Creating my first car in NFS 3. New error.

[Theycallmebk14]

I don't know if i should've just continued my old thread but i started a new one because this is a completely different error and I'm way further in development of my first car than i was in the last thread i made.

Here is my issue now.  I'm so close.  The design of my car is pretty much done and I'm trying to put it into Need for speed 3 just to see how it looks and races in game.  When i get to the menu, I can view my car just fine and shift through all the colors that i made.  But when i click race, it loads to 100% and then crashes giving the following error (see attached image).

Here are some things to note:

I am using Veg's latest modern nfs3 patch (1.6.1)
This car has about 14500 polies
-I tried using this car in a race with full grid of opponents
-I also tried using this car in a race with zero opponents
-I did get a different car with 12500 polies to work in a race with a full grid of opponents without any lag
-I started from someone elses Car.viv file and replaced the FCE and TGA files with my own that i made for this 14500 poly car. 
Once i finish the model design, I will modify the other files to realistically match my car's real life data (2012 Hyundai Azera).

I'll say it again, this is my first car so it's probably something i just didn't design correctly.  I've attached the FCE and TGA files as well if that helps with troubeshooting.  I've been following this guide while making this car:
https://beterhans.blogspot.com/2017/05/making-mod-car-for-need-for-speed-iii.html

The only thing wrong about this guide that i noticed is that he mentions the alpha channel values for need for speed 4 i think and not the correct ones for nfs 3.

[Theycallmebk14]

I figured it out! Why does this always happen lol.  I try to figure problems out myself for hours on end before making a post here.  Then as soon as I make a post, I figure it out smh.  So it has something to do with chrome and shading.  If i set those things to off, it lets me run the car in game.  But as soon as i turn one of those things on, it crashes while I'm in a race.  I did put a few polygons to chrome in fce finish just to see what it would look like in game but that seems to be one of the crashing causes.  I do need to update normals too yet so I'll see if updating them in zmodeler 1.07b resolves the shading issue.  As for the chrome, I have no idea what could be causing that to not work properly.  Maybe it goes hand in hand with the shading.  I'll give an update once I figure this out.

[Theycallmebk14]

Alright I hit a wall again.  Chrome and shading still don't work when using this car.  If I convert the car.fce to nfs4 fce file type then open in fce finish v2... I can update the face properties like chrome and cull and such and save the file.  But if i go to the parts tab, it says "normals initialized" or something and it actually makes the shading better but then when i try to save after that, it crashes and corrupts the file.  I also read on a forum at nfscars.net that said that fce center resets the normals or something.  Can anyone confirm the truth behind that?

[Theycallmebk14]

Another update.  I've made some progress.  After opening the FCE in FCE Finish, I initialized all the normals for each part.  But still crashed when saving.  But when i initialized all the normals for each part and then adjusted the smooth by angle limit slider for each part, it was able to save without crashing and the car looks beautiful!  Exactly how I wanted it to look and I didn't have to detach every section I wanted to show sharply and recalculate normals like I would have to do in zmodeler.  That was awesome.

So i thought that would be my shading fix now that fce finish is able to save my FCE file without crashing... but need for speed still crashes when i race my car with shading turned on.  Ugh I'm so close lol.  Anybody have any suggestions?

[Theycallmebk14]

And figured out the rest, I did not have any polygon effects set for any of the faces (chrome, don't chrome, no cull, etc...) and setting polygon effects for all the faces prevents need for speed from crashing with car shading turned on.  Hope this helps someone in the future.

[Theycallmebk14]

Apparently what i did only worked because i also opened the model in carCAD and removed unused verts and duplicate polys.

[Theycallmebk14]

Now I found out that removing unused vertices is resetting my normals.  So i go back to fce finish to smooth the normals and then back to carcad to convert to nfs 3 fce and I'm finding out that by smoothing the normals in FCE Finish... more vertices are being created and now need for speed 3 crashes again when shading is turned on unless i open the fce in carcad and remove unnecessary verts again... but that screws up the normals!  Ah it's a never ending loop!  Man this is frustrating.

[Theycallmebk14]

Anyone have any suggestions as to why removing unnecessary vertices is the only thing that prevents nfs 3 from crashing when i use my car?

Or how I can remove them without screwing up all my normals?

[Theycallmebk14]

I know that this is getting ridiculous but i have another update.  I tried using FCE Converter to convert from NFSIV format to NFSIII format and then it kept my normals and didn't crash the game! The only problem now is that it messed up the UV Mapping.  If it's not one problem it's the next i tell you.

So what are all the methods you guys know of converting an FCE from NFSIV format to NFSIII format?

I only know of FCE Converter and using CarCAD, but as I've told... these 2 programs have caused problems during conversion.

[Theycallmebk14]

Ladies and gentlemen... I've done it!  After digging around the internet for probably 20+ hours I fully figured out my solution!  I found in a conversion from NFSIV to NFSIII tutorial that FCE converter flips the UV coordinates vertically!  So once I flipped the TGA file it all matched up and my shading was saved and didn't cause the game to crash! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[WiLL]

Hi you seem like a Cool guy here. an I did learn from your topic a few things. like you said. )
See, this is what happend to me, over the yrs, of hanging Out at this site. the good, bad , days.  About my tracks I did I had to learn it all.. by myself.. there was No-one help for me..
just to bad it is. that's why I'm not sure I will release anymore.
but, I make them for myself anyhow. for fun of it. like experimental edits an all. an no errors is all I want to happen. in game.

too bad-
when the pro's can't even man up to help you. with your simple problem you. had. it's very disappointing. an no good. (
but, it's the way it is. here.  do you have any pics to show like see them. good luck on your project. bud 😎 😴🌌

[Theycallmebk14]

Yeah the finished prize at the end of the tunnel is what keeps me goin!  This is the car I drive in real life (changed the license plate though lol).  I will be literally customizing everything possible to match reality. Most of the textures i got from pictures of my own car. Performance/mesh/textures/dash/sounds/showcase/loading screen... I'm going all out haha.  I used to download cars all the time back in middle school (I'm almost 27 now) and i really wanted to know what the whole process was like.  And I'm loving every bit of it.  The nostalgia is amazing.  I'm also the kind of person that writes things down as I figure them out so that I can reproduce things later down the road because I know I will forget.  I will probably turn that into a full-scale guide in PDF form and upload it as a tutorial here for anybody to use.  And I will quote certain sources too because I know I had a lot of help from tons of tutorials that other people made.  But yeah I just need to finish a couple statistics in the CARP file and create the dash/showcase/loading screen and I'll be done.  Will upload the finished product of course too.

Here are some in-game snapshots so far.

[Theycallmebk14]

And a good angle image

[WiLL]

oh it's nfs'3 no worries,) looks nice an all. yes good explanation bud am all that) I didn't mean to Rant,,, so much either. 😉
way it is. I did good on a Qfs file tonight got all rite the first try on Fsh.tool xD was good.
nice pic an car so you scratch made all of it. ttul theycallmebk14
😴🌌🌞🐢✔

[Theycallmebk14]

Nice!  I'm excited to start making the dash to see how it turns out!  Right now I'm making the final tweaks on opponent AI acceleration tables.  Then I gotta figure out how to calculate max braking deceleration based on a 60-0mph test of 120 feet.  Then the CARP is done