File management for GTL cars [Archive]

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SuperPask

25 April 07, 11:42

Hi all!

I'm a skinner, but not a pro though. However, I've got a minimum of knowledge - most of it learned by myself - about how to edit skins and especially standalone cars. And I don't mind sharing the little bit of what I know :)

What I'm gonna tell about here is just general stuff about how GTL files work together. I'm gonna talk about GTL because I know it the best, but I guess it works a bit the same in GTR2.

In this little tutorial, I'm gonna talk about how files work together and will not talk about how to edit skins with graphic software. There are already good posts here about that. I think that if a newbie starts directly by making a skin, he would come across problems related to files management sooner or later. So I think it is better to start by the beginning in a way. Also what I'm gonna say below is only relied to car skinning. I'm not going to explain how GTL works entirely cuz it would be too long, and I don't know all the things about it! So, here we go :

1. General file tree for cars in GTL

Look at pic 1 below this post. You can see GTL general tree. What you need for cars is in Gamedata folder. Then in that folder there are 2 main folders : Talent and Teams. Talent will gather talent files, that is to say files that will make your car driven by AI. We will see that later. In Teams, you can see 3 folders that stand for the 3 car classes : TC-65, GTC-65 and GTC-TC-76. All the main files for playable cars are there.

2. General file tree for cars in GTL

Let's take GTC-65 as an example - it works the same for other classes, and it'll be easier to explain taking one class for instance. Look at pic 2. If you open the GTC-65 folder you can see folders that correspond to each car in that class. You can notice that the name of each folder is clearly the name of each car. Let's take the Shelby GT350 for example. Why this car? Just because in my game I've got standalone versions that I've added to the original ones.

For each car, you'll have number folders. For example, about the Shelby GT350, the original numbers available in game are #807 (white one) and #880 (red one). The other numbers you see on the pic are related to an addon skin I've made (11MD, 1965 Shelby GT350 driven by Mark Donohue) and another one by YTANGUY (GL01, General Lee GT350) - both of these addons are available here in the download section.

3. Essential basic files

Let's open the Shelby GT350 foleder (pic 3). You can see the number folders, plus other files. I recall that these example pics are taken from my GTL, so it may be different on some points in yours. You can see .SVM files. Here can be the difference from your GTL. They correspond to the tracks I raced on with this car. Now look at the 4 .GTL files : SHELBY_GT350_CPIT.GTL, SHELBY_GT350_OBJ.GTL, SHELBY_GT350_TEX.GTL, and SHELBY_GT350_WHEELS.GTL. These are original files and they are essential cuz they are common files for that car. They are common to any number. Unless you are an expert in modding, you shouldn't modify them. For any car, you must find those 4 files, always named the same way (YYY stands for the car name) :

YYY_CPIT.GTL
YYY_OBJ.GTL
YYY_TEX.GTL
YYY_WHEELS.GTL

Now, let's open the 880 folder to see how it goes in it (pic 4). You can see 7 files : 3 .GTL files, 1 .BIK file, 1 .CAR files and 2 .TGA files. For any origianl or standalone addon car, you must have these 7 files. Also, these files must always be named this same way. XXX is the car number (880 in the pic) and YYY is the name of the car (GT350 in the pic). For the car number and name, there's no limitation for the length, they can vary from a car to another. Here is the general way to name thse files :

XXX_CPIT_ULTRA_TEX.GTL
XXX_TEX.GTL
XXX_ULTRA_TEX.GTL
XXX_SIM_GTC_YYY.BIK
XXX_SIM_GTC_YYY.CAR
XXX_SIM_GTC_YYYIcon.TGA
XXX_SIM_GTC_YYYIconDisabled.TGA

That's all for the moment. I've just presented general information above. Now I can expect you to ask questions like "what does this or that files correspond to?". I'll talk about that in the next part, and I'll also tell you about tools to open them. Be patient, see ya next time ;)

SuperPask

25 April 07, 14:14

Here is the second part of my tutorial about how files work for GTL cars (part 1 is here (http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9724)).

In the previous part, we saw how files are put together in a general way. Now we're gonna see what each type of file is there for. I'm going to talk first of each type of files, and then I'll precise what they stand for in particuar cases.

.GTL files

.GTL files are related to both skins and 3D modelling. These files are compressed files (a bit like .ZIP or .RAR files in a way, to explain simply). They gather many kind of files that are required to make your car work properly. From a car to another, original or addon, the content of each .GTL file can vary. I'm gonna just describe how it goes in general then.

First of all, if you want to follow this tutorial, you'll need to open .GTL files. The problem is that original .GTL files are encrypted, that is to say that you won't be able to open them. However, there's a tool for that, called GEditor. This tool was first created for GTR/GTR2, but it works for GTL (.GTR and .GTL files work the same way). You can find GEditor here :

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=1863

Once you've installed GEditor, go to GTL/Gamedata/Teams/GTC-65/Shelby GT350/880. The Shelby GT350 #880 will stand for our example car, like in the previous part.

Now you can see all .GTL files got GEditor icon, so you can now open each of them. Now I'm gonna list and describe each .GTL file in the car number folder (880 here). In the previous part, we saw that there are common .GTL files for all numbers in the car general folder. For the moment I won't talk about them, as you don't need to modify them if you're not an expert in skinning. To make the explaination simple, I'll also leave the names as they are for the GT350 #880. We saw in the previous part the specifications of the .GTL names. For each file listed below, open it with GEditor :

880_TEX

It contents all the texture files used for the #880. In GT Legends, texture formant is .DDS. You can see that all .DDS file names start by 880_SHELBY_GT350, that is to say the following scheme : NUMBER_CAR_TYPE. You must respect this scheme when modifying or creating skins. For example, for my standalone GT350 (11MD), these files all start by 11MD_SHELBY_GT350.

Let's see all these .DDS files :

_BODY01 : body skin
_CPIT01 : general cokpit skin
_CPIT02 : specifc skin for some part(s) of cockpit
_CPIT03 : steering wheel skin
_WINDOWS : windows skin

In a general way, it often goes the same for most of cars. All the .DDS in _TEX.GTL got low resolution sizes (height x width) :

_BODY01 : 1024x512
_CPIT01 : 1024x512
_CPIT02 : 256x64
_CPIT03 : 512x512
_WINDOWS : 512x512

You can see the resolution of each while each time you click on it in GEditor. It is displayed on the 'Properties' part, next to the picture. These are 'Height' and 'Width' numbers.

880_ULTRA_TEX

Contents only the _BODY01 skin with a higher resolution (2048x1024).

880_CPIT_ULTRA_TEX

Contents the cockpit skins (_CPIT01, _CPIT02, _CPIT03) with a high resolutions (2048x1024, 1024x256 and 1024x1024).

All these .GTL files are for the #880, but it works the same for any other car. In these files you have noticed that there are only .DDS files, but can have other file formats, not only related to textures but also to 3D model (car parts). Generally, for the moment just keep in mind that .GTL files in number folders only got .DDS files managed the same way as explained above. We may talk about common .GTL files that are in the car main folder later.

Still in our example folder (GTL/Gamedata/Teams/GTC-65/Shelby GT350/880), here are the other files you got :

.BIK file

This is a video file for the video trailer you see in game when choosing a car. You can't read it out of the game except with a free tool called Bink Video. You can find it here :

http://www.radgametools.com/default.htm

.TGA files

These are picture files for the car icons when chossing a car in game. The one with name ending by 'Icon' will be displayed when you got the car in your garage (colors), and the other one, with name ending by 'IconDisabled' will be the one displayed when you don't own the car (grey).

.CAR file

Ah! this file is the heart of your car. Indeed it is the configuration file. Original .CAR files are encrypted, but you can find copies that you can read there :

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=879

Keep this package of .CAR files safe somewhere on your hard disk, you'll need them someday - I'm looking forward to making a part of this tutorial in which I'll give the main details about what they got inside. For the moment, once you've dowloaded the .CAR file pack from the link above, you can pick up one of them and open it with notepad. Then you can see clearly how it goes in it.

Remember that for any car, in a number folder you always got 3 .GTL files, 1 .BIK file, 2 .TGA files and 1 .CAR files. And the way of naming them is always the same :

- for .GTL files : NUMBER_CPIT_ULTRA_TEX, NUMBER_TEX, NUMBER_ULTRA_TEX
- for .BIK and .CAR files : NUMBER_SIM_GTC_TYPE
- for .TGA files : NUMBER_SIM_GTC_TYPEIcon and NUMBER_SIM_GTC_TYPEIconDisabled

grem304

25 April 07, 16:24

SuperPask, Good job and thanks should be very helpful for those who take the time to read. Looking forward to the sequels. :up:

SuperPask

25 April 07, 16:29

SuperPask, Good job and thanks should be very helpful for those who take the time to read. Looking forward to the sequels. :up:

:thanks:

I've just edited the part above ;)

MOF

25 April 07, 16:33

"Here is the second part of my tutorial about how files work for GTL cars."

Can you add as the second line of the intro to this tutorial? >>> "Part 1 is here... (link)"

And for part 3, add two lines with links to 1st and 2nd parts, etc.?

That way all the tutorials can be easily linked, with little interruption to thought processes by those interested in reading.

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

SuperPask

25 April 07, 16:41

Oops! sorry, I forgot to do that! Just focused on what to say in the parts, and forgot about linking them. Thanks for your suggestion :) Links added : one here in the beginning, and I've started a link list to each following parts in Part 1.

billsmithem

25 April 07, 18:08

Great job Pascal! I'm looking forward to the next installment.

SuperPask

26 April 07, 15:02

Essential stuff in .CAR files

What I'm gonna tell you about here isn't about all the parameters featuring in .CAR files, but I'll just expalin a few essential things that any basic skinner should know. Also there are many features that I don't know much about, so I prefer talking about what I know best.

As I said in part 2, .CAR files are configuration files for any GTL car. Original .CAR files are encrypted. If you want to create a standalone car, you'll need to edit a .CAR file for it, and then you'll need to know about a few essential parameters.

You can download readable .CAR files here :

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=879

In this zip, you'll find all .CAR files that are in GTL, and you can can open each of them with notepad. Let's keep the Shelby GT350 #880 as an example, like in the previous parts parts (see links in the beginning of this post). In the zip you've downloaded, open GTC-65/Shelby GTT350/880/880_SIM_GTC_GT350.CAR (use Notepad).

Comment lines

All words, phrases or lines beginning by // are comments. They won't be used by the game program. There are there just to make things easier to understand or to put a title etc. You can add any comment of yours as long as you begin with //. For example, look at the title :

// 880 - GTC - Shelby GT350, Simulation
//--------------------------------------------------You can change it, it won't affect the car. For instance, here is the title of the .CAR file I did for my for my GT350 #11 :

// 11MD - GTC - Shelby GT350, Mark Donohue #11B
//-------------------------------------------------------------11MD is the name I gave to the number file of this car, and 11B is its number in game (the one you can see on the body). I also wrote the name of the driver, Mark Donohue. You can see that it looks a bit different than the dafault title, but it works just because I kept // in the beginning of each comment line.

For another example, look also at Exhaust parmeters lines :

Exhausts=2 // number of outlets, 0-4
ExhaustAmount=0.5 //amount of exhaust, 0.0 - 1.0
Exhaust1=(0.90, -0.24, 1.02) //emitter position (Exhaust1 - Exhaust4)
ExhaustVel1=(2.743, -0.172, 2.0) //Vector of relative velocity in m/s
Exhaust2=(-0.90, -0.24, 1.02) //emitter position (Exhaust1 - Exhaust4)
ExhaustVel2=(-2.743, -0.172, 2.0) //Vector of relative velocity in m/sFor each parameter, you've got a value, and next to each one you got a comment - separated by // - that explains quickly what it is about and the range of values used.

Now we've seen how comments are written, let's look at most of the lines and what most of them stand for. Apart from the title, you have 7 parts in the .CAR file. All the lines of this file can be written one under another without being seperated. It'll work fine this way, but it won't be nice to read, especially when you do troubleshooting. So here you can see that all the parameters have been divided among 7 parts. Look at them, here is how I would name each part (this is just my own naming, you can have your own) :

1. Car model and physics
2. Views (camera, seat position...)
3. Driver and cokpit instruments positions
4. Pedals postions
5. HUD position
6. Exhaust parameters
7. Game features

1. Car model and physics

HDVehicle=Shelby_GT350.hdc
Graphics=Shelby_GT350.cas
GenString=1233
Sounds=shelbysounds.aud
HeadPhysics=headphysics.hed.hdc, .cas and .hed files are related to the 3D model of the car and its physics. Don't know much more about those files except that they are hidden files, compressed somewhere in the game. Whatever, you don't need to modify them for skinning, unless you're an expert and you want to create a brand new model for the game.

The .aud file is the file used for the sounds of the car. If you install new sounds for the Shelby GT350, the new file should have the same name (backup the original one then). But if you can also install new sounds with a different file name. In that case, you'll have to write here the right file name.

Genstring : ah, this is the most important line here for skinners. Genstring is what I should call the options parameter for your car. As you can see, the genstring is a series of numbers : 1233 here for the Shelby #880, but it can vary in 2 ways. First, each figure can go from 1 to 9. For example if you take the genstring of my Shelby #11, it will be 1222. Same car, 4 figures in the genstring, but instead of 1233, it's 1222. The ammount of figures can vary also from a car to another : 4 figures for the Shelby GT350 whereas there are 3 in the Corvette '76 (214 as default) or 7 figures for the Ford Mustang (1111334 as default).

What does each number in that genstring stand for? Well, there are many options you can modify : the helmet of the driver, add/remove spoilers, bumpers, type of wheels etc. The problem is that for each type of car you'll find a different genstring and all the options and their places in the genstring number can also vary. So if you want to find which figure to change to modify something, the only solution is to modify one figure, try the car in game to see how it looks. If someone got any further info about every car genstring please let us know!

2. Views and dirver/cockpit instruments, pedals, HUD positions

Eyepoint=(0.38, 0.79, 0.30)
CameraTarget=(0.000, 0.700, 0.250)
MaxSeatRear=0.10
MaxSeatFront=-0.07
MaxSeatUp=0.02
MaxSeatDown=-0.02
FrontWheelsInCockpit=0

SteeringWheelAxis=(0.0,0.242,0.970)
SteeringWheelType=3
ExternalDriverPosition=(0.395, -0.045, 0.16)
FirstPersonDriverPosition=(0.383, -0.261, 0.098)
LeftSideSteering=1
ShiftStickPosition=(0.02, 0.405, -0.115)

ClutchPedalPosition=(0.50, 0.14, -0.51)
BrakePedalPosition=(0.34, 0.14, -0.51)
AcceleratorPedalPosition=(0.22, 0.14, -0.53)

TachometerRange=(0.0, 9500.0, 227.0, 305.0)
TachometerNeedle=(0.80, 0.80)
OilTempRange=(122.0, 385.0, 130.0, 410.0)
OilTempNeedle=(0.475, 0.375)
WaterTempRange=(104.0, 260.0, 130.0, 410.0)
WaterTempNeedle=(0.475, 0.375)
OilPressureRange=(0.0, 53.03, 225.0, 315.0)
OilPressureNeedle=(0.55, 0.425)
FuelVolumeRange=(0.0, 120.0, 135.0, 405.0)
FuelVolumeNeedle=(0.475, 0.375)

HUDFuelVolumeRange=(0.0, 120.0, 135.0, 402.5)Here you can see the co-ordinates in 3D space for each parameters, that is to say their position in space. You can see many parameters such as gauges, ranges of various indicators etc. There's no need to modify anything here when you do basic skinning.

3. Exhaust parameters

Exhausts=2 // number of outlets, 0-4
ExhaustAmount=0.5 //amount of exhaust, 0.0 - 1.0
Exhaust1=(0.90, -0.24, 1.02) //emitter position (Exhaust1 - Exhaust4)
ExhaustVel1=(2.743, -0.172, 2.0) //Vector of relative velocity in m/s
Exhaust2=(-0.90, -0.24, 1.02) //emitter position (Exhaust1 - Exhaust4)
ExhaustVel2=(-2.743, -0.172, 2.0) //Vector of relative velocity in m/sThis is the tail pipe corner! All parameters related to exhaust. The comment help you to see what each of them stand for. Once again, no need to modify anything here.

4. Game features

This part is important. This is the ID pass for your car to be playable in the game. If you forget something here, you may have bugs like crash to desktop.

Number=880Watch out! this isn't the number painted on the car, but the name of the number folder (see part 1)! For example for my Shelby #11B, 11B is the number painted on the car, but the number folder is called 11MD. So for that car I wrote : Number=11MD. No need to use only numbers : if your folder is called 'Juliet' it will work too!

Team="Krag"
PitGroup="Shelby"
Driver="Hans Jorgen Krag"
Description="Shelby GT350"
Engine="Ford 289"
Manufacturer="SHELBY_GT350"You can modify anything in these lines, but you must put them in quotation marks (" ... ").

classes="SIM_FULL, SIM_GTC, SIM_GTC65, SIM_GT350, SIM_GTCTC65, SIM_DRIFT, SIM_HEAVY, SIM_MASH"These are all the race categories in which the car can compete in the game.

ComparativeTime=105
Value=56000
Locked=0I don't know what is Comparative Time about. But the 2 lines under are important. Value is the price of the car when you buy it. It can be any price, even 0. The line Locked is 0 if your car is up to be purchased at anytime or 1 if it is a race prize. If you make a standalone car, always put 0 there.

grem304

27 April 07, 13:20

:clap: And another good installment. Cheers I owe you one.

.hdc, .cas and .hed files are related to the 3D model of the car and its physics. Don't know much more about those files except that they are hidden files, compressed somewhere in the game. Whatever, you don't need to modify them for skinning, unless you're an expert and you want to create a brand new model for the game.

I'm for sure no expert but am trying to get to the bottom of all this :sherlock: and trying to get "a brand new model" in the game. I guess I'm trying to jump to part 6 :D Any chance of someone directing me as to where or how to get the .hdc and .cas files out of the game so I can edit and use them?

SuperPask

27 April 07, 17:28

:thanks:

About .hdc and other 'hidden' files, I saw some threads here and there on the forum, guys asking where to find them. As far as I know, didn't see anyone replying them. Hope you'll find someday ;)

skridge

27 April 07, 17:50

awesome info. i will be sure to credit you guys when i use all this in the upcoming editors. thanks for publishing all this.

Bill Guillaume

27 April 07, 20:12

You are the man!!

Tanks Superpask:up:

SuperPask

28 April 07, 17:52

:thanks: all!

I'm looking forward to editing further more parts, but at the moment I've got other priorities cuz I've got to study as I'm taking exams next week for my job. So I'll work on next parts when I got a little bit of time. If I'm too busy, I'll post next part in 2 weeks. This coming week (including next weekend) I'll be away from home. I'll be back on May 8th. Hope you don't mind waiting a bit ;)

awesome info. i will be sure to credit you guys when i use all this in the upcoming editors. thanks for publishing all this.

Glad to help you in your porject :)

grem304

29 April 07, 01:27

no problem here waiting for more, Good luck on the tests.:up:

Nothegger

14 May 07, 13:19

Thanks a lot Superpask, I hope to see new parts soon :up:

:clap: And another good installment. Cheers I owe you one.

I'm for sure no expert but am trying to get to the bottom of all this :sherlock: and trying to get "a brand new model" in the game. I guess I'm trying to jump to part 6 :D Any chance of someone directing me as to where or how to get the .hdc and .cas files out of the game so I can edit and use them?

Not available. I wish someone already decrypted them :cry: , but for now you have to use gordini + GTR2inGTL cars files as examples.

If you were making completely new car for the game, waht would you put in genstring :rolleyes: ? It probably doesn't matter..

And another thing, how coordinates in .car and other files relate to those in the mesh you open in your modeler program? How to do it without hundred attempts easch? Does anyone atleast know approximatelly where is the center and where are the axis pointing?

SuperPask

15 May 07, 19:32

Thanks for compliments mates :) and also thanks to the ones who know additional info about things I don't know that much. It makes these little tutorial topics even more interesting for everyone, counting myself. Thank you for that :)

I'm looking foreward to making new parts on this present topic (file management) and I also got many other ideas, dealing with things I'd like to explain that may help people. As I've always said, I'm no expert, I just want here to share my own knowledge and experience, and of course any info added here and there is welcome. This that community spirit that I've always appreciated in simulation world in general and then here on NoGrip obviously!

I've been a bit busy with my job these past 4 weeks. Now I'm back home I think I'd rather have a little break before continuing these help threads. So, as we say in aviation, stay on the frequency : there should be a new installment shortly ;)

sharpo

23 May 07, 19:54

Great info up to now thanks.

Pizzaman

3 June 07, 22:04

Hey Pask, that is really SUPERRRRR!! Can't wait for part 10, and maybe here's something that might help.:confused:

I've been playing around a bit with the files. Mucking around with wheels and such. I am sure I could make a stand-alone Mini, and even edit something like say add a glass roof or stupid stuff like that. Anyway, nothing functional.

I am sure the genstrings are the stuff that says which body goes with which interior, and which front-end (Mini) goes on which car. Also, which wheels should go with it (!!). Therefore, more variation means more genstrings. I guess it puts the pieces of the cars together. But the max is 10 choices (0-9), so only 10 different options for each car-part. Or make more car-parts? So this way we should be able to find out how many pieces a car has, and which is 'option 1' and which is 'option 2'.

Reminds me, this will also interest Grem, I'll PM him. So, if you have a car with different styles of roof, you can just make a 'non-roof' and 'put that on' (..?). So it is possible to have the Elan, the Jag and even the Falcon 'roofless', as they have different roofs. I wonder about the Mustang (Shelby).

It must be possible to find out, by changing the numbers in the Cobra gen string (which is available with or without roof). I guess one of the numbers in the genstring says what should be 'on top', either a roof or a set of rollbars??

But if the car does not have a 'separate' roof and already is a convertible, then it would also be impossible to 'put a roof on'. You'd have to make a whole new car. Or at least partly, and make it use the 'old' physics.

So, in theory, as there are 5 different Mini's in GTL, there are 5 options for the parts that I know are separate. The basic interior is always the same (so the genstring should always have the same number here), only color is different but that is handled by the specific DDS files for that car. same for suspension (which I know is one part).

Just me thinking, or am I right?:roflmao:

Nothegger

4 June 07, 10:53

SuperPask

17 June 07, 11:18

Tool required :

GEditor (http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=1863)

The essential about .GTL files

.GTL files are compressed files containing all the major files needed to make cars work in the game. These are texture files (.DDS, .BMP, .TGA) but also 3D files (.GMT) related to 3D models of the cars. However, even if most of .GTL files are related to cars, some of them can also be related to the game layout.

What I'm gonna do here is just a general presentation of how .GTL files are put together in the game and what each of them stand for. I'll talk about the different files they contain and their roles with more precision in the next parts of this tutorial. I prefer starting by a global view and then going to more accurate and detailed explanations. It'll be easier to understand this way I guess. I've already talked about .GTL files in Part 2 (http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9730) but it was just regarding the ones in car number folders and car texture files in them.

To open .GTL files - and edit them if needed - you'll need GEditor (http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=1863).

There are 3 kinds of .GTL files in GT Legends. Actually, I should say they got 3 different purposes. Here they are :

General stuff for the game
Commun stuff for each car class
Specific stuff for each car number
The way of naming these 3 coategories is obviously personnal. I think it would help understanding how it works.

Before going farther, if you're not familiar with car directory tree in GT Legends, go and read part 1 (http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9724).

1 - General stuff for the game

Location :

GTL/Gamedata/Teams

There are 2 .GTL files regarding general stuff for the game :

STEX.GTL
TALENT.GTL

STEX.GTL contains texture files for many elements of the game. There are 2 purposes for these textures :

textures for the game layout (corner arrow advisors that are dispalyed before entering a trun, pitboard, notepad that is dispalyed when you're in the pits, start countdown numbers etc...)
textures common to all cars (brake disk, chrome textures for bumbers or rims, exhaust, fire flames, tyre gum etc...)
Open STEX.GTL with GEditor and you'll see by yourself how it goes. It is very obvious.

TALENT.GTL contains textures for all the AI pilots. Each AI pilots has a .RCD file which is kinda 'profile file'. These .RCD files are located in GTL/Gamedata/Talent. The default .RCD files are encrypted but many addon standalone car include .RCD files that you can open with notepad. You should have a look at them to see the data they contain. TALENT.GTL is only related to default AI pilots. However you can add your own custom textures related to an addon pilot and put them there (backing up the original TALENT.GTL before of course) but there is another way to include personnal pilot texture without modifying TALENT.GTL. I'll talk about that in another part of this tutorial.

When opening TALENT.GTL with GEditor, you can see all body / helmet textures for the AI pilots : you can recognize them due to the pilots' names put in the file names. You can also notice that there are textures for the driver arms ad gloves that are seen when in cockpit view. Also, there are textures for the default pilot. I mean the 'white' default pilot if no texture has been applied to a car pilot.

TALENT.GTL also includes .GMT files related to the driver's 3D model. I recall that GEditor can't open .GMT files. If you got a message error when clicking on a .GTM, just click 'OK' and it won't affect the file.

2 - Commun stuff for each car class

Location :

GTL/Gamedata/Teams/GTC-65/every car model
GTL/Gamedata/Teams/GTC-TC-76/every car model
GTL/Gamedata/Teams/TC-65/every car model
GTL/Gamedata/Teams/TrackVehicles/Safetycar

For each car class (GTC-65, GTC-TC-76 and TC-65 folders) you got car models. For example, in the TC-65 folder, you got subfolders for each model (Mistang, Falcon, Mini etc...). Open any of this car model folder, and you'll see several files. First you see the number folders, corresponding to each car racing with that model. For example Ford Mustangs #809, 890, 891 etc... And you can also see 4 .GTL files :

XXX_CPIT.GTL
XXX_OBJ.GTL
XXX_TEX.GTL
XXX_WHEELS.GTL

Here XXX stands for the car name (FORD_MUSTANG, PORSCHE_906, FERRARI_275GTB etc...). These 4 .GTL files are common to every numbers of this car model.

XXX_CPIT.GTL : contains texture files (.DDS, .BMP, .TGA) and 3D files (.GMT) regarding the cockpit
XXX_OBJ.GTL : contains 3D files (.GMT) regarding the car body
XXX_TEX.GTL : contains general common texture files (.DDS, .BMP) regarding the car body
XXX_WHEELS.GTL : contains texture files (.DDS) and 3D files (.GMT) regarding the wheels
Here's my tip : never modify these 4 .GTL files. There are common to all the car numbers for each models. If you want a car number to have specific differences from this common files, there is a way to put the modified files in the concerned car number folder. Therefore, the original files won't be corrupted and all default cars will work fine. I'll talk about how to do that in a next part.

About the safety car now (GTL/Gamedata/Teams/TrackVehicles/Safetycar). Personnally, I haven't seen that car yet in the game! Anyway, in its folder you can find one .GTL file (SAFETYCAR.GTL) containing texture (.DDS) and 3D (.GMT) files about it.

3 - Specific stuff for each car number

If you aren't familiar with car number folders, read part 1 (http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9724).

For any car model, you got several car number folders. In each of them there are always 3 .GTL files in each of them (here YYY stands for the car number) :

YYY_CPIT_ULTRA_TEX.GTL
YYY_TEX.GTL
YYY_ULTRA_TEX.GTL

Each of these .GTL files only contains texure files (.DDS). The details about them are in part 2 (http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9730).

Nothegger

18 June 07, 00:18

...

About the safety car now (GTL/Gamedata/Teams/TrackVehicles/Safetycar). Personnally, I haven't seen that car yet in the game! Anyway, in its folder you can find one .GTL file (SAFETYCAR.GTL) containing texture (.DDS) and 3D (.GMT) files about it.

...

You can't see the safety car because it's very small. About the size of the coin :crackup::crackup::crackup:
I'll try to look into it though.

BTW great guide, thanks so much!! :up::up:

caine32

18 June 07, 20:51

Good guide Superpask, Thanks for posting it :up::up::cool:

Bill Guillaume

18 June 07, 20:55

Pascal

Thank You!!

File 1993

10 September 07, 18:35

That's very helpful, THANKS!

willowjoe

8 January 08, 21:00

Essential stuff in .CAR files

What I'm gonna tell you about here isn't about all the parameters featuring in .CAR files, but I'll just expalin a few essential things that any basic skinner should know. Also there are many features that I don't know much about, so I prefer talking about what I know best.

As I said in part 2, .CAR files are configuration files for any GTL car. Original .CAR files are encrypted. If you want to create a standalone car, you'll need to edit a .CAR file for it, and then you'll need to know about a few essential parameters.

You can download readable .CAR files here :

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=879

In this zip, you'll find all .CAR files that are in GTL, and you can can open each of them with notepad. Let's keep the Shelby GT350 #880 as an example, like in the previous parts parts (see links in the beginning of this post). In the zip you've downloaded, open GTC-65/Shelby GTT350/880/880_SIM_GTC_GT350.CAR (use Notepad).

Comment lines

All words, phrases or lines beginning by // are comments. They won't be used by the game program. There are there just to make things easier to understand or to put a title etc. You can add any comment of yours as long as you begin with //. For example, look at the title :

You can change it, it won't affect the car. For instance, here is the title of the .CAR file I did for my for my GT350 #11 :

11MD is the name I gave to the number file of this car, and 11B is its number in game (the one you can see on the body). I also wrote the name of the driver, Mark Donohue. You can see that it looks a bit different than the dafault title, but it works just because I kept // in the beginning of each comment line.

For another example, look also at Exhaust parmeters lines :

For each parameter, you've got a value, and next to each one you got a comment - separated by // - that explains quickly what it is about and the range of values used.

Now we've seen how comments are written, let's look at most of the lines and what most of them stand for. Apart from the title, you have 7 parts in the .CAR file. All the lines of this file can be written one under another without being seperated. It'll work fine this way, but it won't be nice to read, especially when you do troubleshooting. So here you can see that all the parameters have been divided among 7 parts. Look at them, here is how I would name each part (this is just my own naming, you can have your own) :

1. Car model and physics
2. Views (camera, seat position...)
3. Driver and cokpit instruments positions
4. Pedals postions
5. HUD position
6. Exhaust parameters
7. Game features

1. Car model and physics

.hdc, .cas and .hed files are related to the 3D model of the car and its physics. Don't know much more about those files except that they are hidden files, compressed somewhere in the game. Whatever, you don't need to modify them for skinning, unless you're an expert and you want to create a brand new model for the game.

The .aud file is the file used for the sounds of the car. If you install new sounds for the Shelby GT350, the new file should have the same name (backup the original one then). But if you can also install new sounds with a different file name. In that case, you'll have to write here the right file name.

Genstring : ah, this is the most important line here for skinners. Genstring is what I should call the options parameter for your car. As you can see, the genstring is a series of numbers : 1233 here for the Shelby #880, but it can vary in 2 ways. First, each figure can go from 1 to 9. For example if you take the genstring of my Shelby #11, it will be 1222. Same car, 4 figures in the genstring, but instead of 1233, it's 1222. The ammount of figures can vary also from a car to another : 4 figures for the Shelby GT350 whereas there are 3 in the Corvette '76 (214 as default) or 7 figures for the Ford Mustang (1111334 as default).

What does each number in that genstring stand for? Well, there are many options you can modify : the helmet of the driver, add/remove spoilers, bumpers, type of wheels etc. The problem is that for each type of car you'll find a different genstring and all the options and their places in the genstring number can also vary. So if you want to find which figure to change to modify something, the only solution is to modify one figure, try the car in game to see how it looks. If someone got any further info about every car genstring please let us know!

2. Views and dirver/cockpit instruments, pedals, HUD positions

Here you can see the co-ordinates in 3D space for each parameters, that is to say their position in space. You can see many parameters such as gauges, ranges of various indicators etc. There's no need to modify anything here when you do basic skinning.

3. Exhaust parameters

This is the tail pipe corner! All parameters related to exhaust. The comment help you to see what each of them stand for. Once again, no need to modify anything here.

4. Game features

This part is important. This is the ID pass for your car to be playable in the game. If you forget something here, you may have bugs like crash to desktop.

Watch out! this isn't the number painted on the car, but the name of the number folder (see part 1)! For example for my Shelby #11B, 11B is the number painted on the car, but the number folder is called 11MD. So for that car I wrote : Number=11MD. No need to use only numbers : if your folder is called 'Juliet' it will work too!

You can modify anything in these lines, but you must put them in quotation marks (" ... ").

These are all the race categories in which the car can compete in the game.

I don't know what is Comparative Time about. But the 2 lines under are important. Value is the price of the car when you buy it. It can be any price, even 0. The line Locked is 0 if your car is up to be purchased at anytime or 1 if it is a race prize. If you make a standalone car, always put 0 there.

so can you re-engine cars using only the .car file

(pictures of abarths with ford 289 engines spring to mind...)

drone242

2 May 09, 13:38

i'll need some help here. my geditor can't open gtl files :s. i have to convert them to gtr files and then they can be opened, but for some reason i can't change them back to gtl extension. any advice ?
thnx in advance

maeckie

10 June 09, 10:49

option 1 : right-click gtl-file to "open with"
option 2 : in geditor gtl-files dont show up ,yes , but type *.gtl in the dialog , and u can open ..
if u save its automatically a gtl-file

barondegil

20 December 09, 16:09

:thanks::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

JAN FERREIRA

13 August 10, 10:31

To change engines and gearboxes u need the HDC file. Where do I get the uncoded ones

alfredo2rallye

24 August 10, 19:24

Hello,
I would ride on a rally stage with the Porsche 911 RS of GTL-GTR2 mod. But reports of gearbox are too long. Is there a mod that put a box for a short model? Thank you in advance