

  A special thanks to Russian modder Klarnetist for giving me the permission to
include his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air two door hard top mod with this package.
Klarnetist took a mod by Viewpoint DataLabs and converted to "Vice City" with
some nice additional details.
  klarnetist@mail.ru
  http://gta.com.ua/klarny/
  http://www.gta-downloads.com/en/author/806-klarnetist/creations/
  http://www.gta-downloads.com/en/author/806-klarnetist/collaborations/

  I have a special feeling for this mod because it's a replica of the car that
was my Dad's family car when I was little.  His car had an Inca Silver body with
an Imperial Ivory roof, which is one of the color combinations included in my
modded carcols.dat file.  Like my Dad's car, the hoods for the engine and trunk
have a stylized V which indicates it has the type of V8 engine called the Chev-
rolet small-block engine.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_small-block_engine

  Klarnetist did some fine detail work.  I've seen versions for "Mafia" and "San
Andreas" based on it but which couldn't include all the details owing to the
different file structures used for those games.  Klarnetist's version has locks
for the doors and trunk, etc., a higher polygon count than the standard VC vehi-
cles, and the chrome is nice and shiny.

  Press F1 to create an instant replay then return to the regular game to cause
the Chevy to have either a pizza box on the back seat, a pair of red dice hang-
ing from the rear view mirror, or a green gas can in the truck.

  The oceanic.dff and oceanic.txd files supplied in the 1957ChevoletBelAir fold-
er are his original mod.  The oceanic57PA.txd and oceanic86FLA.txd files are my
updates with original '57 Chevy colors, radio, lights, gauges, etc.  The files
for the "Vice City" Oceanic are in the "OriginalFiles" folder.

  Instructions for installing the files, and tutorials for modding them your-
self, are given below.  I only give eight pairs of the '57 Chevy colors in my
modded carcols.dat file because the game only lets you pick eight pairs (body
and roof), so see the section below on colors to help you pick your favorites.

****

  Update Feb.2, 2012: I raised the Hermes to be more like a stock 1949 Mercury
(I know it's supposed to be a lead sled, but in Vice City that means the under-
side hits curbs, etc., if it goes fast) and improved the handling for it for the
handling file in the "ModdedAndChevyHandling" folder.  I added colors for it to
the carcols.dat file in the "1957Colors" folder.  I changed the wheel size a bit
in the default.ide file in the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder.

  Update Jan.5, 2012: I perked up the handling of the Hermes a bit for
the handling file in the "ModdedAndChevyHandling" folder and made the wheels for
it a bit bigger for the default.ide file in the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder.  I
positioned the Chevy emblem a bit better on the grill of the '57 Chevy mod.

  (P.S.: a permanent spawn spot for the Hermes is by an apartment building on
the east side of the block of the south Pay 'n' Spray of the east island.)

  Update Dec.2, 2011: I improved the installation instructions.

  Update Nov.28, 2011: I improved the accuracy of Coronado Yellow and made Onyx
Black a bit lighter.

  Update Nov.11, 2011: I updated the two .txd files I'd modified (oceanic57-
PA.txd and oceanic86FLA.txd), updated the carcols.dat file in the "1957Colors"
folder to provide the original 1957 colors for the '57 Chevy and substituted
Onyx Black for one of the colors for the Hermes, and made a few changes to this
ReadMe file.

  I used Internet photos to replace the Chevy emblem with a higher resolution
example, used photos of authentic '57 Chevy items to replace the tail lights,
head lights, brake lights, parking lights (clear, not amber), speedometer, clock
(quartz), radio (Wonder Bar), and a combination of photos and Microsoft Paint to
create the gauges for gasoline and temperature.  I added the 1957 Chevy colors
I'd left out before and improved the accuracy of the ones I had.

  Update April 3, 2011: the "1957Colors" folder has a carcols.dat file you can
use to have the Chevy appear in some of the colors it appeared with in 1957, I
replaced some colors for the Sentinel, I added school bus yellow to the colors
for the Bus, and I added a few details to my instructions here and there.

  Update Sept.27, 2010: I added a couple of optional oceanic.txd files.  I used
Microsoft Paint for both to give the 1957 Chevy red and red-speckled black
seats.  (The black part should have a "cloud" pattern of gray and black, but the
.dff file blurs the section for the seats on the .txd file.  I settled for red
specks indicating the seats are a bit worn.)  One has a 1957 Pennsylvania li-
cense plate and the other has a 1986 Dade county (the county Miami is in) Flori-
da license plate.

****


  Request for help:

  Thanks to OnePiece for the advice about using Zmodeler, but I'm inexperienced
with it.  I could use someone's help to change the .dff file to reduce the glare
(specular lighting?) of the exterior, make the colors for the engine and exhaust
pipes more realistic, and to move the dummy for the driver's position so their
hands are closer to the steering wheel.

  - The exterior is too bright--the side that faces a nearby light source looks
bleached out with glare.  For example, the side facing the light source in the
Hyman Condo at night looks white.

  Colors used for the interior are depicted with too much saturation.

  - I'd like the pale blue of the engine/exhaust pipes changed to silver/light
gray,

  the yellow of the engine changed to medium gray,

  and the black of the engine changed to dark gray.

  - The dummy for the position of the driver should be moved a bit toward the
driver's door so their hands are at the steering wheel.

  Less important:

  - The steering wheel/steering wheel post colors should be able to be deter-
mined by a color in the .txd file. 

  - There should be thin horizontal pinstripes of chrome on the off-white sec-
tion (that features the Bel Air logo) of each tail fin.

  PS: I came up with a '57 dash trim plate of metal with little square black
dots on it for the tekstura part of the .txd file, but the game takes a bit of
it and expands it in a blurry way, so I couldn't use it and settled for plain
silver grey.  I had a similar problem with the way the game renders my depiction
of the seats.  Let me know if anyone can fix it.  I've enclosed a 1957ChevyDash-
Trim.bmp file, 5 x regular size (because I'd work on the tekstura file at that
size then would reduce it back to regular size), of that section of the tekstura
part of the .txd file.

  RanxeroX' guess about the blurriness: "It's probably happening due to the way
the textures are being mapped onto the model.  From what you're saying, it
sounds like the textures are UV-mapped using tiling to fill the area.  To fix
it, it would require loading the model into a 3d editor and changing the mapping
to another type and possibly having to create a new texture bitmap that has the
full detail that you're after.  This sort of thing opens up another can (or
more!) of worms though...cuz you'd have to import the original, make changes,
export the model and then, if you want to release it as part of your mod, get
permission from the original creator."
  http://gtaforums.com/topic/488320-txd-file-question/

  (GTW note: thanks again to Klarnetist for giving me permission to distribute
his Chevy mods, and he liked the changes I've come up with so far.  But he's
taken his work files and VC off his computer and isn't modding for it anymore.)

****


  1957 Chevrolet Bel Air installation instuctions

  Before changing a file in a folder of the main game folder, un-check the
"Read-only" box for that folder first.

  For example, if you want to change a file in the data folder:

  Right click the Grand Theft Auto Vice City > data folder, click "Properties,"
and a "data Properties" menu appears.  Un-check the box for "Read-only (Only ap-
plies to files in folder)," click "Apply," and a "Confirm Attribute Changes"
menu appears with "Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files" checked--
click "OK" and the menu disappears.  Wait for the operation to finish (which
should only take a moment for the data folder).  Click "OK" and the "data Prop-
erties" menu disappears.

  You can then use CyQ's GXT Editor v.1.2 or Notepad, depending on the case, to
change a file of that folder.

  If you want to use Notepad to change a file of the data folder, open the data
folder with Notepad.  A menu appears with a drop down box in the lower right
corner.  Click the arrow at the right side of it, click "All Files (".")," and
open the file (such as default.dat, carcols.dat, etc.).

****


  How to replace the Oceanic with Klarnetist's 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air two door
hard top

  You don't have to make copies of the files you're going to change because I've
supplied copies of them in the "OriginalFiles" folder.

  Un-check the "Read-only" box for the models folder as described above.

  Download the IMG Tool.
  http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=63

  Use "Run as administrator" to open the IMG Tool, click File, Open, direct the
IMG Tool to the models folder of your main game folder, and open gta3.img.  The
menu fills with names of files.

  (Ordinarily, you'd use Commands > Extract to extract the original oceanic.dff
and oceanic.txd files to a location to save them, but I've supplied copies in
the "OriginalFiles" folder.)

  If you want to use either oceanic57PA.txd (1957 Pennsylvania license plate) or
oceanic86FLA.txd (1986 Dade County Florida license plate) for the '57 Chevy,
Copy and Paste it somewhere and Rename it oceanic.txd.

  Use Commands > Delete to delete the oceanic.dff and oceanic.txd files,
  then use Commands > Add to add the modded oceanic.dff and oceanic.txd files.

  Use Commands > Rebuild Archive and wait for it to finish.  Close the IMG Tool.


  Go to the main game folder.

  Copy default.dat and default.ide files and Paste them in the data folder--
click to Replace when asked.


  Copy either

  - the modded carcols.dat file from the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder (it uses
different VC game colors than are usually used for the Oceanic for the '57
Chevy)

  or

  - the modded carcols.dat file from the "1957Colors" folder (recommended: it
uses the original '57 Chevy colors for the '57 Chevy and adds a few other
colors for the Sentinel, Bus, and Hermes),

  and Paste it in the data folder--click to Replace when asked.

  (See the section below on how I changed the carcols.dat files.  Since the game
only uses eight of the pairs of original '57 Chevy colors I supplied, you might
change the choices I made for the modded carcols.dat file from the "1957Colors"
folder to use the colors you prefer.  See the "NewestScreenshots" folder for
screenshots of the '57 Chevy mod in each of those colors.)


  Delete handling.cfg from the data folder.

  Copy

  the Orighandling.cfg file from the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder (it's a copy
of the original handlng.cfg file),

  the Chevyhandling.cfg file from the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder (it mods the
handlng for the '57 Chevy),

  and

  the ChevyAndModdedhandling.cfg file from the "ModdedAndChevyHandling" folder
(it mods the handlng for the '57 Chevy, Sentinel, RC Bandit, Angel, and Hermes)

  and Paste them in the data folder.

  Rename one of those handling.cfg files to remove the preface from the
handling.cfg file you want to use.  Afterward, you can restore the preface to
that file and remove the preface from a different handling.cfg file if you'd
rather use that one.

  (For example, I recommend the original handling.cfg file for the Vigilante
mission to avoid the chance of criminals getting a super vehicle, and I recom-
mend you don't use the ChevyAndModdedhandling.cfg file for "Alloy Wheels of
Steel"--if you use it, the race competitors won't wreck.  The super Sentinel it
provides can be helpful for "The Driver," the Sunshine Auto races, "Death Row,"
and other missions, though.)


  Copy nowheel.DFF and Paste it in the models > generic folder.

  Done.


  If you want to change what's written in the bottom right corner of the screen
from "Oceanic" to "1957 Chevrolet Bel Air" when Tommy enters the car:

  Un-check the "Read-only" box for the TEXT folder as you did for the data fold-
er.

  Download CyQ's GXT Editor v.1.2
  http://www.thegtaplace.com/downloads/f566-vice-city-gxt-editor-12
  http://www.gta-downloads.com/en/gta-vice-city/tools/1637-vice-city-gxt-editor.html

  (If you have Windows 7 you may need to download and run Msvbvm50.exe to install
the MSVBVM50.dll with the Visual Basic 5.0 Runtime files to run the GXT Editor.)
  http://software.parsonplace.com/wincomp.html

  Run it as Administrator, put

  C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto Vice City\TEXT\american.gxt

  In Windows 7 64 bit that's

  C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto Vice City\TEXT\american.gxt

  in the bar along the top, and click "Load."

  The two vertical panels below fill with names.  Click "MAIN," the top entry in
the panel on the left, to highlight it if it isn't already highlighted.  The
right panel fills with names, including those of vehicles.

  Click the name of the vehicle you want to change the name of: "OCEANIC."  It
appears in the bottom panel.

  Click "Clear" in the bottom left corner to cause "OCEANIC" to disappear from
the bottom panel.  Type

  1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

  in the bottom panel and highlight the phrase.

  Click "Apply" and "Save."

****
****


  This is a more detailed description of what I did:

  I un-checked the "Read-only" box for the data folder as described above.

  I used DMagic1's Wheel Mod:
  http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=6212
  http://www.gtagaming.com/downloads/gta-vice-city/misc-mods/10

  - In default.dat, below the line
   MODELFILE MODELS\GENERIC\wheels.dff.

   I added

   MODELFILE MODELS\GENERIC\nowheel.DFF

  - In default.ide, I changed the line
   # wheels: 250-257

   to

   # wheels: 250-257, 249

  - I added the nowheel.DFF file to the \models\Generic folder

  - In default.ide, below the line
    256, wheel_smallcar, generic, 2, 20, 70, 0
   
    I added

    249, wheel_lightmod, generic, 2, 20, 70, 0

****

  In default.ide, I changed the end of line 197 for the Oceanic from

  null,	ignore,	10, 	7,	0,	253, 0.7

  to	

  null,	normal,	10,	7,	0,	249, 0.85

  I changed the last number of line 204 for the Hermes from

  0.7

  to

  0.73

****

  In handling.cfg, I changed the line for the Oceanic to:

  A       B      C   D   E   F   G    H     I  J    K    L    M N     O    P

  OCEANIC 1900.0 1.9 5.0 1.7 0.0 0.0 -0.27 -1  1.00 0.96 0.52 5 260.0 27.0 R

  Q R     S    T U     V    W    X    Y    Z     aa    ab   ac   ae

  P 5.0   0.50 0 30.0  1.0  0.1  0.28 0.10 90000 0.35 -0.17 0.5  0.5

                ad              AE AF   af ag

		208102		2  1    1  1

  For turning traction, I had to compromise between the sensitivity of the
steering and how much a car made a bit into a super car drifts for turns, so the
steering is a little sensitive.  But once you get used to it, you'll have an
easier time navigating through traffic.

  I changed the flags, column ae, from 200002 to 208102 to use halogen lights
and a double exhaust.  The look of the Chevy headlights per se, which weren't
halogen lights originally, isn't changed by the halogen lights flag.  The only
difference it makes that I noticed is that the unrealistic translucent box of
light at the front of each headlight is less noticeable when the headlights are
on.

  I changed the line for the Hermes to:

  A       B      C   D   E   F   G    H     I  J    K    L    M N     O    P

  HERMES  1950.0 2.0 5.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 -0.05 -1  1.00 0.82 0.51 5 250.0 24.0 F

  Q R     S    T U     V    W    X    Y    Z     aa    ab   ac   ae

  P 3.5   0.60 0 28.0  1.9  0.20 0.36 0.27 19000 0.28 -0.27 0.5  0.0

  Raise the height of a car by lowering the suspension upper limit, aa, and
suspension lower limit, ab, identically to keep the same suspension qualities
otherwise.
  http://projectcerbera.com/gta/vc/tutorials/handling
  http://projectcerbera.com/gta/3-vc/tutorials/suspension
  http://projectcerbera.com/gta/3-vc/tutorials/faq


  How to change the flags

  See the section about flags in handling.cfg and further descriptions at the
sites at the next links.
  http://projectcerbera.com/gta/vc/tutorials/handling
  http://www.gtamodding.com/wiki/Handling.cfg

  There are seven categories so seven possible numbers.  Pick the number of the
trait you want in each category.  Use a zero if you don't want anything in the
category.

  If you want more than one trait in a category, use the sum of those numbers
for the category.  (For example, if you want category seven to provide both fat
rear wheels and traction that's good in sand, add 1 + 4 to get 5 and use 5 for
that category.)

  If your number for a category is higher than nine, use one of these letters:

  10  A
  11  B
  12  C
  13  D
  14  E
  15  F

  Reading your number from left to right, drop any zeros after the last number
above zero (for example, change 2018000 to 2018.)  Then reverse the numbers (for
example, change 201802 to 208102.)

  Use that number in column ae.

****  

  For the carcols.dat file supplied in the main folder of this mod, I changed
the line for the Oceanic to

oceanic, 46,1, 3,1, 71,1, 5,1, 37,1, 24,1, 25,1, 76,1

  carcols.dat color chart
  http://www.gtamodding.com/wiki/Carcols.dat

  Update, Nov., 2011:

  You can use the carcols.dat file from the "1957Colors" folder if you want to
have the Chevy appear in the colors it appeared with in 1957.  Since my April,
2011 update, I've added the rest of the colors and improved the accuracy of the
ones I had.

  I found the color choices at the site at the next link, but I used various
pictures from the Internet to try to figure out what the original colors were.
I'm not supplying the links for those photos because the links may stop working
soon (photos of cars for sale, recent car show contest winners, etc.).

  1957 Chevrolet Bel Air body colors
  http://57classicchevy.com/body-colors.html

  These are the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air colors I added:

171,46,51                       # 95 Matador Red         red  orange tint
162,104,100                     # 96 Canyon Coral        grey orange-pink
114,170,184                     # 97 Larkspur Blue       light grey-blue
150,150,150                     # 98 Inca Silver         grey-silver
24,130,141                      # 99 Tropical Turquoise  green-blue
30,115,109                      # 100 Highland Green     dark blue-green
120,177,166                     # 101 Surf Green         light blue-green
172,168,125                     # 102 Coronado Yellow    grey orange-yellow
210,210,210                     # 103 Imperial Ivory     very light grey
34,34,34                        # 104 Onyx Black         very dark grey
143,129,137                     # 105 Dusk Pearl         grey-violet
133,72,44                       # 106 Sierra Gold        grey-orange brown
188,180,163                     # 107 Adobe Beige        light beige
185,193,136                     # 108 Colonial Cream     light green-yellow
23,91,138                       # 109 Harbor Blue        dark blue
116,118,65                      # 110 Laurel Green       grey-yellow-green
210,211,201                     # 111 India Ivory        very light grey-yellow
226,64,75                       # 112 My Chevy interior  red  orange tint

  Examples of the '57 Chevy colors can be found in the screenshots in the
"NewestScreenshots" folder, which is in the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder.  Lark-
spur Blue on the roof of the first Harbor Blue/Larkspur Blue car screenshot is a
bit green compared to what I settled on, but I just added that screenshot be-
cause I liked it.  Imperial Ivory and India Ivory are hard to represent because
the car exterior has too much glare, so I just used those colors for roofs.


  The 1957 Chevy Bel Air could be in any one color for both body and roof except
India Ivory (and you could probably have ordered that).

  1957 Chevrolet Bel Air two tone combinations

  Body                Roof

  Sierra Gold         Adobe Beige
  Highland Green      Surf Green
  Laurel Green        Colonial Cream
  Harbor Blue         Larkspur Blue

  India Ivory         Onyx Black
  Colonial Cream      Onyx Black

  Inca Silver         Imperial Ivory
  Dusk Pearl          Imperial Ivory

  Tropical Turquoise  India Ivory
  Matador Red         India Ivory
  Coronado Yellow     India Ivory
  Canyon Coral        India Ivory
  Larkspur Blue       India Ivory
  Surf Green          India Ivory
  Colonial Cream      India Ivory

  Here are some of the possible pairs of colors for the Oceanic/Chevy for the
carcols.dat file:

oceanic, 95,111, 96,111, 97,97, 98,1, 99,103, 100,101, 101,101, 102,111,
104,104, 105,103, 106,107, 107,107, 109,97, 110,108

  Pick your favorite eight pairs because the game will only use eight pairs of
them.

  Beyond the Oceanic/'57 Chevy colors you choose in carcols.dat, the game always
adds a ninth pair--for a yellow body with a white roof--to the Oceanic/'57 Chevy
in front of the Ocean View Apartments and a Chevy which may appear at the south
side of the Hyman Stadium.  The game sometimes adds a tenth pair to make a grey-
blue Chevy with a white roof appear across the street to the south of the front
of the Ocean View Apartments.

  I've seen Chevys with eleventh through thirteenth body colors, dark red,
green, and purple, appear elsewhere randomly in parking spaces.  The game seems
to be adding three of the colors I added to the carcols.dat file for the Sentin-
el--113 dark red, 114 dark purple, and 115 dark olive green--to the Chevy.  I
think I saw a '57 Chevy appear with a fourteenth color, a different blue than
the ones given above, too.  So you get the most for your '57 Chevy color dollar
with this.

  I chose these eight pairs for the carcols.dat file supplied:

oceanic, 95,111, 98,103, 99,111, 100,101, 105,103, 106,107, 109,97, 110,108

  An option to using the whites I created is to use 1, which is white.  The .dff
file will still make the roof off-white.  (The .dff file also does that for the
section of each tail fin that contains the Chevrolet logo.)

  I also changed the colors for the VC Sentinel, including by adding Sierra Gold
and some of the darker colors I came up with for "GTA III,"

  replaced yellow with #104 Onyx Black for the Hermes to have one color for it
make it look like James Dean's '49 Mercury Coupe (except with a chopped roof) in
"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955),
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Without_a_Cause

  and changed the colors for the Bus--I added School Bus Yellow and Sunglow.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_bus_yellow
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_(color)#Sunglow

129,10,16                       # 113 dark red
56,28,64                        # 114 dark purple
38,51,23                        # 115 dark olive green
255,216,0                       # 116 School Bus Yellow  Official color
255,204,51                      # 117 Sunglow            yellow-orange

bus, 3,82, 95,82, 98,82, 104,82, 106,82, 116,82, 117,82
hermes, 2,2, 16,16, 17,17, 21,21, 38,38, 43,43, 60,60, 104,104
sentinel, 70,0, 98,0, 100,0, 106,98, 113,0, 114,0, 115,0

  Update, Feb.2, 2012:

  I added these colors for the Hermes:

50,14,16                        # 118 Hermes red         dark Matador Red
62,4,7                          # 119 Hermes dark red    dark red
50,31,18	                # 120 Hermes dark orange dark Sierra Gold
11,40,60                        # 121 Hermes dark blue   dark Harbor Blue
44,22,50                        # 122 Hermes dark purple dark purple

  I changed the carcols.dat line for the Hermes to:

hermes, 75,75, 104,104, 115,115, 118,118, 119,119, 120,120, 121,121, 122,122


  How to create colors the way I did

  Open a picture or screenshot, or a .bmp file extracted from a .txd file (see
below for how to extract one), in Microsoft Paint.  Click "Colors" > "Edit Col-
ors..." to make the "Edit Colors" box appear, then click "Define Custom Col-
ors>>."  You can change the numbers in the boxes for Red, Green and Blue direct-
ly or by using your cursor to move the reticle-looking thing around on the rain-
bow-hued box and move the slider up and down by the box to the right of that.

  To change color while maintaining the same degree of darkness (luminesence)
and grey level (saturation), change the number for Hue.  This moves the cursor
horizontally across the spectrum box.

  To keep the same color--keep the cursor in the same spot on the color spectrum
box--except to lighten or darken the color, change Lum(inescence).  It does the
same thing as moving the slider to the right of the color spectrum box.  To
darken the color, lower Lum.

  To raise or lower the grey level, change Sat(uration).  A higher saturated
color has less grey.  This moves the cursor vertically on the color spectrum box.

  When you've created a color you like, un-check the "Read-only" box for the
data folder as described above.

  Use Notepad to open the data folder.  A menu appears with a drop down box in
the lower right corner.  Click the arrow at the right side of it, click "All
Files (".")," and open carcols.dat.

  Add the numbers for Red, Green and Blue to the end of the list of colors in
the upper section of the carcols.dat file.  Give your color a number (# 95,
etc.).  To the right of that, you can give your color a brief description.

  You can use the number of your color to replace the primary or secondary color
number of the vehicles listed in the lower section of the file.  Close the file
and Save your work.


  To match a car color with the color of a car in an Internet photo you've
saved, use Microsoft Paint to paint on the part of the photo that best repre-
sents the color and adjust the Paint color till it's the same.  Use the RGB num-
bers for the car color in carcols.dat and take screen shots of the lighted sides
of the car in mid-day on a sunny day in VC.  The color probably looks different
than in the photo and needs to be changed.  Adjust it as needed toward matching
the color in the photo and repeat till you have a match.

  There's a lot of variety in the '57 Chevy colors shown by a Google image
search.  I recommend looking for '57 Chevy photos that seem to have accurate
color reproduction, that show the car outdoors in the sun, and that show cars
that won car show contests.  Some contests had a "Survivor" category for cars
that best represented the original car, so I might put "1957 Matador Red survi-
vor" or "Chevy Matador Red survivor" or such in the search box.

  RGB colors are emphasized differently than in the one shown in Microsoft
Paint, and the game light doesn't just go through shades of grey--yellow then
red are emphasized from around 5 to 7 pm, for example.  I was mainly concerned
with how the color looked on a sunny day from around 11 am to 2 pm.  If the
paint for one car showed different hues in different lighting conditions, I
wanted the VC color to show those during different times of a VC day.

  A good point about paint color (which also serves as an excuse for me) is that
one of the causes of the emphasis of red to orange, etc., in paint can be due to
the color of the paint used beneath it.  For example, you can bring out the
green in the green-blue of Tropical Turquoise better with an undercoat of a
creamy white like India Ivory, white with a bit of yellow, than a stark white
like Imperial Ivory, white with a bit of grey, which will produce more of a
plain blue.  On the other hand, I might prefer Imperial Ivory under Matador Red
to minimize the orange in the red.

  So if someone thinks a color is a shade off, I can say mine used a different
undercoat.

  Variations in grey level, luminescence, the ratio of violet to purple, orange
to yellow, blue to green, etc., might also be due to personal customization,
paint company guesses of what the original color was, or varying degrees of ac-
curacy in the color reproduction of photographs.  One end of a '57 Chevy might
emphasize one or another of a pair of colors depending on the type of light
(sunlight or artificial light) it's in and which end was facing that light in a
photo.

  The more modern metallic paints are pretty but create a range of reflections
beyond what I can create in VC.  Such a Highland Green, for example, shows a
variety of greens and blues, Sierra Gold might show extremes of yellow-gold and
dark brown, and Dusk Pearl looks pretty cool.

  That's beyond what VC will do with a car color, but, as I mentioned above,
some of that variety of hues appears because the game lighting alters colors
over the course of a Vice City day.


  The most difficult '57 Chevy color for me to match was Dusk Pearl.  It's a
light metallic shade of a grey violet color.  A good photograph of a fresh coat
of paint with a modern metallic finish looks pretty cool: like a pearl, it re-
flects different shades of blue-violet and red-violet.

  There's so much variation on the color on the Internet that it was hard to be
sure of the authenticity of whatever I came up with.  The shade I decided had
the best case for being true to the original is light enough to seem metallic in
the game, and the violet is grey-pink-violet in mid-day.  But if you look at it
at different times of the day and night, you'll see it go through red-violet and
blue-violet colors.

  Chevrolet used Tropical Turquoise in 1956 and 1957.  Variations in Internet
photo colors run from sky blue to a very green blueish-green.  The variation in
the amount of green in Tropical Turquoise may be due to the kind of undercoat
used (explained above), and the range might be expanded by some people using
1955 Regal Turquoise or the darker 1956 Twilight Turquoise.  Some paint jobs
were lighter or darker, and using a larger more modern metallic flake on the
paint makes some look shinier.

  I chose a somewhat shiny, moderately darker blue with just enough green to be
noticeable in the shaded parts and at night.  But it's easy to season to taste:
use Microsoft Paint or such to change G, green, the middle number of the three
for it, to adjust the amount of green in it, and change luminosity to make it
lighter or darker.  You can lessen saturation to add grey and make it less
shiny.  (If I were to change anything, it might be to make it a couple points
greener or darker.)

  For Matador Red, I copied car photos with a relatively smaller amount of
orange.  If you want a greater degree of orange, reduce the number for B, blue,
from 51 to 50 or 49.  You can reduce the amount of orange by making B 52.

  According to Internet pictures by car owners, a variety of colors have been
called Canyon Coral--a dark grey orange-red with a light to medium luminescence.
Even paint supply company samples differ--I used Microsoft Paint to match the
Internet paint sample by Eckler's, which gives it a hue of about 8, and the
paint sample by Danchuck's, which gives it a hue of about 0.

  But the color in the car photos I chose has a hue of 3.  And, like Dusk Pearl,
it goes through most of the other colors I saw for Canyon Coral at different
times of the day.  You can use use Microsoft Paint if you want to change the
number for hue.

  Sierra Gold can either have more grey and look dark brown or have less grey
(and a metallic finish) and be a little more like a shiny honey golden brown,
and I used the latter.  Use Microsoft Paint and decrease saturation/add grey if
you like a flat dark brown better.

  I made Adobe Beige (off-white) a bit darker than normal to compensate for the
excessive glare of the exterior, so you might try it as a color for both the
roof and body.

  Likewise, I made Surf Green a bit darker than shown on some cars shown in
photos but it glares if it's lighter.

  Chevrolet didn't use Laurel Green very long because it wasn't popular, and it
used Limefire Green for a bit in Canada.  (Limefire was also used by Pontiac.)
There seems to be some confusion about it on the Internet, but the consesus
seems to be that Laurel Green is a grey yellow green and Limefire Green has more
yellow and less grey.

  I only found a few Internet pictues of fresh-looking coats of Laurel Green
(but wasn't he good in "Bonanza"?) paint in pictures that had good color repro-
duction, a couple of paint company samples, and a couple of old Chevrolet ads or
brochures, and each was different.  So I acted on the description I read of it
being less yellow and more grey than Limefire Green, which I found photos of,
and which made it look the Chevy in a painting in an old Chevy brochure.
  http://www.tocmp.com/pix/Chevrolet/images/57Chev1.jpg

  If you'd rather have Limefire, or possibly a more metallic Laurel Green, use
Microsoft Paint to make it more saturated/less grey, and for Limefire change the
hue a bit toward yellow.

  Colonial Cream is a light yellow, something like canary yellow, which leans
more toward green yellow in some photographs and orange yellow in others.  I
chose a light green yellow (the game lighting may make more green-yellow from
about 7 to 9 am and orange-yellow for a bit in the evening).  Change the number
for hue if you prefer a more orange yellow.

  (I read on a '57 Chevy site message board that Canada not only had some colors
not used in the USA but had different hues for a few of the same-name colors.
My guess is that explains the difference in colors shown, even by paint com-
panies, for Tropical Turquoise, Canyon Coral, and Colonial Cream.)

  Like Adobe Beige and Surf Green, Colonial Cream is a light color that's diffi-
cult to render correctly on a car mod with so much glare.  If I added enough
grey to compensate for the glare, it would create the wrong balance of grey with
the rest of the color: you'd get a grey car with the intended color as a tint.
So I added enough grey to reduce some of the glare and let the car glare a bit
to keep the color about right.

  If you add enough grey to reduce the glare of the exterior to try to create
off-whites like Imperial Ivory or India Ivory, the car looks like it has light
Inca Silver (grey) paint that glares too much.  So I made those colors dark
enough to compensate for some glare and recommend just using them to suggest
those colors for the roof.

  Fortunately, the roof will still be a bit off-white because the .dff file for
the Chevy makes the roof (and the white section of each tail fender) a bit off-
white.  My intention was to have each Chevy white suggested in the areas of the
roof that don't glare.

  An option is to use the carcols.dat number 1, which is white.

  Use Microsoft Paint as described above if you want to season the colors to
taste, and send me photos if you can help clarify a color.


  Help request again:

  I need someone to mod the .dff file to reduce the glare (specular lighting?)
of the exterior of the car.

  The .dff file also causes the .txd file color for the interior to look differ-
ent in the game.  When I tried Matador Red for the interior, a medium grey-
orange-red on the .txd file appeared as a very saturated orange in the car.  I
settled for a similar orange-red with a enough grey to subdue some of the satur-
ation.

  If someone can mod the .dff file turn down the glare a bit for me, the car
would look a lot cooler and I'd sure appreciate it.

****


  This is how I modded Klarnetist's oceanic.txd file to give the 1957 Chevy red
and red-speckled black seats, red dash and ceiling, etc., and how I gave one
copy a 1957 Pennsylvania license plate and another copy a 1986 Dade county Flor-
ida license plate.

  To mod the oceanic.txd file, I made three copies of it--one to keep as the
original and two to mod.  I put one in a folder named "teksturaOriginal," one in
a folder called "tekstura1957PA," and one in a folder called 
"tekstura1986DadeFla."

  I opened Spookie's "Vice TXD Tool."  (I used Vista so I right-clicked "Vice
TXD Tool" and clicked "Run as administrator.)
  http://www.thegtaplace.com/downloads/f42-vicetxd

  I clicked File > Open and went to a copy of the oceanic.txd file.  A menu
appeared with the words "Read beyond end of file"--I clicked "OK" and the menu
disappeared.

  In the "Dictionary" window, I highlighted the only entry, "oceanic.txd," and
in the "Texture" window the names of various parts of oceanic.txd appeared--I
highlighted the name "tekstura" and it appeared in the window on the right.  I
clicked "Texture" > "Export" > "Texture (*.bmp)" and sent a copy of "tekstura"
to the "teksturaOriginal" folder.


  I put a .bmp file copy of "tekstura" in the "tekstura1957PA" folder, right-
clicked that "tekstura," clicked "Open With >," and clicked "Paint."

  The file has various pictures on it--dials, a speedometer, etc.,--including
gray car seats and a red license plate with the word "BELAIR."  All the pic-
tures are upside-down.

  To make the file easier to paint with, I clicked "Image" > "Resize/Skew" and a
"Resize/Skew" menu appeared--the boxes beside "Horizontal" and "Vertical" each
had "100" for percent.  I changed each to "500" and clicked "OK" to make the
file appear five times bigger then saved it.

  I used the Brush and Line tools--usually the larger size for each--and the
colors red and several shades of gray to paint the "1957PA" car seat.  To draw a
line, click the cursor where you want the line to start and hold down the LMB
while you move the cursor to where you want the line to end.  It assists you in
making a straight line--when the line isn't jaggy, you have a straight line.

  If you want to adjust your color, click "Colors" > "Edit Colors..." to make an
"Edit Colors" menu appear then click "Define Custom Colors."  The menu becomes
twice as big and you can adjust a slider to make your color lighter or darker--
your changes appear in a "Color/Solid" window.  (You can also click on a window
with a spectrum of colors to change your color but I didn't do that this time.)
Once it's the color you want, click "Add to Custom Colors" then "OK."

  The black part should have a "cloud" pattern of gray and black, but the .dff
file blurs the section for the seats on the .txd file.  I settled for red specks
indicating the seats are a bit worn.

  According to 67SS427 at the chevytalk.org site, "There was only one red paint
on the inside and the outside of a 57, Matador Red, which is an orange-looking
red.  My PPG paint interchange book shows 70673 as the match for Matador red.  I
don't know how accurate it is.  The black cloth on the red interiors will have
what they call a red 'cloud' pattern in it.  The seat back buttons and the pip-
ing on the seams around the black cloth inserts are silver." 
  http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/102133/

  The RGB numbers I have for Matador Red are 171,46,51, but the .dff file causes
the interior colors to have a different hue than when used as an exterior color.
And just as the .dff file gives the exterior too much glare, it gives the .txd
file > tekstura.bmp colors for the dash and seats too much saturation.  I used
226,64,75 to paint the second rectangle from the top on the left side of the
tekstura.bmp file to give the Chevy a red dash, ceiling, etc.

  I'm already pushing the limit for the size of a save game package at some web
sites, so I can't provide a .txd file for each of the '57 Chevy interior and
seat colors that correspond to each exterior color.  Fortunately, it's easy to
use the method I described to color the interior and seats yourself.
  http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyresto/57index.htm
  http://www.1957chevyforsale.com/57-chevy-colors/57-chevy-interior-convertible-
top-color-combinations/

  I used 190,22,31 for the seats.

  Once I finished painting the car seats, etc., I saved the file in the
"tekstura1957PA" folder and put a copy of it in the "tekstura1986DadeFla" fold-
er.


  To change Klarnetist's license plate, I went to Google and saved several
images of 1957 Pennsylvania license plates intending to use the best one.

  You need a .bmp file image for this.  If it isn't a .bmp file, open it with
Paint, click "File" > Save As..." and use the "Save as type:" drop down box to
select "24-bit Bitmap" then save it.)

  (If you do something like that and the license plate or whatever object you
want an image of is part of a larger image, open the image with Microsoft Paint.
One of the two things at the top of the left margin is the Select tool--a square
composed of dots: click it.  Click at one corner of the object.  Hold down the
LMB and drag the cursor to the opposing corner of the object to create a rectan-
gle composed of dots around the object.  The rectangle remains when you release
the LMB--if you didn't size it right, click somewhere on the image beyond the
rectangle and to make it disappear and try again.  Then click "Image > "Crop"
and all that remains is what you outlined.)

  Once I found the image of a license plate I liked, I opened it with Paint and
"tekstura" from the "teksturaOriginal" folder with Paint and moved the image of
a Pennsylvania plate beside the one on "tekstura" to resize the Pennsylvania
plate to be the same size as the one on "tekstura."  I saved the image of a
Pennsylvania license plate in the "tekstura1957PA" folder.

  With "tekstura" still opened with Paint, I clicked "Edit" > "Paste From..."
and a "Paste From..." menu appeared.  I went to the Pennsylvania license plate
and clicked it and "Open"--it appeared surrounded by dots on "tekstura."  I
dragged it with the cursor to cover the old license plate then clicked outside
the rectangle of dots to make the dots disappear and fix the position of the
Pennsylvania license plate.

  I used the same method to replace the headlight, brake light, parking light,
speedometer, radio, clock, and Chevrolet emblem.  I touched up a few things with
Paint, such as putting an orange-red needle on the radio.

  I couldn't find pictures with the temperature and gasoline gauges directly
facing the camera, so I cropped pictures of the gauges minus the lenses, used
"Edit" > "Paste From..." to insert them into pictures of the lenses, and touched
them up with Paint.

  I Painted the upper left square, which represents the color seen in two spots
below each of the back parking lights, dark grey.

  I made a .bmp file for the dash trim, which should be chrome with lots of
little black rectangles on it, out of an Internet picture of the Hermann grid
illusion, which I recolored and reproduced over and over.  But the .dff file
causes a small part of it to appear expanded and blurry in the game, so I set-
tled for Painting that section light grey.  I've enclosed the .bmp file if any-
one wants to use Zmodeler or such to make it appear correctly (please let me
know if you do!).  It's five times regular size because I worked on the .txd
file at that size.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_illusion

  I saved the altered "tekstura" in the "tekstura1957PA" folder.

  I did the same with the copy of "tekstura"  from the "tekstura1986DadeFla"
folder and a .bmp image of 1986 Dade Florida license plate and saved it as
"tekstura" in the "tekstura1986DadeFla" folder.


  I opened one of my modded "tekstura" files with "Paint" and clicked "Image" >
"Resize/ Skew" to make the "Resize/Skew" menu appear--the boxes beside "Horizon-
tal" and "Vertical" each had "100" for percent.  I changed each to "20" and
clicked "OK."  After the file appeared five times smaller--the original size--I
saved it.  I did the same with my other modded "tekstura" file.


  I ran the "Vice TXD Tool" again as administrator.  I clicked File > Open and
went to the oceanic.txd file in the "tekstura1957PA" folder.  A menu appeared
with the words "Read beyond end of file"--I clicked "OK" and the menu disap-
peared.

  I highlighted the name "tekstura" and it appeared in the window on the right.
I clicked "Texture" > "Replace" and a "Replace Texture" menu appeared.  I
clicked "Browse" and went to the copy of "tekstura" in the "tekstura1957PA"
folder.  I clicked "Replace" so my modded "tekstura" file replaced the original
then I saved the file.  I did the same with the copy of oceanic.txd and the
"tekstura" file in the "tekstura1986DadeFla" folder and saved it.  I closed
the "Vice TXD Tool."


  I un-checked the "Read-only" box for the models folder as described above.

  I used Spookie's "IMG Tool v.2" as described above to delete the original
oceanic.txd and add a new one.
  http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=63
  http://www.moddb.com/games/grand-theft-auto-san-andreas/downloads/img-tool-20

****


  Related information

  See the sites at the next links for many of the features of an original 1957
Chevrolet.  For example, the trifive forum was helpful in letting me know the
original '57 Chevy had clear, not amber, parking lights, that the '56 turquoise
exterior color was blue-green but emphasized blue more for '57, etc.
  http://www.trifive.com/forums/
  http://www.angelfire.com/in/EMARKAY/joutline.html
  http://www.trifive.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-45753.html
  http://www.amazon.com/Original-Chevrolet-1955-1956-1957/dp/0760315485
  http://books.google.com/books?id=lIz0Do9gvOMC&pg=PA62&dq=1957+chevy+original
&hl=en&ei=C3BtTsPWCofX0QGM6KSGBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0C
DMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=1957%20chevy%20original&f=false

  1957 Chevrolet owners' manual
  http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1957_Chevrolet/1957_
Chevrolet_Owners_Manual/dirindex.html

  1957 Chevrolet Stock Car Competition Guide
  http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1957_Chevrolet/1957_
Chevrolet_Stock_Car_Guide/dirindex.html

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shades_of_green#Laurel_green
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurus_nobilis
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Larkspur
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torero
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire
  http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/es-en/coronado.php
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Highlands
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onyx
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise
  Canyon Coral
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuchera_hirsutissima
  Sierra Gold
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush

  Below are links to sites for paint companies with the '57 Chevy colors.  Not
only do Internet photos differ over colors but so do they.  I mainly relied on
Internet photos with relatively reliable color reproduction of cars with fresh-
looking coats of paint seen outdoors in the light on sunny days.

  http://www.classicchevy.com/
  http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/models/paintcodes.htm
  http://pc.dupont.com/hcl/servlet/com.dpc.hcl.search.HclSearchServlet?browse
Path=Domestic+Cars%2FGM%2FGm+1954-1960&Operation=102&carRegion=2&carType=GM
  http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?dupont=2461&rows=50&syear=
1957&smanuf=GM&smodel=Chevrolet&sname=Surf%20Green
  http://www.paintscratch.com/touch_up_paint/Chevrolet/1957-Chevrolet-All-Other-
Models.html
  http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/chipcreate.cgi?year=1957&manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet
  http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/chipdisplay.cgi?year=1957&manuf=GM&smodel=
Chevrolet&info=&page=3
  http://67.199.121.184/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?year=1957&sort=manuf&
model=Chevrolet&rows=50


