Update the Editor

[Cytreen]

JLV you have come a long way with it game sense its inception. Aside from a few problems i see from a physics stand point i would love it if you could build a new editing tool. The in game editor is really good with jump measurements and being able to see it in real time but its highly restricting. If could you implement a few key components from MVA Unleashed editor.

Things to Add to the in game Editor.
1. Movable 3d camera while editing not just the top down view.
2. MVA style Editing with its different brushes and have some shaping tools that behave like the MVA editor. ( Note the flatten and leveling tool behavior in mva)
3. Allow gradient brushes to become a shaping tool with raise lower and smoothing tools like the MVA editor.
4. Exporting and importing of in game edited displacement map. I would love to be able to export a disp made in the game editor. Then make changes in photo shop and import the updated disp.
5. Allow the gradient placement tool to be Named saved and stored so we can build a library of assets of pre-made jumps and section to be used in other projects.

I know it would be a big challenge to recreate the shaping tools from MVA so i do not expect that to ever get implemented. For starters Please make an export function so i can export my disp that i have hand made using in game editing tools. This would realy help when i need to take the disp into max for rendering and shadow mapping in MAX. I make all the jumps in game and i need to make the turns in PS as the game lacks the real time shaping tools of MVA and its 3d camera. Also why is it that when ever i add a track to the game and then remove it from the install it never get deleted from the track list?

[MotoRockstar777]

You can edit your displacement map in photoshop, its in your track folder. You can save jump presets in photoshop too. For a 3d camera would be nice but its just as easy jump out of the editor and check to see what it looks like. More defined brush shaping tools would be nice though.

[JP37R]

What we really need is "Dirt Wurx Simulator" with loaders, bulldozers, graders, etc.... to build tracks with.

Seriously though, I think a tool similiar to the photoshop "pen tool" would be very helpfull to make shapes for berms and ruts. Then after the shape is determined set the height and shsape with the gradient tool then paint it in.

[Cytreen]

Yes you are correct on editing your track in photoshop if you made the disp map in photoshop first. Then its just reimporting the updated disp map. Any edits made using the in the Game Editor it will not save to the existing track.png. Thus you can not export tracks that are made from the editor or any changes made with the editor to the track.png. I would like this to be fixed as its a efficient way of scaling track blue prints into the game for a correct 1.1 ratio to the correlating track design.

MotoRockstar777 you seem to have misunderstood my point entirely. What I am talking about is the Games Editor not Photoshop. The Games Editor has a Gradient Placement tool in witch you can shape jumps manually with correct height and size ratio read out. It also allows for you to measure length of lanes, slopes, and turn radius. All I am asking for is a export function to update the track.png with what i have made using the Games Editor. I hope i made that easier to understand.

JP37R that is basically what the MVA editor was. I would love to have that as long as the tool only effected the Disp with a Brush and was done in real time smoothly. Brushes would have to consists of a gradient and effect the disp using the shape of such gradient. A Dirt Wurx Simulator would only function if you could do it during a multiplayer session and make stuff with other people all in real time. Now i do not expect that at all but it could be cool for the first few hours. I would think time would be better spent on making the game multi-core efficient and Crossfire/SLI enabled. At the vary least large address aware.

[jlv]

I'm not sure I understand about the png import/export. The disp map is in terrain.png. There shouldn't be any problem alternating between a paint program and MX Simulator. The only issue you have to watch out for is MX Simulator will try to utilize the full 16 bit range of the png, so you'll need to keep a fully white and black pixel somewhere to prevent it from stretching the contrast.

The gradients are saved in the file named "edinfo". You can copy that from track to track if you want to keep reusing gradients. I personally prefer to start fresh for each track.

[Cytreen]

JLV

ok i will walk you through my process for explaining this
Download Blank_track.zip
Unpack Blank_Track
Rename Blank track to your Projects Name

Open the terrain.png in photo shop.
Note that it is blank
Close photoshop
place project in MXsimulator installation directory.
Edit the MXsimulator Shorcut for editing mode.
Select New Race
Select your Project from track list.
In the editor the terrain is still flat as we have not added anything yet.
Select the Gradient placement tool and click on new
Now you should have a radial Gradient Tool available to move around
Select it and move it to ware you want to make a jump
select Gradient Edit
Now you should have a graph in witch you can edit the shape of your jump
Once completed select Gradient Liner add
Now move the mouse to ware you want to paint your jump and start painting.
Now we have a jump painted and can ride over the jump in game
select save from the menu on the left side of your screen to save your current progress of the project.

Now open the terrain.png in Photoshop. notice something. its still blank. nothing you made using the in game tools to modify the terrain was saved to the terrain.png. The changes you made to you Disp did not get saved (AKA Export)
to the terrain.png of the project. If there is a way of doing so please show me ware is it located. I only use Photoshop for making textures as the in game tools are better for making jumps. I would just hand most the turns but you dont have a editor capable of matching what the MVA editor was able to do in regards to manual shaping stuff. Working with everything in game and building the whole terrain in a 3d environment is a thousand times faster than doing it in photoshop.

[Garasaki]

Um I think you are nuts

Your edits are saved to the terrain.png of the track you are working on.

You can import ("place" in photoshop speak) that file directly into a photoshop PSD file. You can then rasterize it and edit it however you want.

Thats how I do tracks. Base terrain in PS. Create a track path in PS. Go to ingame editor for jumps. Then PS for berms, bumps, and ruts.

Now your point is not completely baseless - it would sure be nice to have an import/export set of buttons so that you can modify your terrain.png in PS while remaining in the editor, thus eliminating a frustrating set of game closes and restarts. It would speed things up considerably, and has been requested on a number of occasions.

[Garasaki]

the request for a 3d view in the editor is also a good request. I create my enviroment while in replay mode, which allows me to use the 3d view - but you still have to switch camera's to get there and it adds a bunch of button hitting that really isn't necessary.

[Cytreen]

Thanks Garasaki. Im not sure whats going wrong but for some unknown reason when ever i save my project in the game. My terrain.png is never updated and it remains blank when i bring it into Photoshop.

[jlv]

JLV

ok i will walk you through my process for explaining this
Download Blank_track.zip
Unpack Blank_Track
Rename Blank track to your Projects Name

Open the terrain.png in photo shop.
Note that it is blank
Close photoshop
place project in MXsimulator installation directory.

That's where you went wrong. Most things are OK in the install folder, but when you're creating a track you need to use your personal MX Simulator folder instead.

Here are the instructions from http://mxsimulator.com/editing.html -

Unzip the blank track in "%LOCALAPPDATA%\MX Simulator\".

The easy way to find this folder is by using the start menu item called "MX Simulator Personal Folder", which will open the folder in an explorer window.

Depending on your OS, this could be several different places.

Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\MX Simulator\
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\MX Simulator\
Windows 2000 C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\MX Simulator\
Where <username> is your username.

[Cytreen]

I was thinking i did something wrong lol. Yes its all there. Thank you JLV.