1. Going over both of these things, there is a simple way and a more complex way of doing this.
The simple way is to find the "precomp" section in the shock sections... be it shocks, shocks2, or shocks3
Shocks
Code:
shocks
;critical damping=2*sqrt(mass*spring)
;id1, id2, spring, damping, shortbound, longbound, precomp, options
36, 6, 200000, 10000, 0.3, 0.3, 1.0
37, 8, 200000, 10000, 0.3, 0.3, 1.0, l
38, 2, 200000, 10000, 0.3, 0.3, 1.0, r
Shocks2
Code:
shocks2
;invisible softbump shock, high value progressive for inbound, linear low values for outbound
;node1, node2, springin, dampin, progspringin, progdampin, springout, dampout, progspringout, progdampout, shortbound, longbound, precomp, options
45, 80, 22000, 2000, 5, 5, 2000, 1500, 0, 0, 0.8, 0.1, 1, is
Shocks3
Code:
shocks3
;node1, node2, springin(N/m), dampin(N/m/s), slowdampin, splitin(m/s), fastdampin, springout(N/m), dampout(N/m/s), slowdampout, splitout(m/s), fastdampout, shortbound, longbound, precomp, options
46, 55, 65000, 5800, 0.5, 1.2, 0.2, 65000, 1080, 0.5, 1.2, 0.2, 0.62, 0.00, 1.2, n
Now I just snitched all 3 of these from the documents, but notice how at the end of all of them they have a "precomp" section? Precomp as you may have guessed stands for precompression, or, in other words, how much extra tension or compression is on the beam AS it is generated from its original size.
So, a precompression of 1.0 means that there is absolutely no extra tension or compression on the beam, so when spawned, the size it already was is the size it will try to stay at.
A precompression of anything greater than one means that the beam, when it is generated, is actually under some compression and will try to become longer than its generated size once the physics start. This will, in effect, raise the ride height of a vehicle.
A precompression of anything less than one means that the beam, when it is generated, is actually under some tension and will try to become shorter than its generated size once the physics start. This will, in effect, lower the ride height of a vehicle.
Now this can only be done so much... like a real life car, if you pass the bounds of the natural travel of the suspension, you will run into issues (obviously). This then will require you to physically relocate the suspension nodes to a different position (higher or lower) to get your desired effect. Think of a real life lift or lowering kit... same idea applies here as does in real life.
2. It depends on what you really want to do... I am gonna guess gearing? Darn near anything you are gonna want to know is probably answered here.
Engine Section of Doc's
3. I guess I kinda answered this in the first section, but I will also say that this 100% will effect the vehicles performance. It changes the suspension geometry, it changes the center of gravity, it changes the stroke limits of the suspension... it changes pretty much the entire dynamics of a vehicle... just like it would in real life. So... think about a lowered vehicle. If you lower it, you then have to adjust the spring rate to keep it from bottoming out. Then, to get the best performance, you also have to adjust the damping rates to the new spring rate. Everything kinda effects everything else in that regard. If you take it to extremes, you start to end up in areas where the suspension geometry starts to become an issue and you start to get excessive camber or bumpsteer... its all part of the process.
