MCM1 SX Track File Formats

Version 1.0 (Beta) - 7/9/26

This document describes the track-side files used by the MCM1 Plugin Editor for Supercross / TrackEdit-style tracks:

• .trk - editable 16 x 16 construction-set layout

• .ter - MakeTerr terrain compile input

• .scn - scene descriptor that points the game at the compiled terrain

• .dat - binary race / AI navigation field

The formats below are based on the current MCM1PluginEditor parser and writer. They are intended for programmers implementing readers, writers, or validators.

Format Map

Use these links to jump directly to the file format you need:

General Text Rules

.trk, .ter, and .scn are INI-like text files.

• Lines are normally CRLF terminated.

• Section names are written as [SectionName].

• Key/value lines use Key=Value.

• The editor ignores blank lines and semicolon comments when parsing .trk and plugin .ini files.

• The editor writes text files with the Windows default encoding through the desktop bridge.

Paths in generated .ter files are Windows paths. The current desktop editor uses absolute plugin paths in the .ter file because MakeTerr is launched outside the WebView context.

Coordinate Systems

Supercross tracks are a fixed 16 x 16 grid of construction pieces.

The .trk file stores cells in row-major order:

index = row * 16 + col
piece number = index + 1
row 0 = north / top row
col 0 = west / left column

The .ter file uses terrain grid coordinates:

xxxxxxxxxx
BaseX = col * 16
BaseY = (15 - row) * 16

So .ter BaseY is inverted relative to .trk row order. The top .trk row is written at BaseY=240, and the bottom row is written at BaseY=0.

Orientations use TrackEdit's cardinal convention:

xxxxxxxxxx
0 = North
1 = West
2 = South
3 = East

The editor uses this same convention for saved .trk files and for the .dat writer.

.TRK Format

FORMAT BANNER: .TRK

Editable 16 x 16 construction-set source layout. Example: tracks/classic_test.trk.

The .trk file is the editable construction-set source track.

Required Sections

xxxxxxxxxx
[Track]
Plugin=classic.ini
Name=Classic Test Track
Piece_01=1
Orient_01=2
...
Piece_256=1
Orient_256=0

Keys

Plugin

The construction-set INI used by the track. This can be a bare file name such as classic.ini or stepup2.ini. The example track classic_test.trk uses Plugin=classic.ini.

Name

Human-readable track name.

Piece_NN

Construction piece id for cell NN, where NN is 01 through 256.

Orient_NN

Orientation for cell NN. Values are 0..3 using the orientation table above.

Cell Numbering

Cell NN maps to grid coordinates as:

xxxxxxxxxx
index = NN - 1
row = floor(index / 16)
col = index % 16

Example:

xxxxxxxxxx
Piece_01  -> row 0, col 0
Piece_16  -> row 0, col 15
Piece_17  -> row 1, col 0
Piece_256 -> row 15, col 15

.TER Format

FORMAT BANNER: .TER

MakeTerr terrain compile input generated from the track grid and active plugin assets. Example: tracks/classic_test.ter.

The .ter file is MakeTerr's terrain definition input. The editor generates a TerrainType=TRACK .ter for Supercross layouts.

Header

xxxxxxxxxx
[ElevationData]
TotalElevationFiles=256
TotalTextureMapFiles=<texture palette count>
TotalTexturePlacements=256
TotalTargetWidth=256
TotalTargetBreadth=256
ElevationFormat=ASC
ElevationDefault=0
TextureFormat=8
ShareTextures=1
UpPropagateTextures=0
ElevationPath=<absolute plugin folder>\
TextureMapPath=<absolute plugin folder>\
GridResolutionInFeet=3.0
ShareGeometries=0
TerrainType=TRACK

Terrain Palette

xxxxxxxxxx
[TerrainPalette]
TotalFileSets=<texture palette count>
NumberOfColors=236
FileSet_1=<absolute plugin folder>\<texture path>
FileSet_2=<absolute plugin folder>\<texture path>
...

The editor builds this palette from all texture map references in the active plugin pieces, de-duplicated case-insensitively by raw path.

Texture Map Files

For each palette entry:

xxxxxxxxxx
[TextureMapFile_1]
Name=<texture path>
CoverageInGrids=16
PixelsPerGrid=8

CoverageInGrids=16 means each texture covers one 16 x 16 construction tile. PixelsPerGrid=8 corresponds to a 128 x 128 tile texture.

Per-Cell Terrain Placement

Each of the 256 cells has one [TexturePlacement_N] and one [ElevationFile_N] section.

​x
[TexturePlacement_1]
MapId=1
XIndex=0
YIndex=240
Transform=NONE

[ElevationFile_1]
Name=..\classic\Per.asc
Width=16
Breadth=16
BaseX=0
BaseY=240

N is row-major, matching .trk piece numbering.

MapId

One-based index into [TerrainPalette] / [TextureMapFile_N].

XIndex, YIndex

Tile placement in terrain grid units. The editor writes these from col and row using the coordinate conversion shown above.

Transform

Texture transform passed to MakeTerr. For pieces with NumberMapOrientations=4, the editor writes NONE because the plugin supplies orientation-specific texture maps. For pieces with NumberMapOrientations=1, the editor mirrors TrackEdit's rotation convention:

xxxxxxxxxx
Orient 0 -> NONE
Orient 1 -> HD
Orient 2 -> HV
Orient 3 -> VD

Name

ASC geometry file for the cell's piece and orientation.

Width, Breadth

Both are 16 for construction-set tiles.

BaseX, BaseY

Same coordinates as XIndex, YIndex.

.SCN Format

FORMAT BANNER: .SCN

Scene descriptor that tells MCM1 which compiled terrain file to load. Example: tracks/classic_test.scn.

The .scn file tells the game which compiled .trn terrain file to load.

The editor writes the minimal form:

xxxxxxxxxx
[SceneInfo]
SceneName=Classic Test Track
[Environment]
TerrainFile=classic_test.trn

baseName comes from the saved .trk file name with the extension removed and non-word characters sanitized by the editor before Build Track writes files.

.DAT Format - Supercross Grid Navigation

FORMAT BANNER: .DAT

Fixed-size binary Supercross race / AI navigation field. Example: tracks/classic_test.dat.

The Supercross .dat file is binary. It is not a National spline. It is a fixed 16 x 16 per-cell race / AI navigation field.

All integer fields are signed 32-bit little-endian.

Total size:

xxxxxxxxxx
8 + (256 * 24) = 6152 bytes

Header

xxxxxxxxxx
offset  size  type  field
0x0000  4     i32   startCol + 1
0x0004  4     i32   startRow + 1

Coordinates are one-based. A Start/Finish tile at .trk row 0, col 0 writes startCol+1 = 1 and startRow+1 = 1.

Cell Records

After the 8-byte header, there are 256 fixed-size records. Each record is 24 bytes:

xxxxxxxxxx
offset  size  type  field
+0      4     i32   P1x
+4      4     i32   P1y
+8      4     i32   P2x
+12     4     i32   P2y
+16     4     i32   flag
+20     4     i32   dir

Records are stored column-major:

xxxxxxxxxx
for col = 0..15
  for row = 0..15
    write record for cell[row][col]

Record offset:

xxxxxxxxxx
recordIndex = col * 16 + row
recordOffset = 8 + recordIndex * 24

This differs from .trk and .ter, which number cells row-major.

Navigation Fields

P1x, P1y

Forward race-line neighbor as one-based grid coordinates:

xxxxxxxxxx
x = col + 1
y = row + 1

P2x, P2y

Backward race-line neighbor, also one-based.

For off-route cells, all four neighbor values remain zero:

xxxxxxxxxx
P1x=0, P1y=0, P2x=0, P2y=0

flag

Usually the active plugin piece's PieceType for that cell.

For PieceType=8, the editor resolves the value to either 2 or 7 based on the handedness of the forward/backward neighbors. This mirrors the TrackEdit 90-degree turn behavior.

dir

The cell orientation from .trk:

xxxxxxxxxx
0 = North
1 = West
2 = South
3 = East

Route Construction

The DAT writer derives the route from the current .trk grid and the active plugin's construction-set metadata:

• StartFinishPiece from [ThisConstructionSet] identifies the start cell.

• Each piece's Connectivity string supplies ports: N, S, E, W.

• Each piece's PieceType controls whether the cell is route-capable.

• PieceType=0 and PieceType=9 are treated as non-racing cells.

The route starts at the Start/Finish cell and walks in the start cell's orientation:

xxxxxxxxxx
0 -> row - 1
1 -> col - 1
2 -> row + 1
3 -> col + 1

At each next cell, the writer ignores the port it arrived from, then chooses the first connected port that leads to either:

• the Start/Finish cell, or

• another racing cell whose ports connect back.

The resulting ordered path is written into P1 and P2 fields.

DAT Pseudocode

xxxxxxxxxx
write_i32_le(startCol + 1)
write_i32_le(startRow + 1)

for col in 0..15:
  for row in 0..15:
    rec = records[row * 16 + col]
    write_i32_le(rec.P1x)
    write_i32_le(rec.P1y)
    write_i32_le(rec.P2x)
    write_i32_le(rec.P2y)
    write_i32_le(rec.flag)
    write_i32_le(rec.dir)

File Set Generated by MCM Plugin Editor

When the desktop editor's Build Track action runs for an open track, it first writes:

xxxxxxxxxx
tracks/<baseName>.scn
tracks/<baseName>.ter
tracks/<baseName>.dat

The .trk file is saved separately by Save Track / Save Track As.

MakeTerr consumes the .ter and referenced ASC/TGA assets to produce:

xxxxxxxxxx
tracks/<baseName>.trn

maketerr.exe

maketerr.exe is the terrain compiler that turns a .ter description plus its referenced ASC/TGA assets into a compiled .trn file.

For Supercross / TrackEdit-style tracks, use the maketerr.exe located in the MCM1 TrackEdit folder. That is the compiler expected by this document's TerrainType=TRACK .ter files and the editor's Build Track action.

Run it from the command line as:

xxxxxxxxxx
maketerr.exe <path-to-ter-file> log

Example:

xxxxxxxxxx
maketerr.exe tracks\classic_test.ter log

MakeTerr writes maketerr.log next to the .ter file. The editor displays that log after MakeTerr exits and scrolls the log view to the bottom.

There is also a different downloadable maketerr.exe used for building National tracks. That executable is larger and produces a different kind of .trn file. Do not treat the National compiler as interchangeable with the TrackEdit Supercross compiler when building the files described here.

The playable track folder normally needs:

xxxxxxxxxx
<baseName>.scn
<baseName>.trn
<baseName>.dat

Other files, such as menu images or auxiliary AI files, are outside the scope of the current MCM Plugin Editor generator.