AIW editing for mod tracks in AMS: how?

[MJQT]

AMS modding newbie here who recently got back into sim racing. I'm absolutely loving driving Automobilista, especially CART Extreme (since I'm a huge AOWR fan). Would love to contribute to this awesome game and put in some work on improving mod track AIWs – for example on the JNS Oval tracks.

How to go about doing this? Any experts have any tips they can share?


Disclaimer: I don't think this question has been explicitly addressed in existing threads. If it has, my apologies – in this case, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could direct me to those discussions.

**One potential method that came to mind after doing some research: for rFactor conversions, could one modify the AIW "the old-fashioned way" using the rFactor AIWCAM Editor on the old rFactor track and then use that AIW file in the AMS version?

 

[MJQT]

Been doing more research and found that rFactor-style "AI learning" works for GSC, apparently:

How to make AI learn the racing line for a track

Another interesting feature I found in rFactor threads: you can improve the racing line of the AI on a track! I tried it in GSC and it worked like a charm. Here's how to do it: 1. Make sure GSC is not running, otherwise all your effort will be overwritten when exiting GSC. 2. Open...

www.racedepartment.com

Is there an equivalent for AMS?

 

[Salvatore Sirignano]

One potential method that came to mind after doing some research: for rFactor conversions, could one modify the AIW "the old-fashioned way" using the rFactor AIWCAM Editor on the old rFactor track and then use that AIW file in the AMS version?

Yes that is correct, download guitarmans aiwcam editor and have fun! rFactor AIWs work in AMS, and you can open any AMS AIW file and edit it without any conversion needed...

 

[MJQT]

Fantastic, thanks for the prompt reply! 2 quick followup Qs:
1) Where to download guitarman's editor? Searched here on RD and on Google, and didn't find any working links.
2) Do either of guitarman's editor or the official ISI editor (available here, nowadays: https://www.rfactor.net/#support) work with the Steam version of rFactor in Win10?

 

[Salvatore Sirignano]

You´re welcome @MJQT
1) I just uploaded it for you here...

AIW CAM Editor by guitarman

Not the latest version but gets the job done..

www.racedepartment.com

2) guitarman´s works independently with no problem, ISI´s editor fires up a dev build, which doesn´t run in windows 10, only windows 7, and even then some can´t get it to work...

 

[MJQT]

Awesome news that it works on Windows 10.

You, sir, are fantastic! Thank you so much for uploading the editor here on RD Salvatore, I really appreciate it. And I imagine others in the future will as well!

 

[MJQT]

A quick follow-on question, @Salvatore Sirignano, about how to use guitarmaen's editor – how do I move the fastest path after having selected the waypoint in the middle of the track? For example, do you manually enter values, or use a keyboard shortcut? Ctrl-Arrow worked to move everything else for me (e.g. grid postions) but it wasn't doing anything for moving the fastest path after I selected a waypoint in the centre of the track.

Thanks in advance for your help (or anyone else who wants to chime in)!

I feel silly for asking this (because I feel like the answer must be obvious) but I'm getting frustrated and just can't figure it out – despite having spent quite a bit of amount of time with guitarmaen's editor and his help/documentation files.

 

[Deleted member 13397]

for this task
maybe it will be easier to use lussos AIW editor
or
do it in a text editor

 

[MJQT]

Thanks @mucho. So, does guitarmaen's editor have no way of adjusting the fast path? Either with a click or a keyboard shortcut after selecting a waypoint? That seems implausible to me.

I'm not familiar with Lusso's AIW editor – where could I find it?

Really hoping to not have to guess and check in text files... but I guess if that's what it comes to... oh well.

I suppose the other option could be to hastily convert the track to rF2 using 3DSimEd and use the graphical AIW editor in rF2 to drive and alter the fast path (and also set corridors manually). I would use rF1's native editor, but it doesn't run on Windows 10 (which is what I have) and I can't find the EXE.

 

[Deleted member 13397]

i dont use guitarmaen's, so cant tell you

but lussos editor may be better then editing in a text editor
still be a point to point edit

race07.giize.com/BB/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8&sid=2915b6028efd5e344810a06a7074dce6

before loading dont forget turn off RACE07 mode

 

[MJQT]

For future reference in case anyone is wondering...

One way to edit the fast path manually in guitarmaen's editor (the only way I've figured out so far) is click a given waypoint in the middle of the circuit and then edit the numbers in the text boxes highlighted in the picture below. Lower numbers are towards the inside, and higher numbers are towards the outside.

 

[Italotracks]

For future reference in case anyone is wondering...

One way to edit the fast path manually in guitarmaen's editor (the only way I've figured out so far) is click a given waypoint in the middle of the circuit and then edit the numbers in the text boxes highlighted in the picture below. Lower numbers are towards the inside, and higher numbers are towards the outside.

Read the curves.pdf included in the download to better understand, you don't have to do it manually, the whole point of the editor is to do it easily, as below...

Click a waypoint, it will be marked with a white +. Press 's' to enter spline mode.
Another waypoint will be higlighted in yellow, with a + as well. There will be a trail of yellow dots between the two waypoints. The yellow + is the current end waypoint. Press SHIFT C to move it to a further waypoint, SHIFT X to bring it closer. The yellow dots repesent the new racing line between the two waypoints. It has two 'control points' - a white dot and a yellow dot. Move these and the racing line will move. Press SHIFT PAGE UP/DOWN to move the yellow one at the end of the arc, and just PAGE UP/DOWN to move the with control dot at the start of the arc.

When you are happy with your new bit of racing line, click where it says "create curve" in red. That's it! It's very simple and quick once you get the idea, and it's all written down in curves.pdf...

 

[MJQT]

Thanks for the clarification! Will try out what you suggest soon and read through curves.pdf as well. As you can tell from my posts above, it's been a slow process for me to figure out how this tool works. Despite the fact there's a lot of documentation for the tool, I've been struggling to sort through all of it, understand it, and make things work as I expect.

 

[MJQT]

That's it! It's very simple and quick once you get the idea, and it's all written down in curves.pdf.

Yes, that's right! Have just been playing around with a couple tracks from AMS, and it is very easy to use, now that I know what to do. Thanks for the advice!

One thing I haven't yet figured out though: how to alter the pit entry/exit line, including adding on extra waypoints to make it longer or shorter? The README makes it sound like this is something the guitarmaen editor can do, but I haven't yet figured it out.

 

[MJQT]

A quick thing to add to this thread, for future reference: in the post linked below, Andreas provides a great summary of how to edit fast lines using guitarmaen's editor.

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/wp_cheat.212452/post-3461898

 

[Dat-Mudkip]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I wanted to ask a question.

I'm trying to adjust JNS_Daytona so that you will actually get a penalty if you go below the yellow line (...and to try and keep cars from using the apron as the racing line in the corners). Is there any way to generate even a basic image of the track that can be layered on top of the waypoint data so that I can tell where the yellow line is, or would this be a matter of trial and error?

 

[Speednut357]

Open the track in sim ed. Screen shot the track. Do the same in Aiw editor then blend and scale the two images in photoshop. It's a rough method but the only way I have come up with.

 

[MJQT]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I wanted to ask a question.

I'm trying to adjust JNS_Daytona so that you will actually get a penalty if you go below the yellow line (...and to try and keep cars from using the apron as the racing line in the corners). Is there any way to generate even a basic image of the track that can be layered on top of the waypoint data so that I can tell where the yellow line is, or would this be a matter of trial and error?

Speednut's approach would be the best way to overlay an image of the track.

FYI when I've adjusted track limits in the past, I've always only used the AIW editor and used trial and error. As an example, you could:

1. take one or two points of the track limit boundaries
2. adjust them way into the normal track
3. then test by driving right next to the yellow line and gradually adjust those few points until they're lined up with the yellow line
4. adjust the rest of the track limits to follow the shape of the track

To speed up the process, if the numerical values used to describe the position of each boundary point can be adjusted by the same amount uniformly, you can do this in the editor. Suppose the desired lateral position for a point after adjusting is 4.09. In the text box in the editor containing that value, you could make the next 40 waypoints have the same lateral position by inputting 4.09_40 and hitting Enter. This can speed up some adjustments.

 

[Dat-Mudkip]

OKay, so I think I found an interesting quirk. It turns out that marking a penalty line does not nesseciarly mean the AI will stay within the bounds of the track. In other words, they sometimes pretend the yellow "out of bounds" line isn't actually there (although it's not as bad as it used to be).

I opened up the Daytona track made by SRW, as it has a "functioning" yellow line, and found that they accomplished this by simply marking the edge of the track pavement width to match that with the yellow line - apparently this tricks the AI into thinking there's no pavement down there, so they avoid it.

Now here's the question:
I know that the outside wall on this track is consistent all the way around. I also know that the physical width of the racing surface is 40 feet (~12.192 meters). Is there a way to get the program to take the input for the outside wall and transfer that number to the left side of the track, while offsetting it so that there is the 12.192 meter gap between the two? (I hope I'm making sense here.)

 

[Speednut357]

I presume that's the WP_DWIDTH, or collision line.
Anyway If you look at the top where you hit the WP_WIDTH button. Keep Hitting it until it highlights whatever the box is for your "Yellow Line". Now the Value in the box is the distance your Yellow line is from the Waypoint. So you could simply add the same value to the Box beside it, and you would then have what you describe but using the Waypoint line as the middle.

I feel like it is almost impossible to explain how to use it, but if I keep making noise and you keep trying things maybe something will stick.
If you hit the H key a help file will open that has some nice tips. And if you hover your mouse over some of the buttons some interesting tips pop up.