Automobilista 2 Mods!!!

I actually have a question in this regard: if I wanted to swap the engine from one car to another, not modifying the engine's stats or anything else about a car in the process, how would you go about doing that? Or, if it's easier to answer, simply which files for a car should I start to look at and what can I ignore?

 

Thank you for your answer. I have assigned a livery but I still have the white square. I will continue to search. Thanks again.

 

I was unable to create a custom AI file for the VRC Auriel. How did you do ?

 

If you have a white square in the menu screens it is because you don't have a gui preview image. This is a dds image (2048x640) that you need to create and place in the /gui/vehicleimages/[modname] folder.

 

Try the attached file as a starting point-

 

The 3 files you'll want to work on are the engine file (edfbin), gearbox file (gdfbin) and the chassis file (cdfbin)...

If you miss one of the 3 files your gear ratios will be off... You'll also want the same drivetrain as the new engine...

For best results you'd want to keep the original chassis file of the car you want to bring a new engine into and enter the new gear ratio numbers for the set up... But that requires hex editing... Swapping in another chassis file would change the entire car... So try doing it without the chassis file to begin with (just swap the engine and gearbox files and have the driveline entry the same)... And maybe make changing the gear ratios in the chassis file (controls the default gear ratios) your first entry into the hex coding stages... As it's just a byte you only need to find 1 not 4 bytes after the code for the gear that you are editing...

It's not really possible without hex editing in a lot of cases because of the difference in ratios... If they are within the same class with the same gearbox/drivetrain then there's a good chance you can swap the engine file out by itself and get the results you want...

If you want to swap in a turbo for a N/A or the other way around however it also involves the vehicle file (vdfm)... Which has a pointer to the turbo file... Which you would also need to bring in from the other engine files... However this is also like the chassis file and can't be swapped in without editing in hex... As the vdfm also contains information about where the wheels and tyres are and their physical properties as well as other features that define the car...

Then there's the weight of the engine to consider... That will effect the inertia and the mass of the car... Both of which are part of the chassis file...

 

@jusk , thanks a lot.

 

Took a look at all the files and ouch, you weren't kidding, it all requires "blind" hex-editing... and here I thought I might've had a chance at making something without relatively too much effort. I think I'll have to leave the modding to those who already know what they're doing. Thank you for the explanation though, all the knowledge about modding AMS2 is so little (publicly, at least); we really need someone to make a write-up on all the known info for modding the game but it's admittedly a huge ask considering how often the game is changing....

 

It's not completely blind,
AMS2 modding docs

There's also some helpful info on the Project cars modding team discord...

Just search for the parameter code in HxD and then look for the following bytes to make the changes... Floats and intergers are 4 bytes long but the information you want to change will be in a different spot on right dependant on what it is... They'll make more sense once you get used to it... And bytes are a single byte long, which makes it easier to change the gear settings...

Bytes cannot have a decimal and only have a limited range, hence intergers are used for larger numbers and floats for numbers with a decimal...

I think the fact that the game is still in such flux is keeping a lot of modding teams at bay... That and without the documentation they are running blind into a lot of parameters... But the more that get involved the more there is to be learned and shared within the community...

 

Will modded cars be able to utilise V1.5 tyres and physics when this month’s update arrives?

 

Tyres involve a pointer... They will automatically get the update...

This will change the behaviour of the mods and possibly break them...

 

But will that happen this month, next month or both?

 

Depends on what gets updated when and which mod points to which tires.

 

Then my thought was correct

 

As soon as the release hits and the tyres are changed the mods will either reap the benefits of the new tyres or be broken...

Most likely all mods will need their physics tweaked for the new tyres...

 

A surprise from..... japan? On pc2 Modding Team.....!!!

 

A certain mountain?

 

1976

 

Nice surprise!

 

I have a general question....i saw few days ago a video about the Group5 for AMS2.
Where can i find it or is it already "released"/possible to download?