North America Mixed Challenge

NOW ACCEPTING MAPS! EDITIONS EVERY TWO WEEKS ON SATURDAYS!

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The North America Mixed Challenge is a weekly cup held every two weeks on Saturday at 4pm PT / 7pm ET.
This mappack is the central repository for maps used in the cup!

You can find info about building for this cup by reading the NAMC mapping guidelines below.

Ensure you have read the rules in full before submitting a map.
Submission rules can be found at the bottom of this page!

Join the TM North America Discord server for more info about the cup and event dates.

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NAMC mapping guidelines:

Accepted Map Types
- Race - 40 to 60 seconds point to point
- Endurance - 3 to 6 minutes point to point
- Platform/MiniRPG - 45 to 60 seconds point to point

Track Design
- Maps must employ a clear and simple design that is easy/quick to learn and rounds friendly. (see "Route Difficulty" below)
- Maps must utilize any combination of 2-3 cars via the CarGate blocks and items (eg. Snow/Stadium, Rally/Snow/Stadium, Snow/Rally, etc.)
- As a general guideline, car physics should have around ~10 seconds per car before switching to another (eg. ~10 secs of Snow, ~10 of Rally, etc.)
- No difficult speedchecks.
- Place checkpoints strategically to reduce the possibility of cuts.
- "Snipe finishes" are encouraged! (eg. a turn into a finish where one can take a tighter line with less speed to "snipe" someone who is taking a faster, but wider, line.)
- All surfaces may be used. Tracks may focus on a single surface, or offer a variety.
- Overall Easy to Intermediate difficulty. Advanced maps are allowed on a map-by-map basis as long as they maintain accessibility and are consistent/rounds friendly. (see "Route Difficulty" below)

Scenery & Display Cost
- Under 10,000 display cost is preferred (up to 25,000 for longer maps)
- Keep framerates as consistent as possible throughout. Use the integrated UbiConnect framerate counter, external FPS counters, or the in-game analytic tool by pressing "-" on your keyboard while playing a map.
- Scenery should be used to guide the driver, and minimized when out of view of the driver. (eg. competitive scenery)
- Day, Sunrise, and Sunset are preferred. If Night is used, make sure the route is well lit and visible with clear, concise, and proper lighting.

Signs
- Signs should be consistent and easy to follow.
- Ensure sign placement is as meaningful and concise as possible.
- Make sure sign locators work prior to finalizing your map.
- Some suggested signpacks:
Signs on https://mariejuku.github.io/skinchooser.html
Signs on https://tmsigns.site/

MixedCar Mapping
- Avoid meaningless/unnecessary car changes.
- Give plenty of time for players to both see a car gate and adjust their racing line for the coming car change.
- Try and use each set of physics to their fullest and maximize what each car can do with your routing and mapping!
- The more cars your map has, the more difficult it becomes! (see "Route Difficulty" below)
- Ensure that car changes do not overly affect map momentum.

Checkpoints
- All checkpoints should be static respawnable via the main route.
- The next CP should be placed no more than ~10 seconds from the previous respawn.
- Keep checkpoint pacing as consistent as possible.
- Avoid having flying respawns that leave you no time to correct your racing line.

Route Difficulty
- Routes must be accessible for ALL skill levels, however advanced routing concepts are welcome within that structure!
- Advanced routes can contain trickier than normal sections, but MUST remain accessible and consistent.
- Routes should try to be as competitive as possible with multiple viable racing lines throughout. (eg. rounds friendly)
- Routes should be as competitive as possible without the use of action keys.
- The cars/physics you use can affect the difficulty of your map. Choose wisely!
- Safe/risky finishes are welcome, as long as the risky finish is not overly difficult to land.
- Remember, length is difficulty. The longer the map is, the more the player has to do.

MediaTracker
- Loops and wallrides should have forced internal camera, terminated by a blank trigger.
- GPS is allowed (if triggered somewhere other than the start)
- Alongside the GPS, have a blank trigger on the start to avoid the player getting stuck on the GPS during rounds.
- Intros, Outros, Ambience, and Podium MT are welcome but not required.

Allowed
- Embedded items/blocks
- Blockmixing (as long as there is no flickering)
- Freemapping
- Custom music
- Texture mods

Not Allowed
- Passworded maps
- Previously released maps
- Unreleased maps that have previously been shared outside credited testers, even in beta form. (see "Map Testers and Status" below)
- Inappropriate map names (see "Naming Rules" below)
- Press Forward starts

Naming Rules
- Use the following format for naming your maps: NAMC - [insert map name] (coloring/formatting is up to you!)
- No offensive names (in any language)
- No special characters or icons
- No repetitive names (eg. NAMC - MyTrack1, NAMC - MyTrack2, etc.)
- No lazy names: (eg. NAMC - Stadium, NAMC - 10, NAMC - gnbgufgfbh, etc.)

Map Testers and Status
- Map builders may stream the making of their routes, as long as NO ONE outside of map testers has access to the map file or can play the map prior to its debut in the NAMC.
- You are allowed to have dedicated map testers, as long as they do not share the map file beyond themselves/other testers, aren't participating in the actual cup where the map would be played, and are credited in the TMX map description.
- See submission rules below for additional information.

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NAMC submission guidelines:

Before you submit a map, please consider:
- NAMC maps may get hunted for quite some time after the cup is over. It is recommended to polish route design, scenery, signage, etc. before submitting a map!
- If you wish, you may submit finished routes for NAMC manager feedback without scenery.
- To help NAMC managers, please indicate the status of your map (including testers) in the TMX map description. (eg. complete, route only, etc.)
- In addition, please include your Discord username so managers can contact you with feedback on your map!
To get your username, simply go to your profile on Discord!

Deadline
- New maps may be tested as late as the day before a cup. Ensure new maps are uploaded with plenty of time to be checked.
- Maps posted late or last minute will be deferred until a later NAMC.

How do I upload my map?
- Go above and click the Upload button.
- Maps are automatically set to "Unreleased" and "Hidden". Do NOT alter this under ANY circumstances.
- New maps can only be downloaded by NAMC mappack managers.

What happens if my map is approved?
- The map will be added to the NAMC map queue. Be patient as it may take a few weeks before your map is played if there are a lot of maps in the queue.
- You will be notified via DM (TMX or Discord) when your map has been selected for a cup.
- You'll receive a notification on TMX when the map is approved on the day of the cup when it is released.

What if modifications to the track are requested?
- You'll receive a notification about what changes are requested via the mappack and/or on Discord DMs.
- When a map is updated, the map will be moved back to the pending stage and tested again.
- Further modifications may be requested.
Please note: Updating your map, even if updates aren't requested, will put the map back into pending.

If my map is accepted, when can it be released?
- Your map will be released and unhidden as soon as map discovery begins on your map by mappack managers.

What if my map is declined?
- If your map is declined, this means the map is unsuitable for the cup in any capacity.
- You'll get a notification if it's declined via TMX.
- You can release your declined map if you wish by removing the NAMC tag in-game, resaving the map, and re-uploading to TMX.