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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2012 4:47:58 GMT 2
i'm trying to plan my next move in my life list of to do's. up to now toyed with a scheme where i could purchase a used or older edition of 3ds max. well i want to confirm that it is the software of choice for general simulation program editing.
i've read wikipedia's info on 3ds.
i've located sites offering varying year editions & or of various parts.
to make my decision making clearer i'd like some advice, feedback, testimonials of experiences, ect
also my intention for use is not to be limited to nascar heat alone, but to work on other games released b4 W2k os was released.
so i'm figuring, that, being as the programs i intend to edit are so old, they wont would require all the newness of the later & latest 3ds editions have. could i get away with a pre xp version if i can find it.
just how much of the product is necessary for comfortable editing, by this i mean do i need the entire editing engine or the suites?
well i finally got this off my mind and really hope i'll be relieved with the feed back.
we all know what the price for the full engine is worth, so even an older version for 1/2 or less or best offer is a treasureable prize.
ps. i suppose i should accept any alternative programs as well thank u for help in advance
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Post by DaveO on Jul 15, 2012 19:19:16 GMT 2
Hey Earl, Do you think you could tell us what type of editing your interested in? For example are you thinking of trying to take a car model from another sim and then convert it over to heat? Are you thinking of trying your hand at building a model from scratch? Are you interested in editing tracks? We would need more info from you before we could proceed farther. Also you can get Zmod for free.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2012 19:45:12 GMT 2
tracks are my priority. after i can put a track together at least for heat asap then working with car would b nice. i really see a future here if the nh sc gt were like the real sc gt. theres so much untapped potential. as well as z mod, which i have in legacy versions. i also have some viper game misc. editing programs but i dont have the viper game itself so unfortunately i havent explored them in anyway. thanks, keep it coming, this is a must do for me.
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Post by DaveO on Jul 15, 2012 21:44:28 GMT 2
tracks are my priority. after i can put a track together at least for heat asap then working with car would b nice. i really see a future here if the nh sc gt were like the real sc gt. theres so much untapped Creating a model and track building are both two different animals! Okay, so you said track building, this is what you will need to do. 1. Go to FFSbudmans site and download all the track tutorials. 2. You will need 3dsmax 3.1 3. Go to www.sim-garage.co.uk/ and get yourself 3DSimEdit and TrkMaker. They have a demo version you can download for 20 days, before purchasing it.. 4. Register at TMS they have tons of info that you can read in threads about track editing. For anything you do, you will need TONS of patience and it takes a lot of personal time to be able to edit anything.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 1:33:32 GMT 2
dave your reply is very informative. i intend to go down each lane intensively. a quick skim showed that simedit is only $50us. but its the 3ds portion thats the focus. again under a quick skim with your info, by wiki search it shows that this release required special hardware to b attached. also that 3.1 was the last release to require it. another site puts 3.1 circa w95 32 bit. if i could i'll aim for releases 5 up 2006 which circa main w2k.
now i need to go research how to make 3ds max affordable to me.
thanks and dont feel this is it. you are just the 1st.
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Post by DaveO on Jul 16, 2012 1:38:57 GMT 2
dave your reply is very informative. i intend to go down each lane intensively. a quick skim showed that simedit is only $50us. but its the 3ds portion thats the focus. again under a quick skim with your info, by wiki search it shows that this release required special hardware to b attached. also that 3.1 was the last release to require it. another site puts 3.1 circa w95 32 bit. if i could i'll aim for releases 5 up 2006 which circa main w2k. now i need to go research how to make 3ds max affordable to me. thanks and dont feel this is it. you are just the 1st. Well to build a track you WILL need 3dSimEdit, you cannot build a track with just 3dsmax alone. If you were to convert a track from another sim, you would need 3dSimEdit to help do that.. 3dSimEdit supports, Rfactor, NR2003, GTR, just not for converting tracks from that format to heat, but will come in handy for converting cars as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2012 1:45:53 GMT 2
thanks
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Post by raybee1970 on Jul 19, 2012 23:08:13 GMT 2
If you are wanting to edit Heat.... by way of making tracks. There is only one version of 3d Studio Max that has all the tools and plugins made for it... and that is version 3 (or updated to 3.1)
You could build a track from scratch in other 3dsmax versions, but for Heat, you still need 3.1 regardless, because that is just the only version that had the .mod export plugin and other various utilities made for it, including various things an old track editor, TheMask made up for wall data and AI stuff, or had requested to be made like a tool that separates an object (such as a track) by each material it uses.
And as Dave says, if your wanting to convert tracks, you'll need those 3dSimEd and TrkMaker tools. You buy 3dSimEc and you get TrkMaker free with it.
TrkMaker will allow you to load up a NR2003 .ptf (track mesh) and convert that to an .xml, then load that new .xml in TrkMaker again and go to a section and change a few numbers in a list and out will pop a nice, rounded, smooth track.
Then 3dSimEd will alow you to also convert that .ptf into a .3ds that you can import in 3dsmax 3 along with your file from TrkMaker and get all the grandstands and objects to combine it all into one thing.
Track making isn't easy though. Its easier to make a mod with car models....so if you are wanting to do tracks, be prepared for lots of reading and experimenting and note compiling. You will be taking lots of notes on what to do and what not to do.
But having new track makers is never a bad thing at all. Its just a long, tedious process and most give up at it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2012 3:40:19 GMT 2
thanks ray. so crumbling in and purchasing 2011 wouldnt get me too far in track making for heat. i need to sit down and digest this. if u all dont mind i'll need to ask some questions soon. the simedit will b purchased eventually. giving up is not an option. once i've settled down, with all the right tools frankenstien will walk, lol. thanks again
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Post by raybee1970 on Jul 20, 2012 4:58:39 GMT 2
Yeah, 3d Studio Max 2011 would allow you to build scratch made tracks.... but for Nascar Heat, it just doesn't have everything it needs. There are basically 3 ways of building a track for Heat (either scratch built or converted)... and that is Zmod, 3dsmax 3 and Multigen. With the Zmod way, you'd still have to go into 3dsmax 3 and do all your wall data, AI splines and stuff like that.... unless you had the very, very pricy Multigen. Multigen is used by only a small few of the track makers we've ever had... mostly because of how expensive it was to get. But guys like Lucky, TheMask and Smoke used it. At the same time, 3dsmax 3 had been used by some very good track makers as well... such as Splashman, DRT54, FFSBudman and Flash... along with tons of the dirt track creators years ago. Sucahyo was the only one I can recall who ever used Zmod, and he was still learning as he was going... and still had to go into 3dsmax eventually. He also made a few tools himself that helped, but very few know how to use them. If I had to give one word of advice to a new track maker... it would be to start with a small oval track. It doesn't matter if its real or fictional. But a small oval with pits in it is going to help you learn how things are done.... such as the AI lines, wall data, penalty areas and things such as that. I just couldn't suggest jumping straight into a road course with all kinds of hills and valleys and various other areas where things are going to change so much that you get lost on your very first track. A few of us are now trying our hand at making some tracks (slowly... so we can learn it)... and we've all picked easy ovals. Some with banking, some with not so much, some with more graphics than others... and some with hardly anything. Part of the reason we are doing it is for a long term project we've got going... and the tracks we picked fits that stuff. But if we can get working tracks in the game and get them right, some of us would eventually expand out to get new road courses and things like that as well. But we want to make sure we go slow and learn from what we do. If its right, or not right... if that makes sense. I just wouldn't want to start on a road course without learning how to do stuff on a simple oval first though. Because once you get the ovals right, you'll know what to do and what not to do by the time you get to the more complex road courses and street courses. Even some of the tuts from the early days by the early track editors, they wanted you to start on a simple oval too. And by seeing some of the early tracks, and the really bumpy surfaces some had...even ovals.... the road courses would be 10 times greater in terms of bumps or holes if they jumped into that (and it showed on some of the early stuff).
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Post by DaveO on Nov 21, 2012 2:45:48 GMT 2
Hey Earl, You had started asking questions over the summer about modeling and track making.. Well I had posted a little something over @ TMS the other day, and thought I would post it here too.. Track making is possible, just like modding, it takes a ton of patience and you also need to be able to devote a large amount of time in order to do it. This is still NR2003 track converted to Nascar Heat, WIP. I'm not taken any questions, or going to explain what's going on really because it combines with a long term project a few of us are working on, and I mean long term. Kinda private about modding and stuff like that, and don't show much about WIP stuff anymore, because it puts undue pressure on guys. But for the heck of it here's one of the tracks I've been working on. And yes it is in Nascar Heat and with fully functional pits.
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