The Big Book of MudRunner Map Making

I created a guide for making maps for MudRunner. I tried to make it as thorough as I could, so it may be a bit intimidating for novices. But everyone should be able to learn things from it.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1583079240

This guide documents every feature of the MudRunner map editor, plus how to create custom objects for your map. You can read (or skim) sequentially through the guide to learn everything there is to know, or you can use it as a reference when you want to learn more about a particular feature.

What I put in this guide that I can't find elsewhere:

  • Easy reference material for all Russian trucks, trailers, addons, and their permitted combinations.
  • Bugs in the game that you want to avoid in your custom map.
  • Information about all editable map properties.
  • How to create and use reference maps.
  • How to create custom materials, distribution brushes, roads, and models.
  • Updated tips for using Blender with MudRunner.
  • And more!

@chris-nelson I've been making maps for years on the original ST and MR. and right off the bat I found wrong things that you put in there.

NEVER create a map in the _mods folder. That's how to lose your work. Always right click on prebuild and make it from there.

@RoughRider
That's great feedback that I wish I'd found somewhere. (Speaking as someone who lost all his work when he uninstalled the original Spintires.)

Do you mean right click on Media->prebuild? Would I then need to copy my files into the mod directory to publish them? And what causes lost files in the _mods folder that wouldn't also affect the Media/prebuild folder?

Thanks!

@chris-nelson That looks very informative and I didn't know about the local transform. Thanks for that even tho I only make maps to test models I make.

But there's something that I found that you didn't mention about positioning objects that you might want to add in. When placing a model in the map, you can edit the position of the model by changing the numbers in the right panel under Position instead of just using the red,green,blue gizmo on the model. Doing it this way helps when aligning multiple models of the same type.

Also, when rotating a model and you want it rotated exactly 90°, you would rotate it close and then set it by selecting the ground so the numbers in the Rotation section changes to what it was rotated to. So say you got it close and the numbers were something like;

(0; 695; 0; 719)

You would want to change the 2 numbers to exactly 707 and that is exactly 90°;

(0; 707; 0; 707)

To rotate 180°, you change the 1 in the Rotation section;

(0; 0; 0; 1)
to
(0; 1; 0; 0).

Thanks for your hard work. It looks good and hope to learn more that I didn't know of.

@chris-nelson Yes you are correct. That way you can work on the map in it's own folder without Having it tied to _mods . When you do copy the files into the _mods folder the editor will automatically link the .stg and .dds from the prebuild folder files to it. Thats the method I've been using and it works.

@Tattoo
Oh, you're right. I got so tied up in figuring out how the rotation numbers worked (and documenting them in an appendix), and then it looks like I forgot to write anything in the main part of the guide. I'll see what I can do to fix that, although I still haven't really figured out quaternions...

@roughrider said in The Big Book of MudRunner Map Making:

Yes you are correct. That way you can work on the map in it's own folder without Having it tied to _mods.

This is one of the few things that is documented in the official MudRunner guide, so of course there's a better way. Ha ha. Thanks.

last edited by Chris Nelson

@chris-nelson
What are/is quaternions?

edit; I just did a search of it and I have no idea. I don't know that math and don't where it's used in MR. Sorry.

last edited by Tattoo

I tried deleting one of my private mods in the Steam Workshop website, and my mod directory on my hard drive is still there and full of files. The MudRunner Editor complains that it can't publish, but that's easily fixed. So I don't understand what the extra danger is for maps under _mods.

@Tattoo
In the "Move a Truck, Model, or Plant" section, there is a heading for "Manipulate an Object in the Scene View". It used to just say that you could type in new numbers, and then it referred to the appendices. That wasn't very friendly. I cleaned it up a bit to be a bit more friendly and to stress the importance of 0, 1, and 0.707, as you said.

Those four numbers in the Rotation property are quaternions. Most people don't really care how they work, though (including yourself and myself). I briefly talk about them in the "Orientation Coordinate Systems" section, but mostly I just punt.

Thanks for the reminder to put in a little more friendly information about them.

@chris-nelson said in The Big Book of MudRunner Map Making:

hose four numbers in the Rotation property are quaternions.

Oh, is that what it is. Thanks. I actually would like to know it more but I think it's trig.

Edit; I read more into it and it's not trig.

last edited by Tattoo