Hug maps part 2 - Sneezy and Dopey

Contents

Overview

In this part we'll cover all the techniques required to build the maps
EvaMin02 Sneezy and EvaMin03 Dopey in their TMO TMX incarnations.

This means achieving these goals:

You'll need TrackMania PowerUp (1.2.5) for the first two goals (sorry, PowerUp demo can't use these techniques), and TM 1.0.0 or 1.1.0 for the third. We'll cover the same goals and more for all versions of TM* and all the other environments in later parts.

 

Extending the F12 bug to the Alpine and Rally environments

So we had fun with the F12 bug in Desert in part 1, but you'll notice that in the Alpine and Rally environments the F12 key has a group of blocks assigned to it, so we can't use the bug (yet). In Rally the boring old sign blocks are there. We don't really need them in the initial stages of building most maps, so how about just deleting them? Well, luckily that works!

In Alpine there are useful blocks on F12... but there are just a bunch of boring blocks under F11, how about deleting them instead? Well, that works too, the block group on F12 just moves down to F11 and the F12 key is free!

Get the scripts F12Bug.Expose.bat and F12Bug.Hide.bat and put them in your PowerUp folder (the top level, where TrackManiaLauncher.exe is). Run F12Bug.Expose.bat to get the bug, and once you've finished using the bug, run F12Bug.Hide.bat so that all the blocks are available again. Beware that while the blocks are gone you won't be able to load or play any maps that use them. (Actually there are a couple of ways to have such maps load OK even with the F12 bug exposed, but they're kind of fiddly. I guess I should document them some time...)

 

Tips on merging

For landscape blocks (step 3 in Hug maps part 1) we recommend using F7, 3 for Alpine, and F10, 6 or F10, 1 for Rally.

Note that some road blocks don't need the initial messing around with landscape blocks to do merges. For example, if you want to merge anything with the Rally high dirt road (F4), you can place that road in step 3, and place the block you want to merge it with after step 4 or 5.

 

Merging more than two blocks

For this we need to keep repeating steps 2, 3, and 4 from part 1. Just add another landscape block for every extra block you want to merge. Usually we like to give the blocks a different rotation or even use a different block so that it's easier to see what's going on.

Then do steps 5 through to 9 for the first block merge, then repeat steps 7 through 9 for each subsequent block you need to merge.

 

Placing blocks at normally impossible heights

Quite a subtle one this. We used it to place the windmill that's just before the finish in Dopey. Notice how it's sunk into the road a bit, a little lower than the other windmill nearby.

For this you'll need an even older version of TM - either 1.0.0 or 1.1.0. The F1 key doesn't work in 1.0.0 so you'll have to select it with the mouse. Then press F12, 1, space. Because of the annoying copper system you'll have to go back to the F1 group, then back to the F12 group to place the next piece of grass. Once you've got two suitable pieces of grass, press F10, 6 and place the windmill as required.

After that you can save the map and load it into whatever version of TM you want to work with next. Note that you'll have to place blocks like this first if you plan to do the rest of the map in some other version of TM, as you generally can't load a map from later versions into earlier versions.

Windmill Roundabout is a cheesy little map using this trick where the fastest route is to drive on the windmill. My best time is 5.01; is 4.xx possible?

 

Conclusion

So now you know all the basic techniques for creating EvaMin02 Sneezy and EvaMin03 Dopey. Get busy!