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A couple years ago I did a track (five min rally) and felt checkpoint markers were irrelevent since the course kept you on the road. Still, a couple people said they wanted markers so I put them in on complex. Welp, I'm at this cross road again. Any insights?

It depends on the track. If the terrain or the road textures define the course layout well enough then I don't think that markers would be absolutely necessary. Kinda hard to say for sure though without seeing it.

Checkpoints are an anti-shortcut device (except for strat/finish line), so as was said, it all depends on the track layout and barrier set-up.

Checkpoints aid in limiting or negeting cuts, as do models and terrain, but sometimes even that isn't enough lol. On Alpine's Crazy there's a huge cut in it that all but ruins the track in my opinion. It involves doing a quick H-H stop off a ledge, which allows you to drop down to a lower level of the track, trip the cp, and proceed on. I think it knocks off about 11 secs lol. Then there are tracks like Reospeed's Adventure into Nothing (lol just discovered that one's not at MTMG, but I'll fix that on my lunch break) or Monte Carlo whereby the linear layout all but make checkpoints useless.

Seriously speaking, you would be amazed at some of the shortcuts that people come up with. If I have time tomorrow, I'll make you a replay of the cut I came up with on Banff Springs lol. It's kinda freaky, and you would never think it could be done, but I'm telling you, there have been some pretty innovative shortcuts thought up over the years.
For instance, on ZS Rally, after tripping the last cp before the finish, you can call the heli and it'll zip you back to the finish line lol. The heli doesn't work in that track anyway; it takes you back to the start/finish by default and most everyone knows that, but after tripping the 2nd to the last cp, that's where you wanna go anyway. That's not due to faulty cp placement, sub-par terrain work or insufficient model placement; it's just an example of what some of thes guys come up with out here.

In the end, like everyone else has stated, it depends on the track and how the author uses the terrain, models...and water. One thing's for sure, it would be weird running a track with only a start and finish line for cp's lol. Everyone's so accustomed to having them. Still, if they're not really needed, I say leave them out.

Having physically visable markers isn't a big deal to me.

Depends on the track makers really, some guys don't put them on the track, but the guys that don't, as long as they have set the field wide enough, so that you still trigger them, no matter how you fly thru them, I prefer them that way.

On the other hand, if an author does put them in the track, I think they should set to "No collide". I can't even remember how many times I was on a flawless fast lap, just to get a lil out of shape, and you happen to clip a marker, and it stops you cold. Then I throw stuff.

That's what we have a pointer for, if you miss one, it'll pop up. Then you just remember it for the next lap.

Yep yep. Just to clarify, we're talking about the <u>markers</u>, not the checkpoints.




An example of a track with just a start/finish line would be OCIR. So, the question is: if the checkpoints hold you on course, are the markers critical?

My kick lately has been minimalism. That is, track built entirely out of terrain (eg. muskoka road). Cope has the current project looking for short cuts. I wanted to use just four, but no way; I had to use ten - I could easily have maxed out on twenty. With just four, I might not've objected to small markers, but ten grates my nerves, and twenty would've meant hari-keri, lol. Hopefully, I can get a couple of these done and out of my system so I can return to <i>normal</i> but until then, the markers are driving me over the edge - so I thought I better ask.

LOL you know, after I made my post, I thought to meself, "hmm...I wonder if he's just talkin about markers?" lololol. I see you used a pic of Wildcat Sue's "Love Shack", which is a good example... of what not to do lol. Girlfriend set the markers to normal/complex, but the off-road areas are so wide, you naturally take advantage of a little corner cutting, and therein lies the problem; the markers don't extend out that far. Hence, if you're in sparse mode, which is pretty common amongst pro racers, you'll miss the cp. If she had extended the width of the cp area it would be just fine, but nooooooooo lol.

In Phin's beta I don't see any areas to cut, but I've only had time to run it once. I love the way he used the terrain to negate the obvious cuts, even small corner cuts, and from what I can tell there won't be any, but I'll make certain of that with a few more laps. So far so good tho!

I'll still post the replay on Banff. In fact, in thinking about it that's a track that easily "could've" been marker-less, but without the marker I wouldn't have been able to line up for the cut with the same degree of accuracy lol...as you'll see.

Lol, Phin.. that's the track I had in mind while I was typing my post.

It's very easy to miss the cp's in Love Shack, cuz the markers aren't there in Sparse mode. I always run my graphics on sparse anyway.

I was referring to markers too. If they aren't there, I can't hit them. I think it adds more of a challenge, and mkes the track look less cluttered without them. That way your driving and watching the scenery, not for the next marker.

Just my op.