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Mystical

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I am loving this , have been wanting to learn to do this myself if I can help let me know

The real quick breakdown of how I did it:
1) In Blender 2.8 (my 3d program of choice) make a body, windows, tires, and chassis/interior. Then I use 3D Coat (but you can use Blender) to unwrap and create basic UV's
2) Exported my models as OBJ files to 3ds max 8 which has the PAS plugin.
3. Following the video from Burnout make sure the Unit measurements in 3ds max are in meters
4) Make sure the car and models are in the center of the grid, then if you need to clean up the normals use smoothing groups (reset X form on every model as well)
5) After tires are positioned copy them to the center of the grid and rotate by 90 degrees
6) Name each car part to your corresponding car part (example windows you would call the obj 'window' and the body 'body' or 'body0' (if making 4 makes
7) Create a box around the entire car and tires (bounding box) and called is 'bbox'
8) Create the 4 textures shaders in the material editor (window, body, chassis, tires) In Burnouts vid he shows the correct specular and gloss levels to set, once they are made group the textures in a sub group and assign each models material # to the corresponding texture # (for example body is 1 set materiel ID to 1) The textures you can just use the default BMP cup ones until you make your own
9) Export the scene as a PAS
10) As shown in Burnouts video use the default make_a.psg script open it up add in your model names and stuff for the exterior section along with the coordinates for the wheel position of the X. Y. and Z positions
11) Using a created bat file run the make a 3do tool which will take your psg and PAS model files and spit out a make_a.3do
12) In the psg script then make the output file to be make_a_ui (UI is what you see in the player info and opponent manager section)

And thats pretty much the basics. You just have a new series folder that is named to your series and have the cup DAT file extracted and copy over with your custom make_a 3do files along with any custom mips if you replace the textures. As far as tools go you get pretty much everything from Burnout's links in the video description and you own image editing/3d model tool. The only big thing is 3ds max 8 or older that works with the plugin


Cosmin invited me to his discord and there are some long videos in there where he shows things like damage and LOD's. I don't want to post those without permission since its a invite community though.
 
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Mystical

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Additional testing: To add extra objects to a mod its quite simple. You just have to add extra lines in the script to define the new object names found in the 3ds max file. As long as the object is named correctlly and added to the group with the new texture names assigned with a new material ID # it works good. The name of the object you make doesn't matter either, I called the yellow object 'dome' and it worked fine, its doesn't have to related to a car part name at all. For this test I added a yellow cylinder to the top of the roof:

0mHwj9F.jpg


So I now know that I can make as many pieces of a car I need so no one object goes over the 1000 poly limit. This is pretty much how all those great detailed mods over the years have such high poly overall. Its similar to the trick I did on my tracks with complex 3do's where I would split them up and piece them back together in sandbox.

I think now I am going to try and test lods, damage, and possibly roof flaps .. the harder stuff lol
 

garrett1127

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You sir are much smarter than I, hope you get all the knowledge and someday make a primer or vid for us to follow so some of us who want to create a mod don't struggle as much. I'll be checking this thread on a regular basis, great start on figuring out this stuff.
I went ahead and stuck this thread up top.
 

Mystical

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When you get to the damage model here is a script for the make_ a_pieces

Thanks, I've been getting help from Cosmin and he did it a bit different way (using keyframes) so I've been trying to do it in a similar method as well.

EDIT: I have sucessfully done car damage to my mod. I'll post pics when I get more time. Its nothing spectacular looking but the damage works and is pretty cool to see for the first time.
 
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Mystical

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The blue box test car mod now has damage:
k9aNJdE.jpg


Also a vid showing damage in real time:

Was just testing the damage and the entire backend actually fell off which was cool, I didn't make any interior hence why the car would be invisible in the middle.

As far as LOD's go that is just decimated the poly count on the higher res model and then connecting it in the script as a LOD Switch state which then determines when the lower and higher res models appear according to distance of the player car.

I'm going to try and tackle roof flaps now. After that I really don't think there is much left outside of testing could provide before I'd decide to just making a real car mod. The interior part I've not edited yet but I think it will be the same where I just make new meshes and set them up. As far as the gauges go I'd have to look into if its any harder than just some mip replacements.
 

Mystical

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Armory Digital Cup Series mod incoming?

If I was to make a 'real' mod it wouldn't be built from this one. This is just all raw testing to see if I can get custom models/textures and scripts to do what a mod should be doing. So far its been going well. Since last Friday I went from not knowing much re-watching Burnout's tutorial again and getting help from Cosmin to a custom car model in game with damage 6 days later. The good thing though from this is I can take the script I made and use it as a template for any future mod(s) I make since the underlying stuff doesn't change much (like every car mod will have lods, damage, roof flaps, etc. It just comes down to adding new values and declaring any different mesh names. I also have my pipeline for workflow mostly down having run through this test process so I know how to get my models and textures in the game quickly.

I am planning to release this 'mod' so if others want to use it as an example they can see the raw files and script. If I have time I'd like to make a video series on how to make a basic mod as well.

So to answer your question: I would like to make a personal mod, I have a vision of what I'd like to make. I don't usually publicly show progress on mods I make for game but I am thinking of being more open on this once since it could use some input possibly but we will see. I'd make a new thread for something like that in the future when that time comes. I don't want to clutter this tutorial thread with that though.
 

DaleTona

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If I was to make a 'real' mod it wouldn't be built from this one. This is just all raw testing to see if I can get custom models/textures and scripts to do what a mod should be doing. So far its been going well. Since last Friday I went from not knowing much re-watching Burnout's tutorial again and getting help from Cosmin to a custom car model in game with damage 6 days later. The good thing though from this is I can take the script I made and use it as a template for any future mod(s) I make since the underlying stuff doesn't change much (like every car mod will have lods, damage, roof flaps, etc. It just comes down to adding new values and declaring any different mesh names. I also have my pipeline for workflow mostly down having run through this test process so I know how to get my models and textures in the game quickly.

I am planning to release this 'mod' so if others want to use it as an example they can see the raw files and script. If I have time I'd like to make a video series on how to make a basic mod as well.

So to answer your question: I would like to make a personal mod, I have a vision of what I'd like to make. I don't usually publicly show progress on mods I make for game but I am thinking of being more open on this once since it could use some input possibly but we will see. I'd make a new thread for something like that in the future when that time comes. I don't want to clutter this tutorial thread with that though.

I would love a basic "how to" series. I feel one of the main reasons behind the lack of NR2003 mods (aside from being a finnicky, outdated 15 y/o game) is that you pretty much have to dig through fort knox in order to find answers. I'm glad more information is being exposed to the public.
 

Mystical

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I would love a basic "how to" series. I feel one of the main reasons behind the lack of NR2003 mods (aside from being a finnicky, outdated 15 y/o game) is that you pretty much have to dig through fort knox in order to find answers. I'm glad more information is being exposed to the public.

Yeah The Pits has had the files and some pdf files of tutorials and I've read them in the past. The main issue though is its very hard to look at a script and then go into a complex program like 3DS Max and just know how to set everything up and export a proper PAS file that you then know how to write the script to connect all the dots. A video really helps and until Burnout's video from last year I really don't think we ever got to see it in action like other things such as painting and track making were made into tutorial form several times. Talking with Cosmin he said even the Rockstar files were not enough and having Nisbet 3do Tutorial files put the pieces together more. Even after that I needed to see Burnout's video and then the few videos Cosmin had to really get the larger picture.

Now on the flipside, a tutorial can only go so far, you cant help those who don't want to be helped. I have tried countless times in the past to get the community motivated in track making and very few if any would bite. Everyone wants new tracks becasue the old guard is leaving (I think by now they have left) and getting tired, its why you never see any new Nascar tracks and as far as I go I don't care to make real tracks really, Yas Marina was a 1 time deal for me (I won't lie I made the track becasue it looked pretty and the 3do's were a fun challenge for me). I prefer to make fictional stuff and I'm not the filler to make and update real Nascar tracks. We need other passionate players in the community to take up that mantle.

So we end up with no new content becasue those left don't want to learn even if they want like a track for example really bad. I mean for my UIE 2013 mod I had no direction, all I had was a lyt editor tool some guy in Germany made and the command line was in German. I had to translate that and build the UI mod without any idea what the values in the lyt files did, so a tutorial is not always necessary but I would never disagree that it wouldn't be helpful. Tutorials are a great way to get those who are motivated to see it through the jumpstart they need. If people are looking for step by step stuff that won't help you though because you will run into issues, have to make design choices, and just copying the same thing doesn't create any original content.

Hopefully with car mods being more revealed those who want like a 2020 Cup, Xfinity, and Track mods will be able to do it. Only time will tell.
 

Mystical

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I got the custom flaps working:
xqNXk8a.jpg

7TWDJGq.jpg


Video: https://streamable.com/4eh5b

They are yellow on purose so I could see them in action. I think as far as textures go you pretty muhc place the flaps UV's in the same exact spot the hood/roof textures would be so when they apear they appear like that part of the roof/hoo is moving and under it have a fake flap mesh that looks like the grey interior. The flaps only appear when they need to be activated and go away afterwards.

I think other than making backfire effect work that concludes any exterior stuff for the most part I believe.

Also one thing about the flaps, the original cup mod that comes with NR2003 doesn't have flaps for the hood. I can place them anywhere I want so if I wanted a flap like on the decklid, front of the car, or back or wherever you can pretty much do it. I just made 2 sets of flaps in this case as the new cars have them.
 

Mystical

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Yeah they were just on the roof. I went to go check after I made mine to see where they were placed.
 
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Mystical

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I didn't realize this but a year ago Cosmin had a thread at SRD about helping with mods: http://www.simracingdesign.com/threads/nr2003-modding-help-tech-support.67342/

In there he publicly linked the videos I saw in his discord so I will link them here. They show lods and damage process. They are not a step by step tutorial series though and very long. But I watched them both all the way through taking in as much info as I could, which did help me make the above test mod:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ_QgKFBVBI&feature=emb_logo


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11520&v=60JFbwlbuio&feature=emb_logo


I still like to make a comprehensive tutorial series if I have time that can over all the core stuff but if anyone is wanting to achieve the same level of mod I've been doing its very possible with all of the above for sure.
 

martinrace

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Ya he has these pined on his Discord did you happen to get the files that he had on the server for download I can't seem to find them
 
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