548 replies to this topic

[ferraif40]

Hi

Bassically how do you make a track for GPL 1998?

Jon

[pirenzo]

A good question.  One that unfortunately could take years to fully explain.

You can get up and running with this tutorial relatively quickly though:
GPLEA Track Creating Tutorial

Some notes:
trk23dow is no longer used.  The latest version is trk23doz, which requires a different format for the .tso file (the purpose of this file is outlined in the tutorial)

Some other useful programs (attempt the tutorial first before progressing to these!!)
GTK Alt
https://gplea.rscsite...alt/gtkalt.html
Allows graphical editing of the altitude traces in your track

GTK Maker
https://gplea.rscsite...r/gtkmaker.html
Makes a .gtk file that can be opened in GPLTrack from an image.

If you have trouble finding any of the programs you need, search on these forums, or ask, you should be able to find them!

Any questions, feel free to ask.

[Tidge]

I have always been interested in learning to build a track. With the recent masterpiece addition of Brno 1949, Thanks to Sergio and the team,  I have been inspired. I would love to be able to do that.

A couple of problems:

I have been through the tutorial, once using trk23dow, but couldn't bring my track up in GPL to drive on it, it doesn't even show up as you scroll through.

Then I started again using trk23doz in place of dow as I went through the tutorial, but it seems that it was not written for doz as there is no trk23doz.cfg. Are the two programs interchagable in the tutorial ?

I would really like to be able to give something back to the GPL community, and I think I will really enjoy this, any help would be appreciated.

[ginetto]

Tidge, don't worry about the trk23doz.cfg , it can run with default values.
The difference between dow and doz are the diferent way of write the tso file and the presence of a new file with the extention hsv that has 16 triplets of values separated by a tab on a single row for every track section.
You can just build one full of "0 0 255"  


example of  dow tso file:

# Trackside 'Sets': 61
Set List
[ 0]:, 3, 5.0, -4.6, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, starter
[ 1]:, 3, 9.0, -24.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, tree4
[ 2]:, 3, 12.0, -26.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, tree8
[ 3]:, 3, 14.0, -24.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, tree6



example of  doz tso file for the same track:

Trackside Objects
obj 3 5 -4.6 0 0 0 0 1 starter
obj 3 9 -24 0 0 0 0 1 tree4
obj 3 12 -26 0 0 0 0 1 tree8
obj 3 14 -24 0 0 0 0 1 tree6


HSV example for 4 sections:

0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255
0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255
0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255
0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255



About the fact that your track doesn't even shows up in gpl is because you have to insert the reference values in the season.ini file in gpl/seasons directory; open it and you'll see what i mean.

There's a track building guide on autosimsport called: Track Building with Lou Magyar   in three parts , the first part ins in the number january 2006, scroll down the page and  you'll find it, it will give you lots of hints, specially will tell you the real meanings of different track surfaces( a must have!)  ; even if I think now you can build things in a more simple way.

Ask if you don't get something, I'll try to help you out

Edited by Ginetto, Dec 02 2007 - 06:51 PM.

[Tidge]

Thank you Ginetto, for the info, the link, and your fast response. I will try again.  I want to get this part working before delving further into this massive endeavor. I'm sure I will have more questions and I see from your signature you are working on Targa Florio, WOW what a project. You are obviously one of the right people to ask for help, Thanks.

[dangermouse]

Tidge, on Dec 3 2007, 09:33 AM, said:

You are obviously one of the right people to ask for help, Thanks.

Have a look at what other lovely goodies he has done over HERE.

[Tidge]

dangermouse, on Dec 3 2007, 07:04 AM, said:

Tidge, on Dec 3 2007, 09:33 AM, said:

You are obviously one of the right people to ask for help, Thanks.

Have a look at what other lovely goodies he has done over HERE.

Thanks for that Dangermouse, Monza Junior is the only one of those I didn't already have. It's in my Download Manager now. My track folder has 282 tracks, all road courses. I would love to be able to give back to the community for all the thrills I've had on these tracks.

This is what I enjoy about this forum, there is always someone willing to help, I have never been left hanging, unlike some other forums.  Point is, Ginetto is obviously a gifted track builder and involved in some really big projects, but still takes time to answer a question on the forum from a relative newbie. You guys are awesome.  Thanks again.

Edited by Tidge, Dec 03 2007 - 03:19 PM.

[Tidge]

After adding the necessary files from Silver to "mytrack" at the end of the first part of the tutorial, I pulled up my DOS command and typed the line using "doz" instead of "dow" and it went straight to trk23doz.  After selecting mytrack.gtk , the information window shows mytrack, but when I select "compile"  it reads:

Could not open .DAT
Could not open .N3D
Could not open .HSV
Could not open .TXT
Some files are missing, read-only, or in use by another application.  TRK23DOZ may not function correctly, but it will have a go...

I have a DAT file that I got from Silver.dat and I made and .HSV file as shown above, but there is no .N3D file or .TXT file.

Also I have added mytrack to the 67season and gp ini files but mytrack still does not show up.

However, If I open GEM season manager, mytrack shows up in the left column but will not allow me to make it active in the right column.

Edited by Tidge, Dec 08 2007 - 11:03 AM.

[pirenzo]

Hi Tidge.

.N3D, .TXT and .DAT are not necessary to compile a track.

Check that your files are not being saved with a .txt extension, e.g. mytrack.hsv.txt rather than mytrack.hsv

In explorer go to tools>folder options then under the view tab uncheck "hide extensions for known file types" to see if this is the case.

Remember the HSV file must have 1 line per track section, and each line must contain 16 '0 0 255' entries.

Once you are sure everything is correctly named and formatted run trk23doz again (BTW, only version W is run from the command line)

It will output an .N3D or .3DO depending on whether the "Save as 3DO (Not N3D)" option is selected.  They are the same file, but the N3D must be changed to 3DO for your track to work.


Quick summary:
To compile track
<trackname>.HSV
<trackname>.TSO (can be blank)
<trackname>.TEX
<trackname>.SET
<trackname>.FB
<trackname>.GRV (can be blank)
<trackname>.INI
<trackname>.GTK
<trackname>.TRK
And any 3do files referenced in the .TSO file.

To run track
Track.ini (same as <trackname>.ini)
<trackname>.TRK
<trackname>.3DO
All 3dos required (including horiz.3do!)
All mips and srbs required
page0.pbf (program cover)

Edited by pirenzo, Dec 08 2007 - 11:36 AM.

[Tidge]

Thanks for that Pirenzo.  The "hide extensions" box was checked and I only had 6 sections in my .hsv instead of 7.   This time it compiled okay and created 3do.  Still no track to drive.  GEM allowed me to install it in the season manager, but it's not there when you scroll through the tracks in testing mode.

[Tidge]

DUH,  no page0.pbf.   Silver now shows up in the seasons but "Could not load track" when selected.

My track.ini is a PreGem file, is that a problem ?

Also I don't have any .srb files, which ones are required ?

[pirenzo]

You won't necessarily need any.

.mip and .srb are image files related to 3dos.

In your .TEX file you will have specified something like

0 0 0 10 10 error
1 0 0 10 10 asphalt
2 0 0 10 10 concrete
4 0 0 10 10 grass
2056 0 0 10 10 armco
2056 0 1 10 10 armco
etc

The string names (armco, error, concrete, etc) are the mips you need.

Horiz.3do is needed, along with its mips normally sky.mip, ground.mip and horiz01 through to 11
I am assuming for now that you have no objects referenced in your .tso file, in which case these should be all the mips and 3dos that you need.

I've attached a full set of horizon files

EDIT: You should have track.ini AND track.ini.PreGEM now.  The PreGEM one is GEM+2's backup, which it must have made from the original!

Attached Files

•  horizon.zip   828.78K   75 downloads

Edited by pirenzo, Dec 08 2007 - 02:25 PM.

[Tidge]

Thanks for your responses Pirenzo, I am correcting as we go along. I am downloading the zip now, but I do not have a track.ini, where can I get one ?

[pirenzo]

borrow one from another track and edit it to suit yours for the time being, but there is a whole section in the GPLEA tutorial on how to write your own.

The important sections for the time being are:

[ track ]
track_name = Birmingham Superprix Circuit
track_name_short = Birmingham
track_num_turns = 11
track_length = 2.467m

Basic information that shows up on the event info screen and program set

[ pit_lane_0 ]
lane_on_right = 0                       ; 0 if lane on left, 1 if on right
lane_has_wall = 1                       ; 0 if no pit wall, 1 if pit wall exists
lane_bounds_dlong = 0.0 287.748 ; start/end dlong of the pit lane
lane_bounds_dlat = 30.00 6.00           ; start/end dlat of the pit lane
pit_board = 6.0 130.0 -100.0 100.0      ; dlat of board, dlong of board, dlong LOS start, dlong LOS end (last 2 not used)
stall_0 = 183.6 18.5
stall_1 = 175.4 18.5
stall_2 = 167.2 18.5
stall_3 = 159.0 18.5
stall_4 = 151.8 18.5
stall_5 = 142.6 18.5
stall_6 = 108.1 16.0
stall_7 = 99.9 16.0
stall_8 = 91.7 16.0
stall_9 = 83.5 16.0
stall_10 = 75.7 16.0
stall_11 = 67.5 16.0
stall_12 = 59.4 16.0
stall_13 = 51.2 16.0
stall_14 = 43.0 16.0
stall_15 = 34.8 16.0
stall_16 = 191.8 17.5
stall_17 = 200.0 17.5
stall_18 = 208.2 17.5
stall_19 = 216.4 17.0


[ starting_grid_0 ]
 ; 2x2 staggered grid
 ; polesitter on right
 ; track length is <3974.47>
 ; grid front center at <3974,0>
 ; width between boxes  3.00
stall_0 = 3970 -1.50
stall_1 = 3970 1.50
stall_2 = 3955 -1.50
stall_3 = 3955 1.50
stall_4 = 3940 -1.50
stall_5 = 3940 1.50
stall_6 = 3925 -1.50
stall_7 = 3925 1.50
stall_8 = 3900 -1.50
stall_9 = 3900 1.50
stall_10 = 3885 -1.50
stall_11 = 3885 1.50
stall_12 = 3860 -1.50
stall_13 = 3860 1.50
stall_14 = 3845 -1.50
stall_15 = 3845 1.50
stall_16 = 3820 -1.50
stall_17 = 3820 1.50
stall_18 = 3805 -1.50
stall_19 = 3805 1.50

Pit lane and starting grid locations

[ginetto]

Without track.ini you have a can't load track error

[Tidge]

Thanks so much for all your help Pirenzo and Ginetto

I used  Track.ini from Silver and changed to

mytrack
mytrack
2
.416m

track now appears in track selection window and on the selection screen in GPL but still " Could not load track"

Edited by Tidge, Dec 08 2007 - 03:19 PM.

[pirenzo]

Look at my checklist above and make sure you have everything.
Do you have the right mips??  If as above you've got 1 0 0 10 10 asphalt in your TEX file, then you will need an asphalt.mip in your track directory, or in your dat (which must be named mytrack.dat)

I advise against using the mips from Silver because the original GPL tracks all have their textures mapped differently, with the left side of the mip lining up with the left side of the track, whereas trk23do will line them up as top side to left, bottom side to right of track.  You could use mips from Silver.dat, but they would all appear rotated by 90 degrees.

In case you weren't quite sure about what mips do, think of them like wallpaper.  Your track is made up of hundreds of flat panels (polygons) to which an image (texture) in the form of a .mip file is assigned.  
In GPLTrk, you can create 'walls' of varying surfaces, and the .tex file you used to compile your track assigns a mip of your choice to those walls.  Just because you used an asphalt surface (type 1) in GPL doesn't mean you have to use a mip that looks like asphalt, it could look like sand if you wanted it to!  It will only feel like asphalt when you drive on it.


Doodat to look inside Dat files,  and WinMip to convert .mips to .bmp and vice versa.

Edited by pirenzo, Dec 08 2007 - 04:51 PM.

[Tidge]

Everything seems to be in order to your checklist, I have all the MIPs that are in my tex file.  Exchanged the MIPs for some from Bremgarten.

Still " Could not load track"

Thanks for the patience, persistance, and the MIP explaination, I am just getting my feet wet.  I would also like to thank Ginetto for the link to Track Building with Lou, this is a must have to use with the tutorial.

[Tidge]

Tidge, on Dec 8 2007, 06:24 PM, said:

Everything seems to be in order to your checklist, I have all the MIPs that are in my tex file.  Exchanged the MIPs for some from Bremgarten.

Still " Could not load track"

Thanks for the patience, persistance, and the MIP explaination, I am just getting my feet wet.  I would also like to thank Ginetto for the link to Track Building with Lou, this is a must have to use with the tutorial.

I am guessing the problem is with the track.ini, since I had to create my own, I have probably missed something.  I have attached it for you to look at.


 Track.ini   4.67K   33 downloads

[pirenzo]

Hmm, just checking I didn't miss anything off my list!!
I don't think I have, so it will just be a question of double checking everything.

It would be worth searching for a program called 'sciss' around here or on RSC.
Basically you drop your mytrack.3do onto the sciss.exe and it produces a file called mytrack.wob that can be read in notepad and it just gives you a tick list of all the files you need to run your track, and whether or not they are missing (STARTER and COLLISION will always be missing)

Your track.ini looks fine, though I would alter your pitlane 'stall_0' to something like 0.0 0.0 just to be sure that the car won't be placed off the drivable area (or else you car will just sort of explode and fly around until it lands back on the track somewhere minus all its wheels! )

It's got to be a missing mip, 3do or trk that is doing it.

Edited by pirenzo, Dec 08 2007 - 05:54 PM.