Custom Liveries Tool - Livery Manager and Livery Package Export

[NWRAP]

@Crowtrobot

If I understand correctly once I export a package (for example 1989_ATCC_Sierra) I just give that folder (1989_ATCC_Sierra) to the other people and they just drop it into their pcars install (:\Steam\SteamApps\common\pCars) ?

Do they need to do anything to get it to work (such as load it in via the livery tool as this will mean more instructions for the end user)?

I'm looking at making some large livery packs

TIA

[crowtrobot]

hey crowtrobot.

is it possible to change the default path of the exports? eg in an .ini file.
Currently its the pcars folder, but it would be nice to have an other default path for that.
Also the default folder source liveries.

Also an option to export packs, w/o assigning and changing something inside PCars.
that would prevent, killing current settings when working on packs for some league races.

Thanks

That should be pretty easily implemented on the app-side if it will be useful for people. I haven't tested how far the pathing for the livery files will go, so it's possible that outside of the pCARS directory would be out of the scope of the program (pCARS).

Default folder for source liveries, meaning the default livery sets? I have no intention of touching those, as it requires unpacking a ton of extra pakfiles and hex editing TOCFiles. This was one of the original experiments for the mod, interesting experiment, but way too much work.

Exporting packages: Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but can't you just export a package for the original state/state that you want to save, Reset, make changes and a package for your current project, then reset and re-load the original package? I realize that's not the most convenient thing in the world, but probably easier than me re-visiting the code for the export at this point.

[crowtrobot]

@Crowtrobot

If I understand correctly once I export a package (for example 1989_ATCC_Sierra) I just give that folder (1989_ATCC_Sierra) to the other people and they just drop it into their pcars install (:\Steam\SteamApps\common\pCars) ?

Do they need to do anything to get it to work (such as load it in via the livery tool as this will mean more instructions for the end user)?

I'm looking at making some large livery packs

TIA

Yes that's the idea - they should just be able to either drop the contents of the folder into the pCARS directory, or place the folder in the MODS folder and Activate it by JSGME. The idea was to have the least amount of instruction possible for end-users of these distributed packs.

[satco1066]

That should be pretty easily implemented on the app-side if it will be useful for people. I haven't tested how far the pathing for the livery files will go, so it's possible that outside of the pCARS directory would be out of the scope of the program (pCARS).

Default folder for source liveries, meaning the default livery sets? I have no intention of touching those, as it requires unpacking a ton of extra pakfiles and hex editing TOCFiles. This was one of the original experiments for the mod, interesting experiment, but way too much work.

Exporting packages: Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but can't you just export a package for the original state/state that you want to save, Reset, make changes and a package for your current project, then reset and re-load the original package? I realize that's not the most convenient thing in the world, but probably easier than me re-visiting the code for the export at this point.

Default for source:
Not the original Packages from SMS.
What i mean is the path to the source folder, where all my custom source liveries are located.
When you click on "New Livery Location" -> "Load" then the default path is ".....\steamapps\Common\pCars\python\customLiveryApp"
Then i have to klick through several folders to reach my path e.g. "F:\work\PCars_livs\"

Exporting:
In my pcars, i have a big collection, created from several exported packs , some manual edited ref files and mods.txt file
Before creating a pack for a league race, i have to backup all of this, copy back default ref files, then do what you suggest and then reimport all of my own collection.
Currently i get over that with a backup of the PCars folder.

[Marrusia]

Please tutorıal video

[Reiche]

Please tutorıal video

Is this helpful? No video, but I tried to explain it quite detailed...

[M4MKey]

Hey crowtrobot. I have a weird issue at the moment. I'm using custom skins with modified rcfs. They do appear fine in exterior view but on bonnet cam or cockpit cam, it seems to use the original one in low-res. I've tried to make some "dummy" specs and fresnel textures but that doesn't do anything... Have you already encountered this issue ?

[Reiche]

As far as I remember this is usual.. At least for cockpit cam.. The game uses a different body (very low poly count), for better performance I guess. Shouldn't bother you too much if the outside is low res when you're inside nevertheless I'm not 100% sure if that's intended, especially with bonnet cam

[crowtrobot]

Hey crowtrobot. I have a weird issue at the moment. I'm using custom skins with modified rcfs. They do appear fine in exterior view but on bonnet cam or cockpit cam, it seems to use the original one in low-res. I've tried to make some "dummy" specs and fresnel textures but that doesn't do anything... Have you already encountered this issue ?

As Reiche said, I think this is normal behavior. When running un-modded, if you move your camera position higher up, and look down at the hood, you'll see the lower res texture. I don't know of a way around that at the current time.

[eracerhead]

Initial versions had an image preview that just took the flattened livery and displayed it in a preview window....The feedback I got was to either rely on the authors having a small .jpg to showcase the livery (display "No Preview" otherwise), which I feel would probably be an unused feature, or remove the feature entirely. I chose to simplify and remove; probably won't be coming back..:

Don't know if this has been addressed in a while, but I would certainly use this feature if present. Back when pez2k's Custom Skin Organizer was developed during the WMD days, I made a habit of downloading the authors' preview images and placing them in the requisite folder. That way I could scan for the livery I liked without having to recall from memory what it looked like.

As I mostly race in single-player, I haven't really taken the opportunity to play with this new tool of yours. But without the images it doesn't have quite the same usefulness for me as the earlier tool, although it seems very feature-rich in other regards.