Editor
Starting
To edit a track, either load an existing track or create a new one (by default, they are put in the "tracks/new" directory). Navigate in the menu using the arrow keys and enter. Advanced users might prefer using command line. When editing a track, exiting is done by pressing Esc and confirming with 'y'. A normal track consists of two files: a trk file and a pat.png file. If you copy a track to another location, remember to copy both these files. To rename a track, rename the trk file, load it with the editor and save again.
Before you distribute your tracks...
It is fairly easy to make tracks with the editor but it may be harder to make a track that is actually good. When you master basics, be sure to understand everything in the Making a Good Track section before you distribute your tracks to anyone. Making changes after the track has already gone to other players causes problems as people may have different versions of the track. It is important to make good control lines so that it is not possible to accidentally miss a line or have unintended shortcuts. You should also check terrain mode (F10) to make sure there are no unseen holes in tarmac or other oddities.
Editing a Track
The editor has several modes which are selected with function keys: The track is saved with F6. Editor is exited by pressing Esc and confirming with 'y'.
Tile Mode (F1)
In the tile mode, tiles can be selected, rotated and added with the arrow keys or s/d/f/e (with or without shift+ctrl) and mouse. Last addition can be deleted with backspace. Space performs "add tile before the last tile". That can be used in special cases, for example when you want to add a straight track tile below a previously added curve tile. Holding Alt when moving mouse keeps x or y coordinate fixed. Many tiles have precalculated lighting which does not allow them to be rotated. You can fast-select certain tiles with number keys 0-9 (with or without Shift).
Control Point Mode (F2)
In the control point mode, new control lines can be added by clicking two points in the track. The control lines are either vertical or horizontal line segments which the cars must pass in the correct order to complete a lap. The first control line is also the starting line and marks the beginning of a new lap. If track type is Single Lap Track, finish line is the the last control line and races always have only one "lap". Make sure that:
There is enough space for the starting grid (do not place any obstacles in it). There are not any shortcuts. You cannot accidentially miss a control line by going off-road or driving curves too tightly. Remember this especially with the starting line. Make it much wider than the road unless there are obstacles near the road.
Object Mode (F3)
Object mode is like tile mode. Objects are bridges and such special tiles which are drawn on top of other tiles. Objects have some overhead during the game so do not overuse them.
Lightmap Mode (F4)
Lightmap mode can be used to modify the appearance of the track by editing lightmap on the track. There are four parameters that can be changed with keys s, f, d, e and arrows. Just experient with the different settings to see what can be achieved or turn lightmap off with 'o'.
Pit Mode (F5)
In pit mode you can add a pit to the track. This is optional but if you want to have a race with pit stops, the track must have a pit. Click two times to define the upper left and lower right corners of the pit. To remove pit, press backspace.
Start Position Mode (F7)
Start position mode can be used to override default starting positions of the track. You must define either none or all twenty starting positions. To add a new starting position, click two times. First click defines the position and second click the angle of the car which starts in that position. Note that the position is the middle position of the car. If the second mouse click is with left button, the angle is rounded so that it is easier to get angles like 0 and 180. If you use right button, the angle is more exact.
Track Type Mode (F9)
In Track Type Mode, you can change the type of the track. If the type is different from the default mode (Racing Track), it can also affect how some other modes work. Read README-battle.txt and README-punaball.txt for more information.
Terrain Mode (F10)
You cannot edit anything in Terrain Mode but it should be used when finalizing a track. In Terrain Mode, you can see for example if there are holes in tarmac or other oddities which should be fixed.
Full View (F11)
In Full View, you can view the whole track at once. You cannot edit in this mode.
Making a Good Track
Use time and energy to finish your tracks before giving them to anyone. It is easy to make an otherwise good track bad if you forget some basic rules. So make sure you understand everything in this chapter.
Make good control points (F2)
Place your control points so that there are not any shortcuts. Shortcutters are clever, think hard to see all possibilities. Try to make to control points such that it is not easy to accidentially miss a control point. For example, put a solid obstacle in the inner curve and make the line long enough so that it is not possible to go around it. Make sure that it is only not allowed to go around a U turn driving the wrong direction. Also make sure that it is not possible to miss the finish line which is the first control line you insert. Make it wider than the road.
Check terrains
Use Terrain Mode (F10) to see that there are not any small areas of grass or sand where there should be tarmac.
Do not make your track too far out
It is possible to make very odd tracks. This may seem funny but no one probably wants to actually play such a track for a long time. Creativity is of course good, but try not to make the rules of your track too different from the other tracks.
Tips
- Normally, a track is made in several phases. First, make background with different terrains. Then, build the track itself. After that, add obstacles, control lines, possibly new starting positions and pit, and finally, set lightmap.
- When you tile background terrains or the track tiles, make them overlap slightly.
- If the track maker is not correct, you can edit it with any text editor in the trk file. By default, the maker is made to be the first player name you have entered in the game.
- To correct errors, it may be necessary to remove or change tiles using a text editor. Each tile addition is on its own line in the trk file.
- If you rename a track, you must open and save it with the editor at least once. Otherwise, the pattern file is not used, since the trk file has reference to the old name. This makes track profile unavailable and may cause track record problems.
- To get curves look better, first add a curve tile, then add straight track tiles below the curve tile by using spacebar.
- Use Alt key frequently to be able to put tiles on the same line.
Command Line Parameters
Usage:
editor [-mod <mod name>] [-x <size>] [-y <size>]
[-maker <name>]
[-fullscreen 0|1] [-tx <track x size>] [-ty <track y size>]
[-save 1] <track name>
- -mod: mod to use (must be the first parameter)
- -x, -y: the window size.
- -maker: specify maker when creating a new track.
- -fullScreen: whether to be in full screen mode (also with -f).
- -tx, -ty: the track size when creating a new track.
- -mo: max objects, increase the number of objects supported.
- -save: if set, the loaded track is immediately saved and editor exists. This way, third party editors can generate hash and pattern information easily.
If the track name is an existing track, the editor opens it using its size. Otherwise, a new track is created with the given name and track size. If -tx and -ty options are not provided, default size is 640 x 400. If you open an existing tracks, the tx and ty options have no effect. If you want to change the track size afterwards, you will have to edit the track file manually with a text editor.
Note that when you have a mod parameter, the file name is relative to the mod directory. So, for example, to edit mod_example/tracks/track.trk, jo must type "editor -mod example tracks/track.trk".