03-24-2020, 03:38 PM
I made some additional progress on track editing and wanted to share my notes. I will update this thread in the future for any more progress.
- I have noticed that N3 Sandbox includes some default wall textures and ground textures (specifically sand) which are the wrong textures. So if you create a new track via N3 Sandbox it will look particularly bad until you manually fix those textures, including bringing in a horizon from another track.
- N2 objects are in fact compatible with the N3 Sandbox suite of tools, such as 3D23DO and OPE. The palette structure (i.e. sunny.pcx) is largely similar.
- After running TRK23D and before running 3D23DO, you have an opportunity to edit the .3D text file, and in fact you may have to do that to change the colors of the walls, ground, fence, start/finish line, etc. The colors are based on the index in the palette which you can find in sunny.pcx. (Edit: I have just realized this process is also described in the Tutorial)
- I do not run SG2TRK, 3D23DO or TRK23D from N3 Sandbox, because I am unable to see the output from those utilities before DOSBox vanishes. So, I manually run them from the DOSBox command line. I had some frustrating issues with the N99 to ICR2 conversion utility which I am now almost sure is because 3D23DO had thrown an error that I didn't catch.
- It is possible to move around OPE without a joystick, by using the keypad home, end, ins, del, pg up and pg dn keys. This can be tricky because you can only move in the north, south, east and west directions, and up/down. You can't move towards some arbitrary direction even if you are facing that direction, unless it happens to be one of the 4 compass directions. (I still don't have a joystick in my current configuration although I understand it is better to have one)
My folder setup and workflow is as follows:
- I do all my work in a working folder totally separate from my ICR2 folder. I run SGE, SFE, SF2TRK, 3D23DO, TRK23D and OPE from that folder, all in DOSBox (instead of through N3 Sandbox)
- To save time, I made a script to automate the following after I am done with the N3 tools and want to try it in the game: 1) Copy MRON to the working folder. 2) Run MRON. 3) Make a packing list for the working folder. 4) Pack the working folder into a .dat in a "fake" Nascar2 track folder. 5) Launch N99 to ICR2 converter and convert the Nascar2 track directly to my ICR2/tracks folder. 6) Restore the 3DO files that MRON copied to the 3DOBackup folder.
Finally, I want to offer the observation that, once you figure out the workflow and go through the tutorials, it is very easy to build a minimally driveable track. I have prior experience building tracks for CART Precision Racing and I have to say that the ICR2 track building process is a much better experience and a lot more logical in how the geometry is laid down.
Attached screenshot of what I was able to do so far.
- I have noticed that N3 Sandbox includes some default wall textures and ground textures (specifically sand) which are the wrong textures. So if you create a new track via N3 Sandbox it will look particularly bad until you manually fix those textures, including bringing in a horizon from another track.
- N2 objects are in fact compatible with the N3 Sandbox suite of tools, such as 3D23DO and OPE. The palette structure (i.e. sunny.pcx) is largely similar.
- After running TRK23D and before running 3D23DO, you have an opportunity to edit the .3D text file, and in fact you may have to do that to change the colors of the walls, ground, fence, start/finish line, etc. The colors are based on the index in the palette which you can find in sunny.pcx. (Edit: I have just realized this process is also described in the Tutorial)
- I do not run SG2TRK, 3D23DO or TRK23D from N3 Sandbox, because I am unable to see the output from those utilities before DOSBox vanishes. So, I manually run them from the DOSBox command line. I had some frustrating issues with the N99 to ICR2 conversion utility which I am now almost sure is because 3D23DO had thrown an error that I didn't catch.
- It is possible to move around OPE without a joystick, by using the keypad home, end, ins, del, pg up and pg dn keys. This can be tricky because you can only move in the north, south, east and west directions, and up/down. You can't move towards some arbitrary direction even if you are facing that direction, unless it happens to be one of the 4 compass directions. (I still don't have a joystick in my current configuration although I understand it is better to have one)
My folder setup and workflow is as follows:
- I do all my work in a working folder totally separate from my ICR2 folder. I run SGE, SFE, SF2TRK, 3D23DO, TRK23D and OPE from that folder, all in DOSBox (instead of through N3 Sandbox)
- To save time, I made a script to automate the following after I am done with the N3 tools and want to try it in the game: 1) Copy MRON to the working folder. 2) Run MRON. 3) Make a packing list for the working folder. 4) Pack the working folder into a .dat in a "fake" Nascar2 track folder. 5) Launch N99 to ICR2 converter and convert the Nascar2 track directly to my ICR2/tracks folder. 6) Restore the 3DO files that MRON copied to the 3DOBackup folder.
Finally, I want to offer the observation that, once you figure out the workflow and go through the tutorials, it is very easy to build a minimally driveable track. I have prior experience building tracks for CART Precision Racing and I have to say that the ICR2 track building process is a much better experience and a lot more logical in how the geometry is laid down.
Attached screenshot of what I was able to do so far.