rFactor Track Conversion - F1 2010 Codemasters Istanbul Park

The Istanbul Park Circuit is done. Here are some details about the conversion and the track itself:

• Tirewalls I have seen to be a common issue in the conversion as they take really a big chunk of the tracks file size so in short, only a selection of tirewalls again are present.
• This track had a really bad road mapping so it forced me to fix it. So this would be my first try in fixing the texture through mapping correction so try to spot the difference from the previous tracks with this one.
• The CAM file should work properly now with regard to the listener sound. (Thanks to "khan1670" from F1 Classic forums)

rFactor Track Conversion - F1 2010 Codemasters Circuit de Catalunya

Circuit de Catalunya conversion is done. 

Now, I just want to tell everybody that all of my conversions are basically to ensure they work with rFactor. Texture updates, solutions for a better looking track, etc. are not included as of the moment as for the first pass of the Codemaster's tracks is basically to convert them and make them work in rFactor. The rest will be done on the second pass.

By the way, this is my first conversion where in nothing was changed and all objects were included coming from the conversion. Of course, as usual there was some holes again on the track but was easily patched using 3DS Max. 

Just to let you know, I'm kinda excited for the second pass as I am really learning a lot on how to use the 3DS Max program... Since I use that program to resolve some issues on the conversion, I am kinda learning also how to render a certain object correctly and if I can apply that to the conversion I am working on, I might be able to resolve the texture issues. Anyway, that project will for sure take a while but I am up for it. Learning to manipulate 3D objects in 3DS Max makes me feel there is a lot of opportunities I can do if I get to master it.

Anyway, here are some preview pictures and the download link.

rFactor Track Conversion - F1 2010 Codemasters Shanghai International Circuit

The Shanghai International Circuit is done but here is some things you need to know:

• The conversion was 166 MB big due to a certain object... Tirewalls... Due to the number of Tirewalls surrounding the track (about 1,400 plus objects to be exact which each object has a file size of 374 kb), I think the gmotor engine just told me the limit of its rendering power... Anyway, in short, there is only a selection of tirewalls chosen to complete the track. Don't worry, there might be a solution for it but I won't be doing it now so on my second pass, I'll see what I can do...
• The Umbrella object - this object has been removed as for me it just looks inappropriate... Maybe in rFactor 2 it would be okay where there is rain...
• As usual, audiences, marshalls, etc. are not yet implemented... On a side note, has anyone tried like a cardboard pit team... Like Martin Whitmarsh and his engineers on the pitwall... Hmmmm...
• With regards to the CAM file, as I am still learning how to perfect it, there is still some issues with the sound. So if anyone out there can teach me how to fix that, it would be very much appreciated.

Anyway, that should be it and below are the preview pics and download links.

rFactor Track Conversion - F1 2010 Codemasters Sepang International Circuit

So far, one of the easiest track conversion but it did not come without challenges as there was a freaking hole in the track... Anyway that's fixed for sure but for this track conversion I am going to have to revisit it (maybe after all tracks have been converted) as there are some details left out (i.e. audiences and marshalls, in need of texture updating, sponsor texture update, etc.).

Anyway, lets move on so below are previews and the download link:

rFactor Misc - Starting Grid Editing (Part 2)

Under the "UserData" folder is your Player folder which all of your racing and setup information (i.e. race, championship, controller setup, etc.) are located. Under your Player folder is a file with an extension name called ".CCH". This file stores all of your championship information from points, race wins, pole positions, and most important of all (well, for the grid editing anyway) is the "current qualifying order" of your championship race.

Lets try to break down the CCH file further just out of curiosity. The file consists I believe of three parts;

1. Career
2. Career Season
3. Player Track Stats

Under "Career" looks to hold information with regards to basic details like experience, money, what mod is being used, wins, poles, number of lap records, etc. In "Career Season", it gives us specific details on the current championship you are running like name of the championship, race conditions, game options/rules, race session, current race, etc. And lastly "Player Track Stats", which basically is your lap records for each track you have ran on.

rFactor Track Conversion - F1 2010 Codemasters Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit

My F1 2010 conversion of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit for rFactor is done. In a way I guess... Well, I'll give this one a beta release as I still can't figure out why some of the objects are not coming up.

Anyway, for this release, I have figured out how to get all of the objects coming from the F1 2010 pssg files to work in rFactor... So this track is a bit big ( 100 MB plus big :) ) but surprisingly okay on the FPS side. It surprised me a lot as lowering the gmt's LOD's did the trick.

Well, enough of my rant's :) ... Below are the preview pics plus download link

rFactor Track Conversion - F1 2010 Codemasters BIC Endurance Configuration

I stopped everything when I got my copy of Codemaster's F1 2010... Not because its the best F1 game ever but because of the possibilities it was going to offer me...

So from my last blog which was from November 9 up to today, I have been working day and night converting tracks and basically also learning how to do it. Tough task but I saw in an rfactor league forum in where a modder proudly said that it only took him 2 days to do it so that inspired me. I can also proudly say now that I to can convert those tracks not in a 2 day span though, but I guess a week as I have learned a lot from consolidating textures, correcting mipmap levels, smoothing groups, reducing vertices, LOD assigning, object tagging, etc.

I guess that's all the rants I can give out after a month of converting as needless to say, I guess this specific entry of mine has been updated quite so often... Anyway, on to the track...

So here's the thing, I was able to convert the track (Bahrain International Circuit - Endurance Configuration) in all its purity but when it got down to racing on it, it was horse crap. FPS was either 1 or stops, so that's when all my work started. Now, after researching and understanding how the gmotor works, this track on a test day can run more than a 100 FPS and 60 to 70 FPS minimum on a race day.

So here are some of the interesting things I did on the track and also some noteables:

• Flattened some of the significant rumble strips as AI's tend to flip over when driven on
• Decreased the number of objects on the track as to increase FPS for better racing
• Since I am focused mostly on offline racing, I placed also my signature Individual Pit Slot format
• AIW and Cam files created from scratch (ofcourse)

I would like to say also that I respect all the modders out there and also the game developers as without them, we wouldn't have a game to play plus great enhancements. So, I say to all who would download this track, this is just a conversion and due to fps issues, other objects of the track comes from prominent track creations.

Okay, with that out of the way, here are some preview pics and below is the download link.