Re-Volt I/O
Re-Volt I/O - Track Files
Let's take a look at garden1's folder structure.
You will find these file types in many tracks:
This folder includes files that will be used in case the player chooses to race it backwards.
There can be 10 bitmaps named gardena.bmp to gardenj.bmp in this case.
You will have noticed that there are similar files to the bitmaps we were just looking at. These are called mipmaps.
They are used by the game and will be used on object that is further away in order to make the track look smoother.
Modern game engines do this automatically, and, in fact, if you are planning to make the track just for RVGL, you don't need to worry about those.
This file contains camera nodes that Re-Volt uses for the replay.
This file contains the POS nodes.
This file contains the AI nodes.
This contains information about instances (decorative objects).
A file for force fields. These can alter the gravity or provide wind effects.
Object file for pickups and other interactive objects.
This contains the lights. Some extra lighting effects can be achieved like shadows on cars and objects.
This one contains simple geometry to tell the game where mirrors are. These are used for reflective floors.
Information file for tracks. It contains everything meta.
Track zones, used to determine if a car went through all parts of the track.
Triggers. These are used for the direction arrows and repositioning of the car.
Visiboxes are for a kind of oldschool-culling. These are optional but can improve performance.
Geometry and texture data. We will create this one with Blender.
Collision and surface data. Also done with Blender.
In the game's folder, there is a folder called gfx. We will need to put a bitmap in there which will be used to show a preview picture in the track selection. It will be named after the track folder you have chosen.