Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby snowzilla » 10 Dec 2009, 21:07

Greetings,

first off, thanks for STK, we love it!

the kids and I are learning blender, we're getting good at making new karts, so I thought it was time to try making a track.

Using Ubunty Jaunty, blender 2.48a, python 2.62, i've tried a couple of different tracks, and keep getting the same results, the track_export.py produces the .drvl, .drvr and .loc files, but no .ac file.

Initially we got a python script error that scene.getChildren() on lines 706 & 714 was deprecated, use scene.objects instead. Fixedthat, now the script works with no errors, but still does not produce the .ac file.

What are we missing?

thanks again for STK!
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby Auria » 10 Dec 2009, 21:55

Hi,

first of all, thanks for the nice words :)
Actually, the reason is quite simple : you simply need to export the AC file manually after the rest, by selecting the appropriate parts and using blender's AC3D export script, found in the "file" menu, under "export". The script's user interface might indeed suggest that a AC3D file will be created; it's simply that the script used to include a AC3D exporter, but it was eventually removed because blender's was better.

I will also note that the track format (and thus the track exporter) will change for STK 0.7, and the new script for 0.7 will automatically export everything as far as I know.

Good luck
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby snowzilla » 11 Dec 2009, 07:08

thanks for the help,

now i'm stuck on 'invalid starting position' . tried moving/resizing the track, even specifying a start point in the .track file (as per lighthouse example)... but no luck. :cry:
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby asciimonster » 11 Dec 2009, 10:15

Maybe a silly question, but did you select every object (key: A) before exporting to .ac? Only selected objects are exported.

If that doesn't work, create a huge object/box/plane which spans below the entire course and more. That way there will always be a valid (albeit rediculous) starting point.
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby Auria » 11 Dec 2009, 15:57

Did you place the start position under (0, 0) ?

Another possibility is to wait just a little bit (hopefully) for the first alpha of 0.7 to be released, there drivelines and traces should hopefully be a bit easier
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby snowzilla » 11 Dec 2009, 20:12

Hi again,

I did try to place the starting point near (0,0,0) ... and will try the plane idea, but perhaps my problem is with the drivelines. I used the track_export.py method (in help section of script) to create the drivelines- separating/duplicating each edge of the track, naming each DRV_LEFT and DRV_RIGHT, then it seems to export the drvl and drvr files fine.

Looking at the new drivelines page,
http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/New_drivelines

it says to combine the two driveline meshes, etc... but then at the end it exports a .quad file, which i don't see in any of the current tracks, so i was guessing this was for the new version.

ps- i did select all to export, but then the .ac file had the DRV_LEFT and DRV_RIGHT meshes in it, which i didn't find in other tracks .ac files, so instead i selected just the track itself for the ac3d export, but everything was selected for the track_export.py script.
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby Auria » 11 Dec 2009, 20:56

maybe you could upload and blender an/or the output, so I can check what the problem is?

And indeed, the article about new drivelines is about STK 0.7, not yet released.

EDIT: And, when you say the start point is very close to (0,0,0) : beware, the track should be slightly under vertically, because the game searches for the track just below (0,0,0)
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby snowzilla » 12 Dec 2009, 19:32

Thank You!

got it working... putting the track just below the z axis was the trick, this got us to 'invalid starting position for kart 1' whereas before it was kart 0. so we had one kart on the track, but no room for the second kart. resizing the track and making sure the 0,0 start point was on the left side of the track (for kart 0) and it's good to go. :D

thanks again... we still have one problem, but i don't want to take any more of your time, so feel free to not respond as you've already helped us immensely. but if you do have a moment...

the ac3d export is not exporting the textures. in blender f12 renders a frame complete with textures, but the exported .ac file has no textures in it. i tried manually placing

texture "road.rgb"
texrep 1 1

in the .ac file, (as well as adding road.rgb to materials.dat), but playing the track in STK and it just comes up with the material colors from blender, no texture. also, road.rgb is 256x256 created with the gimp.

googled ac3d export textures but haven't solved it yet... if you happen to have the trick... :)

edit: i didn't use the uv image editor for textures... it's different in 2.48 compared to the STK tutorial, but i think i'm on the right track. thanks again!
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby Auria » 13 Dec 2009, 01:11

Glad you got it working :)
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Re: Trouble creating new track- no .ac file

Postby hiker » 13 Dec 2009, 01:55

Hi,

yes, the new track exporter should be easier to use, since it creates the exported models plus all necessary config files. I am still hoping to get a early alpha version of STK ready soon so that people can start converting tracks - but atm real life interferes. And indeed, the 'new drivelines' sections and exporter (that creates quad files) are for stk 0.7 only.

snowzilla {l Wrote}:edit: i didn't use the uv image editor for textures... it's different in 2.48 compared to the STK tutorial, but i think i'm on the right track. thanks again!

Great news - could you tell us what we need to update (or even better: create an account on our wiki, send me your id, and I'll give you write permission so that you can update the tutorial yourself ;) ).

Cheers,
Joerg
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