FNG Logo created by Nick Serr

20 May 2017

TrackMania 2 Canyon and Stadium Servers Back Online

I as able to get the TrackMania 2 Canyon and Stadium servers back online today, without XAseco2 (which means no records and map jukebox for now.)

Also, I had to recompute maps so there are limited sets of maps on each server for now.  We'll add more back as we go along.

My goal now is to revive the Valley server and get prepped for Lagoon next week.  After Lagoon is released and I have a standalone server for it, I will revive the TM2 Title Pack server as well (which will allow us to play all 4 TM2 environments on the same server.)

After all that is complete, I will assess which Server Controllers have caught up with the ManiaPlanet 4 (MP4) updates and see which might be the best to run on our servers.

Some of the slight tweaks in the Stadium and Canyon physics take a little bit of getting used to, but I'm finding most of the older maps that I tested on our servers are as easy, and potentially easier to drive than before.  None of them became unplayable after the MP4 changes.

Enjoy!  More to come...

19 May 2017

Team FNG TrackMania Servers Down for a Bit / ShootMania Server Still Live

Hey Friday Night Gamers and Friends!

The new ManiaPlanet 4 updates are pretty awesome, but extensive.  This means maps for our servers must be recomputed and I haven't had time to do so yet, with the exception of ShootMania.  I have 12 maps recomputed and working with our new TeamFNG_Royal script that works on the Royal title pack now.

We have officially moved the mode over to the Royal ladder/title pack and are still a 90k server.  The script needs a few kinks worked out (like getting our emblem back on the pole and spawn points) - and I still need to test to be sure the laser is one-hit eliminations.  We also need to figure out a way to get nukes auto-switched in the tunnels again (they disabled that in MP4).  I may forego fixing that depending on the feedback we get from the players on our server.

Our TrackMania servers will be down until I get a chance to start recomputing some maps -- since we keep a lot of nostalgia tracks, I'm certain I will be the one needing to recompute them.  I'll also pull more down from ManiaExchange AS we get the server spun back up.  It might be a couple of weeks to get the old ones going again.

I will also be spinning up a Lagoon server, and we will have the TM2 Title Pack server (which will host all 4 environments in one) after next week when Lagoon is released.

I'm excited to see if we can get some maps made for our Royal server that have TrackMania cars in them too.  If you make one, please let us know so we can share it on our server!

Stay tuned... more ManiaPlanet goodness to come...

09 May 2017

TrackMania 2 Lagoon Coming 23 May!!! ManiaPlanet 4 Available Today!!!

Nadeo and Ubisoft made my day today!

Ubisoft announced today that the Lagoon environment is finally coming to ManiaPlanet!  Mark your calendars... 23 May.  I don't know pricing yet... stay tuned.

https://v4.live.maniaplanet.com/



And get amped... the ManiaPlanet 4 update has a bundle of awesome new things available for map and mod makers, including wallriding for ShootMania (see "Power Paths"), TrackMania cars in (can be weaponized depending on the mod), turrets, shields and new weapons in ShootMania.  It is packed with all kinds of goodness.

Another exciting thing for Team FNG is that I've figured out how to get our TeamFNG_Royal mode to actually run under the Royal title pack where it belongs now.  I'm pretty excited to see how that goes.

One bummer is that they've disabled the default switching to nucleus weapon in ShootMania when you are in a tunnel.  That will make some of our classic maps not as fun, but we'll see if we can figure out how to get our TeamFNG_Royal mode to still honor that mechanic.  Might take some time, but we'll try to keep that "Pre-Beta2" classic mode we've always had on our server.

I'm looking forward to other fun things awaiting us in the new ManiaPlanet.

You will notice some slight changes in physics and handling in the existing TrackMania 2 cars, but I think you'll enjoy it.