FUEL: REFUELED - V15 User-Created Content Support feature

T he base game of FUEL has never been that accessible to user-created content, simply due to the fact that the files are mostly packed into huge archives. This can make making changes to one specific race script quite difficult and virtually impossible to then share with other people without requiring them to manually edit the files. This is where FUEL: REFUELED V15.3 [BETA4] comes in...

File Structure

In order to allow user-created content to be shared easily, the file structure has been significantly changed. No longer will the game rely on the large packed files, instead referring to individual files for each script (such as each race script). In the main FUEL directory there is a folder entitled 'FUEL_REFUELED' which will now house all the unpacked scripts. Within this folder will be easily recognizable sub-folders such as 'Challenges' and 'Vehicles'. In the Challenges folder will be sub folders identified with each zone number, e.g. 'Z01' (i.e. Offshore Shack) and then within this zone folder will be the races themselves, each identified by their race number (000 to 190).

The advantage of having this file structure is that it allows users to one-click install new scripts via the mod manager, with no manual editing of files or navigating complicated directories required. Also the scripts needed to create your own content (such as a custom race) are now housed in a user friendly set of files and folders, which does make editing (and debugging) them considerably easier.

From the release of V15.3, custom challenges are fully supported - including the ability to share your own created races on the forums, allowing users to download and install easily with one-click via the mod manager.

So how easy is it to create these custom races? Well the answer is pretty damn easy now! Below is an extract from an example race script.

EMD_SetStartPos -9139 0 39602
EMD_SetStartRot 0 5.6 0 1.000000
EMD_SetEndPos -9139 0 39602
EMD_SetEndRot 0 5.6 0 1.000000
EMD_SetCheckpoint -9181 0.000000 39697 -0.000000 -0.25 -0.000000 1.000000 1

There are only three values you have to worry about... the coordinates X & Y (the larger numbers above) and the rotation (0= south, east = 1.5, north = 3, west = 4.5 etc.). The coordinates can be viewed from the debug mode, and rotation figured out by simply looking at the in-game compass. Like I said, its now pretty easy to create your own custom track. I'll be writing a more in-depth guide soon, but it should be simple enough to work out the values given.

It's not just custom tracks that can be edited and shared, even something as trivial as the vehicle color palette can be manipulated down to the detail of each individual vehicle. I plan to extend this to vehicle handling as-well at some point too.

In preperation for the release of V15.3 in a few days time, I have set up two new boards on the forum. One for custom challenges and the other for vehicle color themes. You can post here with description and a download link. The best content will be packed up and posted on the main FUEL: REFUELED ModDB page. I will likely be releasing custom track packs that users can install. These will be optional downloads.