modding mods

[Greg]

So, I was dissatisfied with a couple of mods, in terms of size, they looked quite small compared to other, so I took matters in my own hands. For the most part, it went alright, I got the Pete 379 to a somewhat satisfactory size, and I was left with the F350, it was too small and a tad too low slung for my taste, so I applied the same method as for the Pete, except it didn't go well, but really not.
It works, the tailgate goes down and the hinge is in the right place and all, but it is not what you would call... good looking.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=142689122

I don't really know how I got that because it seemed fairly straightforward, although a bit pedestrian. I'm thinking I might have messed up an anchor for a texture or something like that. Any idea?

PS: I did it because it seemed that the respective authors didn't take critics about the size too well, and it seemed unlikely they were going to do anything about it.

[abeyance !!!]

Yeah it looks like the textures are all misplaced .... think its probs best to start again rather than try to fix the textures

[Greg]

Well, I'll give it one last shot, because there's one point that isn't used for anything that I can figure out (not a joint or light or anything).
Surprisingly though, someone reported exactly that problem on fs-uk, so I was kind of hoping the author would weight in... pipe dreams.

Edit: I do hope I'll find out what's what, because it is a lot better with the bigger size, the two aspects (aside from purely cosmetic) that where a tad wrong with that truck are now fixed, i.e. too low to god off the road and jump cliffs (talk about simulation) and the front lifts up quite a bit when towing. Plus you can fit more stuff in the bed now.

[Greg]

I think I just found out what the error is:
in Windows, to indacte a path, it uses a back slash, while *nix systems use the forward one... and for some reason, editing it in Windows screewed up some links by changing the slashes, now I'll have to find a way to change everything manually.

Sample of what I'm talking about:

Error: Can't load resource: /Users/G/Library/Application Support/FarmingSimulator2013/mods/JTF_F350/assets\handlefoam.dds

[abeyance !!!]

you can edit .dds files in photoshop ( with the DDS Plugin )

Are you trying to scale it to 1:! ( real life scale ) or just make it bigger overall?

Do you have a link to the truck?

[Greg]

No I can't edit them in Photoshop, the nVidia plug-ins are only for windows, and I don't have Photoshop for Windows (ony OS X).

Linky[fs-uk.com]

Well, both I guess. I'm trying to make it closer to its life size, and size the proportions seem to be alright, I guess it's also bigger overall (not sure what difference you were implying here).
Anyhow, I applied a 1:1.2 scale (and raised the suspension too).

[abeyance !!!]

I just meant was the truck too small compared to the real life version or is it a correct scale and you just prefer it a bit bigger.

引用自 Greg：

I think I just found out what the error is:
in Windows, to indacte a path, it uses a back slash, while *nix systems use the forward one... and for some reason, editing it in Windows screewed up some links by changing the slashes, now I'll have to find a way to change everything manually.

Sample of what I'm talking about:

Error: Can't load resource: /Users/G/Library/Application Support/FarmingSimulator2013/mods/JTF_F350/assets\handlefoam.dds

Open the file in notepad+ and use the serch function to find all cases of "/" the you can click on replace and select "\" it will replace all forward slashes with backslashes or visa versa


EDIT !!!! ********

Oh wait nvm .... sorry I read that wrong its the actual exe path not the files paths :(

[Greg]

引用自 abeyance：

I just meant was the truck too small compared to the real life version or is it a correct scale and you just prefer it a bit bigger.

It's too small compared to other mods when you compare their real life equivalant. The SRW F350 is 80" wide (w/o mirrors) which is... 2.03m. And compared to the Fendt 900 series from Giant's mods it felt very tiny (roughly 2m compared to 2.75m)

引用自 abeyance：

Open the file in notepad+ and use the serch function to find all cases of "/" the you can click on replace and select "\" it will replace all forward slashes with backslashes or visa versa

On it boss! (Thanks)

Edit: What?

Edit 2: we were both right (me for the / vs \ BS and you for just edit the i3d manually) it almost work, just got to figure out a few last things and I'm good to go. Any idea for the wheels colision (they kinda dig in the road like I'm running on flat)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=142789073

Thanks a lot by the way.

[abeyance !!!]

If the wheels are kinda below ground you need to open the mod.xml file and tinker with the wheel settings.

<wheels autoRotateBackSpeed="2.5">
        <wheel rotSpeed="70" rotMax="32" rotMin="-32" driveMode="2" repr="0" driveNode="0|0" radius="0.45" deltaY="0.15" suspTravel="0.3" spring="20" damper="40" mass="0.195" />
        <wheel rotSpeed="70" rotMax="32" rotMin="-32" driveMode="2" repr="1" driveNode="1|0" radius="0.45" deltaY="0.15" suspTravel="0.3" spring="20" damper="40" mass="0.195" />
        <wheel rotSpeed="0" driveMode="1" repr="2" driveNode="2|0" radius="0.45" deltaY="0.25" suspTravel="0.3" spring="20" damper="40" mass="0.195" />
        <wheel rotSpeed="0" driveMode="1" repr="3" driveNode="3|0" radius="0.45" deltaY="0.25" suspTravel="0.3" spring="20" damper="40" mass="0.195" />
    </wheels>

The wheel radius is too small which makes the larger wheel sink .... you can alter the radius with trial and error to get it right or the best way to measure is to put the wheel in place with GE so that the tread is on the center line - y-translation is then the radius

[Greg]

Thanks, you're the man.
I also shortened the turning circle, it wasn't quite right eitehr.
Last thing is finding the pivot for the tailgate.

[Skourge]

Have you found the pivot for the tailgate?
Also, for some reason everything falls through the bed and won't stay in. My collisions are there though. Did you run into that probelem? If so how do I fix it?

[Greg]

Just a note, you you want to have a size that is as close as possible to the real thing, I estimate (quite hard size we don't really have any real reference point) the size factor should be 1.12.

Now, the tailgate's pivot... well, it all depends on the way you modified the model really. But it's in the XML

<animations>
	<animation name="tailgate">
		<part node="5" startTime="0" duration="0.8" startRot="0 0 0" endRot="-90 0 0" startTrans="0 -0.092 -5.06265" endTrans="0 -0.138 -5.06265"/>
	</animation>
</animations>

This is my "tune up", not the stock one, though it's not level with the bed (not really obvious really)

I didn't run into the collisions problem because I modified the planes in the i3d at the same time I did the rest. You find a few plane in the bad, which have no model/texture, and those are the ones to midify. You can also (re)move the verticies atop the wheel wells to have a nice loading surface for more bales.

[Skourge]

I modeled mine to 1.2.

Ok I was wondering if it was in the XML file so thanks.

Yeah I modified them a little bit don't know if I threw something off or what. I have a back up so I am try it again.

Thanks for the help!

[Greg]

I used 1.2 too, it feels right, but it's actually something like 2.2m wide now (compared to the Fendt 939 and Ken W100). I also rased the suspension (i3d), gave it a 65MPH top speed (xml) a bit more torque (xml)... hum what else? Lowered the idle sound and really raised the running sound (xml again). I think that's about it.
Also, with your 1.2 factor, don't forget to increase the wheel radius (xml) to .54.
Then it should be good.

[abeyance !!!]

If you want to get a mod to an exact real life scale you can use a GE Ruler ..... just get the actual vehicle dimensions from the manufactures site ( or where ever ) and use those as your in game measurments

[Greg]

Where should I get it from, or how can I access it? Because if your talking about the one on fs-uk (here?[fs-uk.com]), both the F-350 and Pete 379 supposedly respect this ruler, so I assumed it was wrong, didn't even bother.
So basically, all I can do is make the mods look closer to how they feel in real life. Also, my reference has been the Fendt 939 that comes from Giants' mods list, since they supposedly check dimension before validating.
And in fact, I just checked the ruler with the in-game Bentley Continental SuperSports... well, the ruler is off by I don't know it's hard to tell, but the real car is something like 4.81m long, and with that ruler, it seems something like 5.15m long. So it's off, but not as much as I was expecting.
And I also just check the F-350 (the unmodified version) seem right with the ruler. So basically, every single mod from fs-uk done with the ruler is to small. Too bad they didn't think of checking it in FS2013...