I'm beginning my first terrain and what better place to start than with Bathurst, I'm beginning work today from the in-game editor so I'll post up so photo's very soon. It may take some time to get the track how I want but it will eventually get released, oh and by the way I'm using my own knowledge of the track and it's layout plus 130+ screenshots of a lap from NFS: Shift 2. If people are interested in the project I might do a open beta or something like that but I'll see how it goes first
Looking forward to this one mate. Great track to recreate, but might be a bit difficult. Good luck and keep us posted.
Yeah it is going to be quite a challenge but I can't see a better track to make. Make's my life a whole lot harder because Mesh Roads don't work as of yet meaning that I have sculpt the terrain to the way the track goes, such a pain. - - - Updated - - - So far I've gotten a rough idea of the pit straight, needs alot more smoothing of the track surface and the small little hill. I hate that we can't use mesh roads yet, it's so time consuming without them
Good Luck I race on this track a lot on GT6 and realy enjoy it. The second, third and fourth corners are awesome
Maybe you should see if you can get the height map data from google earth, i have read about people doing it before, and mesh roads won't work anyway because you won't be able to get the road to camber.
If you don't mind waiting a bit, I could get you some DEM heightmap data from the area. Word of warning, though, you'll have to create a new terrain object, which will replace your vegetation. Also, the quality may not be amazing, so you may have to add back some resolution from picture reference. Edit: I think this should be what you're looking for: You'll have to add back some resolution and it'll be up to you to determine the scale (the original image reading as 12.42 KM across in QGis, no clue for the vertical scale, though).
And here is some nice inspiration, from the best layout as far as I'm concerned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lc8jhkIfKA
I tried using mesh roads first off and you can select a point and then rotate it, giving you free choice over the camber of the road. They would be so much easier to use because they are already flat and you don't have to use the terrain to shape the road - - - Updated - - - Would this make the whole process of building the track alot easier? I can already tell this is going to take quite a while because it takes so long to sculpt the terrain to how I want it. I really just need a laser-scan of the track, my life would be so easy then
This is DEM data, space-age topographic information, meaning it's more or less infallible for accuracy (other than height, you'll have to eyeball that). The catch is the low quality, meaning you're still gonna have to sculpt the little details in. Still, the big stuff should be more or less taken care of. If you like, I can track down the coordinates in Google Earth and find where in the heightmap the track is located (giving you a satellite overlay). Only other thing I'll caution you on is that the heightmap is far too large. It covers the track... and several needless kilometers around it. I don't know your experience with 3d modelling technology, but if you want some help setting up a good map preview in Blender, I can and will teach you. It may be easier and more accurate than eyeballing it in Beam. Also, while typing this, I found this reference: (imported from here) Could be helpful if you're adamant about sculpting by hand.
Any sort of visual reference would be fanstastic, at the moment I'm going off of my own knowledge of the track and a tonne of photo's. I tried google earth to see if I could find out anything but it's integrated with Google Maps now instead of being an external program EDIT: I downloaded the actual program this time, it has the same installer as the plugin so I just cancelled it because I thought I was just installing the plugin lol
I could be able to help make sure it's realistic, as I live in Bathurst. Probably won't have time to take photos, though.
I came onto the forums expecting nothing new, the second I saw this I let in a big heap of air and held it in for a minute while I figured out if this was real. Im one happy camper
If your looking for accuracy it may be a better idea to make the track as a 3d model in something like blender, and then import it into the game/build the terrain around it. you can definitely make a nice track by editing the terrain, but it will probably take a lot longer, and won't be as real to life. Either way I would love to see a big race track that wasn't just converted from another game.
Any contribution you can make would be fantastic! I've got a good knowledge of the corners and the track layout, it's just a matter of recreating it all - - - Updated - - - Yeah I did think about doing it through Blender but I honestly have no knowledge in Blender yet, I'd spend most of the time trying to work out what I'm doing. But I'll give it a go and see what I can come up with
I created a new DEM, with an image overlay from Google Earth. Both are in the attached .zip file. I also gave it a test run, and the results seem satisfactory: Unfortunately, the hillsides are rather bumpy, due to the raster image's lack of interpolation, so you'll have to smooth it out rather much.
This happens a lot with my maps. Always make a copy of the folder and place it somewhere else and don't update the game or it will revert it back and delete the .ter. Good luck mate
