Tracks Ottawa Motorsports Park 1.01

[Thrashy]

There's a chance it could be caused by the BrakeMarker*.* textures in 256x258 instead of 256^2. Unfortunately I haven't a card that fails to test/confirm. I've seen stuff like 2048x516 on very popular tracks that no one complained about, so I'm not sure that's it.

It could also be a texture in DXT2 format (txDetailB.dds), as the nv dds exporter plug in doesn't allow it as an option, and causes a broken map to be imported under PS for this file.

Did I really fat-finger the dims for the BrakeMarker textures like that? Damn...

I noticed the same regarding several textures that I had exported via NVidia Texture Tools, that should have been DXT3 or DXT5 but were being detected differently in ksEditor's texture review utility. I've re-exported those textures using Intel's DDS exporter and we'll see if that maybe solves the problem -- though it would be a shame, since the NVidia exporter offers some tuning options that do a much better job with noisy alpha channels in mipmaps for the catch fencing.

 

[Thrashy]

Thanks for keeping up work on this track. it's really looking good.

One niggle I have is that, to me, the grass is a little bit too green. Now that could be my monitor, but then I find that for nearly all my (hundreds of?) tracks that the green of the grass is usually about right. And I find that your trees are really excellent (and the right level of green). Maybe adding a bit of yellow or brown to the green of the grass might help.

But perhaps what I'm seeing here is not the same for others.

Hm. I've spent a lot of time trying to tune the terrain textures to typical grass colors/intensities in this area, but I agree with you that in a couple of those screenshots they are looking a bit intense. I'll push the color balance a few points towards tan/brown and see if that looks a little better.

 

[AlleyViper]

The shots on my linked post were under sol 1.57 + default _Sol pp filter, so they're likely over-saturated vs something like natural_mod pp.
It must be taken in account that many tracks with seasonal adjustments working on their configs will look browner at this time of the year due to drier grass, so the difference to this strong green tone will be more noticeable. TBH, I'm less of a fan of the new highly contrasting fresh painted kerbs, as a bit of wear can give a tad more life to a fictional track.

PS: While this is still under <v1.0, you could take the chance to correct the track folder name that reads as "ottowapark".

 

[AccAkut]

Did I really fat-finger the dims for the BrakeMarker textures like that? Damn...

I noticed the same regarding several textures that I had exported via NVidia Texture Tools, that should have been DXT3 or DXT5 but were being detected differently in ksEditor's texture review utility. I've re-exported those textures using Intel's DDS exporter and we'll see if that maybe solves the problem -- though it would be a shame, since the NVidia exporter offers some tuning options that do a much better job with noisy alpha channels in mipmaps for the catch fencing.

do you use PS or Gimp? Happened to me a few times that joining layers cause unsquare textures. Tho the Gimp dds exporter will generally moan if you try to export those.

 

[Thrashy]

do you use PS or Gimp? Happened to me a few times that joining layers cause unsquare textures. Tho the Gimp dds exporter will generally moan if you try to export those.

Photoshop -- I've checked my source files and I literally just goofed typing in the resolution when I first created the file. Annoying, but an easy fix.

TBH, I'm less of a fan of the new highly contrasting fresh painted kerbs, as a bit of wear can give a tad more life to a fictional track.

PS: While this is still under <v1.0, you could take the chance to correct the track folder name that reads as "ottowapark".

Revising kerb textures is on my to-do list, but it's going to be PITA due to how I initially handled the UV maps. It'll get done before 1.0, as will correcting the folder-name typo.

 

[Thrashy]

God, UV mapping is tedious. The results sure look nice, though...

 

[Thrashy]

Thrashy updated Ottawa Motorsports Park with a new update entry:

Texture fixes round 3, Club layout, more!

Big update! In addition to the usual rounds of graphical refinement (massively improved kerb textures, more detailed asphalt, color balancing adjustments, etc.), this version adds a second layout to the track. The Club layout, coming in at 2.1 miles, doubles back onto the main straight at the beginning of Center Pivot with a tight, slow hairpin. This layout is not especially suited for high-power cars, but provides car clubs with a shorter, less technically demanding layout for track...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[krissboo]

Ok not sure you're aware but this latest update has a different spelling so creates a new folder and doesn't install to the same place as before.
It is now OttAwapark and not OttOwapark.
Which one is the correct spelling please?

 

[Scarystuff]

Ok not sure you're aware but this latest update has a different spelling so creates a new folder and doesn't install to the same place as before.
It is now OttAwapark and not OttOwapark.
Which one is the correct spelling please?

- Corrected folder name typo

Delete the old folder.

 

[krissboo]

- Corrected folder name typo

Delete the old folder.

Thanks bud, I wasn't sure if it was just an update or a whole new folder but all good. Thanks

 

[Medicpack]

It's working, IT'S WORKING ! *happy Anakin noises*

I could not test the track before, now everything is working great, no more texture error (I'm on win7), merge meshes option enabled or disabled works fine too.

Now Imma GT1 the **** out of this track , fantastic job my dude.

 

[Goettens]

Your changelogs never cease to amaze me.

This track is awesome, well done mate.

 

[Dave Thayer]

Thank you very much for the latest update version 0.5. Just a very minor thing you might want to change.
Your version number i see you put it in the Surfaces file. Most people put the Author and version numbers
in the UI file. But other than that, thank you for the this track.

Spectator Replay cameras dont seem to work right in the Club track configuration. When i hit F3 it seems to hang then
go back to main menu. Replay cameras work fine in the long version of track.

Ah I see, you dont have cameras in the Data folder for the Club configuration.

Take care.

 

[AlleyViper]

Thanks for all the improvements, must-have fictional tracks with so much attention to detail don't come every day.


There might be a small issue with the tarmac, probably going back to previous versions. You'll see a floating shadow in front of the car with a clear horizontal frontier, maybe until 3rd split distance. It's like the track has a permanent uniform shadow over it, causing that effect at split point. It happens both with csp and vanilla (both are configured with same splits on this system).


1) under csp (groove is temporarily hidden so it shows better) 2) vanilla ac

Hopefully some track guru can give a hint why it happens, and if it's avoidable. It doesn't seem related to groove having cast shadows enabled, as it goes across all track width (and still shows with it hidden).

In defense of my good name, for seeing it in the same sentence as "3DSimED" (entirely deserved) and for anyone coming across a similar issue, another workaround that somehow resulted to prevent the "Merge Meshes" crash was to export the turbines on kseditor as a "car" kn5 instead of "track"

 

[Thrashy]

Thanks for all the improvements, must-have fictional tracks with so much attention to detail don't come every day.


There might be a small issue with the tarmac, probably going back to previous versions. You'll see a floating shadow in front of the car with a clear horizontal frontier, maybe until 3rd split distance. It's like the track has a permanent uniform shadow over it, causing that effect at split point. It happens both with csp and vanilla (both are configured with same splits on this system).

View attachment 398607View attachment 398608
1) under csp (groove is temporarily hidden so it shows better) 2) vanilla ac

Hopefully some track guru can give a hint why it happens, and if it's avoidable. It doesn't seem related to groove having cast shadows enabled, as it goes across all track width (and still shows with it hidden).

In defense of my good name, for seeing it in the same sentence as "3DSimED" (entirely deserved) and for anyone coming across a similar issue, another workaround that somehow resulted to prevent the "Merge Meshes" crash was to export the turbines on kseditor as a "car" kn5 instead of "track"

I think this is a new problem, because with the new track textures I added quite a bit of high-frequency data to the aplha/reflectance channels in both the detail maps and the base texture. If I had to guess, all that fine detail is getting biased towards white when the Intel DDS exporter is generating mipmaps. The Intel exporter doesn't give any tuning options to prevent this. NVidia Texture Tools does, but that tool was the one that was exporting weird DDS formats that were (possibly) causing crashes under Win7. If I can't get a well-formed DXT5 file out of the NVidia tool, the workaround is probably hand-adjusting mip-map alpha channels (ugh).

Interestingly, I don't see this on my end, but it may be because I have anisotropic filtering cranked way up in graphics settings, which could be smoothing the mipmap transitions out more than in your screenshot.

ETA: I was able to replicate the track "shadow" by reducing anisotropic filtering quality. You can see the mip-map transition is still slightly evident at 16x under close inspection, though:

Hopefully I can tune this out by adjusting the mipmaps.

To further elaborate on the Merge Meshes x CSP windmill animations issues, both 3DSimEd round-tripping and car-format ks5 files from ksEditor prevented the crashes, but the car ks5s had some strange coordinate-space differences from a track ks5 that alternately caused the turbine blades to reorient to the global Z axis instead of their internal Z (leading to weird wobbling rotations that I couldn't tune out) or turning them into flying death shurikens, depending on the CSP configurations used.

Are there particular issues with using files from 3DSimEd, or is it just considered low-brow?

 

[Thrashy]

Thank you very much for the latest update version 0.5. Just a very minor thing you might want to change.
Your version number i see you put it in the Surfaces file. Most people put the Author and version numbers
in the UI file. But other than that, thank you for the this track.

Spectator Replay cameras dont seem to work right in the Club track configuration. When i hit F3 it seems to hang then
go back to main menu. Replay cameras work fine in the long version of track.

Ah I see, you dont have cameras in the Data folder for the Club configuration.

Take care.

Somebody upthread suggested that I should make changes to the surfaces.ini between versions so that different versions of the track would generate different checksums when players tried to connect to servers hosting them. I'm new to AC and I don't know if there's a better way of managing that issue.

And yes, the Club configuration is super barebones at the moment, just enough to get it working. I'll continue refining it on an ongoing basis.

 

[Johnr777]

Car kn5 should only be used when you need to keep hierarchy intact for whatever reason. That’s why it’s doing that off position thing.

How is the turbine animated? Ksanim or csp windmill code?

 

[Thrashy]

Car kn5 should only be used when you need to keep hierarchy intact for whatever reason. That’s why it’s doing that off position thing.

How is the turbine animated? Ksanim or csp windmill code?

CSP windmill code. I had considered the ksanim approach, but I like the idea of them spinning up or down according to windspeed.

 

[Johnr777]

CSP windmill code. I had considered the ksanim approach, but I like the idea of them spinning up or down according to windspeed.

Yeah, unfortunately wind is not a coded input yet, or at least not available.

I’ll have a look and see why it’s crashing with merge meshes. Wondering if you are naming your helper object the same as the mesh

 

[Thrashy]

Yeah, unfortunately wind is not a coded input yet, or at least not available.

I’ll have a look and see why it’s crashing with merge meshes. Wondering if you are naming your helper object the same as the mesh

Almost assuredly so, by default Blender mesh nodes inherit their names from the object node they belong to. Would renaming the mesh nodes exclude them from Merge Meshes?