Build a custom car dash

If you plan on driving your custom car in cockpit view in Midtown Madness, you may also want to create a custom dash to go along with the rest of your custom car.

Creating a custom dash is not required: You can successfully create a custom car and export it for use in Midtown Madness without creating a custom dash. In fact, to avoid possible problems with your custom car, we recommend that you don't create a custom dash!

To build a custom car dash, follow these steps:

  1. In 3D Studio MAX, open the file vpredcar_s_dash.max located in c:\vck\vehicles\vpredcar\vpredcar_dash\. You can use this file as a template for the new custom car dash you are creating.
  2. On the File menu, click Save As.
  3. In the File Name box, type a new name (including the vp prefix and the _dash suffix) for the file to reflect your new car's name, and then save it in the folder you created for this purpose.
  4. Work with the max and texture files to create a new custom look for your car's dash.
  5. Copy the dash textures, eport the dash, and verify the dash textures -- much as yuou did earlier for the car model itself.
  6. When the Texture Properties dialog box is displayed for each texture, confirm that, for the _DASHL, _DASHR, _DASHM textures, the Chromakey and Clamp U or Both options are both checked, and that the Transparent option is NOT checked.
  7. Confirm that, for the _DASHWHL texture, the Transparent option is checked and Chromakey is NOT checked.
  8. The dash model is not viewable, so you can't review your dash model. When the browser window opens, press ESC to close it.