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ASC Edit Help File

12/24/99 ver 3.1


Overview

The purpose of this help file is to explain to you how ASCEdit works. Even though I do explain a few things about Plugins and ASC files, it is not the purpose of this document to teach you how to edit INI files or to create Plugins. Even if you don't understand the INI, you should still be able to create a plugin based on modified pieces.

It is also not the purpose of this document to teach you how to make Nationals, although you should be able to if you follow the steps outlined in Making a National.

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What's New ASCEdit 3.1

  • New Features

    1. Ability to make a 257x257 displacement map. Scaling the 257x257 ASC up to 513x513 and then back down to 257x257 causes subtle blurring that will affect a finely tuned track. To get around this I added the 257x257 option which allows creating a displacement map from an existing 257x257 ASC and going back to an ASC without loss of information.
  • Fixes

    1. Closing the Conversion dialog with the Close button ("X") didn't cancel the conversion process.
    2. Cleaned up some of the dialog handling when opening a Base ASC and creating a displacement map.
    3. After converting an SX track and then saving an 257x257 ASC file the "All Done" status would not be displayed.
    4. The %TRNFile% in the .SCN file was not being replaced with the real .TRN file name.
    5. You couldn't cancel the saving of the 257x257 ASC from the Save As dialog.
    6. Updated Help File and fixed a few bad links.

What's New ASCEdit 3.0

  • SX

    1. Ability to create a 17x17 displacement map of the SX track piece
    2. New Mirror Horizontal and Mirror Vertical buttons
    3. Ability to Shift within range
    4. Default range is everything

  • Nationals

    1. Convert an SX track to a 513x513 displacement map
    2. Convert an SX track to a 1016x1016 texture
    3. Load a 257x257 ASC file
    4. Position an SX track piece anywhere on a 257x257 ASC
    5. Overlay an SX track over terrain
    6. Fix Edges of a 257x257 ASC File
    7. Creates a .TER file
    8. Creates a .SCN file
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Limitations of Unregistered Version

This section no longer applies because, since MCM 1 is so old, I have decided to make the full version of this program freely available. You can download a serial number file here. Just unzip it into the same folder that you installed ASCEdit into.

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Registering

Making this program available as shareware is an experiment. I created this program for myself, so that I could do a better job creating my plugin, called StepUp2. I believe that others will find this utility useful. I believe there are plenty of creative people out there that would have fun using this. I have created several other utilities and am doing some research for even more. I plan on releasing these other utilities as I complete them.

Please register.

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ASC Files

SX ASC Files

SX ASC files contain the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the track piece. By changing these files, you can change the shape of the different track pieces used to create Motocross Madness SX tracks. Which ASC files are used by the different track pieces, are defined by the plugin's INI file. For each track piece, the INI file contains lines for the 4 different directions (North, South, East, and West).

SX ASC files come in 3 different flavors:

  1. There are ASC files that are the same in all directions. This type of ASC file is an NSEW type, and all 4 lines for that track piece can point to the same ASC file.
  2. There are ASC files that are symmetrical so that they work the same in the North and South direction and in the East and West direction. These pieces are NS and EW track pieces. In the INI file, the North and South lines would point to the same ASC file, and the West and East lines would point to the same ASC file.
  3. There are ASC files that are different for each of the four directions. This type of ASC file has an N, S, E, and W version. Each of the four lines would point to a different ASC file.

My editor is enforcing a standard by forcing a piece that works in all 4 directions to end in NSEW. A piece that works in 2 directions will end in NS and EW, and a piece that only works in 1 direction will end in N, W, S, and E. You can only edit the N, NS, or NSEW version of the ASC file. You will get an error message if you try to load a file that doesn't end in N, NS, or NSEW. If you really want a different name for your ASC file, just copy it and give it the name that you want. Keep the original file so that you can edit the ASC file in the future.

National ASC Files

National ASC files contain the entire track, which covers the entire center grid, in one large ASC file. The typical National ASC file is around 13 meg in size and contains 65535 points.

An SX ASC is only 17x17 points, and a National ASC file is 257x257 points.

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Using the Editor

Quick Tour

Start the editor. The first thing to do is to adjust the width so that it is as wide as possible for your screen resolution. ASCEdit will remember its position and size, so that you don't have to move or adjust it every time you run it. The first thing that you will notice is that the majority of its window is taken up by a grid. This grid represents the X and Y coordinates of the track piece. The numbers along the top (X) and along the side (Y) are the actual coordinates that MCM uses for an SX track piece. The individual cells of the grid are where you either edit or enter numbers. These numbers will represent the altitude (Z) of the track piece for that coordinate. When you are looking at the grid, it is like you are looking down at the track piece with the individual numbers representing how tall the track piece is at that coordinate. To enter data, you can just start typing in a cell or you can double-click a cell with the mouse. You can right click on a cell that is being edited and cut and paste its contents.

The rest of the window is made up of the following:

Track Piece

This area is where the name of the track piece goes. The radio buttons should reflect the piece type that is currently being worked on. An NSEW type will create only one file. An NS type will create two files (one that ends in NS and one rotated 90 degrees to the left ending in EW). The N type will create four files. The first will end in N, the second will be rotated 90 degrees and end in W, the third will be rotated 180 degrees and end in S, and the fourth will be rotated 270 degrees and end in E.

A new piece can be created by entering a name in the Track Piece edit box, selecting the appropriate piece type, and then selecting Save or Save As on the File menu.

Current Range

This section has buttons that work on the currently selected range. The three buttons to the right will use the value entered in the text box under the text, "Current Range." The five buttons on the left just work on the range and ignore the value in the text box.

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Apply Value button

Enter a number in the text box under Current Range. Then, highlight a bunch of cells and click on Apply Value. All the cells in the range will be set to this number.

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Displace button

Adds whatever is in that text box to all the values in a highlighted range. To lower a section, use a negative number. Putting a 4.63 in the text box, highlighting the entire grid, and clicking the Displace button, will raise the track piece to the height of the Classic Table Top.

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Scale button

Multiplies the number in the text box to all the values in the highlighted range. If you want to make something half as high, you can just multiply by 0.5. If you wanted to make a jump that is 1.5 times bigger than the Classic Big jump, then you would load the Classic Big jump, enter 1.5 into the text box, highlight the entire grid, and then click on the Scale button.

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Rotate 90 CCW button

Rotates whatever is highlighted 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Remember, you do not need to rotate a piece to make a west, south or east version. When you are editing a north version of the piece, it will save all 4 pieces when you select File Save, and the 4 files radio button is selected. It will rotate and save all the other directions. This button is more useful for rotating smaller sections of a track piece.

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Slope Rows button

Use this to increment the numbers evenly between two columns. I made the angled mounds with this function.

Example: Slope each row between Column 1 and Column 5.

Before:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 01 01 05 05 05 Row 2: 01 01 05 05 05 Row 3: 01 01 05 05 05 Row 4: 01 01 05 05 05
After:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 01 02 03 04 05 Row 2: 01 02 03 04 05 Row 3: 01 02 03 04 05 Row 4: 01 02 03 04 05

Slope Cols button

Use this to increment the numbers evenly between two rows. I made the sloped table with this function.

Example: Slope each column between Row 1 and Row 4.

Before:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 01 01 01 01 02 Row 2: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 3: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 4: 04 04 04 04 08
After:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 01 01 01 01 02 Row 2: 02 02 02 02 04 Row 3: 03 03 03 03 06 Row 4: 04 04 04 04 08

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Mirror H button

Mirrors the current range horizontally (meaning all the values in a row will be flipped to the opposite side.)

Example: Mirror every Row

Before:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 01 01 01 01 02 Row 2: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 3: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 4: 04 04 04 04 08
After:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 02 01 01 01 01 Row 2: 08 04 04 04 04 Row 3: 08 04 04 04 04 Row 4: 08 04 04 04 04

Mirror V button

Mirrors the current range vertically (meaning all the values in a column will be flipped to the opposite end.)

Example: Mirror every Column

Before:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 01 01 01 01 02 Row 2: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 3: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 4: 04 04 04 04 08
After:
Col 01 02 03 04 05 ----- -- -- -- -- -- Row 1: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 2: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 3: 04 04 04 04 08 Row 4: 01 01 01 01 02

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Shift Cells buttons

Use these to shift the grid up, down, left, or right. The cells that shift off one side or the other will shift back on the other side. This is useful for making pieces that can be used back to back. I made the StepUp2 MM connecting piece and the ME edge pieces by using this function. To make the MM piece, I took a symmetrical Monster jump and shifted it so that the peak was on the North edge of the grid. I then saved it as my MM piece. I then flattened the southern half of the grid and saved this as the ME piece. Quick, easy, and very powerful. This also will only shift within a highlited range.

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3D Button

This brings up a window called Display 3D, that displays the track piece in 3D. This only works on an SX track piece. It will not display a National ASC in 3D (Future enhancement).

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Menus

NOTE: ASCEdit works on two different types of ASC files and has two different internal buffers.
  • ASC17 - 17x17 SX ASC file (Can be edited using the grid)
  • ASC257 - 257x257 National ASC file (Cannot be edited using the grid)

Menu

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Display 3D

Here is where you get a quick preview of what your track piece looks like. When I am working on a track piece, I have Motocross Madness, the Track Editor, and ASCEdit running. I will edit the track piece, check it out in the 3D window, recompile a track that includes that piece, switch over to MCM, and then load that track. The only way that I could ever tell if the piece is the way I really want it, is to check it out in MCM. Use this window to make sure that the piece is looking like what you want before you compile a track.

To the right of the display windows, is a scroll bar labeled Zoom. Use this scroll bar to adjust the distance that you are away from the track piece. Move it down and you will be closer, move it up and you will be farther away.

On the bottom of the windows are 3 scroll bars, labeled X, Y, and Z.

The X scroll bar will rotate the track piece around the X axis (an invisible horizontal line going across the track piece). With the Y and Z scroll bars centered, the X scroll bar will rotate the track piece so that the top will rotate away from you when you click on the right arrow.

The Y scroll bar will rotate the track piece around the Y axis (an invisible vertical line going up the track piece). With the X and Z scroll bars centered, the Y scroll bar will rotate the track piece so that the right side will rotate away from you when you click on the right arrow.

The Z scroll bar will rotate the track piece around the Z axis (an invisible horizontal line coming directly towards you). With the X and Y scroll bars centered, the Z scroll bar will rotate the track piece so that the top side will rotate clockwise when you click on the right arrow.

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Getting Started

Although you can create plugins and pieces from scratch, I would recommend that you start with the Classic plugin and build on it.

To do this, copy the Classic plugin to another directory in your Plugins directory. Give it the name that you want to call your plugin. You can just use Test if you want. Also,copy the Classic.INI to the same name as you called your plugin directory. Add this to your plugins.ini (be sure to add 1 to your count).

Example:

  • Before
    • \mcm\trakedit\plugins\classic
    • \mcm\trakedit\plugins\classic.ini

  • After
    • \mcm\trakedit\plugins\classic
    • \mcm\trakedit\plugins\test
    • \mcm\trakedit\plugins\classic.ini
    • \mcm\trakedit\plugins\test.ini

Try editing pieces first. You can just recopy the stuff when you really want to get started. If you want to create a new piece, it is usually easier to start from an existing one. If you just type the new name in the Track Piece text box, you will create a new piece when you do a File->Save.

Once you get setup, then check out the Playing with Track Pieces section to actually work on some.

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Playing with Track Pieces

Let me show you a couple of things, and then it's up to you to come up with your own awesome track pieces.

Let's modify the big jump

  1. To start off with, let's make a copy of the standard classic big jump. I am assuming that you have already made a copy of the Classic plugin and called the new directory, "Test." So, using the File->Open menu, navigate to the Test directory and open the ASC file named JBGN.ASC.
  2. After it's loaded, click on the 3D button and check it out. Use the Z scroll bar to rotate the track piece around.
  3. Now let's make it 1.3 times bigger. To do that, enter 1.3 into the text box that is located under the words "Current Range."
  4. Then, highlight the entire grid by clicking in the upper left cell (the empty one under the A in Active.)
  5. Then, click on the button labeled Scale. This will multiply every cell by 1.3.
  6. If you click on File->Save now, your big jump will be 1.3 times bigger. If you want to give it a different name, then enter the name in the Track Piece text box and then click on File->Save. If you want to save it in a different directory, then use File->Save As.

    To make use of a piece that you give a different name to, you will have to edit the INI file associated with your plugin and add a new track piece to it.

Let's create a Monster Mound.

I'll now show you how to create a track piece that is identical to the Monster Mound included in StepUp and StepUp2.

First, we need to clear the grid and give the new piece a name. To clear the grid, enter a zero in the text box for the Apply Value button. Highlight the entire grid and then click on Apply Value. Since I don't have an undo feature, it is important to save your work.

Let's give this piece the name MMound by entering it into the Track Piece text box. This piece will be symmetrical, so click on the 2 file - NS,EW option for file type. Then, use the File->Save menu to save this new track piece.

To build this new track piece, we will use the Displace command. This isn't necessarily the easiest way, but it should give you some practice.

  1. First, enter 0.3 in the text box under Current Range. Now, highlight all the cells from row 22.5 to row 1.5. You want all cells highlighted except the top and bottom rows. Then, click Displace. All the cells that were highlighted should now contain 0.3.
  2. Enter 0.4 in the text box and highlight rows 21 thru 3. Then, click on Displace. All the cells that were highlighted should now contain 0.7.
  3. Enter 0.6 in the text box and highlight rows 19.5 thru 4.5. Click on Displace and all the cells that were highlighted should now contain 1.3.
  4. Enter 0.7 and highlight rows 18 thru 6. Click on Displace and all the cells that were highlighted should now contain 2.
  5. Enter 1.15 and highlight rows 16.5 thru 7.5. Click on Displace and all the cells that were highlighted should now contain 3.15.
  6. Leave the 1.15 there and highlight rows 15 thru 9. Click on Displace and all the cells that were highlighted should now contain 4.3.
  7. Enter 0.5 and highlight rows 13.5 thru 10.5. Click on Displace and all the cells that were highlighted should now contain 4.8.
  8. Enter 0.2 and highlight row 12. Click on Displace and all the cells that were highlighted should now contain 5.
  9. Click on File->Save to save it, and then check it out using the 3D button. You should have a nice symmetrical mound.

To make use of this piece, you will have to edit the INI file associated with your plugin and add this as a new track piece.

Let's make an angled Mound.

Now that you have the symmetrical mound, I will show you how easy it is to make an angled mound similar to the one included in StepUp2.
  1. We will start with the Monster Mound that you created above. If it's not loaded, go ahead and open it.
  2. The first thing to do, is to make the whole thing about 20 percent smaller. To do that, we will scale the whole piece by 0.8. Enter 0.8 into the text box below Current Range, highlight all the cells, and then click on the Scale button. Now, the tallest part of the mound should be a 4.
  3. We will now shrink the left side of the mound to 1/4 the size. To do this, enter 0.25 in the text box, highlight all rows of column 0. Your highlighted area should be just 1 column wide. Once you have the appropriate cells highlighted, click on the Scale button. The highest point of that column should now be 1.
  4. We will now slope all the rows of the entire track piece from left to right. Highlight the entire track piece and then click on the Slope Rows button. If you have done it correctly, the highest part of the mound should build evenly from 1 on the left, to 4 on the right. Check it out in the 3D view.
  5. Modify the track piece name to AMound and click on File->Save to save it. Then check it out using the 3D button.

To make use of this piece, you will have to edit the INI file associated with your plugin and add this as a new track piece.

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Getting Started Making a National

The Basics of National/Quarry creation:

If you want the cliffs that are around the edge of the world, then you need to download the appropriate Rainbow Sample. If you want to make smaller sized (2-3MB) nationals by using flat.ASC, which is the default for ASCEdit, then you do not need the Rainbow Samples.

To see what other tools are needed, check out What else do I need?.

It is also a good idea to have read (grab a copy while you do it) the Rainbow tutorial on their web site.

The Basics of National/Quarry creation:

  1. Make a displacement map
  2. Resize to 257x257 and save a copy
  3. Create ASC from displacement map using TGA2ASC or 3DStudio
  4. Paint a texture file
  5. Render using POVRay or 3DStudio
  6. Save 1016x1016 rendered texture
  7. Resize to 504x504 and save with an "A" appended to the name
  8. Create a 62x62 tile texture
  9. Resize tile to 30x30 and save with an "A" appended to the name
  10. Edit .SCN starting with Rainbow Sample
  11. Edit .TER starting with Rainbow Sample
  12. Compile track using MakeTerr (this creates the .TRN)
  13. Use rendered texture and MCMSplineEdit or 3DStudio to create spline .TXT file
  14. Compile spline using TrackConvert.exe
  15. Create In Game Picture and save as a 284x193 16 bit TGA file
  16. Make sure your .SCN, .DAT, and .TGA all have the same name and that the .SCN points to your .TRN and a valid cube file
  17. You have a Nat

The same basic steps described above have to be done when using ASCEdit. Some of them are done for you by ASCEdit.

Making a National the ASCEdit way:
  1. Create a working directory to put your national files in. (I call mine Nationals)

  2. Use the Create from SX .TER option, and target the output to your national directory (This is the entire conversion process in this step). Be sure to look at, and write down, the MaxZ value displayed at the bottom of the Displacement Map dialog. This is the value that you should use as your second number when using TGA2ASC or the strength in 3DStudio.

    NOTE: It is important that your video driver is set to at least 24 bit color. 8 bit and 16 bit is not good enough for generating the displacement map.

  3. You need to create a texture. To test your track, you can use the Unrendered texture created by ASCEdit. This texture is mainly to be used as a guide when you are drawing your new texture. To use the texture created by ASCEdit, load it into a paint program and save it as your trackname appended by Tex. I recommend calling your texture files the same name as your track, with the addition of Tex (ie JoyOfSXTex.TGA) for the 1016x1016 version, and TexA (ie JoyOfSXTexA.TGA) for the 504x504 version (resize your 1016x1016). The .TER built by the conversion process was created using the above naming conventions.

  4. You also need to create a Tile (62x62) texture and a TileA (30x30) texture. The Rainbow documentation is wrong on the size of the tile texture. I usually do this by taking a 62x62 section of my rendered texture and using the Paint Shop Pro "convert to seamless pattern" option under the Selection menu. The .TER will be looking for a filename that is your track name followed by Tile and TileA (ie. JoyOfSXTile.tga and JoyOfSXTileA.tga).

  5. Make the ASC257 file. You first need to resize your displacment map. Load it up, and resize it to 257x257. Then, save using the same naming convention by just changing the 513 in the filename to 257. Use TGA2ASC to create the ASC. Keep track of the Max Z value that either you set, or MakeDisplacement displays, when it's complete. Then, use the following command line from an MSDOS prompt:

    TGA2ASC yourtrackDispMap257.tga 1 MaxZ >yourtrack.asc

    Be sure to replace the "MaxZ" above with the value that you wrote down in step 2.

  6. Now, you should test compile your stuff - especially if this is your first time. Make sure that your national .TER file is pointing to the right files and that they exist. You should now be able to run MakeTerr.exe. This file is located in the same directory as the MCM Track Editor. Select the national .TER file, click process, and it should run to completion. If it doesn't, then you probably have an error in your .TER file or a file name incorrect. You can check for error messages in the Maketerr.log file that is in the same directory as your .TER.

  7. Once compiled, just copy the .SCN and .TRN file to your teraform\national directory. You are going to try it in practice mode, and at this point, the spline doesn't matter.

  8. Once you've tried your track out, you may want to make changes to the track in the SX Track Editor and rebuild your ASC file, recompile, and test. You can do this very many times before you're happy.

  9. Now, your ready for the spline. You should use Throughput's Spline Editor to build a spline for your track. You will save the spline as a .TXT file. To compile the spline, use TrackConvert.

    Example:

    TrackConvert JoyOfSX.TXT JoyOfSX.DAT

    For a quarry:

    TrackConvert JoyOfSX.TXT JoyOfSX.DAT -quarry

    You then copy the complete spline (.DAT) to your teraform\national dirctory. You should now be able to test your track with the spline. Make any changes that are necessary.

  10. Once you are happy with your converted track, and you no longer want to modify the SX track, you can start editing the displacement map. Once you start editing the displacement map, you really can't go back and reconvert without throwing away your modifications. You can now do many things like moving track sections, making the track wider, adding new jumps and terrain, and modify the existing ones. You use the same techniques as making a National from scratch.

  11. You can now work on your texture. You should use the original texture as a guide and repaint the whole texture. Then, render it using 3D Studio or POVRay. Throughput has an excellent POVRay POV file (I included it in the MCMSplineEdit zip file that you can get using this link) that makes it easy to render the files that you already have. To render, you need the Unrendered TGA file and the displacement map. When you are done rendering, you will have a rendered BMP file or a TGA if you use the +FT command line option. Open this file using a paint program that can convert file formats and save it to your National directory as a 1016x1016 TGA file. Resize it and save it to your National directory as a 504x504 TGA file. Use the same names you used in the .TER file in your National directory. You can now use MakeTerr again to compile the track. You can make changes and recompile as often as you want to see how they look.

    Let your imagination go wild. I'm anxious to see what you guys come up with.

This is intentionally not a push button process. It is possible for me to let you select an SX .TER in ASCEdit and then generate a National .TER, generate the textures, generate a spline, compile it for you, execute MakeTer to build the TRN file, and copy all the files to the teraform\national directory.

I know that's not what the MCM community wants. Use these tools to generate starting points that you can tweak and customize to make them more than something that you can do in the SX environment. The exception might be the Quarry, because you can't get points on an SX track, and you may just want to convert an SX track right to a Quarry and not enhance it. I would still at least recommend rendering the texture. I did not do this for JoyOfSX or StuntSX because I wanted people to see the raw conversion. Now, when I race on JoyOfSX, I am riding the rendered version.

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What else do I need?

Here is a list of the other tools that you need to finish your National:
  1. A paint program like Photo Shop or Paint Shop Pro. You can get an eval copy of Paint Shop Pro here.
  2. TGA2ASC - A Rainbow tool that converts a grey scale displacement map to an ASC file. You can get it here.
  3. MakeTerr.exe - A Rainbow tool included with MCM. It's the same tool used to make SX tracks and it's located in the MCM\Trakedit directory. Where MCM is where your MCM.EXE is located.
  4. MCMSplineEdit - ThroughPut's tool for creating the spline .TXT file. You can get it here.
  5. TrackConvert.exe - A Rainbow tool to compile the splines .TXT file into the .DAT. You can get it here.
  6. POVRay - This is a tool that lets you render your textures so that they have shadows. You can get it here.
  7. MCM.POV - It's a POVRay file created by ThroughPut. It is included in the MCMSlineEdit zip file mentioned above.

Rainbow Documentation

You also need to read Rainbow's documentation to get a better understanding of the whole process. You can read their documentation here.

Rainbow National/Quarry Sample

The skeleton Quarry and National TER files included with ASCEdit replace the standard edge of the world cliffs with flat terrain. This allows your TRN to be 2 to 3 meg smaller. If you want the cliffs, then you need to download either the Rainbow National Sample or Quarry Sample. They are around 12 meg in size. The reason that they are so big, is because of the ASC files for the cliffs.

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Support

I hope everyone finds this program useful. I have several ideas on what I would like to do to improve it. My number one modification would be to let you define a curve and then apply it to the track piece. The way that I have done it so far, is to just draw what I want on a piece of grid paper. I never got around to adding it, but if there is enough interest I would love to update this program to make it better.

I would love to hear what your thoughts are. Please send me your suggestions.

Visit my web site for any future updates:

http://dirttwister.com

If you have problems with this program, please e-mail me at dirttwister@gmail.com. Before doing so, please take the time to read the Help file and FAQ. If there is a specific section of these files that you do not understand, please let me know.

Please register.


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