Qualities of a good add-on car

[e-cobra]

What makes a good MM2 add-on car? Having dashboard, or good control, breakable parts, damage textures or having good paintjobs? Or more than 6 gears?
Whats your opinion?

[jorge14]

For me would have to have good control as the car can have amazing textures, a great dashboard but also depends on the control.

[e-cobra]

For me would have to have good control as the car can have amazing textures, a great dashboard but also depends on the control.

And engine sound? The 'idle' sound of the in-game London bus(double decker) sounds realistic. Should new cars have new (and real) engine sounds?

[dummiesboy]

Quality control for one. I've tried quite a few cars from this site recently, and have been let down by the tuning, sounds, or cameras. Sometimes all 3. Most of the cars I tried had rather poor tuning that usually felt as if the car weighed 2 lbs, and had insane grip while accelerating, but gave out easily when turning. Sounds are also usually recycled default car sounds, or low quality recorded sounds that loop poorly. And finally, I just don't care for the different types of cameras replacing the chase cams on some cars, such as the side viewing or hood cameras. Although that's more of a personal comment.

Also, I think a low poly MM2 style model works best, mainly because of the arcade physics this game has. It just doesn't look right for a fairly realistic looking car to drive the way they do. You've also got to take into account how detailed the environment is. This might not be a big deal for most people, but to me, I enjoy having an equal quality level with everything in a game.

And last but not least, having the addon unlocked... I personally think locking an addon is a very stupid idea, because it just restricts the user from improving or customizing it. In this day and age, nobody is gonna steal anything and claim it as their own. Restricting what people can do with their addons is the final nail in MM2's coffin.

[jorge14]

But control is something strange and very difficult to drive at high speeds, an example is the '99 Caddie has a strange control.

[e-cobra]

...car weighed 2 lbs...

LOL

I personally think locking an addon is a very stupid idea..

I agree

nobody is gonna steal anything and claim it as their own

Thats true and some authors don't understand it..

[Franch88]

For me, the best quality of an MM2 car are: have a good looking model, doesn't matter if it's low or high with the polygons, the important is that it has an overall nice look, and in the case of real existing cars, a credible similarity to it; have a good porting done work and optimizes with the mesh and textures; have at least appropriate sounds and tuning, but that needs to be better made for certain king of cars; finally have a decent packing with a Readme file and vehicle showcase screens. The dashboard is kinda an optional, it's not always required, but it's always an added value.

The locking issue is a free decision of who releases a file, means that he wants to have the file only in the way as released and is part of the packing features. Since there's this possibility is good that the releaser considers use it.
Without the locking, in the case of an interesting scratch made car model, is possible that it got used without the original author knowing converted for another game, and this, is valid for any release made for any game. I've seen some kind of proofs of this right in the case of MM2 releases, so there's "someone", not really "nobody". Stealing is more possible, but indeed the claiming as own work not, at least there's no crediting done at all.

PS: the topic discussion is good to say the own reply to the topic subject, so possibly let's avoid discussions and questions that go more off-topic.

[e-cobra]

Is there any maximum limit for polygons? Also in some readme files the authors mention poly count; is this the number of polygons of BODY or BOUND or wheels or all together?

[Franch88]

Is there any maximum limit for polygons? Also in some readme files the authors mention poly count; is this the number of polygons of BODY or BOUND or wheels or all together?

I quickly reply to this question, but know that's off-topic...
A real maximum number of polygons isn't well known, but there's a limit of vertices count for the BODY object, principally the _H LOD one. It's of about 55000 as tested, if it's overpassed there are high chances to get game crashes while the first loading.
The authors should always mention the total car model polygons count, so body, wheels and breakable objects. At least should be so. I use MM2 Vehicle Viewer to get the polygons counts, but I don't know which objects it counts exactly.

[jorge14]

But also know what it takes realism to the car, is the board (some are very poorly done and looks little realistic) interest and this takes away unnoticed, others have very high sounds (in my case it's annoying) and not you can hear the different sounds MM2 default that is something disturbing in my opinion.

[dummiesboy]

Making a pretty model isnt the most important thing when it comes to making an addon. Believe it or not, some of us enjoy the driving experience too.

And I'm aware that it's the author's right to lock their stuff. Its also my right to say it's stupid. At least it's not impossible edit a locked car. Not easy or quick... but not impossible.
I didn't think about people converting stuff to other games, I was only thinking within the MM2 community. But most things released anymore are conversions, so that argument is void in most cases. However, I can understand getting upset at something you actually made yourself. In either case, it's alot like DRM in newer games. You screw over the legit users, but don't stop the pirates who will steal your product.
The whole thing about "as it's released" is a load of crap, I won't go much into that. If the MM2 devs had that attitude, where would we be today?

[e-cobra]

...it or not, some of us enjoy the driving experience too.

Me too!

[jorge14]

That's pretty inspiring DB

[Silent1Unknown]

I dont care much for dashboards or sounds, but looks and tuning have to be awesome. Like DB, I also prefer driving lower poly models that look native to MM2; they are just more fun to drive. Higher poly models are good for taking screenshots, but not so much for driving.....unless there is no lag and the tuning is perfect.

Yes, its also a drag that people lock their stuff....it limits customization.....but I understand why some people lock their stuff. For example, who recognizes this?

[StanOfGB]

For example, who recognizes this?

lol... If you want to "customize it", whatever that means, you can either make a patch for it or you could just as well remake/convert the mod yourself to your preferences.