12-23-2001
this is a read me file about the TD_Q60_alpinatwist.env file; a custom designed Motocross Madness 2 Nationals Race, This is the second race in the Quick60 Series.

The Quick60 Series features short laps for fun competition style riding, The best riders may break the one minute mark... why noy give it a try. :-)

this read me accompanies the TD_Q60_alpinatwist.zip file distributed by twisted dirt and harmonic cycle design
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Introduction:

Twisted D.I.R.T. (Designers of Intense Race Tracks)

Team Members:

Scott       X_Xracer
Bruce       AMA_DirtTwister
Randall     AMA_Pop455
Justin      AMA_Kip66
Heiko       ForzaDolor
Pete        GDI_Bulldog
Chuck       X_HoundDog
Jesse       JMS
Kent        X_Kobra
Zack        MoToZaCk
Karl        X_Budderbean
Keith       TNT_Gravy
Fraser      fraser
Thor        X_Mayhem
Randy       X_radRD
Jeff        VRT_MCMnut
Steve       X_WFO
Randy       X_radRD
Marc        X_McD
Mike        mike_mccue
Boyd        Maui_Cool
Ryann       Aus_Rockett

Thanks for your interest in this track. Please contact me with any comments or suggestions at 

mike@harmoniccycle.com

visit twisteddirt.com for the latest in MCM2 info and downloads

Explore harmonic cycle design, 
my virtual mixed media art gallery at www.harmoniccycle.com 
You can download lots of free art, 3d supplies and original music.

Please help me spread the word about my original music. Listen to, or download my original short hair hippy jazz rock tunes at www.mp3.com/mikemccue

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Installation:

Place the TD_Q60_alpinatwist.env file in your ~your MCM2 game folder~/Teraform/Nationals directory


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Description:

Alpina Twist, the second race in the Quick60 Series, is a funky oraganic track that will take a lot of practice to learn. Give it a try. The course is packed with many lines and there is something for just about everyone. Fast riders turn laps in a 60 second groove. Surfers, Skaters and Snowboarders pull G's while carving faces and bottom turns. Stunt Pilots thrill to the challenge of leaping upon conveyor belts in search of a short cut. Nature dudes mellow out under the wonderful late afternoon sun light. I hope you will find something you like here.

This race is my second design to begin with a warm up lap that weaves along work roads and trails surrounding the primary race area. Sharp riders get a chance to be out front for the big entrance to the track. Learn how to go fast here... you will have an easier time keeping postion in the first few laps. I have included the warm up lap to highlight my fascination with Motocross Madness 2 and its ability to portray large enviroments, You may notice the displacement maps and textures have been tiled to provide a seamless transition.

This project was begun on 02/10/01 and finanlized on 12/23/01. The tenth month process invovled a lot of experimenting with the various aspects of working with Armadillo.
 The displacement map was begun on 02/10/01 as a natural landscape. The resulting terrain was test ridden extensively until I discovered a loop that I thought would work out. The track was then carved into the terrain to appear as a free ride dirt pit setting.  I want to thank X_Kobra for beta testing the course.
 The final track features lots of custom objects including three conveyor systems built just for this project. It is with great joy that I am finally getting to present the now world famous "rocks". I made them just for this track but when the development process slowed down I gave them out so that other designers could use them in their tracks. Most of the spring and summer was spent playing with models.
 August and September were spent experimenting with manipulating vegetation files.  A lot of time with no noticable results....yet. Some really cool ideas resulted from these vegeatation experiments. MCMnut and I have come up with some really cool vegetation stuff that we will tell you about soon. Thanks MCMnut.
 The project also featured a custom earth mixing facility and warehouse building but the game got bogged down and i finally had to remove them from the enviroment. That took up most of October and a good deal of my enthusiasm.
 Many of the custom objects now feature LOD swap out to help keep frame rates up. ( That means I started over and made extra models for everything... so thats what what I did in Novenmber :-] )
 The custom sky was a late addition to the track. It was created with rich warm colors that seem to unify the various graphic and 3d elements in the scene. I used Bryce to make a nice 360 panorama then I read Maui_Cool's sky cube tutorial and used AMA_DirtTwister's Skywalker program. Thanks guys.
 The pit area props were custom made for this project. They are low poly models of tools and picnic items and point to a single 128x128 texture for efficiency. The brand new TD motorcycles are only 656 polys and use a small 128x128 tex map.
 Sounds were added last. I used MCMnut's APM beta v4 to associate a variety of stock mcm2 sounds with some of the props. Thanks MCMnut.

 About Frame Rates: This course is pushing the limits for smooth play on a PC computer. I began development on a Celeron 500 running Win 98 with 768MB SDRAM and a ATIRage128 PCI 16mb graphics card but I had to migrate the project to a 1.4 Athalon running Win2K with 1G PC2100 RAM and a ATIRadeon AGP 64MB SDR graphics card to complete the test riding and publishing process.
 This track may not load in slower systems. Faster systems will work great. I am doing all my final test rides at 1024x768 with graphics at 10, shadows on, particles on, all screen features on etc and it runs smooth. Good luck.


 I hope you enjoy this custom designed event, look out for other MCM2 stuff from TwistedDIRT and harmonic cycle design. 
thanks,
Mike McCue
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Credits:

the design work, TD_Q60_alpinatwist.env file, and all contents of the TD_Q60_alpinatwist.zip file are:

copyright 12/23/2001 Michael McCue, harmonic cycle design, Tallahassee Florida USA
contact:  mike@harmoniccycle.com

The twisteddirt name and logo are used by permission from Twisted Dirt. Visit twisteddirt.com for more info.


      
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