Creating Talent Files

[Speednut357]

For my next bit of fun, I thought I would try to recreate a 1980's Bathurst touring car race. Lucky for me, there is an old mod, more than ten years old now, called Touring Car Legends.
The first thing I find is there are no talent files? Oh well, I know enough now to make them. But for one thing.
Where are the driver names stored? are they in the .MAS file. And if so, how do I read them.

Any help would be much appreciated, as always.

 

[jgf]

Driver name is in the veh file; driver name in the talent file must match this exactly.

And the game will read talent files no matter where they are, organizing into folders and sub-folders is only for us poor humans; so make sure there are no talent files with the same driver name. For example you may have "John Dough" in an F1 mod, a touring car mod, and a Lemans mod, all with different stats, the game will load the first one it reads; it takes a bit of creative naming - John Dough, J Dough, J. Dough, etc. so the correct driver is chosen for a particular car.

This may take some of the drudgery from creating an entire field of talent files - https://www.clue-by-4.org/software/Talent+Editor

 

[Speednut357]

Thank you but there are no .veh files in RFactor 1. I presume then it is contained in the DDS file somehow.


EDIT:
After some time...... I realized that because I have 3dsimed installed, Windows in its great wisdom doesn't show the veh file suffix. Instead, it shows as a 3dsimed file.

I just had to right-click and open with... Notepad

Feeling stupid, but I will leave this here, It May help someone sometime.

 

[jgf]

Lol, isn't windoze wonderful.

 

[MJQT]

For my next bit of fun, I thought I would try to recreate a 1980's Bathurst touring car race. Lucky for me, there is an old mod, more than ten years old now, called Touring Car Legends.
The first thing I find is there are no talent files? Oh well, I know enough now to make them.

Interesting that there are no talent files by default in TCL. But I don't think you need to create new talent files.

Ever since I discovered TCL 1.1 for rF1 a few months ago on TrippTeam, I also downloaded all the TCL Revival skinpacks, and have always had them installed alongside. And I'm fairly sure I've always had historically correct driver names in rFactor TCL races I've done! The TCL Revival skinpacks are posted here on RaceDepartment, and I highly recommend them.

For 80s ATCC, you want this one:

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/tcl-oceania-skinpack-84-90-by-tcl-revival-team.35139/

For 80s DTM, you want:

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/dtm-the-early-years-by-tcl-revival-team.24742/

For 80s Euro and Japanese skins, you want:

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/tcl-etcc-jtcc-skinpack-by-tcl-revival-team.29715/

For 80s BTCC, you want:

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/tcl-btcc-skinpack-by-tcl-revival-team.18201/

There's also a Portugal addon:

[Release] Touring Car Legends Portugal Add On 1988-1995 - Digital Apex Modding

We are now releasing the first half of the mod which contains the cars from 1988 to 1995, containing

www.digitalapexmods.com

The only thing about the Revival skinpacks is that (on my install, at least) there are several cars without sounds associated (e.g. DTM Mustang). There's a download I found somewhere with the necessary additional sound folders alongside the Portugal addon, but I can't find where anymore. Probably they're on TrippTeam.

 

[Speednut357]

The TCL Revival skinpacks are posted here on RaceDepartment, and I highly recommend them.

Thanks, They are much more than just skin packs. There are different cars, physics improvements, Talent files, and skins.
After a bit of searching, I found other packs on tippteam that included even more cars and a sound pack.
This opens up a whole new rabbit hole with the Bathurst Legends mod, the Touring car legends, and then V8 factor. It is possible to race a big part of Australian racing history. That would make one very long career mode.

 

[MJQT]

This opens up a whole new rabbit hole with the Bathurst Legends mod, the Touring car legends, and then V8 factor. It is possible to race a big part of Australian racing history. That would make one very long career mode.

You're so right. Wouldn't that be fun?

Then all we'd need is to remove walls and change signage to back-date existing Bathurst versions (e.g. ORSM Bathurst 2010) to 1987-early 90s and then (since the Chase was added in 1987) for Mike Cantwell to complete his ongoing 1985 pre-Chase Bathurst project for rF2. But... I'm a dreamer, and I digress

 

[Speednut357]

Chase Bathurst looks like an exciting track project. I hope he gets back to it someday.
I have been having a look at RFactor2. It looks terrific. Not much AI work has been done as far as I can tell. It certainly drives very well when you find a well-sorted mod and track combination.

Meantime in RFactor1

 

[still_bacon]

I wouldn't be too concerned about the talent files. While driving against the AI they work OK, but that is the only time. I used data to build average speeds based on the lap times against pole sitters etc, but the problem was when you skipped any session, then the talend files were ignored anyway.

Just use the names in the VEH files to show who you are racing against.

 

[jgf]

If there is no talent file for a car the game will default to hard coded parameters which are a generic compromise for any vehicle. Even duplicating a talent file for that car and just changing names is prefereable.

 

[Speednut357]

I agree you can race without Talent files and it works ok. But there are problems with RFactor AI that are greatly reduced if you have the talent files. Like the classic AI hitting you from behind and pushing past you in the corner. This can be almost eliminated with some adjusted Talent file settings.

 

[aasasd]

then (since the Chase was added in 1987) for Mike Cantwell to complete his ongoing 1985 pre-Chase Bathurst project for rF2

I'm probably again saying what yall already know, but there's the Mount Panorama 1967 track on RFC, with good ratings (Mediafire link). IDK if many things differ between '67 and '85, but perhaps it can scratch some of the itch.

 

[aasasd]

After some time...... I realized that because I have 3dsimed installed, Windows in its great wisdom doesn't show the veh file suffix. Instead, it shows as a 3dsimed file.

Barging in with nerd things again: IMO for any relatively involved file shuffling, two-pane file managers are a lot better than Explorer-style managers. Mostly because of the two-pane workflow (with tabs) obviating the need for the mouse, and the general speed of browsing and fiddling with files. Plus seeing the file list at a glance, customizing the view, etc. For this discussion, the key features are that two-pane managers generally don't hide extensions, and that editing any file is the same F4 key.

Windows users have it good in this regard since they have Total Commander, the king of two-pane managers. I still weep sometimes remembering how fast it worked and responded to every wish of mine. Alas, substitutes on Mac and Linux all feel clunky.

 

[Speednut357]

I'm probably again saying what yall already know, but there's the Mount Panorama 1967 track on RFC, with good ratings (Mediafire link). IDK if many things differ between '67 and '85, but perhaps it can scratch some of the itch.

I wish someone would take that track and give it a bit of a spruce up. It is ok, but it doesn't feel like the 1967 Gallaher 500. It wouldn't take much, some fences to keep the sheep off the track, a few hundred Gum trees along conrod straight. And you know I have heard, Some tracks have 3d grass!

 

[aasasd]

Some tracks have 3d grass

But then grass would get in the radiator, what's good about that.

 

[Speednut357]

 

[aasasd]

Looks very much as if it has been converted from GPL, though the RFC page says nothing to that end.

Frankly, I personally just run old cars on modern tracks, and this frequent GPL-ness is one more reason to do so.

About fences though, didn't know that RF has sheep—I'm gonna try the track just for that.

 

[Speednut357]

I am continuing with my experiments with Talent file parameters. Modifying my game so that only one car and one talent file are present, I have been running experiments with adjustments to the talent file numbers.
Firstly I lowered all parameters to a value of one.

eg: //Driver Stats
Aggression=1
Reputation=1
Courtesy=1
Composure=1
Speed=1
Crash=1
Recovery=1
CompletedLaps=100
MinRacingSkill=1

Then, I returned to the pits once the race started and watched the AI race.
I found that the Talent file parameters have a subtle effect. With these low settings the ai are not as bad as I expected.

Next, I changed one parameter at a time to a value of 99 to see If I could better understand what they do. I only adjusted Aggression, Courtesy, Composure, and Crash. The other parameters seem obvious, so I will not test them now.
The following are my observations. You may describe things differently. I also have not come up with a way to measure any changes. These are my opinion on what I saw.


Composure = My ability to maintain traction/grip. Low Composure, my rear end will be a bit slippy. High Composure I will corner in a very stable fashion.

Despite my preconception of what Composure does, Its effect is very subtle. It appears that Composure is a smoothing effect on the accelerator during cornering. The AI never lost traction with a high composure, and they did lose traction and do a bit of slipping and sliding with a very low Composure. It did not affect the off-and-on braking effect during corners.


Courtesy = My ability to avoid hitting other cars. High Courtesy, I will avoid other vehicles approaching from behind and when passing I will pull back if there is a chance of hitting the other vehicle. Low Courtesy, I don't care if I hit another car.

This setting had a much more significant effect. A high courtesy setting saw the AI avoiding each other. Most apparent when one AI tried to pass into a corner. I could see the AI being passed, moving to avoid being hit from behind. AI would also begin a passing maneuver and quickly pull back or abort the pass to avoid any contact. After a couple of laps, the AI followed each other in a line, with no passing attempts, and things got very dull.


Aggression = How much I want to pass the car in front. High Aggression I will try to overtake at every opportunity. Low Aggression I will only attempt a pass if everything is perfect for a nice clean pass.

Aggression almost seems to contradict Courtesy. But the effect is subtle, and after a bit of observation, I could see the difference. Aggression increases how often an AI will attempt a passing maneuver. An AI needs certain things to be in place before attempting a pass, and this value reduces the requirements. Almost half the AI would try to overtake when entering a corner with this setting high. There was also an increase in side-by-side racing.

Crash = This setting appeared to do nothing?


The next thing to do is to test combinations of settings. It would seem that high Aggression and Courtesy settings may give the best result. However, initial testing has shown that the game does not always apply all settings. If I had Aggression = 99, Courtesy = 99, and Composure = 50. The AI would take it in turns to slow down. It is as if the game says, "for now, you are aggressive," and at a later time, "now you can be Courteous." It is either one or the other. This behavior explains a common game quirk where the AI would appear to slow down for no reason.

 

[jgf]

This may be of interest:

"Vince Klortho's diggings from ISI are terrific:

Quote:
Ok here's the current situation with RCD files:

Aggression 0 - 100 (%)
As this number increases the AI will give other cars less room, both while passing and while following.
It also increases the frequency at which they try to pass and the increases the threshold they are willing to endure before giving up a pass (or crashing, as the case may be...)

The aggression slider in the UI also affects this directly. RCD Aggression * UI Aggression = final....and should always be between 0-100%.

Reputation:
Recovery:
All but worthless or no longer used.

Composure:
The lower the number, the higher the frequency of "intentional" mistakes. (if AI Mistakes is > 0 in the playerfile)
If AI Mistakes in the playerfile is set to 0.0, then the AI drivers never make mistakes. *cough* Well, mistakes that I planned. "intentional" mistakes are things like, taking a turn too wide, or missing a breaking point.

Increasing composure also decreases the time between bad driving zones. (also affected by the playerfile variable AI Limiter, see MinRacingSkill below)

Speed: 0-100
How close to "optimal" this driver drives a track.

This number directly interacts with a variable in the AIW file called "AIRange" AIRange tells us how wide the gap, from 0-100% (expressed as 0.0 to 1.0 in the AIW).

The default is 0.1 meaning that the full range of Speed RCD values from 0 to 100, are directly mapped to the top 10% of the max speed = 90-100%.

For example a driver with 100% speed will drive at (0.9 + 0.1 * 100%) = (0.9 + 0.1 * 1.0) = 100% of what he thinks the track can handle, while a driver with speed = 0 will drive at (0.9 + 0.1 * 0%) = (0.9 + 0.1 * 0) = 90% what he thinks the track can handle.

There is a random fluctuation in this value, but it's much less than in previous version where the random fluctuation was so great that it made the original value meaningless.

Crash: 0 - 100 %
CompletedLaps: 0 - 100%
Only used in auto completing laps (skipping practice/qualifying)

MinRacingSkill=0 - 100%
When the AI Limiter variable(from the playerfile) value is > 0.0, the AI drivers go through cycles of optimal driving and sub-optimal driving where their driving skill falls to MinRacingSkill * Speed.

(Set the AI Limiter variable to 0.0, and the AIs will always drive to the best of their ability...every lap)

So for example if you have a driver with Speed = 50, a AIRange in the AIWfile = 0.2), and MinRacingSkill = 90.

This AI guy will usually drive around at (0.8 + 0.2 * 0.5) = 90% speed (really very very slow....but this is just an example), but will sometimes dip as low as (this speed * MinRacingSkill = (0.9* 0.9) = 81% while having a bad lap.....that is extremely low, but this is just an example with easy numbers. "

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
You should also consider training the AI, takes a few minutes per track but improves their line.


"You can train AI also to make them behave better

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
rFactor AI Calibration

Should you find yourself having a little trouble with the AI being poor in your favourite mod on one of my or anyone else’s tracks then you should follow this calibration tutorial to improve their performance. The following tutorial is a repost from this RSC thread by Rob Cook so that I can post a link in readmes for releases.

1. Make sure you do NOT have rFactor running in the background when doing the following or else the modified file will revert back to the non modified state.

Go into your player file at C:\Program Files\rFactor\UserData\[player name]\[player name].plr.
Go to the line Autocalibrate AI Mode=0 and modify to read Autocalibrate AI Mode=1.
Now click exit and SAVE the player file.


2.Start rfactor and choose Any mod, then SETTINGS and change the following SETTINGS: – In the RULES section:
Flagrules,Fuel useage and Tire Wear to either NONE or OFF. Private Testing ON


Now on the right side of the rules screen change to the following settings:
AIDrivers=1
RACE GRID Position=1
RACE START TIME=8:00 am
RACE TIME SCALE=NONE
Mech. Failures=off
TYPE OF START=STANDING


3.Choose the car you want under VEHICLE to teach AI to run this car type properly on any track.

Then, go to TESTING and choose the track to learn and LOAD CIRCUIT (bottom right), but DO NOT click on RACE.
Make sure u are in the MONITOR mode screen, and click on ADD AI.
AI will now start its training and tells you to STAY OUT OF MY WAY HUMAN, do not go on the track to drive your own car, just watch the AI.

Press the VIEWING button to view the AI on the track.
Now press the R button on the keyboard to be shure the driving window will show ‘LIVE’ in the upper edge of the viewing screen.

HighLight the AI on the track, by LEFT clicking on the AI’s name in the MONITOR field, you will now see his best times change, as he progresses. After watching him for at least two laps LIVE, press (Ctrl) (T), this will speedup the time it takes to run a lap, but will NOT effect the accuracy of the Learning Mode. It will just make the AI finish his learning mode faster than normal.

Now we assume that the AI has finished his learning mode and told you he has xxx.xx meters left over, if at this point the meters left over does not show 0.0x, do the following:

Make sure the AI’s name is highlighted in orange colour, then click on BOOT. (You are deleting this AI from the Learning mode).

Click on ADD AI. You will now see a new AI name (if you have more then one AI) and he will now continue the learning mode where the last AI left off. This second AI will get the amount of meters leftover to 0.0X, and when he finishes the INI file created will be updated/overwritten.


Speaking of the INI file, the following is the manipulation needed for all the cars to use it not just the team that did the AI LEARNING.


Look in C:\Program Files\rFactor\GameData\Vehicles\[car]\[team] now in the TEAM that did the learning there will be a .INI file, THIS is the file that needs to be moved so that all cars in the chosen mod can use the updated learning file. What you do is CUT the file and paste it in the CAR directory of the effected car. So SAVE it to C:\Program Files\rFactor\GameData\Vehicles\[car]. The dir that has the .HDV and .TBC and other car related files in it.


4.NEXT STEP I THINK IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!
Go into your C:\Program Files\rFactor\UserData\[playername]\[playername].plr file and reset the line ‘Autocalibrate AI Mode=1 and modify to read Autocalibrate AI Mode=0 again.
Also go back into SETTINGS and reset all RULES as you previously had them.

This should in theory improve the AI performance on the track you ran it on. As an AIW creator it is pretty much impossible to make an AIW that works for every mod due to the huge differences in quality of the mods and how they react to the curbs etc. Running this may take a little bit of time however if you race offline a lot it will most likely help you a lot."

 

[Speednut357]

Thank you, that is very helpful. Interesting to see how the values interact with other files and the aggression slider in the game. I must try some more tests with this new knowledge. Cheers