Topics

[Step 1: Documentation and decisions.]

Hi.

I decided to document roughly how I am approaching replica SX building in MXBikes, figuring it might help people trying to do it or willing to do it. Feel free to ask questions and give input. I will be using Anaheim 2, 2016 season, as an example. The clear goal here is to encourage people to start trying it out. It's not hard, and quite frankly, I don't think I will do all tracks of the season. At least not alone.

Disclaimer: This is not meant to replace the existing track building tutorial but rather highlight the specifics of replica, SX, and my approach in general. So I will NOT go to the basics of how to setup your folder, etc. I will be using Photoshop and Sketchup for track building, and Blender + L3DT for format conversion. I strongly recommend the stickied guides at the top of this forum if you want to start looking into creating content - this is a specialization guide for replica SX!

Step 1: Documentation and decisions.
Obviously, to make a replica, you need proper documentation. Track maps can be found either in blueprint format on racerxonline, as well as static 3D rendering on supercrosslive. Different websites have animated trackmaps which are quite frankly shitty.

Now, you will notice that blueprints sometimes differ from 3D renderings, and both differ from the actual track that was raced. YouTube has both races and GoPro's of the official event which gives a decent input on obstacle size (2, 3, 4, 5, 6' tall is the important bit) and line choices.

At this stage, I normally print a large blueprint of the track I'm making - this time A2 2016 - and write on it the changes, rhythm sequences and any important ruts that have been either prevalent for trajectories or "semi built in". This gives me a backbone on which I can build.

Sometimes, and this is the case with A2, you will notice a track turned out shitty. A2 was hell, with whoops that most of the pack couldn't skim, landings way too steep for comfort, spacing out of whack. This made the track extremely punishing and it didn't look fun at all, while the blueprint gave hope for a nice track with a lot of air time with different line choices. This is where you need to draw the line between realism and fun.

This time, I will be following blueprint more than GoPro footage hoping to nail the "flying" aspect of the track. As last time, I will see the sand section as my own playground and try to make something fun and personal out of it. Keeping a 1.1:1 scaling (using 220x220x3.5m on a 2049x2049px tile in the configuration file if anyone cares).

Here we go.



Step 2: Porting in your layout and making the track.
Step 3: Working comfortably: the track in progress loop.
Step 4: Building a rhythm section as per (modified) blueprint.
Step 5: Advanced obstacles and sand sections.
Step 6: Berms and their placement.
Step 7: Whoops.
Step 8: Turning an obstacle course into a racing track.
Step 9: Non-collidable objects placement.
Step 10: Tuff block placement and alignemnt.
Step 11: Textures and shadowing.
Step 12: Final TrackEd files and preparing release.

Actual release topic of the track

Hey,

Lately I have tried to ride almost every 250F available and it seems to me that, while most - if not all - engines are the same and copies from the MSN, the bikes behaviour varies greatly.

So I'm curious: how do you guys model the chassis, suspensions, etc? Do you go with actual measurements, just based on pictures, etc? How about the weight balance (which I think is the main culprit for some odd behaviour we are seeing, right next to the rider not forward / backward leaning with terrain and the over-springy suspension behaviour)

I noticed for example the RMZ going front high on everything, the 2016CRF being ultra stable, etc. There is some stuff you can tweak with the suspension settings but you won't get rid off completely. Also, the measurements for the Sag (in the testing panel) are very different between bikes, the Rake angle can be different (I think the CRF is at 28, while the Yamaha is at 26.5 for example)...

[There are 2 tracks in the download. The normal one -regular name- has collision enabled on toughblocks]

And for my second track, we go back to Round 01 of the SX2016 series!



(And yes that's me scrubing the finish ).

This is a replica of the track on racing night, which differs notably from the blueprint (one less table, rythm sections have jump sizes switched around). 1.1:1 scale again as it suits what I am trying to achieve with replica SX more.

Thanks to the feedback received after my first track (Rd02), a few changes have been made:

• Supercross triples have a higher and steeper landing.
  
• Rythm sections flow better for all riding styles. Try starting with a single, double or try the triple in!
  
• Terrain textures have shadow maps on them.
  
• There are 2 tracks in the download. The normal one -regular name- has collision enabled on toughblocks. This is more realistic, and I worked a lot on centerline placement in combination with toughblocks placement so that, in 1h of normal play, I did not get one single cross-lane reset. It is the one intended for online racing. If you try goon enough and cross jump, sure you will manage... but then, introducing the GRE, or "GoonRidingEdition(tm)", does not have any collision and is intended for getting you up to racing speed for online play.
  
• Terrain should now provide slightly better grip and feel more controlable.

I was aiming at an easier to access but harder to master track than the first one. Overall, it has more spots where you can make the difference - and this time, the difference will be made on getting your lines and rythm down rather than trying to charge one single corner exit, as every obstacle is easily doable. Just find a way to make them flow together. It is much more technical than the first track as it requires a great jumping technique to do a full lap using the "real" lines (angled jumps, cutting on take-off, seat bouncing...). It is however much easier to cruise around at medium speed and feel satisfied. On a 250F, you need to push it hard to get good laps down. The 450F has more line choices and relies more on throttle control.

I tried invisible walls, but it just felt wrong. The duo-track solution is imo a good compromise. And I know the shape of the "gate table" is shitty to ride on, but look at the footage from the event, it was even worse

Download link on MEGA.NZ
Feedback welcome, and enjoy!

Known issues:
- Shadows on toughblocks with collision enabled looks darker than without

How do you guys go about this?

I tried through Sketchup, naming objects using the guidelines (WLLWIREINVISIBLE for example) - then export, and create an edf named WLLWIREINVISIBLE. Still visible, no collision.

I tried using layout in the TrackEd, now I have collision, but still visible. I used WLLWIREINVISIBLE in every instance possible to name the file.

What am I missing here?

[SX2016 Round 2: San Diego 1 TRACK LINK ON MEGA.]

In the midst of a fury of MX track, here is a replica track: The second round of the Supercross 2016 season, San Diego 1!



The scaling is 1.1:1 - simple reason: it's more fun, while keeping it realistic. It is based on the actual track that was raced, not the blueprint (there were a few changes). The goal was to have a fun but difficult and challenging track - from what I heard, this much is successful.

It is made to be raceable, even with collisions on. Each lane and turn has at least 2 different and viable lines. I strongly recommend a 250F as the 450F power delivery at low speed is really tough to handle. Throttle control galore! Tip: stiffen your fork

I will really welcome feedback on this as I plan on doing a few more rounds soon.

Track heightmap done on photoshop, L3DT export to Sketchup for object placement.
Everything done by me, except the 3 model of the stadium (3D warehouse, Sketchup), as well as the sky texture which comes from an old Q3 mod database. Logos were adapted and process to provide suitable textures for the newly made objects. Shoutout to geofanatec and TheFatController for their tutorials that have been a great help.

Enjoy!

SX2016 Round 2: San Diego 1 TRACK LINK ON MEGA.
SX2016 Round 2: San Diego 1 TRACK LINK ON MXBIKES CENTRAL.

Disclaimer: No objects have collision, so you guys have an easier and less frustrating time learning SX. The "Monster Cans" have a surprise inside tho...

Hi.

I'm hitting a small wall on track design here on three points. If anyone can chime in, I'd be very grateful (and release my SX finished faster :d).

- In TrackEd, you are supposed to be able to add objects. However, I can't figure out how to populate the object list. I have read about an obj.cfg and a *.lyt, but I can't figure out how to make / find them.

- Regarding the objects you (are supposed to be able to eventhough I can't figure out how) add in TrackEd, or even the scenes (done for example in Sketchup), is there a way to enable/disable collisions, or even do "soft" collisions (let's say tuffblocks slowing you down massively instead of being basically concrete blocks or phantom blocks).

- How do you figure out your deformation? Currently, I roll with very low material depth to avoid digging. I'd like however to enable digging more, but more slowly. In the end, I'd like to dig like 30cm maximum over the course of 20 laps with 20 bikes. Anyone figured out these settings yet? What parameters to play with?

Thanks a lot for the help!

[HERE]

EDIT: TRACK RELEASED HERE DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS BETA

Hi.

As I wanted to learn how to use photoshop, I made my first track over the week end. Shoutout to geofanatec for the tutorial - cheers!

This is a replica of the second  round of the supercross series of this year, based on the blueprint.

It currently is simply a track - there are no objects or fancy surroundings (this is for next week end :d ). I'm releasing it for initial feedback as I have reached the stage where I curse my skill more than the track for my falls.

What to expect:

• A 1:1 replica as much as the physics allow - the tables and the "3-5-3" have different heights, but the spacing are per blueprint.
  
• Some rythms have different lines (not the table lines yet though)
  
• The whoops are rather easy (for now) but will get higher soon enough.
  
• To change your stability settings to higher than what you use for MX
  
• Around 1:10 is a decent lap on a 250F.
  
• Check "pre-triple table" height and ratios.
  
• All supercross triples are easily doable on a 250F. There is a trick for each one.
  

Known issues and unsatisfactory points:

• Sometimes, the escape key doesn't work. You need to do Alt-Esc (wut?).
  
• The space between the 2 first table sometimes makes you endo.
  
• The finish line jump doesn't give the "finish line jump woowoo" feeling. I fiddled around without fixing it, advice welcome.
  
• The longest rythm section is wierd but is exactly like the blueprint says (3-5-3-4-4-4-4-4-3-5-3). it doesn't cope very well with the physics atm so I might just go ahead and put the 4' as 3'.
  

Have fun, and feedback welcome and appreciated! Now that I have a workflow down, it's relatively easy with the way I set it up for me to do other SX tracks as soon as I / we are happy enough with this.



DL : https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqz598f7koeu86a/SX%2716%20Rd02-BETA.zip?dl=0

CURRENT TO DO AND IMPROVE - MAJOR THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK:

• Fix textures - dirt color is darker than stadium surface, outside stadium texture to be found.
  
• Copy the first supercross triple jump to the second triple and finish jump.
  
• Check the "pretriple tables" height ratios.
  
• Potentially homogenize obstacles - 1 model for all of the same type
  
• shorten + increase heigh of the flat of the finish landing.
  
• Change up layout blueprint -> real (turn after finish, rythm, smaller last bumps, 35344444353 to 35333333352).
  
• Add a lip to the tables tops.
  
• Increase the whoops size and spacing slightly.
  
• "Bowlify" the berms.
  
• Lightning to increase the contrast and separation between jumps.
  
  • Widen the 5 in the 3-5-3.
    

Hi

I wanted to look into building SX tracks for b4 and beyond. I however having troubles finding information on the shape (size, angles, etc) of berms and typical obstacles. Most track maps have something vague more-or-less to scale, and there is this: http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/101556-track-design/

What I am interested in particular is how the gradient looks like for jump/berms/whoops/landings, and what kind of surface parameters I should use as a general rule for an indoor style track.

Thanks!

[What should we do regarding custom bikes and their engine when it comes to racing and ensuring a fair setting?]

Hi

Since I have been digging into engine models, files and dyno charts, I have a topic I'd like to bring to attention.

What should we do regarding custom bikes and their engine when it comes to racing and ensuring a fair setting?

Just talking about power, I have seen more than 25% difference only in raw hp (not even talking about the linearity or gearing ratios) in what are supposed to be exactly the same type of bikes between the modeling and the actual factory dyno chart. Quite obviously, if there is racing involved, people are going to pile up and use that one bike that gives a clear advantage. This in turns will be discouraging for modders to produce any new stuff, and people to try it out.

My suggestion is that, when a racing series is involved, we have bike classes "homogenized" on the server and re-released for this server type. Possibly, one or 2 people going over the range of bikes in the section to make sure they fare fairly. I'm not saying the same bikes, I'm saying that the maximum power and weight should at the very least be in the same ballpark, or if we have mixed class that they are realistic when against another (125 2s versus 250F for example).

Thoughts?

Hi all.

I wanted to learn photoshop so I made this today: a loose adaptation of the YZ 60th anniversary style on the KTM body. It's far from perfect, but hey, I like it enough to share it.

Has 250, 250f and 450f.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bzzsn7ruFXafdW9mZ3RPUnJFdzg&usp=sharing