[RPG] THE RIFT • 3722

Updated 07 March 2022: Fixed cuts and reroutes. Pre-update leaderboard: PDF

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Hello TrackmaniaExchange and fellow RPG enthusiasts!
I am very proud to finally release and introduce you to my latest and biggest project:
Welcome to The Rift • 3722!

Earth has been uninhabitable for a century due to extreme pollution levels. You are part of the 10th expedition to earth, and your group is tasked with analyzing the environmental status of a «Great Rift» located in Ontario, Canada.

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RELEASE EVENTS (Closed)

Quest Event Winner:
  Hazard. (60€)

Hunting Event Winners:
  Hazard. (40€)
  Lars (20€)
  Xerar (10€)


🔹 MAP INFO

CPs: 30
Discovery: 2h00 to 3h00
Difficulty: Intermediate
Full Run: ~ 12min

Taking some inspiration from TMNF RPG, I set myself a challenge for this map: to create an immersive scenery as well as an interesting, flowy and huntable route with only on-grid vanilla blocks. I also avoided mixmapping as much as possible.

I tried to make the route adaptable, and many CPs can have a fast way, or a fallback way. This should make hunting for the WR more enjoyable and strategic, while helping intermediate players to overcome some passages more easily. Finally, some CPs are really much more pathfinding-based than others that are rather straight forward.


🔹 QUEST

You can play the map normally or try to complete the quest while discovering it. The quest is based on the lore and will make you look around for microchips in order to gather environmental data inside the rift. If you plan to do this, be sure to read all the information in the quest mediatracker next to the beginning, so that you don't do all of it for nothing. It will also make the discovery a lot longer (you can double the discovery time).


🔸 PERFORMANCES

With the size of the map and the number of vanilla blocks used, it is highly recommended to play at lowest graphics (shaders have the most impact). If this is still not playable, please use the plugin Tweaker for Openplanet and change the game's render distance. I have a 1060 GPU / i5 CPU / 16Go RAM. At lowest graphics, 2-3 CPs drops to 70fps, rest of the map have 150+. If you have lower specs, I would recommend using Tweaker additionally.

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📔 The mapping journey

This is the most ambitious project I've ever done and probably the dumbest: using vanilla blocks for a map of this size was a completely surreal idea, but despite all the time spent on this project, I learned a lot of things from it and even managed to finish it. I started it in December 2020, but once the main scenery layout was done, it was extremely laggy and unplayable. I tried to optimize it, but eventually gave up and stopped working on it. Later in 2021, Fentras (  DergnNamedSkye) released the Openplanet plugin Tweaker, and I finally saw a solution and a reason to continue the project.

After the route was almost finished, I was not satisfied with the fact that it was only playable with Tweaker. I didn't want it to be a mandatory requirement to play the map, and also because it cut off the sense of immensity you get when you drive and look at the entire rift. So I spent a lot more hours trying to optimize it again, and finally managed to make it playable on low graphics (managed to double the total FPS thanks to some long mapping shenanigans...).

I made the map alone, but without many people it would have not seen the light today. Credits:   BigBang1112 (File's Lightmap Edit),   Micmo (Tests & Feedback),   bmx22c (Tests & Feedback),   Nacho (Tests & Feedback / Translation Help), Miss (Openplanet),   DergnNamedSkye (Tweaker Plugin) ,   Hazard. (Cut Proofing), and members & crew of the Trackmania Scenery Hub discord (3D Help). All these wonderful people are also listed in the map itself, next to the beginning.

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📡 Super secret ONTA-SGR explorers:

•   Hazard.
  
•   TarporTM
  
•   Jakkoy
  
•   bestman_10
  
•   Jave
  
•   hoelbi
  
•   Didydrogene
  
•   Kelvawesome
  
•   Kyle.A
  
•   Lihokel
  
•   G0nv4l0n
  
•   JackNytely
  
•   MilkyFurry
  
•   cll0verr
  

25.08.2023 - The map made it to 100 awards!
Thank you so much everyone.
❤