[B-Spec] BTCS - B-Spec Touring Car Series - Back From The Dead

[rallymorten]

BTCS - B-Spec Touring Car Series
Season One

Spoiler: Season Info

Spoiler: Calendar

Preseason:

San Francisco Street Circuit - San Francisco, California, USA

Season:

Autódromo Internacional Algarve - Portimão, Portugal

Sakhir International Circuit - Sakhir, Bahrain

Sachsenring - Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany

Milano Street Circuit - Milan, Italy

Donington Park - Donington, England

Circuit Of The Americas - Austin, Texas, USA

Twin Ring Motegi - Motegi, Japan

Circuit Zolder - Heusden-Zolder, Belgium

Spoiler: Championship Standings

Linky for other ancient-minded people like myself

Spoiler: Entry List

Link

Spoiler: Toolbox

Spoiler: Sign Up

Sign Up

Spoiler: Templates

Templates are the backbone of every B-Spec series. These allow you to make your own livery from start without having to worry about painting over doors and what have you.

Click here to download templates for all available vehicles. Templates are available in GIMP (.xcf), Paint.NET (.pdn) and Photoshop (.psd) formats.

Spoiler: Livery Requirements

The requirements to a cars livery are really simple:

• Driver name must be visible on the rear side windows and drivers' upper right of the windshield, similarly to current WTCC cars.
• Driver nationality must be clearly visible on the rear side windows, similarly to current WTCC cars.
• Driver number must be clearly visible on the rear side windows, side doors and drivers' upper right of the windshield, similarly to current WTCC cars.

Spoiler: CarViewer

Although the newer Vehicle Viewer, developed specifically for games running on the ISImotor, was considered, it was decided to go with the simple and familiar CarViewer, originally developed for NASCAR Racing 2003. The purpose of this tool is to allow skinners to quickly and easily load their paintjob and see what needs to be fixed, even if they do not own the game - a perfect tool for B-Spec series.

Click here to download the CarViewer tool and required files for each vehicle.

 

[BKGlover]

Welcome back to the active roster, @rallymorten. If you continue with this, I'm in.

 

[rallymorten]

I guess 4/20 is as good a day as any to make it official then: This'll be a thing within not too long, seeing as pretty much everything bar OP, standings spreadsheet (I have a template for that) and the cars themselves has already been done.

 

[rallymorten]

A small update:

• OP layout is generally finalised, with focus on it being easy to navigate and easier to find just what you're looking for.
• The circuits used, as some of you may have seen, has been decided on, although the order is still TBA. I've tried to go for tracks that haven't seen too much in the way of B-Spec racing, to keep it fresh. And yes, I've shoehorned Milano and San Francisco from Grid in there. Because I can.
• Progress is being made on making the game do two-race format events. It's a little fiddly, and it does require race two to be standing start, but I feel like that's a compromise worth making. And it's pretty much period correct for the cars being used.
• Perhaps most importantly, Sign Up and Entry List are up, so anyone interested can get their entries in aleady.

To-do list:

• CarViewer. Templates might need small adjustments.
• Any potential balancing that doesn't break more than it fixes
• Championship Standings table (with statistics, question mark)
• Coming up with a clever introduction

Now, there's both a six hour race at Nürburgring and a three hour race at Monza that needs watching.

 

[CSMDuty11]

Alfa Romeo 156
Alfa Romeo 156 GTA

Right, count me in.
Though, i'd like to know which one is the pre-facelift in this, but i'd guess it's the GTA.
Do hope that someone enters with a Toledo, though.

 

[RACECAR]

Pretty much in, and damn happy its in a series run by Morten again 👍

 

[rallymorten]

Templates and CarViewer stuff now available. This is looking more and more like a finished product.

 

[RACECAR]

Shoooot, selected the wrong car


Resubmitting with one I meant to select the first time.

 

[rallymorten]

Shoooot, selected the wrong car


Resubmitting with one I meant to select the first time.

I got you fam.

So this isn't doing too shabby considering there's been negative PR work thus far.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Touring Cars eh? Now this is more my jam. Okay it's WTCC and not BTCC but I'll still sign up.

 

[rallymorten]

Well, the period these are from the technical regulations were pretty much the same, not to mention the.. "tweaks" that will come to the AI, proper touring car drivers

Seeing how much interest the BMWs are gotten (are we really still stuck in GTR2S2 folks?), I shall switch to the Alfa Romeo and I shall have a counter on my rear bumper for every time it breaks down.

 

[RACECAR]

Seeing how much interest the BMWs are gotten (are we really still stuck in GTR2S2 folks?), I shall switch to the Alfa Romeo and I shall have a counter on my rear bumper for every time it breaks down.

I just choose what car I Liked the most in Grid and surprise surprise, there it is.

 

[BKGlover]

Hey! I've got all these templates already!

I'm perplexed...I like the E46 over the E90 looks-wise, the Alfa's look OK, and the Honda is sharp...BUT, I'm feeling a little left field. Seat would be a pick, but I've seen them racing decently. The 407 though?...looks decent, I've not seen one racing, much less seen one in any fashion...I think I've found my ride.

Paint shop is open.

 

[Valkyr1313]

Welp, got things entered lol.

Oh, what game was picked for this to happen on? Need to figure out what to download to get cars showing up lol

 

[AudiMan2011]

Welp, got things entered lol.

Oh, what game was picked for this to happen on? Need to figure out what to download to get cars showing up lol

GTR2 going by what the templates say.

 

[Valkyr1313]

GTR2 going by what the templates say.

Awesome thanks 👍 guess have to re download that tonight and get the shenanigans ready

 

[rallymorten]

Need to figure out what to download to get cars showing up lol

CarViewer should do the trick, though. But if you insist, be my guest.

 

[Valkyr1313]

CarViewer should do the trick, though. But if you insist, be my guest.

It's nice to have things in a game to see how they look at speed, and because it's fun driving my own cars at least in my opinion.


Also, 1st registered Chevy team! ^-^

 

[rallymorten]

It's nice to have things in a game to see how they look at speed, and because it's fun driving my own cars at least in my opinion.

I neither can nor will argue against that.

Also, 1st registered Chevy team! ^-^

That just leaves the Seats unused. Can't complain about the variety thus far.

 

[Valkyr1313]

I neither can nor will argue against that.



That just leaves the Seats unused. Can't complain about the variety thus far.

Was considering a Toledo, but have fond memories of Race07 using the Lacettis in bump n run racing

 

[Valkyr1313]

K. sorry for double posting

@BKGlover is there any way you could do my cars liveries because apparently I'm an idiot and can't get jack **** to work for me.

thanks ^-^

 

[rallymorten]

..and thus, about an hour ago, @tbwhhs comes to the rescue and picks a Seat.

EACH OF THE 6 MANUFACTURERS ARE REPRESENTED

 

[BKGlover]

K. sorry for double posting

@BKGlover is there any way you could do my cars liveries because apparently I'm an idiot and can't get jack **** to work for me.

thanks ^-^

I'd be happy to it.

..and thus, about an hour ago, @tbwhhs comes to the rescue and picks a Seat.

EACH OF THE 6 MANUFACTURERS ARE REPRESENTED

Ohhh, this series is gonna be fun to watch. So many different cars, the personalities, THE MORTEN!

I think I missed having you around more than I initially thought. Thank you for returning to us again.

 

[Valkyr1313]

Yay! Thankie BK! ^-^

 

[JohnBM01]

I've modded a few of the RACE07 cars, so I am somewhat familiar with the machines being used in this series. That even includes a GTR2 video project I haven't finished or touched in a while. Just as I am almost any kind of offline series, I am intrigued about this one. Hope everything works out well!

 

[CSMDuty11]

Right, suppose i'll mention something that i noticed while editing the window texture for the GTA, incase someone joins in with another one, or someone feels like making a livery for said future competitor.
rallymorten had instructed in the file info for the 156 GTA templates to use the same window textures as the 156, which are the ones included in the GTA template folder, which i will oblige to.
However, the rear window on the right side of the GTA isn't actually aligned the same way as the other 156.
Not only does that cause the window texture to be assymetrical, but it also clips into a part of a non-window texture, so you have to move the decals forward ten pixels to the right for it to look like it should.

Spoiler: Images

Upper pictures: The two 156-es in Carviewer with the same window texture
Lower pictures: Seperate window textures for the 156-es that end up looking correct on both, with a square to showcase the amount of pixels necessary for the GTA texture to look right.

 

[BKGlover]

@rallymorten do you have a specific font you want used for names and numbers?

 

[rallymorten]

Right, suppose i'll mention something that i noticed while editing the window texture for the GTA, incase someone joins in with another one, or someone feels like making a livery for said future competitor.
rallymorten had instructed in the file info for the 156 GTA templates to use the same window textures as the 156, which are the ones included in the GTA template folder, which i will oblige to.
However, the rear window on the right side of the GTA isn't actually aligned the same way as the other 156.
Not only does that cause the window texture to be assymetrical, but it also clips into a part of a non-window texture, so you have to move the decals forward ten pixels to the right for it to look like it should.

Spoiler: Images

View attachment 643557
Upper pictures: The two 156-es in Carviewer with the same window texture
Lower pictures: Seperate window textures for the 156-es that end up looking correct on both, with a square to showcase the amount of pixels necessary for the GTA texture to look right.

That.. is an issue I hadn't foreseen.

I guess I'll have a look around, see if there aren't some proper window templates for the GTA.

@rallymorten do you have a specific font you want used for names and numbers?

Nah. As long as they're visible and readable, I'm not going to nitpick.

 

[rallymorten]

..sooouh, in the style of myself, we've had our first minor setback:

At first, the cars had no drive. None whatsoever. Nada. They'd just be stuck at the start line. Because I usually separate these things from the original mod, I took at look at how all that worked and figured it was but a minor case of some slight moving around of folders and stuff. Which, as it happens, turned out to be the case.
But that brought with it another problem: suddenly, the game couldn't find the vehicle models, so instead of not showing up at turn one, they just never showed up at all. More moving around of folders and stuff ensued, so it now looks a little.. less organised, but if it works, it works.

Nobody can screw the technical side of B-Spec up like I can

Speaking of the technical side, everything regarding the cars of those who have gotten their entries in is ready now. If the Talent files are to be trusted, the drivers should be faster, have a 10% chance of stalling at race start, attempt an overtake whenever they damn well please and be about 1 "point" more aggressive (not quite sure what that means..). They also have 0 composure, so this can only go well.

 

[CSMDuty11]

156 (GTA) Woes: Part 2: Electric Petrol Boogaloo

If you have checked the liveries on all of the cars in the series, be it with Carviewer or not, you may or may not have noticed a peculiar detail about the 156 GTA, as it's only car that has a template without proper chassis and underhood textures. By comparison, the likes of the Toledo only lack a chassis texture
Although i probably would have glossed over that detail if i didn't check the templates of the other cars' templates, as i had actually finished the liveries(assuming i haven't screwed anything up, that is), but i soon noticed that i got jealous, so i applied a slight fix to that problem, because you never know if your vehicle is gonna end up being flipped in a B-Spec series.
Also you have to take the numberplates from other car templates for both of the 156es, but that's negligible
While taking the chassis was as simple as taking it and the shading, the hood is differently-shaped between the GTA and the facelift-156, the former of which included the well-known triangle grille, so i applied an edited version of the one the GTA template already provides, all the while hoping that the leftover black spots under the hood from the facelift-156 don't look too terrible on the GTA ingame.
The fix should be easy to apply for any future GTA drivers or the people that will decide to do liveries for them, as the part of the template i inserted in the fix touched both the right and the upper sides of said template, but the fix only comes in a .pdn format.
But hey, atleast us 156 drivers get a unique dust layer.