Truck: <a href="javascript:void(0)"onClick="window.open('http://cownap.com/~mtmg/contests/expo2003/pics/trucks/nitemare478x354.jpg','win','scrollbars=no,left=80,top=80,width=498,height=374')">NiTeMaRe</a>
Maker: Meth
Class: Custom replica
Verts: <a href="javascript:void(0)"onClick="window.open('http://cownap.com/~mtmg/contests/expo2003/pics/stats/nitemarestats.gif','win','scrollbars=yes,left=20,top=20,width=670,height=600')">1627/904/2531</a>
Faces: 1414/844/2258
Txtrs: 6/4/10
Podzip: No
Animated Textures: No
Allow Reflections: Yes
Allow Truck Reflections: No
Readme: Yes
Download: <a href="http://mtm2.com/~trucks/dl.cgi?dl=812" target="_self">209</a>k
Fiberglassed body of the stock Nitemare and remapped with new, reworked textures. The custom frame sets it off: scratch built simulated coil over shocks and fully decked out with engine, fuel cell, rad, etc., and fairly close replica of the real frame. The whole thing is rounded off with new textures on the tires, which add a great touch and look much better than the stock game treads.
Texture-wise, overlooking replica details, there are a couple issues. On the minor side, there are slivers of white trailing the front fender wells, which, even if on the real truck, might have been touched up in the game since it looks rather like a mapping mishap than a deliberate move when making the textures. Also, there is some misalignment where the cab meets the box. More significantly, the paint has a dull in-game appearance from having merged the verticies of the fiberglass body. This phenomenon has been discussed in numerous places, most notably being Drive2Survive's <a href="http://mtm2.com/~d2s/mtm2tute/steps/3a.html" target="_blank">MTM2 Truck Making Tutorial</a>. In brief, there is a trade off to be considered when fiberglassing a truck. Either leave the verticies unmerged so the paint looks bright but the truck suffers from a high vert count, or merge the verts to make the truck more game friendly but dull the paint in the process. It is not known, at the time of this writing, whether this is a game problem or a binedit problem, but in either case Meth cannot be faulted for what is clearly beyond his control. It is obvious that he opted for game performance over appearance, and we can respect that choice. Most importantly, finally, when creating new textures no eye was given to painting shadows and contours on the fender parts of the textures. While the game is capable of drawing "some" shadows (eg. on the ground from the trucks or large scenery objects), it is not capable of rendering realistic shadows caused by the curvature of body moulding. The result is that solid color textures tend to make a truck look flat and without shape, and which is most noticable on this NiTeMaRe on the front fenders and tailgate.
<center><img src="http://cownap.com/~mtmg/contests/expo2003/pics/reviews/nightmare.jpg" width="596"></center>
Paint aside, the lights align perfectly with the body, and the handling is very good.
Overall, the assembly is excellent with very nice detail to the frame and engine parts of the truck. And the paint, textures, mapping are very good indeed. It must have been tempting to reuse the stock material, so props for taking the challenge and working from the ground up. Exceptional job creating a fiberglassed replica that is well under 1700 vertices.
