Old North Wilkesboro

[ai_line_mod]

I'm looking for an old version of North Wilkesboro, with LP lines from ~2002. I can find the track that was made from it, an update by Wrangler in 2004 (titled North Wilkesboro WR or North Wilkesboro 2004). The readme for that one states: "Description: Newer version of the old North Wilkesboro. Two + grooves for real side by side racing ( ON or Offline)"

So the old North Wilkesboro is what I'm looking for, perhaps the conversion from NR2? It might have been originally made for NR4 or NR2002, given the LP file dates. Does anyone here have any ideas? Apologies if this is the incorrect thread; let me know where to post it instead!

 

[BillA1947]

This should be the one you're looking for.

 

[ai_line_mod]

This should be the one you're looking for.

Thank you for the response! This is not quite it. It's yet another remake of the same; I'm looking for the older (as in, chronologically in terms of when they were made, not historical representation) N wilkes. The readme for this notes it is based on the same "old" n wilkes. Essentially I'm looking for the og wilkes made for the NR4+ series. The LP lines will likely still be from 2002, but there won't be two grooves, or [ track_cts ] entries in the track.ini.

I might be chasing something long gone... but I thought I might try.

 

[Rob D.]

Think this is what you are looking for...

 

[ai_line_mod]

Think this is what you are looking for...

Thanks. I believe this is the one from NR4 (https://norl.ucoz.com/load/nascar_racing_4/tracks/north_wilksboro/6-1-0-127). I haven't looked too closely at it yet, as I can't tell if it was back ported to NR4 from NR2003 (I know the admin of that site makes tracks in NR2003 sandbox and then edits them to work in NR4). But nonetheless, it gives me an idea I didn't have before, so thank you very much!

 

[Rob D.]

Thanks. I believe this is the one from NR4 (https://norl.ucoz.com/load/nascar_racing_4/tracks/north_wilksboro/6-1-0-127). I haven't looked too closely at it yet, as I can't tell if it was back ported to NR4 from NR2003 (I know the admin of that site makes tracks in NR2003 sandbox and then edits them to work in NR4). But nonetheless, it gives me an idea I didn't have before, so thank you very much!

Yes sir

 

[J.R. Franklin]

North Wilkesboro PST for Nascar Racing 2003 Season

The Project: Short Track development team is very happy to present an updated but retro version of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

www.smiffsden.com

 

[ai_line_mod]

North Wilkesboro PST for Nascar Racing 2003 Season

The Project: Short Track development team is very happy to present an updated but retro version of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

www.smiffsden.com

Thanks JR Franklin, but this is one of the newer versions of wilkes out there. It is also, as far as I can tell, a different layout than the one I'm looking for (I suspect it was rebuilt from the ground up, by you and others, while the one I'm looking for is possibly converted from NR2?). Though I could be mistaken here...

 

[Riviera71]

In the readme for the Noonan converter it says that it's getting Wilkes from Nascar Legends. No idea if the track and lp files are any different if you convert it to N4, NR2002 or Nr2003 though.

 

[ai_line_mod]

Actually, @Riviera71, I'm struggling to find documentation on the Noonan converter. Did it ever work between older NR tracks and later NR tracks? e.g., can you convert a track from say NR3 to NR2003? And if so, how? Or was it only between NR and GPL and ICR?

*edit* I believe I found it here: https://gpladdons.the-fastlane.co.uk/utilities_list.php?goto=3. It looks like it contains only a subset of the tracks available in these older games. I was hoping to convert tracks at will, but alas. Is this the converted you speak of?

 

[Riviera71]

I'm not sure which one that is, he made 2 versions of the converter. One of them was free demo and could only convert 9 tracks, this one is available in the big editing zip over at the pits.
Then there was a paid version that worked for a lot of tracks (from the readme):

This program will convert tracks from ICR2/CART, N2,N3, NL, and GPL
to N4. Note that you can convert tracks from the original CDs.
However, you must have an installation of N2003, N2002 or N4 (the full program) with
all the track data on your hard disk. You should also have about 50Mb
free on the drive which holds your Windows temporary folder.
.
.
.
3. Tracks Available.

GPL Kyalami,Mexico,Monaco,Monza,Mosport,NurburgRing, Rouen,Spa,Watglen,Zandvoort

ICR2 Surfers Paradise,Elkhart/Elkhart HQ, Detroit,Laguna/Laguna HQ,
Long beach,Mid-Ohio,Portland/Portlnad HQ,Toronto,Vancouver,

N2/N1999/N3 Evergreen,Gateway,Heartland,Hickory,I70,Louisville,Memphis,Mesa,Milwaukee,
Myrtle,Nazareth,Pikes Peak

NL Greenville,Ontario,Riverside,Thompson,Wilkesboro

What I don't remember is if the full version ever became free? I seem to vaguely remember it did but I guess it's 50/50 lol
The screenshot is how the full version looks.

 

[ai_line_mod]

I'm not sure which one that is, he made 2 versions of the converter. One of them was free demo and could only convert 9 tracks, this one is available in the big editing zip over at the pits.
Then there was a paid version that worked for a lot of tracks (from the readme):



What I don't remember is if the full version ever became free? I seem to vaguely remember it did but I guess it's 50/50 lol
The screenshot is how the full version looks.

This is very useful, thank you! From this, I see the one I linked is the "paid" version (it was released to the Pits in 2006). The free one ("demo") in the pits editing tools indicates the following tracks:

3. Tracks Available.

From ICR2:- Cleveland

From N2/N3:- The Bullrun, IRP, Nashville and South Boston. The BGN or NR1999 South
Boston will not correctly convert only the N3 version.
The Bullrun was a fantasy track released by Papyrus for N2 and was
then included in the BGN expansion pack. It was also included in the Nascar 1999
product. If you do not have it you can download it from The Pits www.theuspits.com
go to the tracks page within the Stockcar section.

From NL:- Trenton. Trenton is a very interesting oval with a right-hand corner
in the back straight. Tim McArthur created this for Nascar Legends and
you can find it within the Nascar Legends section of The Pits.

From GPL:- The Osring (my version of the Osterreichring), Silverstone & St. Jovite.
St. Jovite is a superb track created by Gilles Benoit.
If you do not have the Osterreichring or St. Jovite please again refer to
The Pits site and go to the GPL page.

So, I suppose this means I have all available versions of the Noonan converter to NR2003, and these tracks are the only tracks that can be converted. Thank you for your help.

 

[Riviera71]

np
There is if course trkmaker/3dsimed that can be used to convert tracks but it's a lot more work than the regular converter.

 

[ai_line_mod]

So, I determined that the WR (Wrangler) version of wilkes is indeed based on the converted track from Noonan. Now this may be the wrong thread... but I've decided to do some converting/editing myself. However I quickly run into a problem, as the converted track has no trackmat folder in the dat. As a result, the textures don't load in sandbox (see image). So the question is 1) if I create a trackmat folder in the folder with the .ptf, and add all the mips that supply textures to the racing surface/walls/grass/etc., will they show up in sandbox? and 2) out of all the mips, how do I know which ones to add to the trackmat folder?? Some are obvious, such as asphalt/concrete/grass.mip, but I've tried several configurations and I have not been able to get sandbox to load the track with any of them!

 

[Riviera71]

It's been a looong while since I tinkered with the converted tracks but it's possible you need to "reapply" the textures. Click on an f-section (or w-) and then in the other window go to the drop in the middle where it says MIP and select an appropriate texture. When you first add an f-section that part of the track will come up all white as in your pic until it's given a texture so it's a reasonable guess .

As for what to add to trackmat, it's the ones you mentioned and also walls, fences and paint (that one *could* also be used as a Track Side Decal) but it doesn't hurt to add all the mips. Once all the f- and w-sections has textures applied to them you can see what is left unused in the MIP drop down. The ones not used will be in blue text and with an n/a at the end.

 

[ai_line_mod]

It's been a looong while since I tinkered with the converted tracks but it's possible you need to "reapply" the textures. Click on an f-section (or w-) and then in the other window go to the drop in the middle where it says MIP and select an appropriate texture. When you first add an f-section that part of the track will come up all white as in your pic until it's given a texture so it's a reasonable guess .

As for what to add to trackmat, it's the ones you mentioned and also walls, fences and paint (that one *could* also be used as a Track Side Decal) but it doesn't hurt to add all the mips. Once all the f- and w-sections has textures applied to them you can see what is left unused in the MIP drop down. The ones not used will be in blue text and with an n/a at the end.

Thank for the response. I should have clicked on an F section for the screenshot to show that the "MIP: None" remains no matter what I click. In other words, sandbox doesn't see the mips for the texture assignment, but the track loads fine in game. The only difference between the converted track and other tracks I unpack is the converted track does not have a "trackmat" folder, so I suspect that Sandbox needs this folder, with all the appropriate mips, in order to display (and select) properly.

But I will try what you suggested and add ALL the track.dat mips to the trackmat and see if that helps it to load.

 

[Riviera71]

If you're going use a texture on f-sections that are connected at the ends running through several segments Copy Forward is helpful. You wont have to select f-section and then texture it over and over

 

[ai_line_mod]

Yes, that's helpful. Also, adding all the mips from wilkes.dat into trackmat did the trick. Now it's just pruning for sanity's sake. Or not...

Many thanks for your help!

 

[ai_line_mod]

Sorry to be a bother, but I have one more question: No matter what I do, when I try to use the ptf which I have saved in the sandbox, I get the dreaded "Could not load the track. Cancelling the race weekend."

Here's what I've tried:

1. 1 ) Moving the ptf into the main track folder (this usually works for other tracks I'm working on, as long as I haven't added any new mips or 3dos)
2. 2 ) Moving all the unpacked mips from both wilkes.dat and shared.dat into the main track folder, including the trackmat folder
3. 3 ) Repacking the wilkes.dat after I make the changes (including copying mips into the trackmat folder) and moving it to the main folder, replacing the original wilkes.dat.

So far, no luck. My best guess right now is my cheat to copy all mips into the trackmat folder is causing the issue. Is it necessary to go through and weed out the mips that are not used for surface textures from trackmat, and likewise remove all mips that are in the trackmat folder from the parent folder, therefore removing any duplicated mips (between the parent folder and the trackmat subfolder)?

 

[Riviera71]

I think that moving your .ptf to the original convert could fail because your ptf now looks for files in the trackmat folder which there isn't one in the .dat but then again, it looks like that should have been taken care of in steps 2 or 3?
The extra mips in trackmat shouldn't be a problem, I usually have lots of extra grass, asphalt and wall mips in there during testing. I only take them out when the track is ready and I know I wont use them

What happens if you take your working folder, rename that to something like wilkes2 and then the ptf to wilkes2.ptf. Copy the track.ini and the setup files from the original convert and drop it in the tracks folder.
You've probably not edited the geometry so the original lp-files should be good but they're not needed to see if it loads in testing session.