rec.autos.simulators

Does this file work ?

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Remember the NFS1 editor? It allowed you to select a portion of track,
and then use the left/right arrow keys to bend/unbend it. You could
create sharp turns, long slow turns, combine curves for S turns, etc.
It also allowed you to use INS/DEL to raise or lower a section of
track (note that the editor was smart enough to grade the curve at the
ends and middle, because you were making smooth hills for roads, not
pointy mountains). You could create almost any track with these tools.

Then someone added a utility to flatten and straighten an entire track
into a single straight, flat line. That made the editor even more
powerful, since it was easier to make the track you wanted when
starting from this "empty slate".

The result of the NFS1 editor was basically the equivalent of those
"engineer's rulers" - you know the ones I mean? You can bend them
anyway you want but it bends smoothly, and holds it's shape where you
bend it to. So you had complete control, you could basically make any
track you could imagine.

Note that this kind of usable track editor basically REQUIRES the
software to allow the start/end points of the track to be disjointed
during the editing process. It's up to the operator to make sure they
line up before saving the track.

The NFS2 editor, in contrast, is almost completely non-functional. No
height/hill adjustments, no curve bender/unbender. All it lets you do
is select two points, and then use the mouse to "pull" the road from
the mid-point of your selections. So instead of a nice, flexible
"engineer's ruler", you basically end up with the equivalent of a
track made out of elastic, nailed to a board. You can pick any two
nails, then move a given nail between the two to slide a bit of the
track around, but that's it. You can't touch or manipulate the track
directly, you can't make (or unmake) smooth curves or hills. As I
said, it's more or less non-functional as a track editor.

Lastly, the NFS1 editor keyboard interface for selecting track
endpoints and bending the track was also superior to a mouse
interface. For example, if you were trying to make that one last curve
that nicely matches up the finish/start line you could do it over and
over, making the tiniest possible adjustments by actually counting
your keyboard adjustments. If it didn't work out you could slide your
track selection down one "unit" and try again. The Windows NFS2
version could possible make up for this with a good undo feature, but
a keyboard interface would also be nice to have.

I'll send these comments on the the guy who made the NFS2 editor,
maybe he can make it into something usable (it really just needs a
couple functions - curve bender/unbender, hill maker, and ideally a
"flatten/straighten track" function to start out from a clean slate).

Joe

Cool,

I'd love to get a great NFS2/SE editor.  Hopefully the guy who made the
current one will improve it even more.  

Hawker

Joe

Mike Thommson

Feel free to send him your requests or encouragement. Please try to be
polite and positive - we have to recognize that he is doing this work
for free on his own time, so we should ask for what we want but try
not to put too much time pressure on him.

Joe