So I know its been a few years but I'm coming back to NR2003. First thing I did this weekend was try an attempt at this tutorial and I have followed it to its conclusion getting a custom (proof of concept) 'mod' into NR2003 with workable custom meshes and textures: Car is properly on the ground and tires spin in the right direction with the different tire speeds changing too.
The models and textures for the above images I probably spent less than 15 mins modeling/unwrapping/texturing. I didn't spend any time making a real model, I just wanted as basic as could be to represent the 3do pieces so I could have something to work with. I was more concerned about the conversion process of making a mod than it looking visually good at this point.
I honestly am amazed the first time I booted up NR2003 with my mod it worked lol. I'm going to 'try' and go further with it and see if I can learn how to do stuff like the LOD's and Damage but I will admit other than looking at the scripts and 3ds files I have there is no clear direction how that stuff is done proper for NR2003. Its very vague other than I know the damaged parts will be separate mesh pieces and there is something called damage morphs or damage boxes that dictate the areas of damage. How that stuff along with the mip scrapes on the sides and front/back of the car are done I am unclear about too. If anyone actually can continue this tutorial series either in video or word format it wold be awesome.
If I can figure it out on my own I will try and post a follow up to this tutorial. I tried contacting Burnout (think it was him) who made the tutorial but not heard back yet (understandable its been a year since this vid was posted). I do want to thank him for making the first video though, it really did help. The Pits and Dan Nibset 3do tutorials that include the psg's and files does help but a lot of the 3ds max stuff is left not talked about which the video above shows and it really helps connect the dots visually why things are named how they are or how things are placed (like the wheels) to get things working and looking correct.
As others have said this really is the hidden knowledge of NR2003 that has never really had a lot of documentation shown let alone a video on it. Even if I can never go further the fact I can at least get custom models into the game now if farther than I thought I could go before.