Testing a Track

Introduction

Simple issues like poorly placed respawn points can ruin tracks. The more thoroughly tested a track is, the smaller the chance of problems, and the greater the chance of the track being added to distributions like CTGP Revolution and Wimm's Mario Kart Fun. Here is a list of things to test before releasing a track:

Testing

Test on a Real Wii

Some track developers use Dolphin (a Wii Emulator) to create and test tracks. Unfortunately, emulation is not perfect and many problems can go unnoticed if not thoroughly tested on a real Wii or Wii U system. Problems can include the track failing to load, freezing mid-game, flickering or shimmering textures, the Harry Potter Effect, and various other issues.

Time Trial, VS and Online Modes

Time Trial and Versus races are different. If you never test in VS or Grand Prix modes, you won't find out about problems with item boxes or wooden boxes, item routes that affect Bullet Bills and shells, or bad AI (bot) routes. Watch the opening pans and make sure they don't freeze.

Likewise, if you never do a "free roaming" time trial test, you won't find out about places you can drive off the map and respawn where you gain a lap, or bad replay cameras routes that can cause crashes or just look bad. Try to explore the entire level, and note any places that can cause unfair shortcuts, collision problems like "death zones", barrel rolls, or falling through the level.

Make tests in 2 and 3 or 4 player split screen modes with bots enabled to detect slowdown issues.

If possible, test the track online with a friend. Some problems, like the positioning bug, won't be detected offline.

Vehicles

Mario Kart Wii has a variety of vehicles that have different drifting (power sliding), handling, and off-road characteristics. If you do all of your testing with just one type of vehicle (for example, the popular inside-drifting Mach Bike or Flame Runner) players using karts or bikes with outside drift may have difficultly navigating the course because those vehicles require wider turns. If you have a lot of off-road area in your level, or shortcuts that are supposed to require a mushroom boost, be sure to test those areas using a vehicle with a high off-road rating like the Magikruiser or Tiny Titan to see if they do too well on those sections. Failing to consider all play styles can give certain vehicles an unfair advantage, or simply make the course tedious to play.

Speed and Jumps

If there are places where players must jump over an abyss, be sure to test the jumps in 50CC mode, and while shrunken by a thunder cloud. Some jumps can be difficult or even impossible on 50 or 100 CC mode. This problem can be made even worse by poorly chosen respawn positions that make that do not allow the player to get to full speed before attempting the jump again. In most cases, it is best to place your respawn point after the jump so the player won't have to repeatedly attempt it if they fail to cross it the first time.

Minimap

Is the minimap fully visible and centered in its view area? If not, fix the minimap position. Wiimms SZS Tools can adjust the minimap automatically.

Check Points

Make sure, that the check points are set following the new quadrilateral model and cover all drivable parts by convex quadrilaterals. Set up your collision model so that potentially problematic areas cannot be reached.

Test all Possible Routes

While it's important to test the main road when designing a track, it's even more important to check the areas you wouldn't normally go - this is what glitchers will do the moment they try out your level. Start up time trial mode, leave the main road and drive all over the level. Find places to fall off, then make a note if the lap counts after you respawn. Test all possible routes of your track, also all possible short cuts using mushrooms or other boost items.

Item Routes

If you've designed shortcuts on your level, use a Bullet Bill after entering the short cut to verify if it follows the route and does not turn around or crash into a wall or the ground. If possible, use an item cheat for repeated usage of Red shells and Bullet Bills.

The height (Y value) of item points are important. If the Y value is too low, Bullet Bills will bore into the ground and shells might spontaneously be destroyed. If the height is too high, Bullet Bills will fly high in the sky. Use a tool with automated height correction to more easily fix this kind of bug.

Enemy Routes

Verify, that all enemies reach the finish line. Very often bad respawn points and especially their directions are the reason for enemy problems. Look on the minimap to find out, if the enemies use all defined routes.

AIParam

Some track authors add AIParam to their levels to make the bots drive faster than a human player can, adding to the challenge. However, AIParam is not a substitute for good Enemy Routes, and many players find courses with AIParam very annoying. Since it is controversial, it is recommended that you release your level without AIParam, or release an AIParam version as an optional download.

Check all respawn points

Check the position and direction of all respawn points. Fall down on every place you can. Use mushrooms to fall down far away from the main route. If 2 or more characters fall down at same location and time, they are respawned with an offset radius (up to 2000 units?). So a respawn point is really a respawn area and all of the area must be inside the road.

Make sure that all 12 start points are inside the road. Test at least first and last position with enabled CPU drivers.

Search for unintended shortcuts

Before releasing, it is wise to really explore your track (especially areas that most players would normally not go to). If an area outside the normal track walls is drivable then there is a chance that your track could develop an ultra shortcut, which could hinder its popularity and lead to its rejection from many popular custom track distributions.

Make a visual review

Make a visual review of your track by using wkmpt DRAW ... of Wiimms SZS Tools.

⇒ Details: KMP Editing/Visual Review

Think about face down roads

Triangles (faces) are directed and have only impact in one direction (keyword culling). If your roads (and also boost and other drivable KCL types) have triangles for the top and the bottom side, different glitches and bugs may appear:

• Unwanted jump while driving over the road.
• Hard changing of the driving direction if jumping down to the road.
• Barrel rolling.
• Curious camera jumping effects.
• Underground views of cameras.

If you have some of these effects, try to remove the face down road triangles. Face down roads can be selected by the KCL Flag and its first normal (y value <0.0). Wiimms SZS Tools can remove such triangles automatically; see »KCL Tutorial (Wiimms Tools)« for details.

Think about item box places

Think about the item boxes groups (or rows). Use 3-6 groups with 4-6 item boxes in each group for a 3 lap round. There are some problems, if you do not so:

1. If a driver gets 18 or more items in an online race, all following items are mushrooms. This contradict the main idea of Mario Kart: Bad items for the player in first and good items for the players in the lower positions.
2. If a row have less than 4 items, only the first 2 players in a group get an item. And this is also bad for the game play.
3. Sometimes it may be tempting to place them just after a sharp turn, however if this is the case then going for the outside item boxes may cause a vehicle to crash into a wall or otherwise lose too much time for collecting the box to actually be worthwhile. Thus creating a problem very similar to that discussed in point number 2, above.
4. Classic tracks support sometimes only 1–2 item rows. But think in Wii dimensions: Items are the most important fun instrument of Mario Kart Wii. Be not afraid to add and move item rows; Nintendo does the same for its retro tracks.

The height of the itemboxes are also important. Be sure, that all itemboxes can be hit if driving with a small vehicle in reduced size (because of cloud or mega mushroom). Use tools with automated height correction to set the perfect height.

Chose a wise version number

A version number of your track (preview, alpha, beta, RC, v) reflects its status. Read »Version number« and select a good version number.

Bugs Found?

If you found bugs or glitches in your track, read this first:

• Category:Bug
• Category:Tutorials

Links

Custom Track Tutorials

Main Tutorials
Introduction – Textures – Scale – Modeling ⇒ Using Blender – BRRES: CTools
BRRES: BrawlBox – BRRES: RiiStudio – Minimap – Solidity – KCL: Wiimms Tools – KMP Editing
Object Editing – Cameras – Cannons – Post-effects – Videos

Battle Arenas
Battle Arenas – Enemy routes in battle arenas ⇒ Using Wiimm's Tools – Coins

Misc. Tutorials
Getting Files – BrawlBox Tricks – Animations – Shadows – Mipmaps
Custom Effects – Moving Terrain – Music – Ports – Paint Remakes – Tutorial Archive
Extended presence flags: Track Tutorial – LE-CODE Track FAQ

Testing and Reviewing
Testing a Track – Visual Review – Track Transformation – Fixing Errors

Software
3D Tools – BrawlBox – CTools Pack – KMP3D – KMP Cloud – KMP Modifier
Lorenzi's KMP Editor – MagicY – Material Tool – Post-Effect Editor – Wiimms SZS Tools – Wiimm's Tool Manager

Other
KMP Objects – Custom Objects – Model Database – Tutorial Archive