Ripper's Majic Bus

Hey people - i started into rebuilding Skoggit a little over a year ago, but life managed to get in the way and i never finished it. When i picked it back up about a month ago, i found that it was integrally broken in the new version of the track builder and that i was going to have to start over. :(

So, i finally just accepted my fate and now i'm not too far off from where i left it last time around. On the upside of starting over a year later, there are now better models and far easier tools available for building things. I also managed to learn a lot about what to do and what not to do during the first run-through, so it's already going much smoother and much faster.

I've also decided to make this blog separate from any particular game since the track builder can export to so many different games. It'll always start at rFactor, but i just picked up Richard Burns Rally and intend to start exporting to that with one of the next few builds. And who knows after that... the heavy sim games tend to torture me a bit, so hopefully something just a little more 'arcady' will come along at some point and i can aim at that. We'll see...

Anyway, here's the blog link:
http://mcotracks.blogspot.com/

I hope you guys are all doing well in the new year!

~Sub

NICE LOOKING!

Yeah, looks really good.

Thanks guys! This is turning out a lot better than my previous attempt. I'm currently littering the streets with light poles and random crap. If only I could find pedestrians that jump out of the way when I try to run em over...

That's awesome stuff Sub!

Thanks man! Though i didn't get too much done today, i got lights working at night. This might actually start to look kinda purdy at some point:

[ img ]

There are a few more shots on the blog, if anyone's curious.

~Sub

Hell yeah! Glad your at it again old fart!

Unk! *BRRRAAPP* it's good to see you guys still kicking around as well. I've been itching to get back to track building for awhile now - and naturally, that brings me back around all the old hangouts.

Just finished a little video of the first town:


~Sub

Oh HAYL yes!

Too Cool!

Sweet!

fREAKY dEAKY
freakin a Sub cool stuff
Hideaway

Looks like I am going to have to pick up a copy of rFactor!

AMAZING JOB Sub

Thanks guys! The new track builder has this moving a lot faster than the previous one. It's also a lot prettier - before i put up this new video, i watched one from my first attempt at building the track and it was godawful ugly in comparison.

It's going to be pretty cool when it's finished. Not only will there be a whole new section of track added to the old track, but we'll be able to set up races with 20+ cars; if there are ever that many people around. I can't really imagine what that'd be like... the word 'clusterfuck' comes to mind, but we'll have to wait and see. It might be cool.

The MCO Mod cars are pretty cool too. I have a little trouble with some of em though. If i upgrade the engine or tranny on the 57 vette or cobra, it feels like they're being driven around on the end of a stick. They feel great if i don't upgrade em, but that's no good. Some of the other cars feel that way in their stock state, but i don't know if it's just me or if other people feel that way too. The guys working on the mod don't have any trouble with em, so i can only wonder.

Anyway, i'm really cranking on this sucker now. I'm pretty sure i'll be getting anxious to race on it before it's done and have to do some franken-version of it just to get some races in. Picture a version with the end of Tornado Flats tying into the beginning of Dead Man's Run. Dead Man's Flats, it will be.

~Sub

I'm kind of wondering why you started with such a (relatively) massive track like Skoggit. Bel Aire, or hell, even Proving Grounds would have been a much easier starting point (I would imagine).

Aww hell, I just remembered punting washing machines in Spillway

It's true, Skoggit's an enormous beast of a track. But i figured i'd need something really inspiring to get me through the learning process. With Skoggit, Gas Town and Industrial as my favorite tracks, it had to be one of those three to see me through the hard times. ;)

I also like that Skoggit has a variety of cool areas to race through. Towns with shortcuts, straightaways, twisty-turny crap toward the end. I think it's really my favorite track and hallmark of MCO.

Though i'd have to say, i've thought a couple times that i should just crank out Tri-Oval to get something done. But dammit, i can't stand oval tracks!

~Sub

And speaking of the Spillway. If i'm not completely bled dry when i finish this one, i'm going to build Gas Town next. And then, if i've completely lost my mind, i'll build Industrial.

~Sub

Just remember, If you should ever decide to make Hazard Hollow, don't forget the Troll!

It's funny, i've accidentally built some trolls along the way. Though i've managed to kill them all, i always think that if i ever get to HH, i'll actually put one in on purpose.

Damn Sub, that is kick ass!!!


So I need rFactor for this?

It exports to rFactor most easily, so that will always come first, but i plan to kick it to Richard Burns Rally as well since it supports point to point tracks (like the traditional Skoggit). In fact, as soon as i get down to the turn around at the end of Dead Man's, i'm going to see if i can export a raceable version for RBR. It'd be nice to have incremental releases of track sections instead of having to wait for the whole track to get done before anyone can race on it.

The only thing about RBR that i'm not so fond of is that i haven't found any MCO cars for it. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to port em over, but i don't know. There are also quite a few other games i could export to. If anyone's got a hankerin' to set up an MCO camp in one of these games, i could spit the tracks in any of these directions as well:

-Race 07
-GTR Evolution
-GTR2
-GT Legends (i picked this one up awhile ago, it might be cool, but comes with StarForce piracy protection, so i haven't installed it on anything yet.)
-Racer.

It also exports to a DX format that can be imported to 3DSimed and then over to 3DStudio Max. So in theory, any racing game that can take a track out of 3DS Max could also be used. That represents a bit more of a technical leap than what i'm on board for at the moment, but who knows. I'm just going to focus on getting a track done and then think about that later.

~Sub

(also, i wouldn't encourage anyone to go out and buy rFactor just yet. I mean, what if i get hit by a bus before i'm done? You'll be out 30 bucks.)

LOL, good point