contraire my friend! I actually know how to create the AI line around the track with Map.png and map.ini. Unless there is more to it that I don't know. At least I have done it for other peoples tracks that didn't contain them. Hopefully, it's the same.

 

[RC45]

I have spent a few hours each evening for ths last 2 weeks now playing with 3DSimEd, ksEditor and AC itself.

I have pushed every envelope I could think of to learn what limitations we have to work in as I aim to eventually make the real world Big Bend Open Road Race track.

I took an existing track (the Bavarian public road Asperthsam) and worked at adding the bumps and surfaces with custom force feedback, friction and sound etc. on the road patches and curbs and assigning GRASS, SAND and KERB road attributes.

Added collide-able scenery, made the trees collide-able, and added all sorts of details and tried various KS materials.

Here is what I have found out along the way. If this is redundant info please excuse the intrusion:

ksEditor cannot load FBX's larger than 500mb.

3dSimEd being a 32bit application runs out of memory when trying to save after a number of "object copy/pastes".

A 650mb 3DSimEd file takes about 1.3GB of RAM and 3 or 4 copy/paste operations will use 3.4GB and the app will run out of 32bit address space.

Cull redundant materials and textures to trim file size.

The FBX is smaller than the 3DSimEd file.

AC loads up with a KN5 file as large as 800MB - I have not yet managed to cause AC to crash loading a large KN5 file.

Use AC's module concept to get around this issue - one FBX can be the ground, road texture and vegetation, another FBX can be the actual road mesh and collision wall objects, another FBX can be used for cones etc.

I have had up to 35 AC_POBJECT items without any issues, with 1 car on track

As I remember more things I will post up if there is further interest.