Welcome to the ManiaExchange Monthly Track Contest (MTC), November 2017 hosted by eyebo!

In the MTC your task is to build a track on a given theme. Later on, all of the entered tracks will be rated and a winner will be found.

Theme of the Month: Who needs blocks anyway?
Make a map using only items and terraforming.

Theme Specific Rules

• Build your map using items (aka objects).
  
  
• You can also use terraforming.
  
  
• Driving offroad is allowed.
  
• Some TitlePacks include items you can build with.
  
• TitlePacks allowed:
  
  • Base titles (Canyon, Stadium, Valley, Lagoon)
    
  • TMPlus - Canyon (33.1 MB)
    
  • TMPlus - Lagoon (55.5 MB)
    
  • RPG (3.91 GB)
    
  • Competition (previously known as ESL TitlePack) (249 MB)
    
  • Valley RallyCross (174 MB)
    
  • TMOne - Alpine (371 MB)
    
  • MrSloppis MultiEnv* (18.4 MB)
    
  • Object-Collection* (1.5 GB)
  
  
• *Caution: Items created using the in-game Mesh Modeler do not currently display properly in multi-environment titlepacks such as MrSloppis and Object-Collection (when using an environment other than Canyon.)
  
• Items must be embedded (about item embedding) or included with the titlepack where the map is built.
  
• You can find items on ManiaPark.
  
• Blocks and macroblocks are not allowed.
  
  
• Converting blocks to items using Mesh Modeler is allowed only if you modify the item in some way (e.g. removing lightpoles on a road, or changing a surface from paved to dirt).
  
• Beware of the embedded item limit (1MB)!

Some Tips

• Tip 1: Decide which embeddable items you're going to use ahead of time. Add the items to a map, enable embedding, and save the map. If you receive no warning, then your map is not over the 1MB limit for embeddable items.
  
• Tip 2: Test your map in Local Play -> Single Map before uploading to MX to make sure all the items appear as intended.

General Rules (this month)

• EnvMix is allowed
  
• Stadium64 map base is allowed
  
• Embedded texture mods are allowed (e.g. RPG_Ancients_v2 in the RPG TitlePack)
  
• Press Forward, Left, Right, or similar tracks are not allowed
  
• Your author time must be between 45 seconds and 1 minute 30 seconds
  
• Map passwords are not allowed
  
• Day/night cycle is not allowed
  
• Custom time of day is allowed
  
• You may submit MAX ONE TRACK
  
• Duo tracks are allowed, but each map counts as one track for each author involved.
  
• MTC should be present in the map name. Example: Simpli-city (MTC); or [mtc] Ruins of Life;
  or MTC - time for dreams (check that any special characters do not break in the TM or MX track name).
  
• The track should be built in the most recent version of the game and titlepack available.

Deadlines

• All tracks should be submitted before the end of Sunday November 26, 2017 at midnight PST
  
• Public voting will go from November 30th to December 5th
  
• Results are calculated on December 6th

Prizes
Honour and the right to brag! (Jozii used to say that. I hope some still remember him? )
The top 3 winners will receive a showcase of a track of their choice (< 10 awards)

How to Submit

• To enter a track, simply upload and post a link to your submission here:
  MTC November 2017: Submission Thread
  
• You can update your map within the deadline as many times as you want. Though be mindful of replays submitted to your map!

Judging: Public and internal
We will use a 50/50 mixture of the public voting system and the internal judging

• Everyone is allowed to judge, even players who submitted a map, but the vote for your own map will not count (give your own map a 10).
  
• You must have access to all environments and vote for all maps for your votes to count.
  
• Every map will be judged with marks from 1 (bad) to 10 (good).
  
• The internal judging will note some detailed feedback with points based on categories (Theme [20p], Creativity [10p], Funfactor [10p], Detailwork/Scenery/MT [10p]).
  
  

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please ask!

Magnet tracks incoming

Would it be possible to use regular blocks for scenery only?
And if not, what about with regards to signs only?

Signs and scenery must be made in the same way as the rest of the track, sorry.

I realize signage is difficult with only items, but it is possible.

As an example, look what basbaas pulled off back in 2013 with only the few built-in items that came with Valley. This is before embeddable items were a thing.







All created with just these four items:



So I have faith people will come up with creative solutions for wayfind on their maps.

Of course there are easier way to place directional signs. Here's some you could use...

- Canyon -

http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2842
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2767
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2484

- Valley -

http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=3096
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2769
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2601
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2486

- Stadium -

http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2485
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=2768

- Lagoon -

http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=3202
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=3207
http://www.maniapark.com/ressource.php?id=3136

And of course the titlepacks you can build in.... almost all of them have items for directional signage.

How about allowing use of the one "block" in each environment that's actually just a tool to add variance to the terrain? (For example, 10-1-7 in Canyon.)

Since use of this feature doesn't actually add any new geo at all to the map, and only creates some variety within the terrain that's being used already, I'd think that would be within the spirit of the contest...?

... says:
Converting blocks to items using Mesh Modeler is allowed only if you modify the item in some way (e.g. removing lightpoles on a road, or changing a surface from paved to dirt).

> regarding "modify the item" - Is it okay to move it by n-units up / down?

I'll consider these questions and give a definitive answer tomorrow.

A little clarification about which TMPlus titles are allowed:

pjw says:
How about allowing use of the one "block" in each environment that's actually just a tool to add variance to the terrain? (For example, 10-1-7 in Canyon.)

Great question! Since those blocks are just an extension of terraforming and can't be used without terraforming, I'll allow them.

Specifically these blocks are allowed to be placed without converting to an item (and without using blockmixing):

Canyon:
10-1-7

Valley:
11-1-4
11-1-6

Lagoon:
6-1-1
7-3

fredair.esu says:

... says:
Converting blocks to items using Mesh Modeler is allowed only if you modify the item in some way (e.g. removing lightpoles on a road, or changing a surface from paved to dirt).

> regarding "modify the item" - Is it okay to move it by n-units up / down?

Placing the converted block at a different angle or height is not sufficient to be considered a modification of the block. You must edit the converted block in some way. As you can imagine, this will be hard to check for, so you probably won't get disqualified for it if you break this rule.

Thanks for the clarification!