My GeneRally track folders

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TuomoH
GeneRally Trackmaster
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Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:04 pm
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My GeneRally track folders

Post by TuomoH »

TL;DR: I went over all of my track files and categorized them in track type folders. My folders are listed at the end of this post. What track type folders do you have?

Background story

In the early days of GR, I had a ”Best of” installation with the keeper tracks in dedicated track type folders. However, starting from 2003 or 2004, I had too little time and too many tracks were released to test them properly. As a result, I didn’t categorize new releases and ended up racing on other people’s tracks only in competitions and when testing for ToM/ToY. I never stopped thinking about how fun it’d be to have a ”Best of” installation as there are lots of excellent tracks that deserve to be raced. Then, enter COVID. :kickcan:

During the last 12 months, I’ve gone over every single .trk file in my collection to build a library of actual keepers. In total, I opened 15363 .trk files, out of which 2014 ended up in my ultimate ”Best of” installation. These 15K+ tracks included duplicates, track variations etc. but also thousands and thousands of individual tracks. I did this in three stages.

First, I went over every single track once and checked possible good ones. During this stage, I noticed a shift in my preferences and realized I had kept way too many mediocre tracks. For the second stage, I had about 5000 tracks left, which I then opened again to see whether they actually are that good. 2300+ tracks survived this stage. In the final stage, I classified the tracks and tested the AI for every one of them apart from my own* tracks (I know the AI lines for them are good) and stage rallies. Even though I’ve always thought I don’t touch other people’s tracks for my own purposes, I had come to different conclusion: I fixed the AI line of quite many tracks for my own use since these tracks are otherwise so good! Some tracks required just a bit of retouching the objects: adding/deleting sunk tyres, deleting dangerous walls. It was a tedious task but also lots of fun. :bsmile:

I also handpicked some nice cars to go with different tracks. Even though I’m a diehard fan of the original GR cars, some track types simply require something else. Furthermore, I remembered my early favorite, a Citycars pack by Strava, which has alternative bodies for the General, such as Minivan, Pickup and Sedan. :goodvibes:

* I’m not sure how many tracks of my own are preserved in the Best of installation. I do know that I DQ’d 100 of them during the second stage.

My track type folders

Now, I have a Best Of folder which actually includes three separate installations: Main, Specialities, and Stage Rally.

My Main installation has track types that more or less fit the usual categories. Almost all can be driven with the original cars. It has the following folders:
  • [Originals Updated]
  • [World Tour Updated]
  • 1 on 1 (FSR)
  • 1 on 1 (Misc)
  • Abstract
  • Classic
  • Crash
  • Formula (Long)
  • Formula (Medium)
  • Formula (Short)
  • Micro (Chaos)
  • Micro (Regular)
  • Offroad (Arena)
  • Offroad (Nature)
  • Other (Misc)
  • Other (Places)
  • Oval (Dirt)
  • Oval (Formula)
  • Oval (Grascar)
  • Rally (Arcade)
  • Rally (Realistic)
  • Road (Arcade)
  • Road (Realistic)
  • RWL (Formula)
  • RWL (GP67)
  • Snow
  • Street (Arcade)
  • Street (Realistic)
  • Stunt
Notes:
  • Classic includes a bunch of tracks done in the spirit of early GR, mostly TE only with rough hmap but lots of character
  • For Formula, Short < 300 m, Long > 600 m, Medium in between.
  • For Micro, I finally settled for WS70 or less.
The Specialities installation has different types of special track categories that often also require special cars. I wanted to keep them separate so the strange cars don’t clutter my main installation. It has the following folders:
  • Art (Drivable)
  • Art (Show)
  • BmxSim
  • Challenge
  • F-Zero
  • Horse
  • Micro Machines
  • MotoX
  • Planets
  • Ski
  • Space
  • Stunt Car Racer
  • Vapor Trail Circle Cup
  • Vapor Trail Square Cup
  • Water (Masa)
  • Water (Strava)
Note: I had to divide Water tracks into two folders since the older ones have a different water depth than the new ones. Using a boat designed for a different water depth causes strange effects. I use boats by Masa and Strava, hence the folder names.

Finally, Stage Rally installation includes 31 stage rallies in their own folders, plus 8 separate single stages.

So, my question to you is what track folders do you have?
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Trigger Happy
GeneRally Trackmaster
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Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2009 9:54 pm
Location: CZE
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Re: My GeneRally track folders

Post by Trigger Happy »

:scratch:

2 installations:
RWL inst.
Latin Americas
North America
Africa & Near East Asia
Far East Asia
Australia & New Zealand
UK & Benelux
Mediterrian Europe
Central & East Europe
Scandinavia incl. Denmark

+ Retro Early (until cca 1970) and Retro Late (1980s mainly)
+ Kart track
+ Dirt RWLs (Speedway, Rallycross, Autocross)
+ Petit RWLs

Fictional inst.
Airfield circuits
Circuits (4 folders - S, M, L, LX)
Retro circuits
Intersecting
Micro WS
Misc (verything else)
Originals
Oval & Roval
RAX
Road
Street
Stages (editing names to keep them sorted in 1 folder)
Stunt
Updates GR
Updates WT
Water
aliman
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2020 10:26 am

Re: My GeneRally track folders

Post by aliman »

TuomoH wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:14 am In total, I opened 15363 .trk files, out of which 2014 ended up in my ultimate ”Best of” installation.
Jesus Christ that's a lot of tracks. :sweatdrop: I also like how your user id number is 59 :D

I just checked and I have 707 tracks*, which is way too many for my taste. I usually download most of the tracks that are published here. But I know what I like and most of them end up being deleted.

The best looking but "unraceable" go in to a folder called Ideas. Usually tracks that are well over 200 WS. These are the tracks that I admire and use for inspiration but don't race on.

Default folder has 144 tracks that are just my own tracks. Some are almost finished, but mostly just very raw ideas that one day might end up being tracks.

Street folder is much like "Ideas" but for street circuits. F1, FE, IndyCar and other street circuits that are too big (WS255) for my taste, but look beautiful.

MiniF1 contains tracks under 120 WS. Like Scholl's and Dragoon's F1 series. If it's small, fun, and easy to race on, it's here.

Medium: WS 100-200 (roughly) tracks that don't belong to other folders are here.

Others is probably my favorite folder. Tracks like Generife or Nekeresd are here (You should know what they are, if not I highly recommend). If I want to race with F1 cars (which is basically every time) this is THE folder.

Delete : Before I delete a track I put it in this folder. I don't trust the delete button in the game. :D I've accidentally deleted folders when I only wanted to delete a track. I've deleted tracks and then regretted it later, but now I can't find them anywhere because where do they go? :? They certainly don't go to your computer's recycle bin. So now I just play it safe and put unwanted tracks in this folder and then delete "manually" outside the game.

I also have a few random folders but they mostly hold track that should be in one of these folders.

*My computer has crashed twice in the past decade or so deleting everything. So had I been able to keep all of my tracks from the beginning, I think I'd have probably somewhere between 1000-2000 tracks.
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