Forum Postings 2000 September

collected and (very little) formatted by addie walti


Threads

The start of a thread is on top right below the title

View Distance (effect on PO)
Gp3 Track length (lower limits)
How to convert my dry to wet track? (GP2)
Verge texture for entire track
KERBS question

Tracks (scenery trouble)
Jam Ids of the hardware jams?
How to GP2 CCline?

basic question on objects

end of file


Index

View Distance (effect on PO)

Posted by Retro from 63.178.68.176:

I had this idea to improve CPU occupancy by decreasing the 0x82 "view distance behind" to the minimum of 60 on a whole track.

I tried this on Hungary, and noticed no difference whatsoever in the view behind the car. Anybody know what's going on here? Maybe this command only works in GP2?

Posted by Fat Rat from 207.194.25.71:

Hi Retro

Hum. Hung , has mostly shrot chopped up sections ( as far as views go), are you sure there are any places where there is much more than 60 , behind the car to view.
Maybe give Hock a try , or other tracks with long straight flat sections to confirm viewing distances ,
Likely wouldn't make much difference at MCO either , views not the PO issue
Let us know how you make out

CU
Les

Posted by addie from 194.191.82.13:

you'll notice a certain difference if you had the mirrors with full details or if you drive in the opposite direction ...


Posted by Fat Rat from 207.194.25.111:

Yes Addie & Retro

I had realised I had omitted some other factors ,

Detail levels , HW\SW modes , raining or not , also I had noticed some differences & effects in this area in GP2 .

with activity in the areas being viewed , IE if there are other cars occupping or not , the sections of track at those distances ,

also consider the drawing order too , fences , trackside objects ( and their detail or viewing settings ) and hor & sub hor and skies etc. will not be effected at all.

Lots of stuff at play relating to this area

CU
Les


Posted by Retro from 63.178.68.66:

OK, I understand it a little better after fiddling with it a bit. :)

One thing I discovered is that 60 is not the minimum anymore. You can make the distance much shorter in GP3.

My original idea doesn't seem to do any good for me as far as improving PO goes. 0x82 doesn't seem to have any affect on the mirrors if you have them set to cars only. It only affects the external view, or the view when driving backwards. Still a long queue of cars in your mirrors no matter what.

BUT one nice thing I discovered is that you can get a big PO improvement in certain sections of Hung by simply removing all the view distance commands. It reverts to the default distance which is still fairly far. Objects in the distance will suddenly appear out of nowhere, which is a little ugly, but I think it's worth it. Haven't tried it on the other tracks yet. Can't remember why I picked Hungary to start with. :)

Thanks for the help. I'll keep at it.


Index

Gp3 Track length (lower limits)

Posted by Slick from 195.121.116.30:

Is there a limit to minimum tracklength???
(690 shown in sanitycheck)

Thanks in advance.

Posted by addie from 194.191.82.13:

yes
see: http://www.grandprix3.ch/TEIC/index.html
follow "primers" then "known limits"

these limits are the "offical" ones.
"inoffical limits" i dont know. i had a track with less than 190 units still loading then i got tired of it.
the tool that made it possible, is not yet published, but will be soon, as i guess ...

Posted by Slick from 195.121.116.243:

So that's why my one mile oval wouldn't load!!! :)
Maybe the patch will fix this or what is that util you mentioned,Addie???

Btw,I'm Dutch so we're practically neighbours!!! :)
Burn!!!!!!!!!

Posted by addie from 194.191.82.13:

the problem is the “bump table”. in gp2 it was in the trackfile, now its in the exe. the bump table is a “table” of entries with a DFS (distance from start) and a “bumpiness” value. the latter is a value between 0 and some 3 usualy. enter 15 to get paris-dakar :)

so this bump table is given for the slots and gp3 tries to “rework” the track after having load it and of course it cant do this if the (custom) track is shorter than the DFS-value of the last entry in the bump table, and sulks.

there are some ways to fix this, in the gp3.exe and in memory. the IMO “proper way” would be, if the bump-table could be in the trackfile again, e.g. in the GPXinfo part (paul, vaino, do you copy?) and a track-manager program could patch gp3.exe when “installing” a track (viktor do you copy?). the offsets to the bump-table in gp3.exe are known. the same could be done by gp3lap, but by patching the memory of gp3 at runtime.

but gp3lap does even more: it prevents gp3.exe from sulking. as soon as gp3.exe wants to quit because of a DFS value out of range, it quits into gp3lap and gp3lap throws it back into the game :)
it also prevents gp3.exe from quiting in many other track editing related situations.

as far as i know gp3lap will be out soon.


Index

How to convert my dry to wet track? (GP2)

Posted by mrBlackJack from 200.195.215.162:

Hi, there....

Look, I'm a beginner on the Paul Road's TE...ok?
Well, I've created a track, and I would to convert it to a wet track. But, I don't know how to do it. Is there a code for activate de wet race on GP2?...I ask it, because I'm looking other wet tracks, and the wet caracteristics are very match!!!

Thank's for all

Posted by James Knopp from 195.92.194.80:

Hi,
well basically, GP2 doesn't have any wet race code, so you can't activate the code :) Sorry. However, the only way to recreate the conditions is to change the textures so that it looks like it's raining, and then change the grip level.

If you wanna experiance the best wet race conditions on PC, buy GP3 :)

James Knopp



Index

Verge texture for entire track

Posted by Andrew D from 203.109.250.95:

HI

Can anyone tell me how to change the verge texture for the entire track, i cant remember from Gp2 days how to do it, and i searched through the track in gp3 and i couldn't find anything to help me

Cheers
Andrew D

Posted by Fat Rat from 207.194.18.102:

Hi Andrew

Same as before , scenery Def.
Locs 39-40 ,37-38 &\or 8&9

and may to do the curb locs too , depeneding on how close to the track is need , 2,3,16,17,25,26,27,28,
Those should get you from track edge to fences
Ps gravel is sually 39,40 the 2 outer most

Les


Index

KERBS question

Posted by Gregor from 212.139.183.247:

I have been trying and trying with various track editors to get new kerbs for tracks, but there are a few things i dont know how to do.

How do you get a track to use an exclusive jam file for the kerb?

How can you increase the width of a kerb?

I have made a hungary 2000 track succesfully but want to create 2000 tracks for belgium and france.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Gregor Gowans
Elgin, Scotland

Posted by John Verheijen from 212.64.25.123:

You can change the width of the kerbs with cmd's 0xca and 0xcb.
They are always in Track sector 1.
Place a edited jam in a new directory.
Then click right on the pav**.jam in the tree of the TE.
Then choose rename jam file, go to the dir where you placed the edited jam.




Index

Tracks (scenery trouble)

Posted by addie from 194.191.82.27:

more fragile indeed !

as i had to learn last weekend, its more important than ever to proceed (little) step by step when working on a track. test the track (very) frequently !

always keep backups of running versions, so you could step back if necessary. as soon as i'm able to identify the limits, i'll post them, but so far i just can say: more fragile indeed.

those of you dealing with scenery and facing bad troubles, i noticed it seems to be very important to have no "wild" ribbons. do switch them on by intention only and keep your eyes on them ...

when you messed up the scenery, in gp2 you had "ugly looking things" only, but gp3 often crashes to window now right at the time when the cockpit should appear or when you leave the pits and enter the "track-world".

i hope its useful info
addie


Index

Jam Ids of the hardware jams?

Posted by Andrew from 212.49.235.146:

Does any one know how to edit the jam Ids of the hardware jams?


Posted by
John Verheijen from 212.64.25.123:

At this moment with a hex editor.
But i'm working on a new Jam Editor.

John


Index

How to GP2 CCline?

Posted by Mario from 62.11.58.242:

Is there anybody who can explain me in few words how to adjust the ccline in GP2 TE?
I simply made it to coincide with a new track I created, but the cars go anywhere but on the track. Do I have to drive to test any single piece of the track? Thank You.

Posted by Olivier Saussez from 212.166.47.2:

The CC-line is not drawn the same way in the TE (it draws it a wrong way) and in the game, and yes you nearly have to test in the game after you've made a CC-line corner

Filou


FENCES

Posted by Gregor from 212.139.42.176:

I am editing a new INDY 2000 track but i dont know how to put fences onto it.

How can you?


Posted by Dennis Grebe from 62.155.188.164:

As far as I remember, there is a nice little command you can choose... It's the 0xe2 command. Hope this helps you... ;-)

Dennis




HW Jam ID (again)

Posted by Emanuele Rumi from 213.213.18.243:

There is someone here that can explain to me how to use an HEX editor for modify the HW jam texture ids?

I have to add 2 txtr to my track with txt ID 5/6. For ading my catchs and fences I use the one of Matti Latinen and I've sobstitute his bmp with mine.

There's some DOCs anywhere?


basic question on objects

Posted by dave from 212.204.128.186:

i want to place some objects in empty tracks , (ju8st the standard ones , i dont want to make new) but i cant place an object on the track , and i cant find out how to do it ... can annybody help me?

Posted by addie from 194.191.82.27:

hello dave

an object “consists” of three things.

1) the object shape (aka internal object definition)
2) the object setting (aka object definition)
3) the anchor object track-command 0x80

in the track you have a list of "object shapes" (aka internal object definitions). in pauls TE its even possible to change those shapes, give them new textures etc. all object shapes do have their own id.

in the track you also have a list of "object settings" (object definitions). you use those settings for defining how an object should be placed relative to the track center line somewhere on a track. in an object setting you choose the object-shape-id, then you set up DFC (distance from track-center), height above track, rotation of object, and some more.

in the track itsself you can insert track commands. one of the track commands is “anchor object” 0x80 (see also command library at http://www.grandprix3.ch/TEIC/index.html ). you insert such a cmd in the track sector where you want to “insert” an object. as arguments you define the “offset into sector” and you choose an “object setting” as described in the paragraph above. they are refered by a number called “offset”.

more notes:
there exist a few “special objects” or “special kind of objects”. first of all object id1=5 which is no object actually. it means just a texture. trees and bushes are planted like this. in an “object setting” you choose id1=5 then you take a tree-texture, e.g. texture-id=356, subtract 256 from the id and insert the figure, 100 in our example, as id2 in the “object setting”. (but dont ask me why we have to subtract 256 :)

sometimes roadsigns are also special objects as they are offen placed by simply choosing them in a track-sector instead of placing them via track cmds. (see “the guide to track editing” for a better description).

do not anchor two objects at the very same place. and watch out also for road signs mentioned above when checking this.

best would be to have a look at an original track in the gpX.exe and in the TE to figure out what is meant by this writing.

i hope its useful info
addie



Index

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