An honest attempt at a SRX Mod

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SprintRacer92

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Mar 9, 2020
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Every adventure must begin somewhere...

...And this one begins with no maps, compasses or guides

SRXcagecovered.JPG

I think the best way to kick a thread like this off is to set blunt expectations. I have no clue what I'm doing, and I am 100% learning on the fly. The model you see above is the first proper 3d model I've made 100% from scratch in blender in 5 years, I've not tested if I can even work models into nr2003 yet, nor do I have any plan for attacking the coding side of things when I get there.. I'm jumping into the pool of sharks and then learning to swim, and that's how this thread will play out. I'm gonna be upfront when I say not to expect much from this project, I have full intentions to make a mod, but time will tell if I have the skill to do it right. I want an SRX mod, so I'm going to do it myself.

SRXbody1.JPG

Alright, now that the bluntness is out of the way, lets talk goals. Ill be honest, I'm not aiming for 100% 1:1 accuracy, I do want a little but of wiggle room. I'm sure by now you might have noticed things like the X grill aren't there. Instead of going for a fleshed out 3d model, I'm using the aero88 approach where ill let the template do most of the talking. That's not to say ill have a low-poly model, but more of a model without tons of inlets and edges. The end goal is simply to have a functional mod, I'm not looking to break boundaries or impress, just a nice mod with decent models and damage and the like.

I'm confident in my modeling ability, though I'm worried about nr2003's poly limit. I do not know the hard limit, but I've heard talk of 1K vertices and 2K faces being the tipping point, however, I have read the work around to be kind of simple. I'm sure someone can correct me, but my plan is to separate segments of the car into different objects, them merge them into one scene later on... Kind of like how I've done the Cage and the Shell so far. Again, I'm learning on the fly, so any help or input is very much appreciated.

SRXcage.JPG

Here's to the beginning of this hopefully soon-to-be mod...
 

Andle

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wow, I wish you luck on this endeavor, I have dipped my hand in 3d modeling in solidworks. If i can get my hands on a solidworks license, I would try to make a mod myself. I'm excited to see where you end up with this, and I hope I can learn a couple things along the way.
 

Mystical

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Looking good so far. For the front body nose section you could remove several of those edges and still make it look smooth with normals smoothing. Poly count looks pretty low so might not have to but any way to optimize really right at the start helps in NR2003 becasue its such an old game. Sadly can't handle higher poly count models which is child's play in most games these days.
 

SprintRacer92

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Mar 9, 2020
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Perfecting the cage...

I
wasn't exactly satisficed with the roll cage as it were, so decided to step back and perfect it. I managed to not only get it closer to the real life SRX Cage (Relatively), but I was able to bring it from 850ish verts to 712 Verts. I might add/change more on it later, but for now I'm much happier with the results. And I have a version with the front and rear clip separated for easier tweaking if need be!

Old on left, New on right.
Overhead.JPGSidecompare.JPG
CompareFullish.png

Looking good so far. For the front body nose section you could remove several of those edges and still make it look smooth with normals smoothing. Poly count looks pretty low so might not have to but any way to optimize really right at the start helps in NR2003 becasue its such an old game. Sadly can't handle higher poly count models which is child's play in most games these days.
Thank you! Ill defiantly be removing some more poly along the road, and I plan on doing a full shakedown to catch useless tri's before I even consider moving to code. Less is more...
 

SprintRacer92

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Mar 9, 2020
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Untimely Update Post 1​

showcase69.PNG

Whats poppin...​


So I'm sure you've noticed by now, I haven't updated the thread until now... right after the first race. Long of the short, I put the project to the side until I was able to get more reference photos, hell, I didn't even know what the incar looked like in full until yesterday. And holy crap, I'm glad I did wait. I'm waaay off, like, badly. As you can see in the image above, I've done a few things.

-Lengthened the top-half of the rear panel
-Added the lower half of the rear panel
-Removed wheel-wells
-Narrowed out the fuel cell
-began rear-bumper. (Yes I know its clipping, I ran out of free time today :< )

I'm going to need to mess with the cage again, mainly the drivers area and narrow the rear clip. Actually, I'm going to have to narrow everything down. I'm considering just redoing the cage infull again rather than tweak it... but we will see how it pans out. On the topic of tweaking, the rear window will need to also be redone, but again, I ran out of time today.

As for some good news...​


update.PNG

I finally managed to get 3dsmax8 working properly. I know this may not seem much, but I was having some major issues with uhhh... the acquisition of a working key, to put it one way. For a long while, I only had the 30day trial. Now, I can finally say I have 90% of the mod tools I need in working order, so that's a nice check off the old list.

In any case, ill close out by saying this: Don't expect frequent updates. Normally I don't do anything for weeks, then jam out a months worth in one sitting. This is defiantly gonna be one of those deals. Either way, thank you for reading this far, and I hope all of you have a good day!
 

SprintRacer92

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Mar 9, 2020
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Caged In...​

NewCage1.PNGNewCage2.PNGNewVOld.PNG
New on left, old on right


I said I would toss the idea around about redoing the cage entirely, and here we are about 8 hours later. I'm finally happy with the cage, I think it looks quite OK, especially compared to the last abomination against modeling. Would you believe it not only looks better, but has about 250 less tri's? Its also more accurate to boot, a true win-win.

Here's a quick table to compare cage stats
Roll CageOldNew
Verts712558
Faces580418
Tri's1160858
 

DaleTona

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Aug 16, 2016
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I guess I'm not part of the problem then :p I personally like them both. Also TBF, for as silly as the COT might have looked, the racing wasn't awful, as good if not better than most of the Gen 6 that's for sure. The blocky design also meant aero fuckery wasn't as much of a thing as it is with the highly sculpted and detailed bodywork of the gen 6.

Personally I don't mind having less manufacture identity if it means better on track racing. The cars looking like their street counterparts worked during the 70's and 80's because they had the aero properties of a brick, and that philosophy doesn't work with the highly streamlined aero efficient bodies of modern road cars.
 

psugorilla

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Jul 19, 2016
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I bashed that car to no end. Safety enhancements aside as I greatly applauded those, the car itself was a piece of junk. And most drivers hated it. That said, in 11 I think it was, when they went back to the spoiler and then filled in the lower front air dam, those cars were o much better looking and I rather enjoyed them. And the racing was better than the original COT was too.

However I have not bashed the SRX cars because they were never built to represent any manufacturer. They are unique to their series and while boxy as hell they're kinda cool in a way too.

Your mod attempt here is looking fantastic so far and I applaud your efforts. It will be fun and exciting release eventually. Keep up the outstanding work
 

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