Tracks LA Canyons 1.2

[Phoenix77]

I hope you don't take on too much, I'd love to drive this with these new ideas/features and I like many I'm sure, don't want to wait for 54 km of extra road

If I was worried about taking on too much... I would never have started any of my tracks in the first place, and we wouldn't even be discussing this

Don't worry, it'll be worth the wait... and until then you have 42km's to practice on

 

[Tberg]

You gotta do this John, before using all the time on The Snake

 

[garyjpaterson]

Regarding the surrounding roads you are planning, does this make it onto the list? Not that I want to distract from the main loop

I can imagine this making for a great little hillclimb, with its own timing!

 

[Ben O'Bro]

isn't it this one here ?

 

[garyjpaterson]

isn't it this one here ?
View attachment 232141

Yep thats the one, not far from the original loop but probably a lot of work for the extra roads and Dam etc.

 

[Phoenix77]

does this make it onto the list?

Of course it's on the list... It has hairpins ... Well spotted mate
It will also make a great starting location for a freeroam layout... The road at the bottom is Big Tujunga Canyon Road... So it has to go in.

Along with the picnic area at hidden springs (Just after the tunnel) and a few other parking areas dotted around the terrain.

 

[ThierryDee]

It's awesome map, please finish it !
But there is a front height limit for cars : 79mm minimum, and the Porsche GT4 has 78mm so i can't use it .
And maybe you could add bumps cause it's flat !
I hope you will finish it

 

[ThierryDee]

if you finish it i will never play Nordschleife and other map, i will give you a good donation
Maybe you need help, if i can make something for you, i really want to have the final version

 

[Phoenix77]

But there is a front height limit for cars : 79mm minimum, and the Porsche GT4 has 78mm so i can't use it

Can't say I noticed that any cars didn't work before... That is strange... I've even driven round in F1 cars without any issues... Well apart from flying off into a canyon

 

[Phoenix77]

When I've had time, I've been working on getting the terrain smoothed out to get ready to have some very long splines conformed into roads... The 42km loop is smoothed out ready for the roads...
The terrain is smoothed for the road up to Mount Wilson...

As is the whole length of Angeles Crest down to Pasadena...

It's only driveable as a rally stage atm, but I can already tell it's going to be a sweet road when I project the road down on to the terrain. In a few places you run along a ridge, with drops either side
The newer terrain textures, although subject to change, are already working quite nicely compared to the current version.

Also after witnessing how some offroaders were using my tracks online... I decided to smooth out some of the terrain to form some ramps... It might make trying to get back on road a little more fun

There will be a limit to how many places I can do this, as I will have to watch how many tri's I use...
I've already used a shed-load getting the terrain smooth enough for 96kms of roads.

And finally I'm also working on some tree (and bush) assets...

I couldn't find any decent pine tree images that were easy to crop...
So decided to make some elements in Max...
This model is made from 5 million poly's, and I can manipulate it to make as many variations as I like... and render out at whatever resolution I like... Need to improve my rendering and lighting skills... as that dark shadow at the bottom of the trunk is not good enough. But you get the idea

 

[Tberg]

When I've had time, I've been working on getting the terrain smoothed out to get ready to have some very long splines conformed into roads... The 42km loop is smoothed out ready for the roads...
The terrain is smoothed for the road up to Mount Wilson...
View attachment 234986
As is the whole length of Angeles Crest down to Pasadena...
View attachment 234987
View attachment 234988
It's only driveable as a rally stage atm, but I can already tell it's going to be a sweet road when I project the road down on to the terrain. In a few places you run along a ridge, with drops either side
The newer terrain textures, although subject to change, are already working quite nicely compared to the current version.
View attachment 234989
Also after witnessing how some offroaders were using my tracks online... I decided to smooth out some of the terrain to form some ramps... It might make trying to get back on road a little more fun
View attachment 234990
There will be a limit to how many places I can do this, as I will have to watch how many tri's I use...
I've already used a shed-load getting the terrain smooth enough for 96kms of roads.

And finally I'm also working on some tree (and bush) assets...
View attachment 234991
I couldn't find any decent pine tree images that were easy to crop...
So decided to make some elements in Max...
This model is made from 5 million poly's, and I can manipulate it to make as many variations as I like... and render out at whatever resolution I like... Need to improve my rendering and lighting skills... as that dark shadow at the bottom of the trunk is not good enough. But you get the idea

Why not make it shadeless? As a Y-tree with 12 faces, shadow face and kstree shader, any branch selfshade will be redundant.
Otherwise, great tree, might ask you to do a tree for me

 

[Phoenix77]

I double the amount of faces on my trees, per side (split down the middle in height), as I read in a guide, that you get better shading. I want some selfshade, lit from top down and slightly forward... I just need to add some ambient lighting.... Accounting for the light that gets scattered back from the ground, and get the contrast down.

If I didn't have way too much to do already, I might do that mate.
I followed a Youtube guide to make a pine tree...
So other types of tree would be another story

 

[Phoenix77]

Big Tujunga should be pretty nice... climbing 1,200 ft to join the main loop...

Flows nicely even without the road put in, or the bridge

 

[Phoenix77]

Forgetting the fact that I haven't put the roads in yet...
Here's a comparison of the terrain at the Red Box Gap junction.
(the road that leads to Mount Wilson)

Current Version

Next Version

I had to google why it's called Red Box Gap, and it's named after a box containing fire fighting equipment... Possibly this box?

and the gap spans two mountain ranges, blocking the San Gabriel river.

There are two roads... the one to Mount Wilson goes left... And the one to the right heads up Mount Disappointment.. Named because when the surveyors reached the top... They realised the San Gabriel peak was 52m higher.

 

[Phoenix77]

In between the slightly monotonous task of rounding off the terrain over 900km²..
which is starting to look SO much better... thought I'd make some grass in Max..

(The alpha map is obviously overlayed in the real texture, not side by side)
4 should do for now to avoid repetition.

 

[Phoenix77]

Finally got a bush drawn up... This one is 5ft tall... Will make a smaller one, without the roots as well.
Thought I'd just show the alpha so something's left to the imagination for now

Thought I'd give it some roots so it can work at steeper angles, as my terrain has very sudden changes in elevation...
Will make another few for some variation... 3 small, 3 medium should do it.

 

[ltcars]

I just read in your description that you ave problems with ai taking to little fuel?
You have to copy the fast_lane.ai and put it into the data folder and name it ideal_lane.ai. The ai uses this to calculate fuel

 

[Phoenix77]

You have to copy the fast_lane.ai and put it into the data folder and name it ideal_lane.ai. The ai uses this to calculate fuel

Thanks mate, didn't realise the ideal line is what the AI used... The only reason I didn't include the ideal_line.ai was because my AI lines are around 90mb's and will increase the download size.... It's a shame the AI couldn't just use the fast_lane... as they're exactly the same.

Thanks a lot for the info

 

[Stereo]

7zips should be able to compress 2 identical files into no extra space, as long as ideal's just a copy of the fast lane.

 

[Phoenix77]

Even though it's a different file name? that's good to know cheers mate... I'm using WinRar... Maybe that does a similar thing, If not sounds like I will have to use 7zip