GP4 Track Editing - new new thread

Hi all,

So I'm giving track making another shot, but am being slightly less ambitious this time.

I've taken the 2001 Spa layout and kept only the Bus-stop through to Eau Rouge-Raidillon; This way I've already got a pit-lane & start/finish line in place, as well as the best complex of corners in the world!

After Raidillon is where I've started adding new track, and it winds its way back to attach just before the bus-stop.

What I'm having trouble with is joining my new stuff to the old track:



As I've been adding track, I've had the 'Keep Existing Sectors' option checked, and that is what leaves me with this large, oversized sector. (I think?)

Is there an easy method of now adding sectors that join up nicely with the existing track?

Cheers,
Doug.

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F1 Graphics Swapper --- Lensdump - Renders and Screenshots --- GP4 Performance Generator

You just need to work your way towards it, and get as close as possible. Eventually you will have one "ugly" sector between the new track and the existing sectors, but as long as it's only one, GP4 tends to be fine.

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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

Yep, just keep making new sectors while keeping the Keep Existing Sectors box checked right up until you are closer than one 'normal' sector length to the rest. That short sector will be that 'ugly' one TomMK talked about. You will feel only a very small bump there in the game in your case, it will be nothing unusual.

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My workthread - [www.grandprixgames.org]
Full of classic F1/non-F1 track layouts

My blog about F1 performance analysis - [thef1formbook.wordpress.com]

Thanks guys, got that sorted.

Next two issues:

1) If I test in game with just the modified .dat - i.e, no edits to the .gp4 file - it loads fine, but my car is upisde-down in the pitlane.

2) Following the user guide - which, had I checked yesterday, would have fixed my problem of joining the track - I went through the steps in Annexx 2.2 ('The GP4 File' but, when it came time to save - after the "Track from .dat" part - I got this error:


Apparently that translates to 'error of extended verification', but that doesn't help me much.

This corrupts the .gp4 file so that, when loading in game, it only gets half-way before crashing.

Any idea what I've broken here?

Cheers,
Doug.

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F1 Graphics Swapper --- Lensdump - Renders and Screenshots --- GP4 Performance Generator

This kind of error is very rare. You will find a backup of your track (in the state when you opened it) in the backups folder that was created in the same folder as GP4 Builder itself.

From here, please try again. Open the track, make your changes, save!, then try the Track from .dat feature.

If it fails again, please share your .gp4 with me and I will check what's happening here.

Ok so I tried it again and, though I still got the error when saving*, this time it finished saving after the error.

*_{I took note of when the error came up; As the Saving dialog reached the end of 'Scene 4', which is the one I did Track from .dat in.}

I was then able to load the track successfully with the new .gp4 file so, whatever the reason for that error, it can't have been anything too bad I figure.

I still send you a PM with a link in case you want to re-create the error.

Now I just need to work out why my car is upside down in the pits!

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F1 Graphics Swapper --- Lensdump - Renders and Screenshots --- GP4 Performance Generator

@Doug : I didn't notice it but you are using an old version of GP4 Builder and indeed, this version was causing the error you described.
A new version, GP4 Builder 2015 is online and it doesn't have this issue so you can just grab it and your track from .dat conversion will be fine

Oh I feel silly now!

I've had the most recent version sitting in my downloads folder for ages and just never got around to using it!

You're right, all works fine now.

And I fixed my pit issue as well; I'd been forgetting to do 'Track from .dat' a second time for doing the pitlane.

Everything is working great now, thanks so much.

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F1 Graphics Swapper --- Lensdump - Renders and Screenshots --- GP4 Performance Generator

Looks like track editing has a lot of secrets for me... so I need again your help.

For a race, views from all car cameras display the fans in all the grandstand. Good!!
However from the track cameras, the grandstand are all empty ????

See pictures below and how I set the fans with GP4 Builder... Did I make a mistake?










Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2015 11:02PM by gezere.

Gezere,

I know that in most tracks, changing the camera setting to "0" usually means all objects appear for all camera views but this isn't always the case. I know that the Monaco track needs the camera setting at "21" to get some objects to always appear in every camera view. You may want to try other camera settings to see if that corrects the problem. Sometimes checking the setting for other objects in the same area can give you a clue. Not sure if this will solve the problem with the Austria track but it's worth a try!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 10:31AM by neilcaine.

There is also an "Unk2" field in the Object Attributes window, to show it click the arrow in the lower right of the window. We don't know what it actually does, but setting it to zero may make the object visible from all cameras.


My unfinished tracks: [www.grandprixgames.org]
Send bug reports and track editing questions to f1virtualblog@gmail.com

you can also set camera value to the exact number of .dat cameras and check if any improvement.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 08:07PM by Lo2k.

Lo2k écrivait:
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> you can also set camera value to the exact number
> of .dat cameras and check if any improvement.

Yes Laurent, it should work but some GrandStands are visible from several cams, so...

Anyway, I found the solution by a quick come back at the original A1 ring track of the game and found that all objects have the visibility camera set at 12.
I did the same in my version and, as expected, now the grand stand are full for the race event.
FYI, 12 is the current (and original) number of cameras for this track, like 21 is for Monaco.
Thanks at neilcane to have show me the way

Thanks at all for your input





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 10:50PM by gezere.

Lowering the ticket prizes can also do the trick.

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

Turbo Lover Wrote:
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> Lowering the ticket prizes can also do the trick.
>

indeed....always an incentive to fill more seats........

Is there an easy way to smooth the centre of sectors? I have a track where the centres are not aligned through one corner and it is affecting the AI - even though the cc-line is good they don't drive the corner well.



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Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel

@Tom; In the 'Action' menu, there is the 'Equalize Sector Centres' option. (Near the Fix CC-cars Behaviour)
Is that what you're after?

What tools do people generally use for elevation data from real-world tracks?

I've just found 'Google Maps Find Altitude' by Daft Logic and I like it very much.

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F1 Graphics Swapper --- Lensdump - Renders and Screenshots --- GP4 Performance Generator

Quote
Aus_doug
Tom; In the 'Action' menu, there is the 'Equalize Sector Centres' option. (Near the Fix CC-cars Behaviour)

Sadly, no. Equalize sector is doing the reverse : it takes uneven sectors and make center at the center of the sector.
What would be needed here is the reverse feature but right now I don't know how I could to compute it.

So the only way actualy is to move your sectors to align center where it should be and reduce one width and increase the other to match the actual layout.

HI

I still dont get it how to export the textures right from 3DSmax to gp4builder. I try everything. Can someone explain me how to do it?

you have to use 3DSmax simple material with only one texture per material.
This texture must be in .tga (or converted to .tga)
And as .3ds format does only handle 8 characters for texture names, you will need to rename the texture name imported from the .3ds file in GP4Builder (from the tool/ rename texture menu) to match the real texture name.