4x4Evo: How to create new FULL DC tracks!

[FuzzyFish]

This guide will cover how to create brand new full tracks for the DC, not LTE or Lite tracks but all new tracks with all new models/textures should someone puts forth the effort into making that content of converting an existing map. You are no longer limited to just the stock tracks and a single LITE track on the VMU.

NOTES:
1. This tool was intended for the developers, as a result it is not a user friendly process.
2. Newer versions of the editor are highly recommended
3. I do not know what limitations the Dreamcast poses on map content. The only hard ceiling I know offhand is you might be limited to 1024 unique ground tiles. I do not know if this factors in shadow generation.
4. This guide will entail only the process for creating a duplicate of a track using the debug release of the editor. As far as track creation goes, I'm not sure if a good tutorial exists online at the moment. But the 4x4 Evolution Revival discord server (https://discord.com/invite/qEqBvvX) has several people well versed in the process.
5. This editor is older than the retail track editor, the interface may be missing certain options.

What you need:
-4x4 Evolution PC (Retail Full Install or Patch 2)
-4x4 Evolution Patch 3
https://www.4x4evolution.net/downloads/ ... ds-4x4-evo

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Section 1 - Install & Setup
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1.1. If you have an existing install make this a separate one for making DC tracks!!! Install 4x4 Evo and the required patches to any directory besides "Program Files" or your "Desktop". If you copy files to those locations the game may fail to write files.

1.2. Open 4x4ed.exe

1.3. Set rendering to Direct3D. OpenGL will not work with most of the Debug UI.

1.4. Start the game and exit

1.5. You should get an test screen that states "This is the debug UI"

1.6. Exit to save settings, otherwise settings will be lost on a crash


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Section 2 - Preparing files
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At this point there is no "New" track option in this editor so we need to duplicate and existing track. Also the editor can not access models & textures in POD files and we'll need to extract that as well for the track you duplicate.

2.1. Go to the Utilities folder inside your 4x4 Evo directory

2.2. Open "podview", hit "ok" on the error

2.3. Select File->Open choose any track you want to use as basis. (Optional: You can download a custom POD track, and use that as well)

2.4. Ctrl-A to select all

2.5. Ctrl-E to extract selected

2.6. Check "Recreate Directory Structure"

2.7. Enter or copy-paste your 4x4 Evo directory

2.8. Select "ok"

2.9. All track files should be extracted and are now accessible for editing


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Section 3 - Making changes and creating Dreamcast Files
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From here we'll be accessing hidden menus options. In many cases there might be no GUI to work with. As mentioned above this MUST be run in Direct3D mode, if you run this in OpenGL/Glide it will crash. If any steps are missing let me know and I'll update it.

3.1. Open 4x4ed.exe

3.2. Start the game and exit

3.3. You should have the "Debug UI" screen with the TRI logo. This screen has numerous hidden hotkeys and functions not before seen or documented, we'll just be working with 2 of them the level editor, and the file manager.

3.4. Press "Ctrl-F" for the file manager

3.5. Press "N" to clone an existing track

3.6. Fill in the requested info

3.7. Hit escape once it's done generating new track data

3.8. Once back at the "Debug UI" screen hit "Ctrl-L" for the level editor

3.9. Start making your track, that is a whole topic in itself.

3.10. Save and backup frequently.

3.11. Hit escape once done

3.12. Press "Ctrl-F" for the file manager

3.13. Press "P" to create a POD of you level. Select the level you just made. (On the attempt I made, failure to do this deleted all level data. Did I mention backup frequently?)

3.14. You might need to restart the editor to ensure it mounts the POD file (Untested)

3.15. Press "D" to create Dreamcast files. Hit "ok" on all prompts

3.16. Close editor once done. You should now have all new track data for your files

3.17. Add these new files to your GDI (See my other tutorial) or other preferred image.

3.18. Test it, and have fun!


This opens the door for doing total conversions on the Dreamcast to potentially turn this into any kind of racing game you want. Hopefully someone finds this useful, and does something awesome with it!

[Anthony817]

OMG so happy to see you making progress on this game! Keep up all the great work brother, super proud of you!

[deluxux]

Wow what a technological break-thru! Thanks for all the hard work!

[Ian Micheal]

Just great to see thank you now lets make some cool tracks

[Ryo_Hazuki]

I tried to move a little, but I confess to be too complicated for my understanding.
Has anyone managed to create a track?

[FuzzyFish]

This is one of those things that better tools would immensely help with. I managed to as a test, but making tracks under normal conditions is fairly tough to begin with.

Using the Evo 1 retail editor to make the track might be a much better and more friendly idea.

[mrneo240]

If you want your tracks posted/highlighted on katana.cyou just send me a message

[beanboy]

Nice. Thanks for all of that info in your first post above. It will definitely come in handy for everyone.

[Mechanic]

Cheers to FuzzyFish !!!!