0.29 WIP Release of the Assetto Corsa Modding Manual 3.0

April 01, 2023

0.29 WIP Release of the Assetto Corsa Modding Manual 3.0

Spring is here.

ACMM 3.0 - 0.29: THE ANNIVERSARY UPDATE

You know what I realized? I have a page full of space, so why not use it? 😆

It's now.

Someone ventured to interview A&M, our author. Here is an excerpt:

Anon: "A&M, this is the 1-year Anniversary update, so it should be huge, right?"

A&M - Well, yes. Yes.

Anon: "Ok. But..."

A&M - But what? Aren't you happy?

Anon: "Yeah, it's just that we don't know where this project is going..."

A&M - You really don't have any idea? Oh, I understand what you mean. The way I see it, AC is just a model of reality. There are many kinds of models out there, and all of them share main features. Take for example suspensions: once you know how a vehicle works, it's just a matter of "translating" it in a computational environment. So if the real-world principles are explained well, they should be appliable to technically any kind of simulation, you just need to know which parameters do what. What I'm trying to do is exactly that. Understanding how the concrete thing works, then connecting the dots with AC.

I do know that it's a long process, so don't worry.

Moreover, in my perspective, many things from the old software will keep being valid for the next title, AC2. For example do you know how to create a 3D model of a car? Is there a theory behind that?

Anon: "I honestly can't even draw a vehicle on a piece of paper. Anyway, let's move on to the next question. What do you think about the modding potential of AC2?"

My fear is that if modding will be possible on the upcoming simulator, it will be much more difficult, given the varables they have introduced (chassis flex, complex aeromaps, 5-point tire model, etc.), coming straight from ACC, since the physics engine has been the same throughout the entire franchise.

Where will you be able to find any data? Probably they will give modders the option to enable or disable features like it is possible with AC's tire models (you have v3, v5, v7, v10: v3 is simpler than v10).

That's why AC might still be better, being easier to create something driveable out of it. And it's the reason why it's so fun and addicting.

If they don't organize well the explanations, it will be a true chaos, like it was previously. I already imagine the wonkiest cars (no, please, stay away from me banana chassis \_😲_/ curved car can't hurt you).

The way I see it, modders are tired of jumping from a forum to another just to find some damn tutorials. A more centralized system, like my book, would be ideal.

Anon: "Which by the way is not finished yet, let's say it so our readers know.

It's been a year now. How do you feel about that?"

A&M - Really a long one. Many things happened at the beginning, however it's been a while since this place became my home. It's quiet, relaxed, and honestly it couldn't be better. I met many kinds people: I learned from all of them. And I keep learning, it's obviously a neverending experience. I am still in the "early" stages, even with all the work that's been done. As I previously said, that doesn't matter, as the real-world concepts will keep being valid in the future.

Also, some things are changing in my life, fortunately for the better.

Anon: "Now let me propose a sensitive question. May I ask what's your name?"

A&M - Some peole called me brotto, some marco. That's not my name, it is the name of one of my accounts somewhere in the net. Marco Brotto is just an old friend of mine, to whom i pay respect. My initials are A and M, hence A&M. Otherwise why would I put them in the cover of the manual? I won't tell you my full name though, there's no point of doing that.

Do you have any other question, hopefully not personal?

Anon: "No. If you're happy with that, then we're both happy. I'm just a product of your consciousness".

A&M - Ah, ye-what? The seasonal change is clearly going to my head.

By the way guys, I got sick last week, and I still am to some degree (I'm healing 😌). Apparently many people have become infected in my university. In the rooms you can hear many blowing their nose and coughing. It's more a cold than anything else, however, it was not needed at all 😞.

Let's be pragmatic, this release needs a changelog.

- Progress.

- Quite interesting stuff.

- Corrections and additions for car configs.

- The racing tracks' empire is slowly expanding. Will cars keep their throne?

-You don't need more details.

For the behind the scenes, here we have another example of how a foggy, blurry image can be improved with Photoshop:

https://acstuff.ru/u/comparison/Yz0

It won't be perfect but at least now it's readable. Most of the noise at the output is due to the noise at the input.

I have to say, the entire manual's project folder is taking up to 45 GB on my drive. I have to move the old releases somewhere else on my PC 😅.

Also, I decided to stop adding the like buttons, since they're counting for the entire blog, not the single page. Until I find a better solution.

At this point you know the rule.

This is a WIP (Work-In-Progress) project. You can consider these releases early betas.

_____________________________________________________________________

EDIT 22.02.2024: Links removed due to limited cloud storage and to the fact that nobody is downloading this release.

_____________________________________________________________________

The package includes (in separate downloads):

Useful tools (same as 0.28)
Useful tracks for car debugging (same as 0.11-0.28)

[~~DOWNLOAD 0.29 RELEASE (manual only)~~] ~1.3 GB PDF (2400 DPI):

- Manual with lots of images, descriptions and extended coverage of topics. High quality because I can.

[~~DOWNLOAD 0.29 RELEASE (manual only) LOWRES~~] ~514 MB PDF (NEW! 144 DPI):

- Low quality version for ~~people who don't download tons of mods~~ very poor Internet connections. You don't get what you don't download.

- Changed from 96 to 144 DPI because the pictures were pretty much unreadable. And almost no one was downloading the previous lowres version.

[DOWNLOAD TOOLS for car/track modding] ~109 MB ZIP:

- ksEditor (vanilla)

- ksEditorAT v6 (by x4fab)

- nVidia DDS texture plugin for Adobe Photoshop (latest release, for those who don't want to create a nVidia Developer account)

- QuickBMS, with related scripts to unpack models and pack/unpack vehicle .acd data files. Be aware that this tool may not work every time, especially with UNOFFICIAL encryptions.

- Lotus SHARK v4.03c, suspension analysis tool by Lotus.

[DOWNLOAD TOOLS for sound modding] ~301 MB ZIP: