Revamping the game graphics?

[Stunod]

I have a question for all those that may know, as I am far from a pro here but someone in here is!

Graphics?

I know that there are texture files that we have in game that we can update and clean up but what would it take to do a massive graphic overhaul here? Do we need to increase the file sizes and or make them a higher resolution? Does the texture map not allow this for some reason. With as much as we have done to this game…. it would be great to see an update in the graphics compared to today’s games!

Just food for thought lol.

 

[garrett1127]

There are 4096 x 4096 templates made for the FCRD22 mod, but using them makes the game crash.

 

[psugorilla]

Yeah we had 4096 templates for the default models too at one point. Mayo Racing Designs I think were the ones who made those. Heck, I may still have them on an old backup CDrom somewhere. But the game wasn't meant to run such high resolution graphics.
The game was designed on a single core processor while today's computers have lots of processor cores. So there is a limit to what can be improved.
I would assume that if someone took the time to breakdown, back engineer the source code of the game that new lines of code could be written to allow for multi-core processing and even getting it to work with much higher poly models and HD textures. I don't really know how all of that works so I am just speculating.
Right now the 2048 templates seem to be the best we can squeeze in and some of the newer mods push past the 2000 poly limit on the models which are rather taxing on most systems. We can do the graphic tweaks to clean up the blurriness at some tracks. We can run the 4gb patch (I can't. my system is a 32bit pc) we can use reshade and create new shiny mips and a few other things related to lighting. But at some point there is a wall that simply can't be crossed without reverse engineering the game itself

 

[readytowrestle]

I think using less saturated colors is better than heading in the higher resolution direction.

 

[Lastlap]

IMO it's not just resolution that can improve the game.

It comes down to texture quality... some graininess/noise with colours that use saturation that don't appear too cartoonish.

 

[Mystical]

The game would need to support PBR materials which would include normal, displacement, and roughness mapping that render real-world realism textures. Also having real-time HDR lighting where shadows and ambient occlusion can be shaded on objects would significantly improve the graphics. NR2003 only supports albedo color and specular mapping with basic environment cube maps so the game is very limited.

Of course there are things like reshade which injects itself into the game and acts as a middle man to rendered view the player sees adjusting the output of lighting and shading but still can only go so far with the basic textures and models the game supports.

Even if all that were possible NR2003 would need to be re-coded to support more than one CPU, the game can easily crash with the low-poly models on a large track with a semi-detailed mod full field set of cars.

 

[Rollo75]

The climb from 512x512 to 4096x4096 is not a mere 8x but 64x the amount of packet size.

Adding together values which a 64x in length is going to cause stack overruns. Hence:

There are 4096 x 4096 templates made for the FCRD22 mod, but using them makes the game crash.

I think that 1024x1024 is fine for all practical applications and it's absolutely brilliant from code which was written to what amounts to WXGA.
Heck, colour telly didn't arrive at my house until 1986; so I think that 576p is pretty dang neat.

Ultimately that base code was written for X polygons at X colours at X resolution.

But at some point there is a wall that simply can't be crossed without reverse engineering the game itself

+1 this.

 

[Zak103tv]

There are 4096 x 4096 templates made for the FCRD22 mod, but using them makes the game crash.

woah, thats a big file

 

[psugorilla]

The game would need to support PBR materials which would include normal, displacement, and roughness mapping that render real-world realism textures. Also having real-time HDR lighting where shadows and ambient occlusion can be shaded on objects would significantly improve the graphics. NR2003 only supports albedo color and specular mapping with basic environment cube maps so the game is very limited.

Of course there are things like reshade which injects itself into the game and acts as a middle man to rendered view the player sees adjusting the output of lighting and shading but still can only go so far with the basic textures and models the game supports.

Even if all that were possible NR2003 would need to be re-coded to support more than one CPU, the game can easily crash with the low-poly models on a large track with a semi-detailed mod full field set of cars.

What about increasing the resolution/details in the specular map? Would that be possible? Especially for something like night tracks where the lights reflecting on the cars is a rather weak area. I have always wondered about getting more of the shiny light reflections swooping over the cars sharper, brighter and faster more like they do in real life over the glossy paint schemes of the past.

One thing I have always wished we could pull off, and I know this game can't do it, is to somehow have some code built into the car files that tell the game to render the lighting in a specific way so that a car like Furniture Row could be a true matte finish while say a Jeff Gordon car could be glossy. Or along the same lines, get the game to render a more vibrant environment withing the "reflections on cars from....everything" in a way that generates a more convincing Chrome effect. Again I understand the game isn't built that way but it's a bit of a wishlist item.

 

[Mystical]

The specular map can be a different resolution or texture map per object when the object is built or replacing the existing textures that NR2003 references:


The main thing is NR2003 only deals with super simple maps that revolve around an object so its not going to be hyper realistic. You can make a matte finish for a car, however you can't do it on a per car basis. The mod when created has a specific glossiness level depending on the specular map used and the settings inside 3ds max when the file is output to compile it:

 

[Kevmire]

What about increasing the resolution/details in the specular map? Would that be possible? Especially for something like night tracks where the lights reflecting on the cars is a rather weak area. I have always wondered about getting more of the shiny light reflections swooping over the cars sharper, brighter and faster more like they do in real life over the glossy paint schemes of the past.

One thing I have always wished we could pull off, and I know this game can't do it, is to somehow have some code built into the car files that tell the game to render the lighting in a specific way so that a car like Furniture Row could be a true matte finish while say a Jeff Gordon car could be glossy. Or along the same lines, get the game to render a more vibrant environment withing the "reflections on cars from....everything" in a way that generates a more convincing Chrome effect. Again I understand the game isn't built that way but it's a bit of a wishlist item.

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure @Slipster17 completed a few schemes where he layered the base layers to get the desired effect. I think he did a John Andretti for the Cup98 mod with the purple nose.

 

[Lastlap]

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure @Slipster17 completed a few schemes where he layered the base layers to get the desired effect. I think he did a John Andretti for the Cup98 mod with the purple nose.

That was for colour shift (chrome illusion) style paint. I think @psugorilla is talking vinyl wrap/matte vs paint/gloss etc

 

[psugorilla]

That was for colour shift (chrome illusion) style paint. I think @psugorilla is talking vinyl wrap/matte vs paint/gloss etc

Exactly. Look at the old #78 Furniture Row cars or the current Monster cars. It's a matte/flat black finish but with the way the game uses the lighting those cars just get a bit of a gray tone and are still "shiny" as if they're glossy or clear coated. Most cars nowdays are using a satin or even a Matte overlaminate on the vinyl for their wraps. So it diffuses the light more and gives off that less glossy look.
What I was referencing was a wish that we could somehow set the game up with a way to differentiate the Matte look vs the Glossy look. I'm sure with some of the modern rendering types like Mystical mentioned that could be achieved but again that would require re-writing the games code and at that point you might as well just build a whole new game.

 

[psugorilla]

The specular map can be a different resolution or texture map per object when the object is built or replacing the existing textures that NR2003 references:
View attachment 148973

The main thing is NR2003 only deals with super simple maps that revolve around an object so its not going to be hyper realistic. You can make a matte finish for a car, however you can't do it on a per car basis. The mod when created has a specific glossiness level depending on the specular map used and the settings inside 3ds max when the file is output to compile it:
View attachment 148974

Thanks for that. Makes sense