I was thinking, if a track editor were to be released, doing something like a track building competition for the community would tremendously increase the quality of the tracks, the interest of the community and ammount of tracks created. Something like a monthly/bi-monthly competition where multiple players can collaborate on creating a track, and at the end hold a community poll for the best track, the track is then reviewed for copyright and eventually implemented in the game by the devs. It's a fun concept

This isn't a track-specific bug, but rather something related to layout editor, however i think this is the subforum it fits the best into

Stacking armco is a way to make somewhat realistic looking barriers, but collision doesn't seem to work properly when it's used, tyres can fuse through the horizontal armco bars and hit the posts with catastrophic results, causing heavy damage and catapulting cars into the air, see attached replays. This is not dissimilar to the infamous kerb-tyre bug.



I understand this is not quite an intended way of the objects being used, and i don't suppose it's something that will be readily fixed, but it would be great if it could be addressed. Additionally, maybe it would be worth adding the armco walls as a new layout object eliminating the need for doing things this way?

If LFS had track editor back when AC was also booming with mods maybe then it wouldn't be too much of an issue today. That ship has already sailed though. LFS is unique in it's own way, we can boast about the good old days but that's really what's only left. Not even a track editor can make things work, I'm pretty certain the projects budget and licensing issues will not allow for anything remotely nice. The car mods are a nice addition but honestly most car mods feel like Chinese knock-off cars. It's like playing a game but the mobile version..

This subject is no different than the millions of reallife car mods simply being under a non ip name. Any disicussion foward stating licensing issues is just chopping a steel pole.
we should have the track editor simple as that

Quote from Lekvar012 :

[...] right now we already have quite a few tracks to choose from [...]

IMO a track editor/environment editor could be mainly looked at as a long-term solution to continuously entice people in to LFS. Thousands upon thousands of people pickup sim racing, but only a fraction of that use LFS. Yes, the new content would fragment the existing users somewhat, but surely those who love(d) LFS in the past may be enticed as well, hopefully increasing the daily users.

Quote from rog_nilsson :

Is´nt a "good middle way" to add more stuff to our autocross editor?

Quote from michal 1279 :

Better solution would be to make procedural objects - that way we could keep the object count low while maintaining same/better geometries. [...] This would be amazing but would come at a great cost, as it would require a complete redesign of the layout editor system which is now at the limit of what can be stored in data packets...

Whilst I think improving the layout editor would be a good thing, would the time Scawen spends on it have the same sort of impact as a track/environment editor? Maybe a track editor would be rather constrained, letting you select your own track layout (straights, corners, chicanes, elevation changes etc.) enclosed within a limited area. If something like that could be linked to the layout editor we could all start off with a layout square-like place and build up our tracks. However, the environment editor is more challenging as it would be open world (think rally stages, touges, cities etc.). Maybe only Scawen knows whether a user-made system like that can even be implemented into LFS at all, which raises the question whether the track editor tool that he made for Eric can be brushed up and released to the public?

Considering all that's been going on lately, I don't think we can expect anything of the sort any time soon. As Pukky said, there are some great ideas being shared here.

Quote from rane_nbg :

I wonder what will happen once it has no sources availabe that are written by humans.

Well, the scary part is it wouldn't know what's written by AI or humans. The ChatGPT response I posted would be picked up and would be sourced to other AI software. Imagine all the 'bots' in various platforms and all the misinformation they are programmed to spew? Then again, that's not unlike the garbage/misinformation that some humans constantly come up with.

Quote from Pukyy :

If the object limit alone was raised, a huge increase in track quality would...

Better solution would be to make procedural objects - that way we could keep the object count low while maintaining same/better geometries. Imagine if while making long straight instead of bunch of 16m long walls you could place single wall at whatever length you want. Or make a curve, which with the normal way would take dozen of short walls, with single smooth wall at desired radius.
This would be amazing but would come at a great cost, as it would require a complete redesign of the layout editor system which is now at the limit of what can be stored in data packets...

Is´nt a "good middle way" to add more stuff to our autocross editor? Smooth cerbs. Smooth slabs with possibility to have asphalt, grass och gravel. Making full use of the LA. some awesome tracks already made but so much possibilities if getting some more tuning to autocross editor.

Food for thought; this is what ChatGPT has to say...

Quote :

The lack of official track modding in Live for Speed (LFS) has been a point of discussion among the community for a long time. There are a few reasons why track modding hasn't been implemented:

Developer Vision: The developers of LFS have a clear vision for the game, and they've prioritized realism and quality control. By limiting track creation to the official team, they can ensure that every track meets their high standards for physics, visuals, and gameplay balance. This control helps maintain a consistent experience for all players.

Technical Constraints: Implementing track modding would require a robust set of tools for users to create and modify tracks, which would be complex and time-consuming to develop. It would also introduce potential issues with performance, compatibility, and game stability, which the developers might prefer to avoid.

Focus on Physics and Gameplay: LFS has always been known for its realistic driving physics, and the developers might be concerned that user-created tracks could undermine this realism if not designed with the same attention to detail. Maintaining the integrity of the driving experience could be a reason for avoiding track modding.

Community Fragmentation: Allowing track modding could lead to a fragmented player base, where some players are using modded tracks and others are not. This could make it harder to find races and reduce the sense of a unified community.

Do you agree with these points? Do you think the essence of LFS could be lost with the release of a track editor?

I agree that it would add some immersion. However, I'm not sure if it's possible to set steering wheel rotation angle in the editor independently of the actual wheel lock angle. In that case, implementation would require quite a lot of re-work. Someone with more exp in editor pls comment.

Additionally, I see a potential problem with driver hands animation. Extending the range would also need some re-work in the available points for hand positions. Truckers usually have a small handle to help them to do many rotations using single hand, so that would also have to be taken care of somehow I guess.

All in all, a lot of work for devs and modders If they're up for it, I'll gladly accept it, but chances of seeing this improvement are slim at the moment.

I just figured it out. It can only paste into image editor software...

Thx for the answers, my mod has been published now.

1 & 4 - Scawen has stated that the editor displays the car as it would be in the new (development) version of LFS and not the current (public) version so best to leave roughness at 0 for now
2 - If you have set a page in the editor as type 'skin' and have corresponding cutouts and mappings this should work
3 - I think this applies to whole vehicles based on an original LFS car - I think that small components would be OK (eg. original work)

Having a lot of fun with the editor software so far. Since I'm new to (non technical) 3D modeling I have a few questions:

1. Is there a way to make matte chrome textures (like brushed metal) show up in game? It works perfectly in the editor, but not in LFS. Seems to affect all cutouts with a "roughness" setting >0...

2. If I want to create a custom skin, I click "generate skin template" and the editor says "copied to clipboard". This means I can paste whatever has been copied anywhere, right? For some reason, my system can't. Am I missing something?

3. If I use parts of existing (original) LFS vehicles in my own creation and modify them, does that mean I need the "LFS vehicle license"? I'm talking about seats, steering wheels, switches, etc.

4. My headlights look bright enough in the editor, but in game the bright white looks more like a dark grey. I noticed that many mods have that problem, but none of the original cars. Is this because I placed a layer of tinted glass (S_windows ALP) in front of the lights?

Have fun! If you need help, you can check out the LFS Editor manual section: https://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/LFS_Editor

Hello can someone help me?
I downloaded the editor for mess around but, when i try to unlock it whit my name and password it give me this message.

Any tip are welcome, se ya boys!

I know it's weird that I'm drawing from the editor. But I'm very used to this editor. scawen has developed a nice program to create a perfect model. More software can be added for slightly more detailed models. Anyway, I started building the car at 00:00 yesterday. I used too much poly in this model. I'll finish the front part first, then move on to the back.

Made an interior. I wanted to get some more light into the cockpit, so the seats are not separated anymore. I chose to show lots of carbon fiber and aluminium. The middle tunnel is a bit to narrow for an AWD car, but I ran out of space. For now the steering wheel and seat are placeholders.

Is there any way to make dull chrome mappings actually visible in game? In the editor the chrome texture looks perfect but in the game it just shows up as black.


Anyway, I think it's ready for testing!

Parent-child feature in editor, when putting an object under another (not move up or down in list, just into parent object in hierarchy). For example, a pop up light mechanism, which has multiple different parts doing different things when opening. Parent will rotate and rotate the child object under it too, while child object is rotating or moving elsewhere. It could unlock more possibilities about pop ups or other mechanisms.

Unnecessary heated up discussions,however - such suggestion is very far away from being unique.
For those not following forum discussions often - Scawen did not rule out user created tracks in future,however he said LFS track editor is not suited for public use and he does not intend to update it for that in nearest future. Most can assume if it happens,then after the big tyre/lighting/1000Hz update,but this is just an assumption.

Toyota is up for review!

Ford Puma and Renault Megane is complete and ready to be uploaded next. Hyundai I20 in the editor soon. Only missing Citroen and Hoonigan Focus. from complete season-2 upload.

If you move around some smoothing groups in the lfs editor it should look a lot better.

Yes, it is not perfect, nor did I claim that it would be perfect.
I took the 0-255 range and converted it to 10-160 range.

If you have a better understanding of all the colors, please contact me, and I'll add you as an editor to the sheet so you can make the color codes correct.

Hi everyone,

I have been very busy on a huge QoL update. Updates on almost all aspects of the mod have occurred. This sprint took two months to complete.

The car is almost ready to get out of WIP. What remains is getting a proper LOD2 done and possibly a couple more visual goodies added.

Here's the update log:

- The interior has been completed and is highly detailed.
-> The sport seats, door cards and the steering wheel were from Automation. Polished both heavily. Modeled the door release handle in Blender.
-> Modeled in a T-Top for all models, done in LFS Editor. This is a selectible config.
-> Overhauled the gauge cluster, almost entirely. Did extensive re-model in LFS-E and Blender. Created gauge dials texture from scratch in paint.net.
-> Full dash rework, heavily remodeled, mostly done in LFS-E. Modeled in roll bars.
-> Fixed any remaining areas of mesh gaps on the inside.

- Overhauled and modeled out the lower rear of the car to show cooling capacity. Modeled two radiator fans, and they spin!

- Sounds adjusted for all cars, they are louder and more engaging.

- Implemented new nice looking door mirrors, from Automation. Added blinkers to them.

- Added wipers from the Automation model.

- Front wheel size increased for GT and GT-Turbo.

- All models Caster value was dropped back a bit. FFB was far too heavy and this helps with the issue.

- All models had engines tuned to feel a bit heavier and have more inertia. All models had the engines tuned for more noticable top-end.
-> XNS and GT-Turbo have had more power added in. The XNS lower on to help bolster its small displacement, and the GT-Turbo got a turbo upgrade.

- Frame edited to fix the front having more weight than the rear. This was unrealistic and needed fixing, now all models approach 50/50 distribution.

===

Enjoy some progress shots! These are in order from oldest to most recent.

Hello good evening, I need your help.
We are wanting to create a bodykit for our car that is already made in LFS Editor, and would like to know how to export a car from LFS editor to Blender.

I tried to do this but Blender is not reading .sre format, is there any way to change the file format to obj or even some way to export from LFS Editor to Blender?

Frankly, since my English is not good, I did not try to download an editor and make my own mod.
Volunteer translators can provide language support for the editor.
In this way, better quality mods may emerge. If developers are not considering this right now, they may reconsider their decision.

While I think it would be helpful for the editor users, it doesn't seem feasible at this point because it would take a lot of time for Scawen to extract every string of text into a translatable variable. I remember him answering this to someone else some time ago, but I can't find the original post.