[WIP] Chop Shop

[chamber]

Here's a link to the YouTube video for a mod I'm finishing up:

 

 

It's called Chop Shop, and it brings some car customization functionality to GTA IV. You can recolor your car, modify detail, create special finishes, and modify body type. You can use it to create custom bikes, and it works on helicopters and boats, too.

 

Everything in the mod is functional as of now, I'm currently cleaning up the code and keybindings - I hope to have it finished before this weekend.

 

edit: Finished!

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

To install, copy the .lua file to your \GTAIV\Alice\ folder. The script will automatically be enabled with the game starts.

 

After starting the game:

Hold SHIFT and press the DOWN ARROW to cycle through available components (colors 1-4, and car body type).

 

For most vehicles:

Color 1 is the primary color.

Color 2 is the secondary (detail) color.

Color 3 is the specular color (change this to create pearlescent finishes, etc).

Color 4 is usually unused, but on some vehicles will change minor details like rim or tire wall colors.

 

When Colors 1-4 are selected:

Hold SHIFT and the LEFT or RIGHT arrow to cycle through colors for the selected component.

Hold SHIFT and X to RANDOMIZE the currently selected component.

 

When Body Style is selected:

Hold SHIFT and the LEFT or RIGHT arrow, or SHIFT and X to cycle through body types randomly.

 

KNOWN ISSUES:

a. Since the body styles are selected randomly, it's possible to get the same one twice in a row.

Edited April 22, 2009 by chamber

[Timske]

Coool.

 

Keep up the good work!

[Sniputer]

NOS missing. But cool.

[ZAZ]

Nice, I´m curious to see whats possible.

[chamber]

I went ahead and finished it up. Try it out.

[ZAZ]

 

I went ahead and finished it up. Try it out.

Nice script so far.

I tested on Infernus:

1.color changed body color

2.color changed side skirt vinyl

3.color changed pearlescent color (got a really fantastic look)

4.color seems dont have an effect maybe very tiny details

bodystyle: got an spoiler but the other 3 style seems to have the default style

 

tested on feltzer:

3. color changed specular color but no pearlescent effect

by changing bodystyle I got a never ending load screen

needs a check if a bodystyle is available for a vehicle, if possible

 

Suggestion: A function to set time and weather would be helpfull

It dont makes fun to look for colors by rain or bad weather.

Btw. I think you should add a readme.txt in your mods because its the normal way for users if they need infos.

 

Offtopic:

I´m amazed to see how you display variable values.

I tried PRINFLOAT and PRINTINT in my scripts but they didnt show anything.

[chamber]

 

color changed specular color but no pearlescent effect

There's several cars where the effect doesn't work, or if it does, not by enough to be noticeable. I suppose getting it working on all cars would be either a model or texture mod.

 

 

by changing bodystyle I got a never ending load screen

First off, some background. Since GTA IV doesn't have built-in customization like SA did, there's not really any native functions that control the body style of the car. So what the script is actually doing is creating a new car of the same model in the same spot, moving the player into the new car, and then deleting the old one (it's actually pretty funny to watch, if you go in and comment out the 'FADE_OUT' and 'FADE_IN' lines). Since spawned cars get randomly generated 'extras', usually if you spawn a new one, it'll be different.

 

I had a similar problem of a never ending load screen at one point during development when I got the new car pointer wrong, and was essentially trying to move the player into a car that didn't exist. It's possible the new car didn't load or something, and so it got stuck in a similar manner. It's one of those things that being intermittent, I may never find the cause of - but it wouldn't hurt to add an extra check in there to see if the new car is ready.

 

 

I�m amazed to see how you display variable values.

I tried PRINFLOAT and PRINTINT in my scripts but they didnt show anything.

First I convert the float or int to a string using Lua's "tostring" function.

 

Something like:

 

PrintableString = tostring(MyPointer.a)

 

 

then I just print that using PRINT_STRING_WITH_LITERAL_STRING_NOW like:

 

PRINT_STRING_WITH_LITERAL_STRING_NOW("STRING", PrintableString, 1000, 1)

 

 

It's a lifesaver for debugging, too.

[ZAZ]

PrintableString = tostring(MyPointer.a)

 

.b for floats and .a for ints, thx it helped me a lot

[ommait]

Great mod,

 

But yes, I am getting the never ending load screen often. Thanks again for such a cool one. had an impossible time getting vehicle selector to load. So this is a great alternative.