Great tool, but I struggle to understand what it is that I need to do to create a track map? I went through AC Help and tried to follow but I got lost really quickly and I am not sure what I need to do?
It said something about a setting file but I can't find it and IDK which one I am meant to go into in the menus to set the track map recording.
Here is how you do it.
Setup
First you have to enable the track-map saving. To do this for AC, you do it like this:
1) Open windows File Explorer into the directory, where you have your Telemetry Tool data. (If you don't know, where the data resides, you can find the location from the Tool at 'Settings -> Base Settings'.
2) go with File Explorer to settings\ac
3) Open the settings.xml file (with notepad or notepad++ or any other text editor
4) in that file change the 'save_track_files' to true, like below
<!-- Save file containing just the line driven -->
<entry key="save_track_files">
true</entry>
5) save the file and start Telemetry Tool in AC mode and start AC. Make sure at least the shmem is active, but preferably also the Plugin is on. You could check, the track files saving is on by going to the 'Telemetry' tab and pressing CTRL- I (I for Info). This will show info about the Tool and at the bottom half there should be test "Saving trackfiles: TRUE', if the settings is on
6) Drive out of the carage and drive one full lap, i..e not outlap, but full lap where you go through the start-finish line and end the lap also there. Now you can go and check the <TelemetryTool data dir>\tracks\ac
There should be files like acu_istanbul_park__trackfile.track46_765146900
This is the file for driven line for for Instanbul park (track name 'acu_istanbul_park_'). The end part 46_765146900 is just to distinct different files, so they don't get overwritten, when you drive more laps.
Creating the map
So if we are this far and you have gotten the first "trackline" file, now it is time to start making the trackmap. This is how I do it:
L1 - Drive out of pits
L2 Drive on the "outer limit" of the track keeping 2 tires on tarmac, 2 tires outside of track, trying to keep the track line in the middle of the car. (The file created on L2 is renamed <track name>_outerlimit.track: E.g. acu_istanbul_park__trackfile.track46_765146900 would be renamed to 'acu_istanbul_park__outerlimit.track'
L3 Drive fast lap
L4 Drive on the centerline of the track. (The file created on L4 is renamed <track name>_centerline.track)
L5 Drive fast lap
L6 Drive the 'optimal' or 'racing' line on and follow it accurately. (The file created on L6 is renamed <track name>_racingline.track)
L7 Another fast lap
L8 Drive on the inner limit of the track, keeping 2 tires on tarmac, 2 tires outside of track. (The file created on L8 is renamed <track name>_innerlimit.track)
You could do just L2 and L8 to have simple track map. Centerline is used on some places to reduce the load, .e.g in Comparison and for the trackmap on the Telemetry. Racingline is shown on the Map and is quite handy to see how close you are to the optimal line.
If you really want to creater proper map with pitlane and boundaries, then you continue
L9 again fast lap
L10 drive on the "outer boundary of the track area". This file is renamed '<trackname>_boundaries.track'
L11 again a fast lap
L12 drive on the inner boundary of the track area. this file is renamed as <trackname>_inner_boundaries.track
Now we can create a pitlane by
L13 drive into the pits, follow a line there, then L14 do outlap + inlap and follow the same line. Now rename the trackfile from L14 to <trackname>_pitlane.track. You can open the file in notepad/notepad++/<any text editor> and move the first sector data to the end of the file and remove the 2nd sector data. Now you will have a bit nicer pitlane on the map. I normally edit the pitlane to be as small file as possible, i.e. removing parts from the start and end.
Too much work?
So it is bit laborous to do the "full map", but if you just do the basic trackmap with 2 lines, you need to driver 4 laps (in above example L1,L2,L7&L8), rename the files and you are good to go.
And even simpler is to just do the centerline, then you do just the L4 from above. IF there is only the <trackname>_centerline.track, then the Tool will use the in all places. And the Tool will automatically use fastest lap's racing line as trackmap, if there is not trackmaps available.
And for the full track map it takes 14 laps. (And now you know, why I haven't done this for Nordschleife).
And to be able to "redo your work", you might turn on the debug_feed, so you can later rerun the creation, if there is need for that.
You can PM me, if you have any questions.
Cheers