[Release] Red Bull Masters Series 1.3 (And bonus stuff) - Links on P1

This mod looks amazing, loving the concept. Will definitely be keeping an eye out!

Updated 1st Post with a preview video that hopefully shows off how fun these are to drive.

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All cars and helmets are, as of this moment, finished.

Next on my list is finally finalising the track list, and getting stuck in to the Magic Data.

Provisional track list is as follows:

Barcelona
Sepang
Interlagos
Imola
Istanbul
Monte Carlo
Montreal
Nurburgring
Quattro Raceway
Talladega Tri-Oval
Sakhir
Hungaroring
Spa
Monza
Indianapolis Oval
Suzuka
Adelaide (Clipsal 500 layout)

This is subject to me getting the necessary permissions of course.

Not all of the track configurations will be of the same era.
Barcelona will be from before they broke the final sector with that chicane, Imola will be it's original configuration, Nurburgring will be the 2001 layout etc.

I expect that the inclusion of the two oval circuits will be a controversial choice, so allow me to explain my reasoning.
They are ridiculously fun with these cars.
Even with the 1000 BHP performance set, 400 km/h is no trouble and, in the slipstream, you can see over 410 km/h through the corners of Talladega.
This presents a whole new challenge because at that speed on a banked corner, sudden sharp steering inputs are a recipe for disaster.
It becomes a test of concentration - Talladega being 188 laps, Indianapolis 200 - and strategy, working with the AI.

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Magic data is progressing nicely now, and everything is behaving as it should in regards to AI difficulty.
However this is the part that I want lots of feedback on.

One person, who only drives at Ace or Pro and who uses a gamepad isn't exactly a good representation of the whole community.

With this in mind I will, in a few weeks time (if everything goes to plan), have a beta of the mod and the trackpack ready for testing.
I'd like as many people as possible to test for me, to give me as much feedback as possible in regards to (mainly) AI difficulty.

* Is Ace too hard, or not hard enough?
* Is the gap between difficulty levels too much, or not enough?
* Are player & AI car setups OK?

Things like that.

Any feedback on physics will be welcome, as will suggestions about the performance files - driver advantages and tread textures to use at certain tracks etc. - as well as any other general ideas; sound pack suggestions, adjustments to tweaker settings etc.

So, if you're interested, leave a message here or shoot me a PM, and I'll let you know when everything is ready.

With that done, some important news: I fixed the Repsol Honda.

I've said before that I wasn't happy with it and, in the picture above you might be able to see why.
It isn't an ugly paint job.....but the orange and white combo reminded me of these delightful creatures:


Then I had a brain wave and remembered something that I should never have forgotten about; Arrows A20
It was a pretty unmemorable car in terms of performance.......but damn did it look pretty.

With that as my inspiration, I got to work and discarded the Oompa Loompa and have ended up with a much prettier car.

So that is good news.

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I can test this one. The liveries are very cool, and so are your painting skills.

Beta Version 1.0 is now available for download, link in first post.

This day has been a long time in the making, with the general idea forming about a year ago and work commencing last August.

Features:
* 11 fictional teams
* 22 real-life drivers; all either champions or fan-favourites of their respective disciplines
* 17 tracks with specially tweaked Magic Data
* 36 different performance files; 1 Generic and 17 Track-specific for each power level
* 2 BHP levels
* 2 RPM limits
* 4 different physics configurations
* 4 different torque configurations
* 3 helmet styles
* 4 custom soundsets + original
* 2 custom steering wheel styles + original
* Full-range of Pirelli tyre compounds
* Sample car setups for all circuits.

Love to hear what everyone thinks, and any suggestions you have are most welcome.

The completed Magic Data and included car setups are intended for use with the 1000 BHP & 18000 RPM set, but don't let this stop you from trying the other configurations.
The Magic Data and setups should still work OK for 1200 BHP & 18000 RPM set.
And feel free to try out the 1200 BHP & 15000 RPM set; it makes for an interesting experience.

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Version 1.1 available in the first post.
(Yes, I know that I skipped a 'proper' 1.0 )

23rd April, 2016 - Version 1.1
------------------------------
Changes:
* Fixed bug with selecting Torque.ini
  - Modified the AI setups that were affected
  - Current car setups may need a longer final gear now.
* Option for 1200 BHP is now hidden, as it is only workable with a severely neutered torque curve.
  - Unless I can fix it, this will be replaced with a high-torque 850 BHP set.
* Updated some Magic Data for other reasons.
* Magic Data is now contained in the mod
  - Updating the mod is easier than updating the trackpack.
  - Automatically chooses the right Magic Data for the Physics set.
* Updated Cockpit shape/textures
  - More realistic perspective, can see legs.
* Misc. edits
  - Removed some redundant files
  - Started adding more comments to files
  - Added documentation re: New Magic Data setup

Bugs:
* When speeds start getting over 400 km/h, the AI has trouble stopping.
  I've increased AI wing levels at Monza and Imola to fix this.  

Notes:
* Physics will need updating at some stage, probably the next release.

The change to an 'internal' Magic Data system is quite important, as this allows for much easier future updates.
For example, the next release will have a complete Magic Data for the 1000 BHP, 15000 RPM set, as well as whatever other changes I make to the mod. (Gpaedia hopefully)
Instead of having people update the mod AND the trackpack, they can just update the mod.

The updated cockpit style, the fix to the torque, and the Magic Data updates make this well worth a download.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2016 01:45AM by AUS_Doug.

Progress report:

* Just about finished Magic Data for 1000 BHP @ 15000 RPM
* Decided on an 855 BHP replacement for the 1200 BHP set
- Physics still in-line with previous sets (i.e higher mechanical grip)
- Generally gives lap-times that fall about halfway between the 1000 BHP sets and the vanilla game
- All things considered, I actually find this more fun than the 1000 BHP sets
* A few ides for some tweaking of textures

I'm hoping to get a new version up tomorrow with all the 1000 BHP @ 15000 RPM data, and some Magic Data for the 855 @ 15000 RPM set.
I'll also be uploading the trackpack again, this time not bundled with the mod.

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Hi Doug , thanks for sharing your work . Can you please check the links , both are not working here
Cheers

Oops, thanks for mentioning it Ricardo, will change those over to OneDrive links in a bit.

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Version 1.2 available in first post.
Trackpack also now available by itself.

24th May, 2016 - Version 1.2
------------------------------
Changes:
* Updated 1000 BHP, 15000 RPM Physics & Torque
  - Greatly reduced the possibility of 'Clutch Slippage' - See information below
* Replaced 1200 BHP with 855 BHP
  - Created appropriate Torque, Physics (15k and 18k RPM) & Performance files.
  - Magic Data included for all circuits at both 15k and 18k RPM
  - Magic Data tweaked only for Barcelona, Speang, Interlagos, Imola, Istanbul at 15k RPM
  - No tweaks for 18k as yet
  - No included setups; Standard 2001 setups are a good starting point
* Updated CSM menu descriptions for sounds
  - Now suggests appropriate RPM selection for each sound
* Updated Performance files
  - 'Home race' bonus for some drivers.
  - 'Home race' hoodoo for some drivers.
  - 'Track specialist' status for some drivers.
  - General reliability stuff.
  - Montoya is a Colombian again.

Lots of stuff to get through, some of it important.

Firstly, the 1200 BHP set is now 855 BHP.

1200 was utterly ludicrous.
Without making the braking and downforce levels unrealistically high, the AI weren't able to stop the cars after they hit 410km/h.
This meant adjusting rear wing levels to keep the AI below top-speed, which meant the player could cheat etc.

This 855 BHP set is much more fun than the 1200 BHP set.
Still have the big mechanical grip increases of the 1000 BHP set, and times are a bit quicker than 2001.
Created new torque curves to fit 15000 and 18000 RPM for the 855 set, which, while not as violent as 1000 BHP, are still good fun.

As far as Magic Data and Setups:

1000 BHP (15k and 18k RPM) has complete and tweaked (AI and player default setups etc) Magic Data.
1000 BHP (15k and 18k RPM) have sample setups for all tracks in dry conditions, and some tracks in the wet.

855 BHP (15k and 18k RPM) has a complete set of Magic Data.
Only Barcelona, Sepang, Interlagos, Imola, Istanbul have had their Magic Data tweaked (AI and player default setups etc), and ONLY at 15k RPM
No setups are included for the 855 BHP sets; Setups are generally close to 2001 setups.

Even though I haven't tweaked all the Magic Data for the 855 sets, the AI might still be OK at some circuits.

So, long story short, if you want a complete experience, play with 1000 BHP at either 15k or 18k RPM.
Play with 855 BHP by all means, it'll still be fun.

The 1000 BHP @ 15k RPM set has a rather annoying bug though.
I'm calling it 'Clutch Slippage' for now, because I can't think of a better name.

You'll know it when it happens but, basically, you get a massive spike in RPM and seem to lose all power - almost as if your gears are far too short.

Most commonly, it happens when:

1) You are in 3rd or 4th gear.
2) Are off throttle and are at around 10-11k RPM
At that point, sudden, heavy application of throttle (turn 8 of Barcelona for example) will cause the bug.

When it happens, throttle off and/or brake to drop a couple of gears.
Happens more often if traction control is used; Automatic transmission may also contribute.
Seems to be related to the Torque file.

It's a bit annoying, but I can't work out how to fix it.
If you're paying attention and fix it quickly, it doesn't cost you too much time either....think of it as an extra challenge!

That's all the stuff that needed explaining I think; Download and have fun.

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thank you for sharing Doug, sadly it's impossible to download the mod from onedrive. There only appears a message that ondrive can't check for viruses and then the windows close

I hate it when it does that. I'll find a different place to upload it tomorrow.

I did a quick Google search, and apparently (I haven't tried it) you can do this to fix it (copy and paste, so sorry about the formatting):


You need to go to registry editor by pressing windows+R together, Type "Regedit"and press enter to open registry editor.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachment
One you have found the Attachment folder click on it to locate ScanWithAntivirus on the right side, right click on ScanWithAntivirus, select modify and put the value as "0" (i.e equals "off".

Obviously if you do something wrong in the Registry it can break things, so be careful if you do that.

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thank you for the explanation, but i think it's better to wait for another link to download

Download links are now fixed (Turns out that OneDrive just doesn't like .7z archives)
Also added Google Drive links in case I run into traffic issues.

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thank you very much Doug, it works now

Version 1.3 available in the 1st Post.
No updates to the trackpack at this time so, if you've already got it, you don't need to download it again.

To begin, this is likely to be the last 'proper' update I do for the mod.
This is unrelated to my next 'project' that I posted about at the end of August - certain things have delayed that by at least six months - but, rather, I'm just a bit 'over' the technical bits of the mod and want to go back to just painting things for a while.
If anyone wants to 'take over' and finish it off - mostly the Magic Data - just let me know.
I'll certainly fix up any bugs people find, and maybe do a texture update - I've learnt so many little tricks since I started this a year ago - but, other than that, I'm 'done'.

Changelog:
* Completed Magic Data tweaks for 855 BHP, 15000 RPM physics.
* Added sample setups for the above physics at all tracks in the dry.
  - The gear ratios for this physics are more common sense than with the 1000 BHP sets.
* Moved sample Car Setups to external file; download separately from the mod.
* Added new menu music.
* Added new custom internal steering wheel - 'Red Bull Masters Series' from the dropdown list.

All pretty self-explanatory stuff.
Now, the only set of Magic Data that remains untweaked is the '855 BHP at 18000 RPM'. (Though this should still work OK)
Every other combination is complete and tested.

Having the sample car setups swapped in and out by the mod was OK but, if you saved over one of the samples, CSM sometimes got angry. So I've moved the sample car setups to a separate download that you can do whatever with.

As well as the Sample Setups, there are two more downloads in the first post as well; 'Red Bull Masters Series Resources' and 'Steering Wheel Display'.

Red Bull Masters Series Resources
This archive (split into three volumes; 2x 38.1 MB + 1 x 9.32 MB) contains, basically, the resources I used for the mod.
The 'Cars' folder has a folder for each team, which has .tga textures, an .xcf file for using in GIMP, a folder for logos etc.
The 'Cockpit' folder has a Cockpit texture for each team, and an .xcf file where each team is a layer (or layer group) for easy editing.
etc.
So, with GIMP, you can basically edit all the car, cockpit and helmet textures in the mod without starting from scratch or having to edit a .tga file.
(For Photoshop users, I can provide .psd files on request)

Steering Wheel Display
This archive contains:
* Display.max (3ds Max scene file)
* RBM_Aids.tga/.xcf (.tga and source .xcf for Driver Aids)
* RBM_Dsiplays.tga/.xcf (.tga and source .xcf for Numbers/Lights)
* RBM_LCD.tga/.xcf (.tga and source .xcf for Screen and Frame)
This the display from the mod's Steering Wheel, complete with all Numbers, Lights and Symbols.
If you have 3ds Max, you can open the model and use it however you want; attach it to your own wheel, attach it to a cockpit dash maybe.
For anyone that wants to do this without 3DS Max, just delete everything you don't need from the cockpit_wheel.gp4 in the mod folder - Data\stwheels\Red Bull Masters Series - and import that onto another wheel or dash.

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Thank you.

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My Grand Prix 4 Files
I'm a total dick. How many people can say that?

Hi all,
Noticed heaps of requests in my Gmail because Google have done something that broke my old Drive links.
All links in the OP have been updated with new ones.
If anything breaks, shoot me a PM. I hardly ever check Gmail, but messages to me here will get seen.

Cheers, and good to see so many familiar faces still here keeping the game alive

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Thank you so much Doug for the hard work!