Archive: 16 posts

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I've been struggling with building a race course. So many times I have painted the track, but then the thermo gets used up and I cant place that much decorations. Or shortcuts/branches. It's not that I want to make the race super complex, just 2 minutes a lap. So the question is, Is there a thermo amount that I should be aiming for when finishing painting the lap? An average... I know that I can adjust the road to make corners. I really want to make a race. I know I'm just have to make one, and learn.

2015-08-30 21:29:00 Author: valious2corvus Posts: 171

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In my experience, if you're looking to add more than a single branch, then you can't add much more than half the track thermo in primary track. If you go up to 3/4, then you're going to be pretty limited. A tip is to make your primary track in the basic form that you want, but simplified. Then you can go through and add your branches in, also simplified. Then you can go back and repaint sections that need major adjustments. Most of the manipulation can be done through the fine tuning adjustments/horizontal movements tool. This can be used to stretch the segments really far apart and lengthen segments of your track, but you lose fine tweaks for it. Don't forget your breadcrumbs. They are counted separately as far as I can tell, so no need to worry about them running out too soon. They can be made into a well seen/primary path, or a super hidden path depending on how you decorate it. They are really indispensible in any multipath track. Also, a 2 minute lap is pretty long, it would take some finagling to get that with multipath. It would take most of the thermo of a straight track for that, if I remember correctly. Consider obstacles that slow the racer in conjunction with actual track length. Sharp curves and traps/pitfalls. Fenceless narrow bridges and curves. Hope this helps.

2015-08-31 04:09:00 Author: StJimmysAdiction Posts: 388

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Absolutely spot on StJ. All great advice. I usually sketch something out prior to actual track build and as you said make a simplified copy of that then stretch sections to suit. A couple of other thoughts to lengthen the lap. 1. Grappling is slower than racing, so a couple of large gaps to traverse will add time to the overall lap with the added benefit of being able to do away with fencing etc. 2. Placing material flat on the track with a physics tweak set to 'drag' will slow all the racers down. Whether that's 'hidden' forcefield material or something more obvious is up to you. 3. You could go for a checkpoint race utilising the Arena setting. In which case you have the entire area to make the lap as long as you like and just adjust the terrain to create the track. The Rally Challenge level I built does this as a point to point race but there's no reason why the start/finish line couldn't be joined together with a lap counter and have multiple racers. Just ideas!

2015-08-31 08:48:00 Author: Scorpio1357 Posts: 460

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PPPHHHEEEEWWWWW ! 2 MINUTE ! Best to aim a little less. Like, 1.30 Could still be a pain and drain on memory. Scorpios idea is good, slow down the karts for the extra time allowance. There is a track by "Laidbackcat" which is pretty long(just under 2 mins i think)but i forget which track it is....... but i do remember that in order to fill up the level with props everything was really big...... which is a cheap(in more ways than one) but effective way to fill up a level(not that i'm recommending it).

2015-08-31 11:21:00 Author: Farmer_Freakeasy Posts: 29

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I had an idea about making the track longer after reading farmers comment about big props: Use a kart resizer to make the kart smaller, and zoom in the camera to make the world seem much bigger. You will probably have to adjust kart speed too. Then just resize the decorations to match the new kart size. This would make a normal track seem much larger than it really is.

2015-08-31 13:54:00 Author: StJimmysAdiction Posts: 388

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Awesome advice. I'll try half and half. I'm not sure about adding shortcuts and breadcrumbs just yet. Have to get my first race built and add from there. Side note: Is there a height limit off the track? Example, If I made a circle track, could I make a second/third layers on above the track with some materials (like floors)?

2015-08-31 14:40:00 Author: valious2corvus Posts: 171

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Breadcrumbs aren't just for shortcuts, but are great for any alternative path from the main road. In both my tracks "tricky triangle" and "witches run", I use branches and breadcrumbs side by side for multiple paths. I can't link them because I'm on mobile. Don't view them as an addition, but an important part to a track. They're necessary for anything more than standard track movement. You had mentioned in your OP about the thermo not allowing your branches, so we were suggesting advice to plan for that as part of your track layout, not an afterthought. Also, the track thermo is separate from your decorations thermo, so you shouldn't have trouble with decorating your complex track. The level has an ultimate height and depth, which is slightly greater than the max height and depth you can place a track. Its very possible to put a couple of layers. Make your layers and access points, and cover the paths of the extra layers with breadcrumbs. If you're too high over a track it counts you as off track, thus the need for breadcrumbs. Take note that the start/finish line cannot have multiple levels, and all paths must converge before that point and separate after it. If going that route, I suggest making the upper levels slightly smaller in diameter to account for the extra time to travel to them. Also note that this form of multipath can cause some problems for homing rockets. Not a big deal, just makes them pretty much useless unless the target is right in front of you.

2015-08-31 15:47:00 Author: StJimmysAdiction Posts: 388

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Shrinking the karts is a superb idea. That's lateral thinking for you. I'd never considered that. Gives me a great idea for a current build. Thanks. I'll borrow that one.

2015-08-31 18:10:00 Author: Scorpio1357 Posts: 460

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Another slight problem is happening. I have laid the basic track shape, and have been adjusting the corners and heights (track has been changed to bridge type to move easier). I have come across a few problems, some parts of the track have been 'locked/unmovable' (red highlighted, not at starting point). There is 'slack' on each side but one point cant move anymore. I tried erasing this area of the track, but I'm re-rolling a huge chunk and its doesn't re-roll the same amount. Erasing 20 sections, re-rolling 10. Is there an easier way?

2015-09-02 20:15:00 Author: valious2corvus Posts: 171

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You can only move so far from the adjoining sections, and beyond that there's only so far you can move from the original location. For some reason, special lbp creator logic, some sections can't move very far or at all. I haven't been able to recognize any real pattern, you just have to deal with it as it comes up. There's a way to remove select sections, and I believe add them too, but can't remember how. Need someone to back me up on that. Also, if you stretch segments really far, the track kind of separates, especially she paired with a turn. You CAN fall through this. I found it odd, but I suppose that's how the track mechanical works - each section is its own separate track that overlap each other, and the engine merges them unless they actually stop overlapping. Hasn't really been a problem for me as I usually use material as a track cover which hides this and keeps you from falling through it.

2015-09-02 20:47:00 Author: StJimmysAdiction Posts: 388

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Nice point about 'gaps' within corners. Yes that happens with a lot of stretching and sharp corners, with some adjusting you can remove those gaps. It also happens frequently with bridges. It also makes sense that the painted track origin spot has shift limits. Just didn't think that was what was happening.

2015-09-02 21:08:00 Author: valious2corvus Posts: 171

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I saw it mostly with bridges, that's what made me think of it. It may take a few attempt to get it right. Stretching the track can be finicky and take a bit of practice.

2015-09-02 21:22:00 Author: StJimmysAdiction Posts: 388

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Does elevated roads use thermo? If I made a hill/hills (painting road up/down) am I using up precious thermo?

2015-09-02 21:58:00 Author: valious2corvus Posts: 171

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Does elevated roads use thermo? If I made a hill/hills (painting road up/down) am I using up precious thermo? Any editing uses some thermo, this is why a quick sketch prior to painting is useful. Also, another note. It's not immediately obvious and not shown in the Stephen Fry tutorial that you can highlight several sections at once and move them all in one go. For instance, you've made an extremely tight turn and want to give a little extra drifting room on it's outer edge. You can highlight that outer edge only a couple of sections before and after the turn by holding down the select button and moving the d pad up/down. When you release the select button and adjust, it will adjust all the sections at once. This gives a smoother curve. This is also applicable if you wanted to widen or narrow the entire track. Same procedure but highlight the outer edge of the entire track and adjust as required. Good time saver. One other important thing to note. You cannot put shortcuts onto a road made of bridge material type. You'll have to change the start and end points to 'standard' road type.

2015-09-03 02:36:00 Author: Scorpio1357 Posts: 460

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For the benefit of other newbies reading this thread, i think it should be made quite clear that the least demanding thing on thermo is actually manipulating the default ground. So if you build a big hill and then you have your track go up the hill itself(instead of having actual road and fence) then i think you should be able to save a lot of memory that way. You can build as many hills within your level as you like and it should hardly register on the thermo. Remember that the land is already there and textured by default....... your are merely reshaping it. It also helps to "map" out the land before you start laying track, to indicate when you should go up, or turn left for instance. The most expensive items to have in your level are stickers(very expensive) and then new textures.....

2015-09-04 11:04:00 Author: Farmer_Freakeasy Posts: 29

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Hey people..Saw this and .. stretching is easy ( if time consuming ) when you knw how. So.. you can literally work your way through the whole track and wring it ? like you would to get water out of a towel .. i dont mean twist but like if you clamp yor hands around it and run one hand up from one end to the other, its the best analogy i can think of sorry, you can also add contol points to the track to allow more stretching still and those annoying little breaks can be got rid of simply buy using the d pad to run back up through the track as though your selecting a sectoin .. hope this helps, and play my super mario something track !

2015-09-04 12:07:00 Author: Laidbackcat Posts: 34

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