Competition Title pack - we need you!

[tcq]

- The newly computed lighting is flawed on a few tracks. => it isnt our problem tbh.

Actually, this should be your major concern. If you want to adapt old maps to TM2, you should take care that all of the maps are playable for TM2 players. Even if you miss some old maps that don't fit the actual standards (in case of bad light and shadows), the effort will be valid by the boost for the competitive TM2 scene. But as soon as you have bad shadows on one map that makes it unplayable for drivers, you should discard this map or try to fix it. If this is not possible, kick it out. Else you will demotivate each new driver that is trying to join the competitive scene and can't drive a good time because he can't see the route in certain sections of the map. Actually, the best proposal would be to start the ESL map pack only with fresh maps created in TM2. Just my two cents.
Good luck with this project and I'm looking forward for the final result.

[Rasque]

Of course we wouldnt force maps with bad lightning and tunnel-like darknesses to be in the pack, and will try to contact author or fix them ourselves (since we always requested maps without pw). But as you know, the shadows almost always act differently on certain settings, and we cant solve them so they work the same on every players PC.

So thats the extended version os "not our problem" We just give a chance to fix it. Rest goes to NADEO...

(PS nevertheless I accept that this is another game and engine, and this game requires another care of building. implementing the old maps is kinda minor feature compared to the tm2 improvements)

[tcq]

Glad that we slightly misunderstood each other The simplest way to fix this problems with the light/shadow effects on different settings would simply be to compute all of them in Ultra settings and test them with a PC that has all settings maxed out. Because if the map is driveable then, the lower settings will be able to do it too.

[Citiroller]

I'll definitely play this title pack when it's released
If you need some help with this tite pack, I can offer a little bit I'm not an experienced content creator of TM but if you want to check out my work on a TMNF title pack just click on the link in my signature

[Omnixor]

But as you know, the shadows almost always act differently on certain settings

not in TM2 anymore really, they just get more blurry on low settings, but placement/quantity/"blackness" are the same.

[edk]

One thing to keep in mind when building the titlepack is medal times. Competition tracks are the hardest in terms of difficulty, hands down. As a casual Stadium player I have all the Nadeo campaign medals, but sometimes for ESL Stadium tracks I can manage gold times only. I'd say that Nadeo medals for the orginal TM2S campaign are as difficult as gold medals for ESL tracks. However, many authors (myself included) like to make the medals even more difficult. Now, if it's a standalone track, not part of a titlepack or campaign, then it's no big deal. But if you get a track with medals made harder by the author then it can keep players from progressing in a campaign. This is because the campaign will automatically lock out the next difficulty of tracks until certain medal requirements are met. In turn, new players and progressing players could become artificially locked out of much of the campaign.

This ESL campaign looks interesting to me, but I know that if I encounter tracks that require a Gold medal that is within 1 second of the Godly author time, then I will become stuck. Remember that Stadium has the best players in all of TrackMania, and the competetive side has the best players on top of that. So many of these author times are completely insane, not approachable even for many regular players. And the tougher they are, the harder the Golds become and the more likely new/learning players will become locked out of continuing the campaign.

Anywho, looks like a really cool idea. Looking forward to it and good luck!

[LT.Forever]

One thing to keep in mind when building the titlepack is medal times. Competition tracks are the hardest in terms of difficulty, hands down. As a casual Stadium player I have all the Nadeo campaign medals, but sometimes for ESL Stadium tracks I can manage gold times only. I'd say that Nadeo medals for the orginal TM2S campaign are as difficult as gold medals for ESL tracks. However, many authors (myself included) like to make the medals even more difficult. Now, if it's a standalone track, not part of a titlepack or campaign, then it's no big deal. But if you get a track with medals made harder by the author then it can keep players from progressing in a campaign. This is because the campaign will automatically lock out the next difficulty of tracks until certain medal requirements are met. In turn, new players and progressing players could become artificially locked out of much of the campaign.

We won't use the standard campaign/unlock pattern (or any, at least for now).

[Gomme]

excellent Rasque, i approve and i'm definitly waiting for this pack(s)
i've always thought for all trackmania games " why don't we create a community pack on a regular basis ? would be useful and nice for the game ".
maybe a stupid question but ... : since many players barely know you can install custom maps (i'm exaggerating but it's true they don't look for good maps actively) wouldn't it be nice to create some sort of .exe to install everything easlily ? then you would also spread the link online saying " Hey! click this to have good TM maps "
btw many maps you want in your pack will have a password i think (..?..)

[Gomme]

what am i talking about lol i think i was tired . the .exe thing would have been good for Forever but for maniaplanet... oh well

[Rasque]

Hehe actually I'M not the man who could have answered your question anyways