[Tutorial] How to build lower lods.

If i'm right, gp4 renamer is supposed to shorten the names of the parts?? i have done that but the names are still exactly the same when i import the lod 0 into zmodeler, How do I know when it's done and I can close gp4 renamer it doesn't give you any indication that its actually doing something.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2016 08:39AM by timtoffee.

Let me explain in a few words my method which is the same than Arnaud's method excepted I create the Lod1 differently.

Lower lods don't need the z_cockpit_ objects.

So open your Lod0 with Zmod and delete:

z_cockpit_insert
z_cockpit_left_mirror
z_cockpit_right_mirror
z_cockpit_visor

Save it as car_carname_carX_lod_1.gp4


Before to convert to 3ds, Open GP4 renamer

1- Browse for your Lod1 just created: car_carname_carX_lod_1.gp4
2- click on the "Auto Rename" button.
3- Save and exit

- Then open it with Zmod and export it to 3ds.

- Do what you have to do with 3d photo browser.

- Imports the lower lods done in Zmod (one by one) and export them to .gp4

- Save it as lod2, 3 and 4 (So only 3)

- re open GP4 renamer.

1- Browse for your low Lods (one by one): car_carname_carX_lodX.gp4 file
2- click on the "Auto Rename2" button
3- click on "Save" and exit.

Then open all your low Lods.gp4 with GP4 builder and Re order the objects.

Done!

Nota: GP4 renamer don't say anything, so after to have pushed "Auto Rename" or "Auto Rename2"
just wait 2 or 3 seconds before to browse your next Lod.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2016 09:46AM by gezere.

thank you Gez, Will try it now

Ok Gez it must be me, did everything you said and still something not right. I'm just going to leave it for now, Thank you all for trying to help.

Excalibur - How to build lower lods.pdf is down, can some upload it, please? Or is there another tutorial for car texture?

landex écrivait:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excalibur - How to build lower lods.pdf is down,
> can some upload it, please? Or is there another
> tutorial for car texture?

Hi landex!

Sorry for the inconvenience. I don't have this tutorial into pdf format anymore.
Anyway, the tutorial is a bit out of date since 2008 because of methods and tools improved.
I will try to make a new one up to date and also a video tutorial as soon as I can.... For the moment, too much work and no free time but I will try before Christmas...

Regards.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Excalibur Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> landex écrivait:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Excalibur - How to build lower lods.pdf is
> down,
> > can some upload it, please? Or is there
> another
> > tutorial for car texture?
>
> Hi landex!
>
> Sorry for the inconvenience. I don't have this
> tutorial into pdf format anymore.
> Anyway, the tutorial is a bit out of date since
> 2008 because of methods and tools improved.
> I will try to make a new one up to date and also a
> video tutorial as soon as I can.... For the
> moment, too much work and no free time but I will
> try before Christmas...

Thanks Excalibur, I really appreciate that.

Excalibur: I don't have this tutorial into pdf format anymore.
Get it back from here: How to make lower lods

---

petrus' gpaedia files

petrus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excalibur: I don't have this tutorial into pdf
> format anymore.
> Get it back from here: How to make lower lods


Big thanks, petrus. I hope it help me out.

Is possible re-upload this tutorial with images or pdf file, I want learn how make light lod for everything, rims, cars and helmets shapes...

Well this post have 12 years, I don't know if at this days exists another method to do this...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2020 03:13PM by joselugo8690.

petrus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excalibur: I don't have this tutorial into pdf
> format anymore.
> Get it back from here: How to make lower lods
Omg I'm blind, sorry guys!

The link to the pdf file doesn't seem to work anymore. I will update it asap

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Excalibur Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The link to the pdf file doesn't seem to work
> anymore. I will update it asap

Nice!

for me the link worked, but i've uploaded the file again

[www.mediafire.com]

Thanks Jürgen!

Link updated on the 1st post.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

very good, thank you Arnaud

Excalibur... One question... The last cars mods (2018, 2019, 2020) the LOD0 is around 3Mb... You think is possible make light Lod's under 1,5mb for Lod0 for example
?

joselugo8690 écrivait:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excalibur... One question... The last cars mods
> (2018, 2019, 2020) the LOD0 is around 3Mb... You
> think is possible make light Lod's under 1,5mb for
> Lod0 for example
> ?

The problem with lower lods is that lod_1 is very important in game because it is used when you switch in external cam (Tv cam). Normally, when switching from lod_0 to lod_1, you don't have to see the difference in game or it could be weird (missing faces/ black faces due to bad vertices light reflections)
So, reducing the shape to 50% for lod_1 is not recommended.
For cars of theses last years, if you want to make lower lods, here is my advice for lod_1: Reduce the shape to 50% but keep the original cockpit and nose from lod_0 or reduce these 2 objects to 20% - 30% max.
It needs a little more work but the result in game will be better.
For lod_2: full 50%
For lod_3: 70%
For lod_4: 80% or even 90% (this is when the car is not shown or very far from the camera so we don't care about car details)

For lod_1, you have to find a compromise between the weight and to keep the best quality of the shape possible.

Edit:
I am aware that some people are still running GP4 on low-end PC or old laptop. We want everybody to be able to run GP4 and to use the last seasons updates but we are trying to make cars with the best quality possible and we have to consider also that this is possible to run these heavy cars on GP4, thanks to the actual technology.
As I said a lot of times, lower lods are not needed nowadays with actual processors and Ram on most of the PC (PC gamer or not). But lods_0 are heavy and I recognize that we often reach the limits in terms of faces/ vertices per car.
Often, we have to reduce the quality of some objects (less visible) to not exceed the limits.
GP4 was built for x86 architecture and ram used was limited to 2Gb.

If you are making lower lods from heavy original lods, it means that your cars.wad will be heavy too. It will make the loading times longer and lower lods won't necessary dicrease your Processor Occupancy.

This is why appling the 4GB patch is required today for all GP4 installation. It will reduce the PO in game.

Personnally, I am running GP4 with an Intel Core I7 5820K (3,3Ghz), 16Gb ram ( 4Gb is required today ), Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 TI with Lods_0 for cars/ helmets/ wheels and high textures (4096x4096)
Before applying the 4GB patch, my PO was to 200% or more. After applying the patch, at the start of a Grand Prix, PO may reach 100%/ 109% but it decreases quickly after a few seconds to be constantly between 40%/ 70% max (depending of the circuit and details).

If lower lods and the 4gb patch are not enough to get a PO under 100%, you can also convert high textures to medium (2048x2048) or low (1024x1024) with Slimtex or Texresizer.

Don't forget also that tracks details and textures may also increase the PO, also graphics (HUD/ other panels), helmet, wheels textures... also the f1graphics file settings. There are many variables to consider to get the best compromise quality/ PO.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________





Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2020 01:43PM by Excalibur.

Excalibur Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joselugo8690 écrivait:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Excalibur... One question... The last cars mods
> > (2018, 2019, 2020) the LOD0 is around 3Mb...
> You
> > think is possible make light Lod's under 1,5mb
> for
> > Lod0 for example
> > ?
>
> The problem with lower lods is that lod_1 is very
> important in game because it is used when you
> switch in external cam (Tv cam). Normally, when
> switching from lod_0 to lod_1, you don't have to
> see the difference in game or it could be weird
> (missing faces/ black faces due to bad vertices
> light reflections)
> So, reducing the shape to 50% for lod_1 is not
> recommended.
> For cars of theses last years, if you want to make
> lower lods, here is my advice for lod_1: Reduce
> the shape to 50% but keep the original cockpit and
> nose from lod_0 or reduce these 2 objects to 20% -
> 30% max.
> It needs a little more work but the result in game
> will be better.
> For lod_2: full 50%
> For lod_3: 70%
> For lod_4: 80% or even 90% (this is when the car
> is not shown or very far from the camera so we
> don't care about car details)
>
> For lod_1, you have to find a compromise between
> the weight and to keep the best quality of the
> shape possible.
>
> Edit:
> I am aware that some people are still running GP4
> on low-end PC or old laptop. We want everybody to
> be able to run GP4 and to use the last seasons
> updates but we are trying to make cars with the
> best quality possible and we have to consider also
> that this is possible to run these heavy cars on
> GP4, thanks to the actual technology.
> As I said a lot of times, lower lods are not
> needed nowadays with actual processors and Ram on
> most of the PC (PC gamer or not). But lods_0 are
> heavy and I recognize that we often reach the
> limits in terms of faces/ vertices per car.
> Often, we have to reduce the quality of some
> objects (less visible) to not exceed the limits.
> GP4 was built for x86 architecture and ram used
> was limited to 2Gb.
>
> If you are making lower lods from heavy original
> lods, it means that your cars.wad will be heavy
> too. It will make the loading times longer and
> lower lods won't necessary dicrease your Processor
> Occupancy.
>
> This is why appling the 4GB patch is required
> today for all GP4 installation. It will reduce the
> PO in game.
>
> Personnally, I am running GP4 with an Intel Core
> I7 5820K (3,3Ghz), 16Gb ram ( 4Gb is required
> today ), Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 TI with Lods_0
> for cars/ helmets/ wheels and high textures
> (4096x4096)
> Before applying the 4GB patch, my PO was to 200%
> or more. After applying the patch, at the start of
> a Grand Prix, PO may reach 100%/ 109% but it
> decreases quickly after a few seconds to be
> constantly between 40%/ 70% max (depending of the
> circuit and details).
>
> If lower lods and the 4gb patch are not enough to
> get a PO under 100%, you can also convert high
> textures to medium (2048x2048) or low (1024x1024)
> with Slimtex or Texresizer.
>
> Don't forget also that tracks details and textures
> may also increase the PO, also graphics (HUD/
> other panels), helmet, wheels textures... also the
> f1graphics file settings. There are many variables
> to consider to get the best compromise quality/
> PO.

Thanks Excalibur, for take the time! That was a great explanation for a newbie like me, well I said under under 1.5mb because after a lot test my conclusion is at least for my pc I need low Lod's for everything, rims, helmets, cars... That's the reason I want learn about this... And I know make low Lod's this is too much work...
And I think only the people who need it are the ones who should

Excalibur Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joselugo8690 écrivait:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Excalibur... One question... The last cars mods
> > (2018, 2019, 2020) the LOD0 is around 3Mb...
> You
> > think is possible make light Lod's under 1,5mb
> for
> > Lod0 for example
> > ?
>
> The problem with lower lods is that lod_1 is very
> important in game because it is used when you
> switch in external cam (Tv cam). Normally, when
> switching from lod_0 to lod_1, you don't have to
> see the difference in game or it could be weird
> (missing faces/ black faces due to bad vertices
> light reflections)
> So, reducing the shape to 50% for lod_1 is not
> recommended.
> For cars of theses last years, if you want to make
> lower lods, here is my advice for lod_1: Reduce
> the shape to 50% but keep the original cockpit and
> nose from lod_0 or reduce these 2 objects to 20% -
> 30% max.
> It needs a little more work but the result in game
> will be better.
> For lod_2: full 50%
> For lod_3: 70%
> For lod_4: 80% or even 90% (this is when the car
> is not shown or very far from the camera so we
> don't care about car details)
>
> For lod_1, you have to find a compromise between
> the weight and to keep the best quality of the
> shape possible.
>
> Edit:
> I am aware that some people are still running GP4
> on low-end PC or old laptop. We want everybody to
> be able to run GP4 and to use the last seasons
> updates but we are trying to make cars with the
> best quality possible and we have to consider also
> that this is possible to run these heavy cars on
> GP4, thanks to the actual technology.
> As I said a lot of times, lower lods are not
> needed nowadays with actual processors and Ram on
> most of the PC (PC gamer or not). But lods_0 are
> heavy and I recognize that we often reach the
> limits in terms of faces/ vertices per car.
> Often, we have to reduce the quality of some
> objects (less visible) to not exceed the limits.
> GP4 was built for x86 architecture and ram used
> was limited to 2Gb.
>
> If you are making lower lods from heavy original
> lods, it means that your cars.wad will be heavy
> too. It will make the loading times longer and
> lower lods won't necessary dicrease your Processor
> Occupancy.
>
> This is why appling the 4GB patch is required
> today for all GP4 installation. It will reduce the
> PO in game.
>
> Personnally, I am running GP4 with an Intel Core
> I7 5820K (3,3Ghz), 16Gb ram ( 4Gb is required
> today ), Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 TI with Lods_0
> for cars/ helmets/ wheels and high textures
> (4096x4096)
> Before applying the 4GB patch, my PO was to 200%
> or more. After applying the patch, at the start of
> a Grand Prix, PO may reach 100%/ 109% but it
> decreases quickly after a few seconds to be
> constantly between 40%/ 70% max (depending of the
> circuit and details).
>
> If lower lods and the 4gb patch are not enough to
> get a PO under 100%, you can also convert high
> textures to medium (2048x2048) or low (1024x1024)
> with Slimtex or Texresizer.
>
> Don't forget also that tracks details and textures
> may also increase the PO, also graphics (HUD/
> other panels), helmet, wheels textures... also the
> f1graphics file settings. There are many variables
> to consider to get the best compromise quality/
> PO.

Can you tell me a recommendation for rims and helmets, because the tutorial is only about cars... In this shapes I don't know what things delete for low lod?