I'm wanting to start learning how to create parts for vehicles, and figured a good place to start would be to copy existing parts from one vehicle to another. Say for example, how would I make it so that I could install 5-lug and 8-lug hubs on a Covet, and then copy over the bigger wheels and tyres that use these hubs onto the Covet? And how would I go about copying an engine from one vehicle to another? I want to learn how to get parts to actually show up in-game and work before moving on to the creation of parts.
As far as I know, wheels wise it is as simple as adding a wheelhub part (if it doesn't have one) with slots for different kinds of wheels (4,5,6 or 8 lug). Basic knowledge from reverse engineering official vehicles should make it possible to make everything but custom jbeam, models and textures, as they take quite a bit of learning unlike the simple file editing which mods like the V10 Moonhawk are based on.
For something like an engine you can copy all the code across except for the jbeam and anything with the other car's name.
I've just been trying to copy the 200BX's engine, tweak it a bit (more power and stronger internals), and add it as a new engine to the Covet. So far, partial success. My current issues: The car now has no texture, regardless of engine used The engine sits outside the car, and moves around the car as you turn it The engine has no texture There is no exhaust tip What I have done so far(Keep in mind I am adding this as a mod, not copying stuff in the games installation folder): It is packaged as "mods\CovetSwap.zip\vehicles\hatch\ I have copied the 200bx engine jbeam, renamed it, pasted the Covet's nodes and beams information, tweaked the power and changed the name - The power change has worked, though it's worth noting that I left all the intakes, turbos etc. in there too, though I assume that is needed if I want the same parts to be available. I have loaded the engine and the covet into blender, rotated and positioned the engine, deleted the covet (so that I have just the engine) and exported it as engine.dae. - At first I thought this didn't work, since the engine is outside the bay, but then I noticed the engine spins around the car, but it is actually facing the way I rotated it. I have copied the 200bx .dds textures, renamed them to the same as the jbeam (while retaining _n, _d etc.), then copied the 200bx materials.cs, deleted everything except the engine section, and changed the names of everything in there accordingly - This probably has something to do with the missing textures (perhaps it isn't loading textures for the body because this materials.cs doesn't point to any, though that doesn't explain why the engine still has no textures). So what have I done wrong? What am I missing so far?
I know how to fix the engine, maybe it's materials too? I can try fixing for you if you send the .zip or something.
Ok so I fixed the issue of the car's textures disappearing, but the engine still has no texture. I moved materials.cs, the .dae, and the .dds files into a new folder within the "hatch" folder, and then renamed the material in blender. What do you mean "reset all three"? Done, car is fixed but engine still missing textures Done This bit is a bit unclear to me. File is attached. Also, as a side question, is it possible to determine how much power a turbo or supercharger will add to an engine without loading it up and testing in game?
Dang, How Did That Ended Happy, While My Poor Deleted Drag Pigeon (Not Mine Mod, Search Pigeon For Original Mod) Had a Terminal Light and Door Windows Texture Error Edit: I just realized this mod is outdated
so you guys mean if i want a ETK Engine inside of my Charger Hellcat I'm making, i drag the ETK Engine inside of the Hellcat, copy and paste the ETK Engine Jbeam and i'm done? (i drag the Engine inside of the hellcat inside blender) Could someone please tell me i'm right..
@Darren9 Fixed both issues, thanks. The exhaust was still missing, but I managed to fix that. How would I go about doing this as a mod without affecting the original Covet? My thinking is that I have to add a new set of suspension with the wheelhub slot. Is there any way to do it with the original suspension? Also how do I copy over transmission? I'm trying to swap one of the Barstow's gearboxes in, but i can't find a jbeam for it. I can see the transmission in the Barstow's engine.jbeam, do I just copy over the data for it (slotType, controller, powertrain, gearbox etc.)?
Still has the broken exhaust and the engine wobbles around (I believe because of the Jbeam but I hadn't touched it at all and it probably has something to do with the transmission) but otherwise it is fully compatible with the original Covet. Also, this has some wicked torque steer; I can get it to do full lock just using the throttle!
Yes, you have to make a custom suspension for it, but it will be easy, as you will only have to add the wheelhub slot and add the wheelhubs themselves. If you will need further help with it, just let me know. And when it comes to the transmission, just copy the covet transmission code, past it, change the name and then copy the gear ratios and all of the other barstow transmission characteristics in the prepared covet transmisson code. ( It will look just like the covet's transmission, but it will work like the barstow one) You will most likely have to do some small adjustments to the values once you get it in game as the covet and the barstow has different engine than the covet. --- Post updated --- Here is an example of copied transmission. It is the exactly the same transmission you can find in an SBR4 hill climb edition (the sequential one). Take a look at the V10 engine file and do basically the same thing with your covet mod.
I've tried adding the transmission and suspension, but it hasn't worked. When I spawn the Covet in, my camera teleports below the terrain and I have no car. Checking parts menu shows no parts either. I think it's something I did with the transmission, because removing the suspension jbeam doesn't change it.
I've gotten the transmission to work. - You've forgotten "]," after the "controller" section in the Jbeam File. Now I'm trying to figure out why equipping the slightly fixed suspension lags out the game completely.
Fixed, thanks. I'm having a problem though, the car won't move with the Barstow's transmission. Even with the front wheels in the air, they wont spin. I've tried copying over the gear ratios from the Covet 4-speed auto, that didn't work. I also tried copying the diameter and stiffness of the torque converter, that didn't help either. Am I missing a component or setting? Also, is there a wiki page that explains what each value does (such as torque converter stiffness), and how each gear ratio is set? The numbers for the ratios are completely meaningless to me. Edit: Fixed the transmission not working, I forgot to put the differential in the slot. As for the suspension, it doesn't lag my game, it outright crashes it
You are missing the Front differential which you've removed for some reason... I don't know about what is in the Wiki, since I like to learn by playing with stuff If you can read and you have a basic knowledge about cars you will find where to adjust gear ratios quite easily. Here is the covet after I've redone the whole suspension. (your was crashing my game for some reason) (mine is the test suspension) I've cleared up some of the files and basic drag front tires. Here are some issues that I've found: Engine mounts seem to be really messed up as after a hard acceleration it goes threw the hood You will need a lot of work to fix the toque steer issue. 1st gear ratio is too long torque converter keeps the car at low revs not allowing the turbo to build up boost. I think that you should study the official vehicles first, see what each number in the files does and then go from there.
That suspension works perfectly, what did you need to change? Thanks Also another issue I've noticed is that the gear lever is floating around inside the car, like the engine was before, which is strange because I haven't edited the transmission model. Is there any way to strengthen engine mounts? How would I go about fixing torque steer? I'm sure all high-power FWD drag cars have a lot of torque steer, but probably not as much as this has when it's making ~800hp. I'll shorten the 1st gear and I think the torque converter issue can be fixed with lowering the stiffness. Also, is there a way to test changes without restarting the game?
I've just copied the hatch front suspension and changed the static 4 lug wheel hub for a changable one and that's all. As it comes to engine mounts, Idk... I'd have to look into the files which I don't have time to do right now. It might also be a problem with the moddel playing funky with the nodes that it is attached to. And I think that there might be a way of changing stuff without restarting the game, but from what I've heard it is quite laggy now and I didn't bother with it. --- Post updated --- If you want to use the vehicle reloading stuff you will have to wait for somone else to help you as I know nothing about it.
--- Post updated --- Update: Got the converter sorted, the car now runs high 9s. Not bad for a FWD car. I've also added a preset on the car selection menu, so you don't need to configure the whole thing every time. Also, I found out how to test the live updates. I've been developing the mod under "mods\unpacked\AC12_CovetDrag", so it probably needs to be unzipped in there, but other than that you just make the change and force a refresh by switching the part out and back in again.
