Misc AL's Special FX 2.6.5

ArmedLightning · Jun 12, 2018

ArmedLightning submitted a new resource:

AL's Special FX - Improved rainscreen animation, dust, smoke, fire, etc.

Al's Special FX - The purpose of this mod is to re-visit some of the vanilla effects and textures of GTR 2 and elevate them (within reason) to a higher standard. I offer no guarantees of performance. If it runs good on my machine, then it's good enough. Please note the following details. The cap on the number of frames available for the rainscreen animation has been raised from 10 to 60 if using the Extra-Anim option (method included in How-To folder for anyone curious). Unfortunately, this...

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ArmedLightning · Jun 28, 2018

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

Al's Special FX v2.4

Added ENB Palette bitmaps I generated for personal use to correct some issues with the in-game gamma (especially at night). Various filter options are available. Re-worked headlights for smoother gradients and improved efficacy at night.

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ArmedLightning · Jul 10, 2018

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

Al's Special FX v2.5

Further refinement of player and AI headlights. New RAINDROP options added. Force feed-back .PLR settings added (basically for convenience, I've always preferred the P&G3 FFB in GTR2). Converted all extended RAIN_ANIM versions to fit the GTR2 default 10 frame cycle.

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MonchoBullet · Jul 14, 2018

"Installation:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents of the "02A} Extra Anim - INSTALL" folder need to be placed inside the
"GTR2 -> GameData -> Teams" folder. Likewise, all selected .DDS files are to be
placed inside the "Teams" folder. (...)"

Sorry for bother... but its not much clear, since there are several folders with textures about RAIN_...something . These DDS are those are inside 02B (Extra Anims) folder ???...

Is a bit confuse...

ArmedLightning · Sep 17, 2020

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6

A long time coming... Re-worked RAIN_ANIM effects and pared down some options. I'm no longer interested in maintaining the 10fr version. It's always a compromise with quality and I find myself never using it. However, a tweaked version of the default 10fr version has been included eliminating the variable frame-rate in order to complement GTR233's "HQ Mods Collection". Included compatibility for P&G3, 2005 FIA GT. Custom 4K skydomes which improve transitions between time-of-day/cloud...

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ArmedLightning · Sep 19, 2020

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6.1

Fixed bad folder structure for 2005 FIA GT rain animation options. Added missing 60fr Vauxhall Monaro rainscreen. 10fr version of 2005 FIA GT (possibly?) deprecated as of latest release v4.8. They'll remain until Paul confirms they have been incorporated or are not needed.

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ArmedLightning · Sep 19, 2020

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6.2

Updated DBR9, Trofeo, C8 Spyder (FIA GT 2005) rainscreen files and fixed names. Sorry! Been away for a while and missed some of the updates along the way. Should be good...

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ArmedLightning · Sep 25, 2020

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6.3

Re-worked all sky-domes! Star-field globular clusters more evenly distributed across nighttime skies. Improved illumination of sky/clouds for daytime, sunrise, and sunset skies.

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GTR233 · Oct 2, 2020

I really like your night sky : I noticed you used the same map for the 3 regions, could you make variations like a bit more clouds for north and no clouds at all for south (stars only) please ?
Is it based on real constellation or are white dots randomized with math algorythm ?

ArmedLightning · Oct 3, 2020

GTR233 said:
I really like your night sky : I noticed you used the same map for the 3 regions, could you make variations like a bit more clouds for north and no clouds at all for south (stars only) please ?
Is it based on real constellation or are white dots randomized with math algorythm ?

Star placement is based on an algorithm. Fortunately, it's real easy to randomize skies as it's based on a Filter Forge preset I had started working on for the update. The night skies are where I want them to be, but the other times of day (clouds) are still needing some work. I'm trying to keep the rendering performance reasonable. I'll generate some more night skies and send you a PM for the link when it's up. I expect you to use them in HQ Mods!

GTR233 · Nov 9, 2020

When you have some free time, could you make 60fps rain anim dds in 2048*2048 please ?

ArmedLightning · Jun 25, 2023

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6.4

Been a while... Trying to get up to speed with GTR233's changes. Wiper animations aren't supported at this time. I've tried making many of my resources available to Paul in the event he pushes another HQ Anniversary patch. Daytime, sunrise, sunset, and nighttime skies replaced with a select mix of both 6e660's rFactor skydomes (cgtextures.com - AI upscaled), complementary versions from 3DTotal, and Stellarium. Replaced previous RAINDROP options in favor of a much-improved version. Likewise...

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ArmedLightning · Feb 27, 2024

ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6.5

Holy smokes! Last update was a disaster. Broke a ton of models in 3DSimED due to a misunderstanding of "frequency" under the animation tree -- "Frequency is the delay in seconds between the frames." Except that it's not! I suppose that's what happens you've been away for a while and forget some steps. Apologies for the inconvenience. Anyway, things should be working as intended. As far as changes go... Changed the texture map name to EX_RAIN_ANIM in the model data to prevent...

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The Iron Wolf · Feb 27, 2024

ArmedLightning said:
ArmedLightning updated AL's Special FX with a new update entry:

AL's Special FX v2.6.5

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I see that you mentioned CC wipers in the description, feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss them, there are some things I have in mind for the future. Cheers!

ArmedLightning · Sep 2, 2024

The Iron Wolf said:
I see that you mentioned CC wipers in the description, feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss them, there are some things I have in mind for the future. Cheers!

Waaay late in seeing this! Nothing new... GTR233 (Paul) can attest the same over the years we've corresponded. Got sidetracked working on other things. At any rate, you may need to reach out first to start a conversation here - and I'll see what I can do to help! Meanwhile, I'm still working on the process for wiper animations.

The Iron Wolf · Sep 2, 2024

@ArmedLightning I tried to send you this but I can't:

Hi,

So, not sure where to even start... but basically together with GTR233 we created a hack where rainscreen animation is button controllable. Then, Paul did insane amount of work and mapped his hand drawn wipers to all FIA GT 2003/2004/2005 and PnG cars. Recently, I used AI to generate 80frames from his 26frames, result is below.

So things can always get better, but if you would like to help I have an ask - in the long run, I plan to actually rotate the 3D blade. For that situation, whatever you do, would be super helpful if you saved swipe animation separate from the wiper blades. I think I can remove blades using AI, still it always has artifacts.