There is no game control to operate fog lights at this time. But is is a good idea to map them and test them in the editor, so they can work if I add an option to switch fog lights.
No problem, you are right that not all questions are covered in the documentation.
Some questions are: https://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Vehicle_Mods
We won't be asking for donations or hiring people. It has been incredibly busy before and during this test patch stage. Remember, we are testing now and we are developing as fast as possible for serious issues - currently the whole way mods are accepted or approved. It's more important that the ncl option. I did see Denis's questions and was thinking how to answer it today. It's not very easy to explain how normal contributions work, and might be best demonstrated with a diagram. But I really haven't had that 20 minutes spare today.
Hello Denis.
The "Reference point" is really just a blue point. You can use that blue colour to distinguish it from other points. For example, we have often used it for the vertices of the collision mesh. One other thing, reference points that are unused, are protected from being deleted in the "clean object" function. I think that's about it!
The Bounding box has no real function at all. It is created to include all points, so that could show you if there is a distant point somewhere, that should not be there. But I think you can just ignore this bounding box.
About normal contribution levels: each triangle meeting at a vertex, within the same smoothing group, contributes to the normal of that surface at that vertex. In fact, large triangles have a larger contribution. So for example you could make a simple "hardback book" shaped object and most of the apparent curvature would be on the spine of that book. But the spine would still be contributing to the normals, so the front and back faces of the 'book' would still be a little curved. If, however, you set the "normal contribution level" (ncl) of the spine to zero, then the spine would not contribute to the normals at all. Then the front and back face of the book would look totally flat. Probably better explained with a diagram.
I see what you mean. I've deleted most of my reply 3 posts back as I found it was wrong.
With your export I can reproduce the issue, and I understand that from Rony's post too.
Explanation - you don't need to know this
It's related to the special renaming system and because some of the original files have exactly the same file time as each other. When they are specially named (SKINID_XX), they may end up with the same file name as a different texture had on a previous export. When that happens and the file date is the same, LFS thinks it is the same file. This problem can't come up when exporting for upload, because that is always into a clean folder, but does happen in TEST mode as it doesn't clean out the folder.
OK now I get the problem, I'd better think of a solution. For now you can delete the test mod's dds folder in the LFS directory. Thanks for the report and test data!
With your export I can reproduce the issue, and I understand that from Rony's post too.
Explanation - you don't need to know this
It's related to the special renaming system and because some of the original files have exactly the same file time as each other. When they are specially named (SKINID_XX), they may end up with the same file name as a different texture had on a previous export. When that happens and the file date is the same, LFS thinks it is the same file. This problem can't come up when exporting for upload, because that is always into a clean folder, but does happen in TEST mode as it doesn't clean out the folder.OK now I get the problem, I'd better think of a solution. For now you can delete the test mod's dds folder in the LFS directory. Thanks for the report and test data!
Last edited by Scawen, .
Yes, I'm not getting this result with the shared files.
I do know a situation that can cause this type of effect when TEST mods are used, because test mods don't have protected texture names.
[EDIT: my whole description here was wrong, because I now learned that test mods DO have protected texture names - Sorry about that!]
I do know a situation that can cause this type of effect when TEST mods are used, because test mods don't have protected texture names.
[EDIT: my whole description here was wrong, because I now learned that test mods DO have protected texture names - Sorry about that!]
Last edited by Scawen, .
New time limits for submitting mods and updates to mods [OBSOLETE]
EDIT: The information here is no longer correct as we have a new system for mod approval: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/95940
Hello Modders,
We are really impressed by a lot of the mods you have been working on, and are very happy to see so many people learning to use our development tools during this testing period.
So far we have been unable to keep up with the number of mods and updates submitted, so we have decided to impose some time limits. These may well be a temporary measure while we try to figure out other ways to keep the quality high and the update frequency down a bit.
The general idea is to prepare your mod well, test and improve it a lot in single player, hopefully discuss it in the Mods Work in Progress section, then when it's pretty good, submit the first version. That's what we mean by "Work in Progress".
For us, "Work in Progress" doesn't mean you've just started working on it. Obviously work is in progress at that point, but for a submitted mod, it means it's in a good state, really fun to drive, everything works and it is in the final stages of development.
Good mod creators will really take their time to work on a mod. It's not a 10 minute job like in my test video with the UF 1300. More like weeks of work, though this depends on the type of mod you are creating and what source materials you have. The reviewers are far more likely to take an interest in proper mods that add something to Live for Speed. They aren't very inspired by LFS cars with slightly different engine or tyres.
So the new limits are:
To express that a different way:
We hope this will not cause inconvenience, but instead encourage people to take their time to get things right before submitting new mods or updates.
Thank you!
Hello Modders,
We are really impressed by a lot of the mods you have been working on, and are very happy to see so many people learning to use our development tools during this testing period.
So far we have been unable to keep up with the number of mods and updates submitted, so we have decided to impose some time limits. These may well be a temporary measure while we try to figure out other ways to keep the quality high and the update frequency down a bit.
The general idea is to prepare your mod well, test and improve it a lot in single player, hopefully discuss it in the Mods Work in Progress section, then when it's pretty good, submit the first version. That's what we mean by "Work in Progress".
For us, "Work in Progress" doesn't mean you've just started working on it. Obviously work is in progress at that point, but for a submitted mod, it means it's in a good state, really fun to drive, everything works and it is in the final stages of development.
Good mod creators will really take their time to work on a mod. It's not a 10 minute job like in my test video with the UF 1300. More like weeks of work, though this depends on the type of mod you are creating and what source materials you have. The reviewers are far more likely to take an interest in proper mods that add something to Live for Speed. They aren't very inspired by LFS cars with slightly different engine or tyres.
So the new limits are:
To express that a different way:
We hope this will not cause inconvenience, but instead encourage people to take their time to get things right before submitting new mods or updates.
Thank you!
Last edited by Scawen, .
I have found a really good reason for long distance in-game downloads to take longer than they should. We'll be releasing that today along with a couple of InSim bug fixes and the fix for "Did not receive skin info" when joining a busy host.
Also looking at some of the other already reported bugs and requests. This is not a request for more requests. There will be several updates during this round of test patches.
Also looking at some of the other already reported bugs and requests. This is not a request for more requests.
There will be several updates during this round of test patches. Did you start it using W45? Just checking, as it certainly wouldn't work with W43.
If so then I guess it's a bug, I'll notify Victor. It is supposed to send that list as soon as the host is started. And I know he did test that.
I think you should find if you update that list after the host is started, it should apply the list correctly. We've tested that quite a bit.
If so then I guess it's a bug, I'll notify Victor. It is supposed to send that list as soon as the host is started. And I know he did test that.
I think you should find if you update that list after the host is started, it should apply the list correctly. We've tested that quite a bit.
IS_MCI bug:
All right, I've got it now. Thank you very much for the test. It really is a stupid bug of mine. That function was TOO similar to the old one. Although it knows the correct number of cars per packet, at *one point* it refers to the number 8, instead of that.
So what it does: sends the correct number of packets as if it would be adding 16 cars in each packet, but only fills 8 cars into each one.
I'm sorry about the confusion. There was a long big push where I was converting a lot of packets in LFS and actually could not test every one. I shouldn't have missed this though. Anyway it's fixed in my code.
I don't think I can do an update tomorrow but I hope to get an version done on Monday afternoon.
All right, I've got it now. Thank you very much for the test. It really is a stupid bug of mine. That function was TOO similar to the old one. Although it knows the correct number of cars per packet, at *one point* it refers to the number 8, instead of that.
So what it does: sends the correct number of packets as if it would be adding 16 cars in each packet, but only fills 8 cars into each one.
I'm sorry about the confusion. There was a long big push where I was converting a lot of packets in LFS and actually could not test every one. I shouldn't have missed this though. Anyway it's fixed in my code.
I don't think I can do an update tomorrow but I hope to get an version done on Monday afternoon.
Last edited by Scawen, .
Guys, let's stay on topic. You cannot understand the work load I am under here, trying to get the vehicle mods sorted. We already have a layout editor.
scania, I think you have already asked two times before about a map on the floor in the layout editor.
We have just released a huge system "vehicle mods" and it is not finished. So we are not doing major changes to the layout editor, or going to release a track editor in any imaginable time frame.
I'm fairly interested in the possibility of adding a dirt area to the layout square, as a selectable configuration for an incompatible test patch. But that's about it really. I'm also considering the idea of a walled 1km square area.
I'm only interested in one or two small changes to layout square, where a small change can allow a lot of possibilities. Not changes to the layout system or other difficult things.
scania, I think you have already asked two times before about a map on the floor in the layout editor.
We have just released a huge system "vehicle mods" and it is not finished. So we are not doing major changes to the layout editor, or going to release a track editor in any imaginable time frame.
I'm fairly interested in the possibility of adding a dirt area to the layout square, as a selectable configuration for an incompatible test patch. But that's about it really. I'm also considering the idea of a walled 1km square area.
I'm only interested in one or two small changes to layout square, where a small change can allow a lot of possibilities. Not changes to the layout system or other difficult things.
At the moment there is no automatic cleanup. I'm not certain what do do about that. In theory we could delete old versions after a day or so (it should stay while someone might still be online with the old version). But if you watch an MPR, it needs to load the correct version. So I don't want to be too hasty to delete old versions.
On the other hand, that car has been updated far too many times. It's quite annoying for reviewers to have to keep approving a car every time there is a tiny setup change. Really, people should make a list of required changes, take their time to do the changes and test offline. Then upload when they are happy, maybe the next day or whatever. Though there is obviously such a thing as the need for a quick fix. So we don't want to apply strong rules. Anyway, public mods only really got going yesterday. We are learning how this process goes in reality.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with LFS modeller, but a smoothing group is a property of a triangle that allows it to share normals ("be smoothed with") neighbouring triangles that have the same smoothing group.
Consider a cube. It has only 8 vertices in the editor. Each corner doesn't have 3 vertices with a different normal (it does in the 'output mesh' that is ready for drawing, but in the LFS editor model there is only one vertex at each corner). The 3 faces that meet at that single vertex must have different smoothing groups, so that the cube has sharp edges. A cube needs 3 smoothing groups in total. A cylinder would use one for the curved surface and one for the ends.
When you export from blender, you do produce multiple vertices at a single point if there is a sharp edge there. LFS will merge these vertices into a single vertex, but only after analysing the mesh and assigning smoothing groups, so that the sharp edges are retained after processing.
When it says it ran out of smoothing groups, that means that it had difficulty assigning a smoothing group to one of the surfaces. This may mean that a lot of different smoothing groups shared an edge with that surface. It might not be a real problem - it might just mean there isn't a sharp edge where there should be.
You might need your human brain to fix it, if it is a problem. The thing to do, is go into "tri" mode in the modeller, and select "groups" at the bottom right, and see how it has assigned the smoothing groups (they are colour coded). You might find a clue there, maybe something where there are loads of smoothing groups but it's completely unnecessary. It's hard to know. I had a few test meshes for Blender exports but probably haven't covered everything that could go wrong.
Running out of smoothing groups means you reached 24 smoothing groups. But normally a mesh only needs 5, 6 or 7 groups. In 'subob' mode there is a 'compress groups' button to reduce the number of groups without changing the appearance. So it's worth having a look in there to see what's up. Maybe a lot of smoothing groups meeting at a point so LFS wasn't about to assign low group numbers. Or you could send us the OBJ file if you'd like me to have a look.
It defines how far UP your wheels can go before suspension bottoms out (bump stops).
Try enabling "Zero Springs Test" then make small adjustments to max up.
Try enabling "Zero Springs Test" then make small adjustments to max up.
That message means that file is not found in your data\skins folder
You should not need to do that for your own local testing, just click "TEST mod in LFS".
It could be possible to add something to get the full car name from the server but it'll be a while before that reaches high priority. I think Victor has set up something using http (or something - I'll ask him).
About two consecutive NPL - I guess you aren't using ISF_REQ_JOIN ? Does the first one appear as if it is a join request? I'm just looking for clues. I've got a lot to try and catch up on so it's hard for me to test each bug. Would it be possible to confirm if this is new and doesn't happen in the old version?
About two consecutive NPL - I guess you aren't using ISF_REQ_JOIN ? Does the first one appear as if it is a join request? I'm just looking for clues. I've got a lot to try and catch up on so it's hard for me to test each bug. Would it be possible to confirm if this is new and doesn't happen in the old version?
LFS Mods [TEST VERSION] Introduction and Discussion
[EDIT: This thread was for the test version. We have now released the official version so this thread is now closed. Thank you all for the testing over the past few weeks]
Dear Community Members,
A test version of a new mods system is now available!
NOTE: There may be changes to any part of this plan, between now and when this test becomes an official version.
About the new system and how it came to be:
We have always wanted to support mods because of the huge variety that becomes possible. We thought it could be done after the new version release, with the new physics. That would have been ideal but there is a lot of demand for mods and we started to look into it this year.
At first we started thinking about simply allowing VOB mods, with some restrictions. But it would of course be better if we had an official way to edit and export mods. So I experimented with some changes in the current public version of LFS, to the point where it could load VOB models saved from our development version. It was immediately obvious that it would be too restrictive if we only allowed VOB mods on existing cars. So I made more changes to save fully edited vehicles that could be loaded in the public version.
As a standalone model and vehicle editor was proven to be possible in principle, we got more serious about the whole thing. We started working on a mod submission system, with mods stored on our website and automatically downloaded in LFS. With the new system, you can visit any server and see new mods there for the first time as they are automatically downloaded like skins.
To make a mod you can build a model (3D mesh) directly in the LFS modeller or start by importing one from another program, e.g. Blender, then make adjustments and apply texture maps within the LFS modeller. To create a driveable vehicle with your model, you could either start from scratch with a new vehicle or choose an existing car as a starting point. Adjust wheel positions, mass, suspension, engine and so on. Test the mod in your public version of LFS then export and upload it to our website. Reviewers will check it follows the rules and approve / reject / request changes. When approved, the mod can be downloaded in LFS and used online.
There are some restrictions.
- The mods system is only for S3 licensed users.
- We do not allow real car names or logos, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- We do not allow meshes converted from other games, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- There are limits (e.g. triangle count and texture size) so the mods are quick to download.
Changes to hosting:
There are some changes to the way game servers work. We believe the only way to prevent piracy is to no longer release any server code at all (or even support LAN games). For the new version, we provide the servers, using our existing server rental system. Game server owners can use InSim connections to their servers. We have set up internet servers in Europe, America and Asia so you should get a good ping wherever you are.
You can start a free server in game, using the "Start new host" button. But now, that starts a host running on one of our servers, instead of locally on your computer. When you leave a free server, it closes down after a few minutes.
If you want to run a full-fledged server, or multiple servers, that stay online all the time and store replays and layouts, you can use our game server hosting system. You can choose Europe, America or Asia for the location of your game server. The prices are approximately a quarter of what they were before this change.
You can manage your hosts from https://www.lfs.net/hosting/admin
That works for free hosts started from in-game as well as rental hosts. An InSim port is always opened and available to the IP of the user who started the host. If you would like to whitelist more IPs for InSim, you can do so using the hosting admin link above.
How to try the mods system:
downloads, web pages, videos, documents
We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing your mod creations!
Dear Community Members,
A test version of a new mods system is now available!
NOTE: There may be changes to any part of this plan, between now and when this test becomes an official version.
About the new system and how it came to be:
We have always wanted to support mods because of the huge variety that becomes possible. We thought it could be done after the new version release, with the new physics. That would have been ideal but there is a lot of demand for mods and we started to look into it this year.
At first we started thinking about simply allowing VOB mods, with some restrictions. But it would of course be better if we had an official way to edit and export mods. So I experimented with some changes in the current public version of LFS, to the point where it could load VOB models saved from our development version. It was immediately obvious that it would be too restrictive if we only allowed VOB mods on existing cars. So I made more changes to save fully edited vehicles that could be loaded in the public version.
As a standalone model and vehicle editor was proven to be possible in principle, we got more serious about the whole thing. We started working on a mod submission system, with mods stored on our website and automatically downloaded in LFS. With the new system, you can visit any server and see new mods there for the first time as they are automatically downloaded like skins.
To make a mod you can build a model (3D mesh) directly in the LFS modeller or start by importing one from another program, e.g. Blender, then make adjustments and apply texture maps within the LFS modeller. To create a driveable vehicle with your model, you could either start from scratch with a new vehicle or choose an existing car as a starting point. Adjust wheel positions, mass, suspension, engine and so on. Test the mod in your public version of LFS then export and upload it to our website. Reviewers will check it follows the rules and approve / reject / request changes. When approved, the mod can be downloaded in LFS and used online.
There are some restrictions.
- The mods system is only for S3 licensed users.
- We do not allow real car names or logos, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- We do not allow meshes converted from other games, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- There are limits (e.g. triangle count and texture size) so the mods are quick to download.
Changes to hosting:
There are some changes to the way game servers work. We believe the only way to prevent piracy is to no longer release any server code at all (or even support LAN games). For the new version, we provide the servers, using our existing server rental system. Game server owners can use InSim connections to their servers. We have set up internet servers in Europe, America and Asia so you should get a good ping wherever you are.
You can start a free server in game, using the "Start new host" button. But now, that starts a host running on one of our servers, instead of locally on your computer. When you leave a free server, it closes down after a few minutes.
If you want to run a full-fledged server, or multiple servers, that stay online all the time and store replays and layouts, you can use our game server hosting system. You can choose Europe, America or Asia for the location of your game server. The prices are approximately a quarter of what they were before this change.
You can manage your hosts from https://www.lfs.net/hosting/admin
That works for free hosts started from in-game as well as rental hosts. An InSim port is always opened and available to the IP of the user who started the host. If you would like to whitelist more IPs for InSim, you can do so using the hosting admin link above.
How to try the mods system:
downloads, web pages, videos, documents
We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing your mod creations!
Last edited by Scawen, .
Yes this test patch is fully compatible with version V.
Tiny Test Patch V3 (NOT mods test)
Hello racers,
As the mods test is coming soon, I think a lot of old racers and new racers may need to install a new version of LFS, before installing the test patch.
But the current full version (0.6V) has one important bug, that we identified in this thread.
Short version: A lot of modern wheels and game controllers are reported through the drivers as "GAMEPAD". LFS previously automatically assigned "Look Heading" and "Look Pitch" in that case. But this was a problem on these modern game controllers, as these functions were really assigned to the wrong axes. The common symptom is that the view ends up looking left all the time.
In fact, you just have to unassign Look Heading and Look Pitch in the controller axes, but that isn't really obvious or easy to find if you aren't quite familiar with LFS controller setup.
I thought it would be good to upload a full version "V3" that doesn't have this issue. So I've made a new V3 LFS.exe which is almost the same as V but doesn't automatically assign those axes.
So it's not the most exciting test patch, but here is is, for anyone who does want to try it!
Download:
https://www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6V_TO_6V3.exe (1 MB)
Installation:
1) Move or save the patch into your main LFS folder
2) Double click the patch to extract it to that folder
3) When you see "Confirm File Replace" select "Yes to All"
4) Now you can start LFS in the normal way
As the mods test is coming soon, I think a lot of old racers and new racers may need to install a new version of LFS, before installing the test patch.
But the current full version (0.6V) has one important bug, that we identified in this thread.
Short version: A lot of modern wheels and game controllers are reported through the drivers as "GAMEPAD". LFS previously automatically assigned "Look Heading" and "Look Pitch" in that case. But this was a problem on these modern game controllers, as these functions were really assigned to the wrong axes. The common symptom is that the view ends up looking left all the time.
In fact, you just have to unassign Look Heading and Look Pitch in the controller axes, but that isn't really obvious or easy to find if you aren't quite familiar with LFS controller setup.
I thought it would be good to upload a full version "V3" that doesn't have this issue. So I've made a new V3 LFS.exe which is almost the same as V but doesn't automatically assign those axes.
So it's not the most exciting test patch, but here is is, for anyone who does want to try it!
Download:
https://www.lfs.net/file_lfs.php?name=LFS_PATCH_6V_TO_6V3.exe (1 MB)
Installation:
1) Move or save the patch into your main LFS folder
2) Double click the patch to extract it to that folder
3) When you see "Confirm File Replace" select "Yes to All"
4) Now you can start LFS in the normal way
Thanks all the for the feedback. I'm sorry, I can't answer all questions as I'm still pushing to get the final important things done.
Yes, the same skin system works with the new Skin ID system. Mods have a 6-character Skin ID which is analogous to the official cars' 3-character skin prefix.
No, the tracks needed to be updated for the new lighting. Actually, we may release Fern Bay without a major overhaul, just a few fixes for the shadows. But the other tracks have had a serious overhaul and most are near complete.
Yes, mods system is coming soon. Lighting system is at least some months away (no estimates).
We look forward to hearing your feedback in testing. You'll be able to test using the free servers which are just as high quality as the paid servers but without all the features.
Yes, the same skin system works with the new Skin ID system. Mods have a 6-character Skin ID which is analogous to the official cars' 3-character skin prefix.
No, the tracks needed to be updated for the new lighting. Actually, we may release Fern Bay without a major overhaul, just a few fixes for the shadows. But the other tracks have had a serious overhaul and most are near complete.
Yes, mods system is coming soon. Lighting system is at least some months away (no estimates).
We look forward to hearing your feedback in testing. You'll be able to test using the free servers which are just as high quality as the paid servers but without all the features.
Georgia and Turkey are in the lower price category, which is half of the full price. I do understand that even so, it can still seem more expensive, considering exchange rates and earnings.
But it's hard to lower the prices too much as we have to run a service and it costs money. These are lifetime licenses. Most other internet services I see want your money every month or year, so I still think it's good value.
Still, that doesn't solve the problem that it seems a lot of money in some countries. But I do have a question because I am trying to understand better - how much does a computer cost in those countries with economic issues? I'd be interested to know how much an LFS license costs in relation to the price of a computer.
There aren't specific limits on every variable. I think we will have to exercise judgement when reviewing submitted mods.
At the moment you can make a truck but it must be four wheeled, as the LFS system has not been designed to handle more than 4 wheels. It might be possible in future, but at the moment I am faced with duplicating any changes in the development version to the public version so that makes it important not to change much in the existing system. We noticed when trying a test truck that it gets stuck in some pit garages. My truck wasn't developed properly, so I can't say whether the tyre physics really scales properly to that size and mass of vehicle. I want to use trucks and karts as reference points when I am working on the new tyre physics. Most likely the public LFS physics works best for car-sized mods, as that's what it was originally designed for.
I think we will have to ask people to test carefully before uploading their mod, and if there are certain issues then warning notes added. We will rely on people being sensible and we believe that most people will want to submit high quality work.
It may be possible to avoid applying limits or use lower limits when you want to test locally in LFS.
The mods have their own unique SkinID as you can see in the videos. It appears to the user or mod creator as a 6-character code. But really it is a hexadecimal number and this is represented in 3 bytes internally and in InSim, so it fits into the same slot as the official cars' 3-character codes.
You can put number plates on mod vehicles just as we have done for official cars. This is done by adding a special texture name "s_plate" in the "page" mode of the modeller.
It's already possible through InSim and it is marked as a high priority task to manage a list of allowed mods in game, an equivalent of our current allowed cars but it's a more complex system. Current plan is a list of up to 120 allowed mods. For first test version it's just allow mods yes/no.
About texture size, there is a maximum size of 1024x1024 for each png texture. The pngs you supply are converted to dds when you export from the editor. The texture limit is important for fast download and quick use online. Today I'm finalising the total texture area in the export check. My aim is to look at our highest resolution cars, use their texture area (combined pixel count) as a guide, and allow around 30% to 50% more total area than that.
Artists will have to be reasonable, you can save so much by using small repeating textures, for materials like a car seat. For example a massive picture to cover a whole seat in minute detail isn't suitable for uploaded mods for online racing.
I imagine there are some people with excellent graphic art skills who have focused on renders in the past, or maybe cars for single use in games, who will be able to adjust their texturing approach to make huge savings in texture area to make models suitable for in-game download and online use.
EDIT: Forgot to reply about normal maps. I haven't coded for them even in the new graphics system but would like to one day. In the meantime, the material types are very limited. Although we have more material types available in the development version, the public version car materials are limited to MATT or SHINY. And these may be SOLID, ALPHA (transparent with opacity controlled by the alpha channel) or ATEST (alpha test - though this is not recommended as it doesn't work well with MSAA).
EDIT2: Also forgot to reply about the mappings. The UV coordinates of the output vertices are all computed from planar mappings. You can create a planar mapping, to map a rectangular cutout onto a rectangular mapping on the object. It's in one of the videos. The planar mappings can come from any direction. Usually one of the main axis directions but any direction is possible. I know that artists would also like cylindrical mappings, or even manual adjustment of individual UV coordinates. I do plan to implement cylindrical mappings but it is not done yet.
You can create a skin template by having a separate 2D graphics program open, and pasting special screenshots from the LFS mapping editor, carefully positioned. It wouldn't be a good idea for me to describe it right now - I've got work to do! But I've written a bit in the incomplete modeller document.
https://www.lfs.net/ed_man/modeller.htm
The idea of a skin is just that - other people can make their own skin based on your template and upload it to LFS.net in the normal way as they did for official skins.
I already have a request noted to export a wireframe image.
All features available in the LFS cars, are available in the mods. We are supplying you with the development editors.
People who have specific questions like this, it could be good to have a quick search for key words in one of these two documents:
https://www.lfs.net/ed_man/vehed.htm
https://www.lfs.net/ed_man/modeller.htm
Or of course quite a lot is covered in the videos. Documents and videos are incomplete though.
The America server is located in Ashburn, USA which has very good internet connectivity so we hope it will be good for North and South America. We'll see when we get to testing!
I hope there will be no problem for Chinese racers and mod creators. The Asian server is in Tokyo, Japan so I hope there will be no problem! I'd like to hear from you when we start testing.
Last edited by Scawen, .
No, it's just one or the other. I have not tried to support EVs with gears either. I have to set limits to try and finish this and get it out there. I do want to add regenerative braking during the public test stage though.
LFS Mods Support - Coming Soon!
EDIT: The mods system is ready for testing! https://www.lfs.net/forum/498
Dear Community Members,
We have been working on a new system to support mods. We need a little more time to get to public testing, but there's quite a bit to show you and talk about already.
NOTE: There may be changes to any part of this plan, between now and the point of public testing.
About the new system and how it came to be:
We have always wanted to support mods because of the huge variety that becomes possible. We thought it could be done after the new version release, with the new physics. That would have been ideal but there is a lot of demand for mods and we started to look into it this year.
At first we started thinking about simply allowing VOB mods, with some restrictions. But it would of course be better if we had an official way to edit and export mods. So I experimented with some changes in the current public version of LFS, to the point where it could load VOB models saved from our development version. It was immediately obvious that it would be too restrictive if we only allowed VOB mods on existing cars. So I made more changes to save fully edited vehicles that could be loaded in the public version.
As a standalone model and vehicle editor was proven to be possible in principle, we got more serious about the whole thing. We started working on a mod submission system, with mods stored on our website and automatically downloaded in LFS. With the new system, you can visit any server and see new mods there for the first time as they are automatically downloaded like skins.
To make a mod you can build a model (3D mesh) directly in the LFS modeller or start by importing one from another program, e.g. Blender, then make adjustments and apply texture maps within the LFS modeller. To create a driveable vehicle with your model, you could either start from scratch with a new vehicle or choose an existing car as a starting point. Adjust wheel positions, mass, suspension, engine and so on. Test the mod in your public version of LFS then export and upload it to our website. Reviewers will check it follows the rules and approve / reject / request changes. When approved, the mod can be downloaded in LFS and used online.
There are some restrictions.
- The mods system is only for S3 licensed users.
- We will not allow real car names or logos, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- We will not allow meshes converted from other games, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- There will be limits (e.g. triangle count and texture size) so the mods are quick to download.
Changes to hosting:
There will be some changes to the way game servers work. We believe the only way to prevent piracy is to no longer release any server code at all (or even support LAN games). For the new version, we will provide the servers, using our existing server rental system. Game server owners can use InSim connections to their servers. We are setting up internet servers in Europe, America and Asia so you should get a good ping wherever you are.
You can start a free server in game, using the "Start new host" button. But now, that starts a host running on one of our servers, instead of locally on your computer. When you leave a free server, it closes down after a few minutes.
If you want to run a full-fledged server, or multiple servers, that stay online all the time and store replays and layouts, you will be able to use our existing game server hosting system, but now you will be able to choose Europe, America or Asia for the location of your game server. We are still finalising the prices but we are thinking around a quarter of the current prices.
More information about the new system
Downloads: [NOT YET AVAILABLE]
1) LFS Editor - Modeller and Vehicle editor to be installed separately
2) LFS Test Patch with mods support
Mods page:
https://lfs.net/files/vehmods
Tutorial videos: (there are more to do)
1) LFS Mods Introduction (11:49) https://youtu.be/9EPWaGraQfs
2) LFS Modeller Overview (3:30) https://youtu.be/05y8apUWyVs
3) View Controls Overview (3:40) https://youtu.be/As_aPoU2Qr4
4) Updating a mod with a new version (4:06) https://youtu.be/vDSn_XkyGGM
5) Building the Brickmobile: Part 1 - Model (11:58) https://youtu.be/eegTP5mo8Zk
6) Exporting from Blender to LFS Editor (3:01) https://youtu.be/Rf6HK_niFjo
7) Building the Brickmobile: Part 2 - Texturing (9:24) https://youtu.be/_HIrlxJMWnI
8) Building the Brickmobile: Part 3 - First Drive (5:07) https://youtu.be/c9Pi0aYbA0c
9) LFS Steering Animation Editor (12:09) https://youtu.be/JPbMCfZ8VmU
10) Building the Brickmobile: Part 4 - Level of detail (LOD) meshes (5:43) https://youtu.be/DAyiQbhvbYM
11) Building the Brickmobile: Part 5 - Masses and object positions (5:22) https://youtu.be/l0iiQOk_1Os
Documents: (just a start - incomplete)
Modeller
Vehicle Editor
We look forward to hearing your feedback!
Thanks,
Scawen
Dear Community Members,
We have been working on a new system to support mods. We need a little more time to get to public testing, but there's quite a bit to show you and talk about already.
NOTE: There may be changes to any part of this plan, between now and the point of public testing.
About the new system and how it came to be:
We have always wanted to support mods because of the huge variety that becomes possible. We thought it could be done after the new version release, with the new physics. That would have been ideal but there is a lot of demand for mods and we started to look into it this year.
At first we started thinking about simply allowing VOB mods, with some restrictions. But it would of course be better if we had an official way to edit and export mods. So I experimented with some changes in the current public version of LFS, to the point where it could load VOB models saved from our development version. It was immediately obvious that it would be too restrictive if we only allowed VOB mods on existing cars. So I made more changes to save fully edited vehicles that could be loaded in the public version.
As a standalone model and vehicle editor was proven to be possible in principle, we got more serious about the whole thing. We started working on a mod submission system, with mods stored on our website and automatically downloaded in LFS. With the new system, you can visit any server and see new mods there for the first time as they are automatically downloaded like skins.
To make a mod you can build a model (3D mesh) directly in the LFS modeller or start by importing one from another program, e.g. Blender, then make adjustments and apply texture maps within the LFS modeller. To create a driveable vehicle with your model, you could either start from scratch with a new vehicle or choose an existing car as a starting point. Adjust wheel positions, mass, suspension, engine and so on. Test the mod in your public version of LFS then export and upload it to our website. Reviewers will check it follows the rules and approve / reject / request changes. When approved, the mod can be downloaded in LFS and used online.
There are some restrictions.
- The mods system is only for S3 licensed users.
- We will not allow real car names or logos, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- We will not allow meshes converted from other games, unless permission is proved during the submission process.
- There will be limits (e.g. triangle count and texture size) so the mods are quick to download.
Changes to hosting:
There will be some changes to the way game servers work. We believe the only way to prevent piracy is to no longer release any server code at all (or even support LAN games). For the new version, we will provide the servers, using our existing server rental system. Game server owners can use InSim connections to their servers. We are setting up internet servers in Europe, America and Asia so you should get a good ping wherever you are.
You can start a free server in game, using the "Start new host" button. But now, that starts a host running on one of our servers, instead of locally on your computer. When you leave a free server, it closes down after a few minutes.
If you want to run a full-fledged server, or multiple servers, that stay online all the time and store replays and layouts, you will be able to use our existing game server hosting system, but now you will be able to choose Europe, America or Asia for the location of your game server. We are still finalising the prices but we are thinking around a quarter of the current prices.
More information about the new system
Downloads: [NOT YET AVAILABLE]
1) LFS Editor - Modeller and Vehicle editor to be installed separately
2) LFS Test Patch with mods support
Mods page:
https://lfs.net/files/vehmods
Tutorial videos: (there are more to do)
1) LFS Mods Introduction (11:49) https://youtu.be/9EPWaGraQfs
2) LFS Modeller Overview (3:30) https://youtu.be/05y8apUWyVs
3) View Controls Overview (3:40) https://youtu.be/As_aPoU2Qr4
4) Updating a mod with a new version (4:06) https://youtu.be/vDSn_XkyGGM
5) Building the Brickmobile: Part 1 - Model (11:58) https://youtu.be/eegTP5mo8Zk
6) Exporting from Blender to LFS Editor (3:01) https://youtu.be/Rf6HK_niFjo
7) Building the Brickmobile: Part 2 - Texturing (9:24) https://youtu.be/_HIrlxJMWnI
8) Building the Brickmobile: Part 3 - First Drive (5:07) https://youtu.be/c9Pi0aYbA0c
9) LFS Steering Animation Editor (12:09) https://youtu.be/JPbMCfZ8VmU
10) Building the Brickmobile: Part 4 - Level of detail (LOD) meshes (5:43) https://youtu.be/DAyiQbhvbYM
11) Building the Brickmobile: Part 5 - Masses and object positions (5:22) https://youtu.be/l0iiQOk_1Os
Documents: (just a start - incomplete)
Modeller
Vehicle Editor
We look forward to hearing your feedback!
Thanks,
Scawen
Last edited by Scawen, .
It's the usual thing. If we don't talk, it's "where are the devs" and "why have they abandoned us". If we do talk and excitedly announce things that we are working 12 hours a day on, then don't quite make a point where we had said "we hope to be able to say something on day X" then we get told off again by some people. There isn't really a way around that! 
But the really great thing is that most of the community members totally understand what we are talking about, and I am very happy to hear the nearly all positive comments since my last post. I'm working super hard on average 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for quite a few months to get this current project ready for a public test patch. It's pretty tiring but think it'll be worth it.
But the really great thing is that most of the community members totally understand what we are talking about, and I am very happy to hear the nearly all positive comments since my last post. I'm working super hard on average 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for quite a few months to get this current project ready for a public test patch. It's pretty tiring but think it'll be worth it.
Thank you for this information. I've implemented this today so it will be in the next test patch, which I hope is in the next two or three weeks (though my time estimates are normally terrible).
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG