TheAdmiester's Forza Motorsport 4 Tweaks

[TheAdmiester]

Disclaimer: This only works on a modded console. To keep things GTP-friendly, I won't be explaining how any of this is done, so this thread simply serves as a showcase and discussion.

Not sure how many people are still interested in FM4 around here, but for those who might be, welcome!

I've recently had a surge of interest in FM4 after learning a lot more about database design and SQL from my current job. I've been able to automate a lot of things that previously were a lot of manual work, which makes me more motivated to do more with this game.

Here's a quick showcase of some of my work so far, mostly simple stuff that adds on to the game or corrects things.

- Moved the oddly-assigned Midnight Purple from the R32 GTR to the R33:



- Enabled full detail (from Time Attack) car models in gameplay (framerate chugs a bit with 12 on screen but not enough to annoy me):


- Added some manufacturer rims to the store - primarily those without the manufacturer logo, and a couple that do for purposes of swapping within that manufacturer (e.g. M5 rims on a M3):


- Ported the Xanavi NISMO livery that went AWOL after FM3 to the Calsonic car:


- Added a whole host of VAG engine swaps to most of the VAG cars - typically stuff that roughly makes sense, so nothing like a W12 in a Golf. I4s, V5s and VR6s in the smaller stuff, those + V8s in the bigger stuff, and the V10s (FSI and TDI) and V12 TDI for the huge stuff:


And currently working on:
- Porting some engines from FH3 to cars that make sense (M2 engine for the straight 6-having BMWs, GTR LM engine for the Skylines, etc). Also featuring the Jensen Interceptor's engine since the car never materialised:


Feel free to post stuff for inspiration or discuss.

 

[TheAdmiester]

And a separate post for a couple of audio bits.

First up: the Aygo/C1/107 always irked me slightly in this game - they're all 68hp 1.0 engines, which means they're the 3 cylinder Toyota 1KR-FE as opposed to the 4 cylinder diesel they had available. Despite this, they use a 4 cylinder sound in game, the Honda Prelude's to be precise.

The problem is that there isn't a single 3 cylinder sound recording in the game. The solution? Well, going by the theory that a 3 cylinder is basically half a V6, I took the NSX's sample and gave it a lower audio redline:

I'll let you google for how the real thing sounds to avoid cluttering this space even more - but I think it's a damn sight closer to the real sound than a Prelude is.

The other was that, being a bit of a Mini fanatic, I felt the R53's supercharger wasn't really audible enough, so I boosted that as well:

Might be a little bit overdone, but it can always be adjusted.

Right now I'm working on making the FH3-ported engines sound a bit more unique compared to their FM4 neighbours.

 

[turk1993]

can you use the forzavista car models in game? and if yes can you post the pagani cinque and the ferrari italie please in game or forzavista mode with engine shots and body shots from different angels. I just whant to compare them with the current models whe have now, because it think the old forzavista models in FM4 are much much higher quality and have more details than the current autovista models.

 

[TheAdmiester]

can you use the forzavista car models in game? and if yes can you post the pagani cinque and the ferrari italie please in game or forzavista mode with engine shots and body shots from different angels. I just whant to compare them with the current models whe have now, because it think the old forzavista models in FM4 are much much higher quality and have more details than the current autovista models.

Doesn't look like it can load them in race.

This is the highest I can load in game, which also breaks the car shadows:


But in Autovista it looks like this:

 

[turk1993]

Doesn't look like it can load them in race.

This is the highest I can load in game, which also breaks the car shadows:
View attachment 901665

But in Autovista it looks like this:
View attachment 901666

Yup like i thought, and the engine is more detailed in Forza Motorsport 4 in autovista than the one in Forza Motorsport 7 in forzavista mode. It has more polygons and overall more detail, so that was the model they used in the ray tracing demo in 2011.

Can you also post some interior shots please, cuz i think there are also lots of details missing in the newer Forza's.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Yup like i thought, and the engine is more detailed in Forza Motorsport 4 in autovista than the one in Forza Motorsport 7 in forzavista mode. It has more polygons and overall more detail, so that was the model they used in the ray tracing demo in 2011.

Can you also post some interior shots please, cuz i think there are also lots of details missing in the newer Forza's.

Interesting, I never noticed that. I wonder if it might be a disk space concern? Much higher res textures and higher fidelity audio adds up, and the newer consoles can clearly render the full-fat model from FM4, so that's the only reason I can think of.

Interior shots aren't really feasible right now as I haven't figured out how to fully put the camera inside the car - the best I can do right now is partially clipping through the model like the photomode engine picture above.

 

[turk1993]

Interesting, I never noticed that. I wonder if it might be a disk space concern? Much higher res textures and higher fidelity audio adds up, and the newer consoles can clearly render the full-fat model from FM4, so that's the only reason I can think of.

Interior shots aren't really feasible right now as I haven't figured out how to fully put the camera inside the car - the best I can do right now is partially clipping through the model like the photomode engine picture above.

If i can see the details of those parts of the interior and the back light its enough for me

Sorry if im asking too much

 

[TheAdmiester]

I don't mind the requests, but it's not quite the aim of the thread so I'll DM you the pictures you're after at some point tomorrow.

Scaled down the road specular on the Alps, which I never liked. Originally it was almost whited out when you were facing the sun, with very little detail or bumps to it:

Now:

 

[SimTourist]

It has more polygons and overall more detail, so that was the model they used in the ray tracing demo in 2011.

It wasn't a demo, it was just some ******** offline rendered screenshots with raytracing. I assume you're talking about the E3 2010 demo.

And it's obvious when they demo autovista the car doesn't have selfreflections on the side mirrors.
I assume XSX should be able to apply raytraced reflections and AO in Forzavista when the game is running one car on screen in a static garage at 30 fps. But I wouldn't count on it being applied in actual on track 60 fps gameplay, the console is not gonna be powerful enough for that. But they can apply high res cubemaps and SSR obviously, which is gonna provide better quality than Forza 7 at max setting. I hope they finally ditch the lighting engine from FM 2 and adopt dynamic shadows, it's been long overdue.

 

[turk1993]

It wasn't a demo, it was just some ******** offline rendered screenshots with raytracing. I assume you're talking about the E3 2010 demo.

And it's obvious when they demo autovista the car doesn't have selfreflections on the side mirrors.
I assume XSX should be able to apply raytraced reflections and AO in Forzavista when the game is running one car on screen in a static garage at 30 fps. But I wouldn't count on it being applied in actual on track 60 fps gameplay, the console is not gonna be powerful enough for that. But they can apply high res cubemaps and SSR obviously, which is gonna provide better quality than Forza 7 at max setting. I hope they finally ditch the lighting engine from FM 2 and adopt dynamic shadows, it's been long overdue.

No what i meant was the car model they used for that Ray tracing demo or render whatever was the one from Forza 4 autovista, and in Forza 7 forzavista its a lower quality model than that one. That was my point,because i know they used full ray tracing for shadows, reflections and lighting. But lets not derail Theadmiesters thread

 

[TheAdmiester]

The R33 GT-R LM's engine is a screamer:

 

[turk1993]

The R33 GT-R LM's engine is a screamer:

Is the full version of Rally di Positano still in there or is it the cut down version? And can you change the lighting of the tracks like lets say lighting of Hockenheimring on Fujimi Kaido.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Is the full version of Rally di Positano still in there or is it the cut down version? And can you change the lighting of the tracks like lets say lighting of Hockenheimring on Fujimi Kaido.

Skyboxes can't be swapped as far as I'm aware, only lighting/specular tweaks as with the Alps example further up. No full version of Positano.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Redid the lighting on Sebring a bit.

Reduced the skybox exposure so you can actually see the clouds. Before/After:


And touched up some other bits, such as making the road less glossy and adjusting the ambient so that the car isn't always glowing in the sunlight, meaning the exposure slider in photomode actually has some use:

 

[turk1993]

Redid the lighting on Sebring a bit.

Reduced the skybox exposure so you can actually see the clouds. Before/After:
View attachment 901830 View attachment 901831

And touched up some other bits, such as making the road less glossy and adjusting the ambient so that the car isn't always glowing in the sunlight, meaning the exposure slider in photomode actually has some use:
View attachment 901832

Looks like a HDR comparison
But seriously, why did Turn10 overexpose the sky soo much while haven a nice skybox like in your edited picture. That looks much better than that overexposed sky from the base game.

 

[curtis 1-8-7]

This is looking good, I still play FM4 every now and then as I still find it as a very fun game with a great roster of cars and tracks.

Btw, Is there a way to replace the stock exhaust tip in some cars by modding the files?

 

[TheAdmiester]

This is looking good, I still play FM4 every now and then as I still find it as a very fun game with a great roster of cars and tracks.

Btw, Is there a way to replace the stock exhaust tip in some cars by modding the files?

It's possible, but a lot of manual work. Personally I'm not too interested in it.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Some more restored liveries from FM3.

Honda NSX GT500:

(Some oddities on the ARTA one, like the Bridgestone logo being flipped on the skirts)

Maserati MC12 GT1:


Since these are implemented as manufacturer colours, the AI can actually use them, which adds some nice variety in races.

 

[TheAdmiester]

De-winging the R390 makes a relatively convincing 1997 road car.

 

[GTvsForza]

The '98 is the Longtail, right?

 

[TheAdmiester]

The '98 is the Longtail, right?

Correct.

As far as I’m aware this is the situation with Forza’s R390s:
- The road car is a 1998 long tail which is correct
- The black and red Xanavi car from FM3 is a 1997 short tail
- The pale blue Calsonic car (the one in my pic) in FM4 is a 1997 short tail, but wearing a 1998 livery and listed as 1998 in the game. As far as I know the pale blue livery was never used on a short tail car.

 

[ImaRobot]

Interior shots aren't really feasible right now as I haven't figured out how to fully put the camera inside the car - the best I can do right now is partially clipping through the model like the photomode engine picture above.

I used to know a glitch on track that I believe I wrote up here a loooong time ago. If it's not here though, it might have been lost in FM.net years and years ago which will be even harder to source.

EDIT: I should have read the full reply before posting. Yeah it was only through clipping into the cockpit.

 

[TheAdmiester]

I used to know a glitch on track that I believe I wrote up here a loooong time ago. If it's not here though, it might have been lost in FM.net years and years ago which will be even harder to source.

EDIT: I should have read the full reply before posting. Yeah it was only through clipping into the cockpit.

It's most likely something I can achieve through modding, just haven't figured it out yet. I have greatly reduced the collision bounds to make clipping and close up shots much easier though.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Added a FWD 6 speed conversion for most quattro Audis, and a couple more engines:

I figured these would fit in nicely for the lower end VWs, and as a downgrade for some of the higher ones (2.0FSI and FWD 6 speed in the 2004 Audi S4 is enough for me to pretend it's an A4).

The HP and Torque are sometimes a tiny little bit off because they're calculated and not defined, but it's negligible difference (nobody's gonna notice 99hp versus 101hp!)

 

[phillgt2002]

I used to know a glitch on track that I believe I wrote up here a loooong time ago. If it's not here though, it might have been lost in FM.net years and years ago which will be even harder to source.

EDIT: I should have read the full reply before posting. Yeah it was only through clipping into the cockpit.

It's most likely something I can achieve through modding, just haven't figured it out yet. I have greatly reduced the collision bounds to make clipping and close up shots much easier though.

I know what glitch that's being spoken of, I used to do the glitch to get interior shots, but I can't remember the process.

Man, I feel old... I took these images so long ago.

 

[TheAdmiester]

I know what glitch that's being spoken of, I used to do the glitch to get interior shots, but I can't remember the process.View attachment 903273

View attachment 903274

Man, I feel old... I took these images so long ago.

Nice shots! I'm sure I'll figure it out some time, so not to worry.

I finally got around to adding some turbo engines.
Audi's 2.9 V6TT from the B9 RS4:

Volkswagen's 1.9TDI PD130 from the 2002 A3:

BMW's 2.0TD from the 2004 120d:

Was fairly hard working out initially how turbo engines work, as it turns out it's not stored even remotely like what you'd expect - their torque curves are stored as if they were dynoed without their turbos, then the turbo's stats brings it up to stock HP. As you can imagine it takes a lot of tweaking to get the turbos to add up to the right HP and LBFT, as well as getting the turbo spinning and losing boost at close enough to the right points to keep the torque curve relatively accurate. Thankfully after figuring out a couple the hard way, I can use this knowledge to speed it up a lot for future engines.

This is why some of these engines aren't quite their exact HP and LBFT (although all are within 10 of their real units, which you can probably imagine feels basically identical in game). Thankfully they're 99% correct and still peak at their correct revs, so it's realistic enough for me.

I'm also using some nifty functionality that's unused by pretty much all the base game cars - as you install more powerful turbo upgrades on these engines, the turbos become slightly laggier and might not reach full boost until a later gear.


I'm also using a 4 cylinder petrol noise for the two diesels, with a lower rev ceiling on the sound and some added overdrive. Almost sounds convincing as a diesel, ignoring the lack of idle clatter:


(I hope someone finds these interesting enough to read fully )

 

[TheAdmiester]

Darkened the interior shaders a bit and made them slightly less glossy:

Strangely putting the camera inside the car works just fine in the homespace photo mode, but not in-game.

 

[TheAdmiester]

Thought I'd start making little recordings of some of my engines being tested on Maple Valley. Up first is the 2019 RS4's 2.9L V6 twin turbo being tested in a 2003 RS6:

 

[deththrasher]

Great thread, this really was the best Forza Motorsport package IMO.

 

[curtis 1-8-7]

Is there a way to increase the 2 lap limit in Quick race?