LUPIN EXPRESS, a track for Monster Truck Madness 2

 ++++ General Info ++++

The trick to this track is that the checkpoints are at the top of
loops which you must drive around and be upside down in order to
trip them properly. The track was begun late last summer near the
beginning of September (7th - 12th) in response to claims that a
loop-de-loop maneuver was not possible in our game.  Now, of
course, we all know that just about anything is possible in mtm2,
so I set out to prove it... which didn't take much or very long. 
Unfortunately, because of one reason or ten others, a finished
track never got completed until now, and in fact the entire
project was lost and rebuilt from scratch along the way.

 ++++ History ++++

At least two other tracks, that I'm aware of, have attempted this
feat with varying success.  Gravity Sucks by Mike204 and Daytona
Speedway by Malibu350.  Lupins builds on the lessons learned from
those tracks.

 ++++ Driving ++++

See the included replay.  If you have trouble completing the loop
I recommend you try the Liver & Onions truck by Malibu350.

http://malibu350.com/m350/Trucks_001.htm
http://mtm2.com/~trucks/trucks.cgi?s=liver+%26+onions

Its set-up seems well suited to completing the loops.

 ++++ General Tech ++++

Two obstacles have prevented easy looping success before now. 
They are: knowing the optimal loop size and building a smooth
driving surface.  To solve the loop size, I used the online
tiremaker to create a model and resized it in increments of ten
feet ranging from fifty to two hundred feet in diameter.  The
best sizes appear to be ninety feet and one hundred and forty
feet.  All loops in Lupins are 140 feet.  90 footers take
considerable finesse to complete.  To solve the driving surface
problem, I created a script, based on the online tiremaker, that
positions the "rungs" of the loop mathematically.  I have put it
here, and you may use it too

http://cownap.com/~mtmg/obj/loop.cgi

A secondary problem that arose from the use of the script was the
discovery that the number of "rungs" will effect the ability to
complete a loop.  Apparently the edges of object boxes will react
like the edges of ground boxes when landed on from the air, so
too many "rungs" will slow down the trucks substantially, thus
making the loops harder to complete.  The ideal I've found are
thirty two rungs for a ninety foot loop, and forty two rungs for
the one hundred and forty foot loop.  Also, if you extend the
ends of the rungs so they overlap, the exposed driving surface is
then made up of seams and not edges, which seems to help.

The terrain was made almost entirely in psp.

 ++++ Thank you's ++++

Winterkill for his experiments and insights
Malibu350 for his models, art, imagination... and driving skill
RBIII & OP for BinEdit
RBIII & the late great Bill for Traxx
fivesidecube for his circle math
CH_2005 for c-pod
http://grsites.com/ for textures
NKA Street for textures

2005-06-08






