The Michele Alboreto Challenge - a 1987 mod

really nice progress

could you make a short video showing in blender how you make a section of track .i.e road surface and then convert to .dat file ? curious to see . thanks

Yes I can and will, nice suggestion, thanks!

See, I posted a Linux install video guide - it is really simple.
Also I run GP4 in the video it shows the 87 drivers and a quickie at Jacarepagua (with my custom Rio background) showing the Brabham cockpit with analog instruments (WIP).

About Monza, the age-old tree problem remains, the volumetric tree canopy looks nice from above but terrible at the track.
Also, 10,000 trees use 10 times less polygons than that.

Worked hard mixing AI, satellite umagery and manual editing to have UHD textures for Monza.
The main problem is: the areas of trees have tree crowns in the texture, but as I am to use X-shaped trees, these areas should have forest ground textures instead with leaves, branches, soil, dirt etc instead.
So the texturring work is taking a lot of effort.

Part of creation is to be humble and U-turn when facing a pretty looking dead end.
Scrapped the tree volume idea.
The grandstand crowd idea was scrapped as well.

Now the trees color must be edited to match the satellite imagery.
Work is being done to simplify the ground mesh where there are no significant differences in elevation, I mean, why having 500 points together stating the same height?
That will lower the poly count.
All is being done with economy of processor occupancy % in mind but having the most quality I can do.
Posted images of latest as yesterday.
PS the inconsistencies of tarmac/gravel and grass are because the track texture has 2018 areas like the gravel at Biassono, or at Rettifilo, but these will all be reverted/edited to correct era.
The main goal (a tough one) was to have the GIS 5-m elevation data match the sattelite imagery and the 3d GP4 track exactly, with all 3 being different. That took a lot of effort. Also, AI texturing seem incapable of matching track lines etc so even that had to be manually modified.
AI nonpaid has a limit of 1280 pixels or so, then I minced the overall track into segments and surprise, the AI enhanced @#$%& doesnt match when put together.
Gemini, GPT, Adobe, I tried them all! They help as a tool but prepare yourself to be cursing them and doing the nitty gritty GNU/Gimp/Photoshop hard manual work too.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2026 04:30PM by ricomaster.

jimbob1 Wrote:
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> could you make a short video showing in blender how you make a section of track .i.e road surface and
> then convert to .dat file ? curious to see . thanks

I agree, it would be interesting to watch it.

bla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2026 05:46PM by jimbob1.

bla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2026 05:46PM by jimbob1.

Hello,
I am a beginner in track modding, this is my first one and it is taking a lot of time because of that. Im learning through errors and headaches.

As for constructing the tarmac, I didn't create one from scratch: I corrected what I found wrong in the original GP4 Monza track.
I tried using other mods' versions of the track, but it resulted in so big a mess and so much trouble I was spending much more time trying to glue parts together and modify sectors and create small segments, that I simply started all over from scratch.
So, I imported the original GP4 Monza track.
I layed it over a satellite image of Monza 2018 and the tarmac matched the photo imagery perfectly, very well done, cumpliments to Geoff&team on that!
So, having all these already done by GP4's team (Parabolica, Ascari, Rettifilo, Biassono, Rettilineo dei Box) - I just needed to create Variante Rettifilo, move further Variante della Roggia, move away the f1st Lesmo, and correct radius for the 2nd Lesmo.
Editing polygons in Blender is no secret and I have no special technique, just patience and lots of elbow grease.

This is my clumsy take on the subject:
GP4Builder:
- I opened the vanilla GP4 Monza track, deleted everything but the tarmac objects, then selected the scene containing it and exported it as a single object in .3ds format.
- I did NOT save the file because I want to use it as it is - vanilla GP4 - for now.

Blender
- clicked File->Import->Autodesk 3DS (.3ds) : selected the file to import it.
- selected the imported object, and using Edit Mode, merged all the vertexes by proximity (0.01m), cleaned the mesh tesselating the triangles into quads. That resulted in the same object but with welded vertexes and clean faces for easy vizualization;
- I imported a .jpg image with a 1987 Monza track layout to use as a reference plane;
- using Viewport / top / ortographic view, I edited the 3d object to my liking, according to the blueprint of Monza;
--- by that I mean, selecting vertexes, moving them, or selecting some faces, separating from the object, creating others and merging vertexes, and positioning them by hand/mouse over the background image;
------ that is very basic and boring 3d vertex/face editing, I don't have the superfast editing knowledge of those 3D wizs / tutorials online (like Andrew Price, aka Blender Guru, an awesome 3D artist and a true Blender master);
- by having "Edge Length" enabled I checked every quad face length to see if they indeed had 16 feet. the last one did not, because it was shorten in order to meet the starting one;
- having this tarmac ready and clean, I selected it;
- clicked File->Export->Autodesk 3DS (.3ds) and named it tarmac.3ds

GP4Builder
- opened monza2001.gp4 having the track015.dat in the same directory so it opens the physics tab
- created an extra scene, into which I imported the tarmac.3ds
- renamed the object as "trackbase"
- clicked the Physics tab
- in the main menu , selected "Action->Get .dat layout from .gp4" which will use the object which is called "trackbase" as the ... huh.. source for generating the physics for the track.
- - - - - - You must have a .dat file already - - - - - - - This will NOT generate a .dat file, it will overwrite the .dat file being used - - - - - GP4Builder for what I know does not create .dat files from zero - - - - - -
- Then begins the hard work part - editing physics verges, banks, kerbs, elevations, correct surfaces, smooth them, the CC line, surface attributes and behaviour, etc etc that GP4Builder does a FAB JOB once you learn it by reading the GP4Builder's guide.

That is all there is into it.
Just a matter of selecting an object, and importing/exporting and having GP4Builder generate the .dat file automatically. Just a matter of following instructions or refering to Gp4Builder's guide.
As for the video, sorry, I won't be doing a video showing editing polygons in Blender : that would be a subject for Blender tutorials.

This is my bozo take on the problem - surely experienced modders do it much easier and probably laugh at this - which is not a problem for me!
- I might be wrong, always.

Rico do you have this gp4builder guide?

The only guide i found was the you tube videos from Paulo.

Best

Jose

Hello Jose,
Yes, after much digging I found it on June 28, 2026 at Scribd and managed to capture it from that website after uploading some stuff it asked me to before;
I just uploaded the .pdf file to the MAC87 google drive, it is there for anyone interested to download.
Enjoy the all-new 3D grid girls and my new TeamManager Svetlana (also 3D) hahaha
See ya

[drive.google.com]

PS modeling the human figure from scratch is a great practice,
remember the nude drawing sessions from Art School?

PS2 I will try the visibility settings of GP4Builder,
So by having these special 3d meshes like the gridgirls,
I can theoretically limit the impact on PO% -
Ill try setting it like 5-10m to the Gridgirls
So they only distract the drivers upon pit exiting.

Dont worry about Svetlana, she will not be in the mod.
She is just an exercise on modeling - the female anatomy is
really complex and one can instintively tell when the modeling is good.
That is a must to model a Ferrari!



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2026 06:40PM by ricomaster.

Thanks Rico,

Nice guide!!!

and Nice girls too



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2026 01:25AM by jcgrj.

A Fairy Tale

[drive.google.com]

ricomaster Schreef:
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> A Fairy Tale

Talking about nice curves.

---

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

WIP

- Integration track-environment
( Rettifilo : track -> Targa Florio + track -> Curva Nord )
- Tarmac signaling
- Billboards ref. measured dimensions -> 3D meshes
- Boxes + ads + floor

posted aerials



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2026 04:03PM by ricomaster.

WIP
I posted a video demonstrating how I fixed an object alignment in Blender -> exporting -> importing in GP4Builder.

[drive.google.com]

ricomaster Schreef:
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> WIP
> I posted a video demonstrating how I fixed an object alignment in Blender -> exporting -> importing in GP4Builder.

Interesting information.Thanks for sharing it!