July 28 Updates

New springs are in and finalized, as well as spring compression distance. Now experimenting with ride heights and spring multipliers.

Decompressed

I took the weekend off from all mod work so that I was able to really decompress and think about this spring situation. Glad to report that I was able to come up with a solution and will be applying it in the coming days. I've also received some information about spring height requirements that will be added into the mod. The future is currently looking very bright!

SpringMult

I've tried to avoid it like the dickens but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to use them for all of these new suspensions. I know what the real Cup spring ranges are, but in rFactor the cars are bottoming out something fierce. Higher spring rates fix the problem in the garage, so I'm left with few options. Grrr....

Twenty Two

Twenty two chassis' have now been integrated into NSS 7.0. Not ready for prime time, so more work ahead.

RF Chassis Completed

Got the right front suspension completed. Rear end suspension finalized. Now the fun begins in creating all of those new track-specific chassis'!

Testing New Hampshire AI

Woke up too early this morning, so I worked on the AI a bit. Still using Joe's AIW except for one small change, but made edits in the TBC, HDV and PLR files. Here's the result:

Compiling Data

After talking with my source, I'll be compiling a lot of data in the next two days then begin building the new suspensions this weekend. The new NSS mod will have 22 track-specific suspensions/chassis'.

Springs Are Nearly Done

I've almost completed the spring sizes. Since there are so many sizes, I've had to strike a balance. My previous work on them made them too small by 4 or so inches, which was causing very serious binding. All I need to do in this area is decide upon a rear spring angle and that area of work will be completed. RF control arms appear to be ready to go in as well. Holding off a bit on that for LF info. Based upon what information I receive, I have the option of finding an average and using 4 chassis'....or modeling a chassis for each track on the schedule. Won't be a problem either way, but it the fact remains that it needs to be correct. Ideally, whatever work I put in now will save me time down the road...especially if certain physics changes are made for rFactor 2.

Work Continues

Making a lot of gains with the control arms and steering arms. Got a few things to clear up and I'll be ready to put the numbers into the new suspension files. Also another spring update is in the immediate works. Can't wait to be done with the suspension!

Data Mining

Been an incredibly long weekend, but the data mining I've accomplished will surely pay off. Very productive weekend, so I may take a couple days off to relax before getting back into the grind of modding.

More Research Completed

Got some research done last night and crunched a few numbers. Primarily control and steering arm angles, and this morning various arm lengths. Still have a lot of work ahead, but I'm making good headway.

FMS Track Pack Update

I have heard back from Joe Evans, and he is willing to look into these last few track issues and see what he can do.

Also, to all of you reading this, I want to wish each and every one of you a happy Independence Day! Stay safe out there!

7/04/10 Updates

I was able to get a couple things done this morning:

1) Center of Gravity has been recalculated.

2) Inertia has been recalculated, based on the mass and Center of Gravity changes.

3) Modified centerline trailing arm connections in the suspension.

How does it drive?

In short, the car handles nicely. But you'll need a gentle touch on the throttle because you can definitely feel the horsepower. During a quick test session I was getting too aggressive on corner exits at New Hampshire, the rear tires broke traction and I looped it. I definitely need to put some work into the front sway bar, but that's for another day.

Mass Recalculated

Mass of the car has been recalculated and is now accurate. Now 33 lbs lighter than the last version. The lighter weight will help the suspension respond a little more quickly, as well as downforce having slightly more impact. This is very good news considering how much the spring travel has changed!

Keep in mind that the downforce numbers are track specific and are completely brand new, using actual math and known physics to obtain numbers that are closer than just guessing, as other mods do.

Camera Fun

I finally got the dang LOD dropped down to 2 feet in the TVCOCKPIT view, AKA the 3/4 hood view from the Driving Cameras key. Comes out to about 2 feet, which is roughly the length of a human arm. Previously, if you panned around you would see the steering wheel moving down in the dash. I tried to correct it's location as a first step, but something is amiss with cockpit location. If I moved the wheel as seen from the hood view to it's correct place, the actual cockpit wheel would move closer to the drivers viewpoint.

Anyways, I'm working on getting the hood view as close as possible to the broadcast onboard cameras, that way my future comparison videos will better reflect similarities and differences.

Phoenix Track Cam

I just realized that I forgot to release my Phoenix track cam in V3. It was in the 2010 track pack. So, I'll make sure to get it in before final release.

FMS Track Pack Version 3.0 - New Features

FMS Track Pack Version 3.0 - New Features
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Taken from Joe's post:

There are way many changes to list but here's some notes of interest;

* Better looking fencing at all tracks.
* Improved texturing and some modeling of track side objects at a number of tracks
* Any garages that were still on pit road like Marty is now moved to the infields.
* Marty is also updated with the new concrete pit road.
* There is now 2 versions of Charlotte, the regular one and All-Star one. The All-Star one will run under the lights if the race start time on the server is set to use track default.
* Updated or made new AIW files at a number of tracks.
* Updated or fixed a number of camera files.
* ORP is replaced with a new track so it now has multi grooves.
-----------------------------------------
Also, Drew Brunson updated the Infineon textures. He wrote:

"It updates the bill boards going into the last turn, makes the curbs yellow and blue, and updates some other textures.The bill boards are the same(for the most part) as the ones that were at the track to give a little more realisim."

I sorted out quite a few texture issues. Mostly involving horizontal flipping, and a few required overhauling or creating new textures. You will notice that the tracks now look much more professional at higher resolutions (1600x1200 is what I use, and they look great). Joe Evans (http://www.jnstracks.net) has done one heck of a job!

When the new NSS mod is released, it will include brand new AIW's for all of the tracks. Gonna try to get the AI in decent enough shape to be raceable, much like VHR has done with their tracks.

Uploading

The track pack is now uploading, which is going to take 5 hours on my connection. After which, I'll send Joe an email and await his approval and/or fixes.

FMS Track Pack V3 And Miscellaneous

I will be attempting to finalize the new track pack today. All that really remains is adding to the readme, clearing errant files, taking screenshots and creating a thread for Joe to hopefully fix a couple of issues. Biggest hurdle will be uploading the track pack, courtesy of my slow DSL upload speeds.

I've got a lot of research done for control arms, though no solid information. If anyone has any photos or information of NASCAR upper and lower control arms (A-Arms) including lengths and angles for which tracks, it would definitely help out!

Tonight, I intend to recalculate the mass.

Upgrades INI Updated

Adjusted all of the spring multipliers in the upgrades INI file. Now I get to turn some more laps. I think I'll do some road course work and make sure the chassis is reacting properly.

This is the fun part of modding!

NSS Mod Testing At FMS New Hampshire

I've uploaded a newer video of NSS mod testing at FMS New Hampshire. Included a picture in picture for comparison with Stewarts onboard view, as well as increasing audio and video quality.

Recommend you watch it on 720p for the best viewing experience!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVIDUIZ6Bio

Speeds haven't been fixed since development is still pretty early, but racing line and chassis handling is interesting to watch.

Two Chassis Types

As of yesterday, the mod now has two different chassis' based on trailing arm rules. Further roll out will hopefully include a chassis for: Superspeedways, Short Track, Road Course and Intermediate.

Springs and Multipliers 1

Posted - 6/30/2010 : 6:15:44 PM

I was able to sit down this evening and turn some laps with the newest HDV and suspension files. Initially, the car just didn't want to turn at all. After doing some troubleshooting, I got it running.

As stated in previous posts, in rFactor the pushrods act as both the spring and the shock. In the upgrades INI file, which basically overrides the HDV settings on a per track basis, the spring multipliers were set too high (varied from 1.05 to 1.85). Months ago I was doing previous experimentation to better match real spring settings which is why those numbers were there. By running a 1.0 spring multiplier (that is, spring physics effects are 1 to 1 to their real life counterparts), the springs now act as they should.

For the next version, ride heights will be incredibly important to watch. I intend to lower the front springs back down to better reflect reality, however....and this a big however.....you cannot ignore bump stops any more. They will be VERY important in determining your ride heights beyond actually just setting the Ride Height in the setup screen. For example:

At 400 lb front springs, our current base limit, I had to run AT LEAST 2 inch bump stops on the LF and RF while testing at Michigan.

Keep in mind that the undertray points still need to be fine tuned after suspension work is completed, but the above will still remain true.

Just something to keep in mind for the future!

Springs and Multipliers 2

Posted 6/29/2010 : 7:40:57 AM

Just to add a bit of information to my last post. The average height of a spring is roughly in the 10" range? Currently (what we're racing now) in the mod, since the pushrod acts as both spring and shock, its current length as a spring is roughly 2 feet long!

2 feet is a very conservative number. Looking at the editor, the current springs are probably closer to 3 or 4 feet in length.

Front Pushrods

Posted - 6/29/2010 : 7:29:11 AM

The front pushrod locations have been moved in the front suspension. Instead of using shock mount locations, the new locations are the spring mounts. In rFactor, the pushrod assumes that the shock is inside of the spring. Haven't turned any laps yet to see if there are any ill effects. If any, I would assume that the shock throw would be the same as the spring throw....thus shocks having less effect as before. On the other hand, springs should now bind up as they do in reality.

The front spindle locations, as well as spindle mounts (upper control arm, lower control and steering arm) are now even. My previous calculations made an adjustment for the right side tires being higher, megating the fact that the suspension automatically takes tire size differences into account.

Going to finish up the track pack for release in season C, as well as doing research into control arms lengths and angles. I have a link for a setup book that I'll be referencings to better understand how they're utilized. If anyone has photos or information, feel free to share!

Rear Axle

Posting older information.

Posted - 6/22/10 : 7:18:31 AM

Rear axle is in correct location and rearward trailing arm mount locations are in place. Next, I'm going to use a plotter to calculate center connection points based off specific length data.

Front suspension spindle connections (upper control arm, lower control arm and steering arms) are within +/- 1.5 inches of real world values.

First Post

This blog will allow me to be update everyone, from FMS to the guys on RFC, on the progress of the rFactor NASCAR Sim Series mod development process.