Conversions from sims to rFactor

[Shalon001]

Hi all,

I was recently thinking about conversions to rFactor and how they're done. I want to know what sims/games have assets like cars, tracks, etc that can be converted to rFactor 1. For example, I want to try and convert car from another game. Is it possible, what games/sims should I use and how do I do it?

 

[jgf]

You can convert from almost any sim to any other, though difficulty varies greatly. Many conversions (GTL/GTR2 to rfactor, for example) require 3D modeling software (not free) to convert the models, then will require tweaking the associated physics files since there are subtle differences in parameters and format. Tracks are a different can of worms, usually requiring 3D software to convert the mesh, then hours of often finicky detail work to properly place all the TSOs, textures may need work, and all new AI files.

 

[Finno Zidjian]

Hi all,

I was recently thinking about conversions to rFactor and how they're done. I want to know what sims/games have assets like cars, tracks, etc that can be converted to rFactor 1. For example, I want to try and convert car from another game. Is it possible, what games/sims should I use and how do I do it?

Hi, Shalon001!

Man, F1C is a very similar game to Rfactor and it's totally possible to convert anything you wanted: cars, track objects and tracks. See, I convert mostly tracks, but I've converted cars too, but only the fairings, because the physics of the F1C is a little different from that of the RF... This requires a lot of patience and is a different matter than what conversion really is.

The F1C files are the same as the RF files:

GDB

CAM

AIW

SCN – only this one deserves attention because it undergoesmodifications; in the others nothing changes.

F1C doesn't work with the TDF file, but you can take any other TDF from another track and name it with the name of your converted track, as this file is usually standard, barring exceptions.

The necessary tool: 3dsimed (preferably V2 or V3, as they are able to open the track through the SCN file) – In fact, 3dsimed is the fundamental program, because it is what makes the conversions of the meshes and also of the textures, but others are important for you to work some details you want: Zmodeler2 and a good program that works textures. A tip that is perhaps very, very important is the Format Factory! I explain: the 3dsimed has some difficulties in converting TGA textures to DDS, as well as some BMP to DDS and I pass all the textures, even those that are already BMP, to still BMP format in the Format Factory, as if it were a cleaning of these BMP, because several have been saying that they are BMP but are not considered by 3dsimed as BMP and this is a complicating factor in the conversion ... then, after I pass all the textures converted to BMP by FF is that I convert these textures in 3dsimed to the DDS format, then yes it is guaranteed in 100% that your texture conversion will be guaranteed.

Another tip: before compressing these GMT and DDS files, you can try to open the game with the objects all open, because the game accepts this very well and then you can see if your conversion worked or not and you can work anything that is still necessary to work before, as a result of successful conversion, in fact compress all files.

Well, I really like to convert clues and it's an almost professional hobby of mine, so if you need to ask questions, feel free to ask me anything, I can even follow up your first conversion with some instructions that are necessary, okay?!

Hugs

 

[Shalon001]

Ok sure Ill try it!

 

[Gulag_Express]

I'm trying some converting aswell (for first time) but I have issues.
I'm trying to convert a 1956 Bugatti T251 from the F1c 1956 mod by Luigi 70 to rfactor for PERSONAL USE. I've converted all the mts files to gmt via 3DsimED, updated the .gen files to use gmt, I havent converted the bmp's to dds as they dont appear to be giving me problems, Im leaving sounds and physics to last, just trying to get the car to load in first for now. Ive been hit with 2 errors. The first:
"Error Loading texture MOSFIRE for material MOSBACKFIRE"
I don't know how to fix that so I just commented it out in the gen file, I can live without it for now then I got this error:
"Error Loading Texture T251VA"
I don't know what's causing this. I looked at that model on 3dsimed and as far as I'm aware there doesn't appear to be any missing textures.

So I'm just stuck with completely no idea what to do and I'm asking if you guys have any ideas?
Many Thanks

 

[jgf]

Correct texture format or size?

(I'm working on textures for FlightSim, original files are 1024x1024, 24bit bmp; save mine in that format, they don't load. Convert mine to extended bmp and they load. No idea why.)

 

[Finno Zidjian]

I'm trying some converting aswell (for first time) but I have issues.
I'm trying to convert a 1956 Bugatti T251 from the F1c 1956 mod by Luigi 70 to rfactor for PERSONAL USE. I've converted all the mts files to gmt via 3DsimED, updated the .gen files to use gmt, I havent converted the bmp's to dds as they dont appear to be giving me problems, Im leaving sounds and physics to last, just trying to get the car to load in first for now. Ive been hit with 2 errors. The first:
"Error Loading texture MOSFIRE for material MOSBACKFIRE"
I don't know how to fix that so I just commented it out in the gen file, I can live without it for now then I got this error:
"Error Loading Texture T251VA"
I don't know what's causing this. I looked at that model on 3dsimed and as far as I'm aware there doesn't appear to be any missing textures.
View attachment 674211
So I'm just stuck with completely no idea what to do and I'm asking if you guys have any ideas?
Many Thanks

So... I believe you're going the right way, although I didn't quite get it: are you only applying the fairing of that car to the mod you use, or are you making an entire car unheard of in the mod? I just convert the fairings, applying them to an existing car in the mod... for example, I take the fairing of a HASS (converted from F1C, year 2002* edit, sorry *2022) and put it in place of a Toyota (in the mod I use CTDP2005), I use the same name as Toyota in Hass (with all the texture of it) and I have a Toyota (2005) with HASS body (2022), without messing with any internal file, you know? I do this for the wings and for the LOD files, always using the same original (UV) mapping, keeping the file names of the textures faithful to the object (HASS), without changing anything! The only thing I really change is the name of the object, okay?! And stay tuned to the subfiles: Specular, Bump or CubeMap and everything has to be converted to DDS , maybe there is your mistake when you say that you did not convert from BMP to DDS, but as you talk about .gen file... Then I don't know. What usually causes errors in textures is this: either you didn't pay attention to the subfiles and didn't put them in the car folder or you didn't convert to DDS... RF even recognizes BMP, but works better with DDS. I hope it works out what you're doing and gives me news about it so I can understand something more and can help you, okay?!

Hugs

 

[Finno Zidjian]

Correct texture format or size?

(I'm working on textures for FlightSim, original files are 1024x1024, 24bit bmp; save mine in that format, they don't load. Convert mine to extended bmp and they load. No idea why.)

Okay JGF?

You posted while I was writing to the other guy and hadn't even seen your message, sorry.

But, I didn't get it... Is FlightSim a game? If it's not RF I don't know much how to help you... I only mess with racing games... so I don't know exactly how to help you... now... From experience, I can tell you from what I've been through in texture conversions... there are some BMPs that are considered BMP and that are actually not quite BMP... I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I've caught some BMP that hasn't been read by programs that normally read BMP... so I came to understand that 3dsimed itself doesn't recognize them as BMP in their conversions either... I had many problems with this and only solved it and, in fact, this is what saved me from being able to do conversions safely, anyway, I only solved the problem when I started doing BMP to BMP conversions in the Format Factory program! Yes, I didn't write it wrong: I convert all BMP to BMP in FF and from there BMP is recognized by any program again, including in 3dsimed at the time of conversion. In fact, when I do a texture conversion that has BMP, or TGA, I pass all of them in FF, only then do I convert them in 3dsimed to DDS; unfortunately FF does not convert to DDS. In fact, I only know 3dsimed with this function and Xnview, but the latter does not convert a whole group of textures and then I only use it for work with isolated textures.

Well, I hope I've helped you in some way

Hugs

 

[Gulag_Express]

Correct texture format or size?

(I'm working on textures for FlightSim, original files are 1024x1024, 24bit bmp; save mine in that format, they don't load. Convert mine to extended bmp and they load. No idea why.)

My bmp files are
1024x1024 0-bit
128-64 0-bit
16x16 24-bit
256x128 0-bit only 1 is 24bit
256x256
512x512 0-bit only one is 24-bit
64x64 32-bit

allot of 0-bits, I'm no expert but could that be the problem?
Also thanks for the swift response.

 

[jgf]

0 bit? never heard of that, would be no color; I suspect that is the issue

 

[Gulag_Express]

So... I believe you're going the right way, although I didn't quite get it: are you only applying the fairing of that car to the mod you use, or are you making an entire car unheard of in the mod? I just convert the fairings, applying them to an existing car in the mod... for example, I take the fairing of a HASS (converted from F1C, year 2002) and put it in place of a Toyota (in the mod I use CTDP2005), I use the same name as Toyota in Hass (with all the texture of it) and I have a Toyota (2005) with HASS body (2022), without messing with any internal file, you know? I do this for the wings and for the LOD files, always using the same original (UV) mapping, keeping the file names of the textures faithful to the object (HASS), without changing anything! The only thing I really change is the name of the object, okay?! And stay tuned to the subfiles: Specular, Bump or CubeMap and everything has to be converted to DDS , maybe there is your mistake when you say that you did not convert from BMP to DDS, but as you talk about .gen file... Then I don't know. What usually causes errors in textures is this: either you didn't pay attention to the subfiles and didn't put them in the car folder or you didn't convert to DDS... RF even recognizes BMP, but works better with DDS. I hope it works out what you're doing and gives me news about it so I can understand something more and can help you, okay?!View attachment 674222View attachment 674223
View attachment 674225


Hugs

No I'm just converting everything from F1c, not using an existing car as a template. Didn't think about that at the time. Thanks

 

[Gulag_Express]

0 bit? never heard of that, would be no color; I suspect that is the issue

Yeah It seems like it, tried to convert all of the bmp to dds via 3dsimed and out of all 59 bmp, only 3 converted. So I guess im going to have to convert them without 3dsimed?

 

[jgf]

Paint.net is free and works with dds files, it and PSP handle most of my graphics work.

 

[Gulag_Express]

Ok so ive converted all the bmps to bmps via format factory and now they are longer 0 bit. But Im still getting this error.

The object giving me problems in the .gen file below.

Also uncommented this part to see is "mosbackfire" works but still get an error for it.

The bmp conversions haven't changed anything unfortunately.

 

[Finno Zidjian]

Ok so ive converted all the bmps to bmps via format factory and now they are longer 0 bit. But Im still getting this error.
View attachment 674255
The object giving me problems in the .gen file below.
View attachment 674256
Also uncommented this part to see is "mosbackfire" works but still get an error for it.
View attachment 674257
View attachment 674258
The bmp conversions haven't changed anything unfortunately.

I'm half, or completely, lost in the issues and even the proposals... maybe I'm getting lost in translations, I don't know...

I know I've had problems with this 0 bit thing... The solution to this is to go back to the beginning of the project... Take the original textures in BMP and convert them to BMP using FF or even using the JGF hint (Paint.net). Then you should convert these new BMP to DDS using 3dsimed. Then you check if they have all been converted and if there is the presence of 0 bit or not... can't be 0 bit, that's a fact!

Check all textures, one by one, in the 3dsimed material editor, check if all materials are pointing to a DDS or if there is still any material still targeting BMP; the mirrors of my Toyota, for example, still point to BMP, but it works anyway, it's a standard function of my mod, so there's no reason to switch to DDS...

These textures that are receiving alert from the game, reapply them in your car, as if it were the first time, even if it is already directed to DDS, reapply them again.

Now in your . Gen I see very different things than I'm used to seeing... you are using ShadowObject on the VA object... that is, you are using an object texture for a Shadow function that has the characteristic of producing shadow and has its own material for this, with transparency and such... I even like to work with TGA on this object. Finally... I think you have to put together the .gen using a very different setup; take a look at others .Gen patterns that you have there because even you have a few lines for the shadow object proper to that object and "signed" with a pattern quite different from how you configured yours. The main objects, in your case the VA, receive ShadowReceiver programming and not ShadowObject, right? That is, in addition to not programming the right function in the VA by "signing" ShadowReceiver, you are still producing a confusion in the system when you determine the ShadowObject function where the game searches for two totally distinct and conflicting textures, you know? Review this.

In the case of the BACKFIRE texture, see if you have loaded all the necessary textures... You can verify this by opening the object in 3Dsimed, see figure. You have to have the textures corresponding to the number of animations, do you have them? In my case, I have to have the main one, the OO, 01, 02, 03, 04 and etc, until I complete what is requested in ANIM, in my car there are 11 of these images that correspond to the spark of the exhaust, see how many there are in the corresponding material of your car. Maybe some is missing and that the RF doesn't say, it just points to where the error is, but what is the error only you can unravel, ok?!

I don't know if it would do you any good to send me the original car so I can convert it and see what the problem would be because maybe I can't test it because I NEVER mix mods in my game, I think that's a big mistake that RF practitioners make, break their game and then keep asking cretinous questions, like, "Oh my God, why did this happen to me?" And God saying, "you haven't even learned how to use a mod completely and you already want to mix it all up... do what, my son... uninstall everything and start all over again, but DON'T MIX THE MODS, Devil!!!"

Anyway, if you want to send me some files so I can take a closer look feel free, okay?!

 

[Gulag_Express]

I have mosfire.bmp textures from 0 to 15
I want to point out the texture was originally mosfire00.bmp, there was no mosfire.bmp before, I copy and pasted mosfire00 and renamed it think it would fix the issue earlier today.

 

[Gulag_Express]

I looked at the gen files from an similar rfactor mod 1955 by Puref1 (also converted from f1c) and noticed shadowObject doesnt equal true but equals (Dynamic, Solid, 256, 256). I replaced all the "True" for shadowObject in the Bugatti gen file with this and now the car loads in game, camera files need some work and shadows are mess plus car is sitting higher than it should I think but its progress

 

[Finno Zidjian]

I looked at the gen files from an similar rfactor mod 1955 by Puref1 (also converted from f1c) and noticed shadowObject doesnt equal true but equals (Dynamic, Solid, 256, 256). I replaced all the "True" for shadowObject in the Bugatti gen file with this and now the car loads in game, camera files need some work and shadows are mess plus car is sitting higher than it should I think but its progressView attachment 674291
View attachment 674292
View attachment 674293
View attachment 674294

Yes, I'm glad to see your progress, congratulations! So, that's it: the main file was missing, then there's the OO, O1, 03 and etc; perfect!

As for the shapeless shadows, you may have to look for the VS mesh in the original mod, because this is the correct object and is much lighter than the VA, you only win by putting it in your game, both it is more correct shadows and in lightness.

The height of the car, you should know: take another car from the game and open in the 3dsimed along with the Bugatti, lower yours (with wheels and everything else) on the Z axis to the height of the original of the game and this will solve the problem.

As for the mirrors... I just don't know... In fact, one practice I have is not to use mirrors at any time!! The car I drive doesn't even have rear-view mirrors because I start them! This I learned in the time of F1C, which is a much heavier game than RF, and I needed to make it lighter so I never used the rearview mirror, plus the images reflected in it did not help me at all still hindered me in concentration, so I drove with them off and used ears and the opponents' own distance marker on the steering wheel display to control opponents who came behind, finally, one day, still in F1C, I realized I didn't need the rear-view mirrors and simply deleted them from my cockpit object, using 3dsimed, and surprisingly my game became extremely lighter!!! Even with them turned off, the game still has this object for if we want to use... That is, the game just does not show the images reflected in it and this makes there is more lightness yes, but from the moment there are no more rear-view mirrors the game is no longer looking for the images, because there is no more object to use them and then the game is much, much lighter than one day could imagine!! With that, when I migrated to RF, one of the first things I provided was the removal of objects (rear-view mirrors)... anyway, I know nothing about rear-view mirrors except that they are worth nothing to me!!

Well, I think that's it, after you manage to make the first conversion you gain more confidence and leave for another with more peace of mind because you know that this is possible! Problems will always arise, but always look for comparisons with other objects and files to solve them; much, much of what I learned was always comparing: GDB x GDB, SCN x SCN, AIW x AIW, objects x objects, MOD x MOD, anyway, anything I have doubts I always resort to this! Of course, tutorials and friends are always welcome!

Hugs

 

[Gulag_Express]

OK I fixed the shadows by setting all the shadowObjects to false except for the main body T251.gmt , Adjusted the cockpit camera and Fixed the ride height by modifying the graphical offset in the hdv file. All that remains now is the mosfire issue which I'm not too fussed about.

 

[Finno Zidjian]

OK I fixed the shadows by setting all the shadowObjects to false except for the main body T251.gmt , Adjusted the cockpit camera and Fixed the ride height by modifying the graphical offset in the hdv file. All that remains now is the mosfire issue which I'm not too fussed about.
View attachment 674308

It was show!