MTM2.com

SLO_COPE: A useful addition to this site would be a list of track titles that provide a novice with a reasonable run out against computer trucks. The reason for this is obvious.....New members who have had no experience with online racing have to start somewhere, and they could easily be put off by having to go online and race against racers who are in all probability going to hammer them.

You mentioned:

Swiss Alps 2 And here are some more!
Rachels Park
Farm Road 129
Barnyard 109
Castle Rock T
Deadmans Gultch 2

There have got to be many more out there!
If we could put together a list of the best truck (AI) tracks, then new members would not have to go through hundreds of tracks to find the ones they need to learn MTM racing on!

Interesting suggestion, and it's certainly do-able, but I submit to you that what it's going to take is people like yourself running lots of tracks (especially since you're mostly relegated to playing offline) and then compiling a list. People who race online don't typically race offline very much because they claim it bores them to tears lol. I can understand that, but at the same time it's how I got proficient on quite a few tracks. But like I said, I always set the computer truck opponents to zero. I guess I could stop doing that lol.

As for new racers getting hammered online, that's not exactly true. It's a certainty that they won't be winning races or tournaments for a while, but they'll get tons of help with respect to how best to run a track, what tracks to download or stay away from due to the level of difficulty, where the shortcuts are, how best to execute them, and most likely lots of other useful info. With so few players now there seems to be more emphasis (SLO especially) on assisting people who are new to the game in hopes that they'll stick around and enjoy the game with the rest of us. Even though we've been around for a while we haven't forgotten what it's like to be starting out.

Still, I'll make it a point to dig up a few more tracks, but I wouldn't want it to be a one-sided affair. I hope that at the very least you and Teknor could lend a hand. If so, and if it's ok with Phin/Mal, I'll add it to the sorts list on the track page. How's that sound?

> if it's ok with Phin/Mal

It's okay with me. In fact, I think it's a good idea. And Cope, it's up to you but I think once we get a list of about twenty tracks that we can hand the list to Disposable to maintain - if he can add sixty or eighty more then that should be plenty good enough to springboard a new player into online play.



> There have got to be many more out there!

Restricted Area is another good one, if I remember correctly. Fact is, most of Mal's have good computer trucks. Myself, I always try to pay attention to them and a few are quite good but I never remember which ones. I think Déjà vu might be all right but I really don't recall.

Sounds good. I'll even solicit the help of a few SLOs to help out with running some tracks. They need something to do anyway lol.

Thats great! I will start testing tracks for truckability (new word!) straight away!

If you agree, then a few ground rules need to be stated:

1. Computer trucks (at least some of them) must be able to finish the race on all 3 difficulty levels. (Just test the track on the hardest level).

2. As few as possible glitches, such as trucks getting stuck by driving into walls/cliff faces/taking wrong turns etc. ( I know we can't expect miracles so be reasonable.)

3. Short cuts are OK for computer trucks, as long as it doesn't mean it is impossible to beat them!

You may think of other ideas, so whatever you decide is OK!

Lists can be made up like this

http://mtm2.com/~tracks/tracks.cgi?favorites=1

As you can see, there is room for a description that tells what it's about and why that particular collection has been brought together.


> as long as it doesn't mean it is impossible to beat them!

All computer trucks are beatable; you don't have to worry about that.

I,m on it!

Terrific!

I didn't know about MTMG until just last week .... Since then, my selection of tracks has ballooned (I'll soon have no choice but to start swapping pod lists or play around with pod merging).

My wife has decided I've revived an old obsession. But the kids don't mind (with 5 compys around the house, they've been enjoying this, too).

As I recall I think this one was tougher than most
http://mtm2.com/~tracks/tracks.cgi?search=ocir&track=on

Oh the hours I spent on tweaking the trucks to go fast on that :)

I would have to go back and see about Siberia, SBM and Rock Ridge... as for the rest of the MLB tracks the bots are as good as I could get them to be, some tracks took me days to get them right others just a couple hours. The thing is is that there is NO way to get bots to corner fast, they slow down too much in every corner no matter what you do, even if the terrain is flat as a board.

Good luck on your racing practice and I hope to see you soon. Saturdays at rangames is where it's at.

OK! Good joke lads!.......Go stand in a corner and spank yourselves with a spiky stick!..........On second thoughts, you would probably enjoy it!
Any REAL help would be appreciated.

I'll add tracks to this post - edit it as I come across others with decent AI:

Blacktop204
Muskoka Road
Panama
Pine Run
Playin Chicken II
Quid Pro Quo
SBM Speedway SE
Summer Isle
TMX 99
Toys In The Attic

I've been running tracks on "Professional" and testing the AI. So far very few come up to even a minimum standard, but there are some that can give you a good run out by following this simple trick:
Just allow the Computer Trucks to start before you, and then play catch up!
So far I have about 43 good AI tracks:


Rachels Park.
Farm Road 129.
Barnyard 109.
Castle Rock T.
Deadmans Gultch 2. *
Dejavu. *
BoondocksNationalPark.
Jinxfarm.
KCsBackyard.
7ogdenville.
DogCountry.
2chance.
204TAILINGS. *
MauiWaui.
BeccasCanyon.
BlackGold. * (Short but sweet)
DawgHeaven. * (KDASPEN.pod)
ExtremeLuge.
LaPaMaEF.
VoodooislandNC.
OrientExpress. * (Tough track)
Paperun3-way_PZ. (Trucks cheat)
TopSpeedTrack.
RestArea2. * (a bit short)
Rhubarb.
Ruach * (again short but good)
RunfortheNight.
TheRaptor. *
Playing Chicken 2.
Buzzard Country. * (fast! And very good AI)
Country Havoc.
Swiss Alps 2. (Really not that bad!)
Techno Run. *
Scrapyard Rally. * (superior fun)
Hazzard County.
Walnut Grove.

And thanks to Teknor:
GuitarbillVille. *
LA Supercross 98.
Mud Pies 98.
Sandy Morgans Gulch.
Big Whiskey.
Crazy 2002.5.
Fun in the Snow.

I will have more very soon!
Any Track with an Asterisk (*) after it has very good AI. All the others are just good. Based on the number of trucks actually finishing the race, and few if any bugs,

So far out of over 200 tracks tested by me, only 13 tracks have excellent AI, and 30 have passable AI.
Now downloading another 100 to test!

Very good, Disposable. I'll have the opportunity to test quite a few between today and Sat. Mon - Wed are extremely limited for me with respect to free time. Also, got a few of the guys running tracks, so we'll come up with a good list before too long.

Note: I was wrong on Swiss Alps. It seems that the AI is only good in Intermediate.

I didn't try that one because it was recomended!
I have now taken it out of my list!

Ack! I'm almost out of pod space (currently 96 pods) !!

You guys have given me sooo many good track suggestions, and you're still mentioning even more tracks! Any Suggestions? Is swapping pod lists a good idea? (what's the best tool for that) Is combining/merging pods a good idea? (I tried that, seemed like the more I merged the more performance lagged for pods in the merged file).

While I'm at it... what are your suggestions for minimizing gameplay stutter/lag especially with trucks/objects with a lot of vertices?

Yep, sounds like you're a prime candidate for a pod swapping tool. Cowpod is the most versatile out to date, so I would recommend using it. The tutorial is very easy to follow, so establishing lists is a breeze.

As for the lag/stutter problem, that could be related to several things, but the most common are:

- Burning cd's or running several programs during gameplay
- Video card settings (turn off antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, & vertical sync)
- Large number of programs running in the background (do a ctrl-alt-del to check). If you have 6-8 icons in your systray that's not a good sign.

On some tracks, the sheer number of models may induce a touch lag, so try using a graphics setting of 'Normal' or even 'Sparse'. I run sparse for everything - don't have time to look at scenery when I'm trying to hold a lead or obtain the lead lol. In hardware options the only thing I I have checked are 'Smoothing' and 'Headlights' (like to know when someone in front of me is breaking, and where)

Those are just a few possibilities for your lag/stutter. On a few tracks, lag/stutter is inevitable in spots due to the the way the track was constructed.

Thats funny? I don't get any lag or stutter on any track, they are all as smooth as silk!

A good tip is to go through the tracks you have and remove the ones that are not so good! Then you will have room to replace them with better tracks!
That is how I keep my tracks fresh.

Well... it's probably due to most of my vid cards being "budget" types. But some settings adjustments may help out.

The wife is going in for some surgery in the morning... while I wait I'll have the trusty laptop with me... and some tracks to play around with. (yeah, she get's pain, I get fun.) What a deal.