Renewing BTB license after a LONG absense

[Wee Scot]

I "invested" in BTB way back in 2007, and used it with great pleasure for about a year to create a set of circuits based on real roads on Caribbean islands, but didn't get past the stage of workable (and wonderfully challenging and promising) racing surfaces bounded by concrete walls before "life" intervened: my growing children robbed me of the many hours I'd been devoting to BTB, insisting (to my great pleasure) that I spend my free time with them, instead!

Now my third child is finally (sniff) on her own and I find I have free hours to once again devote to a hobby. I have just a few questions:

1) What game platforms are supported by the latest BTB software?
2) Is it now (still?) possible to create tracks in BTB directly for use in GTR2?
3) What operating systems are currently compatible with BTB? It used to be only for use with Windows XP, if I recall.
4) What do I need to do to get a new license and download the latest BTB software?
5) Is Brendon still directly involved in BTB development?

Thanks in advance to anyone who'll lend assistance!

John (Wee Scot) McDaniel

 

[Wee Scot]

So it IS possible! Thanks! I'll not be the one doing it. Fortunately, a good friend of my son is an IT professional, and he'll be coming over soon (hopefully this week, after I can buy a new 600-watt PSU--the 500-watt hand-me-down I had no longer works) to finish putting everything together. If he doesn't already know how to set it up so I can boot to one or the other OS/HDD, I'll point him to the search results you linked!

 

[Wee Scot]

@ebrich
I purchased BTB Evo on May 19 (received a PayPal receipt):

I have a license ready for upload:

But when I go to the download page for BTB Evo, and click on "Download the latest version of BTB HERE"...

I'm taken to this download site for BTBEvo_setup, but the page is blank and STAYS blank!?

Do I need to upload my BTB Evo license BEFORE I download the setup file? What am I doing wrong???

Thanks!

 

[ebrich]

The download link isn't is it! Null, nada, rien, vide, kaput............... Will try and contact the man.

 

[Wee Scot]

Thanks. I'm back to work. Will check with you again in 5 hours or so...

 

[Wee Scot]

Where is Brendon these days? I've got to get some sleep, but hopefully you'll have some information for me in another 8 hours of so.

 

[ebrich]

Last time I went running after a problem licence it was 48 hrs. And if he's on holidays.............!

Never watch a kettle boil!

 

[Wee Scot]

Last time I went running after a problem licence it was 48 hrs. And if he's on holidays.............!

Never watch a kettle boil!

LOL

Okay, thanks for your assistance! There ARE other things I can do while I'm waiting...

I'll try not to check more than once a day!

One more question, though, while I'm waiting:

Is there a way to salvage any of the work I did 10 years ago using BTB 0.9? I'm wondering if someone (you?) could "extract" basic track layouts, including elevations and cambers, from those old files so that I don't have to start over again from scratch.

 

[ebrich]

Send me an old project to try.

If we don't hear anything from Brendon I could copy the BTB EVO files and send them to see if you can at least get the "This is locked - need licence" popup to work.

All it should need then is your created hardware ID, receive a licence, to put into the folder, and once BTB is open, under Edit- Options browse the paths for your project folder and temp files.

 

[Wee Scot]

Send me an old project to try.

If we don't hear anything from Brendon I could copy the BTB EVO files and send them to see if you can at least get the "This is locked - need licence" popup to work.

All it should need then is your created hardware ID, receive a licence, to put into the folder, and once BTB is open, under Edit- Options browse the paths for your project folder and temp files.

Thanks. I'll send you one of my old projects when I get home in about two hours. Are you in Australia? If so, with Melbourne 14 hours ahead of Virginia, I won't look for your next post until sometime "tomorrow."

 

[Wee Scot]

Actually, I just saw in your profile you are in France? If so, its just now your midafternoon, so maybe I'll get a "verdict" from you about my old projects before the end of the day!

 

[Wee Scot]

ebrich and I have been carrying on a "conversation" since my last post here, and hopefully I'm now just hours from being able to start applying my gray matter to BTB Evo!

 

[Wee Scot]

And on Monday I downloaded my license, put it in the Evo root folder, and now have a functioning track builder for GTR2. Look out, world! New tracks are on the way!

 

[Wee Scot]

I've always used Google earth via Sketchup for track and terrain but I heard that the new Sketchup Make will not have Geo location after May 22nd. Never used GPS source for topography data in BTB.

At nogripracing, Erwin kindly provided me with a link to download SketchUp 6.0. I started exploring it yesterday, but almost immediately ran into a conundrum:

How, exactly, do I get real world terrain data into my SketchUp so that I can use it to create a base for a circuit in BTB?

I saw in SketchUp, under Tools: Google Earth > Get Current View

Using Google Chrome, I already had Google Earth running and zoomed in on the terrain I want to use for my Basse-Terre, Guadaloupe circuit. But when I clicked on 'Get Current View', SketchUp told me "You must have Google Earth running to use the snapshot capabilities." It didn't "see" the version of Google Earth I already had open?

Then, when I clicked on the link provided in the SketchUp Learning Center tip for 'SketchUp + Google Earth', it opened Google Earth in an Internet Explorer 11 browser window instead of "finding" the one in the Chrome browser I already had open!

And HERE'S an irony for you: The Google Earth homepage opened in the IE 11 browser told me: "Google Chrome is required to run the new Google Earth. Please try this link in Chrome." And a button was provided to "DOWNLOAD CHROME"

Now...

Should I uninstall the Google Chrome browser I installed on my computer a few weeks ago, and download and reinstall Chrome through the Google Earth site that was opened in IE 11 when I used the SketchUp Learning Center link to Google Earth??? Is that the only way this older version of SketchUp is going to "see" Google Earth and allow the "snapshot capabilties"?

And finally...

Am I even on the right path to getting the level of terrain detail I want to create the base (mesh?) for my real-world projects? What do the "snapshot capabilities" in SketchUp 6.0 give me?

In the "Realistic Terrain" discussion, Emery advised:

Use SketchUp (current version)
1) File, Geo-Location, Add Location...
2) Select the terrain you're interested in.
3) File, Geo-Location, Show Terrain
4) File, Save As, use old SketchUp file format

Now you can open SketchUp 6 and resave the file in 6's format which you can use to make an object for BTB XPacker. Insert the object into your track.

But I don't HAVE the current version. I have SketchUp 6.0. Do I need a more recent version to be able to use any of the more highly detailed terrain data sources recommended in the various discussions I've been reading?

In that same "Realistic Terrain" discussion, YOU suggested using "SAS Planet" (https://bitbucket.org/sas_team/sas.planet.bin/downloads) as a data source. I just explored that Atlassian Bitbucket site, and it looks like I could use it for free (Small Team?), but where would I even start? Would I request data for a specific GPS grid area?

In November 2014, Emery recommended the NOAA Data Access Viewer as a data source.
In April 2015, Banger recommended the USGS Earth Explorer.

How does the terrain mapping available through Google Earth compare with what I can get from Point Cloud data using LIDAR as the data source? I just read Emery's "Maximum size point cloud?" discussion and now know just enough to be even MORE confused about the best (free) source for what I want.

I don't want to spend any more money than I've already spent, if possible.

Help!?

 

[ebrich]

https://help.sketchup.com/en/geodatachange

There isn't any geo-location tool, any longer, in the free sketchup.
I have no idea how the point cloud works. Looks pretty confusing at first glance.
I have used the Zaxxon method (complicated) in the past, and have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get it to work in windows 10. This is the method that uses SAS Planet.

 

[Wee Scot]

Well, are you familiar with the "snapshot capabilities" supposedly available with Google Earth, or are those the capabilities that are now no longer available for ANY version of SketchUp?

I can just use the method I used 10 years ago: lay down the track over a jpg map image, then adjust each section by hand to match the known changes in elevation. But I was looking forward to at least starting with a reasonably detailed and accurate terrain mesh!

 

[ebrich]

Sketchup snapshots - No idea.

 

[Wee Scot]

Well, the SketchUp notice you linked did say that I should still be able to import maps, just not terrain with elevation data anymore. I'll try again later when I get home, but I'm still hoping someone else will read this and explain to me how to use one of the terrain data sources to create the sort of "environment" mesh I'm looking for as a base for my track projects. And the tools I have are BTB Pro, BTB Evo, 3DSimED3, and SketchUp 6.0.

 

[Wee Scot]

Actually, I just read the SketchUp notice again and it says only S17 Pro will have sat, map, and terrain data available, and only S17 Make will have map data available. No older versions will have any of this anymore. So I guess I'll just wait to use it when I'm ready to build objects!

 

[Wee Scot]

If someone could explain to me what to use--and how--to put a simple real world terrain mesh in BTB that I can use as a starting point for track layout, I'd greatly appreciate it. Either a source of data that I can use directly in BTB, or in SketchUp 6.0. Preferably FREE, or if not free, at lowest cost. And I'm looking for a result that will be aesthetically pleasing, not necessarily accurate down to the centimeter! Doesn't BTB gives you the ability to "smooth out" rough, jagged terrain by increasing the polygon count and turning terrain jumps into slopes? I think I'd be happy with terrain data that only sampled every meter change in elevation, or maybe even every five or 10 meters, if that's the best I can get with he tools I already have!

Anyone???

 

[Wee Scot]

And another question:

If you create a flat track layout as your first step in a new project, and then import terrain, does your track conform to, rest on, mold itself to the surface of the varying terrain? Conversely, if you first import the terrain, and then create the track, does the track mold itself to the changes in slope and elevation and camber?