Our ReVolt Pub

Awhile ago Skitch2 stated that he was writing a 3ds max to Re-volt level making tutorial.
Just wondering if this ever got finished and released.

Hi dood.

I had a few tuts in the works but havnt finished any of them due to conflicting ideas from other editors.

So i have basicly stopped all topics for RV now and sit back on the side lines to watch where it all goes. hehe.

Basicly so far, I have seen one or two editors come up with a couple of Ex tracks but mainly peeps have gone back to Lego.

So no tut from me. You may get the version of Nhood Grimm 2 I have made one day but who knows hey?

Cyaz in a bit.

Mike...

Okay thanks for the info.
Guess I will never learn how to make a track with 3ds max then for re-volt.
Oh well never mind.
Time I started looking for another game to do mods for.

skitch2 you are one of the best track editor worldwide and I think this great community will make Re-Volt IMMORTAL

Hey Skitch !!
The only reason people are submitting more lego's is because it's the fastest and most easily modified way of producing a track.

Now if there was this tutorial that you have enticed us with, then maybe more extreme tracks would be created.

Would this tutorial provide easy assistance in other model making besides ReVolt related stuff ?

Hi Skitch,

I was waiting with much anticipation for your tut, I even mailed you for the beta version you mentiond but I guess that was overlooked, still no problem. I for one would love to see the tut at whatever stage its at. I have been playing with milkshape but there is no way to make a track with that, it is good for models and cars though.

I hope you find the time to finish it off and will look forward to your next creation.

Regards

Josh - piN

Hi. I seem to have lost touch with ya skitch, cant seem to connect to Austnet (for #revolt-chat) and ive tried to mail u through here but I dont know what happened. Im not sure how things are with u atm but hopefully, if u are still maxing u could post here and we could sort out a good time for a chat.

Kind Regards,
Jip

Hey Skitch! I see you were going to make a tutorial because you know how to make extreme tracks, but then you decided to not make the tutorial. Can you tell us where you learned how to make extreme tracks?

Hi All I know that I have been away for a wee while and i havnt even been in chat for yonks but I aint gone anywhere.
I am working on stuff when i have time and it is the time I am having probs with what with a few health issues i have had to deal with.

Ok heres whats what.... My new pooter will be here tomorrow I hope lol.

I will get up to date with all my tracks and get RV installed and stuff.

Get into chat and catch up with the lads there i missed emm .

Then it is on with the max work.

Now as far as Max to trax goes it is a very difficult thing to do as it changes all the time with RV be cause RV is such a great game it keeps suprising me with the amount of new discoveries i make and that makes the tut take a mega new turn.

The Main problem with it is the fact that I think the way I make tracks is going to start a few arguments with the Max editors out there as they all have there own ideas on FPS rates and far clips and poly counts and what ever else so I may decide to leave the tuts to them and concentrait on my own style of track making.

I Love to make tracks in max and I think that over the years I have done bloody well at it, so I shall hide away in the max world and see what happens next.

I very rarely let People's views and emails get to me but I am only human and have some strong feelings about my art and RV, so i needed some time out to gather meself together and i am now back and refreshed so expect some new stuff from me very soon.

All the best from me and a Quick well done to Arto for the new app, I have been on and said hello to the guys there and i think that it will make a great new linkup point for the regulars.

Mike.

Hi Skitch,

I am looking forward to your next track and the tut.

For what its worth

The Main problem with it is the fact that I think the way I make tracks is going to start a few arguments with the Max editors out there as they all have there own ideas on FPS rates and far clips and poly counts and what ever else so I may decide to leave the tuts to them and concentrait on my own style of track making.

Everyone has there own way of doing things, you have your way and from what I can see in you work there is not a lot to argue with so dont let other people stop you from making the tut.

I would keep it as simple as you can and if it works for you and the newbies to max like myself no one will complain.

Anyway thats my 2cents worth.

Kepp up the good work

Josh - piN

Welcome back Sir, can I get you your usual ?

I was just about to start looking through the trash, I thought the Spider's might have got the better of you.

I want to strongly urge you to create and release your Max 2 Trax tutorial.
If there is anyone who want's to argue any aspect of your tut, they can do it here and tell all of us thier own Tips, Tricks and Ideas about 3D-Max.
That way only extra knowledge can come from the argument, which is a positive plus in my eyes.

But to be honest, I'd doubt that anyone would state much of an arguement against you relating to 3D-Max.... well, maybe SuPeRTaRD would.

Does anyone know whwere I can get the updated version of my original Hull Breach?

I cant seem to be able to download it from anywhere.
I am puting a Skitch2 track pack together for a few mates that will install all my tracks in one hit so I need it for that. thanks all.

Mike...

Welcome back skitch and I really hope to see more of those great tracks of yours soon. As well as the tutorial, I'm sure it wouldn't harm any track maker to get even a little bit of your 3DMax skills .

Updated version of Hull Breach SHOULD be here:

http://revolt.speedweek.net/main/commen ... ull+Breach

Now that I searched it I noticed the download didn't work. I fixed it, let me know if it's not the updated version. Some strange things have happened after the server moved...

Lovely job arto works fine now dude.

Yea i will continue with the tut in some form or another lol.

Thanx all... Mike...

On completion of my next track i will carry on with the tut peeps.

As far as where did i learn? I learnt right here with you fellas and sitting in the chat room for months on end pestering the likes of Gibbler, LaserBeams, Ekla,and of course the great ali. But the most help was from my buddy SuperTard! That along with hitting buttons and making a lot of mess i managed to work it all out. It took YEARS!!! but hey it was worth it.

The only starting advice i can give you all is this......

Have a good plan of what you want to do. Make textures next. Then start on the max work.

I will be releasing the tut in stages on a web site i havn't created as yet lol (any help on that bit wold be cool lol) I have to find quite a bit of space for it as it is gonna be quite large and fully interactive so somebody who knows how this website stuff works could be usefull hehe.

And from ther we will see how it goes.

thanks......

Mike.....

Argh,

I was just told that the Hull Breach I had on the site was the wrong zip file. So that one most likely was not the updated version. I have now uploaded a version that by all means should be the right one.

Ok Before I get started on releasing any of the max tutorials i would like to use this thread to give some advice to the people starting out with exreme track creation.

Dont run before you can walk! Take some time out of Max and head into RV and make use of the "MAKEITGOOD" code.

Grab the Key table charts from RVA and start by going through each menu, rotating and placing lights and generaly pratting about with whats there. Get a feel for the makeitgood system as you are probably going to spend more time in this Editor than in Max itself!

I can only let you all know how I started and trust me when i say, it is hard long work.

It began in 1999 when Ali ,LaserBeams , Gibbler, Spaceman and Ekler were making great leaps in track design. i poped up in the chat room and asked ali to make me a funny shape tube in max (Because I had never even seen max at that point) Ali agreed and later that night i spent 16 hours in Re-Volt, finding out how to make an empty .w file. This i did by exporting a 6 tile square track using the RV track editor then using the instance mode i pinched the walls from a track ( Uma) that Ekler made along with the tube that Ali made me and I created Hull Breach. If you fly around My first Hull Breach track, you will still see the piles of boxes and the small Lego track out in space lol.

This Got me started and Hooked on making RV tracks and it taught me how to lay down all the nodes and zones used in the makeitgood editor.

For those of you who have had experience of the tools used in RV, move on to the next post. for the others who wish to start learning the ropes in Makeitgood I would start with the Warehouse Kit and the off road kits made By Jimk. These track building kits are amazing and great fun and you will produce stunning tracks in no time while learning how to get the most from Re-Volts in game editor.

Cool.
I started out this december into Re-Volt, and i practiced with MAKEITGOOD, the lego editor, etc...I know lots of things about that modes, but now i need something more. Make the tracks in 3DS. I know the struct, the files, how it works. "Maybe is the time for run" hehe.

See ya!

Nhood1

I use the nhood1 folder to creat Max Made tracks because it alows me to work inside a track folder undisturbed by AI cars. This is because only Stock tracks can run in practice mode and it is hard as hell to place AI Nodes into a track whil 8 AI Cars are fading in and out of your unfinished level

If you havnt got yourself a copy of the RVTMod 7 pakage yet i would grabb it now and have a good ole read through the docs that come with the "Ase2RV" tools, as they will become your best mates while working on your new track. The documents that come with the tools will also tell you how to install the tools but i will do a quick run up of what tools i hold in the nhood1 folder just incase you get stuck.

Cleaning up the nhood1 folder.

I will now list the files you must keep in you nhood1 folder. The files not in the list i want you to delete. ( make a back up of your nhood1 first if you feel the need).

1. The tracks ini file. (This is the text file that contains the tracks name and settings).

2. The 10 .BMP Texture sheets. Delete the 10 .bmq textures as we will remake them later.

All other files and folders in the track folder you can now remove.

This gives us our clean canvas in which we will start to add our tools.
Assuming you have now installed the cgrwin.dll that came with the RVMod tools in the correct place, i want you to add the "ASE2W , and the Mkmirror" tools to your nhood 1 folder.

The Tracks INI File......

Open your nhood1 ini file. It will look like this........

;--------------------------
;Revolt .INF file structure
;--------------------------

NAME 'Toys in the Hood';The name of the level as seen in-game
STARTPOS 0. 0. 0 ;Start position of the car
STARTPOSREV 0. 0. 0 ;Start position of the car
STARTROT 0 ;Start rotation of the car (0 - 1)
STARTROTREV 0 ;Start rotation of the car (0 - 1)
FARCLIP 80000 ;Far clipping distance (draw distance)
FOGSTART 80000 ;Fog start (slightly less than FARCLIP)
FOGCOLOR 0 0 0 ;Fog and background color
VERTFOGSTART 0 ;Vertical fog start (as in rooftops)
VERTFOGEND 0 ;Vertical fog end (as in rooftops)
WORLDRGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original world gouraud
MODELRGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original model gouraud
INSTANCERGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original instance gouraud
MIRRORS 0 0.75 0 256 ;Type - mix - intensity start - distance
MP3 'nhood1.mp3'
REDBOOK 4 9



We need to set the start pos and rotation to match with the 0X0 position in Max.
We also need to change the fog and farclip settings along with the colour. I will paste in an already edited ini for you to look at.


;--------------------------
;Revolt .INF file structure
;--------------------------

NAME 'Toys in the Hood';The name of the level as seen in-game
STARTPOS 0. 0. 0 ;Start position of the car
STARTPOSREV 0. 0. 0 ;Start position of the car
STARTROT 0 ;Start rotation of the car (0 - 1)
STARTROTREV 0 ;Start rotation of the car (0 - 1)
FARCLIP 80000 ;Far clipping distance (draw distance)
FOGSTART 80000 ;Fog start (slightly less than FARCLIP)
FOGCOLOR 0 0 0 ;Fog and background color
VERTFOGSTART 0 ;Vertical fog start (as in rooftops)
VERTFOGEND 0 ;Vertical fog end (as in rooftops)
WORLDRGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original world gouraud
MODELRGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original model gouraud
INSTANCERGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original instance gouraud
MIRRORS 0 0.75 0 256 ;Type - mix - intensity start - distance
MP3 'nhood1.mp3'
REDBOOK 4 9

I Have set the fog colour to 0,0,0 which is black.
I Have set the farclip and fog start to 80000, this is so we will be able to see way into the distance while creating our track and this helps while placing Vizboxes later on.

I Have set the position and rotation of the track to 0, this will match our 0 position in max so our start line in max will also be the drop point for our RV cars in game.

OK That about summs up the bits you need to have ready before we hit the 3D Studio Max Section.

This is alot of tutorial to get your head round, but it will be worth it in the end.
I will be releasing the first Max2Trax step this week end and i will be posting a contents list later for the Max2Trax Tutorial.

Mike....

If there are spelling or grammer errors in these posts, Tuff lol. I aint a secretary or nothin lol.

Basic editing skills and techniques stage by stage.
I agree, start simple and basic.

1) Make quite a few Track Editor Lego tracks, use as many different pieces as you can. Race your tracks and see what works in creating a good flowing yet challenging track. Check out Spacemans site for basic Lego track making hints and tips : The ReVolt Workbench

2) Learn to access and use the MAKEITGOOD name cheat edit modes. Start with the basic Objects, then add Instances, move on to tweaking the AI Nodes, Pos Nodes and Track Zones to create better challenging AI cars. More advanced editing would involve the Lights, Visiboxing, Farce Fields and Camera placement.
Your best sources of information on MAKEITGOOD are : Makeitgood Menu @ RVA & RV Extreme
Also check out some of the old mIRC chat logs on Makeitgood editing : Welcome to FAQName!

3) Rather than using a Lego track as a base, start to create your own all instance track. Here is when you'll start to get to grips with RV-Glue, a tool that has proven indispensable for a lot of track makers. With this tool you can start to add surface properties and specific colour effects with env mapping. By grouping select prm's/instances you can create your own unique instance's.
You'll need the full set of tools in the form of RVTmod7.zip
For other instance creation and altering tools visit my RV Tool Shed
Check out the Glue Tutorial @ RVA

4) If you have mastered or at least feel fully confident in Track making at this stage, then it's on to 3D modeling programs.

***ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR WORK***
at each stage of development.

Now here is where Skitch's tutorial and anyone elses hint's, tip's and trick's on 3D model creation, come in to play.

Personally I have never Made a lego track in my life I dont feel its necessary to start there in order to create Extreme tracks which is what my tutorial is about.
I shall stick to writing the tutorial on the outside of this site and leave you to carry on with user tips and tricks MM.

All the best..

Mike....

I am looking forward to this tutorial.
As I had always wanted to make a RV track with 3ds max.

I don't know what system units Skitch2 users.
But I have found that setting 3ds max up to use.
The following worked.

Display unit scale - metric - meters
System unit setup - 1 unit = 1.0 meters.
respect system units ticked

Works for the scale of real world objects.
Such as instance prms and for the W file.

I only just started testing this today.

I dony alter max units at all from standard generic units.

I Make sure that the polys are 250 x250.

a full RV tile as used in toylite wold be 1000 units square with a segment setting of 4x4

ending up with a tile containing 16x 250x250 polies.

Nice start, very clear and informative, looking forward to the next installment.

Josh

Skitch2 @ May 9 2006, 07:18 AM wrote:Personally I have never Made a lego track in my life I dont feel its necessary to start there in order to create Extreme tracks which is what my tutorial is about.
I shall stick to writing the tutorial on the outside of this site and leave you to carry on with user tips and tricks MM.

All the best..

Mike....

Sorry Skitch, I meant no offence and did not mean to minimize the work and effort you are putting in to this tutorial.

Please post sections of your tutorial here, as and when your ready.

LOL None taken MM I wasnt avin a dig at you buddy!

I HATE LEGO TRACKS!!! lol

I dont know what it is about them but for me they are the only thing that lets RV down hehe.

I will try to release another tut section in the form of a zip file this weekend.

Mike....

Hi

Making lego tracks is a very good way to start (IMO only !), better than yours that I still found awesome ! In that way you can drive in faster, and I found it better when starting, because all I want when creating a track is play on it as soon as possible

Well I don't reply for that reason at all...

I'm making a Lego Pack (sorry if you don't like the idea ) and I intended to send it with a tutorial, so I'd like to know if you're ok to try to make a sort of big "learn package" including Jimk Off-Road kit, etc... Or anything else

Please tell me, I don't know how to make a good tutorial !

Again, Not liking Lego tracks is a personal thing doods. I fully encourage the creating of all typs of tracks but i dont think that you need to use an editor like the RV one in order to create tracks for RV. The RV editor creates all of the zones and nodes for you, has a limeted layout, look and feel and it just aint for me (just my opinion) I am more for the full tilt learning curve jump into makeitgood and max type.

As far as kits go, I love the idea of kits for track making and i feel that the idea has already been done to its best by Jimk and see no reason to create anymore.

The creation of a full Max track isnt that hard if you have a good idea, plenty of time, lots of patience and a basic knowlege of box modeling in max. Making a tutorial for this is more dificult than i ever thought it would be. It is like talking your way through making a cup of tea step by step (try it on paper) real tough and time consuming.
Please bare with me, it will happen.

Mike.....

Did u ever thought to grab you making a track? (Videotutorial)

See ya!

Max2Trax is a vidio tut with narative

I know making tutorials is very hard, I've started...
For my Lego Pack, you'll can't add pieces with the RV-Editor, not yet, and maybe not before a LONG time, so for people who have already started to make tracks with that editor and who want more pieces, they'll have to learn how the MAKEITGOOD edit mode run.
Anyway, I'll try to finish it as soon as I can, and if I need help, can I ask you for tips on "How to make a tutorial ?"

Thx in advance,
KW

Max2Trax is a vidio tut with narative

Where is it?

I can see that 3D MAx is a good track making program. Do you have to buy it or is it downloadable?

Can be downloaded, but its "illegal" i think
Can do via p2p programs i think, like eMule

hello peter,
max is one of the most widely used software in advanced animation and modeling world, used for creating films for example Ice Age. its developed by descreet-autodesk group, which is one of the giants. therefore the price is very high. there is a downloadable version which has all the features, but theres a time limit (1 month) for use. max like any other software is downloadable by p2p applications (there are a lot of) aswell. the question is only that does (download it for free but illegal) it fit your phylosofy about using softwares, rights, and so on. i know people from both camp, and i can understand their point of view and principals. its a moral question, you can decide.
greetings,
human

*RiffRaff waves at the community I long ago lost touch with. HELLO!!!!!!

Just played the last track I built yesterday. Been so long I almost forgot how it went.

Glad to see Skitch is back to work, look forward to the newest work from the old timer, LOL.

As far as myself, well I cant remember the last time I used 3dsMax. Must be when I was making tracks for POD a few years ago. It all comes back to you though, and if youre creative enough, anything can be built. Thats what made it enjoyable for me; just doing it regardless of how it was going to be accepted by anyone.

Glad to see you admit to being human Skitch. Write your tutorial, I want to see it. If somebody dissagrees with your method, let them do it their way then.

Hey RiffRaff! Welcome Back!!
As I see all the users are comming back!

RiffRaff, woof woof!
Welcome back dude!

Hey RiffRaff! Nice to see you dood!

Glad to see ya about our still growing hood.

(Need to find scloink next) lol

Hi Skitch,

Im sorry to here you will not be continuing with the tut, I am with Riff Raff

Write your tutorial, I want to see it. If somebody dissagrees with your method, let them do it their way then.

After the first part you did I stoped the work I was doing and was going to work with max 2 trax to produce my track, I'm hoping you will finish it as im sure that people will move from lego if the information is there for them to work with.

I had never even considdered trying anything using a 3D programme before I discovered this game, and all I have learned has been from the community.

All the best

piN - Josh

;--------------------------
;Revolt .INF file structure
;--------------------------

NAME 'Toys in the Hood';The name of the level as seen in-game
STARTPOS 0. 0. 0 ;Start position of the car
STARTPOSREV 0. 0. 0 ;Start position of the car
STARTROT 0 ;Start rotation of the car (0 - 1)
STARTROTREV 0 ;Start rotation of the car (0 - 1)
FARCLIP 80000 ;Far clipping distance (draw distance)
FOGSTART 80000 ;Fog start (slightly less than FARCLIP)
FOGCOLOR 0 0 0 ;Fog and background color
VERTFOGSTART 0 ;Vertical fog start (as in rooftops)
VERTFOGEND 0 ;Vertical fog end (as in rooftops)
WORLDRGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original world gouraud
MODELRGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original model gouraud
INSTANCERGBPER 100 ;RGB percent of original instance gouraud
MIRRORS 0 0.75 0 256 ;Type - mix - intensity start - distance
MP3 'nhood1.mp3'
REDBOOK 4 9


I have followed these settings.
With a very large plane made in max that is centred at 0,0,0.
How ever thew cars still do not land on the track plane.
The plane appears very high up above the cars yet was positioned at 0,0,0.
What have i done wrong?

You need to lower the plane dood.

Youve done nothing wrong, it is a little quirk with the way a RV car spawns on screen. It seems to take an inch or so drop before the car becomes solid. I just make sure i give it the space to drop be lowering the plane in max.

The other thing i have noticed about the 0,0,0, thing is that it also depends what direction you place the start straight as the car seems to drop and inch out along the x plane. But with a bit of fiddling in max you can be sure to get it right in the end. Having the track at 0,0,0, is mainly set to help you with the making of the track. I you want to make a bend and the straight you want to bend isnt set along a straight line in max your bend wont happen the way intended.

I will very soon be able to show you all how i do this. After i have completed this track, i will send out the first 3 steps of a tut (I will be asking Arto for some room over at RVZT as I would like it to be added to his site if poss. I havnt asked him yet lol so fingers crossed.

9 years later since last post! I'm interested in rebooting Max tracks (I say 'rebooting', maybe people are still making them?). I've done a few max tracks and I'm interested in people's tips and opinions. Is there a place I can post them with other Max tracks?

Hi mate! I am still about and working in max but have issues getting the ase tools to work on win 8.1 which has put a stop to my editing at the mo until a fix is available
The Max2Trax forum is still up i think so it can be used. as soon as i sort out the log in details i can pm them to you so you can do what you like with it.
all the best.
Mike.

Skitch2 @ 1 Jul 2015, 11:42 PM wrote: Hi mate! I am still about and working in max but have issues getting the ase tools to work on win 8.1 which has put a stop to my editing at the mo until a fix is available

why don't you use a Virtual Machine with windows XP to use ase tools on ?

Skitch2 @ 1 Jul 2015, 07:42 PM wrote: Hi mate! I am still about and working in max but have issues getting the ase tools to work on win 8.1 which has put a stop to my editing at the mo until a fix is available

There is a fix: DISABLE UAC. you can either login as Built-In Administrator or Disable UAC in registry at the cost of losing ability to use Windows 8 style immersive applications.

Skitch2 @ 1 Jul 2015, 11:42 PM wrote: Hi mate! I am still about and working in max but have issues getting the ase tools to work on win 8.1 which has put a stop to my editing at the mo until a fix is available

Ive had minimum experience with windows 8, but is there not a compatibility tab when you right click EXE files?

RichyDude @ 7 Jul 2015, 01:59 PM wrote:

Skitch2 @ 1 Jul 2015, 11:42 PM wrote: Hi mate! I am still about and working in max but have issues getting the ase tools to work on win 8.1 which has put a stop to my editing at the mo until a fix is available

Ive had minimum experience with windows 8, but is there not a compatibility tab when you right click EXE files?

you're looking in the wrong place or it's disabled by policy and you can always use "Run as Administrator" option. you cant set compat for networked files via gui but you can via registry and cmd