S2U Unofficial Community Patch

ermo · 18 April 12, 21:51

This is an unofficial "patch" for SHIFT 2 Unleashed developed by the nogripracing.com modding community.

(For reference, the original UCP thread started by matt2380 can be found here)

Aim

To combine bug fixes and enhancements while preserving the driving feel of stock S2U. There are no deliberate physics changes included, but car handling is improved in some cases as a result of bug fixing. There are also some enhancements included that would have been nice to see in an official patch.

To maintain a partially unpacked S2U baseline that will make it easier and more convenient to create and distribute custom skins and mods for S2U w/UCP installed, such as tulib202's Career Mod, brrupsz' Polish Tyre Mod (PTMu) and M12_Warthog's Ferrari DLC conversion.

Audience

People who enjoy driving the game out of the box, but were bothered by the bugs.

S2U modders, who can use the UCP as a clean baseline installation upon which their mods can be developed/adapted as UCP add-ons.

Installation

INSTALL GUIDE & README: https://bitbucket.org/ermo/s2u_ucp/wiki/Home <=

(you want to read this)

Patch v1.02 (aka free DLC) Required: This mod requires the latest official patch (v1.02) which is included in the free PC DLC Pack (Legends and Speedhunters packs), which is available via Origin (see the online README for additional details). If the DLC is not installed, the unpacking step will fail with the message:

Quote:

get this error? => see above î

Code:

could not unpack Pakfiles\dir\EFFECTS.bff

Please also note that the installation method is different to the one in v1.06 of the UCP.

UPGRADE NOTE:
Users upgrading from v1.0.99 or earlier to v1.0.99a or later (tip) need to re-unpack their game with the new version of the s2u_unpacker.cmd script and reactivate the new S2U_Unpacked_version -- otherwise the new UCP install script won't run and the tweaks to the tyre screech audio won't be activated properly.

Download

The newest version of the UCP v1.1-prerelease is available here:

https://bitbucket.org/ermo/s2u_ucp/downloads

NOTE: The UCP is a cumulative patch, so it is only necessary to download the newest tagged version ('vX.Y.Z' -- see below). But please, do not use 'tip' -- tip is the in-development version.

On the UCP download page, click on the 'Tags' section.
The 'Tags' section contains several column headers (Tag, Commit, Date, Download).
The first row in the 'Tags' section will be named 'tip' and the following rows are named in descending order, starting with the newest tagged version and ending with v1.0.90, which is the oldest version.
In the row with the highest version tag (in the form 'vX.Y.Z'), hover your mouse over the 'zip' link in the Download column, and click to download the latest UCP v1.1 prerelease version (In case you were wondering, gzip and bzip2 are compression formats commonly used with Linux/UNIX).
Extract and install the UCP version you just downloaded per the online README above.

FAQ

See post #2 below.

Credits

Main Authors: matt2380, JDougNY, ermo (current maintainer), and pez2k.

Contributors and supporters: Aerex, Bongomaster, brrupsz, bt48, D1Racer, darkcyde, djotefsoup, edubz123, Jeroen vd Helm, Jonzy, Kaerar, Kazumi, Kinski, kligson, Kultag, LawRhed, MacGear, Moorsman74, ogre2010, outlaw22, SakuraBlack, Siggs, SternRav0R, tulib202, xpertvision, Xtra.

Thanks to Juls for the great inject tool (with no size limitations) and the high priority input thread DLL.

Thanks to Luigi Auriemma for the quickbms .bff unpacking tool (http://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm).

Thanks to JoneSoft for the Generic Mod Enabler (JSGME) freeware that has been included to assist installation (http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software/products-jsgme.html (Link is currently broken and I've been unable to find the author's website).

ermo · 18 April 12, 21:52

#1 - I have the Steam version, and ...

The Steam version is known to be subtly different (and not in a good way!) from the DVD and the non-Steam download version. The UCP v1.1 was developed on the Origin Limited Edition version and also works with the DVD version. You are encouraged to use your legally acquired Steam key with a non-Steam version of S2U to get the best experience. Yes, we know that this sucks. Click here for one suggestion on how to deal with it.

#2 - I made a copy of my original S2U Install and can't seem to get the UCP to work properly with this copy even though I followed the installation instructions carefully. What am I missing?

When S2U is installed, it creates registry entires pointing to the original install location that all SHIFT2U.exe copies will reference first when trying to load game data files.

If you need to have more than one S2U Installation, you should:

Move the original S2U Installation folder out of its original install location
Uninstall the original S2U Installation via the windows uninstaller

The above procedure will remove the registry entries that make all SHIFT2U.exe copies try to read game data from the original install location, but won't delete the files you moved (since the uninstaller has no idea where the files are now).

#3 - Do I need to add '-loose' to my S2U shortcut like with SHIFT to make S2U work with the unpacked and loose files that are part of the UCP?

No, supplying the '-loose' parameter is not necessary. The UCP install method was written to take care of making the game accept the unpacked assets with a minimum of fuss, based on JDougNY's and tulib202's experience and tips.

#4 - What does the LiveTrace add-on do?

When you enable LiveTrace, your system will continually output physics data (engine data, suspension data, aero data) every 1/10th of a second to a file in the root of you <S2U installation> folder. This add-on is mostly intended as a convenience add-on for tinkerers who wish to tweak the game physics data and record the physics engine output. Note that this might lead to short hiccups as the data is flushed to disk. If in doubt, don't enable this.

#5 - The UCP takes up 21GB of precious space on my SSD. How do I trim that down?

If you really, really must, you can move the <S2U installation>\!BACKUP folder (which is a hidden folder) and <S2U installation>\MODS folder to your rotating storage media once you're satisfied with your installation. This procedure is not supported/encouraged/recommended, so if your installation breaks, you get to keep both pieces and fix it yourself. Consider yourself warned by your friendly UCP maintainer.

#6 - How do I create a UCP-compatible add-on skin pack?

See post #11 and post #16 below. If you've read jamesevans's beautifully laid out skinning guide, you will be pleased to learn that you can skip both the unpacking and the injection phases (see the explanation below).

#7 - I want to customize my install and I'd like to inject my modded files into my UCP install. How do I proceed?

This incarnation of the UCP was designed so as to remove the need to manually unpack and inject files in most cases. You are strongly encouraged to use the principles laid out in post #11 and post #16 and create your own custom unpacked 'overlay' JSGME mod that you can activate on top of any existing mods. In really rare and bizarre cases, you might need to unpack and dummy out more .bff files. The UCP already includes both the quickbms unpacking tool and a dummy.bff file that you can use for this purpose.

#8 - But I would like to get rid of all the frivolous track objects and you inject stuff into the packed track .BFFs in the UCP install script, don't you?

Correct. Unpacking the tracks would make for quite a poor experience and we only inject minor LOD fixes anyway. If you have an idea on how to make this process foolproof, by all means post your experiences in the thread so that we might figure out how best to solve this issue once and for all.

#9 - I'm lazy and I think it would be a good idea to just copy my modded files directly into my <S2U Installation> folder. Aren't I clever?

Er, no. In fact, you are strongly encouraged to use JSGME to manage any changes you make to your UCP install to avoid undesirable side effects from forgotten leftover files. If you insist on copying in your modded files manually anyway and your installation breaks as a result, we won't be able to give you proper support. Consider yourself warned by your friendly UCP maintainer.

#10 - When I activate the add-on mods which are shipped with the UCP, JSGME issues a warning? Should I be worried?

If you read the warning carefully, you will notice that JSGME is just telling you precisely which files in your current install will be overridden by the add-on you are activating. You will notice that this warning also popped up when you installed the UCP on top of the S2U_Unpacked_version and that this was also per design. In other words: This is a feature, not a bug.

#11 - How do I clean out my current UCP v1.06 JSGME install completely?

See post #41 in this thread

#12 - Can I speed up the loading of unpacked assets even though I only have rotating storage with high seek penalty?

SternRav0R posted some good tips for how to improve the loading speed of the unpacked assets in post #74 in this thread

peter_muffay · 18 April 12, 21:59

i have the ucp 0.98 since a few days together with the ferrari mod and it's really a great addition to shift2, made the game a lot better.

Just curious, there are so less graphics mod which polish the graphics more, like higher shadow resolution/reflections, better trees or even a enb mod series like on gtaiv. Is it too complicated with the shift2-engine, or is just no-one really interested in it?

MU71L473D · 19 April 12, 18:31

Can someone explain to me what livetrace does?

ermo · 19 April 12, 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by MU71L473D

Can someone explain to me what livetrace does?

I've updated the FAQ in post #2 with the answer.

Kazumi · 19 April 12, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter_muffay

Just curious, there are so less graphics mod which polish the graphics more, like higher shadow resolution/reflections, better trees or even a enb mod series like on gtaiv. Is it too complicated with the shift2-engine, or is just no-one really interested in it?

A bit of both and it looks good enough and just barely good enough FPS wise for me.

Maybe not discuss that in this thread...

patrickptk2009 · 19 April 12, 23:35

hi guys i cant play new campaing modes(drag/old vs new) after unpack,and some dlc's tracks desappeared of my game.
you guys have any fix for this?
i need to play unpacked game with all dlc's working.
thx

ermo · 20 April 12, 07:42

Which game version are you on? If you're on the DVD version, you might need to first install patch v1.01 before you install the DLC that also contains patch v1.02.

I'll ask tulib202 about the campaign stuff, since you're now the 2nd person mentioning it (I mostly use S2U as a hotlap toy and as a testbed for stiffer tyres). It's probably safe to assume that it's a bug/misfeature by now...

Grandshift · 21 April 12, 16:04

my hats off to all those involved in this, I have a question however, I am fairly new to modding Shift 2 and whilst I've gotten the latest UCP on and running im a little confused about adding extra skins to it, does the UCP unpack all of shift 2 as i cant seem to find the carliveries.bff needed to inject skins into.

ermo · 21 April 12, 18:30

The whole point of the UCP is that you should no longer need to inject anything. Second, there's no carliveries.bff archive in my installation, but there is a VehicleHRLiveries.bff which is already unpacked and dummied in the UCP install for your convenience (the same goes for vehiclespersistent.bff).

The recommended way to add skins is to create a new folder in your <S2U Installation>\MODS\ folder and name it, say, Grandshift_skins.

Inside that folder, first create an empty vehicles folder and inside that, an empty textures folder. Now you can begin adding custom skins in the <S2U Installation>\MODS\Grandshift_skins\vehicles\textu res\ folder you just created (to view the exisiting skins, check out your <S2U Installation>\vehicles\textures folder). To get access to the new skins in-game, you need to use JSGME to activate the Grandshift_skins add-on you just created.

EDIT: Note that you can also add any edited .rcf files (see post #16 below) in the correct folder structure in your skin pack. So if you added new Audi S3 skins, you would add the (modified) files:

Code:

<S2U Installation>\MODS\Grandshift_skins\vehicles\Audi_S3\audi_s3.rcf
and
<S2U Installation>\MODS\Grandshift_skins\vehicles\Audi_S3\audi_s3_hr.rcf

If two skin packs edit the same .rcf files independently, you would need to manually merge the entries in the .rcf files with something like WinMerge. I would suggest maintaining a third mod containing only the merged rcf files in order to avoid fiddling with each mod and introducing annoying installation ordering issues. FWIW, the files of the latest activated mod always take precedence.

Did that make any sense to you? The reason I recommend that you use the JSGME method is that you will have already made it easy for yourself to redistribute your new skin add-on to other UCP users.

Grandshift · 21 April 12, 18:58

ahhhh i see, thank you ermo, it all makes sense now

will this work for skin additions or just replacements?

ermo · 21 April 12, 19:08

@Grandshift:

Post above updated with pertinent info.

I have tested that it works for replacements, but I was kind of hoping you wouldn't ask me that, as I honestly have no clue (yet) about what needs to be modified for the game to reference the new skins (i.e. non-replacement skins).

What did you originally need to modify in order to make SHIFT recognize new, additional skins?

@JDoug, perhaps you could chip in here?

Grandshift · 21 April 12, 19:15

yeah i just checked it with replacements and they work fine, as for the additional i know the file you mean but cant think of it off the top of my head, i'll go dive into the skinning thread, it may offer some clues :s

SternRav0R · 21 April 12, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

@Grandshift:

I have tested that it works for replacements, but I was kind of hoping you wouldn't ask me that, as I honestly have no clue (yet) about what needs to be modified for the game to reference the new skins (i.e. non-replacement skins).

What did you originally need to modify in order to make SHIFT recognize new, additional skins?

@JDoug, perhaps you could chip in here?

I can chip in here on that.

In order for additional skins to be listed in game rather than a skin re-placer the additional skins have to:

1) Have a distinct name and placed in the same place as all other skins.
2) The vehicle.rcf and vehicle_hr.rcf that is packed in “vehiclespersistent.bff” HAVE to be edited to make the game aware of the additional skins.

I'm still mucking about with UCP 1.06 myself so I am not aware if vehiclespersistent.bff is one of the .bff's that gets unpacked and dummied in UCP 1.1 prerelease. If “vehiclespersistent.bff” is unpacked then use the standard unpacked method of dropping the .rcf's in the correct file path under \MODS folder.

ermo · 21 April 12, 20:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by SternRav0R

I can chip in here on that.
(...)
I'm still mucking about with UCP 1.06 myself so I am not aware if vehiclespersistent.bff is one of the .bff's that gets unpacked and dummied in UCP 1.1 prerelease. If “vehiclespersistent.bff” is unpacked then use the standard unpacked method of dropping the .rcf's in the correct file path under \MODS folder.

Thanks for chipping in. And yes, vehiclespersistent.bff is indeed one of the unpacked and dummied out files in the UCP v1.1.

Would you perhaps consider removing the parts of your post that are not relevant to the UCP v1.1 version? (to help avoid confusing users). Thanks.

@JDougNY: Thanks for the thorough explanation -- I'll link to it in the FAQ. Could you perhaps add full file names relative to your <S2U Installation> folder? That would make the example complete for future reference.

SternRav0R · 21 April 12, 20:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

...
Would you perhaps consider removing the parts of your post that are not relevant to the UCP v1.1 version? (to help help avoid confusing users). Thanks.

Consider it done.

Grandshift · 21 April 12, 20:51

you guys are ****ing awesome, have a pint on me

ermo · 21 April 12, 22:54

@Everyone,

Could one of you with a Windows XP box and some time to spare please download the 'tip' version of the UCP and report back on whether the complete install -- including running the unpacking script -- works as advertised? If it fails, please either copy the contents of the cmd window and paste it in code tags here, or just take a screenshot with alt+printscr and save it as a .png image (using paint or a similar tool) and post it here.

I ask because I suspect that the cmd.exe command interpreter that runs the install scripts might be sufficiently different that it handles script variables slightly differently to my Win7 x64 install.

I hope I'm wrong, though.

SternRav0R · 22 April 12, 05:07

Windows XP cmd.exe Documentation, see if it differs from your syntax usage.

ermo · 22 April 12, 09:41

It's more to do with how XP expands %variables%, actually -- specifically, whether it adds trailing backslashes to folder names or not.

Leavnya · 23 April 12, 02:16

Thanks for this!

datsunsss · 24 April 12, 20:15

Hi when I try and activate the S2U_Unpacked_version with JSGME as soon as it starts the program freezes and says (Not Responding). I have tried running JSGME as administrator but it still does it?

I am running Windows 7 Professional 64bit with 6GB of RAM.

Any ideas?

Regards
Jared

Aldarris · 24 April 12, 20:22

Does it tell you to close the application? When I ran it, it did the same thing for me as well. It was in fact doing its thing, although it said it wasn't responding. The whole process of moving all the files takes quite some time.

dimosbmw · 24 April 12, 20:41

You just have to click activate and wait long long time because there too many files. During the waiting period you must NOT navigate throught other windows because this will cause "not responding". Just click and be patient...

ermo · 24 April 12, 20:46

@datsunss:

Like Aldarris and dimosbmw says, it takes a fair while to activate the unpacked version. It needs to back up ~3GB of data and then copy in ~6GB of data -- mostly small files, so it is what we call 'seek limited'. On my system, the activation process takes ~10-15 mins, where JSGME says 'not responding'.

This is completely normal, and I've just updated the Installation guide to reflect this. Thank you for your feedback!

datsunsss · 24 April 12, 21:05

Thanks for the help guys!

@ermo:

Will the fact that I have closed the program a few times thinking it is a problem going to affect the process of activating at all?

Regards
Jared

dimosbmw · 24 April 12, 21:15

*After a little while, the activation process will prompt you about file conflicts between the already installed S2U_Unpacked_version and the UCP.
*This is per design, so press "Yes" to begin the UCP activation process.

I think there is no problem at all because before pressing YES button JSGME just check the files.

If i am wrong please correct me.

datsunsss · 24 April 12, 21:44

Hi guys,

Thanks again for the help. I gave it some time and it worked as you said it would. Thanks again. Does this mean that I can now edit the VDFM etc files of the game? I want to try and play around with the engine parameters?

Regards
Jared

ermo · 25 April 12, 14:53

Take a look at the FAQ in post #2 for tips on how to create your own custom mod on top of the UCP.

Fryslanboy · 28 April 12, 17:22

Well, I reinstalled the game, because I saw, that I installed it on my C drive, while it has to be on the E drive. Now I unpacked the whole thing, just like the other time..

But now I don't get the black screen with Unofficial Community Patch 1.01, but the standard intro, with the wheel and stuff.. Very weird, I did exactly the same thing.

Also I got no errors with the cmd.exe, so I have no clue what's happening here :S

SternRav0R · 29 April 12, 13:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fryslanboy

Well, I reinstalled the game, because I saw, that I installed it on my C drive, while it has to be on the E drive. Now I unpacked the whole thing, just like the other time..

But now I don't get the black screen with Unofficial Community Patch 1.01, but the standard intro, with the wheel and stuff.. Very weird, I did exactly the same thing.

Also I got no errors with the cmd.exe, so I have no clue what's happening here :S

Are you absolutely sure you installed it step by step as described here?:
https://bitbucket.org/ermo/s2u_ucp/wiki/Installation

ermo · 29 April 12, 14:24

Fryslanboy's issue is fixed. I've updated the FAQ with his issue -- it is a known issue which is not UCP related per se, but rather an artifact of activating the UCP on a copy of his original install.

EDIT: FAQ updated with pertinent info on why this happens and how to work around it.

Rossocuore · 1 May 12, 10:09

Hello to everyone. First of all, a big thanks to the authors for such importante and great work! Then I would like to ask wheter is possible to install the newest patch above a 1.06 Origin installation. What is the correct method for my configuration? Thanks.

ermo · 1 May 12, 13:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossocuore

Hello to everyone. First of all, a big thanks to the authors for such importante and great work! Then I would like to ask wheter is possible to install the newest patch above a 1.06 Origin installation. What is the correct method for my configuration? Thanks.

May I humbly suggest that you try re-reading the "STEP 0: -- Prerequisites" section in https://bitbucket.org/ermo/s2u_ucp/wiki/Installation?

If it still isn't clear to you, do get in touch so that I may clarify that section of the guide for the benefit of others.

Rossocuore · 1 May 12, 13:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

May I humbly suggest that you try re-reading the "STEP 0: -- Prerequisites" section in https://bitbucket.org/ermo/s2u_ucp/wiki/Installation?

If it still isn't clear to you, do get in touch so that I may clarify that section of the guide for the benefit of others.

Whops I think I missed the following lines:

"JSGME UCP v1.06 (and later) users

Each time you install a new JSGME UCP version, it is important that you first:

DEACTIVATE and DELETE any previous UCP version installed via JSGME.
DELETE any existing UCP_modified_assets (or UCP_temp_files) folder in your S2U installation folder. "

Are there instructions to uninstall and "clean" properly 1.06 from system?

Thanks

ermo · 1 May 12, 13:36

@Rossocuore:

There are no other instructions than the ones you just posted.

What kind of instructions do you feel would disambiguate it sufficiently? A couple of screenshots? Are the above instructions too general in your opinion?

Would you be willing to post a screenshot of your current v1.06 <S2U Install> folder as well as any other screenshots you might think are relevant?

Rossocuore · 1 May 12, 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

@Rossocuore:

There are no other instructions than the ones you just posted.

What kind of instructions were you hoping for? Screenshots? Are the above instructions too general for your tastes?

Would you be willing to post a screenshot of your current v1.06 <S2U Install> folder as well as any other screenshots you might think are relevant?

Hi,

this is how it looks my game installation folder. I hope this is not bugging you. I thought I read some sarcasm in your reply.
If I am asking stupid questions, feel free to not reply.
Thanks anyway.

ermo · 1 May 12, 17:00

No sarcasm intended; I simply would like to make the instructions as good as possible.

When you have deactivated ALL mods in JSGME and deleted them from the \MODS\ folder, you should delete the files as shown in the image below in order to have a 'clean' S2U installation:

Aldarris · 1 May 12, 17:20

Ermo you might want to update the link to JSGME. Also, the intro files were replaced with the text for UCP, which files are these? I'd like to see if I could come up with something a little more interesting.

nick05 · 1 May 12, 17:50

Excellent work Ermo, such a shame it wasn't released in the state you have accomplished...... with that said , you have managed to raise this game from the dead !

Nice !

gears · 1 May 12, 18:54

I must be missing something. I click the download link and the latest version I see is 1.0.98?

Is that the correct file? Or the one above it?

ermo · 1 May 12, 19:58

@gears: Use the 'tip' version (it will become v1.0.99 shortly -- 'tip' means 'the latest version' in mercurial source control lingo).

There are a few differences between v1.0.98 and tip, primarily related to a sneaky install trick that makes it hard to install the UCP incorrectly.

However, it also means that everyone on <= v1.0.98 will need to do a complete re-install of the UCP, including unpacking the game again.

So new installs should just use tip for now. When v1.1 is (finally) relased, >= v1.0.99 users likely will only have to update the UCP part, not the unpacked part.

@Aldarris: Do you think you could create a heart-shaped cloth patch made from a chequered flag and with stitches at the edge? It would represent a patch made with love and care that made it to the finish line. If possible, it would be cool if it could be added to all the intro S2U Unleashed Logos.

And apropos the logo: The beauty of using bitbucket is that you can all follow the development and view what was changed from version to version (it isn't all that much, actually). If you look at the Changesets, I'm pretty sure you will be able to figure out which file to edit in no time at all.

And update the link to JSGME? Where? Is it no longer working? EDIT: Ah. I see. The JSGME homepage is actually empty now.

@nick05: Actually, I've just repackaged the UCP in the hope that it would make it easier to create and distribute skins and mods for it. The meat of the mod was made by others, so I don't feel it would be correct of me to take credit for the current playability of S2U. But on behalf of all the UCP authors and contributors: Thank You.

gears · 1 May 12, 20:34

Cheers ermo

Rossocuore · 1 May 12, 20:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

No sarcasm intended; I simply would like to make the instructions as good as possible.

When you have deactivated ALL mods in JSGME and deleted them from the \MODS\ folder, you should delete the files as shown in the image below in order to have a 'clean' S2U installation:

Ok, thank you very much. It's very clear now. Maybe it's already been asked, but when do you plan to release 1.1 final?
Cheers and congratulations again for your work which makes this game even more incredible!

ermo · 1 May 12, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by gears

Cheers ermo

Are you on a WinXP box? In any case, do let me know what you think of the install experience.

Aldarris · 1 May 12, 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

@Aldarris: Do you think you could create a heart-shaped cloth patch made from a chequered flag and with stitches at the edge? It would represent a patch made with love and care that made it to the finish line. If possible, it would be cool if it could be added to all the intro S2U Unleashed Logos.

Thanks. I think I've worked out how to make custom intros so I'll see what I can do about it.

gears · 2 May 12, 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermo

Are you on a WinXP box? In any case, do let me know what you think of the install experience.

Win7 x64. Installed without issue. Easy to follow instructions and working flawless so far.

About the optional mods included, can they be installed over the UCP? I tried to activate the hidden car mod but it gave me a warning and I canceled.

ermo · 2 May 12, 08:38

@gears: Yes, they are designed to be installed on top. If you read the warning, it is actually just JSGME that tells you which files it will override in the base install.

This is a feature, not a bug.

skillman · 4 May 12, 19:44

I like this UCP, but few thing not much. Can I change and use old standar hud for speed/turbo/rmp , and old movie on the start game, and disabled new levles have only max 20 lvl?

ermo · 5 May 12, 05:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by skillman

I like this UCP, but a few things, not so much.

1./ Can I use the old standard hud for speed/turbo/rpm?

2./ Can I get the original movie at the start of the game?

3./ Can I Disable new levels and have only max 20 levels?

Ad 1) I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean. Can you show me what you mean with a screenshot?

Ad 2) The starting movie was disabled to decrease loading times. However, you can rename the UCP file that disables the video and the original movies will no longer be overridden. Look for \MODS\<your UCP version>\Movies\BootFlow_in.bik and BootFlow_out.bik

Ad 3) The new levels were added because some people wanted to be able to unlock extra vinyls and get some extra incentive to keep driving the game. Similarly to the above, you can rename the UCP file that extends the amount of levels that are available. Look for \MODS\<your UCP version>\properties\reputation_levels.xml

29 April 12, 14:24	#32
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	Fryslanboy's issue is fixed. I've updated the FAQ with his issue -- it is a known issue which is not UCP related per se, but rather an artifact of activating the UCP on a copy of his original install. EDIT: FAQ updated with pertinent info on why this happens and how to work around it. Last edited by ermo; 16 May 12 at 15:14.

1 May 12, 13:36	#36
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	@Rossocuore: There are no other instructions than the ones you just posted. What kind of instructions do you feel would disambiguate it sufficiently? A couple of screenshots? Are the above instructions too general in your opinion? Would you be willing to post a screenshot of your current v1.06 <S2U Install> folder as well as any other screenshots you might think are relevant? Last edited by ermo; 1 May 12 at 17:08. Reason: Reword to avoid triggering sarcasm detectors

1 May 12, 17:00	#38
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	HOWTO: Clean out UCP v1.06 JSGME edition completely No sarcasm intended; I simply would like to make the instructions as good as possible. When you have deactivated ALL mods in JSGME and deleted them from the \MODS\ folder, you should delete the files as shown in the image below in order to have a 'clean' S2U installation: Last edited by ermo; 1 May 12 at 22:31.

1 May 12, 19:58	#42
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	@gears: Use the 'tip' version (it will become v1.0.99 shortly -- 'tip' means 'the latest version' in mercurial source control lingo). There are a few differences between v1.0.98 and tip, primarily related to a sneaky install trick that makes it hard to install the UCP incorrectly. However, it also means that everyone on <= v1.0.98 will need to do a complete re-install of the UCP, including unpacking the game again. So new installs should just use tip for now. When v1.1 is (finally) relased, >= v1.0.99 users likely will only have to update the UCP part, not the unpacked part. @Aldarris: Do you think you could create a heart-shaped cloth patch made from a chequered flag and with stitches at the edge? It would represent a patch made with love and care that made it to the finish line. If possible, it would be cool if it could be added to all the intro S2U Unleashed Logos. And apropos the logo: The beauty of using bitbucket is that you can all follow the development and view what was changed from version to version (it isn't all that much, actually). If you look at the Changesets, I'm pretty sure you will be able to figure out which file to edit in no time at all. And update the link to JSGME? Where? Is it no longer working? EDIT: Ah. I see. The JSGME homepage is actually empty now. @nick05: Actually, I've just repackaged the UCP in the hope that it would make it easier to create and distribute skins and mods for it. The meat of the mod was made by others, so I don't feel it would be correct of me to take credit for the current playability of S2U. But on behalf of all the UCP authors and contributors: Thank You. Last edited by ermo; 1 May 12 at 20:47. Reason: JSGME note

18 April 12, 21:52	#2
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	S2U UCP Frequently Asked Questions #1 - I have the Steam version, and ... The Steam version is known to be subtly different (and not in a good way!) from the DVD and the non-Steam download version. The UCP v1.1 was developed on the Origin Limited Edition version and also works with the DVD version. You are encouraged to use your legally acquired Steam key with a non-Steam version of S2U to get the best experience. Yes, we know that this sucks. Click here for one suggestion on how to deal with it. #2 - I made a copy of my original S2U Install and can't seem to get the UCP to work properly with this copy even though I followed the installation instructions carefully. What am I missing? When S2U is installed, it creates registry entires pointing to the original install location that all SHIFT2U.exe copies will reference first when trying to load game data files. If you need to have more than one S2U Installation, you should: Move the original S2U Installation folder out of its original install location Uninstall the original S2U Installation via the windows uninstaller The above procedure will remove the registry entries that make all SHIFT2U.exe copies try to read game data from the original install location, but won't delete the files you moved (since the uninstaller has no idea where the files are now). #3 - Do I need to add '-loose' to my S2U shortcut like with SHIFT to make S2U work with the unpacked and loose files that are part of the UCP? No, supplying the '-loose' parameter is not necessary. The UCP install method was written to take care of making the game accept the unpacked assets with a minimum of fuss, based on JDougNY's and tulib202's experience and tips. #4 - What does the LiveTrace add-on do? When you enable LiveTrace, your system will continually output physics data (engine data, suspension data, aero data) every 1/10th of a second to a file in the root of you <S2U installation> folder. This add-on is mostly intended as a convenience add-on for tinkerers who wish to tweak the game physics data and record the physics engine output. Note that this might lead to short hiccups as the data is flushed to disk. If in doubt, don't enable this. #5 - The UCP takes up 21GB of precious space on my SSD. How do I trim that down? If you really, really must, you can move the <S2U installation>\!BACKUP folder (which is a hidden folder) and <S2U installation>\MODS folder to your rotating storage media once you're satisfied with your installation. This procedure is not supported/encouraged/recommended, so if your installation breaks, you get to keep both pieces and fix it yourself. Consider yourself warned by your friendly UCP maintainer. #6 - How do I create a UCP-compatible add-on skin pack? See post #11 and post #16 below. If you've read jamesevans's beautifully laid out skinning guide, you will be pleased to learn that you can skip both the unpacking and the injection phases (see the explanation below). #7 - I want to customize my install and I'd like to inject my modded files into my UCP install. How do I proceed? This incarnation of the UCP was designed so as to remove the need to manually unpack and inject files in most cases. You are strongly encouraged to use the principles laid out in post #11 and post #16 and create your own custom unpacked 'overlay' JSGME mod that you can activate on top of any existing mods. In really rare and bizarre cases, you might need to unpack and dummy out more .bff files. The UCP already includes both the quickbms unpacking tool and a dummy.bff file that you can use for this purpose. #8 - But I would like to get rid of all the frivolous track objects and you inject stuff into the packed track .BFFs in the UCP install script, don't you? Correct. Unpacking the tracks would make for quite a poor experience and we only inject minor LOD fixes anyway. If you have an idea on how to make this process foolproof, by all means post your experiences in the thread so that we might figure out how best to solve this issue once and for all. #9 - I'm lazy and I think it would be a good idea to just copy my modded files directly into my <S2U Installation> folder. Aren't I clever? Er, no. In fact, you are strongly encouraged to use JSGME to manage any changes you make to your UCP install to avoid undesirable side effects from forgotten leftover files. If you insist on copying in your modded files manually anyway and your installation breaks as a result, we won't be able to give you proper support. Consider yourself warned by your friendly UCP maintainer. #10 - When I activate the add-on mods which are shipped with the UCP, JSGME issues a warning? Should I be worried? If you read the warning carefully, you will notice that JSGME is just telling you precisely which files in your current install will be overridden by the add-on you are activating. You will notice that this warning also popped up when you installed the UCP on top of the S2U_Unpacked_version and that this was also per design. In other words: This is a feature, not a bug. #11 - How do I clean out my current UCP v1.06 JSGME install completely? See post #41 in this thread #12 - Can I speed up the loading of unpacked assets even though I only have rotating storage with high seek penalty? SternRav0R posted some good tips for how to improve the loading speed of the unpacked assets in post #74 in this thread Last edited by ermo; 17 August 12 at 12:41.

18 April 12, 21:59	#3
peter_muffay Join Date: Apr 2011	i have the ucp 0.98 since a few days together with the ferrari mod and it's really a great addition to shift2, made the game a lot better. Just curious, there are so less graphics mod which polish the graphics more, like higher shadow resolution/reflections, better trees or even a enb mod series like on gtaiv. Is it too complicated with the shift2-engine, or is just no-one really interested in it?

19 April 12, 18:31	#4
MU71L473D Join Date: May 2011 Location: The Netherlands	Can someone explain to me what livetrace does?

19 April 12, 23:35	#7
patrickptk2009 Join Date: Jan 2011	hi guys i cant play new campaing modes(drag/old vs new) after unpack,and some dlc's tracks desappeared of my game. you guys have any fix for this? i need to play unpacked game with all dlc's working. thx

20 April 12, 07:42	#8
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	Which game version are you on? If you're on the DVD version, you might need to first install patch v1.01 before you install the DLC that also contains patch v1.02. I'll ask tulib202 about the campaign stuff, since you're now the 2nd person mentioning it (I mostly use S2U as a hotlap toy and as a testbed for stiffer tyres). It's probably safe to assume that it's a bug/misfeature by now...

21 April 12, 16:04	#9
Grandshift Join Date: May 2011	my hats off to all those involved in this, I have a question however, I am fairly new to modding Shift 2 and whilst I've gotten the latest UCP on and running im a little confused about adding extra skins to it, does the UCP unpack all of shift 2 as i cant seem to find the carliveries.bff needed to inject skins into.

21 April 12, 18:30	#10
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	Creating UCP compatible skin add-ons The whole point of the UCP is that you should no longer need to inject anything. Second, there's no carliveries.bff archive in my installation, but there is a VehicleHRLiveries.bff which is already unpacked and dummied in the UCP install for your convenience (the same goes for vehiclespersistent.bff). The recommended way to add skins is to create a new folder in your <S2U Installation>\MODS\ folder and name it, say, Grandshift_skins. Inside that folder, first create an empty vehicles folder and inside that, an empty textures folder. Now you can begin adding custom skins in the <S2U Installation>\MODS\Grandshift_skins\vehicles\textu res\ folder you just created (to view the exisiting skins, check out your <S2U Installation>\vehicles\textures folder). To get access to the new skins in-game, you need to use JSGME to activate the Grandshift_skins add-on you just created. EDIT: Note that you can also add any edited .rcf files (see post #16 below) in the correct folder structure in your skin pack. So if you added new Audi S3 skins, you would add the (modified) files: Code: <S2U Installation>\MODS\Grandshift_skins\vehicles\Audi_S3\audi_s3.rcf and <S2U Installation>\MODS\Grandshift_skins\vehicles\Audi_S3\audi_s3_hr.rcf If two skin packs edit the same .rcf files independently, you would need to manually merge the entries in the .rcf files with something like WinMerge. I would suggest maintaining a third mod containing only the merged rcf files in order to avoid fiddling with each mod and introducing annoying installation ordering issues. FWIW, the files of the latest activated mod always take precedence. Did that make any sense to you? The reason I recommend that you use the JSGME method is that you will have already made it easy for yourself to redistribute your new skin add-on to other UCP users. Last edited by ermo; 27 April 12 at 17:52. Reason: Update with .rcf instructions

21 April 12, 18:58	#11
Grandshift Join Date: May 2011	ahhhh i see, thank you ermo, it all makes sense now will this work for skin additions or just replacements?

21 April 12, 19:08	#12
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	@Grandshift: Post above updated with pertinent info. I have tested that it works for replacements, but I was kind of hoping you wouldn't ask me that, as I honestly have no clue (yet) about what needs to be modified for the game to reference the new skins (i.e. non-replacement skins). What did you originally need to modify in order to make SHIFT recognize new, additional skins? @JDoug, perhaps you could chip in here? Last edited by ermo; 21 April 12 at 22:35.

21 April 12, 19:15	#13
Grandshift Join Date: May 2011	yeah i just checked it with replacements and they work fine, as for the additional i know the file you mean but cant think of it off the top of my head, i'll go dive into the skinning thread, it may offer some clues :s

21 April 12, 20:51	#17
Grandshift Join Date: May 2011	you guys are ****ing awesome, have a pint on me

21 April 12, 22:54	#18
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	@Everyone, Could one of you with a Windows XP box and some time to spare please download the 'tip' version of the UCP and report back on whether the complete install -- including running the unpacking script -- works as advertised? If it fails, please either copy the contents of the cmd window and paste it in code tags here, or just take a screenshot with alt+printscr and save it as a .png image (using paint or a similar tool) and post it here. I ask because I suspect that the cmd.exe command interpreter that runs the install scripts might be sufficiently different that it handles script variables slightly differently to my Win7 x64 install. I hope I'm wrong, though.

22 April 12, 05:07	#19
SternRav0R Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Arizona Age: 44	Windows XP cmd.exe Documentation, see if it differs from your syntax usage.

22 April 12, 09:41	#20
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	It's more to do with how XP expands %variables%, actually -- specifically, whether it adds trailing backslashes to folder names or not.

23 April 12, 02:16	#21
Leavnya Join Date: Sep 2008	Thanks for this!

24 April 12, 20:15	#22
datsunsss Join Date: Aug 2009	Hi when I try and activate the S2U_Unpacked_version with JSGME as soon as it starts the program freezes and says (Not Responding). I have tried running JSGME as administrator but it still does it? I am running Windows 7 Professional 64bit with 6GB of RAM. Any ideas? Regards Jared

24 April 12, 20:22	#23
Aldarris Idontfinishanyth Join Date: Jan 2011 Age: 24	Does it tell you to close the application? When I ran it, it did the same thing for me as well. It was in fact doing its thing, although it said it wasn't responding. The whole process of moving all the files takes quite some time.

24 April 12, 20:41	#24
dimosbmw Join Date: Jan 2012	You just have to click activate and wait long long time because there too many files. During the waiting period you must NOT navigate throught other windows because this will cause "not responding". Just click and be patient...

24 April 12, 20:46	#25
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	@datsunss: Like Aldarris and dimosbmw says, it takes a fair while to activate the unpacked version. It needs to back up ~3GB of data and then copy in ~6GB of data -- mostly small files, so it is what we call 'seek limited'. On my system, the activation process takes ~10-15 mins, where JSGME says 'not responding'. This is completely normal, and I've just updated the Installation guide to reflect this. Thank you for your feedback!

24 April 12, 21:05	#26
datsunsss Join Date: Aug 2009	Thanks for the help guys! @ermo: Will the fact that I have closed the program a few times thinking it is a problem going to affect the process of activating at all? Regards Jared

24 April 12, 21:15	#27
dimosbmw Join Date: Jan 2012	After a little while, the activation process will prompt you about file conflicts between the already installed S2U_Unpacked_version and the UCP. This is per design, so press "Yes" to begin the UCP activation process. I think there is no problem at all because before pressing YES button JSGME just check the files. If i am wrong please correct me.

24 April 12, 21:44	#28
datsunsss Join Date: Aug 2009	Hi guys, Thanks again for the help. I gave it some time and it worked as you said it would. Thanks again. Does this mean that I can now edit the VDFM etc files of the game? I want to try and play around with the engine parameters? Regards Jared

25 April 12, 14:53	#29
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	Take a look at the FAQ in post #2 for tips on how to create your own custom mod on top of the UCP.

28 April 12, 17:22	#30
Fryslanboy Join Date: Apr 2011	Well, I reinstalled the game, because I saw, that I installed it on my C drive, while it has to be on the E drive. Now I unpacked the whole thing, just like the other time.. But now I don't get the black screen with Unofficial Community Patch 1.01, but the standard intro, with the wheel and stuff.. Very weird, I did exactly the same thing. Also I got no errors with the cmd.exe, so I have no clue what's happening here :S

1 May 12, 10:09	#33
Rossocuore Join Date: Feb 2012	Hello to everyone. First of all, a big thanks to the authors for such importante and great work! Then I would like to ask wheter is possible to install the newest patch above a 1.06 Origin installation. What is the correct method for my configuration? Thanks.

1 May 12, 17:20	#39
Aldarris Idontfinishanyth Join Date: Jan 2011 Age: 24	Ermo you might want to update the link to JSGME. Also, the intro files were replaced with the text for UCP, which files are these? I'd like to see if I could come up with something a little more interesting.

1 May 12, 17:50	#40
nick05 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Kent England Age: 39	Excellent work Ermo, such a shame it wasn't released in the state you have accomplished...... with that said , you have managed to raise this game from the dead ! Nice !

1 May 12, 18:54	#41
gears Donated Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Higgs Boson Age: 45	I must be missing something. I click the download link and the latest version I see is 1.0.98? Is that the correct file? Or the one above it?

1 May 12, 20:34	#43
gears Donated Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Higgs Boson Age: 45	Cheers ermo

2 May 12, 08:38	#48
ermo Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Denmark	@gears: Yes, they are designed to be installed on top. If you read the warning, it is actually just JSGME that tells you which files it will override in the base install. This is a feature, not a bug.