Race Remaster

AndreasFSC · Nov 12, 2021

The idea of the shaders is that they should behave more consistent no matter what material they are used for. The tracks and cars are made to fit the original shaders obviously, so sometimes it can look less good with the new shaders. But in one way the new shaders should be more "realistic" and react more to the direction of lights. I have reduced bumps to have more of the mesh normals in the calculations. Otherwise the bumps were kind of offset in some directions and sun reflections were wrong. It might be caused by some calculations error, so things can be improved later.

I have tried some very good looking sky textures, but I had some problems with sun not matching light direction. But if we can fix that (or if I did something wrong when installing them) and get permission from the author, I think that we definitely need better skies.

Today I got some installer get started help from @GTR233, so I have made the most part of an installer for the remaster mod.

Maybe not the most visually impressive installer so far, but very useful

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

Bumpmap shaders should be fixed now.

Also think I maybe should have a look at WTCC cars suspension rollcenter

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

A study in light from different directions. The track looks a little bit pale, maybe some texture saturation updates are needed.

holacrosty · Nov 13, 2021

AndreasFSC said:
I had some problems with sun not matching light direction

From my GTR2:
Latitude = -11.25
NorthDir = 270 // or 90 if your track skybox is backwards (that meaning: if the Sun rises, or sets, at the opposite side of your track "sun" sky. Like on "Yas Marina 2011".
RaceDate = 0

Latitude = If you use 0 is default. But it is so center (at NorthDir = 270 / RaceDate = 0) that produces an error (dissapering) at 12:00 (perfect noon) on some shadows. And look ugly and unrealistic. A negative value is my best for create a diferentiation between morning and afternoon.

NorthDir = This is garbaje. No wonder why factory default was 270. It only moves the sun image but not the sun light nor the shadows or the skydome .. is a mess. It does nothing but damege in every possible combination.

RaceDate = This **** tries to diferentiates summer and winter stuff. At default of the "other values" the default date for this (meaning maximum sun intensity) are actually 2. March 30 and Septemeber 30. But as soon as you change latitude or recedate this **** missalingn everything again as far as I remember.

Conclusion: The geolocation system is a P.O.S. And it doesnt resemble reality or anithing like it.

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

Thanks for the explanation

Sven Hielscher · Nov 13, 2021

AndreasFSC said:
A study in light from different directions. The track looks a little bit pale, maybe some texture saturation updates are needed.

View attachment 517199 View attachment 517197 View attachment 517198

It looks like the AO is lost somehow, most noticeable when looking at the car that seems to float. Maybe it's different on screen and with moving picture.

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

You mean the projected shadow texture under the car (as there are technically no ambient occlusion sadly)?
It is probably caused by the inversion of shadow vs light. Very hard to balance some things, maybe if it is possible to isolate that shadow from the car shaped shadow

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

Maybe it will work better like this:

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

I have never thought much about the skies before, but luckily others have.
So with the feedback from @GTR233 and @holacrosty we will soon have fully working hd skies that are compatible with the shaders.
I have added a special material for skies, just looks a little bit too dark right now.

AndreasFSC · Nov 13, 2021

Sky textures are of course those from GTR2 Anniversary PATCH. For the moment I just use the new DX9 shader with no light setting, but I will make a version with slightly brighter material. To my eyes (that are not used to the latest level of graphics) this looks nice.
Most of the issues that I know of are sorted now, just missing material alpha setting.

Kenny Paton · Nov 13, 2021

AndreasFSC said:
To my eyes (that are not used to the latest level of graphics) this looks nice.

Quite agree, those pics could be RaceRoom, which I always think looks natural and satisfying.
Yes when I'm watching ACC running full pelt on my son's ultra wide monitor I can appreciate how good modern graphics can be but it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of racing super tourers in Race 07 and the work you guys are putting into this project means it's only going to get better.

MJQT · Nov 13, 2021

These graphics changes are looking amazing, agree with Kenny and Andreas.

Just a quick, unrelated thought I wanted to share about something we might be able to add to the Remaster in the future. Was looking into track modding as a newbie, saw this video, and learned about how you can add a detailed physical (but not visual) track mesh in software like Blender -- provides enhanced immersion in the FFB but at little performance penalty from the extra polygons since it's not visual. Seems this is common practice in the AC modding community. Got me thinking: if you added an invisible, more detailed mesh to a track in RACE 07, would you feel in the FFB? If yes, doing that would provide a not-too-difficult way for people with modern wheels to get more immersion and enjoyment from the game. Maybe something to consider... but I don't know if it's possible for older gMotor sims. Is it?

Incredible Hulk · Nov 14, 2021

Kenny Paton said:
Quite agree, those pics could be RaceRoom, which I always think looks natural and satisfying.
Yes when I'm watching ACC running full pelt on my son's ultra wide monitor I can appreciate how good modern graphics can be but it doesn't spoil my enjoyment of racing super tourers in Race 07 and the work you guys are putting into this project means it's only going to get better.

Kids are shocked seeing dad wasting his time with the game as old as ancient Greece while GTS stays ready with 4k tv.
But, they will learn that some things are TIMEless, and will only get better and better.
Spouse is shocked anyway

Shovas · Nov 14, 2021

Incredible Hulk said:
Kids are shocked seeing dad wasting his time with the game as old as ancient Greece while GTS stays ready with 4k tv.
But, they will learn that some things are TIMEless, and will only get better and better.
Spouse is shocked anyway

View attachment 517378

That looks great. Is that in-game or post processing photo mode kind of magic?

I notice a hint of atmospheric haze in that picture but maybe it's a side effect of that lens flare, not sure.

Anyway, I always thought atmospheric haze always added something really nice to tracks.

Kenny Paton · Nov 14, 2021

Incredible Hulk said:
Kids are shocked seeing dad wasting his time with the game as old as ancient Greece while GTS stays ready with 4k tv.

The only one of my three "kids" (they're all on their 50's) who sim races regularly jumps from ACC onto LFS for some racing which he's played since it first came out.
I'm convinced it's an age thing this fixation with graphics.

AndreasFSC · Nov 14, 2021

MJQT said:
These graphics changes are looking amazing, agree with Kenny and Andreas.

Just a quick, unrelated thought I wanted to share about something we might be able to add to the Remaster in the future. Was looking into track modding as a newbie, saw this video, and learned about how you can add a detailed physical (but not visual) track mesh in software like Blender -- provides enhanced immersion in the FFB but at little performance penalty from the extra polygons since it's not visual. Seems this is common practice in the AC modding community. Got me thinking: if you added an invisible, more detailed mesh to a track in RACE 07, would you feel in the FFB? If yes, doing that would provide a not-too-difficult way for people with modern wheels to get more immersion and enjoyment from the game. Maybe something to consider... but I don't know if it's possible for older gMotor sims. Is it?

Good point, I know the legendary @Lasercutter used this approach in the rfactor version of Thruxton (the one that the ST version is based on). To my knowledge the "bumpy" track is only needed when the .hat file is generated in GTR2, and can after that be omitted(?)
Sadly I don't think that I will be able to do this, because I always get confused by Blender and its workflow (but I know it is a fantastic software)

MJQT · Nov 14, 2021

Kenny Paton said:
The only one of my three "kids" (they're all on their 50's) who sim races regularly jumps from ACC onto LFS for some racing which he's played since it first came out.
I'm convinced it's an age thing this fixation with graphics.

I agree. However, as a relatively young person, I'm not entirely graphics-fixated! So we're not all like that

. However, I need enough resolution to not see pixels and clearly see other cars and track boundaries a fair ways away, and tracks should be plausibly like what they are in real life – so I do have a somewhat hard time with Indycar Racing II at times, for example. But LFS, GTR2, RACE 07... wayyy more than enough for me, even by default.

Anyway, not to hijack this thread.

Really liking the look of these screenshots with the new shaders etc! Excited to see this in game. And I have a system that should be able to try this out at 4K or even 5K – can only imagine how good this'll look at that resolution.

MJQT · Nov 14, 2021

AndreasFSC said:
Good point, I know the legendary @Lasercutter used this approach in the rfactor version of Thruxton (the one that the ST version is based on). To my knowledge the "bumpy" track is only needed when the .hat file is generated in GTR2, and can after that be omitted(?)
Sadly I don't think that I will be able to do this, because I always get confused by Blender and its workflow (but I know it is a fantastic software)

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'd be prepared to experiment with this and see what happens.

EDIT: I should mention: I was already playing with bumpifying track mesh the other day after importing a mod track into Blender as a FBX file as a test. I have minimal 3D modelling experience, but the tools for this specific process are quite straightforward – just a matter of "learning by doing" to get it just right, it would seem.