Why some parts of tracks are dark shaded (non editable)

  • Thread starter Bruno Pro
  • 21 comments
  • 1,312 views
214
Canada
Canada
BrunoPro74
Hi to all
Does anyone knows why some parts of the track are dark and they don't allow adding any trees or stands?
First I thought it is when you make some tigh turns. And designer makes it non-editable since there is no space...But then I made a really wide curve in one of my tracks and it was completely dark shaded which means I cannot add anything except curbing.

It's understanding for the initial starting streight where the Course Designer puts the big starting stand. But what about the rest of the track

On the same note: how can you change such a dark shaded part into an editable one?
 
i'm assuming its because there are already trackside objects on these areas?
You are probably right. However I made two versions of the same track and one of them had that big curve completely editable and another one didn't. What bugs me is why is it so random
 
It's a good question, my first thought was I was adding to many control points to form turns, but after experimenting adding only a control point at the start and the end that portion of the track still stays grayed out.

It may be a way that the editor manages memory by randomly shading areas, so that you can only place a certain number of objects depending on the complexity of the track, further testing may sort this out. I created Zandvoort only 3.1 mile long but a lot of turns, a majority of the track is shaded out.
 
It's a good question, my first thought was I was adding to many control points to form turns, but after experimenting adding only a control point at the start and the end that portion of the track still stays grayed out.

It may be a way that the editor manages memory by randomly shading areas, so that you can only place a certain number of objects depending on the complexity of the track, further testing may sort this out. I created Zandvoort only 3.1 mile long but a lot of turns, a majority of the track is shaded out.
It's an interesting idea. However my first track that I created was 3.11 mile long (exactly 5.0km). By the way I was my Ultra Speedway where I mimicked Red Rock Valley Speedway and most of it was editable.
In longer version of the same track I got the big first curve all shaded off. (Well in this one I went over the boundaries of the underlining image)
But it's not the image neither since in my Suzuka Twin I followed my design (image) precisely and still plenty of the shaded areas.
Maybe it's when you modify a piece of the track a lot?
 
It's an interesting idea. However my first track that I created was 3.11 mile long (exactly 5.0km). By the way I was my Ultra Speedway where I mimicked Red Rock Valley Speedway and most of it was editable.
In longer version of the same track I got the big first curve all shaded off. (Well in this one I went over the boundaries of the underlining image)
But it's not the image neither since in my Suzuka Twin I followed my design (image) precisely and still plenty of the shaded areas.
Maybe it's when you modify a piece of the track a lot?

What I found after testing, if you have "decreased turn radius", the segment will become shaded and not usable because the section is smaller in width, switching those areas back "increase turn radius" if possible will allow track objects to be placed on them again, in some cases maybe just one side.

When I'm creating a track I have been decreasing turn radius due to all the tight corners, what I going to do from now on is after I created the track I'm going to go back through the segments and see what can be increased.

This may not work in all cases if the turns are to tight.
 
Here's my theory...

The tpe is doing something like splines in three dimensions. The terrain has hills and valleys and features/buildings that are there before you start putting down anchors. If the track cuts through a hill because you put anchors in two valleys there's nowhere to drop roadside features. If the ground around the track drops off suddenly because you put anchors on nearby hills with a valley between theres nowhere to drop stuff, as there is no roadside. We might be able to solve this by dropping more anchors to help contour the road to the terrain, but this may also result in dips and crests no good for racing. Sometimes there are already trees and buildings.

Track creation is a ton of guess and check. Be sure to make copies when you get features you like.
 
I was able to verify that adding anchors does enable adding things trackside when I couldn't before.
That is good to know! Once the you add these features does removing the added anchors take the track side features away?
 
Anytime you change the track you should always verify any trackside features you've added. I have things go missing that are nowhere near the area I'm working on.

Using an increased or decreased turning radius may make the adding anchors to add features less efficient.
 
Last edited:
Last night I did couple of tracks and here is what I've discovered:

1. Doing Test Course (from GT2) which is basically one big oval, I made it with just four anchors
So parts of the track are two long straights and two long curves. And surprisingly enough I had only one shaded area and that's the starting streight (which you can never avoid)
2. On the other hand creating Silverstone Bridge GP course I got many shaded areas (mainly around tight corners where I had plenty of anchors. And the long 700m straight, which was only one line was completely editable for scenery
So conclusion would be that having multiple anchors close to each others creates shaded area

Here is if you want to check the above two tracks:
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/brunopro74s-track-wonderland.335331/
 
In the Andalucia theme, big darkened areas usually mean there are trees and trackside objects already there which are not editable but are actually better than the tools you have available. Mine gave me an epic forest similar to the one in the Sierra Rally that I just wouldn't be able to recreate with the limited tools available.
 
Today I learned a trick:
as we (all) know, when constructing tight curves (hairpins/chicanes) it is useful to reduce the radius of the curve to make it narrower/tighter. BUT: this has the side-effect, that it produces those greyed out areas, so you have a narrow curve, but cannot plant anything.
The trick is now: when you are ready with your layout, you can go back and make the radii of the tight curves bigger again (in some cases - when the curve is VERY narrow . this is not possible, but in most cases it works).
The funny thing is now, that after you have enlarged the radii of the curves again, the greyed-out area disappears and you can plant much more objects than before!
 
I found some interesting stuff last night making a track on Eifel (hills)
there seems to be an automatic sand-trap and red/white (soft) barriers placed when I reached a certain corner radius, especially after a straight, so while i was initially annoyed that I could not place other objects there, it actually worked in my favour as it felt a lot more lifelike to the track I was creating.

I also didn;t need to add a dirt bank or trees, as they were part of the existing landscape.

So for a lot of tracks that aren't on Eifel Flat, not being able to place objects isn't that much of a big deal.

I'm still coming to grips with how anchors affect elevation and corner banking, my first effort resulted in an un-driveable jump in the middle of a tight set of esses.
SO I removed an anchor and it smoothed itself out.
(Check out my Baskerville track, click the my Signature)
 
Not being able to place sand traps in Eifel Flat is just another shortcoming of the TPE!
On my one and only track I created I would want some gravel-beds because they would belong there, but TPE doesn't have this feature (yet).
 
You can't place run offs on by yourself, they automatically get put in if you get a sharp enough turn. My Free Speed track for example has a few of them dotted around.
 
There is areas where it's obvious that the track should be shaded such as tight turns or areas that have decreased width, but I have areas on sum of my tracks that have long straights that are at full width that make no since why they are shaded, even trying to add anchors, to no effect, bit of a mystery. These areas clearly have width and the length to place objects.
 
There is areas where it's obvious that the track should be shaded such as tight turns or areas that have decreased width, but I have areas on sum of my tracks that have long straights that are at full width that make no since why they are shaded, even trying to add anchors, to no effect, bit of a mystery. These areas clearly have width and the length to place objects.

Every part of the track inherits its width from the preceding part, no matter If its a straight or a curve.
So if you have a curve with a narrow radius, and this is followed by a 1 km long straight, this straight will get a narrow "radius" also (and yes, I know that a straight doesn't have a "radius", but that's how it is (calledl)).
So the solution to getting rid of the greyed-out areas is:
once you have "finished" your track, go back to the layout and widen (increase) the radii of every segment where possible, even and especially on straights! This will remove the greyed-out areas, but note that it is not possible in ALL areas, but in most cases it solves the problem.
But I think that this was explained already earlier in this thread!
 
Back