Haunted Woods (thondam)

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Not to be confused with DKR Haunted Woods, a retro race track from Diddy Kong Racing.
Haunted Woods (thondam)
Creator: thondam
Designer: WorldsBoss
Version: v1.4
Date of latest version: 2016-04-25
Editors used: SZS Modifier, Wiimms SZS Tools (since v1.2)
WBZ files: ct.wiimm.de
Download: Wiimm's CT-Archive

Overview

Haunted Woods takes place in a ghostly forest. It has a lot of twists and turns, plus various enemies to avoid.

At the time of RC1, Haunted Woods was the first custom track to successfully use objects from different courses. This was achieved by hex editing the SZS file and inserting more files. Nowadays, it is far easier to port objects from different courses, thanks to tools like SZS Explorer.

Story

Several years on, and the one once beautifully kept domain of DS Peach Gardens has been abandoned and allowed to grow out of control! The area is now inhabited by Boos, but Mario and friends must summon the courage to complete three laps while avoiding pipes, slippery mud, Swoops, Chain Chomps, and Piranha Plants on this eerie woodland trail.

Original Design

Media

v1.4-alt1 VS Race
v1.2 -- What's new?
Beta 0.5 Time Trial

Version History

Version Date of release Information
Beta 0.5 2010-06-05
  • Some slight texture differences, for example the mud puddles and Piranha Plants are textured slightly differently.
  • Area to the right of the start line in the Beta version was hidden by a wall with plant textures on, in RC1 this wall was removed.
  • Pipes at the start point are straight up in the Beta, whereas in RC1 they were slanted to make the track look less looked after.
  • The doors to the mansion are closed and the player is unable to enter the building.
  • Fewer trees
RC1 2010-06-15 More objects added.
RC1.1 2011-07-02 2 respawn position bugs fixed by AndyK.
v1.2 2011-09-02 Wiimm has made a nearly complete new KMP:
  • New definition of all areas and cameras
  • Unneeded areas, cameras and routes removed.
  • New item routes:
    • Support of the ghost house and long mud road
    • Items will follow the racing route.
    • Bullet Bill makes a looping to avoid a great advantage if using the mud road with a long Bullet Bill run.
  • New enemy routes:
    • Enemies have 2 ways through the pipes and do not hit them.
    • 1/4 of the enemies visit the ghost house.
    • Enemies use shortcuts.
  • All Piranha Plants now have pipe pots.
  • Respawn and checkpoints improved.
v1.3 2011-09-04 Update by Wiimm:
  • Bullet Bill makes a double looping to avoid a great advantage if using the mud road with a long Bullet Bill run.
  • Some minimal fixes
v1.4 2012-12-29 Update by Wiimm:
  • One critical respawn point near a boost pad point was moved.
v1.4-alt1 2016-04-25 Update by maczkopeti:
  • Removed mud shortcut.
  • Added missing wall collision.
  • Removed lensFX.
  • Removed Thundercloud box.
  • Moved a respawn.
  • Removed glitchy flowers.
  • Improved vrcorn texture.
  • Removed vrcorn animation.

Trivia

  • Originally, the mansion was not going to be incorporated as part of the track. As a result of this, the minimap does not include it and when you enter it, the map shows that you are driving out of bounds. Also, the mansion has no routes assigned to it as the decision to make it a part of the track was made at a fairly late stage in the project, therefore none of the enemies will ever enter the building and any items that require routes (such as Blue Shells or Bullet Bills) will fail if used inside. With v1.2, Wiimm defined item and enemy routes for the mansion.
  • The inside of the mansion was subject to some design changes between the beta and RC1 due to the positioning of some special item boxes within.
  • In the original design, the map was actually the other way around, meaning that in 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc classes the track will actually be a mirror version of the initial plans, and in mirror mode the track is really the correct way round.
  • The pipes at the start of the track do not fly up in the air when struck by a player using a powerful item (Star, Bullet Bill, Mega Mushroom) like those in Luigi Circuit or SNES Mario Circuit 3. The reason behind this is that they are not the same pipes, the ones at the start of the track are actually the pipes from potted Piranha Plants (which do not move when hit with power items).
  • Sometimes when the player is falling off the track they will notice that some of the walls below the track level are not solid and can be fallen through, this was done to save space in the KCL.
  • From the inside the mansion appears to have no roof, this is because it is the same model used in DS Peach Gardens and in that track the player was never supposed to be able to enter it, therefore the roof has no assigned texture which makes it appear invisible.
  • Haunted Woods was first added to the Custom Track Grand Prix in the 2.8 update where it replaced DK Summit. As a result of this there was snow constantly falling during races on this stage. This was not accidental, however, the creator decided that it should take this course slot because he believed that the snow would resemble pollen, but few fans picked up on this and now in more recent updates the falling snow has been removed.
  • At the time of its initial inclusion, the CTGP did not feature expanded text for the track names beyond their normal limit. As a result of this, the PAL versions of the game (where the original track name was DK's Snowboard Cross) had space for the whole name "Haunted Woods" to appear, however in NTSC-U versions (where the original track name was DK Summit) there was not enough space so the track was known as "HauntWood" until the next CTGP update which allowed for longer names.
  • Haunted Woods was also part of the first Wiimms Mario Kart Fun in 2010 and was never removed from the series.
  • This track has several item boxes where only one item can be obtained by default; hidden in this track are boxes that will only give out Mushrooms, Mega Mushrooms, Green Shells, and Thunderclouds. This means that Haunted Woods has the most fixed item boxes out of any track currently in the CTGP-R.
  • This was the first of many designs by the original creator WorldsBoss.
  • Wiimm used this track (v1.2) to find out, how the camera works. Haunted Woods was the first custom track with complete opening and finish camera setup.

Custom Track Distributions

This track is part of the following Custom Track Distributions:

Names in Other Languages

Dutch: Spookwoud
French: Bois Hanté
German: Spukwald
Italian: Boschi infestati
Japanese: ゴーストウッズ
Korean: 유령의 숲
Portuguese: Floresta Assombrada
Russian: Леса с привидениями
Spanish: Bosque Embrujado
Greek: Στοιχειωμένο Δάσος
Polish: Nawiedzony Las
Finnish: Kummitusmetsä
Swedish: Spökskogen
Czech: Zakletý Les
Danish: Spøgelsesskoven
By the same author: thondam

Custom Tracks:
Haunted WoodsWario's Lair