TheAdmiester's Forza Motorsport 4 Tweaks

How could the sound 'references' be edited? I tried QuickBMS-ing the enginetuning.zip/harmonictuning.zip and rezipping the engine tuning with edited/new sound reference files, which didn't work (it either crashes or not have any sound. Or replacement works, but any sound listed after the edited part will break.)

I have also noticed DLC zips being able to 'add' new references. What method did you use to edit some of the mixes (or is it just editing the database to use another car's mix...?)
QuickBMS is fine to extract, but the way you repack them might matter. Were you using 7zip? As I believe it only ever worked when I used Windows' own zip tool (Send to -> Compressed folder)

The DLC method might work but I've never done it myself, only editing and repacking.
 
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QuickBMS is fine to extract, but the way you repack them might matter. Were you using 7zip? As I believe it only ever worked when I used Windows' own zip tool (Send to -> Compressed folder)

The DLC method might work but I've never done it myself, only editing and repacking.
Just attempted editing the Impreza S204's sound mix, and repacking with Windows zip tool, and it refuses to work here unfortunately (only turbo sounds and nothing else haha). File size also gets bigger than the original one.

Not sure if it's just me using an emulator, and with the Project Forza Plus mod something might have changed in the process...?

EDIT: The only time I have managed to at least make the edited car audible, is with one of these 'forza' QuickBMS scripts to repack the contents. I think it replaces an entry with the modified one, but if file size became larger it would break the ones after it...
 
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Just attempted editing the Impreza S204's sound mix, and repacking with Windows zip tool, and it refuses to work here unfortunately (only turbo sounds and nothing else haha). File size also gets bigger than the original one.

Not sure if it's just me using an emulator, and with the Project Forza Plus mod something might have changed in the process...?

EDIT: The only time I have managed to at least make the edited car audible, is with one of these 'forza' QuickBMS scripts to repack the contents. I think it replaces an entry with the modified one, but if file size became larger it would break the ones after it...
Not sure then honestly, Windows zip seemed to just work for me, although I was doing my modding on a real 360.
 
Thanks a lot for this Admiester. Been using it the last few days and it looks great, reminds me a bit of Forza 3. I never understood why Turn 10 changed the colour scheme in Forza 4 from 3 as I thought they'd got it right in 3. I always preferred the colour saturation in 3. I suppose it's personal preference, a friend prefers how 4 looks as he says it looks more realistic.
You definitely gain sky detail in your mod due to the improved exposure, but the the only quirk I have noticed is a slight loss of detail on some car's tail lights when the brake lights are on. Here are some comparison pics I took using an R34 Mine's Skyline at the same point on Road America in each pic:

Forza Motorport 4


Forza Motorport 4 - TheAdmiester mod


Forza Motorsport 3
 
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Thanks a lot for this Admiester. Been using it the last few days and it looks great, reminds me a bit of Forza 3. I never understood why Turn 10 changed the colour scheme in Forza 4 from 3 as I thought they'd got it right in 3. I always preferred the colour saturation in 3. I suppose it's personal preference, a friend prefers how 4 looks as he says it looks more realistic.
You definitely gain sky detail in your mod due to the improved exposure, but the the only quirk I have noticed is a slight loss of detail on some car's tail lights when the brake lights are on. Here are some comparison pics I took using an R34 Mine's Skyline at the same point on Road America in each pic:

Forza Motorport 4


Forza Motorport 4 - TheAdmiester mod


Forza Motorsport 3
The same, I love the initiative to be able to change this. This fixes exposure problems in the game, afterward I find that the game has too warm a color for me. (Personal preference)I would have just increased the original colors a little, but really minimally, without distorting the game too much, when I play Road America or nurb GP ect.I have the impression of suffering with the cars because it looks so hot. At first I thought I had set the console settings to advanced color, but actually no.
It's a Very Hot Summer FM4 patch ^^

and looking forward to having the sound patches and other future projects he has to offer us!^^
 
@TheAdmiester I've noticed the Mugello Autodromo Internazionale track is missing from your mod. I also noticed you've got something in there called 'PhysicsTrack'. What is thisas it's not in my 'track' folder? I've checked both my FM4 discs (regular and GOTY) and the title updates and I can't find it exists anywhere other than your content container. Cheers.
 
The same, I love the initiative to be able to change this. This fixes exposure problems in the game, afterward I find that the game has too warm a color for me. (Personal preference)I would have just increased the original colors a little, but really minimally, without distorting the game too much, when I play Road America or nurb GP ect.I have the impression of suffering with the cars because it looks so hot. At first I thought I had set the console settings to advanced color, but actually no.
It's a Very Hot Summer FM4 patch ^^

and looking forward to having the sound patches and other future projects he has to offer us!^^
Haha 'Very Hot Summer FM4' patch, not a bad name. Using Admiester's mod has made me realise just how excessive the light is in the original game, particularly noticeable on the the scenery, and more specifically hills and mountains in the distance. Admiester's mod has inspired me to start poking around in the original files, and in doing so has made it very apparent the enormous amount of work he's put into it. You can change literally everything, and up to six decimal places.
I left the RGB colour ratios as-is and decided to concentrate more on the excessive in-game light and washed out skies, but tried to keep the changes subtle so the game still looks like itself. I've made some changes and think I've got a nice balance (to my eyes anyway).
Have a look at the following screenshots I took on the Bernese Alps circuit in a Porsche 959.
In the first 2 comparison pics you can see the over-exposure in the original causing the scenery to get washed out and loss of greenery in the hills. Also look at the pylon furthest away, it's barely visible, yet it's only about a 150 metres away. Now look at it in the other pic after I modded the track, it's much clearer, as it should be for a largish structure relatively close. The Pylon closest in the original also has heavy shadows causing it to lose detail. Look at it in the modded version, detail is better and it looks more realistic. The sky is exposure looks better too:
Original Alps hill1:

Modded Alps hill1:


Again here, you can now clearly see greenery in the distant hills in the modded version. Additionally, the pylon which is just around the bend at the bottom of the hill is barely visible in the original because it's getting absorbed by the excessive light generated on the scenery behind it, but now clearly visible in my modded version:
Original Alps hill2:

Modded Alps hill2:


Here the hill in front of you is not a million miles away, yet you can barely see any green in it. The modded version restores this, plus the sky doesn't look washed out now and cloud definition is better.
Original Alps corner2:

Modded Alps corner2:


Here in the original, due the the over-exposure, it kinds looks like two pictures spliced together. The foreground super-imposed onto a very bright background with mountains. In the modded version it looks more like one scene, whilst still retaining a sense of distance. Look also at the cable car structure to the left in the original. It's not very well defined, yet it's only around the corner (you actually drive under it). In my modded, it looks a lot clearer and the cables are much more visible.
Original Alps corner1:

Modded Alps corner1:


Thanks Admiester, I never knew it was possible to mod this, otherwise I probably would have had a look years ago as I remember when I first played FM4 and immediately noticed just how different it was in colour and exposure compared to FM3.
 
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@TheAdmiester I've noticed the Mugello Autodromo Internazionale track is missing from your mod. I also noticed you've got something in there called 'PhysicsTrack'. What is thisas it's not in my 'track' folder? I've checked both my FM4 discs (regular and GOTY) and the title updates and I can't find it exists anywhere other than your content container. Cheers.
Yep, someone else reported Mugello being missing as well, and after that I noticed some layouts of other tracks were missing. I've actually found a way better system to achieve the same lighting overrides, so I'll be fixing all of the things listed (and a few further lighting tweaks because of me getting better at it) with an update coming soonish.

PhysicsTrack is the internal name for the Benchmark High Speed Ring, it's technically part of a DLC so you won't see it on disc.
1708266140624.png
 
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Yep, someone else reported Mugello being missing as well, and after that I noticed some layouts of other tracks were missing. I've actually found a way better system to achieve the same lighting overrides, so I'll be fixing all of the things listed (and a few further lighting tweaks because of me getting better at it) with an update coming soonish.

PhysicsTrack is the internal name for the Benchmark High Speed Ring, it's technically part of a DLC so you won't see it on disc.
View attachment 1329168

Thanks Admiester, yeah I found it now in the Launch Track Pack DLC. I noticed the Football track in there too with it's own set of track settings.
Looking forward to your update, cheers.
 
Revisting FM4 with a lot more experience feels like it's opened up a new world of opportunities. I've managed to make an editor for the string tables which means I can insert all kinds of flavour text, chassis numbers in cars' names, and so on...
1709300291237.png


1709300350874.png


And now, as it turns out, the race design/data is so flexible that I can add entirely new events with their own graphics, opponents, and rule sets. Since FM4 has the Top Gear Test Track and I made a new layout with the cones removed, I thought it was only right so add in some nods:
1709300421003.jpeg

1709300428331.jpeg


And then it turned out that FM4's career mode even has support for time trials and drift trials, even though neither of these are used in the base game. I've yet to set up a drift trial, but I may have already made use of the time trials...
1709300481179.png

1709300490129.jpeg

I've actually got an event set up for the Liana and the cee'd (both mandate a stock-only car for fairness), with the times being set based on the "Opponent Difficulty" value - each one has a gradually faster real celebrity time set.
 
Revisting FM4 with a lot more experience feels like it's opened up a new world of opportunities. I've managed to make an editor for the string tables which means I can insert all kinds of flavour text, chassis numbers in cars' names, and so on...
View attachment 1332951

View attachment 1332952

And now, as it turns out, the race design/data is so flexible that I can add entirely new events with their own graphics, opponents, and rule sets. Since FM4 has the Top Gear Test Track and I made a new layout with the cones removed, I thought it was only right so add in some nods:
View attachment 1332953
View attachment 1332954

And then it turned out that FM4's career mode even has support for time trials and drift trials, even though neither of these are used in the base game. I've yet to set up a drift trial, but I may have already made use of the time trials...
View attachment 1332955
View attachment 1332956
I've actually got an event set up for the Liana and the cee'd (both mandate a stock-only car for fairness), with the times being set based on the "Opponent Difficulty" value - each one has a gradually faster real celebrity time set.
This is excellent Admiester. I've never delved much beyond a bit of car editing in the 'gamedb.slt' in SQLiteStudio and more recently track settings, but this is another level, especially completely customisable new events. Very nice stuff.
 
@TheAdmiester Any chance you'd be willing to share that editor? I've been trying to figure out the strings myself for events using ImHex and I'm at a loss.

E.G the gamedb.slt will list an event with a name as "_&202756654" but I can't find that string in the Events.str using ImHex. Not really sure where I'm going wrong.

Edit: Nevermind, I just stumbled across your twitter post with the link to the tool. Thank you so much!!
 
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