Stunts newbie in need of critics and suggestions for track making

[taufan99]

Greetings! I'm a new guy who only recently found out about Stunts.
Out of curiosity, I decided to make a map based a real track of my country with a few twists of my own.
The thing is, I'm new to Stunts and feel like I could do with some critics and suggestions to better up. I find that the track especially feels rather flat, but that could be because it's based on an actual track instead of fully using all of the game's potential (which I currently lack the more thorough knowledge).
I've tested the track from the start to the finish, but given my lack of skills, the furthest I could reach so far is the northwestern CCW spin part without crashing my car but I'd like to hear from others about it.

Thanks in advance!

[alanrotoi]

Hi! I'll give a try! Where are you from?

[taufan99]

Hi! I'll give a try! Where are you from?

I'm from Indonesia, and the track in question is based on Mandalika International Circuit.

[Cas]

The track actually looks fun!  For a Stunts newbie, it's a very good design and a length that's more or less what we normally have in races here

I remember Stunts seemed to me very difficult to drive when I first had it back in 1993 compared to other car games. But it's a matter of practice. If you have difficulties with the spin, just try making a shorter track with three or four of them to practise over and over. Go slow, first gear and then, when you feel more comfortable, you can accelerate a bit.

In races, here, we usually allow what we call "replay handling", so odds of survival are not that important when that rule is OK. We do have races that are NoRH (no replay handling) where that is not allowed and we have live races, where it is allowed, but can't really be exploited. Replay handling feels like cheating depending on what you're trying to call "success", but for practising, it's a good tool. It's about rewinding a little after you crash and then doing "continue driving" over and over until you get a good result.

[Spoonboy]

Hi @taufan99 and welcome!
I've just tried it with the Mercedes DTM and I'm enjoying it 
Parts remind me of the classic Westwood track, which I use for fun quite a lot.

It can be challenging and fun to base tracks on real circuits. At DOS Game Club, we made several tracks inspired by GP circuits (6/10 so far!).
They can be found here:
https://www.dosgameclub.com/stunts-leaderboard/?page=overview
They are designed to be driven freestyle NoRH, and I think your track could be fun in this way too.

The hard part can be replicating the awkward shapes in real life tracks in Stunts (as your track shows, chicanes make good 'diagonals').
Also, including enough Stunts features to make it challenging, to whatever level you have in mind.
So far I'm enjoying this track's speed and level changes. The blind corners are ok (as long as I remember them!), but ugh no one likes an up/down cork 😅
I'll continue to practice on it - thanks for sharing!

[taufan99]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!
I was thinking the track might be a tad too flat because: a.) it's based on a real track, and b.) I still don't have the thorough expertise to fully unlock the potential of Stunts, but it seems like my first effort isn't half-bad.
As for the corkscrew, yeah, I included it because I wanted to put some more challenge, but since it's a bit too hard, I guess I gotta replace it with something else of similar challenge but less mean-spirited (banked roads on top of water maybe?).

[Spoonboy]

There are ways to get around some corkscrews (but not the one on the current ZakStunts track ZCT272! ).
Details on @Overdrijf's video tutorials.

Maybe an invisibridge, where you jump and drive outside the raised straight before the cork starts. But I don't think this is possible here, as the cork is at the end of a long raised section that turns a corner. You can push through the Cork wall, but this is very slow and takes a lot of RH.

I am a fan of banked roads. Not sure if they can be placed over water like this. @Overdrijf?

[taufan99]

There are ways to get around some corkscrews (but not the one on the current ZakStunts track ZCT272! ).
Details on @Overdrijf's video tutorials.

Maybe an invisibridge, where you jump and drive outside the raised straight before the cork starts. But I don't think this is possible here, as the cork is at the end of a long raised section that turns a corner. You can push through the Cork wall, but this is very slow and takes a lot of RH.

I am a fan of banked roads. Not sure if they can be placed over water like this. @Overdrijf?

Having got back to editing the track again, I just realized that what I meant by "corkscrew" earlier was supposed to be a half-pipe. D'oh!
On the other side, I'm learning more as I'm trying other custom tracks as well.

[Cas]

If you enjoy track making, we can find a slot for one of your tracks to be in a race. In ZakStunts, we normally reserve these slots at the beginning of the year, so they're all taken this time, but in Race For Kicks, we still can make it. Only you have to take into account it's OWOOT (see https://wiki.stunts.hu/wiki/OWOOT) when designing the track. In live races, maybe, you could also get to post a track, although those are special too.

[taufan99]

If you enjoy track making, we can find a slot for one of your tracks to be in a race. In ZakStunts, we normally reserve these slots at the beginning of the year, so they're all taken this time, but in Race For Kicks, we still can make it. Only you have to take into account it's OWOOT (see https://wiki.stunts.hu/wiki/OWOOT) when designing the track. In live races, maybe, you could also get to post a track, although those are special too.

I'll consider, but no exact promises as I've also been busy modding other games, alongside real-life responsibilities and such. Sounds like an interesting challenge, though, if not a bit complicated (due to the jumps and bumps in track variations that I know of).

[taufan99]

@Cas I'm not sure if I'm the first one to discover this, but I found out that custom maps made on Bliss are compatible with the PC-98 port. Here's how I got to add my custom track there;

• Download DiskExplorer from this page and extract it on a folder.
• Run editdisk.exe and open the Disk B of the PC-98 port.
• Import your custom track(s) inside it. Keep in mind that since floppy disks have a limited size (IIRC it's 4 MB), you can only import several files before you hit the limit, but you should be able to import lots of tracks because each is about 1 KB in general.
• Save the change and close DiskExplorer, or else the emulator (in my case, Neko Project II 21/W) will refuse to detect the disk image.
• Load both disk images on your emulator, and presto! You can now play your custom tracks on the PC-98 port.

[taufan99]

Excuse the double post, but felt like I might ask about this, as I'm trying to make a rather messed-up track (hence its name, mchakcha.trk, based on the Japanese phrase "mecha-kucha" with the meaning of "messed-up") with the aim of providing an "evil" kind of challenge. However, for some reason, my map just won't execute at all. Anyone know what might be wrong here? I've tried checking potential problems with Bliss' feature to no avail.

[alanrotoi]

for some reason, my map just won't execute at all. Anyone know what might be wrong here? I've tried checking potential problems with Bliss' feature to no avail.

It probably has a short straight befor the bridge gap jump. Try making a longer straight before the bridge.

[Spoonboy]

Does the raised road need an end ramp?
Maybe try putting an opposite bridge next to the existing one, then a ramp up to the raised road, so it all links together.

You may be going fast enough that these 2 new pieces will be jumped over anyway.
Although, as it looks like you'll be arriving from a snowy corner, that might be a big ask!

[Duplode]

However, for some reason, my map just won't execute at all. Anyone know what might be wrong here?

There's a terrain mismatch on the edge of the southern hill, by the large icy corner. A modified track with what's probably the least intrusive fix is attached. By the way, it turns out that the gap jump towards the bridge at the north is not only accepted by the game's track validation, but it also is quite doable even with the LM002!