GTA SA port: 8-Track

8-Track map is now finally released!

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KingAndy
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GTA SA port: 8-Track

Postby KingAndy » Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:34 am

I was getting a bit bored with the DeLorean (don't worry, I'll eventually finish it). Sometimes I play GTA San Andreas and a few days ago I went to the 8 track stadium event and while I was playing I wondered if it would be cool to try to convert it to MM2. I never worked on a map before, but since it's a really simple low poly one and I have already a lot of knownledge working with Zmodeler, why not? Since I also know where the GTA models are and how to get them with IMG tool, I looked for all of the parts and converted it with Zmodeler 2.2, apply the textures and place everything on the proper place. Just missing the huge screens and the light posts. I'm also doing a few improvements to it like fixing messed textures. I may release it in a month, I just need to learn how to do the programming part.

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Last edited by KingAndy on Wed Nov 28, 2018 12:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby BUGATTIMAN253MPH » Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:55 am

That stadium looks like the secret stadium in Riva's Laguna Seca, albeit without the crowd and the figure-8 track in the middle.
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Postby Franch88 » Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:07 am

It's great see also you in this business. :D Great quality map picking, pretty interesting. :) Count on my support for the realization. :wink:
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Postby Kunal2045 » Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:12 am

Nice track! Welcome aboard. :)

Don't worry I still love to convert more tracks. :>
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Postby matyii » Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:22 pm

Oh my god! 8O My favourite track in SA! :D In MM2 !! Great work! :)
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Postby KingAndy » Wed Feb 11, 2015 12:53 am

Thanks for your nice comments :D

And some great news: after carefully reading the tutorials of Maxoff in MMCentral and checking multiple other addon tracks in MM2VV, I was able to convert it to the game. It's fully working with no bound problems. 0 lag with high poly cars in max specs (my computer isn't really good so it should work in any PC). No disappearing objects at high distance.

Only problems now are the f...... normals that I can't fix on Zmodeler, they'll always look bad; missing the HUD map I'll make when it's finished; somehow it's possible to see trough objects trough the transparent parts of the track wall (they are a separate object); missing the light posts I didn't found yet on GTA files; and the animated textures for the screens.

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Postby Franch88 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 1:35 am

Great progress and nice result in-game. :D
The normals problems aren't a big issue on tracks, they won't be so much noticed in-game. The hudmap is generated though the PSDL terrain, and in the case of converted elaborated tracks it's always a flat plane put under it; you'll have to make it manually, better through a texture like I use to do. Make sure to have read this part of Maxoff's tutorials about how get custom vehicle wheels effects, like smoke and grass. To fix the visibilities problems with the objects that make use of semi-transparent textures you have to put them below all the other objects, so they have to be the last of the list.
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Postby KingAndy » Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:11 pm

Thanks Franch :)

About the normals, the issues are noticeable in the game, and even on the screenshots. The side rails, for example, look almost black is some parts, and I can't fix them by using calculate option on Zmodeler.

I also have a question: I REALLY wanted to make races with opponents for this. I know how hard it is since the track is asymmetric to make ROADS object. So I'm curious about making that object by doing a really simplified model of the track, that although being linear, would fit inside the actual track and so the traffic would actually always drive inside the "real" road.

Since trying and failure is kinda wasting time, I have a few questions to people who knows more about MM2CT where Maxoff's tutorials are unclear:

-> I know in order to make races with opponents later, I'll need intersections. Can I make intersections connecting only 2 roads?

-> Would MM2CT support elevation on roads, and a bridge?

-> Do turns on the roads must be 90
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Postby Franch88 » Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:35 pm

About the normals, the issues are noticeable in the game, and even on the screenshots. The side rails, for example, look almost black is some parts, and I can't fix them by using calculate option on Zmodeler.
Right, now I've noticed that defect. It looks given more by the double polygons issue, because the fence is visible from both the sides. I experienced this with my first track conversion. You should select the outer part of it, detach it as new object and resize it a bit on the horizontal axis in way to have it a bit distant from the rest of the other fences polygons oriented to the other side.
I also have a question: I REALLY wanted to make races with opponents for this. I know how hard it is since the track is asymmetric to make ROADS object. So I'm curious about making that object by doing a really simplified model of the track, that although being linear, would fit inside the actual track and so the traffic would actually always drive inside the "real" road.
In theory this is possible, and it's not easy. The PSDL terrain to be placed under the track must be properly modeled with roads which follow the same path of the, and should have at least 2 intersections in order to get the IA to work. In this case, can be put both on the center connecting the two circles. In the final in-game result, the opponents should get a pretty weird behavior, but they should be able to drive properly on the circuit.
I know in order to make races with opponents later, I'll need intersections. Can I make intersections connecting only 2 roads?
Good that you know this necessary thing. Read as said about.
Would MM2CT support elevation on roads, and a bridge?
I guess yes, there shouldn't be problems. But, should be much better do the above explained solution.
Do turns on the roads must be 90
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Postby Silent1Unknown » Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:42 am

I don't know much about advanced city making techniques, but here is an idea...

Make 3 intersections (invisible and slightly below track) at the top, middle and bottom of the figure "8". The intersections at the two ends would be T-junctions or 3-way intersections and the middle intersection a regular 4-way. You'll have a total of 5 roads. Then remove traffic from the 2 roads that connect the middle intersection to the end intersections....or keep it if you want opponents to jump from the hill. :P

Also, I heard Sajmon successfully got intersections working with ROAD (roads without sidewalks) objects? That may be of help.

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Postby e-cobra » Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:30 pm

Wow that's a nice track in MM2. :o Even I don't know much about how AI opponents work, but since they tend to follow intersections, here;s an idea of making a replica of the 8 figure and placing it under the track.
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But if you make roads and intersections, player car will spawn at one of the intersections (which will be below the track) and you'll also have to make the gap between roads and intersections as ground object. The whole track would be like a building (PH_ or idk what it's called), so it will have bound problems where two ground objects under it would meet.
EDIT: Another idea* :P Or if it is possible to have roads without sidewalk, you can make intersections and roads as depicted in my diagram and make them superimpose (have same height) the '8 figure' and assign your roads and intersections transparent texture, so it would look like traffic's driving on the 8 figure. Would be cool if it worked. :wink:
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Postby KingAndy » Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:39 pm

Thanks to all of you for the help. For now I'll finish all the little fixes on the track, like the normals, getting the missing lamp posts (that will light up at night, like happens in default cities lamp posts), and the custom vehicle wheel effects. Then I'll try to make those roads.
[...]
Another idea* :P Or if it is possible to have roads without sidewalk, you can make intersections and roads as depicted in my diagram and make them superimpose (have same height) the '8 figure' and assign your roads and intersections transparent texture, so it would look like traffic's driving on the 8 figure. Would be cool if it worked. :wink:
It's possible, but MM2CT has a limitation that doesn't generate traffic for them. Truth is I don't need traffic for anything, but I'm not sure if opponents would work on these roads without sidewalks. If they do, it would make things way more simple.
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Postby e-cobra » Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:44 pm

Alright, give it a try. :wink: Is it possible to cross the guard rail and drive on those hills and near the audience?
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Postby KingAndy » Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:13 pm

Alright, give it a try. :wink: Is it possible to cross the guard rail and drive on those hills and near the audience?
Sorry not answered you before, I only saw your question now.

This track was part of a side mission in GTA San Andreas and you couldn't really explore it, since if you leave your car you'll have a time limit to come back to it or you'll be teletransported to the "outside" again. Because the environment of the track wasn't meant to be explored, it lacks the details you see on most of the other game interiors or in the main map. Conclusion: you'll just be able to see a not really detailed crowd and a ground with a few holes.

I think creating "passways" on the fences just to see that isn't really a great idea, although everything outside the track has it's own boundary, so if you figure out a way to pass trough the track fences you can explore it as you want :) (a monster truck may be able to climb the lower parts of it, but in last resource just use the ghost Audi TT like I'm doing for testing).


Also, during the weekend I had some progress on this track, fixing all the normals issues. I couldn't fix the semitransparent issues on the textures with transparent parts, they appear in last in the INST file so I guess they should work fine.

Another problem I'm experiencing is about the effects on the wheels, when the car goes to the dirt sides of the road. Firstly I tryed adding the names of the textures to a materials.csv file but it didn't work. I tryed editing the values on the .bnd files but it didn't changed anything in the game too. Anybody can help me?
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Postby KingAndy » Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:53 pm

Hey again guys. I bring you a pretty cool update I've been working all day. If any of you ever played the 8-track mission in San Andreas, you may remember the songs playing in the background, not like the regular radios, but as an ambient sound. I really wanted that on my convertion, I knew it was possible to do (Billiard Burnout has that for exemple), and I made it today, with a big help of Aaro4130 :). I got the original backsound audio file from SA, converted it to .wav (unfortunatelly i had to make the quality 16000hz to avoid getting a huge file), defined it as the ferry sound, and placed 2 of them in the track. The final result is pretty cool in fact, here's a video you can check it out, and also have an idea how's the track going, but remember there's still a lot of stuff needing to be done:



So it'll play Get Down To It by Humble Pie and Cult of Personality by Living Colour while you drive arround.

Meh stuff about this: the surround effect it creates is somehow strange, I might add more farries to try to fix that; in GTA SA you would also hear the crowd and a horn sound but those are separate audio files, I might try to find them and put everything together in Audacity; it makes me have to remove ferries from the default tracks, or you would hear the songs in San Francisco and London too. :P

I will include a "no music patch" .ar file that redifine the ferry audio to the default one, removes them from this track and adds again to the default cities.
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