BRE Datsun 240Z released for Racer (update)

[Justin Martin]

Here it is, the beta version of my 1970 BRE Datsun 240Z. As it's a beta, i'm interested in any bugs it has, or any constructive critism, expecially about the car.ini. Read below for more info on why it's a beta.

Also, on my webpage is a arcade style car.ini that makes the car handle similarly to a NFSHS or MM2 car, (I don't like arcade physics either, but I was bored and curious how to make an arcade style Pacejka) and a plain texture for those of you who want to make your own paint jobs.

So please stampeed in a nice, calm, orderly fashion to http://pitstop.totalnfs.net


Here's why it's a beta....

car.ini - i've been messing with this for a couple of months, i've finally just decided that in order for me to progress any further, I need to get other people's opinions. I don't have a whole lot of real data on the car, spring rates, arb stiffness, etc are just guessed. Pacejka is probably just a bit too much like a street tire, (this car should have slicks) but again, I want opinions on that.

dashboard textures - the dash textures are nothing more than my 256x256 NFSHS street 240Z dash resized to 512x512 with new guage textures. I couldn't find a good pic to use for a tach guage, so I just popped the texture from my external tach into the dash. It's good enough for now.

body mesh - a few normals need to be tweaked, mainly around the front spoiler. I've really concentrated on normals on my Porsche 914, and i'm pleased with the results, so some of that knowledge will be extended back to the BRE. Also, you may find a couple of areas where the mesh is a bit too "sharp", this is a remanent of the original mesh being optimized for NFSHS's slow poke rendering engine. I've already added over 500 polys to the body fixing such areas, the could that are left aren't that noticable except from certain angles. The total poly count for all parts is a bit over 4500.

body textures - If I had to do it over again, I would have done the main texture at 1024x1024. 512 just isn't as good. I might redo them at higher rez in the future, if I feel like it. But it's alot of work.

taillights - the taillights glow the same way SCGT taillights glow, basically a red semi-transparant mesh in the shape of a glow. Mine still need some work. You'll see what I mean in the game in the chase view, it's not quite perfect yet.

[Georg]

great car man

[Dylan]

bout time

im getting my new computer tonight so i will wait till then to get it.

EDIT: what track is that?

[MattB]

great work justin

[Justin Martin]

Heh, that's a common question. Both tracks are available at http://linuxracer.racesim.net/ - the top one is Carlswood, the bottom is Monoco.

[Aussie Muscle]

originally posted by IH8COPS; "it's not quite perfect yet."

yeah, that's just what i expect from you

[Remko]

Let's hope I'll be back to running games soon, then Racer will be first on my download list. (yea I know, I've said that before. )

[Justin Martin]

Update, there were a few problems in the car.ini and views.ini that people on the Racer board told me about, so i've attached updated versions of those two files to this post for you to try out. Here's what I changed....

added all the stuff for 0.5b support (clutch, handbrake, etc)
fixed pacejka so that car doesn't rotate when sitting still (changed a0 from 1.25 to 1.4)
moved guages from upper right corner to lower right corner
increased the x axis inertia slightly (I thought the car was a bit too quick to react, expecially compared to SCGT cars)
made the front arb slightly stiffer (to reduce oversteer slightly)
changed the chase cam view (cam 1)

I've also done a few body and texture changes, I redid the normals on the front spoiler and mapped the window trim to a texture. I am still trying to get the wheel centers fixed, and I haven't started on a new dash texture.

[Dylan]

i had a problem with the wheels not showing up but its proberly at my end if no one else had the problem

[Justin Martin]

Strange, what version of Racer are you running? Is there a generic dark grey wheel in place of the real wheels, or just no wheels at all?

[Dylan]

im using 0.49

[Dylan]

i just reinstalled it and it seems to be fine

Edit: I figured out the problem, its your arcade car.ini, with it the break lights dont work, the steering wheel goes and the wheels go

[Justin Martin]

Ahh, i'll have to fix those probs. BTW, what do you think of the arcad handling? Easy enough to drive?

[Dylan]

yeah its good, it doesnt spin every time you go through a coner with the throttle open

[monaro]

my racer crashes when i try to select it, the car doesn't show and it says error in racer.exe, i am using v0.49