Tracks Virginia International (VIR) track skin 3.1

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 submitted a new resource:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin - Virginia International (VIR) track skin

This was a little project I did over the Holidays just to learn how to do something new. I never messed with track textures before. It was never intended to be shared, but like my other resources, I always figure someone might get some use out of it, even if it's just one person.

I love VIR, but the tall Pines always bugged me because of how light and washed out they looked so I did some editing to them to try and make them look better. Mind you, i'm no Photoshop expert so don't expect...

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[racinjoe013]

Just a note. I'm in the process of fixing the one tree I still had issues with as well as altering two other smaller pines. Just couldn't get past the old blue green tint that still bled through on the one. So I guess there will be a future update in the not too distant future....maybe even today.

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated Virginia International (VIR) track skin with a new update entry:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin

Took another crack at the Pines. Let me know if they are now too dark and\or too saturated. Easy to adjust and reupload or just roll back to the old version.

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated Virginia International (VIR) track skin with a new update entry:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin

Sorry for the quick turnaround. I realized I forgot 3 Material entries in the ext_config file that caused the lighting on three trees to change incorrectly in different seasons.

If you decide to roll back to the older textures from version 1, don't extract the extension folder from the old package because it doesn't include the missing Material entries in the ext_config file.

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated Virginia International (VIR) track skin with a new update entry:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin

Managed to replace the horrible blurry tree wall texture. The only thing left to figure out is the really dark pine trees. I know what to fix, but at the moment I lack the knowledge on how to fix them. It's not as simple as just changing a texture.

Before:

View attachment 531030

After:
View attachment 531031

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[Twiggy5471]

Regarding the really dark pines, disable the VAO-Patch to see if it disappears. looks like an issue with how the VAO baked the trees.

 

[racinjoe013]

Regarding the really dark pines, disable the VAO-Patch to see if it disappears. looks like an issue with how the VAO baked the trees.

I looked, but couldn't find a vao-patch for vir either in the track folder or in ...extension\vao-patches folder. I'm not sure VIR even has one. It's not listed in CM as being available.

What is happening based on my testing is that when the sun is not shining directly on those trees, the shadow effect is overdone. If I scroll through the time of day and get to a point where the sun is directly in line with those dark trees, the darkness goes away and you can see the tree texture detail perfectly.

What I don't know how to do is correct that. It might be something that can be fixed using a config file entry, but I sure don't know how to do it. If I knew how to create a .kn5 file, I could possibly make new objects for those trees and use the config to insert the new trees.

 

[krissboo]

Thanks for doing an overhaul on VIR. Looks really good.
I don't know if you take requests but would you have any interest in doing something for the Vallelunga track as that is a good track let down by very poor textures and trees and would benefit from one of your overhauls

 

[racinjoe013]

I can have a look at it when I get some time.

 

[racinjoe013]

Thanks for doing an overhaul on VIR. Looks really good.
I don't know if you take requests but would you have any interest in doing something for the Vallelunga track as that is a good track let down by very poor textures and trees and would benefit from one of your overhauls

After a quick look, I don't think the textures are the problem. It's a Kunos track so the textures should be as good as all the other Kunos tracks. What I see is a very weird track .ini file setup. They made some odd color changing choices for the different seasons.

I'm not familiar with the area so maybe the grass really does get that brown in the summer and the trees get undersaturated. All I know is I don't care for it so I might make my own ext_config for the track and make some changes for the summer months. Early spring, winter and fall look ok I guess.

 

[krissboo]

I only assumed the textures were the problem but anyway, if you do make something it would be greatly appreciated but not a problem if you don't want to touch this track.

 

[racinjoe013]

I only assumed the textures were the problem but anyway, if you do make something it would be greatly appreciated but not a problem if you don't want to touch this track.

I'm working on a new ext_config right now. Not sure it will go over well but I like it. Never was a big fan of the overly brown summer look. This is what summer time looks like with my ext_config. Plus I fixed a few fall issues as well with some of the textures no longer turning orange and yellow.

 

[krissboo]

I'm working on a new ext_config right now. Not sure it will go over well but I like it. Never was a big fan of the overly brown summer look. This is what summer time looks like with my ext_config. Plus I fixed a few fall issues as well with some of the textures no longer turning orange and yellow.

View attachment 537548

Nice one. Looks good to me

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated Virginia International (VIR) track skin with a new update entry:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin

Small update to correct the bad alpha layer on a few textures to remove the small lines that appeared in the sky. Thanks to Zombie Boy for pointing it out. If you still see the lines anywhere, please let me know so I can fix them as well.

BTW, while I like how this mod makes VIR look, there is a much better mod recently released by BoBaHK that has better enhancements to VIR than mine. He obviously knows more than I do and was able to get rid of the ugly dark tree textures I can't get rid...

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[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated Virginia International (VIR) track skin with a new update entry:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin

Kind of excited about this one. I finally found a way to get rid of the dark trees. This is only a beta version of it because it still needs work, but at least I have something I can work with.

Right away I can see that I need to get the trees to fit in better with the other trees. They are much better looking actually so I will probably end up trying to get the older washed out looking textures to match the new tree texture.

I also need to do a better job of matching the lighting...

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[racinjoe013]

Just a heads up to be on the lookout for another small update in the next few days. I managed to get a better blend between all of the tree textures. I'm going to spend a little time trying to figure out the winter problem on these new trees before I put out the update. I'm not very confident I will though.

Old:

Updated:

 

[racinjoe013]

racinjoe013 updated Virginia International (VIR) track skin with a new update entry:

Virginia International (VIR) track skin\ext_config (Final?)

Best I can do with my limited knowledge. I did manage to get a better color match of the dark tress with everything else, but the winter look is still bad. Sorry about that one. Maybe someday I will figure it out.

View attachment 539315

Hope you like it. It was hard work, but fun to do because I love to learn how to do new things. Please let me know of any problems or suggestions for improvement. I'm open to any thoughts both good or bad.

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[nVIceman]

Thanks. Is this compatible with the facelift extension by BoBaHK?

 

[racinjoe013]

Thanks. Is this compatible with the facelift extension by BoBaHK?

Probably not because he completely changed all of the tree material\texture names because he created new objects so none of my textures would match. I just tried to work with what was in the original track. He did a much better job because he completely changed everything. In many ways, I like his version better but I use mine most often simply because I made it and don't want to feel like I wasted my time.

 

[racinjoe013]

Just wondering if it would bother anyone if I made another small update so quickly? I got to playing around with the ext_config file and finally figured out how to make summer time much less dry\faded looking. I like it much better and thought other people might as well but I know it bothers some people when mod makers do these repeated updates day after day.