Making Trucks with MDMRE Utilities
The 10 step method described below will allow you to repaint a copy of an existing truck.
The utilities you will need are:
MTM Support Files
MTM2 File Searcher
MTM Bin Texture Replacer
MTM Palette Master
Winpod
Paint Shop Pro
These instructions assume the following:
You will be using Paint Shop Pro to paint the truck.
You are making a MTM2 truck.
You are working from the directory where you installed your MTM2 game.
These instructions will also work for MTM1 trucks. Slight variations in the instructions will need to be made and some files may be named differently.
Step 1
Download and install all of the above utilities.
Paint Shop Pro can be found HERE
Step 2
Start Winpod and OPEN the file Truck2.pod. Click the EXTRACT button and you should see the following screen.
Check the "extract all files" box, then press EXTRACT. You may select where you want these files extracted by double-clicking on the directory box, the line at the bottom shows where the files and directories will be created.
Repeat this step with the file Startup.pod.
Step 3
Select a TRK file as the base for your new truck, copy it to a new name. In this example, we will copy Bigfoot and name it Dirt.trk.
File Type Directory
TRK \truck
BIN \models
RAW \art
ACT \art
Step 4
Start MTM2 File Searcher and select the file DIRT.TRK and press SEARCH.
Note the files found from the search:
Bigfoot.bin
Bigfoot0.bin
Bigfoot1.bin
Bigfoot1.raw
Bigfoot2.raw
These files need to be copied and named something like Dirt.bin, Dirt0.bin, Dirt1.bin, Dirt1.raw, Dirt2.raw.
There will also be matching ACT files, named Bigfoot1.act and Bigfoot2.act. Copy these two files and name them Dirt1.act and Dirt2.act.
Step 5
Start MTM Palette Master and select Dirt1.act and convert it to PAL format. Be sure you check the box "convert act to pal". Enter the name "dirt1.pal" in the box for palette filename and press CREATE.
Repeat this step for the other file named Dirt2.act.
Step 6
Paint the RAW images using PSP (Paint Shop Pro).
Instructions for loading RAW images can be found HERE
Step 7
Start MTM Bin Texture Replacer, select Dirt.bin and press SEARCH. The first file found will be Bigfoot1.raw, enter Dirt1.raw in the "replace with" box and press UPDATE. Do this with each file found that needs replacing, using the matching Dirt?.raw file. Keep pressing NEXT until you see a window that says "File Saved".
Repeat this step for the other two bin files, Dirt0.bin and Dirt1.bin.
Step 8
Start Notepad and edit the file Dirt.trk. The first part of the file should look like this:
MTM2 truckName
Bigfoot
truckModelBaseName
bigfoot
tireModelBaseNameThe second line is the name of the truck as it appears in the game and truck selection screen. Change this to the name you want for your truck.
The fourth line is the name of the BIN files which are used for this truck, replace it with DIRT.
Be sure you save the file when finished.
Step 9
Start MTM2 File Searcher, select Dirt.trk, enter DIRT in the "LST filename" box. This will be the name of the response file (*.lst) which will be created. Press SEARCH.
Step 10
Start WinPod, Open the file Dirt.lst. If everything is correct, you should see a screen similar to below.
If any files are missing, the box in the bottom right corner will be a purple color and the size for one or more of the files will say "missing". If the box is green, you can proceed.
Help with possible problems can be found HERE
Press MAKE, and you should see a screen similar to below.
Enter Dirt.pod in the first green box, enter your comments for the pod file in the bottom green box, press the MAKE button.
If you want this newly created file to be mounted and ready for play in the game, check the box "mount pod" before you press MAKE.
You have just created a truck ready for play!