Welcome to Topanga Canyon Hillclimb. It's a point-to-point sprint run up Topanga Canyon Blvd, a real public road located near Malibu, CA. It begins at sea level along the Pacific Coast Highway, stretching north 13 miles through the Santa Monica Mountains to a peak of 1,500ft before dipping back down slightly to it's conclusion at Mulholland Hwy. Compared to many hillclimbs, the slope is more gradual here and there are fewer tight hairpins which results in some particularly high speed runs. The road is narrow however, and the heavily wooded canyon makes for poor visibility. There are caution markers and tire barriers setup in some of the most deceptive areas, but a careless driver will quickly end up in the trees!
This is my first track release for AC. It's one of several tracks i've been working on, and is the culmination of over two years of learning, practicing, trying different techniques, and starting new projects but never finishing them. I'm finally making a push to get a few of them wrapped up and released.
---------------October 3rd 2020, update v1.2 ---------------
****NOTE: Please DELETE the previous version of the track from your tracks folder before installing this new one. If you were getting long load times in the previous version, definitely delete it and upgrade to v1.2.
The latest update v1.2 now has two new track variations: "Free roam" with continuously flowing two-way AI traffic, and "Race" with 30 pit boxes and a full starting grid!
The two-way AI traffic in the "Free roam" variation is set up to be used through the Track Day drive mode, ideally with Custom Shader Patch's "AI Flood" feature enabled to increase the volume of traffic. By default there are AI boundaries established to prohibit them crossing the double yellow line to overtake each other in order to avoid head-on collisions. The AI will make a U-turn at each end and head back the other direction continuously, which you can of course do as well. There are 29 pit boxes scattered throughout the track, so even without Flood enabled you should get traffic showing up in Track Day mode. Thank you to modder alekabul for posting various information on this site regarding AI traffic and behavior settings.
"Race" is a single direction point-to-point run but with an expanded pit area with a 30 car capacity. This can be used either in Race drive mode or in Track Day mode, but do note the AI is taking the racing line so you cannot turn around and come back the other direction! During Track Day you can just Return To Pits once you complete a run to start back from the beginning. If you enable CSP's AI "Get back to race after going to pits" AI option this will let you re-join the AI as they make their sprint runs.
So to sum it up, there are 4 track variations now available:
Current specs:
-Four track variations: hillclimb, downhill, free roam, race.
-13 miles (20km) in length.
-6 pit boxes on hillclimb/downhill, and 29 on free roam/race
-2 intermediate split time markers.
-AI path, suggested line, and mini map.
-Replay cameras (hillclimb direction ONLY)
---------------Recommended Requirements ---------------
---------------Media ---------------
I've prepared two videos of the hillclimb run, depending on your tastes. The first one is absolutely flat out in the BMW E36 Judd V8 hillclimb monster created by eboo, and the second is a slightly less frenetic run in the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (livery by Nico).
Additionally, here's a short montage of a few different vehicle types to showcase the replay cameras and AI. I realize hillclimbs are supposed to be done solo, but I was surprised to find how fun it is to drive with them. HOWEVER let me preface this by saying that you should not expect perfection from them. They don't do well at the start/finish lines, they brake excessively at times, and they're driving a hillclimb "fast line" not a defensive racing line, so don't be expecting any clean and fair races. They're just there for company if you get lonely!
The Countach liveries in the video are by Xedrox, and the Alfa Romeo skins are by Nico.
Lots more images in this imgur album.
---------------To Do / Wish List---------------
Please do comment with any bugs, performance issues, glitches, or suggestions. This is my first track release so I am definitely interested in feedback.
Hopefully this goes without saying, but please do not edit publicly or re-post in part or in whole without my permission
I have several other roads and tracks in the works. If you enjoy this one, let me know and help fuel my motivation to expedite the completion of the others!
THANK YOU Kunos for this timeless platform, THANK YOU everybody in the modding community for all the inspiration and resources, and an EPIC THANK YOU to luchian over at assettocorsamods.net for having an answer to every question and issue I googled.
****NOTE: If you have version 1.0 or 1.01 of the mod installed and are getting long load times, please delete "side_l.csv" and "side_r.csv" from the data folders.
This is my first track release for AC. It's one of several tracks i've been working on, and is the culmination of over two years of learning, practicing, trying different techniques, and starting new projects but never finishing them. I'm finally making a push to get a few of them wrapped up and released.
---------------October 3rd 2020, update v1.2 ---------------
****NOTE: Please DELETE the previous version of the track from your tracks folder before installing this new one. If you were getting long load times in the previous version, definitely delete it and upgrade to v1.2.
The latest update v1.2 now has two new track variations: "Free roam" with continuously flowing two-way AI traffic, and "Race" with 30 pit boxes and a full starting grid!
The two-way AI traffic in the "Free roam" variation is set up to be used through the Track Day drive mode, ideally with Custom Shader Patch's "AI Flood" feature enabled to increase the volume of traffic. By default there are AI boundaries established to prohibit them crossing the double yellow line to overtake each other in order to avoid head-on collisions. The AI will make a U-turn at each end and head back the other direction continuously, which you can of course do as well. There are 29 pit boxes scattered throughout the track, so even without Flood enabled you should get traffic showing up in Track Day mode. Thank you to modder alekabul for posting various information on this site regarding AI traffic and behavior settings.
"Race" is a single direction point-to-point run but with an expanded pit area with a 30 car capacity. This can be used either in Race drive mode or in Track Day mode, but do note the AI is taking the racing line so you cannot turn around and come back the other direction! During Track Day you can just Return To Pits once you complete a run to start back from the beginning. If you enable CSP's AI "Get back to race after going to pits" AI option this will let you re-join the AI as they make their sprint runs.
So to sum it up, there are 4 track variations now available:
- Hillclimb - Point-to-point, 6 pit boxes at the start, AI taking the race line.
- Downhill - Point-to-point, opposite direction, 6 pit boxes at the start, AI taking the race line.
- Race - Hillclimb direction point-to-point with 30 pit boxes at start, full starting grid, AI taking the race line. Use in either Track Day or Race mode.
- Free roam - Two-way AI traffic, continuously circulating, never cross the double yellow line. 29 Pit boxes scattered throughout the track. Use this in Track Day mode with Custom Shader Patch's "AI Flood" feature enabled. It should also work without Flood, but will take longer for traffic to propagate from their pitboxes. Also be sure to enable "Get back to race after going to pits" in CSP AI New Behavior settings. If you want the AI to be allowed to cross the double yellow line to overtake each other, there is an alternate AI line included which you can unzip. Just be warned that head-on collisions will ensue.
Current specs:
-Four track variations: hillclimb, downhill, free roam, race.
-13 miles (20km) in length.
-6 pit boxes on hillclimb/downhill, and 29 on free roam/race
-2 intermediate split time markers.
-AI path, suggested line, and mini map.
-Replay cameras (hillclimb direction ONLY)
---------------Recommended Requirements ---------------
- Custom Shader Patch with Grass FX enabled. I have ONLY tested it WITH the shader patch installed, and the ground was designed specifically to be used with Grass FX.
- For anything AI related, Custom Shader Patch's "New AI Behavior" is a must-have for the best experience and flexibility.
- In my videos below I have AO HBAO+ enabled and am using the stock AC "photographic" PP filter.
- I find the lighting conditions are best at 10:30 and 15:30, or any time in between. Since this is a pretty deep canyon, if the sun is too low on the horizon then the whole road is in shadow.
---------------Media ---------------
I've prepared two videos of the hillclimb run, depending on your tastes. The first one is absolutely flat out in the BMW E36 Judd V8 hillclimb monster created by eboo, and the second is a slightly less frenetic run in the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (livery by Nico).
Additionally, here's a short montage of a few different vehicle types to showcase the replay cameras and AI. I realize hillclimbs are supposed to be done solo, but I was surprised to find how fun it is to drive with them. HOWEVER let me preface this by saying that you should not expect perfection from them. They don't do well at the start/finish lines, they brake excessively at times, and they're driving a hillclimb "fast line" not a defensive racing line, so don't be expecting any clean and fair races. They're just there for company if you get lonely!
The Countach liveries in the video are by Xedrox, and the Alfa Romeo skins are by Nico.
Lots more images in this imgur album.
---------------To Do / Wish List---------------
- Improve visual look of cliffs, road surface, and background terrain.
- Add replay cameras to the downhill direction
- Add more props to the downhill direction (currently has no caution markers, sandbags, or tire walls)
- Continue to improve realism of buildings and scenery props to better reflect the real-life location.
- There is some minor jitter visible in the beginning of the track, but it has no effect on the drive. The track is centered on the origin, and the maximum extent from the origin is 10km. Would be nice to find a way to fix this.
Please do comment with any bugs, performance issues, glitches, or suggestions. This is my first track release so I am definitely interested in feedback.
Hopefully this goes without saying, but please do not edit publicly or re-post in part or in whole without my permission
I have several other roads and tracks in the works. If you enjoy this one, let me know and help fuel my motivation to expedite the completion of the others!THANK YOU Kunos for this timeless platform, THANK YOU everybody in the modding community for all the inspiration and resources, and an EPIC THANK YOU to luchian over at assettocorsamods.net for having an answer to every question and issue I googled.
****NOTE: If you have version 1.0 or 1.01 of the mod installed and are getting long load times, please delete "side_l.csv" and "side_r.csv" from the data folders.
