In DTRSC, this feature was most commonly used to create unique skins
(paint jobs) for vehicles. We anticipate that this trend will continue
in DTR2. The steps for creating your own skins are set out below.
First, you will need to unpack the original data files. Begin by
copying them all to a directory. From a command prompt:
C:
cd\
md dtr2_test
cd dtr2_test
copy D:\Data\data.pf
copy D:\Data\min.pf
copy D:\Data\store.pf
In the above, D: is your CDROM drive. Make sure you have enough space
on your C: drive (or whichever drive you use) first. The above commands
copy the data files from the DTR2 CD - you could instead copy them
from the installation directory on your hard drive. Note that store.pf
on the CD will be in the original condition, whereas store.pf on your
hard drive will be modified with your preferences and other data.
Now to unpack the data files. Since the data is spread across all 3 of
the .pf files, you need to unpack all 3 to get a complete set of data.
Unpacking the files will take up roughly the same amount of disk space
as the original packed files, so make sure you have enough disk space
for this before continuing. First copy the ExtractPF.exe utility into
your working directory:
copy "C:\Games\Infogrames\Dirt Track Racing 2\mods\ExtractPF.exe"
Here "C:\Games\Infogrames\Dirt Track Racing 2\" is your game directory.
Now run it:
extractpf data.pf
extractpf min.pf
extractpf store.pf
(This will take some time).
The easiest way to create any new entity in DTR2 is to copy one from
the existing data, then modify it. All of the original DTR2 skins
will now be in the C:\dtr2_test\data\skins\ directory, each in their
own subdirectory. Select one you'd like to modify (eg "LMCamaro1").
Create a "skins" subdirectory in your data directory (e. g.
C:\Games\Infogrames\Dirt Track Racing 2\data\skins\), then copy the whole
"LMCamaro1" directory in there. All skins must be in a different
directory, therefore your own "LMCamaro1" directory will be ignored
unless you change its name. Change it to something unique like
"my own car".
Now go into the "my own car" directory, and open the skin.str file. It
is just a text file, so use notepad. Look for the section of this file
which looks something like:
[display names]
english = Titanium
Change the name under which you would like your new skin to appear in
the game interface, eg:
[display names]
english = My Modified Titanium
Now go into the "textures" subdirectory. This directory contains files
called "512texture.tga" and "256texture.tga". These are image files
which are used as the paintwork for the car, which you can modify using
a paint program. "256texture.tga" is used for the car paintwork in most
cases, but if you have "High Res Textures" turned on in the game's video
options, then "512texture.tga" will be loaded for the player car. If
you want, you can delete one of these files, and then the game will
always use the other one.
Once you have done all of this, you should be able to run DTR2 and have
the new car skin appear for you to select, and race with.
The "textures" subdirectory also may contain a file called "alpha.tga"
for some car skins. Modifying this file will allow you to change the
colour and transparency of the parts of the cars that are partially
transparent. If the file is not present for a skin, a default will be
used if needed.
