Tracks Feldbergring 1.4

[NightEye87]

Wonderful
I'm quite sure you did the research on fence styles. Did they really have square fence railings back then? Unshaved wood (round logs basically) was way more common. I find that harsh edge between the top and bottom faces of the square railing somewhat distracting. If it's period correct, so be it

 

[Fat-Alfie]

No, the fences are not period-specific at all They are based on the fences that I pass every day as I walk my dog round the outskirts of my local golf course (taking photos of bins, benches, flowers, leaves, logs... )

I never expected anyone to scrutinise the fence construction on a track that I thought very few people would even bother to try. To be honest, I would be rather reluctant to change the fences to have have round wooden posts. Almost the whole track is surrounded by fences left and right and I tried quite hard to keep the poly count as low as possible while still appearing as realistic as possible.

A Google search suggests that you are correct about the style of fencing used in the 1950s. They probably were much more rustic in appearance, but to model mine like that would need 4 or 5 times the number of polys, and while they would no doubt look better, I don't think that it's worth sacrificing performance in this case - sorry

 

[NightEye87]

I agree wholeheartedly it should not affect performance (although it runs smooth as butter for me). But you can fake roundness with normals (same smoothing group). The mesh would still be square but it appears round (in-focus close-ups not so much), and because it "joins" the vertices, it's actually lighter on any system.

But yeah, it's only a fence. The rest is gorgeous and a wonderful drive. And I can understand if you leave it as is

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I was thinking about the fences last night, and it might be worth trying a texture change, just to see how bark-covered wood would look. And you're right about the normals, to give the round effect.

What I was more concerned about was needing to increase the number of divisions of each piece of wood (along its length) to allow some irregularity in the shape, rather than each piece being a 100% dead straight piece of wood (if you know what I mean).

I'll do some tests today and see how it looks. Thanks for the discussion though

 

[Gevatter]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I get a few framedrops around the Gasthaus Rotes Kreuz area, just 2 or three short hickups. One just as I turn into the left hander at the Gasthaus, and two more just after accelerating again, idependent of the car I'm using. The rest of the track runs completely smoothly.

Outstanding work, and a very welcome addition to Assetto Corsa.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Ok, I'll have a look at that today, as well. Is this on Maximum world detail? I know that the DIP value rises further up the track after Rotes Kreuz (by the bridge), but I haven't noticed any frame rate issues by the Gasthaus itself.

There is quite a lot of detail happening at that corner, with quite a few textures loaded up. You have the Gasthaus, a long fence running off into the distance, high-poly hay bales, spectators, rubber debris on the track surface, as well as all the plants and trees.

Would you mind trying the same area but on a lower track detail? Just so I can tell if it is the extra details that are causing problems for you, of if it just the sheer number of plants and trees there. Thanks

 

[pollinho]

Stumbled upon a little bug today. I was trying to keep the GT40 on the street (spoiler alert: I failed), hit the wall and when bumping back on the track one of the wheels got trapped under the asphalt or something. Driving behaviour was terribly off and I was driving without physical damage, so it can't be that. I attached the replay, maybe that helps.

Other than that I have had an absolute blast with this track. It just feels right and it is just huge fun with pretty much any car that I have tested with it. It's not only great with the historic stuff but it's also an amazing playground for street cars regardless of their age. Thanks a lot for your amazing work and this circuit

Edit: apparently you can't upload zip files, I'll send you a link via pm

 

[MeMyselfAndI]

Stumbled upon a little bug today. I was trying to keep the GT40 on the street (spoiler alert: I failed), hit the wall and when bumping back on the track one of the wheels got trapped under the asphalt or something. Driving behaviour was terribly off and I was driving without physical damage, so it can't be that. I attached the replay, maybe that helps.

Other than that I have had an absolute blast with this track. It just feels right and it is just huge fun with pretty much any car that I have tested with it. It's not only great with the historic stuff but it's also an amazing playground for street cars regardless of their age. Thanks a lot for your amazing work and this circuit

Edit: apparently you can't upload zip files, I'll send you a link via pm

You can break suspension? tires? even if you don`t have the damage on - I have done it several times
The hit has to be very hard and my guess it is a physics bug in AC.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Thanks for the feedback I have just double-checked the physics mesh at the point on the track (you hit the wall / hay bales at the side road up to Grosser Feldberg?). Screenshot below:

There is no hole in the mesh, and watching the replay back it simply looks like a damaged car (it was a big crash). I quite often crash into the left, but the car gets damaged on the right (?!). There is a problem with some walls, though - they have a small gap at the bottom where they meet the ground, but this has been fixed for the update (thanks Lilski).

 

[MeMyselfAndI]

Stumbled upon a little bug today. I was trying to keep the GT40 on the street (spoiler alert: I failed), hit the wall and when bumping back on the track one of the wheels got trapped under the asphalt or something. Driving behaviour was terribly off and I was driving without physical damage, so it can't be that. I attached the replay, maybe that helps.

Other than that I have had an absolute blast with this track. It just feels right and it is just huge fun with pretty much any car that I have tested with it. It's not only great with the historic stuff but it's also an amazing playground for street cars regardless of their age. Thanks a lot for your amazing work and this circuit

Edit: apparently you can't upload zip files, I'll send you a link via pm

Found a video showing what can still happen with damage off.....

 

[LilSki]

It's a known thing that a car can break with damage off of you hit hard enough. AC has always had issues with hard impacts. It's just the way it is especially when hitting a pointed wall like that.

 

[Gevatter]

Ok, I'll have a look at that today, as well. Is this on Maximum world detail? I know that the DIP value rises further up the track after Rotes Kreuz (by the bridge), but I haven't noticed any frame rate issues by the Gasthaus itself.

There is quite a lot of detail happening at that corner, with quite a few textures loaded up. You have the Gasthaus, a long fence running off into the distance, high-poly hay bales, spectators, rubber debris on the track surface, as well as all the plants and trees.

Would you mind trying the same area but on a lower track detail? Just so I can tell if it is the extra details that are causing problems for you, of if it just the sheer number of plants and trees there. Thanks

I tried on Maximum and Very High, was more or less the same on both. I'll try it with lower detail in the evening and let you know.

 

[NightEye87]

What I was more concerned about was needing to increase the number of divisions of each piece of wood (along its length) to allow some irregularity in the shape, rather than each piece being a 100% dead straight piece of wood (if you know what I mean).

Oh yeah, I got what you meant. I forgot to reply to this
It would be a whole lot of work (and indeed polies, though a few hundreds more in sight would hardly be noticable). Maybe it can be faked with a normal map, but a normal map is usually heavier on any system than a few polies.
Looking forward to your test

 

[pollinho]

Oh ok, I wasn't even aware that breaking stuff with damage off was a thing, nevermind then

 

[Sman]

Awesome track man, I was just thinking you could Inject a bit of colour and sense of speed into the track with some of the fields. (here's an example using my crude Photoshop job). The crowd is very brown too, could do with a bit of colour.

I also got carried away in Photoshop with the tractor and helicopter.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Nice idea, I like that (the hay field, not the tractor 'n' copter )

I was trying to make the crowd as inconspicuous as possible whilst still actually being there. I'll look at the colour palette for the spectators again, and also that field

Cheers

 

[Terry Rock]

Damn!...you boys are rapidly making this one of my favorite tracks. I haven't driven anything else since this release. It's absolutely the 'cat's meow' in VR as well. I love the flow, elevation change, 'feel of going somewhere...fast'.

 

[Sman]

Nice idea, I like that (the hay field, not the tractor 'n' copter )

I was trying to make the crowd as inconspicuous as possible whilst still actually being there. I'll look at the colour palette for the spectators again, and also that field

Cheers

What about some sort of Alien Mothership? Godzilla perhaps?

 

[RasmusP]

What about some sort of Alien Mothership? Godzilla perhaps?View attachment 252836

Too many polygons!

 

[Gevatter]

Awesome track man, I was just thinking you could Inject a bit of colour and sense of speed into the track with some of the fields. (here's an example using my crude Photoshop job). The crowd is very brown too, could do with some colour.

But according to photographs everything was black and white in the 50s