rec.autos.simulators

When close-up then the RH car-shapes are being used and when far-away
then the default F1 2002 car-shapes are used. Is there a way I can
make the RH car-set 'shapes' to be used even when viewing from a distance
as I don't like the look of the cars changing shape :-(

ps. good way to see this is go into instant-replay and use the 'free-
point' camera. Point it on the car from the side and above and then just
zoom-in and zoom-out. You can clearly see the 3D-model switching between
the 2 car sets.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

--
Regards,
David Mocnay

This is what we refer to as LOD or Level of Detail switching.  The issue is
that although RH, Bobi, et al did a great job with the textures and shapes,
the crew didn't bother to do poly reduction to create a smooth LOD switch
from their updated shapes.  You don't really notice this in the original
game because ISI did a good job of poly reduction that is not too noticable.

Now, to answer your question "how do I keep it from happening".  The LOD
switches are scripted by a text file called f1car.gen which you will find in
your vehicles folder.  There is a second gen file f1carRH02.gen which also
controls some of these switches.  If you open the files in notepad you'll
see a big mess of stuff.  There are virtual distance parameters, 3d mesh
names/calls etc, etc.

To actually increase the LOD switch distance you have to find the lines
under the MAX heading that say:

<MAX>    MeshFile=<1234>va.MTS CollTarget=False HATTarget=False LODIn=(0.0)
LODOut=(7.0)
<MAX>    MeshFile=<1234>vb.MTS CollTarget=False HATTarget=False LODIn=(7.0)
LODOut=(10.0)
<MAX>    MeshFile=<1234>vc.MTS CollTarget=False HATTarget=False LODIn=(10.0)
LODOut=(20.0)
<MAX>    MeshFile=<1234>vd.MTS CollTarget=False HATTarget=False LODIn=(20.0)
LODOut=(250.0)
<MAX>    MeshFile=<1234>vs.MTS CollTarget=False HATTarget=False
ShadowObject=True LODIn=(0.0) LODOut=(40.0)

the <1234>va.MTS file is the high detail one you think is so pretty.  If you
change the LODOut setting for the va.MTS to around 20, and proportionately
change the other LODs, I think it will give you the result you're looking
for.  Once you do this, you'll need to edit these same lines for EVERY
heading in the gen files.  wing, rftire, lftire, body, yourmom, etc.  it's a
lot of work and a lot of trial and error.

Be warned, though!!  If you do this, your FPS will drop dramatically as the
engine will be drawing many more polygons for each car further in the
distance.

The community thanks you for doing this work though, as we would all like
good looking high detail models.  Post your work in some forum like
www.simbin.com and you'll be a hero.

Good luck!!

Eric Boosman
Art Director
SimBin Development Team
[SBDT]