Haven't tried this yet, but hopefully when i've finished building my homebrew control unit (with steering/pedal box/shifter and the usual basics on for the 'land wheeled' module - i'll get around to it.
What will be interesting though, to discover, is how well you've executed and avoided the usual 'rookie' errors most attempts incorporate. As with supporting physical throttle controls or braking (where you override the usual control logic to inject new more progressive changes that are proportional but not necessarily linear in change vs effect) it'll be interesting to see how proportional the effect of control input will be, as that will ultimately play a big part in how it 'feels' on physical steering.
But in fairness, it appears you've covered or considered a fair few detailed aspects based on your description and itemised list of features, so there's certain hope of seeing some good execution.
Of course, that's assuming i ever stop trying to be the inherent and obsessive perfectionist and actually test the modules on a game...
Now this is yet another excellent example of what R* could easily have implemented, rather than their sorry excuse for 'what you are driving, or what you last drive' based ambient traffic spawn basis.
Would it have really taken them that much to employ this approach which effectively makes good their poor excuse - not really, but their effort speaks highly of how they were more interested in 'getting it out' than creating something that really shone.
Attention to details, making good what's bad or badly implemented by R*, or simply doing something sorely lacking on every level and is plainly a good useful idea - that's the essence of a good quality mod.
Well, a thanks is due regardless of whether anyone actually wants it - it's the thought that counts, and anyway, someone will use it to learn from or tweak and modify to suit their needs.
Like i say about the microcontroller and web-interface and android interfaces to mods and the vastly overlooked few examples we've had on here - it's not about whether it's literally a mod or inherently game-content/game-ready that decides what's worthy, it's as much about anything that can help someone in the modding arena (and in this case, way beyond that) is worth the effort of uploading and posting.
If you want a challenge - try recreating fully (and i do mean fully, as there's lots of odd features to it that often are overlooked) the venerable overkill piece of post-war hybrid construction :-
If the gunner's positions work correctly, and guns appropriately, that would indeed make a visually good recreation complete - especially with the correct engine and exhaust note and drone (Merlin engines had a distinctive tone, as did the different prop/screws used on different Merlin equipped aircraft and boats and a very distinctive exhaust note with the obliglitory knack of shooting a jet of flame if the engine backfired).
Personally, though, i would have thought a B-17 or B-29 or a Liberator would have been more in keeping of an historic warbird bomber to be found in a virtual American airfield/airport.
In the same way where a Spitfire, Hurricane or Typhoon would more likely be replaced by A P51 variant (for Spit/Hurricane), or something like a ThunderBolt or Wildcat in the setting.
Just seems a bit at odds with the setting, a Lancaster.
@krissboo - Well, that was one of the things that you could get away with on the w/cooled VW's as much as with the Type 1/2's, if you could find a way to fit it and preferably could pull a complete assembly to transplant, you could indeed do some pretty unusual stuff in the street sleeper department as much as with an outright hotrod.
In the UK, Ford's were the most commonly modded stuff (a simple street sleeper mod, on the RWD stuff, was to transplant the entire driveline of a 2.0/2.3/2.8/3.0 ford into a smaller engined same series car and that was worst case scenario - there were some good examples in the Leyland stuff too, the best being some of the Mini and Minor street sleepers and 'rods, and the MGB and Roadster/Midget/Spridget were interesting candidates that had their fair share of street sleeper conversions).
But in my experience, the German motors were far better a hunting ground to work from, because even their 'built to a price' stuff was way better engineered - having track and street-raced in a Merc Cosworth 190, in homologation street spec and full-bore factory race car setups, there was no doubt about the fact there was some pretty serious engineering under the hood.
And let's not forget, especially with Type 1's, they are still the best learning curve to relearn what you need to for eventually 911 (original or reborn) ownership. And, FWD aside, some of the factory street sleeper VW's are good learning ground for learning what a solid well-stressed over-engineered car feels like (at the lower end of the german brands).
Haven't tested it, but happy to see the whole head tracked vision thing hasn't died a GTA Mod death due to the earlier attempts requiring expensive and obscure hardware.
All i will remind those who are largely critical of it, because it has rough edges and the odd flaw no doubt, is that good head tracking using one camera source isn't anything like ideal a way of achieving it, so any half-way usable starting point of a HT mod in progress using one camera that achieves some function at this stage isn't a bad attempt.
Remember, extrapolating movement in a 3D space, from one 2D image and using motion sensing (from imagery frame differences, not sensors) is nowhere near as easy as some 'EZ' software products claiming to do make it look, so an amateur effort that's trying to win at some level, deserves recognition and if nothing else, it adds to the examples of what FaceTrackNoIR can potentially do.
Not bad at all, as it goes. Definately prefer the non-custom/modded look though, as back in the day, most examples of a Scirocco you'd see were either non-modded, or street-sleepers (very much like the non-GTI sportier Golf's and MK1 Golf's were in the UK). The version that replaces the Type 53, which i think was the last variant (the one that had the Storm edition if my dodgy memory isn't going more swiss cheese), that's worth adding as a less common one. That said, neither of the two mentioned were overly common over here in the UK - the Passat was more common for the bigger Golf-based variant, as much the far later Bora was far less common than the Golf of the same era as the Bora that the Bora shared underpinnings with.
That said, if you want to build a Bora model, you've got two bases of images to work from, the actual Bora or the later Skoda (VW-Owned Skoda) saloon that was essentially a styling and branding variant of the defunct Bora.
Two things i often hear about the Scirocco and Bora, that they aren't 'fast' cars like the Golf GTI's were of each era respectively - but that's usually by people who've never strung out the 'underdog' VW's. You certainly didn't need a GTI, any 1.8 VW was a pretty sharp instrument (and i saw that, not being a fan of FWD motors - but hold those particular ones in high regard, like the Peugot 205 and 405 before than got fat and bloated later in their lives).
If the Scirocco had been RWD, it would have literally been an example of what the Ford Capri was supposed to have been, but i guess it would have become a victim of being far too common and wouldn't be quite as memorable, so maybe it's relative scarcity was a good thing for sentimental reasons.
Oh hell, so there's a few detail flaws - i've seen way worse on others that the 'great and godlike' modders have produced. So given the effort to recreate the details and try to make it really look something close to RR/Bentley standout quality (small quirks aside), i figure this one speaks for itself - and it's got nothing to be ashamed about and should exist with pride, and likewise the creator should consider this a brilliant reason to keep the faith and put the same level of attention and effort into every example that inspires enough to be built in code.
It puts everything T2I made for the stock game to shame, and if this kinda inspired effort was encouraged by T2I and everyone else (and ditto the encouragement to all the overlooked, but excellence fuelled, creators), GTA could have it's future incarnations have really excellent vehicle models (even if they have to doctored to avoid legal issues) and T2I needn't look any further than the talent that exists within the cream of the crop of the content developers in the modding community.
@CSYON Well, anything solid that makes life easier for those who want to mess with modded car packs or modded vehicle data can't be a bad thing - and hell, it interested you enough to build something interesting to those who often find adding modded vehicle content akin to having a wisdom tooth removed by a jackhammer, so in the light of success or failure in how it may have potentially been received (you got a good reception to it thankfully) - it must have been worth the effort in many ways.
*is shocked by the silence of the strangely absent irrational haters who seem to have overlooked this one*
5mods on Discord
Haven't tried this yet, but hopefully when i've finished building my homebrew control unit (with steering/pedal box/shifter and the usual basics on for the 'land wheeled' module - i'll get around to it.
What will be interesting though, to discover, is how well you've executed and avoided the usual 'rookie' errors most attempts incorporate. As with supporting physical throttle controls or braking (where you override the usual control logic to inject new more progressive changes that are proportional but not necessarily linear in change vs effect) it'll be interesting to see how proportional the effect of control input will be, as that will ultimately play a big part in how it 'feels' on physical steering.
But in fairness, it appears you've covered or considered a fair few detailed aspects based on your description and itemised list of features, so there's certain hope of seeing some good execution.
Of course, that's assuming i ever stop trying to be the inherent and obsessive perfectionist and actually test the modules on a game...
Now this is yet another excellent example of what R* could easily have implemented, rather than their sorry excuse for 'what you are driving, or what you last drive' based ambient traffic spawn basis.
Would it have really taken them that much to employ this approach which effectively makes good their poor excuse - not really, but their effort speaks highly of how they were more interested in 'getting it out' than creating something that really shone.
Attention to details, making good what's bad or badly implemented by R*, or simply doing something sorely lacking on every level and is plainly a good useful idea - that's the essence of a good quality mod.
So the 'quality' of this one speaks for itself.
Well, a thanks is due regardless of whether anyone actually wants it - it's the thought that counts, and anyway, someone will use it to learn from or tweak and modify to suit their needs.
Like i say about the microcontroller and web-interface and android interfaces to mods and the vastly overlooked few examples we've had on here - it's not about whether it's literally a mod or inherently game-content/game-ready that decides what's worthy, it's as much about anything that can help someone in the modding arena (and in this case, way beyond that) is worth the effort of uploading and posting.
If you want a challenge - try recreating fully (and i do mean fully, as there's lots of odd features to it that often are overlooked) the venerable overkill piece of post-war hybrid construction :-
Convair B-36 Peacemaker or a B-47 or B-52.
If the gunner's positions work correctly, and guns appropriately, that would indeed make a visually good recreation complete - especially with the correct engine and exhaust note and drone (Merlin engines had a distinctive tone, as did the different prop/screws used on different Merlin equipped aircraft and boats and a very distinctive exhaust note with the obliglitory knack of shooting a jet of flame if the engine backfired).
Personally, though, i would have thought a B-17 or B-29 or a Liberator would have been more in keeping of an historic warbird bomber to be found in a virtual American airfield/airport.
In the same way where a Spitfire, Hurricane or Typhoon would more likely be replaced by A P51 variant (for Spit/Hurricane), or something like a ThunderBolt or Wildcat in the setting.
Just seems a bit at odds with the setting, a Lancaster.
@krissboo - Well, that was one of the things that you could get away with on the w/cooled VW's as much as with the Type 1/2's, if you could find a way to fit it and preferably could pull a complete assembly to transplant, you could indeed do some pretty unusual stuff in the street sleeper department as much as with an outright hotrod.
In the UK, Ford's were the most commonly modded stuff (a simple street sleeper mod, on the RWD stuff, was to transplant the entire driveline of a 2.0/2.3/2.8/3.0 ford into a smaller engined same series car and that was worst case scenario - there were some good examples in the Leyland stuff too, the best being some of the Mini and Minor street sleepers and 'rods, and the MGB and Roadster/Midget/Spridget were interesting candidates that had their fair share of street sleeper conversions).
But in my experience, the German motors were far better a hunting ground to work from, because even their 'built to a price' stuff was way better engineered - having track and street-raced in a Merc Cosworth 190, in homologation street spec and full-bore factory race car setups, there was no doubt about the fact there was some pretty serious engineering under the hood.
And let's not forget, especially with Type 1's, they are still the best learning curve to relearn what you need to for eventually 911 (original or reborn) ownership. And, FWD aside, some of the factory street sleeper VW's are good learning ground for learning what a solid well-stressed over-engineered car feels like (at the lower end of the german brands).
Haven't tested it, but happy to see the whole head tracked vision thing hasn't died a GTA Mod death due to the earlier attempts requiring expensive and obscure hardware.
All i will remind those who are largely critical of it, because it has rough edges and the odd flaw no doubt, is that good head tracking using one camera source isn't anything like ideal a way of achieving it, so any half-way usable starting point of a HT mod in progress using one camera that achieves some function at this stage isn't a bad attempt.
Remember, extrapolating movement in a 3D space, from one 2D image and using motion sensing (from imagery frame differences, not sensors) is nowhere near as easy as some 'EZ' software products claiming to do make it look, so an amateur effort that's trying to win at some level, deserves recognition and if nothing else, it adds to the examples of what FaceTrackNoIR can potentially do.
Not bad at all, as it goes. Definately prefer the non-custom/modded look though, as back in the day, most examples of a Scirocco you'd see were either non-modded, or street-sleepers (very much like the non-GTI sportier Golf's and MK1 Golf's were in the UK). The version that replaces the Type 53, which i think was the last variant (the one that had the Storm edition if my dodgy memory isn't going more swiss cheese), that's worth adding as a less common one. That said, neither of the two mentioned were overly common over here in the UK - the Passat was more common for the bigger Golf-based variant, as much the far later Bora was far less common than the Golf of the same era as the Bora that the Bora shared underpinnings with.
That said, if you want to build a Bora model, you've got two bases of images to work from, the actual Bora or the later Skoda (VW-Owned Skoda) saloon that was essentially a styling and branding variant of the defunct Bora.
Two things i often hear about the Scirocco and Bora, that they aren't 'fast' cars like the Golf GTI's were of each era respectively - but that's usually by people who've never strung out the 'underdog' VW's. You certainly didn't need a GTI, any 1.8 VW was a pretty sharp instrument (and i saw that, not being a fan of FWD motors - but hold those particular ones in high regard, like the Peugot 205 and 405 before than got fat and bloated later in their lives).
If the Scirocco had been RWD, it would have literally been an example of what the Ford Capri was supposed to have been, but i guess it would have become a victim of being far too common and wouldn't be quite as memorable, so maybe it's relative scarcity was a good thing for sentimental reasons.
Oh hell, so there's a few detail flaws - i've seen way worse on others that the 'great and godlike' modders have produced. So given the effort to recreate the details and try to make it really look something close to RR/Bentley standout quality (small quirks aside), i figure this one speaks for itself - and it's got nothing to be ashamed about and should exist with pride, and likewise the creator should consider this a brilliant reason to keep the faith and put the same level of attention and effort into every example that inspires enough to be built in code.
It puts everything T2I made for the stock game to shame, and if this kinda inspired effort was encouraged by T2I and everyone else (and ditto the encouragement to all the overlooked, but excellence fuelled, creators), GTA could have it's future incarnations have really excellent vehicle models (even if they have to doctored to avoid legal issues) and T2I needn't look any further than the talent that exists within the cream of the crop of the content developers in the modding community.
But hey, pigs will fly before that happens....
@CSYON Well, anything solid that makes life easier for those who want to mess with modded car packs or modded vehicle data can't be a bad thing - and hell, it interested you enough to build something interesting to those who often find adding modded vehicle content akin to having a wisdom tooth removed by a jackhammer, so in the light of success or failure in how it may have potentially been received (you got a good reception to it thankfully) - it must have been worth the effort in many ways.
*is shocked by the silence of the strangely absent irrational haters who seem to have overlooked this one*