This is a full update of the original ingame Lowes-Night track to bring it up as close to 2011 spec. as possible without compromising FPS. Every time you cut and x-section to create say a new roadway, or pit wall access point, it doubles up the textures for that section (one section is now two etc.) and if you do that too much, it can eventually lead to FPS issues (see exit of turn 4 at Darlington for example), so this track is updated within the confines of the original, the only sections cut were at the start and end of pitlane to square off the lane, other walls have been shoehorned in without making cuts so the walls on the infield are as close as possible to real without making x-section cuts.
Where possible all the original building 3DO's have been used and simple hex level edits made to them, this means all the original LOD's are still in place and working, which again is great for FPS.
What is updated:
- New Pit lane
- Safer Barrier added
- 2011 Race logos added
- New track, wall and Safer Barrier textures
- Optimized 3D crowd
- RV Deck added to turn 1 (3DO credit to Revamped Reloaded)
- Added some new infield buildings (3DO credit to Revamped Reloaded)
- Reprofiled grass textures under Grandstand in turn 2
- updated Grass Hill layout on back stretch and added big screen
- Removed debris fence on outside of turn 3
- Added Whelen Pit Entry/Exit light system
- Updated cameras
What isn't updated / known issues:
Some trackside signage, as usual no time or suitable reference material available (our league races are the Thursday after the real race) so those things are either as close as I can get it or just wild guesses. Most of the advertising boards are up to date bar a couple at turn 3 which I couldn't see on the TV and the smaller ones at turn 1/2 which I didn't have time to do. There are no advertising boards at the top of the turn 2 grandstands, I forgot about them.
SMI went and changed the Charlotte USA logo's overnight between the Truck and Allstar race, then added some more before the Coke 600, they are in the right place for the 600, but the wrong typeface.
Due to time restraints I didn't have time to see where the Nationwide logo was placed this week, so I guessed it would be in the same place it has been for the past 3 years, if it isn't, I've built into the track a way to change it's position without compromising online compatibility, at a later date I'll put up an AllStar mip pack and if the NWS logo needs moving will include that.
There are no Sprint Logo's on the pit wall (which were there during the AllStar race), I didn't have time to do them, but as above, they'll be added in at a later date, if you know you need to make later changes, it's quiet easy to build future proofing into the track.
The Toyota logo's on the safer barrier entering the pits are the wrong color.
Users on lower-end video cards or processors may experience a hit in frame rates due to the large amount of textures included in this track.
The Big Screen:
Bruton's latest, mine is bigger than yours TV screen, is there but it will only cycle through still advertising, much like the smaller truck trons do in the infield. The NR2003 graphics engine is not tuned for animations, so the more you add in, the more micro-stutters you get, and having freezing and micro-stutters is not conductive for an online league environment which this track is ultimately made for. I did make a screen fully animated with video but it sucked fps and caused stutters because of it's size, but as with the NWS and pitwall logo's I'll make the fully animated version available at a later date.
The AI, Track Grip/Wear and bumps:
Are all from the original track unmodified, there is a slight tweek in the ini to make the AI more happy racing close but the LP files have not been touched, they are packed into the dat file so if you want to add in your own, just drop the lp files into the track directory and they'll be used instead. The Track Grip/Wear is the same as well, so are the bumps, they were slightly modified (opening up a track with Sandbox seems to mess some up) but they are still there, no track is perfectly flat (even the new Daytona) and it gives the track character.
Problems?
Report to Smiffsden facebook page.
CREDITS:
Beta Testing:
Yosh Hughes
Ian Smythe
Development:
Ian Smythe
Contributions:
V8Thunder League - http://www.v8thunder.co.uk - European online league following the full Cup Schedule.
Revamped Reloaded - http://www.revampedreloaded.com/revamped - Some 3DO's and a lot of textures came from the Revamped 2009 version of the track to save time - thanks guys!
NR2003 Tracks - http://www.nr2k3tracks.com/ - best place to find your tracks for NR.
DOWNLOAD:
Charlotte_2011.exe (Installer, 7.7MiB)
|  | Screenshots (click to enlarge):
 |
