Rebuilding Skoggit for the rFactor MCOMOD

[Sub]

Hey hey, i'll cut and paste the same info here that i've been posting elsewhere, but i'd like to add something specific.

I'm building this track in a fairly portable way and it seems entirely possible that we could figure out a way to port it to MWO. If the devs are interested in such a thing, i'm willing to give it a whirl. Now on to the preview:

After many years of wishing someone would recreate the Motor City tracks for a modern racing game, I finally found a way to do it myself. It’s a tremendous amount of work and I’m not sure how many tracks I’ll be able to finish, but it’s finally possible to rebuild these with some amount of integrity.

Of course they’ll never be exactly the same, but i’m working hard at getting the most accurate feel I can to every turn. I’ve done a lot of video watching and spent a lot of time trying to remember how it felt to race these tracks, and i think I’m capturing it pretty well.

Here’s a rather poorly compressed video of some racing up and down the Dead Man’s Run section of Skoggit:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oui5sm1VoOw

So my plan is to release an ‘alpha’ version of the entire track in Spring 2009 on the MCOMOD for rFactor site. I’m currently finishing the track with a fairly limited model and texture set just so I can release a version that people can race on. As time allows or when I run into someone with the ability to help, I’ll go back through the track and replace all the models and textures with MCO styled ones.

When the time comes to release the track, I’ll mention it here and then you’ll be able to download it along side the MCOMOD for rFactor:
http://fatbob56.com/forum/mcomod/index.php

I hope this finds you all well and happy holidays! I'll leave you with some screenshots:
http://www.thearidsea.com/MCO/screenshots/SkPr1.jpg
http://www.thearidsea.com/MCO/screenshots/SkPr2.jpg
http://www.thearidsea.com/MCO/screenshots/SkPr3.jpg
http://www.thearidsea.com/MCO/screenshots/SkPr4.jpg
http://www.thearidsea.com/MCO/screenshots/SkPr5.jpg
http://www.thearidsea.com/MCO/screenshots/SkPr6.jpg

[willyrich]

looks good sub.....ill keep my eye on it....

[Jake Ryan]

Wicked!!:D

[Sub]

Hey Jake - i just noticed that you live up in MLT. I grew up in Lynnwood and Brier and have been living closer to Seattle for the past 20 year or so. It's good to see some Terrace representin'! ;)

[roadweasel]

Looks like you're on to something Sub! Good luck with your project and we're glad you found us!

[Jake Ryan]

Sort of. I'm a recent transplant to Washington, and she hasn't been very kind to me. First off, I'm on car #2 in less than a year. I lived in one of those cars and, then once I found a place to live, I moved four more times. I'm currently in MillCreek, and that's only till summer. Then I'm going to drive home to Maine where I belong. I may move to New Hampshire, but for now I need to get back home to get stabilized. I love Washington, but only to visit.

[Sub]

I hear ya Jake, especially right now. The economy is freaking out, the weather is pure crap and you're on the north end. :D Kind of a turd cocktail right there.

[Jake Ryan]

I seem to be one of those non cocky winter driving veterans that has gotten anywhere in this without trouble. A lot of drivers here, are going off the road, or getting stuck. Its just inexperience. We will be having flooded streets when the weather goes back to normal, that will be a whole new adventure. But someday, I can say I lived here during this.

[Sub]

Heh - and the news just reported another round of snow. I wonder if the idiots have learned to stay home or put on some chains.

But to get back on track, here's a link to a much better looking, 30mb downloadable version of the Skoggit video:

http://www.fatbob56.com/dus_stuff/ccount/click.php?id=66

We'll be making a much better - multiplayer one in the days to come, but i'll keep that on the MCOMOD board and stop hassling the MWO one.

Hope you all had a good Christmas!

~Sub

[roadweasel]

Since the MCO guys started in Seattle I wondered if Skoggit was an outtake on Skagit county (just north of Seattle). Get on some of those county roads like Hwy9 up around Clear Lake and it's very reminiscent of Skoggit.
Having been raised up that way, I know that snow is a novelty and people are idiots when it happens. I used to drive around in my willys jeep in what little snow we'd get laughing at them and helping a few out here and there.
Now here, over by Spokane, I have gotten nearly 4 feet of snow, have had my driveway plowed 4 times and the county still hasn't gotten around to plowing the actual road. My driveway is a piece of cake. It's the 3 miles out to the hiway that's challenging!
Sub - was checking out the video link - Very cool! keep up the great work!

[Sub]

Hahahah – I’ve thought the same thing, Roadweasel. Though, with Skoggit and Hazard I’m pretty sure they were going for a straight up Dukes of Hazard feel. On the other hand, BAGP (minus the airport) and MCC were Bellevue in a nutshell. Westbrook always reminded me of Woodinville – Gastown is like Georgetown running into Pioneer Square. Industrial kind of reminds me of Georgetown as well. Toward the end of my time there I saw one unreleased track that was a blatant take on I-5 running through downtown Seattle. Lots of local inspiration indeed.

As for the snow – it’s finally gone! Weeeeeeeee!! Who would’ve thought so little snow could cause such a nightmare. It’s all about plowing roads and being prepared, which Seattle completely fell flat on. Since the city isn’t used to that kind of weather, I think everyone was just caught off guard. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened with 4 feet of snow that sticks around longer than a few days. A humanitarian disaster, no doubt. :D

And thanks for checking out the track so far! I’m a little more than half way through Tornado Flats and it’s coming along nicely. I’ve started a little ‘dev journal’ over on the mod board to track my progress. If anything, my daily yammering about every twist and turn could make for cheap entertainment on a snowy day.
Take care!

~Sub

[mcomobboss]

i like that track do you have it available for DL? i have rfactor w/ mcomod..

[Sub]

It's not ready quite yet. I've almost got all of Dead Man's Run and Tornado Flats in a raceable 'alpha' state, but it'll probably be another month or so before i've got all of Skoggit in that shape.

The plan is to release some unpolished alpha versions of whatever MCO tracks i can manage to chew through and then go back later to fully detail them in with custom models and textures. It'll be a loooooong project.

[mcomobboss]

thats cool. keep up the good work!! we all thank you!!

[gcountach]

Awesome....

All this time people been listing tracks, but my memory is awful on a good day and nonexistent most of the time. People talking about how they liked this track and I was like "Well, I remember driving through a LA river style track once or twice which lead through a town and the redlight district (the only track I remember the name to, since I drove my A-Class 32 Ford there all the time for time trials) and then there was that track you started in a town and drove through some country dirt roads..." Now I know that 2nd track is called Skoggit!

To critique your mapping, as soon as I saw those screenshots a lot of memories of that track came back... so yea, it seems close enough to stir up some old images of it. I'd say that makes it pretty good in my book. Are you importing the tracks from the old MCO files, making them based on track layouts and screenshots, or is this all just done from memory?

[Sub]

Man i wish i could just port the wireframe... or anything - over from the original tracks, but they're deeply encrypted and i don't think anyone's ever been able to crack into them. As for how i'm going about it: http://fatbob56.com/forum/mcomod/viewtopic.php?t=207

I've taken a couple weeks off from track-building to help my wife get ready to move across the country for school, but i'll be back at it in the next week or so.

[gcountach]

Wow.... that sucks you gotta do it all from memory and videos. I do not envy you. Really appreciate the work you put into it though.

If I had to go off my memory making a track, it would be a disaster. Be something like a blend of all the tracks from MCO into one...

[Jake Ryan]

gcountach, the first track your talking about is called Spillway. I dont remember what it led to, but the Red light district is after that.

[Sub]

Wow.... that sucks you gotta do it all from memory and videos. I do not envy you. Really appreciate the work you put into it though.

If I had to go off my memory making a track, it would be a disaster. Be something like a blend of all the tracks from MCO into one...

It was tough at first, but once i some of the town done and then a little of the stuff out of town, it got a lot easier. Still time as consuming as all hell, but at least i figured out how to scale things... theoretically.



gcountach, the first track your talking about is called Spillway. I dont remember what it led to, but the Red light district is after that.

I think it was Thunderbird Alley. I could be wrong.