Showing posts with label Stromek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stromek. Show all posts

New mapping technology + blockmixing tutorials

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Two days ago MixD and CMC held a competition in which a new mapping technology was unveiled. With this new technology it is now possible to use the car handling of all seven environment cars in your track, no matter in which environment you build. How effective this new technology is for building Stadium RPG's with United car handling and if finally the combination of United tracks with the Stadium handling will boost United RPG's remains to be seen.
Naturally, players not in the possession of TMU cannot make use of tracks build with this technology.
Here's one example video of a Desert track with Stadium car:


It is not possible to convert existing track, that's why blank bases have to be downloaded (42 total): http://magnusknight.com/tm/envmix/




Advanced Water Mixing Tutorial
Have you ever wondered how it is possible to make water re-appear after it has been replaced by a block? If you do, Stromek has posted a very helpful tutorial on the RPG Forum: http://www.trackmania-rpg.com/133-tutorial-advanced-blockmix-technique.html






Mixing outside the Stadium
Another tutorial dealing with blockmixing has been posted by Igntul, explaining how and under which restrictions it is possible to place blocks outside the stadium: http://www.trackmania-rpg.com/135-tutorial-blockmixing-out-of-the-building-area.html


Transforming Landscapes
GSNPaul posted a very detailed guide on how to use variations and rotations of blocks in ChallengeEdit to create Dirt-landscapes. Anyone ever wanting to enrich their RPG's with those elements should follow that guide.
http://www.trackmania-rpg.com/147-advanced-mixing-with-landscape-blocks.html#post472

MoonBase Mod by Sol666 + Ra Mod by Stromek

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Voting is closed, results at the end of the article !
I have been waiting a little longer than originally planned for the presentation of the first mods that were submitted for the RPG community mod contest and unfortunately, due to seemingly very little interest in this contest, the following two mods from Sol666 and Stromek will be the last ones I'm going to present. Thanks a lot you two for putting the effort into participating in this contest!






Author: Sol666
Mod download: http://www.vinummusik.de/Trackmania/MoonBase.zip(28.4mb)

There are 149 modified textures, the following are taken from Lunar Cross:
StadiumDirt1.dds
StadiumDirt2.dds
StadiumDirtRoad.dds
StadiumDirtRoadBorder.dds
StadiumGrass1.dds
StadiumGrass2.dds

Furthermore, I modified StadiumRoadGrid.dds from the original Nadeo textures to create my StadiumRoad and StadiumFabric textures.


Author's description:
As I am a science-fiction fan, I like to build sci-fi themed mods. In this case, I updated one of my old mods (Lunar Cross) which originally contained only dirt textures.
This mod is meant to simulate a moon base, so I used a lot of (rusty) metal textures, basically with the colors grey and yellow. I changed the light settings to very bright light and a dark sky, as the moon has no atmosphere. In night and sunset mood, there is a decent mip map effect on the StadiumFabricL: light is white in the distance, yellow when you get closer. I'd recommend sunset or night mood to make use of the changed lightmaps.
As I also wanted to use this mod for dirt tracks, which are usually very open, it is designed for closed rooms as well as for open scenery. There should be a lot of possibilities to use it in sci-fi based RPG maps, especially the outside atmosphere is very authentic I think.











Author: Stromek
Mod download: http://www.vinummusik.de/Trackmania/Ramod.zip(14.7mb)
Textures modified: 131
Special texture: the dirt texture is real sand from the river Sázava

Author's description:
As you can see I tried to create a mod that it's atmosphere reminds forgotten Egyptian times, so you can find a lot of Egyptian symbols and letters. The mod is very colorful, containing also some transparent parts, which are a bit stained so you can see through them.
I also tried to apply more spectatulars maps for some textures, but the result is only visible with PC3 setting.
There is also different color of the sky and clouds in the Day mood.
Mod is primary designated for all temple-styled tracks, with many tombs, big rooms etc.




Voting:

So at this point I would like to encourage you readers to examine the mod and then rate it based on your experience. Look at the description of the mod, watch the videos and maybe even try to build an RPG with it ingame.
Some things you could base the vote on: Uniqueness of the theme, quality of the textures, generated atmosphere, implementation in RPG tracks, integrity of the mod etc.
Voting is open till thursday (13.05.10). You can vote by leaving a comment on this acticle or sending a message to HawkGer. I only require your rating (from 0-10 points), your trackmania login (to prevent spam) and maybe a small personal comment if you like.
Thanks to everyone who participates :-)

Results:
  • MoonBase Mod (5 ratings): 9.1 points average
  • Ra Mod (8 ratings): 8.7 points average
Congrats to both for such high scores! Sol666 will receive 9.1k sooppers and Stromek 8.7k :-)

New RPG's - week 10 and 11 [2010]

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It has been a long time since we last showcased tracks on this blog - I will try to cover some RPG's of the past two weeks :-)

The Cydonia Incident
Just freshly released, this newest RPG from Sol666 is a sequel to his story track "Cydonia" and takes place on the mars to which one is send to repair an antimatter reator which caused the planet to drift into an asteroid belt. Like in his previous RPG tracks, sol666 makes heavy use of MT and 3D Skins which are incorporated into the story (i.e. an asteroid, a spaceship etc.). Very cleverly he also managed to mark invisible water with 3D skins and applied MipMapping on those skins, which looks fantastic in my opinion! The track uses the self-made Cydonia mod which sol666 updated to make it ready for the use on RPG tracks.
The route is more adventurous and longer than in sol's previous RPG's. It is still basic though and can thus be enjoyed by all players - meeting the expectations of drivers and story enthusiasts likewise.

TMX ID: 2477073
Difficulty: Intermediate
AT: 16:03.57
First-time length: 30-60 minutes


The energetic platforms:

The exit into space:


Factory Catacombs
This new RPG from Katodik was uploaded two days ago. As one can guess from the track's name it's location is aimed to resemble an old rusty factory. Like almost all of Katodik's tracks it has a custom made mod applied, the Rusty Factory mod. It gives a somewhat similar atmosphere like the Metal Stadium mod from .maX, has a much greater level of detail though. The track's design hasn't got many similarities to the RPG track Abandoned Factory, which one might have in mind when playing the track: the rooms are much more dense and small, blockmixing is used on the highest level (Abandoned Factory hasn't got a single mix^^).
Be sure to check out the track though and get your own impression!

TMX ID: 2475666
Difficulty: Advanced
AT: 13:57.78
First-time length: 40-70 minutes




Miner Tedd
This track is Teddy's third RPG-track, released on the 13th march. After a castle- and a forest-theme on his previous RPG's he now chose to try himself on a miner-theme, creating a very realistic mine-structure in the process. He achieved this mainly by keeping the track very open, creating hallways that lead to previous (already driven) sections, like shafts being connected to each other. Of course most of the action takes place under ground. The mod he used is, who could have guessed, the Manic Miner mod from Katodik. The track is very beginner-friendly and suited for people who like to search a little longer for the way ;)

TMX ID: 2462397
Difficulty: Beginner
AT: 08:29.86
First-time length: 30-60 minutes


A collapsed mine:


Scarbiec Imperium
This RPG from Jurek was released on the 6th March and follows the line of the classical styled RPG's. It uses the GMUltimate v2 mod, has a very beatiful temple structure with an atmospheric scenery and a lot of creative tricks which are partly accomplished through the use of very original mixing. If you like the classical adventure tracks, then this one is surely for you!

TMX ID: 2438356
Difficulty: Intermediate
AT: 16:01.15
First-time length: 40-80 minutes




Al-Zahrain
As the last track I like to present Al-Zahrain, Stromek's newest track and also a temple-inspired RPG which was released almost two weeks ago. You take on the role of an archeologist and have to make your way into the tomb to find the treasure of Al-Zahrain. Not only will the tricks and the pathfinding make it hard for you to find this treasure, Stromek also implemented some traps with the help of MT. Custom 3d models are used to make the experience of falling for those traps even more exciting, along with some oversized models for the ambience. Whoever wanted to touch the sphinx in real life but couldn't do it, this track gives you the opportunity to try it out virtually now^^

TMX ID: 2433826
Difficulty: Advanced
AT: 14:36.28
First-time length: 50-80 minutes

The glorious view on the sphinx from the startsection:

The Day After, by fish, Stromek and HardDance

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Yesterday, 19th October, fish, Stromek and Harddance released their trio project "The Day After" on the "RPG Community" TMX account. You are driving around on the surface after a huge nuclear explosion on the earth, where you will find different tools to help you. fish and Stromek made this original mod, and Stromek did the MT work. The track is, as you would expect, not filled up with overused tricks and paths, but with many interesting jumps and routes. It's very challenging to drive, but still easy to find out where to go. The atmosphere created by the grunge mod fits perfectly. I recommend you play this track asap.

TMX ID: 1903220
Difficulty: Hard
AT: 25:42.15
First-time length: 60-120 minutes





Here's a video from the premiere day. HawkGer was the first person to set an online time under 20 minutes. The music is Le Silo, which I of course recommend highly ^^.


And an FF GPS video:

New RPG's - week 42 [2009]

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Eert 75
RPG - Eert 75 is a track made by Stromek, and released late Sunday 11th October. It features a brand new mod, the Eert 75 mod. Eert 75 is a space colony station, and was in the past used as a prison for dangerous creatures. You are sent to explore the colony, when your connection to the team is lost... Read the full track story on TMX.

TMX ID: 1870173
Difficulty: Intermediate
AT: 16:03.57
First-time length: 40-120 minutes




Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach, released 16th October, is a WWII-inspired track from Big Al. The track features many original jumps and tricks in a new atmosphere, created by the Omaha-Beach mod.
The story:
The Allies come to fight against the Nazis in the Normandy.
You are a soldier on his way out of the boat to the beach.
The Nazis shoot at You very sharp. Try to deactivate the 2 Towers.



TMX ID: 1890780
Difficulty: Intermediate
AT: 16:03.57
First-time length: 40-120 minutes


Puzzletime, by Stromek

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Stromek is back with another perfect RPG. This time you have to collect all the pieces of the Magic Sun, which gives energy to the Puzzleworld. It has a custom mod made by Stromek himself, (called Puzzlemod), and I must say - it looks awesome. The track itself is short for a Stromek track, and a 8 minute time is possible. It's fun the first time, and it's fun hunting the records, so you should all run to your favorite server and play it.

TMX ID: 1706061
Difficulty: Easy
AT: 12:21.52
First-time length: 20-60 minutes





Can you find the hidden room?

A laggy video of the intro


GPS (by Occam)

Stromek and Big Al with new tracks

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Today we would like to shed light on two new RPG's which have been released in the last week.

After having tapped into building RPG tracks with his shortie RPG 'Indiana Jones', Big Al released 4 days ago yet another RPG track named 'Sports'. As the name suggests, the track is all about Sports and the various disciplines it offers. Brutal transferred those disciplines into this track by making the route of every CP-section look like a certain Sports challenge. Those challenges are not only the most obvious like hurdling or high-jumping but also very surprising ones like speedboating or cliff-diving. At the end of the track you will reach a skate park and have to collect 10 rings, the most challenging discipline. The track has many jumps and stunts in it and is thus not a racestyle-RPG. It has an open design which looks quite good thanks to the Forest-Mod.

TMX-ID: 1666138
Difficulty: Intermediate
AT: 30:23.56
First-time length: 40-100 min


An overview of all the disciplines you will find in this track:


The skatepark at the end:





The second track we would like to present is a new track from Stromek, called 'Project Kitchen'.
In the course of the track you will have to find your way through a kitchen, learning how to cook :-) Watch this video to see what you will be up to:


TMX-ID: 1639288
Difficulty: Expert
AT: 24:53:58min
First-time Length: 50-150min


An overview of the kitchen


The sink from below


The open fridge