Taming the MCM 2 bike

One of the big problems when making tracks for MCM and MCM 2 is the bikes ability to jump unbelieveable distances when it gets up to a certain speed. It also is very easy to corner flat out without slipping or sliding. It is up to the track designer to try to contain that especially when trying to make replica tracks. When making replicas you are not only trying to achieve a certain look but also get the MCM 2 bike to ride the track the same way that the pros ride the original.

I've put together a couple examples of what I do to get the track to ride a certain way or to slow the MCM 2 bike down.

On this track the arrow is pointing in the direction of travel. When the bike enters this turn you have to slow some to stay low and make the landing close to the inside. You then race down the short straight and jump to the landing where the finish line is. Without any modification the MCM 2 bike would completely jump the finish line gate, even though it is elevated. I needed to do something to achieve what I wanted.

What I really wanted was for it to be tough to jump to the finish line. I wanted you to have think about whether or not you could make it, and if not, you would then land in the valley right before the finish. I was able to accomplish it by adding these alternating small whoops. This gives different lines (left, right, and center) and make it where the MCM 2 bike will hop and not get up to speed. With the right technique you can get through those small whoops with enough speed to make it to the landing area.

This track is a replica of the 1990 SX in Foxboro, MA. It had a long start straight the length of the football field. In MCM 2 this means a bike at top speed as you enter the first turn. This is a recipe for disaster. Any jump that the MCM 2 bike will hit at that speed would launch you almost the length of an MCM 2 3.0 dispmap.

To help with this problem I have pot holed the entire straight. This helps slow the bike down and makes for different lines. The MCM 2 bike is still too fast and I had to add small kick up jump at the end of the straight to be sure everyone gets on the brakes.

A straight like this will look like crap when you render it. To get around that I take the final dispmap and smooth out most of the bumps. I use that to render with. This allows you to make it less obvious what you have done and makes it more important to seek out that perfect line.

This is right after the first turn on my replica of the 1990 SX in Foxboro, MA. In the real race most people rolled this jump or popped up over it slightly and landed on the downslope.

In MCM 2 I was able to jump all the way to the 2nd turn even with all the bumps on the 1st straight and the kickup into the turn that you had to slow down for. I needed to do something

What I ended up doing thanks to the advice of TD members is to just make the up slope almost vertical. On the dispmap it is vertical but after Armadillo smoothing it isn't quite vertical.

This has the desired effect of popping the bike up. The faster you go the more height you get but you don't go very far. Too high and you crash. This comes close to turning this jump into how it was ridden at the real race.

Bruce (AMA_DirtTwister)