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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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tracked.zip
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TRACKED.DOC
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****************************************************************************
* *
* TRACKED Version 0.2 - Need For Speed Track Editor *
* (c) 1996 Denis Auroux *
* *
****************************************************************************
1 - What is TRACKED, and what it does
=================================
TRACKED is a track editor for The Need For Speed, a car race simulation game
by Electronic Arts Canada. This editor is unofficial, and has nothing to do
with Electronic Arts Canada. This version is a preliminary release and thus
has many bugs. If you experience problems, you may send me e-mail at the
following address :
auroux@clipper.ens.fr
The latest version of TRACKED is available at the following URL :
http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/auroux/nfs/tracked.zip
TRACKED works by editing the .TRI files which are located in the SIMDATA\MISC
directory of Need for Speed. Since the CD-ROM files cannot be modified, you
need to install The Need for Speed in such a way that these files be located
on your hard disk. This can be done e.g. by choosing "Custom Install" in the
NFS installation software and by selecting the "Miscellaneous Files".
In addition to the .TRI files, TRACKED also uses the .FAM files in the
SIMDATA\TRACKFAM directory. These files are the texture templates.
You don't need to install them to the hard disk, since they are only used
for viewing the textures.
Remember that if you want to get back a .TRI to its original state, all you
have to do is copy it back from the CD-ROM.
More technical information on TNFS can be found in the Unofficial Need for
Speed file format specifications, available at the following URL :
http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/auroux/nfsspecs.txt
2 - Basic help and troubleshooting
==============================
To run TRACKED, you must specify a .TRI file to edit. If you want to be able
to visualize the textures, you must also specify the corresponding .FAM file.
For instance, if your NFS directory is C:\NFS and your CD-ROM is D:,
you should type
TRACKED C:\NFS\SIMDATA\MISC\xxx.TRI D:\SIMDATA\TRACKFAM\xxx_001.FAM
where xxx is one of TR1,TR2,TR3,TR4,TR5,CY1,CY2,CY3,CL1,CL2,CL3,AL1,AL2,AL3.
You may want to create a batch file to shorten this a bit !
There are several reasons which can cause TRACKED to fail initialization :
- You need to have about 700 K free XMS memory. That's usually no problem
since TNFS requires much more, but you must have HIMEM.SYS loaded.
- You must have a sufficient amount of low memory. If you have a serious
lack of low memory, TRACKED may crash without warning !
- You need the graphics driver EGAVGA.BGI to be present in the directory
where you run TRACKED. Otherwise, you will get the error message
"Graphics driver not found."
- The specified .TRI and optionally .FAM files must exist !
The load time is much higher for open tracks because the .FAM files are
very fragmented.
Once TRACKED has completed initialization, you are in the Track View module.
This is the central module, which allows you to visualize the track and to
access the other modules. The general rules are :
- If you need help, press 'H'. This will give you a contextual help screen,
depending on your current module.
- Most controls are located in the numeric keypad (arrows, ...). Some of
them differ quite a lot between the modules, so press 'H' if you're not
sure of what to do.
See the sections below for descriptions of each module.
3 - Track Viewer
============
This is the basic module for accessing the others. It presents you with a
map of the track, with the altitudes color-coded. The basic pointing tool
is the cursor (white cross in the middle of the screen). The following basic
key bindings are common to all the modules :
- Up,Down : move cursor along the track
- PgUp,PgDn : move faster
- F10 : zoom in
- Alt-F10 : zoom out
- H : help screen
In addition, the following keys access the different modules :
- F2 : Save the changes to the .TRI file
- F1 : Enter the Track Shaper (section 4)
- F3 : Enter the Slope Editor (section 5)
- F4 : Enter the Track Twister (section 6)
- F5 : Enter the Scenery Editor (section 7)
- F6 : Enter the Object Editor (section 8)
- Esc or Q : Exit TRACKED (you will be prompted for confirmation)
To get back to the Track Viewer from any module, press Esc.
4 - Track Shaper
============
This module can be accessed from the track viewer by pressing F1. Its purpose
is to remodel the track by adding or removing turns. For speed reasons, you
will see only the skeleton of the track (in high-res though).
You should not use the Track Shaper with closed tracks, because both ends
of the track have to coincide very sharply, which cannot be done easily !
If somebody out there has an idea on how to automatically ensure that the
ends fit together without adding new points on the track (i.e. only by
moving those which are already present), I'm very interested... e-mail me !
The usual keys are still valid :
* Up/Down move along the track
* PgUp/PgDn move faster
* F10/Alt-F10 zoom in/out
* H help
The cursor (white) is completed by a turn-end pointer (red). The turns will
be added between the two pointers. To change the length of the turn, you
must move the red pointer :
* Begin/End move turn-end pointer
A turn can then be inserted between the two pointers :
* <- turn left
* -> turn right
The track shaper is the only module whose modifications are buffered. This
means you can choose either to re-compute the scenery and objects according
to the new track shape, or to cancel all changes. This is NOT the case for
the other modules, where all changes take effect instantly !
* Esc abort changes
* Enter keep changes and map scenery/objects along new shape
Note that creating too sharp turns may result in some parts of the scenery
crossing each other. This can frequently result in display bugs in the game,
so you should check in the track viewer that there isn't too much overlapping.
5 - Slope editor
============
This module has a display similar to the track viewer, with three additional
pointers : a zone-end pointer (blue) and two decay-zone markers (green).
Its purpose is to add slopes in your tracks. This is done by inserting
gradually a shift in altitudes between the two decay-zone markers.
The slope itself will be located between the cursor and the zone-end pointer,
and will be fitted with nice ends that extend to the decay-zone markers,
so that the result looks smooth.
The usual keys are still valid :
* Up/Down move along the track
* PgUp/PgDn move faster
* F10/Alt-F10 zoom in/out
* H help
* Esc back to track viewer (changes are always kept)
To control the slope zone, you must move the blue and green pointers :
* Begin/End move slope-end pointer (blue)
* <-/-> move decay-zone pointers (green)
The slope can then be inserted with the following keys :
* Insert slope upwards
* Delete slope downwards
When editing a closed track, you must fit both ends. That is, since the
total height of a slope is constant, you must press Ins and Del exactly
the same number of times.
(In a further version, this might be corrected automatically at save time).
Note that inserting very steep slopes can cause (harmless) display bugs,
because it will allow you to see that over the "wall" there is nothing !
You may also have to move some objects down using the Object Editor,
because they sometimes seem to float in the air...
6 - Track twister
=============
This module is for making nice twisted turns (as in Autumn Valley and Lost
Vegas). It is still a bit experimental and you may experience display bugs
when playing the modified tracks.
This module has a display similar to the track viewer, with three additional
pointers : a zone-end pointer (blue) and two decay-zone markers (green).
The twisting is done by inserting gradually a twisting between the two
decay-zone markers. The twist itself will be located between the cursor and
the zone-end pointer, and will be fitted with nice ends that extend to the
decay-zone markers, so that the result looks smooth.
The usual keys are still valid :
* Up/Down move along the track
* PgUp/PgDn move faster
* F10/Alt-F10 zoom in/out
* H help
* Esc back to track viewer (changes are always kept)
To control the slope zone, you must move the blue and green pointers :
* Begin/End move slope-end pointer (blue)
* Insert/Delete move decay-zone pointers (green)
The twist can then be inserted with the following keys :
* <- twist left
* -> twist right
Note that inserting very steep twists can cause (harmless) display bugs.
You may also have to move some objects down using the Object Editor,
because they sometimes seem to float in the air...
Track twisting is a bit useless in open roads, because TNFS does not
adjust the horizon correctly in those tracks (the horizon will remain
horizontal when it should not).
Some twisted areas will have the following display bug : the car may
float over the track on one side (usually the down side), and dig into
the track on the other side (usually the upper side). This comes from a
badly performed computation, but I don't know how to correct it. You may
have to move the road downwards using the Scenery editor in order to avoid
your car going under the road.
7 - Scenery editor
==============
The purpose of this module is to change the positions and the textures in
the scenery (including the texture-mapping of the road itself). Its use
is currently fastidious, and it should be used only for small changes
(because it does not move the position of the cars ! If you want the position
of the car to be changed accordingly, you have to use instead the Track
shaper, Track twister or Slope editor).
The usual keys are still valid :
* Up/Down move along the track
* PgUp/PgDn move faster
* F10/Alt-F10 zoom in/out
* H help
* Esc back to track viewer (changes are always kept)
You can also move _transversally_ to the track, because each track position
consists of eleven nodes (the skeleton node plus five on each side).
* <-/-> move transversally
The currently selected node can then be moved around :
* 8,2 move current node along the track
* 4,6 move current node transversally
* -,+ move current node up,down
Note that 2,4,6,8 correspond to shift+arrows if NumLock is turned off...
Moving a node can cause other nodes to apparently disappear from the editor.
They're still there, though... just press PgUp and then PgDn (to redraw the
screen) if you feel some nodes are missing.
Aside from the positions of the nodes, you can also change the textures that
are used for displaying the scenery.
A single texture is used for a rectangle which joins two consecutive nodes
laterally, and is common to four nodes longitudinally.
If the current node is not in central position, the texture that gets edited
thus corresponds to a rectangle for which the current node is on the outer
boundary, and which is four units long.
It can be changed only if you specified a texture file (.FAM) and if the
current node is not in central position.
* Enter : texture selector
The texture selector will attempt to display the current texture, and allow
you to choose another one instead. If it fails to find a palette associated
with the texture, the display will be garbled.
The texture selector keys are the following :
* H : help screen
* <-,-> : change texture
* Enter : save change (i.e. use the currently displayed texture)
* Esc : cancel change (i.e. keep the original texture)
8 - Object editor
=============
This module is for modifying the bitmap objects that enhance the scenery.
A white pointer indicates the position of the currently selected object,
while a red pointer indicates the reference node corresponding to the object.
On the upper left corner, an information box will give information on the
currently selected object (reference node, relative position, type and flip).
* Up,Dn Select next/previous object
* PgUp,PgDn Move faster (16 objects each time)
* F10/Alt-F10 Zoom in/out
* H Help screen
* Esc Back to track viewer (changes are always kept)
The currently selected object can be moved around :
* 2,4,6,8 Move currently selected object
* -,+ Raise/lower currently selected object
* 3,9 Change object's reference node and move object accordingly.
(2,4,6,8 = shift-Arrows, 3,9 = shift-PgUp/PgDn)
Changing the object's reference node causes automatic renumbering of the
objects.
The object can also be flipped : a flip value of 0 indicates normal view
(perpendicular to the track), while 64 and -64 correspond to transversal
view (the object is parallel to the track), and -128 is reversed view
(used e.g. for turn signs). Intermediate positions (slightly rotated)
correspond to intermediate flip values.
* f,F Flip object
The current object can be deleted provided there is at least one object
left in the track.
* Del Delete current object
It can also be duplicated, before moving a copy elsewhere. This is the
easiest way to add new objects, because it reduces the trouble with the
flags/etc...
* Ins Duplicate current object
You can also change the object type (i.e. the bitmap that is used for
displaying it), using the texture selector. For this, you need to have
loaded a .FAM textures file.
* Enter Texture selector
The texture selection does not work very well currently, because the
bitmap indexation is incorrectly computed. This means that you will sometimes
get messages like "There is no such texture", or get the wrong bitmap
in the texture selector. This is especially true when the value of the
bitmap number is high.
You can still use the texture selector in most cases. The only thing is that
sometimes the texture will not be what you expected (usually, a shift by
one or two positions in the indexation).
The texture selector keys are the following :
* H : help screen
* <-,-> : change texture
* Enter : save change (i.e. use the currently displayed texture)
* Esc : cancel change (i.e. keep the original texture)
=============================================================================
For all questions, comments, bug-reports : send mail to auroux@clipper.ens.fr
=============================================================================