Use arrow keys to scroll text.

HOW TO USE THE GROOV BUGGIES EDITORS:

The 2D and 3D level editors (named TRAKEDIT.BAS and TRAKED3D.BAS respectively)
are essentially the same, but functions native only to the 3D editor are marked
with an asterisk.

The format of the explanation is as follows:

Function Name (Key)
-------------------
Description

And now the documentation starts...

COMMANDS:

Movement Keys
-------------
There are 12 movement keys used in the editors.
They are:
Arrow keys - move the Cursor (flashing dot) by 1 unit.
Home,End,Del,Pg Dn - move the Cursor 50 units.
8,4,5,6 - move the view area 25 units.

Notice that instead of saying "pixels" I have said "units". This is because 
The amount the cursor moves on the screen is dependant on the current zoom 
level (explained in the next section)
The X & Y co-ordinates are displayed at the bottom of the screen, as are the 
X & Y view offsets.

Change Zoom Level (+,- on keypad)
---------------------------------
This changes how much the track takes up on the screen, and has the important
function of determining how big the map will appear in the game.  It is 
important to remember to zoom out a sufficient amount before you save (about 
1 : 25 is usually about right) otherwise Groov Buggies will crash when it 
tries to load a track and display the map on the screen.  It is also important
to not soom out so much that the track looks very skinny, as the computer cars
use the map outline to steer (how else would they be able to cope with user 
defined maps?). A good level to zoom while editing is 1 : 10 - Each 50 unit
movement will move 5 pixels, and a track that fits on one screen at this level
will usually be the right size for a 1 : 25 map.

Place A Barrier Point (space)
-----------------------------
Self explanatory really....
Press space to place another wall point. Once one point has been placed, each
new point will be joined to the one before it.
Barriers appear as light gray lines, and barrier points as dark gray points.

* Place A Low Barrier Point (/)
-------------------------------
Will join to the last barrier/low barrier point.  Only Effective in 3D mode
because it's a wall that can be jumped over. Any jump with a height over 5 
will cause these walls to be jumpable while the car remains abouve that level.
Low Barries appear as purple lines.

Finish A Loop (z)
-----------------
When you've finished with one continuous line of barriers, pressing z will
prevent this wall being connected to any other points. The line of barriers
does not have to actually be a loop, in fact it can be any shape you like...

Place Cars (F1 to F6)
---------------------
This is the position that each car starts at.  F1 Places the player car, and
F2 to F6 place the five computer cars.  It is a good idea to place the player
at the back of the starting order, otherwise it's likely it will get run over 
by one of those evil computer cars...
Reccomended minimum distance between starting position is 20 units all 
directions.  Bear in mind that all the cars begin facing to the right.
Player Car appears as a cyan dot.
Computer Cars appear as pink dots.

Load And Save Tracks (L and S)
------------------------------
The filename for loading/saving does not need to include the extenstion (.TRK 
for 2D tracks and .T3D for 3D tracks).  Tracks should be named in sequence, ie.
TRACK1, TRACK2, etc. etc. If you intend to save over one of the original tracks
(but why would you want to do that? You can just type -SKIP[number] to go 
directly to your track...) it's wise to make a backup first (Unless you haven't
deleted the zip file yet) otherwise you could kill a perfectly good copy of 
Groov Buggies, and wouldn't that be a pity???

Changing Colours
----------------
It's really quite easy to change the appearance of each track...
Q - Track Colour
W - Outside Colour (make it different to track colour or get errors!)
E - Border Colour 1 (not the track colour, and NOT BLACK!!!) 
R - Border Colour 2 (shouldn't be the track colour either)
T - Skid Colour
Your choices are displayed at the lower right of the screen.  The upper square
is the track colour, the lower square is the outer colour, Surrounding are the
border colours, and the diagonal line is the skid colour. 

Place Start Line (F11/12)
-------------------------
F11 - Place the start line horizontally
F12 - Place the start line vertically
Press a key at one corner of the start line, and again at the opposite corner.
It can be repositioned at any time, so practice with this before placing
checkpoints. The width of the start line is automatically regulated to a 
suitable amount (35 units)
The Start line appears as a red dotted box.
It's really a start area, but that's a minor detail...

Place Checkpoint (F9/10)
------------------------
F9  - Place checkpoint horizontally
F10 - Place checkpoint vertically
Checkpoints are placed in the same way as the start line. Once at one corner 
and again at the opposite corner.
Be sure to place checkpoints in the order that they will be passed. The spacing
between the checkpoints determines how often the placings of all the cars are
checked.  So don't have them too far apart.
Checkpoints appear as yellow dotted boxes.

Change Track Name (N)
---------------------
Obvious in it's function. Use no more than 40 characters, and only alphanumeric
characters can be handled.

3D OBJECTS:

All the 3D objects (except jumps) will only be displayed in xtra high detail
mode...

Note : For Tunnels and Jumps, the points used to draw the object affect it's
       orientation thus:

 FIRST POINT -->*Ŀ
                          
                             OBJECT IS HORIZONTAL
                          
                         
                *<-- SECOND POINT

                *<-- FIRST POINT 
                         
                         
                             OBJECT IS VERTICAL 
                         
SECOND POINT -->*

* Place A Tunnel (Y)
--------------------
Really the same as placing a checkpoint...
The tunnel itself will have 10 units added to the sides of the tunnel during
the game, so keep this in mind when creating the track... It might look a bit
silly if the tunnel intrudes into an adjacent section of track (Track sections
shouldn't be that close anyway...)
Tunnels appear as Blue Boxes.

* Place A Jump (P)
------------------
The big benifit of 3D mode.
After placing the two jump points, the editor will ask for two heights.  Height
1 is the Left/Top end of the jump, and Height 2 is the Right/Bottom end of the
Jump.  Jumps do not have to start on the ground.  They can also be used as 
platforms, for really strange crossover jumps and smooth ramps... (Have a look 
at track 2 - Jump Like A Banana)
Be careful with the heights of jumps. If the Player Car reaches a height of 100
units above the ground and view mode 3 or 4 is being used it's likely that the 
game will crash.
Hint : Put a low barrier at the end of the jump that is off the ground so cars 
can't go backwards over them, which looks rteally silly...
Jumps are represented by light blue boxes.

* Place A Billboard (U)
-----------------------
A billboard is placed using two points, and can go in any direction. The colour 
of the billboard is automatic, each pair of billboards has one colour.
Billboards are shown as pink lines.

* Place A Lamp (I)
------------------
Lamps are placed as two points, the first is the location on the ground, and 
the second is where the lamp's arm reached to in the air. A 10 unit difference
between the two points yields a good result.
Lams are shown as a gray line with a yellow circle where the light is.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it! All the track editor commands in one file! So go and make some 
tracks now and send some to me, because I can't make as many as I'd like to, I
have to make the game faster!
                                             Pasco.

If there's anything you don't understand in this documentation just mail me 
with your complaint and I'll see what I can do. My e-mail address is in the
game's scrolltext...



