Released Lake Superior Raceway 1.00 for rFactor

Shawdad · Oct 26, 2013

When I first Started track building, I never really intended to share the tracks I was making as I am really just an amateur, building them for the fun of building them. In the beginning, I realized I had no idea what I was doing, but over the past year I've had a lot of help from my fellow Race Department members and so my track would not even exist without their help. So I am sharing this track as a sort of...thank you?
(for better or worse

).

I have uploaded version 1.2

Changes for version 1.2:
Increased the track width 2 meters from 10.5 to 12.5 meters, with the exception of the bridge which is still 10.5.

Reconfigured the pit entry and last right-hand
turn and is now much easier to enter the pits.

Added 2 new short sections of track for more layout options.

Rebuilt all the curbs and rumble strips.
In version 1.1, the curbs were separate objects sitting on top of the track surface. When night racing, it created an annoying flashing effect when illuminated with headlights that I found very distracting and annoying. With version 1.2, I've built all the curbs out of the track surface mesh. The downside is that the track surface mesh, because of the way Bob's Track Builder Works, contains many more polygons and so may adversely affect performance on slower computers. The curbs are also now a different shape.

Added a small amount of banking (usually around 2-5 degrees) to a few corners that I thought needed it.

Added normal maps to the track surfaces and grass surface. They're not very good...but its a start.

Added more bumps and "personality" to the track surface.

many more changes to textures and other things I can't remember.

There are now 8 layouts
I have eliminated the foggy versions for now.

I fixed the AI issues with version 1.2 and am re-releasing it as version 1.3
Download Here:
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=A727C008621057A1&id=A727C008621057A1!161

onepiece · Oct 26, 2013

Spectacular modeling. I can’t run this on a laptop because of the rather large texture dimensions. It also feels like the road surface is the same everywhere, perhaps slightly bumpier?
I drive some more…

Great job!

thank you

Shawdad · Oct 27, 2013

Thanks.

Yes the track surface "character" is on the top of my To Do list for the eventual Version 1.1.

Its a tricky thing because if you do too little, it feels very boring and lifeless, and too much would be too fatiguing, especially when using a heavy FFB setting. I especially want the track surface to have a lot of character here because it is set in Michigan. Anyone from Michigan can attest to the "character" of the roads here...

onepiece · Oct 27, 2013

Shawdad said:
Yes the track surface "character" is on the top of my To Do list for the eventual Version 1.1. Its a tricky thing because if you do too little, it feels very boring and lifeless, and too much would be too fatiguing, especially when using a heavy FFB setting. I especially want the track surface to have a lot of character here because it is set in Michigan. Anyone from Michigan can attest to the "character" of the roads here...

I know just what you mean. With the exception of the cracks the surface is smooth.

Performance improved a lot after reducing many jpgs 75% and converted them to DDS. There appear to be many unnecessary texture duplicates?
I’ve been running the 24 hour/long version. The track is fast…more suited for same class vehicles. lack of concentration here is hard to recover from. Slowpokes look out!
There are some minor detail effects such as multi layer materials you could add for road and grass at some point.

Again, very impressive work starting out. I really enjoy it.

Scale is perfect.

btw, PL_TREES_1-3 DDS files need to be re-converted to DXT5 with mipmaps otherwise they don’t display correctly when texture detail is set below max with some graphics cards.

Erwin Greven · Oct 27, 2013

After modifying some files and packing it into mas files, i tested the track.
Looks great!

Shawdad · Oct 30, 2013

I have managed to get the MAS utility to work by re downloading and re installing it...now I just need to figure out how to use it. Many people have said to look at other tracks to see how it is done but that hasn't helped me. My guess is my problem is with what to name the .mas and/or where to put it. I've tried several things and rFactor freezes immediately when the loading screen is displayed. Do the textures and the objects have to be in their own separate .mas files? I noticed something like this has to be in the SCN of all the different track versions: "MASFile=LakeSuperiorRaceway.mas" which is the name of my mas file containing all objects and textures.

Has anybody created a step by step tutorial somewhere?

Erwin Greven · Oct 30, 2013

Shawdad said:
Has anybody created a step by step tutorial somewhere?

In your *.scn file you point rFactor to the mas files.
i.e. this is my scn file of one track i build.

MASFile=sky.mas
MASFile=COMMONMAPS.MAS
MASFile=Airfield1000.mas
MASFile=Airfield1000_maps.mas
MASFile=Airfield1000_maps2.mas

In "MASFile=Airfield1000.mas" i put the *.gmt files
In "MASFile=Airfield1000_maps.mas" i put all the jpg's, bmp's, tga's and png-files.
In "MASFile=Airfield1000_maps2.mas" i put all the *.dds files.

There is not really a rule for it. Only the names of the mas files have to match the names in your scn file.
Some say they have a max for how many files they put in a mas file.

Shawdad · Oct 31, 2013

Thanks Erwin

That works for a single track layout but I still cant figure out how to make all 4 layouts use the same mas files. I have separate folders for the different layouts containing their SCN's, GDB's, AIW's menu and loading screens etc. All layouts use exactly the same objects and textures, just in different places and in different quantities so I don't know why it wont work. Oh well.

Also not sure what to do with the sky.mas that BTB kicks out on every export. do I just use 1?

ebrich · Oct 31, 2013

Take a look at rfactor's "CannonballRunUSA". There are 6 layouts there.

I think the main idea is to have one mas file with every gmt that's the same (and in the same place on the track) and then you'll need a separate mas file for each layout, for gmt's that are special to that layout.

With just one map.mas file for all the textures

onepiece · Oct 31, 2013

Shaw, examine say Toban as a reference to include all layouts in one location

Actually, you could have a different sky set for each layout. Change the sky mas name, replace the sky textures with yours and then add the new sky mas in a particular *.SCN file.

Some sky images may have to be rotated with an editor to blend naturally. Light direction between sky textures of the same time of day can be completely opposite. Getting all the sky textures to blend just right can be a chore though. Maybe just stick with one sky set for all to make it easy on you.

Erwin Greven · Oct 31, 2013

ebrich said:
Take a look at rfactor's "CannonballRunUSA". There are 6 layouts there.

I think the main idea is to have one mas file with every gmt that's the same (and in the same place on the track) and then you'll need a separate mas file for each layout, for gmt's that are special to that layout.

With just one map.mas file for all the textures

How can i find the correct name of every GMT that is different on a certain track?

ebrich · Oct 31, 2013

How can i find the correct name of every GMT that is different on a certain track?

Certainly its not my idea of fun!
I spose you have to keep it neat and tidy from the start or you ask BlackKnight how it was done in CannonballRun.

Or you take a big glass of whisky a pen and paper, bring up each track in 3dsimed, and make lists (if you like that sort of thing). If you can stick at it for more than 12 mins I'll buy you a drink.

Shawdad · Oct 31, 2013

I would take the whole bottle

Lee Knight · Oct 31, 2013

I was going to download the tracks this weekend & have a go at packing them...
For Cannonball Run there's no difference between the different versions as far as objects & files are concerned...
BUT, what I have been doing with larger file sized tracks lately is making a MAS file for each of the following;
track & terrain = Trk.mas
Textures = Tex.mas
& then breaking the various objects, S/Objects & Walls down into Map.mas files
I was going to do the same with your tracks & then have several versions of just Object.mas files for each version...
I've mainly been doing this so I don't have to rebuild all the mas files after each Export, just the relevant ones for that Export & then copy in the needed lines to the SCN's...
I was also going to make several sky.mas files as onepiece suggested...
I was mainly going to do this as a practice for my own experience & see if I could get it all to work properly...
Your more than welcome to work it out for yourself but the whiskey/bourbon does help & I've got some nice home made Bob's Turkey Building Track Burpbon here that goes REALLY well on jobs like this!

I've got some fencing & other shananigans to get up to this weekend so I should have it done by Sunday night/Monday morning Oz time...

(Also got some shadows I've got to tweak with my Port Wakefield circuit

)

Shawdad · Oct 31, 2013

I think I have it all figured out now. I'll just make 4 unique gmt mas files for all 4 layouts (around 15 meg each) and then the mat mas (around 130 meg). The whole package will be around 200-220 meg. WAY smaller than the version 1.0 without any mas-ing which was all together over 1 gig

Shawdad · Nov 1, 2013

Well that didn't work either. Apparently not all versions share exactly the same textures either. At a certain point of the project, I split the different versions into different BTB saves and was working on them separately because my computer is crap and I was getting "out of memory" crashes. Something must have gone wrong there. The whole thing will just have to be around 600meg. Or maybe I'll just scrap a couple layouts. I personally don't care because I have plenty of HD space, but it s not as convenient for people to download.