rFactor 2 Round 1 Watkins Glen

Barrett, that's because the .veh file numbers have changed for all the cars with the new material/paint system. So if you look in the .rcd text file, the line that points to the base car your skins is for, that .veh number has changed for all the cars because of the updates.
I had to do the same to get my flying lizard skin .mas file to work.

Skins worked for me during the race, i saw Karl's 991 skin, Barrett's BMW skin, etc.
My red flying lizard skin is an "old system" skin, so it doesn't have alt_region.dds.
So if you zoom in closely, you'll see the original pink Heusinkvald logos shining through the Flying lizard skin from the base car's alt_region.dds.

I think the reason the skins don't work in the REPLAY is because there is a bug that s397 have acknowledged on the forums, that AI aren't using skins properly with the new material system. Since when you watch a replay, you can "resume" the race in single player mode, so all the cars become AI cars. So i think that's why the skins don't show up properly when you watch the race in REPLAY mode.

 

One last thing on skins - you might want to clear out/delete all the old skins from last season before next race. (delete all the .rcd and skin folders from the userdata/player/car folder.
I did that before the race, and i was able to see all the skins correctly during the race.

Like if you still have a pink pig skin for my car, it's from last season. Since i didn't change the actual file name of my .dds, that might be why you still see the pink pig in the show room when you try to view my car ...

 

Exactly. I removed all the "rcd" files and went thru the "create folder" process using the old skin "dds" files to get mine working again. I was seeing all the skins as they are in Caitlin's stream both on-track and in my replay.

I had the same issue with the original car's logos showing thru my skin. Even without a "regions.dds", if you load up that new materials utility while in the showroom, you can fix that bleed by changing the "black" region to "car paint", then hitting "reload" (which saves the "mas" and "json" files).

That's some really weird behavior you're getting Andrew, not sure what might be going on there, unless it's the bug Jerry refers to. Looks like a 720S GT3. I ran my skin for that the day before at Hungaroring.

 

As for the qualifying session...

Doesn't matter to me since i never do well in Q. I had trouble finding proper spacing, but that's part of the fun. Three separate sessions would be fine also.

 

Ah I see, fair enough

The one issue I did have once before (but being the first round it may not be applicable in this case). I didn't realise but when I spoke to someone else that does a lot of skins for RF2 he mentioned something that was interesting.

When you join the server with a custom skin (say alt55.dds) the server uploads it to the server (and then this is passed to the others) and all is good (hopefully). However if for some reason you made changes to that skin and resaved it, the server doesn't notice the change (it still see's alt55.dds) so although the one you are racing "in" is your new skin, everyone else may see the older version.

So the advice I was given was to rename each update a different name so alt55v1.dds, alt55v2.dds and so on. So that forces the server to update your file(s).

It doesn't happen all the time as I understand it but useful to know if you are having issues.

EDIT: Just checked the broadcast, no my skin didn't upload (not to Caitlins setup anyway) so not sure if any of you saw it. Oh well, better luck next time!

 

Ahh! You are a genius Barrett!

I went through and exported the .json file from the original s397 car, and set the materials section in the .json file to have all the region colors set to "carPaint" and now the original s397 car skin doesn't shine through my Flying Lizard skin anymore. (I had to set black, white and green regions all to "carPaint" since the Heuskinvald Porsche had lots of shiny sections)

I've also renamed my dds/mas file as v2, as Andrew recommended. Hopefully it downloads correctly for everyone at the next race.

 

The easiest way is to CREATE a Team. What you need to do is:
- save your myCar.psd to alt_myCar.dds in DxT5
- because I don't want to bother with their Region thing, I saved again myCar.psd to alt_myCar_region.dds in DxT1
- in rF2 select first car of your make, then click TUNING to go to the showroom
- Hit CREATE DIR
- Toggle ALT-TAB to go to the folder you created and drop your dds files in it
- Toggle back to showroom and hit RELOAD, then select your skin with the arrows
- Hit CREATE (not CREATE DIR) and fill in the form (Driver Name, Team Name, Car Make #Number, Number)
- Hit ACCEPT then BACK to exit the showroom
- In the car list choose your Car Make #Number
- Ready, hit RACE

You can clean up the files and folders:
- In the Car Make folder you'll find two folders, the one you created to drop your dds files and a second one with your Driver Name
- Delete the first one
- In your Driver Name folder keep the mas file and delete everything else

 

As the above method works fine, it will on some skin make the color metallic and/or a different gloss level that might not be what you like.
It will also double the size of older non-shader skins.

Another way is to do all above steps, but instead of using "_region.dds" put the attach .json file in the mas file.
I have used it on +20 pre-shader skins on GT3/GTE cars and it seems to work fine, and tested them online as well (not all variants obviously).

Rename attached file to "alt_myskin.json" and put the file in your mas file. Always compress your files into a mas file for online use.

I have noted that only use "alt.mas" works fine offline, but I had problems online (was not seen/downloaded by others), any other variation seems to work:
alt_myskin.mas, myskin_alt.mas, myskinalt.mas, altmyskin.mas

Example of an fixed old skin (note that the veh need to be updated in old rcd as well):

 

awesome.

thank you for that.
starting to get an understanding of rF2 skins now.

are we to actually use the word"myskin" of the actual name of your skin?? eg alt_K_steeg_47_GTEv1.mas
have you had any difference in DXT1 vs DXT5?

 

Jens, with the method I describe above it creates a json file as well and adds it to the MAS. And I think they said the _region.dds is now mandatory for new cars. Not sure for old skins though, maybe you only need to do what was done before for those old files.


@Karl: "myCar" "myskins" are placeholders, you can name your files with the name you want. There's just a 12 characters limit for the name. I'm not even sure you need to add the "alt" in the name.

 

The "myskin" is as Eric mention, a placehold for whatever your skin name is, and I think Eric is correct that the "alt" in the name is not needed. Also keep the name under 12 char as suggested.

I tried the "_region" and json fix for a old skin, even if it did work fine the texture of the skin was a bit strange and applying only the json in the mas had better visual result. But I suggest all to try both as it might be better for some variants. But for new skins and many of skins you can download at RD, there is already a region and json included.

Also, older skins don't work with the "carpaint editor", every time when I have tried, the dds file is removed from the mas file when it updated.

 

Did you try to add their Region group in your psd files ?


That's what makes the region thing working. But still not sure if it can work with old skins.

 

No, my suggestion is only to fix existing old skins, then you only have access to the main dds file and any extensions.
I only use skins made by others, there are so many other people doing it much better than what I could possible do

 

I went thru and edit all my old existing GT3 and GTE skins editing changing the veh, adding the json and creating the mas when needed. Had about +110 including some new ones.
Noted my first json worked better with exception of 2 or 3 skins so I have updated the link in post https://simracingonline.co.uk/threads/round-1-watkins-glen.3149/page-9#post-23926, for most old skins this will work better.

 

Hey All


busy rebuilding my PC.

my skin from this race is gon.
could someone please post or mail it to me??

(Its metalic blur and vinyl orange Porsche GTE)

 

is it this one ? #47

 

hi.

many thanks.
rF2 is busy installing now, will test asap and let you know.

many thanks