"Birmingham Motorplex" for "rFactor"

Features:
-Three layouts: Long (63 driver support), Sprint (63 driver support) and "Club" (15 driver support)
-Fully functional AIW--Everything you would expect to work, does (even the "skip formation lap" function ;)
-Full night racing support
-anything else you think can be deemed "feature worthy" ;)

Notes:
-Being my first track, in hindsight there are many things I would've done differently--better ways to achieve a visual quality higher than what is here.  I promise the next track will be better :)
-If you get a frame hitch or stutter while using this track, and you have "Shadows" and/or "Texture Detail" set to their highest levels try setting them down a notch.
-The nature of this track is such that it is very easy to see across the entire area.  This made it rather difficult to use any sort of distance culling to maintain a higher FPS.  I had to compromise between FPS and object "pop".  I think I achieved a far balance.
-Although the layout and some architectural elements are inspired by Barber Motorsports Park I have not tried to replicate that venue.  Comments consisting of "Barber has this...", or "Barber doesn't look like...", etc. do not apply.


Support:
-I will fix bugs as they arise, but as this track is "version controlled" through Racecast I will not release an update every other day.  Once a point is reached that a significant number of changes have been made then I will update and coordinate that update with Racecast.
-I WILL NOT SUPPORT any bugs caused by modification of any elements of this work.  Feel free to change things to suit your taste, but do so at your own risk.
-As I mentioned, this track is "version-controlled" through Racecast.  Any changes made to this work that Racecast detects as a mismatch or cheat will not be supported.
-Although the layout and some architectural elements are inspired by Barber Motorsports Park I have not tried to replicate that venue.  Bugs consisting of "Barber has this...", or "Barber doesn't look like...", etc. do not apply.


Special Thanks:
-To my family (ANgel, Sarah and Katy), for allowing me more than 3 months of "spare time" to create this track.
-To Mike D. from ISI for the countless number of times he helped me as I learned how to work within the gMotor2 engine.
-To Gjon C. for giving me the opportunity to get a headstart "developing" community content for rFactor
-To Thorsten R. for the camera work
-To Joel Ladanyi for creating the self-installer
-To all the guys that tested for me (rFactor Beta team, Crossfire Motorsport League drivers) so I didn't end up releasing a steaming hunk of poo :)


Donations:
I would never ask for any sort of payment for this work.  However, if you'd care to say "thank you" in the form of a donation they are graciously accepted through Paypal.  Simply, visit my website ( http://home.comcast.net/~crisis_j/ ) and click the "Make a Donation" button on the main page.  Thanks in advance....


Credits:
Scott Juliano -- All modeling, texturing and AIW setup
Thorsten Rueter -- Camera Setups
Testing -- rFactor Beta Test Team, Crossfire Motorsports League Drivers


An estimated total of 360 man-hours went into the creation of this track.  I hope you enjoy driving on it as much as I enjoyed creating it--Scott J.


Disclaimer:
-This track provides me comparable framerates to the original tracks that shipped with rFactor.  I make no claim that you will get similar results.
-Neither myself, nor ISI, will be held responsible for any modifcations to this track that may infringe on the property or trademarks of others.  Do so at your own risk.
-Neither myself, nor ISI, will be held responsible for any damages, either personal or material, that may result from using this product.  Use at your own risk.  


All original content Copyright 2005 Scott Juliano
All other content is the property of the respective owners
	

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09-10-05
All Known Issues resolved. ******

09-08-05
What's new:
-All DX modes now work properly
-All garage doors work properly
-Much texture and material tweaking has occured to glitz things up a bit

09-06-05
What's new:
-Three layouts with completely functional AIW: Long, Short and "Club"
-All art is in (1st Pass)
-Night FX in place

Known Issues:
-Some asphalt is black when texture detail is set to low
-Grass in DX8 has blown out specularity
-Asphalt (and some other surface) are blown out in DX7

Notes:
-If you run with MAX Texture and/or shadows and you get some frame hitch try bumping one of both of them down a notch.  However, this shouldn't be an issue with compressed textures (which I wasn't testing with)


08-28-05
What's new:
-Armco Advertising Banners added
-Night lighting added
-Power lines, light posts, signs, etc added
-More spectator work done (Campers, RV's cars)
-Set up paddock/pit area for Museum/Club layout
-Hillside Banner added

Known issues:
-Previous known issues are still... issues.
-FPS has dropped some due to objects for multiple layouts all being drawn.  FOr example, the garage/pit objects for the Club layout won't be needed for the Long and Short layouts, but right now they're in. 
-Night lights still need "volumetric" glow objects 


08-20-05
What's new:
-Billboards have been added
-Museum building has been added (yes, I saw the sorting issues with the building windows :)
-More work has been done in the paddock area--there's now support for 42(?) out of the planned 63 cars
-Concession areas have been started
-Bridge facade is in place

KNown issues:
-Sorting error with Museum building windows
-Some of the garage doors do not dissapear when a car is in the garage--not sure why yet....
-DX7 and DX8 still have specularity issues
-Semi truck tires sitting within the ground
-When skipping the formation lap the grid lines up in front of the 1st sector marker, rather than the S/F line
-Invisible collision blocks upper paddock area--I'm undecided whether I want the player to go up here or not (probably not)


08-14-05
What's new:
-I've smoothed the driving surface into it's final state.  The driving experience is much smoother and more fluid.
-I'll be adding small bumps and dips to the track surface later....
-I've fixed the materials so that the track loads in Both DX7 and DX8.  Both modes do have specularity issues.
-I'll be doing passes later to both modes to get these looking good.


08-13-05
A few quick things:

-I've only been working in DX9 mode thus far--I have no idea how things yet look in DX8 and DX7
-There is space for 36 cars so far--eventually it will be 63
-The Race Control building is actually the LOD.  I'm still working on the "high res" version.
-The dirt/underbrush texture for the trees is placeholder, thus there's no transition to the grass yet.
-Most materials don't have spec maps defined yet.
-The background panorama is from OL--it's placeholder.

Now for what works:

-Score tower is functional
-Pit lights and Start/Finish lights are functional
-THe AI is quite capable (the aiw is already on it's third iteration).  There are a few issues left to resolve with them though.
-Rolling starts SORT of work.  THe AI does some whacky stuff when the flag drops.  I'd suggest a standing start for now.

What's left to do:

-A good landscaping pass (bushes, flowers, etc.)
-Several trackside props to build and texture
-Final material setups
-Final texture pass
-Final AI pass for long version
-Short version needs to be created

06-17-05
Initial work begins....


All original content copyright 2005 Michael Scott Juliano
All other content is the property of the respective owners

Use at your own risk....

