MTM 1 Drags Creation - Info and Beta track

[Cale]

So, first, a beta version of a fully custom Pontiac Silverdome drag with new ground textures and a retextured RCA Dome as the Silverdome:

https://www.mtm2.com/~tracks/T2026/SILVERD.zip

IMPORTANT NOTE: Qualifying is BROKEN. I believe there is something in the .SIT file that I am missing but I haven't found it yet, maybe there is another issue if anyone wants to dig. Once you (or the CPU) are racing another truck it works fine, if not more difficult than the stock drags.

I created this in Traxx as a new MTM 1 track (circuit), podded it, then extracted the .SIT file, made changes to it, and then repodded it to get it to work in game. The basic instructions, including the checkpoint info and changing the track type in the .SIT file can be found in Fila's MTM 2 drag tutorial post: https://forum.mtm2.com/viewtopic.php?p=57018#p57018

There are a few other changes that need to be made to the .SIT to get it to work properly. First, all Ramps entries in the .SIT need to have

Code: Select all

length,width,height
16.00,32.00,5.00

replaced with

Code: Select all

model
CRURAMP.BIN

or the name of whatever ramp model you are using. Traxx does not allow models to be assigned as ramps, so you need to go in after the fact and replace them that way. It's annoying but necessary (and you can wait until after testing with the generic ramps to do so).

Second, the end of the .SIT needs to be this:

Code: Select all

*** Stadium ***
stadiumFlag,stadiumModelName
1,newrca.bin
*** Backdrop ***
backdropType,backdropCount
0,0
backdropModelName

where newrca.bin can be changed to whatever the .BIN model you are using for a stadium is. Unlike MTM2 arenas, there is no special face type for MTM1 stadiums, so custom ones *fitting the original stadium sizes from the game* should work. I threw the actual model elsewhere in the track to make podding easier with the .LST and all that (maybe why the stock tracks have the same thing).

For straight drag stadiums, the track MUST be built in a specific location on the map with the northwest square at approx. X 3936, Y 4385 and extending 6 squares east and 10 squares south. Otherwise the track will be in the void outside of the stadium. This does not apply to outdoor drags as far as I know.

I have not played around with the J drag stadia yet (which are 8x8 ground squares vs. 6x10 for the straight drags), but I presume it would be similar - reference the stock tracks if you want to try it.

Please let me know if you encounter any issues with the Beta track! This is my first go at trying this for MTM 1 and it's been a bit of an uphill battle, but I think I have a workflow down now so I can do a few more as I have time.

[KF2416]

I've tested the track out and I'm gonna say it's pretty good drag track.

Can't wait for more.

[Fila]

huh... wonder why it doesn't show up on the track database.

I thought I was done working on the website but looks like I have to tinker some more. lol

Cale, what option did you use when you uploaded it?

[Ford-chan]

First impressions...

It drives quite nicely, I'm averaging most times at around 00:02:80, my fastest is at 00:02:73, in the Overkill truck. Longer wheelbase trucks tend to average faster times than the mid wheelbase trucks, and the short wheelbase trucks being the slowest.

AI appear to be averaging around 00:03:15 just about every time, haven't lost a single race, besides the occasional red light.

I haven't got around to testing this track at the game's intended frame cap at 30FPS, but I got the feeling that the AI will probably be massively OP once the frame cap is set.

Thought I'd share here my tips on how to win at Drags...

To start off, you'll need to go into the Garage menu, and set the gear ratio at 600, which is the fastest acceleration, and you'll need to be using manual transmission as opposed to automatic, as Fila explained to me once before, automatic transmission is always slower than manual transmission, particularly on straight drags. Now's the good time to start learning on how to drive with manual transmission, it will be pretty beneficial in other racing games as well, it's not really that hard to do either, once you eventually figure how to shift up and down while driving.

Secondly, the drag lines drawn visually on the ground, when you approach the Prestage line, the first line (don't approach it too fast, you'll end up going over the Stage line in that process), come to a complete stop once the Prestage lights is lit, slowly nudge forward towards the Stage line, the second line, until the Stage lights is lit, whatever you do, do not Stage too close to the Start/Disqualify line, which is the last line after the Prestage and Stage lines at the start, the third line drawn on the ground, doing so will result in a red light DQ, even if you make a fair start.

Thirdly and most importantly, you'll need to slam on the gas as soon as the first yellow lights appears a tenth of a second before the green lights goes off, as mentioned before, if you're too close to the Start/Disqualify line, that technique will not work, as you'll essentially end up red lighting in the process.

In that theory, it makes sense, since drag racing requires sweet timing of the lights to get a massive wholeshot than your opponent next to you.

Don't have a whole lot to complain about, maybe extend the course to where it's longer than a 2 second run, stock stadium drags average around 3 seconds, which is modeled off the IRL PENDA series RCA Dome track, where the average pass is around the 3 second mark.

Keep at it Cale, there's no other better content creator than you IMO.

[Cale]

huh... wonder why it doesn't show up on the track database.

I thought I was done working on the website but looks like I have to tinker some more. lol

Cale, what option did you use when you uploaded it?

"mtm1"

[Fila]

This is super weird. Can you upload something again? maybe same track? (just have to slightly change the zip name because it won't overwrite the previous one).

I just did a test upload and it worked fine for me... which it should because i don't see anything in the code that rejects "mtm1".

[Fila]

Update: It seems that no one can upload anything outside of my home wifi... which is crazy because the server itself is a 3rd party host somewhere on the east coast. I'm going to have to try to understand what is going on here.

[Fila]

Do you mind uploading again, I think I fixed it!!! (and hopefully fixed the truck uploading too so you can upload the truck pack too when done)

[Cale]

Just uploaded it again...doesn't look like it worked...

[Fila]

Did you change the file name? This time it isn't even showing up on the server.

[Cale]

No, I didn't. Odd. I can try again tomorrow, been dealing with a sick baby here so it's been tough to find time for this stuff.

[Fila]

Ah that's why. It probably gave you an error about it but you missed it. I didn't want to remove the file that is already uploaded so that I don't break the link here. The zip file has to be a different name, it won't overwrite the one that is already on the server.

[Cale]

Just re-uploaded it with a new name and it worked.

[Fila]

Thanks.

I have gone ahead and changed the filename in the database to your original upload, so that it syncs with this thread (and you don't have to change the link in the opening post). And with those gremlins out of the way, I think everything has been fixed now and we can go back to discussing the drag instead of troubleshooting the website

[Cale]

So, in that case, have you been able to try it, Fila?

[Fila]

Yeah... I'm not able to beat the trucks

[Ford-chan]

One thing I have experienced with this drag track, as opposed to the stock drags, if you were to do a Circuit/Rally race first, then hop on to the Pontiac Silverdome track, for whatever reason, both speeds, physics, and times, seem to be affected regardless of what truck settings you have set in the garage, mainly the truck will just cruise over the crush cars as opposed to bounce jump over the second set of cars just before the finish line, this in term affects lap times, especially with the short wheelbase trucks like Grave Digger and Boogey Van.

I suppose this is some sort of weird bug when creating a custom drag, as I've had similar experiences with some of the converted drags I've done with MTM2 8-7 years ago, do a race first, then hop on to a drag race, and the AI will be just as OP compared to how you would race them when you do a drag race before doing a Circuit/Rally race.

Yeah... I'm not able to beat the trucks

Are you trying it out with the 30FPS cap set? Cause I can imagine that would be the case, regardless of both using manual transmission, and have the gear ratio set all the way to 600.

[Fila]

huh. I have not been able to replicate your bug. That is weird.

However playing with your beta I realized that my issue with AI trucks sometimes getting disqualified in my mtm2 drags happens here as well (when you watch AI vs AI). So it seems like there's a bug in the drag code. Also very amusingly if you watch AI vs AI, if they don't get DQ they end up in a tie quite frequently.

[Ford-chan]

I'd take it that it's probably because MTM1 behaves differently from PC to PC, at least from my experience, one PC I had years ago, the AI trucks would be stationary and would not roll up towards the stage lines at all.

[Cale]

Yeah... I'm not able to beat the trucks

So I eyeballed the start lines and made the distance from the stage line to the guard line twice as long as from the pre-stage to the stage. That's more accurate to how they're set up in reality but I believe the game uses the same distances for each gap for the stock drag tracks. I wonder if the CPU trucks are coded to go at a certain point in the tree sequence (2nd amber, maybe?) and that's giving them an unbeatable advantage because they ALWAYS stage perfectly shallow (i.e., just at the stage line, not past it) which gives them ever so slightly a speed advantage crossing the guard beam. That means, all else being equal, they'll always have a lower elapsed time unless you as well have staged perfect.

Things have been super busy but if I get a chance later this week maybe I try tightening up the start lines and maybe that evens it out. The only other thing I could think of is that the game is somehow only expecting the 5 stock drags and it's messing something up with that, but I don't know how that could be.