Files That Make Up A Track:
For your scratchbuilt track to work in the sim there are certain files that are needed. Let's call our track <track> from now on.
There should be a folder in your tracks folder called <track>. Inside this folder
you need to have the following files:
| default.st1 | [setup file that will be loaded on the car when the track loads] | Can be copied from a track similar to yours in length and shape |
| records.txt | [lap time and speed records information] | Can be copied from a track similar to yours in length and shape |
| <track>.txt | [defines track name/length/pits/etc] | There is a tutorial about this file later on in this series |
| <track>.dat | [holds all graphical and physical information of the track] | Read on to learn what should be inside this .dat file |
NB: I am not taking the .lp files into account because they are not expressly needed to run the track. As long as you are running without opponents [preseason testing] the track will work fine as long as the other files are in place and correctly made.
The <track>.dat file :
Inside this dat file there should be the following files:
1. The palette .pcx file called sunny.pcx, this is your track's color palette. The pallette is not the image itself but the colors defined in its color palette. Very important file ! A tutorial later on, deals with finding textures and picking the right colors to go with them so the sunny.pcx will be dealt with in that tutorial.
2. Track screens. The DOS track screens are in the files with the .stp and .stg extensions and the Windows track screen is called mtshotc.pcx. Additionally, the track screens use a file called map.pcx for their colors. If you want to know exactly what they are and what they do skip ahead to the tutorial about making track screens but I suggest you leave that for later. For testing purposes copying all these files from another track will do fine.
3. Files that define the camera positions in the track. These are called <track>.scr and <track>.cam. Copy these from another track while your track is still in its testing phase because later on we will talk about making brand new camera positions in another tutorial.
4. The two main track files. The <track>.trk file and the <track>.3do file. These will be built by our N3 Sandbox once we have gone through the proces of making our track.
5. The files that define the sky. There are two .3do files [which hold 3D object information] needed called sky.3do and horizon.3do. Of course the sky needs textures as well and those are stored in .mip files. In most cases these will be page03.mip, page03b.mip and skyindex.mip. They might be named different in other tracks you look at, but in that case open both the sky.3do and horiz.3do in a text editor and look at the names in there. They should be at the very beginning of the file.
6. All the other TSO's [track side objects] which are all in .3do format. All the textures files [in .mip format]. And lastly the 2D images for trees and other things [in .pmp format]. All three file types are dealt with in various tutorials.
All the files mentioned in point 1 to 5 are absolutely needed in a track for it to even load correctly in the simulation, however the additional .3do/.mip and .pmp files are only needed when your track refers to them. So if you have built a track and have not added any objects yet in OPE then point 1 to 5 of the above list is all that is needed for the track to run.