Modding Whiplash/Fatal Racing

Track (TRK) files

The tracks.

Definition

Header

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Geometry

Signs

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Stunts

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Textures

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Race info

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• // denotes a single line comment
• integer values are 32-bit signed integers
• floating point values are double precision

Header

Geometry length int

Initial X position int

Initial Y position int

Initial Z position int

Initial X and Y positions are always 0 in retail tracks. Z is vertical.

Geometry

Track geometry.

Row 0

Row 1

Row 2

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...

Row 0

Column index	Field	Type	Notes
0	Left shoulder width	int
1	Left lane width	int
2	Right lane width	int
3	Right shoulder width	int
4	Left shoulder height	int	>0: up 0: flat <0: down
5	Right shoulder height	int
6	Length	int
7	Yaw rotation	float	counter-clockwise (°)
8	Pitch rotation	float	upwards (°)
9	Roll rotation	float	counter-clockwise (°)
10	AI line	int	>0: left 0: center <0: right
11	AI line	int
12	AI line	int
13	AI line	int
14	Track grip	int	0: full grip 12: ice
15	Left shoulder grip	int
16	Right shoulder grip	int
17	AI max speed	int
18	Ground height	int	Height at which a car stops falling and resets Setting equal to outer floor height makes it appear as if one fell on it
19	Audio (above trigger)	int	Index of audio to play when driven over (order in SOUND.INI) 0: no audio Plays when over trigger speed
20	Audio trigger speed	int	200 is about 67 mph
21	Audio (below trigger)	int	Index of audio to play when driven over (order in SOUND.INI) 0: no audio Plays when between ~26 mph and trigger speed

Row 1

Column index	Field	Type	Notes
0	Left surface type	int
1	Center surface type	int
2	Right surface type	int
3	Left wall type	int	Left and right must exist to draw roof -1: not present
4	Right wall type	int
5	Roof type	int	-1: not present
6	Left upper outer wall type	int
7	Left lower outer wall type	int
8	Outer floor type	int	-2: outer walls even with shoulder, normal solid wall -1: no outer walls, can fall off >=0: texture indexing with 9 bits as usual floor height is based on environment depth floor width is based on main track width outer walls are attached to edges of floor can drive partially off shoulder and bounce off
9	Right lower outer wall type	int
10	Right upper outer wall type	int
11	Environment floor type	int	Value of geometry currently being driven on determines entire color below the horizon First 8 bits are palette color index Higher bits are used but none seem to have any effect
12	Building/Sign type	int	See Building/Sign type
13	Building/Sign horizontal offset	int	>0: left/up 0: center <0: right/down
14	Building/Sign vertical offset	int
15	Building/Sign yaw	float	counter-clockwise (°)
16	Building/Sign pitch	float	upwards (°)
17	Building/Sign roll	float	counter-clockwise (°)

Row 2

Column index	Field	Type	Notes	Observed values
0	Left upper outer wall horizontal offset	int	>0: outward 0: vertical <0: inward
1	Left lower outer wall horizontal offset	int
2	Left outer floor horizontal offset	int
3	Right outer floor horizontal offset	int
4	Right lower outer wall horizontal offset	int	>0: outward 0: vertical <0: inward
5	Right upper outer wall horizontal offset	int
6	Left upper outer wall height	int
7	Left lower outer wall height	int
8	Left outer floor height	int
9	Right outer floor height	int
10	Right lower outer wall height	int
11	Right upper outer wall height	int
12	Wall/roof height	int
13	Near chunks (forward)	int	Number of chunks for collision/render while going forward Range: 8-128 Default: 32
14	Near chunks (forward extra start)	int	Chunk index of extra range for collision/render while going forward Default: -1 (disabled)
15	Near chunks (forward extra)	int	Number of chunks for collision/render while going forward Range: 8-128 Default: 0
16	Subdivide distance (left shoulder)	int	Distance at which geometry should subdivide Smaller is closer	20,40,60
17	Subdivide distance (center lane)	int		20,40,60,80
18	Subdivide distance (right shoulder)	int		20,40
19	Subdivide distance (left wall)	int		20
20	Subdivide distance (right wall)	int		20
21	Subdivide distance (roof)	int		20,40,60,80
22	Subdivide distance (left upper outer wall)	int		1
23	Subdivide distance (left lower outer wall)	int		20
24	Subdivide distance (outer floor)	int		1,20,40
25	Subdivide distance (right lower outer wall)	int		20
26	Subdivide distance (right upper outer wall)	int		1
27	Near chunks (backward)	int	Number of chunks for collision/render while going backward Range: 8-128 Default: 32
28	Near chunks (backward extra start)	int	Chunk index of extra range for collision/render while going backward Default: -1 (disabled)
29	Near chunks (backward extra)	int	Number of chunks for collision/render while going backward Range: 8-128 Default: 0

Surface type bit flags

These apply for road surface, wall/roof, and outer wall/floor.

Bit	Mask	Surface type	Notes
0	0x000000FF	Texture	Transparent 0 = completely transparent 1 = light tint 2 = medium tint 3 = dark tint 4 = light blue tint 5-15 = solid black, no transparency 16+ = glitches out Single Bits are just texture index Pair Bits are texture index of left, index+1 on right When apply texture not set Bits indicate a solid color corresponding to the index within PALETTE.PAL
1
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7
8	0x00000100	Apply texture
9	0x00000200	No extras	Excludes the designated "extra" chunks as possible chunks to land on after a jump Can be used to prevent shortcuts on overlapping portions of track Center lane only
10	0x00000400	Partial transparency	Toggles transparency on textures that contain transparent sections, e.g. guardrail Turns palette texture index 0 transparent (#000000) (not to be confused with the same color at another index) Only works when a texture is applied
11	0x00000800	Back	Toggles application of a different texture on the outside face of walls When a BACK is set, texture will be the BACK texture Otherwise, no clue how this texture is determined, changes when wall type changes and not in any consistent way, sometimes is broken
12	0x00001000	Flip horizontally
13	0x00002000	Flip backface
14	0x00004000	Concave	Renders as concave polygon
15	0x00008000	Prevent jump	Prevents jumping/falling off non-magnetic chunks with speeds of at least ~80 mph Used for top portion of loops
16	0x00010000	Texture pair
17	0x00020000	Skip render	As if it were nonexistent
18	0x00040000	Flip vertically
19	0x00080000	Non-magnetic	Car aren't glued to the road
20	0x00100000	Fall off	Allows falling off track (no invisible wall if walls not set) Left/right lanes only
21	0x00200000	Transparent	Requires no texture Changes what texture index does, see texture bits
22	0x00400000	Wall	Cannot be driven on
23	0x00800000	AI fast zone	Forces fast strategy only Center lane only
24	0x01000000	Pit zone	Yellow on track map (any lane) Must have sufficiently long contiguous section for AI to pit Center lane only for other effects
25	0x02000000	Pit	Actual pit work area
26	0x04000000	Pit box	AI pit targets and respawn points Must be at least one pit box for AI to pit (max 10) Center lane only
27	0x08000000	Placement disabled	Disallow spawn here Applies to grid, respawn, flip/fall
28	0x10000000	AI target speed override	Max speed regardless of strategy/difficulty/target Center lane only
29	0x20000000	Echo	Tunnel effect
30	0x40000000	Bounce off walls	Center lane only
31	0x80000000	Special toggle	Wall: when unset, walls are outside of the shoulder, when set walls are between shoulder and center Roof: turns roof vertical and tied to upper outer walls Track surface/outer walls: no special handling, so has the effect of inverting all bits

Building/Sign type

Value	Name	Description	Requires apply bit?	Texturing
0	TOWER	tall box	Yes	Index
1	TOWER 2	tall box, different texture	No	Fixed (22)
2	SIGN 1	small, back upside down, on one leg	Yes, but not for legs	Index, legs fixed (20)
3	SIGN 2	small, back upside down, on two legs	Yes, but not for legs	Index, legs fixed (21)
4	BUILD	complex building, drawn differently, different texture	No	Fixed (20, 21)
5	BUILD 1	giant tall folded boxes, different texture	No	Fixed (0)
6	BUILD 2	more giant tall folded box, different texture	No	Fixed (20)
7	BUILD 3	WIDE short box	Yes	Index
8	HEELBAR	cube, different texture	No	Fixed (8)
9	BALLOON	flat square, always face camera	Yes	Index
10	TREE	flat skinny rectangle, always face camera	No	Fixed (1)
11	ADVERT	flat small square, fixed, same back	Yes	Index
12	ADVERT 2	fixed flat square, back upside down	Yes	Index
13	QUAD BLD	4 tall skinny boxes	No	Fixed (23, 24, 25, 26)
14	BLD 0	tall box with pyramid top, different texture	No	Fixed (20, 21)
15	BIG BALL	flat square, always face camera, larger than BALLOON	Yes	Index
16	BIG AD	fixed flat square, back upside down, smaller than ADVERT 2	Yes	Index
>=256	no idea

Textures are determined by BLD file.

• Index: first 9 bits work just like road textures
• Fixed: Same texture is always applied (index in parentheses)

Signs

Empty on some tracks.

Signable geometry index int	Texture int
...
-1	-1

• Signable geometry index
  • 0: first geometry section with 0 <= sign type < 256
  • 1: second, etc
• Texture
  • Bits 0-7: index in BLD texture file
  • Bit 8: apply texture
  • Bit 15: invisible
  • No other bits seem to have an effect

Stunts

Controls geometry that moves and potrudes. Empty on some tracks.

Geometry index int	Ramp chunk count int	Number of ticks int	Tick start index int	Timing group int	Height change per tick int	Time bulging int	Time flat int	Ramp side length int	Bulge Section int
...
-1

• Ramp chunk count
  • Increases the length and height of the "ramp" by increasing the number of chunks before and after the stunt chunk included in the ramp
• Number of ticks
  • Number of game ticks the stunt expansion process takes
  • 0 breaks the track
• Tick start index
  • Index within the animation of the stunt that it will be in when the track loads
  • If it's higher than or equal to the number of ticks the stunt glitches out
• Timing group
  • With otherwise identical config, two bumps with same number move together
  • Appears to be a boolean, 1 is group 1, any other value is group 2
• Height change per tick
  • Negative values break the track
• Ramp side length
  • The length that the chunks before and after the stunted chunk change to when the stunt is active
  • Value is percentage, 1024 = 100%
  • Value appears to be the hypotenuse or actual surface length rather than the flat length beneath
  • If this value is incompatible with height change per tick * num ticks, it will take priority limiting the max height of the stunt, otherwise the chunk indicated as the "stunt" is stretched in length to make this fit
• Bulge section
  • Bit flags to specify which section of the track moves
    • Bit 0: left shoulder
    • Bit 1: left wall
    • Bit 2: left lane
    • Bit 3: right lane
    • Bit 4: right shoulder
    • Bit 5: right wall
    • Higher bits move nothing
• Ramps are pitch-based, calculate pitch by height/length
  • Ramp pitch takes the place of chunk's base pitch rather than being added to it
  • Ramps on pitched chunks have odd behavior and will do things like teleport the car to the outside of a loop when active on upsidown sections
  • In the release tracks all stunts are on chunks with a base pitch very close to 0

Textures

Texture file TEX:<DRH file>
Building/Sign texture file BLD:<DRH file>
BACKS:
Geometry index int	Texture int
...
	-1

Backs

The outside texture of walls when there is a wall between the track and the shoulder. Transparent when texture index does not correspond to an actual texture. This indexes into the texture tile list, e.g. when a wall is set to texture x, texture y will display on the "back" side when the show backs flag is set

Race info

Not present on some tracks.

Track number int
Impossible laps int	Hard laps int	Tricky laps int	Medium laps int	Easy laps int	Girlie laps int
Track map scale, smaller is larger float	Track map chunk sampling interval int	Track preview scale, smaller is larger float

Effects

Bonus 7

• Swapping yaw and pitch: loop
• Swapping yaw and roll: twisting line
• Swapping yaw and pitch, roll 90.00000: vertical ring to the left
• Negative yaw: turnright

Length

Given Pulse at its maximum 193 mph on a modified Bonus 4 where all 494 sectors are 1200 long can complete at lap in 28.36 seconds and on the same track but with 50 flat sectors on each side shortened to 100 can complete a lap in 27.41 seconds, 1000 length units is equivalent to 13.45 ft or 4.10 m. Additionally, the rotated portions of the track contribute approximately 0.20 seconds extra compared to flat.

Palette (PAL) files

Texture color palettes.

PALETTE.PAL

Index 0x00 may be treated as having a fully transparent alpha (RBGA #00000000). All other colors are fully opaque, including the other black at index 0x70 (RBGA #000000FF).

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