Banner by   Keissla.wp

Welcome to the Monthly Track Contest (MTC) for August 2024!
The MTC is a track building contest hosted by TrackmaniaExchange which challenges you to build a map with a specific theme. Later, all the tracks are rated and a winner is found.
There are no prerequisites or qualification requirements to enter; just read the theme below, hop in your editor, and submit a track before the deadline!

Sometimes I feel like we forget that Trackmania used to be a simulator*. To get back to being grounded in reality, let's make some grounded maps.

Theme: Grounded

• All blocks must be placed at (or otherwise pass through) ground level
  
• Items or blocks placed off-grid must physically touch/intersect the ground or a ground-level block
  
• Generated blocks (such as wooden supports) do NOT cause a block to be considered at ground level. Check the highlighted region of the block (such as when holding ctrl) to see whether it's at ground level or not
  
• These restrictions only apply to the route. Scenery can be placed anywhere

General Rules

• One entry is allowed per user. Multi-author maps count as the single entry for all authors involved
  
• "MTC" must be present in the track name as it appears on TMX. Example: "MTC - Flatland" or "flying low | mtc"
  
• All entries must be built using the latest version of the game
  
• All entries must be built specifically for this MTC
  
• Blockmixing, Offgrid mapping, and Embedded Items are allowed
  
• Texture mods are allowed
  
• Royal tracks are not allowed
  
• Stunt tracks are not allowed

If you have any questions or would like to contest a rule, feel free to ask!

Submitting and Deadline

• Submit your course to the MTC mappack before the deadline below
  
• Submissions may be freely updated within the submission period
  
• The earliest deadline for submissions is the end of September 3rd. Submissions will continue to be accepted until I officially announce closure in this thread
  
• Everyone will have 24 hours after submissions close to make any last minute edits to their submissions
  
• After this, you may not make any more updates until after the results are published

Prizes

• Honour and the right to brag! (Jozii used to say that. I wasn't around then, but maybe some of you still remember him? )
  
• The winning track will be featured on the TrackmaniaExchange front page!

Judging

• For judging, we will be using a public voting system
  
• A server will be opened for about a week that anyone can play the MTC maps on
  
• Anyone can vote by using the server's karma system
  
• More details on this will be provided in this thread once voting opens

Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in this thread or in Discord! Now then, get to building!

*Source: I'm lying >: )

Looks good shall participate

Hello! Neat idea!

I have a couple of questions, assuming to build inside the stadium:

1. For freeblock mode, do the items need to intersect the grass of the stadium, or the general area occupied by the floor blocks? (I assume the former, just want to be sure)
2. Are we allowed to remove some patches of grass with GrassRemover, so to create some small "underground" sections?

1: It has to physically touch or intersect the grass (or where the grass would be, if you have it removed). This is just to make it nice and easy to check, especially since I might not be able to check every map in the editor.

2: You're free to remove grass. Just make sure the underground blocks don't to so far down that they end up completely below ground level!

Can I use a custom map, e.g. water, and count the water level as ground instead of grass? Even though technically there would be several levels of water blocks, just treating the surface water as 'ground'?

I think that's reasonable. As long as there's a defined, completely flat "floor" surface to act as the ground, then I'll allow it. Ideally the floor should be obvious (like the water surface for the water base maps), but if you want to be sure then feel free to contact me.

I have a question about MTCs in general.

Is there a way to see what each track got rated for the MTC competition and where would you find that page?

Thanks!

There's not a central location, but all of the MTCs that I host always have a results spreadsheet with all the entries, their final average, and the individual votes that everyone gave. It's always linked in the results post for that MTC.

For example, the latest results are for the June MTC. That results post is here: https://trackmania.exchange/threads/686?postid=13494
In that post, you'll see some hyperlink text below the results graph. That links to the full spreadsheet, which in this case is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M5vl2vI-bZExf-8MmHpDAql4cHDADrmeHr94vVtmGiM/edit?usp=sharing

There's no standardization for anything with the MTC, so other hosts can do things differently.

1. Do checkpoints have to touch the ground?
2. If yes, can I make a custom item that is a huge checkpoint as a loophole?
3. What about engine off & turbo & car changes & stuff?
4. Can I block a route or cut using items that do not touch the ground? Maybe that is considered scenery?

1 and 3: Yes, any sort of trigger (like checkpoints and effect gates) still needs to touch the ground. The trigger itself counts as part of the item/block.
2: That's allowed.
4: The route is essentially just the blocks you drive on or interact with (like effect gates), so cut prevention counts as scenery as long as it's not also part of the route.