I do a little programming myself and understand how these
support programs can be. I'd still be willing to buy Papyrus'
tools if they offered them. I think it would be interesting
racing on tracks that other people made (that is, after the
initial onslaught of Daytona and Indianapolis and
substandrard-first-attempt tracks).
Just my opinion though.
CJ
> So why doesnt someone make their own Track Creation program and sell it?
> People have been doing that for years with games like Doom, Duke Nukem,
> and Quake. Hell, companies even sell levels created by people who dont
> even know their file is being published! So why cant this be done with
> ICR2 or N2?
Probably because the track format is not as simple as Doom, Duke or
Quake. It's a technical problem that is limiting people more than a
legal problem. (Because there are more than enough people who are
willing to flagrantly violate intellectual property laws...)
---Jim
Quoted text (12 lines)
>> So why doesnt someone make their own Track Creation program and sell it? >> People have been doing that for years with games like Doom, Duke Nukem, >> and Quake. Hell, companies even sell levels created by people who dont >> even know their file is being published! So why cant this be done with >> ICR2 or N2? >Probably because the track format is not as simple as Doom, Duke or >Quake. It's a technical problem that is limiting people more than a >legal problem. (Because there are more than enough people who are >willing to flagrantly violate intellectual property laws...) >---JimByteMe6614,
Duke Nukem 3D comes with an editor (Build). Despite the readme,
which states that it is not a polished product, it works quite well
once you figure it out. Duke Nukem's .con files being in a C-type
language and easily editable from a text file editor also helps.
No other .map editor exists for Duke Nukem 3D.
I believe the makers of Doom released the format of their .wad
files to the public so that they could create an editor for it.
Several nice editors were made. Knowing how the files are formatted
helps a lot.
I don't know the situation with Quake.
Papyrus, as far as I know, has not released any information
on the makeup of their files. They barely cover the track.txt
files. This is their right to be this way. Once the format is
figured out it is fairly easy to write a program to edit it.
So, ByteMe6614, I guess the reason why a track creator/editor
hasn't been made is probably because it's hard, requires a lot of
time and will most likely reward the maker with nothing. Note
Dave Noonan's experience.
MW
Hey ByteMe,
There is no editor because it is hard. Papyrus has written a very
complex program. Just ask David Noonan if he would do it again after
his experience with a bunch of ungrateful folks here on RAS.
But beyond that there is also the matter of licensing with individual
tracks that make such a product be not feasible.
Later,
Chas Bornemann
--
Simulator ***world
http://sim***world.simplenet.com/
Nascar 1 ** Nascar 2 ** Indy Car 2
Member Site - The Sim Project
- BB&B Track Editing
SSCRA '97 OFFLINE RACING LEAGUE
Chas Bornemann
Brandon Reed
Ted D. Scurlock
> So why doesnt someone make their own Track Creation program and sell it?
> People have been doing that for years with games like Doom, Duke Nukem,
> and Quake. Hell, companies even sell levels created by people who dont
> even know their file is being published! So why cant this be done with
> ICR2 or N2?
> ByteMe6614
NASCAR FEEL the THUNDER!!!
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The reasons are these :
1. Developing a tool to provide 3-D image editing is relatively big job.
This is required to truly allow
a user to develop a track from scratch.
2. Although most of the track files have been 80-90% reverse engineered,
sufficient for modifying
tracks and developing convertors and such, the remaining 10-20% will
require a large investement in
time for experimentation. There are some numbers in the TRK files that
appear to produce no effect when
changed - others that produce some strange results (like warping your car
to another part of the track).
3. The monetary rewards for this just aren't there. A handful of people
would purchase such a product
and start posting tracks. At say $29 a copy (reasonable when you consider
the price of N2 itself), you
would have to sell a lot of copies to make any money. This is particularly
true when you consider the
man years of development effort required to write this program. Similar
3-D editor programs cost a lot
more - but this is just a game enhancement product.
4. Papyrus/Sierra hasn't done it and they have the best chance of being
successful at it. This is enough
in itself to convince me not to try and make money on it.
