RPG for beginners: optimized input settings

 
Game pad and keyboard settings for RPG fans: Optimize your controller settings for RPG to prevent DEL-key accidents :->

 

Especially important in many Adventures is 'booster-drifting' (aka power-sliding or 3-key-drifting): It is essential that the keyboard processes all three pressed keys. Sometimes it is necessary to reassign the keys for the combination of left,right,throttle and break.


Tecfan about booster-drifting:"'If you can only drift in one direction, and not the other, it is because your keyboard has some limitations. Then you need to bind a second button as brake. To do this, in Trackmania, go to `Profile´ , and then `Inputs´.'"



The importance to hide the DEL key as good a humanly possible is often underrated. But it becomes painfully clear when DEL is pressed accidentally: Poor JumperJack, the latest Del-key victim might agree^^ that it is the most important key to reassign for a lighthearted RPG-experience.


JumperJack in TMX-Forum:

For left-handed folks (like Ned Flanders or C. Montgomery Burns :->) the next tip may not be an improvement, but for the many Trackmaniacs, that are right-handed, the assigning of the free-camera-keys 4,5,6,8 to A,S,D,W will bring some additional comfort. The left hand on the keys ASDW, like common in many games will make navigating with Cam7 very comfortable.

 

RPG for beginners: brighten your RPGs

Some might like their dungeons dark and dangerous^^, for all who want them as bright as possible, have a look at the following screenshots and tips.

To change the settings for the lightmaps go into the launcher.

For maximum brightness set the lightmap-quality to 'No shadows'.

Setting the quality of the lightmaps to 'No Shadows' will not have an influence on already calculated lightmaps, so you have to delete already existing lightmaps in your cache.

There is one exception i know so far:
The mod 'Under the Seas' (used for example for 'Poseidon's Wrath')  will be too bright without shadows.

So you may not want to delete the lightmaps for tracks using this mod.

As mentioned above if you keep the already calculated lightmaps in your cache-folder, you still will see the effects, even if you have set the lightmap-quality to 'No Shadows'.

This way you can have it both ways, see the effects of lightmaps that come in handy and enjoy brightness in dungeons that otherwise would be very dark.


Some videos showing the difference:

 

RPG for beginners: booster drifting

This tutorial will help you overcome one of the most common obstacles in RPG: backwards boosters. This method works on both kind of boosters: flat and angled.

Occam has made a video tutorial on how to do this (the explanations are in the annotations, so if you watch the video on youtube.com, be sure not to have de-activated annotations)

Enai Siaion made this description and picture to explain booster drifting:

"You have to 'tack' against them (hold down the gas and the brake to do a burnout, and do 'half donuts' from left to right across the boosters)."


To master this (which is not difficult at all), I suggest you practice on the ground first. Try to drift first left, and then right, 180 degrees at the time. If you can only drift in one direction, and not the other, it is because your keyboard has some limitations. Then you need to bind a second button as brake. To do this, in Trackmania, go to "Profile", and then "Inputs".

Find "Brake", and just press the line. You are now given the option to add another key for brake. To set "W" as your second brake key, just press it. You will now have two buttons for brake, like I have in the screenshot: Arrow_up and W.

To drift now, press these buttons: Arrow_up, W and either arrow_left or arrow_right.

Any questions? Just ask.