ZModeler ?
There are 3 basic parts to creating a vehicle these are Graphics, Physics & Sounds.
Creating vehicles is generally a team effort. For most people it is difficult to find the time to create all 3 aspects from scratch. Even more so, is finding the time to become proficient in each of these fields.
Depending on your skill and if you have a team to support you or not, you may find it useful to start with the most similar rFactor vehicle to what you wish to create. You will atleast have basic physics and sounds done. If you are reading this tutorial, this is probably your first time creating a vehicle for an ISI game. Get familiar with how the standard vehicles work in rFactor. Learn the file relations, what they depend on etc. Below is a diagram to help you with this.
1., if any vehicle filter in the *.rFm file matches any classes= token in the *.veh file, the car will
be selectable in the menu and will compete as an AI vehicle in that class. All other vehicles will not be
permitted to race (Unless you permit them from the menu's). There are also 2 special tokens, the first is AI_only, denying player access to the vehicle at all times. The other is NO_AI, denying AI access to the vehicle at all times. These 2 special tokens have priority over all others.
2., AIUpgradeClass= referenced from *.veh file, it defines upgraded parts that the AI will use from the upgrades.ini.
Player must buy their own upgrades.
This diagram illustrates file dependancies required for every vehicle.
Let's walk through the diagram. In order to load a vehicle, the file structure must be pointed to by the config.ini, which directs the game to the *.rFm season file. The season file permits and disallows certain vehicles and tracks to be load. Basically, the game reads the *.veh file as though it was made up of several files, these files include physics files, car-specific camera files, cockpit information files, graphics (*.gen), etc. These are all pointed to by the *.veh file. By default, the graphics .gen and sounds .sfx files are the only files inside the veh that point to other folders. The physics files need not necessarily be in the same folder as each other, as long as they are inside the vehicles folder they will be loaded. The driver.rcd file is also located in another folder. You are not required specify the folder, that is taken care of by the config.ini.
Below is a representation of file interactions with the *.veh file.
1., if any vehicle filter in the *.rFm file matches any classes= token in the *.veh file, the car will
be selectable in the menu and will compete as an AI vehicle in that class. All other vehicles will not be
permitted to race (Unless you permit them from the menu's). There are also 2 special tokens, the first is AI_only, denying player access to the vehicle at all times. The other is NO_AI, denying AI access to the vehicle at all times. These 2 special tokens have priority over all others.
2., defines the pitgroup for the vehicle, must have identical names.
3., GenString is not required, but can be used as a macro to rename loadable *.GMT files.
4., driver name must match the first line in the RCD file to load properly.
5., these parameters can be used to change textures between vehicles and on a per track basis.
6., textures will be overridden when using these parameters.
The above diagram is a veh-centric representation of vehicle files in rFactor. This diagram illustrates the interaction of variables between all veh files, not just file interactions.
Graphics, there are 2 main parts to creating a visible vehicle. These are model and texture files. In order to create a model for rFactor you will need 3DS Max 5 or 6. Apparently 3DS 7 will work using the 6 plugin, but this is not a supported program.
For the time being atleast, developing model building and texturing skills are outside the scope of this tutorial. We will only show how to use them and the method the game uses to interpret these.
Now we will look at vehicle creation on a per file basis.
The *.Veh File
The veh file contains entries of everything required for a vehicle to work.
The *.HDV File
The hdv file is the main physics file. For highly detailed information on creating physics, please visit the physics tutorial section.
The *.Gen File
The graphics file.
Gen String's are not required, they can be used to simplify sharing of *.GMT files between vehicles.
The *.SFX File
The Sound effects file is used to generate vehicle sounds. It contains entries to sound files and how to use them if required.
The *.Cam File
The camera file is used to define camera locations for the particular vehicle. If no file/entry is present then the game defaults to the default.cam in the \GameData\Vehicles\ folder.
The Head Physics *.Ini File
Affects driver eyepoint only. Generally this should not be changed.
The Cockpit Information *.Ini File
Alters the cockpit display information.
The Upgrades *.Ini File
Defines all possible vehicle upgrades. This file is used to create purchaseable vehicle upgrades.
AIUpgradeClass=Advanced
Class of the vehicle's upgrades, as defined in the Upgrades.ini file. This allows the same vehicle type to compete in different classes, with different levels of modification.
Number= Vehicle Number
Team= Team Name
PitGroup="Group5" Vehicle Pit Group.
Driver="" Driver Name. Entry must match the first line of a Driver.RCD file, else driver parameters will fall back on defaults.
Description="Advanced Racer #05" Description of the vehicle, as appears in the game menu.
Engine="IS Motors" Description or name of the engine used by the vehicle.
Manufacturer="RaceWorks" Manufactuerer of the vehicle.
Classes="SRGP AcademyRacer Advanced" Classes vehicle is permitted to race in. Note that entering AI_Only can be can be used to disallow player to use the vehicle. Similarly, the token No_AI can be used to disallow vehicle to be used by the AI.
FullTeamName="rFactor Advanced Racer" Full team name
TeamFounded=1992
TeamHeadquarters="Orchard Lake, Michigan"
TeamStarts=n/a
TeamPoles=n/a
TeamWins=n/a
TeamWorldChampionships=n/a
Category="rTrainer" Category vehicle races in,
DefaultLivery="PREFIX" PREFIX is the base texture map name, assumed to be BMP unless specified
PitCrewLivery="PREFIX" This is only needed if it differs from the default livery PREFIX
TrackLivery="TRACK, PREFIX" TRACK is the track name as defined in the event GDB
TrackLivery="TRACK, PREFIX" For example, "2004_Toban"
TrackLivery="TRACK, PREFIX" You can have an infinite # of these lines
Image Space Inc.
rFactor.net