Adjusting AI driving lines for usermade tracks (Need For Speed High Stakes)

[Zalcus20]

I'm currently improving "Redrock Outback" track by nfsfan83.  What was meant to be a simple AI improvement project turned out to be an overall track improvement.

These are the improvements so far:
-collision properties have been set with the signs and they now have a rear texture.
-The boxes in the tunnel have been given type 6 properties.
-Ray tracing (shadows) have been added. This greatly enhances the aesthetics and feel of the track.
-99% of invisible walls have been removed.
-Track mesh has been edited to look more complete. 98% of holes in the mesh are closed and in some areas of the track, more scenery was added.
-99% visibility issues have been fixed. This was mainly done by converting many large polygon objects to global objects.

With nfsfan83's permission, I will upload when complete. After which, I will try to make a quick "get started" tutorial on how to edit AI driving lines for those who are interested. Stay tuned...

[Cooya!]

These are great news! "Redrock Outback" is by far his best track so far. It has this amazing oldschool-NFS atmosphere... like a stock EA track. What a pity that he always sticks to this overambitious city tracks full of mesh-holes and confusing road layout ... he should definitely do more rural landscape tracks. So let "Cape Hatteras" and "Lost City" follow when you are still not done with "nfsfan83" tracks.

[noise]

Great to see nice tracks get improved....

Still...you get in your car and they say: 'there is 2% chance you drive in hole, a 1% chance you hit an invisible wall, and there are boxes in the tunnel. Have fun

[nfsfan83]

Zalcus You have permission to fixed all my tracks if You want we must make NFS4 great Again

I still wait for fix:

NY, LA, Miami and Vegas and others... I spent many hours to make best real city tracks in NFS4

[nfsfan83]

These are great news! "Redrock Outback" is by far his best track so far. It has this amazing oldschool-NFS atmosphere... like a stock EA track. What a pity that he always sticks to this overambitious city tracks full of mesh-holes and confusing road layout ... he should definitely do more rural landscape tracks. So let "Cape Hatteras" and "Lost City" follow when you are still not done with "nfsfan83" tracks.

I can't make nice landspace tracks Cities track is my love...

[JimDiabolo]

I can't make nice landspace tracks Cities track is my love...

Then who did "Redrock Outback"? Just kidding, it's a really cool track. If Zalcus can fix visibility problems and other things, it will fit perfectly between the original tracks.

[Zalcus20]

I can't make nice landspace tracks Cities track is my love...

On the contrary, Redrock Outback proves how great you are at making nice landscape tracks. Especially now that the visibility is fixed. 

I took a look at your city tracks. Unfortunately, when I try to open them up in T3ed, I get the warning message that "speed files cannot be loaded". Without access to the speed files, I can't fix the AI problem on those tracks.    I'm not giving up though.  I'm sure there is some way to fix it.

Before too much time passes, I am attaching with this post a quickstart guide on how to edit speed files.  I hope it is understandable and clear to everyone.

So let "Cape Hatteras" and "Lost City" follow when you are still not done with "nfsfan83" tracks.

You read my mind perfectly. Lost City is next on the list! 

[JimDiabolo]

From your tutorial: >The values under the “spdxa Speed” column are always less than or equal to the values under the “spdxa preje...” column. The value of “spdxa speed” never exceeds the value of “spdxa preje...”<
I never noticed hat. That could have been my mistake, when I wanted to make the opponents faster.

I took a look at your city tracks. Unfortunately, when I try to open them up in T3ed, I get the warning message that "speed files cannot be loaded". Without access to the speed files, I can't fix the AI problem on those tracks.    I'm not giving up though.  I'm sure there is some way to fix it.

You could use speed files from another track, with has the same number of vroad points, and replace those which can't be loaded. You may need to create one by adding blocks.

[nfsfan83]

I can't make nice landspace tracks Cities track is my love...

Then who did "Redrock Outback"? Just kidding, it's a really cool track. If Zalcus can fix visibility problems and other things, it will fit perfectly between the original tracks.

I mean I can't make nice landscape tracks like Your Lake Diabolo etc Also If I have inspiration by other track, like in nassau it is more easy.

But after all when I see Miami or N.Y in game or in T3ED i'm impressed what I have done so huge number of object and size of track... and all it is still NFS4 engine

[Zalcus20]

You could use speed files from another track, with has the same number of vroad points, and replace those which can't be loaded. You may need to create one by adding blocks.

This is the solution I have been looking for! Thanks. 

"Redrock Outback V2" is almost complete. There are just a few more things to do. Hopefully I can have it uploaded by today. If not, by tomorrow.

[nfsfan83]

Zalcus20 I yesterday test redrock v2 with your fix and nice job, very nice job. View distance and objects are good. In T3ED I see you convert big polygon objects to global? and T3ED don't crash? I want do it in Nassau, I convert polygon to extra objects but when change or resize new extra objects, track was crashed and can be open again. Copy rescue always

[Zalcus20]

Thanks, nfsfan83. And thank you for creating Redrock Outback in the first place! 

Sometimes when I convert to global objects, T3ed crashes for me as well.  When this happens, I change the block that the object belongs to (make sure automatic object membership is unchecked) and try again.  Usually works.  Be sure to make several backups when converting a large amount of objects to global.  Many crashes happened when improving Redrock Outback and this saved me every time! 

BTW, are there any more tracks in the making?

[nfsfan83]

At the moment, no. I'm tired now, it take lot of time, make big track

[Zalcus20]

I can only imagine how tiring making a new track is.  Fixing up tracks alone is tiring. 

Take a good rest while I fix up the rest of your tracks.    I don't have as much time as before, but this is still my goal, especially now that we got more T3ed updates from JimDiabolo.

[pete9516]

Decided to further investigate the ai in the Lost Speedway track. Although the speed files were adjusted, they still come off the road at certain times. 
Looking at the track more closely in T3ed revealed that the virtual road is not properly centered. On some parts of the track, the lanes fall outside of the passable boundaries, causing the ai to slam into the walls or drive off the road at these points. These issues have been corrected. The ai opponents now drive the best line possible (to my knowledge) trying their best to stay on the paved road.  However, since the TR file has been edited, I need to seek permission from the original author. Does anyone know if the author of Lost Speedway, Fangio, is still active and if he would allow me to upload a fixed version? I would contact him myself but I can't send emails at the moment (strange bug I guess?). 

@nfsfan83: I'll see what can be done. 

Hello Zalcus, i think you're getting a little bit too much into copyrights and stuff like that. Fangio is inactive for a very long time now. I don't think that he's doing anything about this specific game nor any other game in things of modeling. I think as long as you give original credits (name of author) it's totally okay to publish YOUR own work on top of the work from somebody else who hasn't been active for like 10 years now. But this is just my opinion. Have a great weekend all and stuff