Topic: Advanced Buildmode Tutorial - Tips to improve Your races quallity and fun - v1.0

[MadMax]

Hi, this tutorial will not contain basics, as they are already well explained there:
http://forum.adrenalinex.co.uk/index.php/topic,1592.0.html

This time it's all about advanced race making and techniques.

Making good race is easy:
Correst settings + correct checkpoints = good race, as we all already know, but how about getting into higher level?
This guide will explain and show how to make good race to be great* race, so let's go!

*correct settings + good placed checkpoints + suitable vehicle + nice details + nice name + intresting route = great race

ADVANCED BUILDMODE TUTORIAL:

• Race name
  [spoiler]it's a very important part of race, but many people ignore it and/or do not take care there.
  Of course You can name race any You want, but here few hints:
  
  • Try name race to reffer to race itself, for example Super_Jumps would contain jumping intested of flat roads all the time, ye?
    
  • Using capital "i" and lower case "L" letters isn't recommended - they can be swapped and someone can 'steal' your name but with diffrent letter, example "Illinois" can be used many times with other combinations of "L" and "i", like iLLinois, LIIinois etc etc...
    
  • It's highy recomended to do not use player's names, as we know, times go by, peaple come and leave etc... sometimes race with someones name will be outdated if that person leaves SA-MP
    
  • You can use direct vehicle name or some more subtle hints, for example: you can hint players into vehicle that gonna be used in race, but not directly naming it. It can be either playing on words, like "Take A Dump" which is term used when you go take shit, but also may aim into vehicle, Dumper (naming races like that is very Rockstar Games style thing - we know their sense of humour); another example is in picture bellow:
    
    Primal_Fear is very good name for a race, it got few meanings, also it can gently suggest what vehicle gonna be used, but secondly, Primal Fear is a music band, making it great choice for audioimport race.
    
    
  [/spoiler]
  
• Time and Weather
  [spoiler]there are diffrent weather conditions in game, somehow most part of races are in clear sunny weather at day times, many peapole are either forgetting or just affraid of using other weather possiblities.
  
  For example, in north San Fierro it's good to use fog weather, as it gives nice in-game feature - ship horn, that can't be expirienced anywhere else. Such details are a nice touch to your race and definetly make it more advanced:
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCxeWqbq7Fo&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  [/spoiler]
  
• Checkpoints size - showing correct way
  [spoiler]main checkpoint size info was already shown in basic tutorial, so not gonna repeating there
  
  1st, watch this short vid, and look at big checkpoint size, seems normal, right?
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fanv117UQg&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  ...wrong! it's too big and makes hard to aim that jump correctly, while smaller one can show you where to jump to pass it nice
  
  [/spoiler]
  
• Checkpoint placing - correct placement
  [spoiler]very important, always try to place cp in way where there is no risk of missing it while cornering - you should be focused on track, not worried about checkpoint counting or not. Belive me, it's VERY ANNOYING to miss cp while cornering, place them as shown in this video, to avoid this VERY NASTY situation:
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BveiJBfwM-E&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  [/spoiler]
  
• Checkpoint placing - creating alternate route
  [spoiler]
  it's nice to have few options to pass part of race
  examples bellow:
  
  BAD PLACED CHECKPOINT - this one forces you to turn there, leaving no choice
  
  
  
  GOOD PLACED CHECKPOINT - this one gives you 2 options to pass this area
  
  
  and here result of such checkpoint placement - very advanced, professional made race
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXRMTN1zkDs&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  
  
  another example of checkpoint allowing to pick alternate route
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EODQlqscUzk&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  [/spoiler]
  
• Checkpoint placing - creating hidden "shortcut"
  [spoiler]
  do not place checkpoint at end of LV highway overpass bridges, why? see bellow
  BAD PLACED CHECKPOINT
  
  GOOD PLACED CHECKPOINT
  
  
  Maybe these are only few meters diffrence, small detail, huh? See video bellow to understand why such details matter, and few meters matter a lot in checkpoints placing
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TljXw4_HQqw&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  see? thats a hidden shortcut - very advanced race making technique. It's hard to see, compared to obivious shortcuts, requires lot of race making/buildmode skills
  [/spoiler]
  
• Checkpoint placing - avoiding unnecessary cornering
  [spoiler]
  one of the most common annoying parts in races - not-needed turns. They only increase race time, showing authors lazyness or lack of track length/timing skills
  video shows an example of unnecessary part of race, compared with continious route with the same result
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1fb63rYxg&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  [/spoiler]
  
• Checkpoint placing - avoiding unnecessary "looping"
  [spoiler]
  Looping is a repeating same part of race without reason (only in A-to-B sprint races, not in lap races) and it's recommended to avoid it
  video shows an example of unnecessary "looping" part of race, that you already drove once - no reason to do again
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3NFdB678s&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  sadly, this is rather common in races, and it's annoying, what is more - it shows author's lacks of memory or track designing skills, can also point that race is random made without any planned ideas; if you wanna make quallity race, in advanced designed races, it's recommended to avoid unnecessary "looping"
  [/spoiler]
  
• Suitable vehicle choice - size
  [spoiler]
  use vehicle that got correct size, suitable to your race - don't use big vehicle in tight areas, or bad cornering cars in twisty tracks
  video showing an example of bad and good car choice for narrow alley
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyTAB-uNGzY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  as we can see in video above, Infernus got trouble in that narrow turn, while Mesa pass it easly
  
  Bikes aren't only restricted to roads, thanks to their small size they allow you make race in areas where cars got no access
  
  video showing use of bike, where car got no access
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opw8VNXmsQQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  
  
  DON'T BE AFFRAID OF USING DIFFRENT VEHICLE. SA GOT OVER 200, YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO MOST COMMON 10~20 ONES
  [/spoiler]
  
• Suitable vehicle choice - stability
  [spoiler]
  find car suitable to your race features, do not pick one you like the most, but one that suits race the most
  example, here Mesa got very high chance of flipping while passing an obstacle, however, Rancher is stable and pass it fine
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpSq9IZi5ug&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  
  DON'T BE AFFRAID OF USING DIFFRENT VEHICLE. SA GOT OVER 200, YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO MOST COMMON 10~20 ONES
  [/spoiler]
  
• Suitable vehicle choice - finding correct vehicle
  [spoiler]
  fastest vehicle isn't always best choice, find one that fits race the most
  video showing, that NRG-500 is too fast to pass particular jump while Sanchez do it fine
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nRD-_G0x14&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  
  DON'T BE AFFRAID OF USING DIFFRENT VEHICLE. SA GOT OVER 200, YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO MOST COMMON 10~20 ONES
  [/spoiler]
• Suitable vehicle choice - using fully vehicle potential
  [spoiler]
  no limits, feel free tu use fully vehicle potential, Vortex can be used on land, water and also used for controlable gliding in air,
  Hydra is special plane, allowing for vertical taking off from small areas and with no harm used in many diffrent places, ans in video below
  try combine vehicle possiblities to make intresting, unusual races, that stand out and can't be forgotten
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqrgBBZxpFQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  
  DON'T BE AFFRAID OF USING DIFFRENT VEHICLE. SA GOT OVER 200, YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO MOST COMMON 10~20 ONES
  [/spoiler]
• Suitable vehicle choice - finding correct vehicle
  [spoiler]
  fastest vehicle isn't always best choice, find one that fits race the most
  video showing, that NRG-500 is too fast to pass particular jump while Sanchez do it fine
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nRD-_G0x14&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  
  DON'T BE AFFRAID OF USING DIFFRENT VEHICLE. SA GOT OVER 200, YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO MOST COMMON 10~20 ONES
  [/spoiler]
• Classic Nitro
  [spoiler]
  Classic nitro, once fired lasts for several seconds, then needs some time to reload for next use
  
  Nitro duration is around 20 seconds
  Nitro reloading is around 55 seconds
  
  Make sure Classic Nitro race is long enough, races shorter than 1:15 won't allow you to use nitro more than once.
  Try design Classic Nitro race to feature roads with speedlimits, where nitro is most helpful.
  [/spoiler]

Thats all so far, hope this guide opens Your mind and helps you making not only 'good race' but pure 'great race'
(more tips and ideas are wellcome, ideas about advanced techniques and designs in special modes too)

[Torete_[GT]]

Very nice tutorial written up here, well done MadMax. It was a long while without your SA-MP (and primarily vehicles) researches. Never really seen you in action due to circumstances and now I'm glad to be here to do.

However, I must say that I kind of disagree with your avoiding unnecessary cornering tip. I see myself forced to recognize that there're more than enough surplus races built that way, but I also dislike those that doesn't have their characteristics curves which drive you somewhere else away from the actual race way.
In any way I think you actually focused on sharp curves that may destroy a fast race ("They only increase race time, showing authors lazyness or lack of track length/timing skills").

By the way, I really liked the creating alternate route one. I hate checkpoints that force me to do something the race builders way.

Good job.

[Skream!]

show it to mta community, they need!

[[MAF]Vertigo]

Good stuff max. I disagree with a couple of things, but we have differing views on some things regarding building races anyway so no big deal lol.

[Rob_Zamora]

Good one Max

[MadMax]

Good stuff max. I disagree with a couple of things, but we have differing views on some things regarding building races anyway so no big deal lol.

tell which ones

[S]

could you put some youtube music on the advancedvehicleuse1? cant watch it in germany

[[MAF]Cthulhu]

• Race name
  it's a very important part of race, but many people ignore it and/or do not take care there.
  Of course You can name race any You want, but here few hints:
  

• Try name race to reffer to race itself, for example Super_Jumps would contain jumping intested of flat roads all the time, ye?
  
• Using capital "i" and lower case "L" letters isn't recommended - they can be swapped and someone can 'steal' your name but with diffrent letter, example "Illinois" can be used many times with other combinations of "L" and "i", like iLLinois, LIIinois etc etc...
  
• It's highy recomended to do not use player's names, as we know, times go by, peaple come and leave etc... sometimes race with someones name will be outdated if that person leaves SA-MP

i think this all really doesn't matter now, most of the races have random names lol, and at least they're funny

[MadMax]

edited audio, soon should be done

[[MAF]Vertigo]

Good stuff max. I disagree with a couple of things, but we have differing views on some things regarding building races anyway so no big deal lol.

tell which ones

The guess the unecessary cornering one, sometimes it stops a race from being boring. Sometimes it can be like a chicane on a normal track, sometimes good sometimes bad.

[Mute.]

nice guide, i only disagree with one thing there, which is the "unnecessary cornering".

• Checkpoint placing - avoiding unnecessary cornering
  [spoiler]
  one of the most common annoying parts in races - not-needed turns. They only increase race time, showing authors lazyness or lack of track length/timing skills
  video shows an example of unnecessary part of race, compared with continious route with the same result
  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1fb63rYxg&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
  [/spoiler]
  

no corners are necessary lol, so it's kinda redundant to advise to avoid these unnecessary ones. if there were no 'unnecessary' corners, everyone's races would be a boring ass snoopy drag.

other than that it's a nice guide :p

[MadMax]

corners that bring something into race are needed, but example i shown above it totally not needed, track can be easly continued without that, it forced track to be longer, without really sensible reason

[Coloxx]

Thank you this helps very much.

[Troublemaker]

Very nice tutorial, I see many things that I can improve in my building skills

I also don't agree about "unnecessary cornering", there's nothing easier as going straight (with little slides) with any car. The more corners (turns) race has, the better it is (imo)

About alternate route, many people are used to drive thru default ways, they are afraid of possible alternate ways because of big chance of failing there. And there aren't many possible alternate ways that could work out...

Also, I respect your wish that we should use all vehicles, not just fast cars and bikes, but, for example, when I made a Jetmax race (it was a good one), admin asked people add/del, and most of them said del, just because people hates boat (and flying) races... It's little unfair to let the players decide which race is gonna be added and which not.

[musicloveR]

its admin's decision is race gonna be added or not. you can blame it on admins who do that, not the whole team