Just a "note" to all of you who don't do graphic work in racing
sims......"Light-Maps" might be something you don't know about (they are
somewhat knew....especially in Papy sims).
First of all.....N2K2 uses them a lot. But, you may not notice it too much
unless you do a lot of graphics work (or if you run N2K2 in
OGL...obviously)....because Papy was pretty lazy about using them. For the
most part, they only used them to place object shadows.....and did very
little "light texturing" with them. I'm still learning about
light-maps....and developing a technique for using them to create more
realistic texture shading.....I hope I'll get better at it over time. Its
very tedious....but looks great when you get it right (that's probably why
Papy doesn't do anything with them but the very basic stuff...????).
Here's an example in the Sears track I textured....of how light maps can be
used to improve detail and realism:
The texture files that create all of the surrounding track surface....grass,
hills (not the horizon hills and sky)...comes **from only two files.**
Meaning...these two textures are used to spread the grass....hillside
grass....over all the surfaces (except the racing surface...duh).
So...those of you running d3d might say, "Then how did you get the grass
surface next to the edge of the track to be dark....and the curbing areas
dirty....etc.? This is done by using the light-maps...assigned to various
"sections" of the textured surface. The light-map sort of over-lays the
surface texture...modifying it (numerically changing the rgb numbers for the
texture) as it displayed on the screen. You can darken or lighten
texture.....and you can do it specifically in only certain areas....or apply
it to the whole texture. Its very creative.....but not intuitive (reversed
fields, subtracted rgb light values...etc.).
Okay...now you know something about "light-maps"....and one example of how
they are used in the track I did for Sears/N2K2.
Regards,
Tom
PS: Maybe I can go take a couple screenshots in both d3d and OGL....show
you the difference?
> Sorry Guys.....no quick fix for OpenGL. I looked at the .ini file and
> there's nothing there that solves this problem (same with core.ini or
> player.ini......unless there's something that needs to be added in to the
> ini files). Looks like WinMip2, beta-15 doesn't convert the mip files
> properly for OGL in N2K2.
> I should have listened to my intuition on the first go around
> here........D3D missing textures would cause a "black" blocks....not white
> ones. That should have told me right away that you guys were running OGL.
> Sorry, my mistake.
> Your only choice is to run D3D....or delete the files and go back to the
> Papy original track for OGL. I'm not sure why you run OGL......but I'll
not
> get into that debate since its a no-brainer as far as my systems are
> concerned. But....other's may have something different going on? Who
> knows? It would be interesting to hear back from you about the difference
> this track makes in d3d.....and is that possibly also happening in the
other
> tracks for you (no light-maps...for example).....and is this maybe the
first
> time you are seeing the difference?
> I have to laugh about you saying, "nice job"....and so forth.
Because...in
> OGL...this track looks like total garbage! You were all being
> kind......lol..... Too funny!
> If I find a solution....(doubt it...because I have no reason to run
> OGL....not in N2K2 at least), I'll post it. If someone else finds the
> problem......great.
> Regards,
> Tom
> > Yikes...
> > The problem is OpenGL.......I should have checked this first thing last
> > night....but I was late for a meeting. I can reproduce what you guys
are
> > saying about the buildings...just by switching to OpenGL renderer (all
> else
> > left the same).
> > I don't have a lot a time this morning before I have to leave for the
> > track.....but basically, OpenGL is not rendering any of the TSO textures
> at
> > all. You are not missing "some" of them....its "all" of them! It also
> > doesn't use any of the light-map textures....anywhere! So the trackside
> > grass and hills are not rendered very realistically. Basically you are
> > looking at about a 50% version of the track I retextured.....also very
> > washed out and pixilated....compared to D3D. Also, the FPS is about 15%
> > lower (at 32 bit...haven't tried FPS at 16 bit).
> > Change to D3D....take a look at the track and your FPS.....then decide
> what
> > you want to run.
> > In the meantime.....I will see if I can solve what's causing this in the
> > OpenGL renderer. I'd be interested to know if anyone running OGL is NOT
> > having this issue?
> > TP
> > > For the last four weeks I have been working on re-texturing and
> > re-coloring
> > > the Sears N2K2 track since winmip2, beta-15 could finally handle the
> N2K2
> > > mips. Its not completed....but its enough complete that I though a
few
> of
> > > you guys running the RASCAR race this weekend at Sears might like to
try
> > it.
> > > I just got home from the track (confirming a few of the last minutes
> signs
> > > that were still being painted yesterday)....and want to get this
posted
> > here
> > > before I have to leave again for a while.....so I'll not give much of
> > > explanation of what is....or is not completed, as of yet. Maybe I can
> do
> > > that later tonight when I return?
> > > Installation:
> > > 1. Download the file below and unzip all of its contents into the
Sears
> > > track folder.
> > > www.pabst-racing.com/webscreens/sears2k2-main.zip
> > > 2. Create a sub-folder under the Sears track folder called "trackmat"
> > (must
> > > be spelled exactly like that).....then download and unzip the zip
file's
> > > contents in the second link below....to that sub-folder......this must
> be
> > > done exactly or the new textures won't be displayed.
> > > www.pabst-racing.com/webscreens/sears2k2-trackmat.zip
> > > This works pretty much like the GPL tracks......the mip files outside
> the
> > > track dat will take priority over the ones inside the track dat. If
you
> > > want to remove the re-textured/colored track....just remove all the
mip
> > > files contained in the two zips above from the Sears track
> > folder....bingo,
> > > you'll be back to Papy originals.
> > > This is a higher res....but not killer high res.....version than is
the
> > > Papy's original track. But, I don't think it will kill anyone's FPS
if
> > you
> > > have a good "box" to run N2K2 to start with. If you have a "marginal"
> > > one....probably better not load these textures.
> > > Have fun you guys...
> > > Tom
