Well, for all you people
interested in making tracks, this is an explanation on how to get
started, I (Austin) have been asked many times what to do, but
its hard to explain, in this section I'll try to give
explanations on how it works, with pictures to show what i mean.
Here is a keytelling you what the different icons mean:
This is where you'll compile/save/load your maps for you with
HoverRace
This
is used to select rooms/walls so that you can change different
aspects of them.
This is used to change the shapes/sizes of rooms and
to separate rooms if needed.
This
is used to move a selection of track around (if you have a bit
selected).
This
is used to make a room.
This is used to make a 3d object inside a room (WARNING:
3D OBJECTS WILL HAVE PROBLEMS IF NOT INSIDE A SINGLE ROOM)
This is
used to make start positions/checkpoints/finish lines/fuel
sources/speed zones/inflating columns/mines/boosters.
This is used to make a node path, I've never seen one
before, so you don't need to used it.
This
is used to cut objects, but I've never seen this used either, so
you won't need it.
This
is used to add an extra side to a room.

This is where you'll change things about rooms/entities/your
track.
These will all be used in
the tutorial, so you will learn how to use these.
Section 1:
Making a room
Select the room icon and
create a square room like this, by clicking to place the room:
to 
to to 
to 
Now you have a room. Click
the entity icon and click inside the room to create
"Start position 1"

Now, lets add a background,
you can use any background you want from the backgrounds section,
but if you're in a rush, you can use the example background. Here
is how to put a background in


Then click open. You are
now ready to compile your map, but first you must save it, click
File, Save, and save it as test. Then press F7 and follow this


Open tracks by double
clicking and save test, you will be given warnings that positions
2 to 10 are not there, but that's ok, so click ok. You are then
ready to run your track, as long as the compiler runs
successfully.
Open HoverRace and try your
track, you should get a square room, with no walls and a ugly
background, but you have learnt the basics of making a room, WELL
DONE!
If you want to put in walls then select the arrow
icon and highlight the room, by holding the left arrow
and dragging it across, then you will see that you can change the
wall/ceiling/floor texture as well as the floor/ceiling level in
here, so feel free to play around with them, you can compile it
over and over, so it can be changed.

Section 2:
Making a simple circuit
Now you know how to make a
room its time to make a track, we'll be making a square track, it
will all be kept on the same height, so that you can get to grips
with making a circuit.
You can use the square box
from before to start this circuit, but I suggest making the size
suitable for racing in, as you don't want to make a whole track
and find its too small to race in, once you have tested your box
and have found it suitable to race in, you'll be ready to start
adding more boxes to make a circuit, to join a room up, you do
this

with the room icon select the top right corner of the box,
then do another room shape next to it, like this

to

to

to

Now the rooms are connected. Continue doing this to make a shape
like this

This is the basic frame for
your circuit. Now using the entity icon place another entity in the box to the right of
"Start Position 1", then in the "Item Type"
box select "Finish Line", this will be the finish line,
but before the finish line will work, you will need checkpoints,
these determine if you have done a lap properly, so place an
entity in the bottom right box and then select "Item Type"
as "Checkpoint 1", do the same in the bottom left box,
but select "Checkpoint 2", this makes your circuit work
(basically you go past both checkpoints in numerical order to
finish a lap), make sure that you can only go past the
checkpoints and not put them somewhere wrong (e.g. inbetweek the
end and start of a pit, as this would mean players miss a lap if
they go into the pits) It will then look like this

Now we can put some walls
into the track. Using the arrow icon
select the whole track (by left clicking and dragging a box over
the track), then set the "Wall Texture" to "Gray
wall", now again using the arrow icon, select the "Finish
Line" box and set "Wall Texture" to "Checkers"
and the "Floor Texture" to "Checkers", save
the map, and then compile it, you will get the same error
messages that there isn't start positions 2 to 10, but that's ok,
your track is now complete, test it and you'll see.
Well done!!
Section 3:
Adding other features
Well, you've made a track
now, and its not exactly great, but now you know how to do it,
you can make better ones in the future. This section is going to
explain how to add 3d objects/mines/boosters/pit zones/speed
zones/all starting positions/inflating columns, so you'll know
all you need to know when you start making your own.
3D Objects
3D objects must be inside a
room, the reason being is that if not, you'll find that the walls
are 'sticky' or hollow, which isn't what you want. 3d objects can
be used for a lot of things, making walls, making jumps, splitting
tracks, but each 3d object cannot pass into another room, you can
have multiple 3d objects in a room, and 3d objects in all the
rooms, but you must have a 3d object inside a room. 3D objects
are made with the 3d object icon ,
as the icon shows, the object is inside the room.
Mines
Mines are easy to put in,
click the entity icon place one, and change the "Item Type" to
"Mine"
Boosters
Boosters are also easy to
put in (you do it just like the mines), but you might have to
change the height (Z) by the item type, to make them look right.
Pit Zones
Pit zones are best well
placed, so that they are accessible and not in the way of others.
making a pit zone is easy, you just use the entity icon and place it inside a room, then change the "Item
Type" to "Fuel source", the room is now a pit zone,
I suggest adding colour to the walls and floor(The "Fuel Zone"
wall texture) so that racers know where to stop for fuel. You can
have multiple fuel zone entities so that it fills faster, and you
can have multiple fuel zones around the track.
Speed Zones
These are not to be played
with, you must use these sensibly, as placing a speed zone is
something that can be done when the circuit is easy to navigate
at the high speeds. To place a speed zone you do the same as with
the fuel zone, except placing more speed zones in a speed zone
doesn't work for more speed, and I suggest using the Speed Zone
texture for the walls and floor.
All Starting
Positions
You need to place all 10
positions so that the track can be raced by the max amount of
players. Placing them is the key to a good track, if player 1 has
an unfair advantage then the track won't be liked. Try placing
them well, e.g. Steeplechase, the first 5 are lined up well so
that the first corner is close and then back 5 have the same
problem, Alley2 is hard because you all arrive at the speed zone
at the same time. You should know by now how to place the ten
drivers, but another thing is the angles of the craft, which are
edited by "Angle".
They are the angles to face the craft where you want
it.
Inflating
Columns
These are used as obstacles
to cause problems for drivers, you can place these like any
entity, I suggest you put it at height (Z) 0.5 as this is the
height needed to have them at floor level, just be careful how
you put them in as it can be hard to steer quick enough to avoid
them.
Section 4:
Making your track look good
This section covers how to
put colour on your walls/floor/ceiling and make different heights
on your track, its only a small section, but it makes it easier
to understand and your tracks much prettier. To select a wall you
need to select the arrow icon
and hold shift down, click the two angles that you want to change
the wall texture on, you'll now be able to change the texture of
the wall. You have to highlight a room to change the floor/ceiling
texture, which you will have learnt in an earlier section.
To change the height in a
track, you have to select rooms/a room and the change the "Ceiling
Level"/"Floor Level". The crafts can all jump 1 in
height, so if you want a jump they can do, then do only 1
difference so that the craft can make it. Otherwise 2 higher will
be fine for jumps that can't be made.
The "Track Description"
is a space to fill in what the track is about and what craft to
use.
Section 5:
Adding pits/jumps
Thanks to Hannibal
for bringing this to my attention.
Pits
This section will tell you
how to add pits/jumps, at first I tended to use 3d objects, but
found that just raising or lowering the level of ground is just
as effective and more reliable. To do this you have to highlight
a section of track by holding down the left mouse button and
dragging it over the part you want to drop (you could highlight
many sections to save time if you were doing a track that went up
or down e.g. Nitsua), once you've highlighted the track, you
will see that you can change the values

you can use minus values in each (the default values are 4 and 0),
the room can be any size, but I suggest keeping it at 8
difference maximum, as this will make the rooms look good still.
For a pit which cannot be got back out of, you should use -3 or -2
(-3 is a pit that you cannot jump and fire out of, -2 is a pit
you can jump and fire out of (but you can't get out of either)) It
has to be 3 difference in height for the pit to work, so say if
the floor level was -4 in that section, you'd have to have the
pit at floor level -7.
For a pit that you can jump
out of, use -1 (or 1 difference) so that you can race through it/or
jump over it. (Like Steeplechase)
Jumps
Jumps are good in tracks,
but the height to have them is only 1 higher than the other
sections of track, because no craft can jump more than 2 high. To
do this you have to highlight a section of track by holding down
the left mouse button and dragging it over the part you want to
raise, once you've highlighted the track, you will see that you
can change the values

(the default values are 4 and 0), the room can be any size, but I
suggest keeping it at 8 difference maximum, as this will make the
rooms look good still. For a jump you need to make the floor 1
higher than the last section of track, this creates a jump effect.
Troubleshooting
Well, some problems happen
for people who miss things, I'll try and answer some questions if
you have any, or add another section to the page, here's a
problem I know of
If you can't compile and it
gives you an error message like
"You need to register HoverRace to compile maps"
"HoverRace is not registered, you must register to use this
feature"
That means you need to
"Enable HoverCAD" which is in the HoverRace Start Menu
folder, this will enable HoverCAD's compile feature.
Austin
|