trackmania-rpg.com

Hey Guys

I've been doing some experiments in trackmania lately
Since there wasn't anything new to add into the mediatracker i started doing some mods

Since then i found out that most textures can be made out of animated bik files too
So i created lava in coast environment


and in stadium too

created a short track with it for the MTC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aviHSRH0ymQ

And if fire works, why don't i try rocks with an animated water texture above it with a frozen glass effect on it

i used a bik file in skycolor too which makes the sky blink

This gave me another idea
A bikfile doesn't have to be an animation, it can be a series of pictures too
So when i placed some files together with 10 seconds delay i could make the mood change from day to night
I used the same technique on the StadiumCircuit texture and i was able to create stuff like this

Meanwhile i found out i can put the delay on it for several minutes
which gives the possibility to change the complete mod and mood after 5minutes or so

Why can't i find more information about this possibility?
I had to figure out all the blocks dimensions and filerestrictions myself.
Any one intrested in this?

This is sooooo cool zip, I'm not sure what to do with it but god damn it looks cool !

well you can change the season from fall to winter, or make it night and put blood splatter all over the texture by day for a horror map.
the ideas are endless for me, but not my time, i cannot make a mod and a track with all those ideas

Why can't i find more information about this possibility?

Because noone knew about it. Noone in all of Trackmania as far as I know. Texture files are very restricted and that's probably why noone even tried fooling around with .bik files. That is pretty genius of you I gotta say!

I'm gonna check if this works in TM2 as well. That would be huge...because then we could have custom objects with animation. Way cool!

What file restrictions are there? Any other restrictions?

Edit: apparently doesn't work in TM2. What a pity. Oh well

don't give up so easely
i'm not familiar with the tech of tm2 but i know that tm accepts webm files instead of bik files
you should try those formats
It was kristjan who told me about the possibility but as far as i know he never found a good use for it.
the main problem is the files restrictions.
as far as i know you can use bik files in any dimension but they cannot be bigger then 50 or 60kb depending on the block.
i don't advice using after effects to create the skycolor and stadiumcircuit block because it will first convert your file into a video which rad converts to bik, the file will be huge and the textures will be awefull.. instead use this site http://www.online-image-editor.com/gifmaker/
upload some textures in the same size (256x256 will be ok)
beneath the small thumb there will be a delay 1000 for 10 seconds
add the files and delay needed, and create the gif
you'll notice that it will be a very small file
convert that to a bik file and keep it around 50kb
place it onto any file you want and it will change it texture in the timelaps you chose
this works on skycolor.tga too, also on StadiumFXClouds (place the same file on both) it will make it pitch black in day mood
you can place it on dirtsmoke and dirtmarks too
i did this on my lava mod and when you drive onto it, your tire tracks and smoke will really burn
But i think almost every block can be turned into a bik file
use the main types of blocks and you can make a mod in the size of 2.5Mb
Stadium: circuitD, controlglas, fan (more bout that later) startsign roadcircuitborder, fabric, racesignrubber, warpauvent, roadborder, circuitlogo, platformfloor (look out for this one) roadgrid, the grass and the dirt (is there a way to remove the grass?)
further more i don't advice to work with transparancy on the blocks, ok you can make a type of block dissapear by using a transparent picture between 2 other textures, but when you get close to the blocks you'll notice that it clips (you can see through it)
about the fan... most fun i had with that one. put a transparent explosion in it for example :' ) i also created a running hamster in a wheel, a baby in a washer, electricity... spirals (i made them turn in the opposite direction of the fan which makes them appear straight or turn slower)
need more info? just ask , i hope this idea brings back some great modbuilders (send them a mail with the idea?) the possibilities are endless
Switching from day to night mood.. from sunny to rainy, from fall to winter, from midievel castles to future textures
the delay between 2 textures can be several minutes in my experiments
good luck.
I had to start modding years ago ..

Sounds like a lot of restrictions. Especially the low file (=texture) size restricts the usage and possibilites a lot. I had hoped for more room there. But it is still very exciting.
I tried webm format and it doesn't seem to work. I should probably contact Fix from Nadeo, maybe he knows more about this than we do.

i first thought it wouldn't work eather but i tried several file sizes in dimensions and weight.
it is indeed restricted and for every texture there's a limit that you got to find which is very annoying.
my pc is a giant mess now :' )

Now also 3d animated objects possible

So cool

messing around with the grass

teaser for doomed nations