Modder's Tools

Information on must-have tools to create your own vehicles, or modify exsisting ones.

ZModeler 1.x
File types: *.pkg (.mtx .bak .bnd)

ZModeler 1.05x is one of the most stable releases of ZM series 1.x, however it's feature set varies from ZM1.07x, for example, if you export a vehicle with more than 4 paint jobs, it will more than likely crash your game.

ZModeler 1.07x is slightly less stable in comparison, but required for certain other things, such as fixing the wheel off-set issue that can occur, or if you require 5-8 paintjobs.

Notepad
File types: *.info *.csv *.veh*, almost every file in /tune directory.

Notepad is fine, but if you're a little more advanced you may prefer Notepad++. Like the name suggests, this is an enhanced version of Microsoft's Notepad. This application is used for various text-editing roles, such as tuning the vehicle and altering the description.

Paint
File types: *.jpg *.tga *.bmp

Microsoft Paint isn't recommended for high-resolution and big detail paintjobs requiring more than one layer and transparencies, but it's more than capable at performing small edits, there are many better alternatives such Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET and GIMP.

WinRAR
File types: *.zip *.ar

winRAR, WinZip, 7Zip or any kind of similar tool that compress or decompress *.zip archives will be required to create a nice tidy *.ar file of all your vehicle folders - which is essentially a *.zip file in disguise.

You are not required, but however it is common practice to zip up your vehicle's *.ar file along with your author information, release notes and any other information you may want to include in your readme.txt.

AR Locker
File types: *.ar

An AR Locker is exactly what it says. It is aimed at developers that want to protect their projects. As mentioned earlier, a *.ar archive can easily be created through WinZip or WinRAR, etc and therefore just as easily opened.

The *.ar archive locker works by corrupting or modifying to be more precise, a small part of the *.zip archive, so that it is unreadable by the most common compression utilities, but still readable by Midtown Madness.

There are currently several various *.ar lockers, but are not all obtainable.


 * 1) The most commonly used is Maxoff of HQTM's locker, it is only available from him - you also need to contact Maxoff to obtain a unique user key.

There are more alternatives out there, but the easiest option is to contact Maxoff.
 * 1) Number 2 on the list is Volky's AR Locker, and again it's not freely available.
 * 2) The third locker is mostly used by the bus community and developers from Asia, it is the most secure, and hardest to crack.

Advanced Renamer
File types: *.*

A batch file renamer can really speed up the process of changing a vehicle or city's basename, however it can also be achieved without software, simply by using a batch script file (*.bat) Advanced Renamer is simple yet powerful enough to get files renamed in under a second or two and is recommended for users that use a base vehicle or city for projects.

Tips
Know your vehicle, It is helpful if you know the vehicle you are producing or converting. Do plenty of research on facts and figures if you want it to be accurate. Look for reliable facts and statistics such as the vehicle's weight, it's power, and 0-60 or 0-100 times at sites like Wikipedia. It's also handy if you've driven the vehicle in real life, or in a game which depicts an accurate representation of the vehicle's physics, so you know what you're aiming for or trying to recreate. Other lines of research include checking what colours the vehicle is available in, and trim levels of models to make sure your vehicle is as true to life as possible.

Test and re-test, you should test your vehicle in a number of situations and test it with friends - online is perfect, they may be quicker to pick up on something that you've easily overlooked, or may be able to give you helpful suggestions.

A Dirty Release is a Bad Release, clean up your files and folders before release, be sure to delete or move any files that don't need to be in the *.ar archive such as *.bak files, *.psd files, optimise your textures, there's no point in having a 1024x1024 seat texture, because no-one will really see it. You'll have a noticeably smaller filesize if you go for 512 or 256px. Are you windows transparent? If not, you don't need interior textures. If you're converting from a newer game, the vehicles tend to have engine textures, if no-one's going to see the engine, that texture can go.

Converting vehicles is a somewhat grey area, you should always give credit where it's due, and ask for permission where necessary.

Another simple yet effictive tip is to always keep your projects folder organised, and if you have multiple versions of files, then be sure to number them clearly, or whatever works for you.