Helen Weales

I think Sketchup is more powerful than most realize, especially with certain plugins installed. I do most of my work in Sketchup before applying finishing touches in Blender and exporting to RoR. I think the problem with using existing Sketchup models from the 3D Warehouse is that most are sloppy and lack detail, and get even messier when importing to Blender. But as RKM mentioned, they often make great guides.

But the Jeep looks like a pretty solid base to me. Personally, I would simply cut out the rough areas and rebuild them.

Are you using a spec map for this?

4 hours ago, rockgod88 said:

Is the driver of First Blood Viper from Top Gun?

Yes, haha.

.....Sorry for the spam. Was meant to be lighthearted.

Anyway, I've recently found some time to work on the electric trucks. Special dirty tires for round 12, driver updates, and various truck details. Still need to make sounds for these things. I'm also working on redoing the Straker body, but progress is not shown in this photo. My aim is to get the verts down and give it more distinctive wheel wells.

I'm currently thinking of releasing a track with a few trucks as a public beta "sample", mostly because I've been posting these for two years and haven't released anything, and I think some of you have been wanting to try these out. Is this a good/bad idea?

On 3/21/2016 at 8:21 PM, DiggerFan said:

Some more progress on the old school projects...

Looks amazing as usual! Any plans to make BIGFOOT IV?

13 hours ago, Mark Colineri said:

What? No it doesn't.

I think NitrousInferno is referring to the reservoirs. The real truck has one next to each shock, whereas the RoR version doesn't. The reservoirs are also too large when compared to the real truck, and should be silver rather than gray. Otherwise, looks good.

Stunning

Thanks!

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I made new textures for my asphalt/concrete and dirt/mud tires, trying out new things with spec maps. It's always hard to capture lighting in a RoR screenshot, but the dirty/worn areas do not shine, while the rest do. It looks pretty realistic in movement. Also, an interesting note is that DiggerFan's crushable cars from the 1985 Indy track appear as vehicles in .4.5, so they can be spawned in any terrain.

I've also been working on baking all of the bodies, which I didn't do when I originally textured them. So far I have the Praxis trucks done, which can be seen in the last two photos. A lot of other miscellaneous parts have been modified and added.

Is this the logo you guys are talking about?

2 hours ago, fernBurn said:

Hope that helped a bit!

Thanks! Are you using .4.5?

3 hours ago, fernBurn said:

 

Did you do anything special/different to acheive the metallic blue? It looks really nice.

On 3/1/2014 at 1:23 PM, RockCrwlr said:

 

Do you have a non-baked tire texture that you wouldn't mind sharing?

Oh sh!t here we go, Fastrax, with the original body (the best one)! If you need help with the paint, let me know!

Wow, the bump mapping looks so nice.

Do these trucks use material files or managed materials in the .truck file? I'm not exactly sure what the difference is, but I think the later has a tendency to cause issues. I use only .material files and I've never had a spec map issue with any version of RoR, from .37 to .4.5.

2 hours ago, Mark Colineri said:

The power of the trucks changes when you move them to the new version, they pick up about 10 miles per hour in top speed, which is why we are working on new gearing for them in the newest version.

This is not true as I have explained in other posts:

1. Trucks are compatible with .37 and up provided they include all necessary files and have properly written material files. Every error I have seen has been because of incomplete and missing files (including white tires), which is down to trucks not being standalone.

2. The speed does not appear to actually be different. The difference you are seeing is .37 shows only the "car speed", while .4.5 shows "wheel" and "car speed". Observe both. For me, the car speed in .37 matches the wheel speed in .4.5., with the car speed being 3 MPH slower (e.g., 13 MPH in .37, 10 MPH in .4.5.1). It's logical to conclude that.37 is inaccurate because every version post .37  are exactly the same. I've done various tests with the same trucks and tracks in 3 different versions (.37, .39.5, .4.5.1) and they all had the same results. The best example I can give is I compared the same truck using the same large jump, and always landed in the same spot in all three versions. If there was truly a 10 MPH difference the results would have been quite different. If .4.5 feels different, it's likely because of the massive framerate improvement. The only difference I found was .37 either doesn't support, or has different code for anti-lock brakes.

I was planning on making a more detailed thread on this subject, but I'll just post here.

First, trucks are 100% compatible with ALL versions of RoR provided they were written and packaged correctly -- a lot here are NOT even if they claim to be standalone. In my opinion, it's best if everything is standalone and stays in a ZIP -- you will have a much cleaner library using this method.

An interesting (and important) .4.5 note is if a truck is missing files, it will still load whatever it can and let you use the truck rather than giving an error and crashing. That is, I've yet to see an error for a truck.

As for tracks, I have created a conversion tutorial.

The following is a post I made in another thread, and explains why anyone using .37 should switch to (literally) anything else:

I finally got .37 to install -- even though it warned it would remove .39.5, this time it didn't. Some thoughts:

It works, but not well. Performance and graphics are terrible. The GUI is an eyesore, and the menu relying on the mouse only to select content is a pain to navigate. I ran a test using the same truck and track for .37, .39.5, and .4.5.1 using the same graphics settings. Here are the average FPS I got (for a fairly demanding track of mine):

• .37: 73 FPS
• .39.5: 89 FPS
• .4.5.1: 125 FPS

This is a massive difference. .37 could not handle parts of the track with high-vert crush cars without dropping to around 50 FPS. While .39.5 and 4.5.1 also slow down, it's not noticeable and doesn't hamper playability. And the truck I'm using only has around 50,000 verts (which is about 100,000 less than some of the newer trucks here).

Appearance-wise things look off (originally made this content for .38+ so this isn't too surprising). However, trucks load correctly proving that if a truck is coded and packaged properly to be completely standalone, it will be compatible with ALL versions or RoR. Older content (like the V4 pack) either has incomplete material files or missing files resulting in errors. Simple as that.

Physics-wise, everything is the same -- even the speed. Some here have mentioned a 10 MPH difference but I'm not getting it. The ONLY difference I feel in the physics is the braking -- my trucks have anti-lock brakes, which do not seem to work in .37 as the trucks stop in a very harsh manner resulting in violent crashes.

In conclusion, .37 is vastly inferior to any newer version in every way. Some have mentioned it's better for online playing, but the performance has to be god-awful because using it in single player mode it quite a chore (and somewhat of an eyesore).

Hello,

This is a tutorial explaining the conversion process for the old and new terrain systems for Rigs of Rods 0.36-0.39 (.terrn) to 0.4 (.terrn2).

Introduction
The tracks (terrains) we typically use in this community are very simple when compared to traditional RoR ones -- ours are basically models (mesh files) of arenas or pieces of land floating on either:

• Nothing, which gives the illusion that you are driving in mid-air when outside of the arena/land

Or

• A small tiled texture (such as concrete, grass or dirt), which is what you typically see if you were to venture outside of an arena.

"Normal" terrains (for example: Desert Trails) use heightmap images which determine flat land, valleys, peaks, etc. Because our track system is typically so simple, it is not necessary to follow the full conversion process.

First, let's look at what makes up a terrain for 0.37-0.39 --> 0.4+ (all of these can be edited with any text editor, I prefer WordPad):

• terrn --> .terrn2: Every terrain needs this. This is what tells RoR there is a track to load -- it contains information such as the track name, spawn point position, object position, etc. This file system was replaced by a combination of both .terrn2 and  .tobj systems in versions .4.0 and up. These are likely all you will need to convert a basic track (read further).
• cfg --> .otc: Contains info for terrain texture, heightmaps, world sizes, how the texture gets tiled, etc. This file system was replaced by the .otc system in version .4.0 and up. It is not required for a terrain to function.
• os: This is the configuration file for the Caelum sky/weather, and is the same for all versions of RoR. It is also not a required file, especially if using a skybox model.
• odef and .material: Technically these are not part of the terrain system, but you will see them. Think of them as extensions for .mesh files (props) -- ODEF tells RoR whether a prop is collidable or not, and what the surface will be (for example: dirt, concrete, asphalt, metal etc). Material files simply contain information for the prop textures and tells RoR how to use a texture (for example: if an object should be shiny, flat, transparent etc). These two file systems are used in every version of RoR so no changes are needed.

The conversion
This is very easy and likely only requires the creation of two new files, YourTrack.terrn2 (basic info) and YourTrack.tobj (prop positions).

Let's start with the main terrain file. Let's assume you want to convert an existing track named Houston2016.terrn. Create a new text file and name it Houston2016.terrn2. Copy and paste the following:

[General]
Name = Your Track
GeometryConfig = YourTrack.otc
Water=0
AmbientColor = 1, 1, 1
//CaelumConfigFile = YourTrack.os
StartPosition = 512 0 512
SandStormCubeMap = tracks/skyboxcol
Gravity = -9.81
CategoryID = 129
Version = 2
GUID = dc178e9c-840d-443f-b249-434433ae5fd0

[Authors]
terrain = Your Name

[Objects]
YourTrack.tobj=

Replace all instances of "YourTrack" with the name of the terrain you wish to convert (for example: "YourTrack" to "Houston2016"), along with the name of the track and the author's name as follows:

[General]
Name = Houston 2016
GeometryConfig = houston2016.otc
Water=0
WaterLine=0
AmbientColor = 1, 1, 1
//CaelumConfigFile = houston2016.os
StartPosition = 512 101 512
SandStormCubeMap = tracks/skyboxcol
Gravity = -9.81
CategoryID = 129
Version = 2
GUID = dc178e9c-840d-443f-b249-434433ae5fd1

[Authors]
terrain = Helen Weales

[Objects]
houston2016.tobj=

Next, create a text file named Houston2016.tobj. This is the file that determines where your track props will be placed. Copy the following from the old Houston2016.terrn, and paste it in Houston2016.tobj:

To

If you want to alter the Caelum sky/weather settings (not required), the following is a template (an example of its filename would be "houston2016.os"):

caelum_sky_system Houston2016.terrn.os
{

    sun {
        ambient_multiplier 0.5 0.5 0.5
        diffuse_multiplier 3 3 2.7
        specular_multiplier 0.35 0.35 0.35

        auto_disable_threshold 0.05
        auto_disable true
    }

    moon {
        ambient_multiplier 0.2 0.2 0.2
        diffuse_multiplier 1 1 .9
        specular_multiplier 0.1 0.1 0.1

        auto_disable_threshold 0.05
        auto_disable true
    }

    sky_dome {
        haze_enabled no
        sky_gradients_image WhiteSky.png
        atmosphere_depth_image AtmosphereDepth.png
    }
}

Unfortunately I don't know anything about these settings, so alter at your own risk!

Something worth noting is the "StartPosition" line in the .terrn2 file. This controls where the first truck spawns. It's likely you will want to copy the first three set of numbers from the main model position coordinates (in the .tobj file). Alter as needed.

Place the new files in the track ZIP or folder (deletion of older files is not necessary and allows for the terrain to be compatible for all RoR versions). Next, open Rigs of Rods 0.4.5 and test the terrain to make sure everything works properly. That's it! A simple process that once learned, should only take a few minutes to complete.

One final note (not sure how to properly explain this so please bear with me): Your model must be COMPLETELY on or off the tiled portion of the world or else the part not on the tiled portion will be non-collidable. I don't know why this happens.

Once I figure out how to add mud I will update this tutorial. If anyone knows, please PM me.

Best of luck.

-HW

Regarding the speed, .37 only shows the "car speed", while .4.5 shows "wheel" and "car speed". For me, the car speed in .37 matches the wheel speed in .4.5., but the car speed is 3 MPH slower.

However, I believe they are actually moving at the same speed because I've compared jump results in both versions using the same truck/track combo, and they both land in the same spot every time.

I finally got .37 to install -- even though it warned it would remove .39.5, this time it didn't. Some thoughts:

It works, but not well. Performance and graphics are terrible. The GUI is an eyesore, and the menu relying on the mouse only to select content is a pain to navigate. I ran a test using the same truck and track for .37, .39.5, and .4.5.1 using the same graphics settings. Here are the average FPS I got (for a fairly demanding track of mine):

• .37: 73 FPS
• .39.5: 89 FPS
• .4.5.1: 125 FPS

This is a massive difference. .37 could not handle parts of the track with high-vert crush cars without dropping to around 50 FPS. While .39.5 and 4.5.1 also slow down, it's not noticeable and doesn't hamper playability. And the truck I'm using only has around 50,000 verts (which is about 100,000 less than some of the newer trucks here).

Appearance-wise things look off (originally made this content for .38+ so this isn't too surprising). However, trucks load correctly proving that if a truck is coded and packaged properly to be completely standalone, it will be compatible with ALL versions or RoR. Older content (like the V4 pack) either has incomplete material files or missing files resulting in errors. Simple as that.

Physics-wise, everything is the same -- even the speed. Some here have mentioned a 10 MPH difference but I'm not getting it. The ONLY difference I feel in the physics is the braking -- my trucks have anti-lock brakes, which do not seem to work in .37 as the trucks stop in a very harsh manner resulting in violent crashes.

In conclusion, .37 is vastly inferior to any newer version in every way. Some have mentioned it's better for online playing, but the performance has to be god-awful because using it in single player mode it quite a chore (and somewhat of an eyesore).

One trick I sometimes use for textures such as lights is to take an image such as this, and convert it to a vector (I use CorelDraw). When converting you have control over how much detail is included. This gives a nice balance between being too realistic and too painted (photos can look odd when the rest of the truck isn't photo textured although sometimes they look fine).