RPG Titlepack 2.0

New things to explore in the RPG Titlepack:

Half a year after initial release of the pack we are proud to present you the first big update of the RPG Titlepack. Here is a list of new features that might be interesting for you:

New custom blocks in the editor

You will notice alot of new stuff in the editor, some of them were ready for quite a while now(but we couldnt include them because of a bug in Maniaplanet 2.0) and some are brand new.

Basic shapes collection:

We added more texture variations of the existing basic shapes so you can customize the looks of your track even more.

Lights:

One of the biggest features for RPG are the new light blocks: Not only do they look cool, but they also emit light to their surroundings. To see the result you have to compute shadows, best use the "Fast" or "Default" option to get an idea how the track will look like with the lights.

Custom Checkpoints:

Another great feature added by Nadeo is the ability to create custom checkpoints. They can be any size, position and rotation, so integrating a CP into your route will be much easier in the future. Custom Start and Finish blocks are also possible, but they are not included in the pack yet and will follow in one of the future updates.

Terrain Blocks:

 More variations of terrain blocks were added, including grass, dirt and water.

Platform Driving Set:

Six folders in the platform driving set have been added, opening possibilities for more creative platform routes. 

"Bobsled" driving blocks:

The tube blocks have been sliced in half to make some new blocks that are similar to bobsled runways.

Vegetation additions:

New tree trunks, branches, 2D branches, bigger plants, bigger grass, bigger leaves and some bushes have been added.

An overview of some of the new blocks - bigger version

Lightmap fix for tubes:

The popular tubes had some bugs in the lightmap which resulted in strange shadows and lights. Those were fixed, old tracks might need to be recalculated to fix those shadows.

Windows with new behaviour:

The window collection got altered so that you can now drive on them without your car bouncing all over the place, the frame and the glass now have the same width.

Freedom in the editor:

When you create a new track you will notice some new option in the mood selection:
The top row are the default moods we've known for years, but at the bottom row it gets interesting:
A big stadium - without stadium! 64x64 of building space without the actual stadium in place, meaning you can now create much more authentic tracks. With this new option one other change is really important: The maximum size of the GBX file for online play was raised to 2MB, giving you the opportunity to build huge structures without hitting any limits.

The redesigned main menu:

To give the main menu easy access to all titlepack related content, we redesigned it to make it more user friendly. The menu buttons are now split into three different categories: Editors, Play and Info
Just hover over the corresponding symbol and the buttons will appear.

Another way to navigate through the titlepack is the new sidebar.
Just hover over the "Menu" button or touch the right side of your screen with the mouse and the sidebar will slide in giving you quick access to all pages.

The new main menu

The macroblock sharing page:

Since Maniaplanet 3.0 macroblocks are bugfree and offer a good way to share creations between trackauthors. Because of that we offer a ingame sharing platform for macroblocks that is easy to use for everybody. Just click "Blocks" in the Editors section or select the page from the sidebar. Once you're there you can browse all uploaded macroblocks and filter them by categories. If you wanna submit your own creation, just click on the three dots at the bottom to select a macroblock to upload, select a category for it on the left and write a small description - that's it! The page will automaticly show the thumbnail you selected white saving the macroblock, no need to upload pictures. In case you changed one of your macroblocks and want to update it or you wanna change the description, just upload the same macroblock again, it will automaticly update the database. Please note that the macroblock that were not created by yourself will be rejected.

The new MacroBlocks sharing page

The new update system:

Nadeo introduced incremental updates for titlepacks with MP3.0. That means that it will automaticly download new content when you enter the pack without downloading the files you already have. So in the future you can expect several smaller updates for the titlepack.

Your job:

Your job is to keep the community alive! Play online, create tracks and macroblocks, shoot videos or just spread the word! If you created tracks before it's recommended to recalculate the shadows and update the track on MX(this wont change the UID of the track, meaning the records wont be gone). If you're hosting a server, please update it to the latest dedicated and titlepack version.

The future:

The titlepack team will keep going, creating new content and keep everything up to date. We have lots of ideas, but remember that this is not our job, it's just a hobby afterall. If we can spare some time we will sure use it to offer you the best TM RPG experience possible.

So i wanna say a big THANKS to the community for sticking with us, to all the helpers and testers during development, and ofcourse to my development teammates Hawk and maxi!

ZiZa