rec.autos.simulators

What program is used to edit 3do files?  Also, how can "fantasy" tracks be
created?

Thanks
--

Robert Haviland

Levi Strauss closes 11 plants
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

This subject comes up from time to time.  The answer is that there have
been no original tracks created for Papyrus simulations to date.   There
are many modified tracks - but no "fantasy" tracks.  The 3DO file is only
part of the track.  It represents the visual image of the track along with
many texture files which depict complex images such as grandstands, trees,
billboards, infield vehices etc.  However, the thing you and the AI cars
drive on is represented in the the TRK file.   This file has to represent
the track with identical coordinates as the visual image in the 3DO file -
or funny things happen like driving through the track surface, under the
track, outside the track etc.   After modifying the TRK file - I once found
myself 50 miles from Dover and viewing the track from the outside.   I was
able to close on the track by driving towards it and when I reached it I
warped back inside and spun out.  I apparently created some sort of black
hole.  Kinda neat - but definetly undesirable for racing.  To date - I have
not discovered what some of these mystery fields in the TRK file do - other
than mess things up when I change them.   I suspect that no once has more
than 90% of the pieces of the puzzle figured out.  With what I know - I can
tell you that developing a truly original track would be large scale
effort.  If you are a proficient programmer and artist - I suspect you
could develop the tools, artwork etc in 6 months time - assuming of course
you could gather the 90% the sim community knows about the files and then
reverse engineer the remaining 10% (the toughest part).  This of course
also assumes that you can work on this full time - and silly things like a
paying job don't get in the way.  This is why no once has done it yet.
Some folks are changin banking etc. to existing tracks and modelling
similar tracks.   I have seen a Bristol knock off with less banking - done
rather well in fact.  I suspect these folks do have most of the pieces of
the puzzle.  But again, developing the track from scratch would require
some visual editing tools that do not exist today.  I think the folks that
developed the modified Bristol and other modified tracks are doing it the
painful way - mostly by hand.

All that said - I am sure you get involved with some of the folks doing
tracks and help them out and learn about them.  You can readily find these
sites on the internet.  Here are some .... there are many more too - but I
don't have the URLs handy.  If you don't bring programming or artistics
skills to the table - you probably won't get too far however.   There are
requirements for this type of work.

http://sim***world.simplenet.com/nascar2/index.html
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

A hex editor, lots of patience, and a whole lot of knowledge about hex
editing.  I have the editor, the patience, but not nearly enough knowledge.