Using ghost files to customize a race [NFS4]

[Zpectre]

You should avoid giving 2 cars the same serial numbers. Its very hard to predict the outcome when doing this. Not sure if there is a "system" behind that nor if it is worth investigating that. Might as well be completely random.
From my experience i can tell, that if you have two cars with same serial, the cop car is preferred.
So in pursuit or single race the opponent will be a police car. But the game still think its a opponent and the AI will try to complete the regular race rounds. If you provoke such a "police-racer" to honk the horn, the game will crash.

Not recommended.

IIRC the game is not able to choose two cars with same SN for the same race, if forced to do so it'll crash.

About the ghost races, this is possible because in the old games the replays were not video recordings but rather input recordings. When you run a replay, the gameplay is live action with the predetermined inputs. Ghost file takes this one step further because it allows you to pick your car and, since the ghost needs to be able to support all kinds of races, it must contain the data for them, that's why it works.

It might be possible to do in other games contemporary to HS with support for ghost files.

[DrSpeed]

@FranknFurter
Well I didn't really, could double check it later. I always take extra notes when I add any car, serial numbers is something I triple check before I launch the game.

It might be possible to do in other games contemporary to HS with support for ghost files.

Yes, at least NFS3 has a similar setup. Editing those files is just as simple as it is for NFS4 (not everything is in the same order though). 

There's not much left to cover in the gst files. Mostly are unknown to me and some of them maybe doesn't even lead to anything. But here's something:
0000119C, 000011A0, 000011A4, 000011A8
000011AC, 000011B0, 000011B4
These addresses is the Car Tuning you've done to the selected car. Default value: 00 00 80 3F (middle on the slider).
Don't know exactly what the min and max values are for them at the moment.

I'll revisit the first post to make it look better, at some point. 

[Zalcus20]

^^
Thanks for finding the Car Tuning offsets. I have added it to GST editor. Right now, I'm trying to find a way to keep the game from crashing when doing a single race with upgrades. That means investigating the header in the config.dat file. Hopefully, this will be successful. 

[WiLL]

I hope your experiments,can work out Zalcus. To benefit us all.

[DrSpeed]

Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did. 

I've finally updated the first post with better looks and descriptions.

[Caio_96]

Also that part where the game crashes when you hex edit the user car to be a traffic vehicle. The reason it crashes is because the game is looking for a fedata file. The traffic cars' viv file do not contain a fedata file. You have to create a fedata file for the desired traffic vehicle and make sure the extension matches the language you play in your game (fedata.eng for english fedata.ger for german).

I'm using GST Editor. I tried to use a traffic car after creating fedata files, but the game keeps crashing. What am i missing? Can you show me a example of what values makes a traffic car turns into a playable car?

[Zalcus20]

^^
Yeah. I feel silly right now.  That method that I talked about earlier doesn't work. At that time I had all the traffic cars as playable cars since they were all in the data/cars folder. If any car is placed in the traffic folder, the player can not use it in game. Sorry for that misleading info. 

[Caio_96]

No problem, thanks for the info

[Zalcus20]

Hello, all! 

After quite some time, Ghost Editor 4 is out!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/47t9qhgl4nrfkb8/GST%20Editor%204.1.zip?dl=0



        Now I am turning to you, the NFS Community, for your help, PLEASE. There are thousands upon thousands of cars that have been created for NFSHS. All of these cars have a specific size that must be specified in GST Editor (users of the gst editor know it as the CAR NAME tab) so that these cars do not have the 'sinking in the ground effect' or the 'floating above the ground' effect in-game. For this reason, GST Editor is a program that will be constantly updated as new cars are being released.
           I have already made a list that contains about 300 virtual car sizes, which is barely a scratch on the surface compared to how many other cars there are for NFSHS. But I know there are many cars that you would all like to use in a ghost race that are not included in this list. This is where I would need some help. Here are the instructions if you want to help out:
   
        If you desire to see a car or cars that you like included in GST Editor's CAR NAME list

1. Start a single race with the desired car (If this is a police car, start a Hot Pursuit race).

2. After the announcer says GO! quit race to the race results screen (If you are in Hot Pursuit mode as a cop,
exit to system).

3. Save the race as a ghost. Repeat step 1-3 if you have more cars you would like to add. (If this is a Hot Pursuit ghost you will find the desired gst file in  nfs directory/SaveData/ghost.gst. Make a copy of it and rename the file to something else).

4. Exit the game and open the gst file in Ghost Editor.

5. Under the Player Car group, go to Car Name and note what is written under 'Value'. You're going to see a long line of hexadecimal values (ie. 3A 7C 5E 5B 3F 8A 69 1D 3F 0C 14 0A 40) This is the virtual size of the car.

6. Open the Value as if you were trying to change it but instead copy the highlighted text and paste it in this post here with the name of the car as it is written in-game included. Please type it in this format (no spaces between the colon):

XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX:Name of Car

the X's of course represent whatever hexadecimal value you have copied. Also the values are always 13 bytes long.

When I see that there are multiple posts of these codes I will make the necessary updates to Ghost Editor.
A big thanks in advance to all who can participate in this effort!!! 

[Caio_96]

Thanks, Zalcus. But in the zip, the "GST Editor 4.CT" file is missing, instead there's a "GST Editor 4.lnk" . Can you reupload?

[Zalcus20]

OK. Try redownloading. Sorry for the error. Thanks for letting me know! 

[Caio_96]

Thank you.
I did some tests with career mode enabled. In one attempt, the game don't crashed. I created a new career profile, bought a Z3 and entered in a random cup. I left the cup and the career mode, and then entered in the arcade mode to save a ghost file.

The track in the ghost file was Landstrasse (2 laps. Weather, night drive and mirrored all OFF), with me driving a Corvette (Upgrade 3) and one opponent with the same car. At the finish, the game showed the results like a championship (including points for A.I. and me).

Then, the career menu appeared and i could forfeit the race or proceed with the "next race", Route Adonf . The previous track in this cup was Landstrasse, and works if you proceed (for some reason, my Corvette was stock at the french track). At the end of the cup, i won a medal and some cash, but later i could not buy a new car or choose any career event . The Chevy was not in the garage, only the Z3. In most of the tests i did, the game crashed as expected, but in all tests my vehicle was damaged (if the damage was enabled).

Is it necessary to copy the virtual size values of the original cars (including official addons and traffic cars - i've got them all as playable vehicles)? If yes, i'll send them to you.

[Zalcus20]

^^Thanks for testing out the career mode. Yeah I noticed that the game doesn't crash (maybe only once or twice per session) when I create a profile and type the 'gates gates' and 'alltiers' cheats and purchase as many cars as I can.

Since you are using the traffic and ea cars as playable vehicles, the virtual size data will be needed. You can send me the info.

Many many thanks, Caio_96! 

EDIT: Can you send me the career ghost file if you still have it? I would like to investigate it further?

[Caio_96]

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I did a new ghost file with the same effects.
3F FF FF 7F 3F F5 15 43 3F B8 1E 1D 40:FORD XR8 (EA)
3F 52 B8 5E 3F 30 F8 1B 3F 00 00 00 40:BMW Z3 (EA)
3F 2D 56 86 3F 0E 09 23 3F 0A AB 12 40:FERRARI 360 MODENA (EA)
3F D4 1E 80 3F 5C 8F 22 3F 32 8A 11 40:FERRARI 550 MARANELLO (EA)
3F 33 33 73 3F 66 66 26 3F 1E 4C 12 40:PORSCHE 911 TURBO (EA)
3F 66 66 66 3F 78 A0 2F 3F CD CC 1C 40:BONUS CAMARO (EA)
3F 33 33 73 3F 66 66 26 3F 03 6F 12 40:BONUS PORSCHE (EA)
3F 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 40 68 08 CB 40:TRAFFIC BUS (EA)
3F 66 66 66 3F 78 A0 2F 3F CD CC 1C 40:CHEVROLET CAMARO (EA)
3F D0 C2 99 3F B8 BC 48 3F BA BE 37 40:POLICE CAPRICE (EA)
3F FF FF 7F 3F 68 B3 1A 3F 96 43 1B 40:MERCEDES CLK-GTR (EA)
3F 00 00 80 3F 7C F2 40 3F 36 29 20 40:MHRT COMMODORE (EA)
3F 00 00 80 3F D0 5A 24 3F 85 EB 11 40:CHEVROLET CORVETTE (EA)
3F 00 00 80 3F 09 D7 23 3F 12 8B 13 40:ASTON MARTIN DB7 (EA)
3F FF FF 7F 3F 51 0C 21 3F 3D 0A 0F 40:LAMBORGHINI DIABLO SV (EA)
3F 2E AD B9 3F CB CB F7 3F 66 CF C7 40:TRAFFIC EBUS (EA)
3F C2 9C 8D 3F AB 1D BF 3F 07 86 68 40:TRAFFIC ESEMI (EA)
3F 8F C2 55 3F D7 A1 1D 3F 7B 14 FE 3F:TRAFFIC ESEDAN (EA)
3F 33 33 73 3F A8 79 24 3F A5 70 1D 40:MCLAREN F1 GTR (EA)
3F 66 66 66 3F A0 4F 2E 3F CD CC 1C 40:PONTIAC FIREBIRD (EA)
3F E1 7A 54 3F 84 CE 33 3F 00 00 F0 3F:TRAFFIC HATCHBACK (EA)
3F C3 F5 88 3F E3 C7 11 3F EC 51 08 40:LA NIÃ'A (EA)
3F 7C 14 6E 3F 0A D7 23 3F 03 B6 04 40:BMW M COUPE (EA)
3F 52 B8 5E 3F 30 F8 1B 3F 00 00 00 40:BMW M ROADSTER (EA)
3F 66 66 66 3F 5A 2D 35 3F C3 F5 18 40:BMW M5 (EA)
3F C3 F5 68 3F 47 36 53 3F 8F C2 1D 40:TRAFFIC MINIVAN (EA)
3F FF FF 7F 3F BA 92 6E 3F BC 74 37 40:TRAFFIC PICKUP (EA)
3F 68 DE 80 3F F1 01 52 3F D3 C9 0C 40:POLICE HATCHBACK (EA)
3F 83 80 92 3F 8E 69 62 3F 90 EB 2F 40:POLICE SEDAN (EA)
3F AF 68 90 3F 36 4F 70 3F 12 9A 02 40:POLICE SUV (EA)
3F 66 66 66 3F 33 33 33 3F 08 F4 0C 40:TRAFFIC SEDAN2 (EA)
3F 2E DC 5D 3F 22 B0 31 3F 24 06 19 40:TRAFFIC SEDAN4 (EA)
3F A3 66 B7 3F F1 03 FE 3F 20 23 80 40:TRAFFIC SEMI (EA)
3F B7 1E 65 3F 7A 14 2E 3F F2 71 16 40:NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R V.SPEC (EA)
3F F6 28 5C 3F 00 00 20 3F D9 C0 FF 3F:MERCEDES SLK 230 (EA)
3F 45 46 13 40 BE B6 A3 3F FC AE 82 40:TRAFFIC SNOWPLOW (EA)
3F 41 DE 8A 3F FA EA 33 3F E8 66 14 40:LISTER STORM (EA)
3F 33 33 73 3F 3D 0A 57 3F 17 0E 18 40:TRAFFIC SUV (EA)
3F 00 00 80 3F 4A F1 40 3F 42 60 1D 40:HSV SV99 (EA)
3F 3D FC 82 3F AD 3B 7B 3F 5F 5F 23 40:TRAFFIC TRUCK50S (EA)
3F F6 28 5C 3F 8C 94 3A 3F CD CC 14 40:TRAFFIC WAGON (EA)
3F 6C 06 A8 3F 7B 4C 9E 3F CE 98 53 40:TRAFFIC WATERTRUCK (EA)
3F CA A3 91 3F 5A 52 24 3F 0F 85 20 40:JAGUAR XJR-15 (EA)
3F FF FF 7F 3F 31 76 2C 3F EC 51 18 40:JAGUAR XKR (EA)

[Zalcus20]

Great! Thanks a lot for the Virtual car sizes and your hard work. I'll take a look into the Ghost file some time this week. :thumbsup: