I tried to export my course but it crashes. That's it for the night my heads done in.

My laptop definitely seems capable of running the editor (I can view and edit existing courses without any issues), but without fail it crashes every time I try to apply the scale to images that I take from Google Maps. What size should the screen shots be that we use for the overlay?

Same here.

At the current rate, I think the extent of my course editing might be to make some alternative versions of the default "Virginia" track (as the one-mile dirt loop and inner turf track seems to be such a common configuration in US racing), with various lakes and features in the centre, in order to act as some of the missing US tracks. Might also have a go at using the default "Chicago" track to create a version of Gulfstream Park with the much larger lake.

Just finished my first course and it wasn't actually too bad. Took 3 hours but got a nice 6f course.

EDIT: I then went to play it and... wow... didn't go so well. Need to remove a lot of trees as there is literally no fps and need to figure out the wrap point. But other than that, looks great! Wonderful how we can now make courses! Thank you so much!

EDIT2: Also, just wondering if there is an easy way to make rails go straight. I placed them crooked and no matter what I do can't seem to straighten them out.

Well done! How did you get around the issue of scaling the screen print from Google Maps?

Make sure you save your map before attempting to use the scale button. You only need to use the scale option if your image from Google Maps does not use a scale of 103 pixels for 500 ft. If the width of the bar on Google Maps is 74, then enter this value when using the scale option. If you still have problems check that you are running the editor in administrator mode, also let me know the size of the image you are using for the overlay.

3D trees are a large drain on the frame rate. It's better to use billboards and keep 3D trees to a minimum. There are two reasons for this - the 3D trees are a little bit higher polygon than they should be and there's no batching used on them. The billboards are only quads plus they get batched so are drawn quickly. There are options for improving the way 3D trees are dealt with but it's not a priority right now.

If you have problems with wrap points just show us some screen shots of your map with the course selected and I can point out where it should go.

If you want to make rails to go straight then it's better to use fewer markers on that particular section. Again post a screen shot and I can offer some advice.

The editor can use a lot of memory, so some of these crashes could happen if your free available ram is limited. I don't think the editor will run too well if you only have 2 gb of ram, as Windows will be using quite a chunk of that along with other processes and apps.

3d trees make ascot run really slowly for me so I'm going to be keeping their use to a minimum.

3D trees are only needed when you have trees very close or overhanging the racecourse. Any other time 2D trees look almost as good (although there are two or three that look much better than the others).

Thanks for the tips! I decided to restart since I wasn't a huge fan of the darker dirt texture I used (I know... picky) and it was taking me way too long to remove the trees (the clear control wasn't working...) but I restarted and everything is working now it seems. Thanks a lot for the editor! Actually a lot of fun!!

EDIT: Also, how do I select more entities then the ones in the palette. I see that there are more stands in the folder but I can only use 5 in the editor.

Some textures work better than others. Take a look at the courses already done for ideas. The repeatable ones are best. Also the textures can be scaled to give more detail. I think it is the icon top-left of the texture. You hold the left mouse down while scrolling the mouse wheel if I recall. For example. The dirt may look very low quality and streched on the default detail setting but if you increase it then it looks much better.




Sometime the angle that are viewing from can stop this control working.



There should be a scroll bar so you can see them all.

Can some one point out to me where to find executable CreateModelsFromPNG.exe.

Ok I give up lol all that work tried to export crashed a couple of times then the whole thing has now disappeared

Whenever you save your map it creates a backup of the last save. Rename the backup to ?.map and you will be able to load it again.