Best posts made by chang63

Are the notifications for newly updated/uploaded mods broken on this site recently?
Before, whenever a newer version of a mod that I liked and followed is uploaded and approved, I get a notification by the bell icon that there is a new version. However, recently I have not been receiving notifications that a new version of a mod I'm following is uploaded, even though I see that a newer version has indeed been uploaded and approve by clicking on the latest files and sorted the list by latest versions.
Did something change with the site that I'm not aware of?

@prince_linus also, a bit of a heads up to keep in mind while doing some testing before you ask why this feels different from the older versions:

• grip bias has changed to be more front biased because I messed around in gta online and liked how you can induce oversteer by simply weight shifting. This means that Scandinavian flicks and power oversteer (if using my inversepower and manualtransmission default diff settings) are possible whereas before you had to use handbrake (though handbrake are still require for drifting certain vehicles). However, this may make some RWD, rear biased AWD, and even some FWD cars cars more prone to violently snap oversteer if handled incorrectly, like the banshee or openwheelers, which can be realistic as a dodge viper is known to chew your head off (had that experience in real life with my cars (with stability control off) during a spirited drive once...), or an f1 car being very twitchy, so depends how you look at it. Do give openwheelers a try as I try to capture the unrestricted +1000hp f1 of different eras (with the more modern f1 generating more grip, as in the SPA, achieve a 1:40ish hot lap time) and a indycar using varying grip levels, gear ratios, and top speed.
• a majority of the time was focused on tuning rally cars and offroaders (rock crawlers and serious offroaders have huge articulation without severely clipping into fenders (except for the zhaba, where suspension was hard af to tune and still feels wrong, reason being too much suspension travel, the wheels folds inward and too little travel, suspension has this step feeling like vanilla cars going over a curb..), especially grip and suspension, so do give it a go and let me know what you think. For rallycars, grip has been increased almost unrealistically in an attempt to correct the ridiculous understeer problem when offroading, as it grips way too hard on tarmac but feels just right offroad... nebula feels great offroad though as a low power rallycar, with easy to initiate drifts.
• some racecar/supercar/sports cars may feel like it looses grip too easily on street roads. Thats semi-on-purpose as I made them quite stiff for track duty (which feels great on tracks like the Spa or Nuburgring) but might be too stiff for road use, losing grip on really bumpy surfaces, which can be somewhat realistic depending on how you see it as some sports cars are really too stiff for road use in real life...

Might upload a near finish version for final testing as i just finished the .oiv pack, just need to finish a few vehicles i skipped, like the faggio, so try that version instead once its out.

Finally found a way significantly overhaul all helicopters to handle/feel somewhat similar to the Battlefield games.

This means:

• no more fixed axis/tilt limit found in the vanilla game
• pilots now have much more control of the helicopter
• you can finally fly upside down and perform tricks like front-flips, back-flips, side-flips, etc.
• With the removal of the fixed axis, you now have a much more accurate and realistic helicopter aiming and shooting (like the Battlefield games)

Currently still in beta phase and testing, but should be released shortly as V5.1 for my handling mod, along with other tweaks with suspension height and plane optimizations.

Will post a video of what I mean once it's ready.

Yet another update and still not finished...

Anyways, turns out that the custom formula to tend to the gear ratios was a complete failure. I have changed the gear ratio instead and use the speed of each gear to attain the ratios and acceleration my mod was meant to have. This all means that my base handling file now have same acceleration as intended even when using the real gear ratios. So its fixed at last.

Additionally, been primarily tweaking suspension and rollovers of a few vehicle based around the different advanced handling flags, since been softening the spring rates and testing these at the new Nordschleife mod. Due to curb boosting (and the ring is very bumpy), seems like all vehicles are about 1 minute faster than their real life counterpart after timing a few cars (sentinel, pfister811, tempesta so far). Might just include the GP portion of the track to compensate for the increased speeds due to curb boost, but overall cars feel great and visceral on track.

Also figured out that the advanced handling flag for the curb boost fix isn’t really a curb boost fix as cars will still over-speed their set limit (tested on a flat road) and only slows the car down by smacking the rpms to redline each time it hits a bump. This makes it feel that curb boost isnt working, and does make acceleration more to what was set to on a flat road, but top speed will still go over what was intended. I will probably leave this version in the final version for you guys to tinker with, but main version will probably include this flag.

As far as an ETA, who knows as my workload has been ramping up in the workplace, and with almost no time to work on the mods...

Updates to both the handling and sound swap mods are approved and released!
The third, new performance tuning mod is still pending for approval at this time.

Final Progress Update Before Uploading:
For Sim-cade Handling:

• Need to do a quick re-test some planes since they had a few minor tweaks.
• Need a quick test on all bikes due to some changed values.
• Almost all other vehicles are or should be complete, with fixed bugs, such as the duneloader rolling over too easily, etc.

For Ultimate Sound Swap:

• Finally made another OIV package for both vanilla and WoV compatible versions.
• It is 100% complete, just need some short documentation.

ET of upload: Within this or the next week.
Also, been working on another new mod and should probably be out around the same time if all goes well...

@Hdiphone123 increase these values, they change the spring force and dampening for both compression and rebound (if you understand what I mean).
<fSuspensionForce value - higher = "harder" spring
<fSuspensionCompDamp value - higher = suspension resists compression when initially hitting a bump
<fSuspensionReboundDamp value - higher = suspension resists moving back to original position after compression from hitting a bump

As promised, here is basically the nearly final version of the mod (I'd say 95% complete) with every vehicle tweaked/fixed, complete with updated documentation and in a .OIV package installation format, and even gave it a new-ish name to go with the overhaul.

The only thing to do between now and the full release is to create showcase videos and perhaps do small tweaks here and there if need be.

link to latest version:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/s834k07inzu1rxy/Simcade_handling_REVO.7z/file

@gdfGDS44 np, almost done, just a few more vehicles from the vans category, then re-do some sedans and run some checks for bugs and tidy some files up. Afterwards, maybe create a few videos for showcase, then is just compiling Readme's and .oiv packages and should be good for release. Not entirely sure on how to showcase though since not very familiar with video creation/editing...

As promised before, here is a link to the latest in what I have been working on for both handling and sound swap as a sort of beta test, though still not done with the remaining vehicles. Need to retune sedans and finish the XA21 and zorusso supercars in addition to vans, SUV and some others down the list.
Note: files do not have any install instruction as of yet since it's not a release. Test if you know where each file go. Will make an instruction Readme when the main version releases. Let me know if there are install difficulties and bugs for crashes and such. Any gameconfig that supports latest version should work.

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/19cg0yocltls1nx/handling_and_sound_swap.7z/file

Progress update:
Phase 2 has been completed for awhile now, at phase 3 going down the list, just finished motorcycles and at muscle cars now. As expected, it will take awhile before everything has been rechecked, so probably won’t be able to make it before December. Will probably finish just the 1/4 mile times and top speed, then just do track testing afterwards for more finetuning, to speed things up at least.
As far as beta testing goes, not really ready for it yet as lots of things have been changed and needs testing with data. Will probably release it here for feedback once its ready, so I guess not really a beta anymore.

Update:
Well... I completely missed my original deadline since I didn’t realize how much work was left in terms of just the sheer amount of vehicles to update... but anyways, the core handling file is ~90% complete. Just editing some details here and there. Some of that time also included toying with the idea of implementing the curb boost fix that rockstar has added, but not much advancement in that topic.

As for what else took a ridiculous amount of time is creating real gear ratios for any and all vehicle I can find (so far, got about 350 ground vehicles, all withn 95% accuracy) (gear ratios are applied through ikt’s custom gear ratios mod). But I’ve noticed is that when you change the vehmaxvel value in the xml file, the acceleration and top speed seems to be affected, so had to come up with a custom formula to modify the handling.meta in order to compensate for the change.

Essentially, there would be 2 core handling.meta file, one meant to work with the real gear ratios (require separate script mod) and one without it. There might also be an experimental handling.meta where I will try to implement the curb boost fix, but will see.

As for the sound swap mod, its been finished and just need to re-compile and maybe see if I want to change any other vehicle sounds.

For other mods, not much progress, but since OpenIV has updated to include opening more carcols files, might resume tinkering with the customization mods once handling is finished.

For fun, I want to generate a statistic for lap times on all vehicles in the nurburgring gp track or any other track and 1/4 mile times/acceleration times to show the differences between each vehicle, but that would require a tremendous amount of time and effort, so would probably need some people to help build data (probably needing a steering wheel/controller and a few specific mods (mostly ikt’s mods, including manual transmission, gear ratios, inverse power, and map/lap timer mods. PM if you are interested and I can send you the details and associated files. I can also send you some files for beta testing if interested.

Not sure how many of you guys are still following this mod and my other mods, but I can assure you it is not dead yet, just that I haven't had enough time to update/change the things that I wanted in it just yet. Was about 3/4 of the way finished on the last DLC, but new DLC just dropped so it will probably take a few more months (assuming I find time since haven't played anything in the past 2 months due to work and life...)

@ThePurpleFucker just to add to the list, here are a few more that would be cool to see:

• the sentinel classic, the one from gta 3 (e30 M3) or from gta iv (e46 M3)
• supergt from gta iv or gta sa
• Banshee classic from Gta sa or gta 3 (gen 1 dodge viper)
• sultan classic from gta sa
• Uranus from gta sa or gta iv

@HRH how is the list coming along?

@HRH tbh, don't remember exactly how the original Felon sounded like anymore, been simply using my own sound swaps to have that Jaguar-like V8 growl

However, if I remember correctly, I believe the Felon and Felon2 sounded like a V6 or some generic shared sound (which the 9F and Surano also uses I think), which is probably why I swapped it out in the first place.

Additionally, I would like to add that the Nero does work as a Bugatti Chiron sound for the most part, and the Tempesta sound works better for Audi/Lamborghini type V10s, whereas the T20 sounds closer to Lexus LFA or Porsche Carrera GT's screaming V10 sounds, though with a slight turbo hiss...

Progress Update:

Sim-cade Handling:

• Managed to finish and upload the update for my handling mod tonight, though documentation is rather short... Awaiting approval.

Ultimate Sound Swap:

• not much has changed since last progress update, the WoV version is finished, need to make Vanilla Compatible version with new updates as well as a functional OIV. Packages, hoping to finish it by tomorrow and have it uploaded. PC been acting up lately, so not sure how feasible it will be...