Kart Rev - A SRB2Kart V1.5 Base Game Maps Modification [v1.6.X]

[Level Pack] Kart Rev - A SRB2Kart V1.5 Base Game Maps Modification [v1.6.X] 1.6

Here's a spot in Green Hills Zone that you can get SPB'd into:

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And from the same track, I always thought this spot that's reachable with sneakers should be one big death plane since there's no way off it without driving off the edge and into the water.

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So, there's a lot of good fixes in here, but I do have to say, I think I generally prefer the normal versions of the tracks. Fixes for frustrating jank and outright oversights for the original tracks (such as the missing collision on Canyon Rush's rope wall) are great.


However, many of the other changes just feel like they're patching out fun bits of tech or those crazy cuts that made Mario Kart 64 so fun and memorable (who doesn't cherish that first time they made the Rainbow Road leap of faith?). Meanwhile, the most frustrating elements of some maps remain untouched or lightly touched. Cloud Tops 2, for example does have a widened boost ramp for the infamous jump, but the respawn point still puts you in a hyper-awkward angle. It's easy for an experienced player to adjust for, but is still an absolute noob-killer, which I've seen occur on at least two separate occasions. The two item sets being far too close together also remains; in my opinion, the second one should be moved to just before the parallel jumps at the end or the U-turn just before that, only about an extra second or two of track but it would at least give people the chance to allow their item roulette to finish and to somewhat efficiently use a triple shoe, rather than burning all three of them just to get the second item set. It being later might also help with the blind minefield that is the track's ending ramp. The first item set could also be moved up a little, to just after the offroad cut; even a half-second would help when there's so little space to put items (especially if you want to preserve the Cut-Or-Item choice).


First item set here: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/348599227267416064/698739967358271568/unknown.png
Second item set here: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/348599227267416064/698740107296899172/unknown.png


Then there's big cuts like the one on Sapphire Coast. Taking an axe to it wasn't the right choice, I feel. Instead, there could have been a wall added to the end of it, bringing people using the cut to a stop on the grass, which would greatly slow down players who don't have a boost and still make those who do take an extra second. Hell, make it so the cut is disabled on lap three; the bridge breaks on it or a gate goes up. It's still available as a catch-up before the third lap, but doesn't result in big upsets anymore.


Also, Grand Metropolis bring cut down from five item sets to just three, on a long-ish two lapper, is excessive. Four would have been perfectly fine. I'm also sad to see the building rooftop cut be removed. It was fairly difficult to do (at least when it had a death plane) and wasn't actually a big time save due to dropping down, especially if you didn't have a shoe or something to get back up to speed after making the drop. It still had a place, though, and was a really cool cut to make that's now just locked off. Making the rooftop offroad was a good idea, removing the cut entirely was too much, though.
 
Gotta disagree with this take overall, tbh.

So, there's a lot of good fixes in here, but I do have to say, I think I generally prefer the normal versions of the tracks. Fixes for frustrating jank and outright oversights for the original tracks (such as the missing collision on Canyon Rush's rope wall) are great.


However, many of the other changes just feel like they're patching out fun bits of tech or those crazy cuts that made Mario Kart 64 so fun and memorable (who doesn't cherish that first time they made the Rainbow Road leap of faith?)

The tech and crazy cuts you refer to are as unintentional as the oversights and the Maro Kart 64 tech. While some of them are cool, it is apparent that Rev is built around the multiplayer ecosystem and makes it so that you're not forced to play one way in order to stand a chance. For instance, if you raced with a friend that always wants to do the Grumble Volcano exploit on Mario Kart Wii, you'd stop wanting to go to Grumble Volcano eventually, right? That's what it feels like playing with certain people on certain maps and it's never enjoyable in the random pub environment.

The two item sets being far too close together also remains; in my opinion, the second one should be moved to just before the parallel jumps at the end or the U-turn just before that, only about an extra second or two of track but it would at least give people the chance to allow their item roulette to finish and to somewhat efficiently use a triple shoe, rather than burning all three of them just to get the second item set. It being later might also help with the blind minefield that is the track's ending ramp. The first item set could also be moved up a little, to just after the offroad cut; even a half-second would help when there's so little space to put items (especially if you want to preserve the Cut-Or-Item choice).

Moving the 2nd item set to the parallel jumps would invalidate their usage on the last lap, though. Most 4+ lappers make it a point to leave some space before the finish line to accommodate for one last item on the last lap.

The cut-or-item choice is also kinda insignificant due to where the 2nd set is at. It kinda proves your point but it also just shows that the 2nd item set is in a really weird spot where you can't move it up or down without causing problems.

Then there's big cuts like the one on Sapphire Coast. Taking an axe to it wasn't the right choice, I feel. Instead, there could have been a wall added to the end of it, bringing people using the cut to a stop on the grass, which would greatly slow down players who don't have a boost and still make those who do take an extra second. Hell, make it so the cut is disabled on lap three; the bridge breaks on it or a gate goes up. It's still available as a catch-up before the third lap, but doesn't result in big upsets anymore.

Actually a cool idea but overall the bridge is still way too strong of a cut to leave in. Outright disabling it on the 3rd lap just means that it gets turned from a catch-up shortcut into a pretty-much-guaranteed-to-win cut if you manage to take it on the 2nd lap instead.

Also, Grand Metropolis bring cut down from five item sets to just three, on a long-ish two lapper, is excessive. Four would have been perfectly fine. I'm also sad to see the building rooftop cut be removed. It was fairly difficult to do (at least when it had a death plane) and wasn't actually a big time save due to dropping down, especially if you didn't have a shoe or something to get back up to speed after making the drop. It still had a place, though, and was a really cool cut to make that's now just locked off. Making the rooftop offroad was a good idea, removing the cut entirely was too much, though.

Grand Metropolis' item sets are apparently actually leftovers from KartZ, in the sense that it wasn't lessened or put in places that don't invalidate a set. For example, the first item set is generally useless and is usually only taken to midair snipe at the elevator. Why go outside the floor that boosts your speed to grab an item when there's another set right after the elevator? There's also no real usage for shoes at the 4th item set (right after the blue and red paths; just before the path with a blue line through a red path) and is mostly just for burning some speed. Rev's approach for the item distribution is to spread out and lessen the item sets so that you've got time to use every item as best you can.

The "building rooftop cut" is, again, another infamous oversight of the vanilla maps. This specific cut has made Grand Metropolis undergo several map updates throughout the patching phase in an attempt to fully remove it, as you already know. People finding ways around that, as well as the difficulty of said skip, doesn't mean it's any less unintentional. It is still pretty strong to do in a netgame, and that's a pretty good excuse for it to not exist in Rev.
 
While watching some time trial replays I noticed some... things with Volcanic Valley Zone.

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The first is this shortcut ontop of me never discovering it myself until today, you're supposed to slow down, U-turn, and Sneaker through this under normal circumstances as the cyan Eggman ghost in Time Attack does but you can save more time (and negate the use of a Sneaker) by just using raw driving power from a drift boost and cutting over it just barely. Not every character can do this mind you and it's much easier for character with high handling (the reply here is done using a character with 9 speed, 3 weight).

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Then there's this, which feels even more like an unintended skip, and depending on your character's stats you can also shoot over this without using an item.
 

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The tech and crazy cuts you refer to are as unintentional as the oversights and the Maro Kart 64 tech. While some of them are cool, it is apparent that Rev is built around the multiplayer ecosystem and makes it so that you're not forced to play one way in order to stand a chance. For instance, if you raced with a friend that always wants to do the Grumble Volcano exploit on Mario Kart Wii, you'd stop wanting to go to Grumble Volcano eventually, right? That's what it feels like playing with certain people on certain maps and it's never enjoyable in the random pub environment.


I make mention of this in my original reply. Grumble Volcano skips the entire track, that's no fun besides flexing (like Wario Stadium wall-jumping at the start of the course). Tons of gaming's best moments come from accidents, oversights or exploits; Skiing in Tribes, Wavedashing in Melee, Coptering leading to Bulletjumping in Warframe, and even something like Snaking in MK DS (while it added a moderate skill floor to the game, it also made it far more interesting and skillful to play). Rev should seek to legitimize oversights first, rather than just strike them from the record, because it's taking cool and fun things that weren't intended and throwing them into the trash instead of building upon them. Some things obviously need to be patched (checkpoint abuse, the missing collision on Canyon Rush that I mentioned earlier, unfair cuts, SPB skips like Daytona and Paradise Hill). Refine before refusal if possible.


Moving the 2nd item set to the parallel jumps would invalidate their usage on the last lap, though. Most 4+ lappers make it a point to leave some space before the finish line to accommodate for one last item on the last lap.


Having every other lap work better is a worthwhile tradeoff for the last lap's last item set being a little too close to the goal, I feel. That said, the first item set should just be moved up to before the jump, and the offroad section be given a slope-hump to prevent lawnmowering (never, ever use Glue, that's just bad design that unduly punishes players who get bad luck).


Actually a cool idea but overall the bridge is still way too strong of a cut to leave in. Outright disabling it on the 3rd lap just means that it gets turned from a catch-up shortcut into a pretty-much-guaranteed-to-win cut if you manage to take it on the 2nd lap instead.

Then it simply needs further refinement. Make the bridge go to the end of the cliff instead, thus making it a V instead of a straight line to the finish, thereby adding on some time to traverse. There's plenty of ways to fix this cut that I can think of in a few minutes of brainstorming, so just walling it up feels really lame.

Grand Metropolis' item sets are apparently actually leftovers from KartZ, in the sense that it wasn't lessened or put in places that don't invalidate a set. For example, the first item set is generally useless and is usually only taken to midair snipe at the elevator. Why go outside the floor that boosts your speed to grab an item when there's another set right after the elevator? There's also no real usage for shoes at the 4th item set (right after the blue and red paths; just before the path with a blue line through a red path) and is mostly just for burning some speed. Rev's approach for the item distribution is to spread out and lessen the item sets so that you've got time to use every item as best you can.


Most players go for the outside item at the start because an item is worth the extra second or two. They're especially useful for people trying to catch up since a set of shoes or Invinc more than makes up for the slight time loss. Even then, since Rev seems to have a frankly misplaced distaste for Speed Or Item choices, I didn't suggest keeping those ones. The problem with the reduction from 5 to 3 is that it makes coming back from bad luck extremely difficult, especially on a track like Metropolis where being hit on the backwards conveyors is a *huge* time loss. This is further exacerbated by the increased presence of speed boosters in the ending section as opposed to yellow springs (which had their own issues, admittedly), which invalidate catch-up items besides Grow and even offensive ones like Jawz. 3 item sets would be fine for a three-lapper (9 items total), but on a two lapper it needs at *least* four sets (8 total, as opposed to a mere six), although one of them could be an outside item set that's meant for catch-up mechanics.


The "building rooftop cut" is, again, another infamous oversight of the vanilla maps. This specific cut has made Grand Metropolis undergo several map updates throughout the patching phase in an attempt to fully remove it, as you already know. People finding ways around that, as well as the difficulty of said skip, doesn't mean it's any less unintentional. It is still pretty strong to do in a netgame, and that's a pretty good excuse for it to not exist in Rev.


The thing about the rooftop is that it's only usable once in the race, only at the very start of the lap, isn't that fast in relation to the normal track, and in vanilla means you miss on a potential item set. This is one of those cuts I'm referring to when I think it should be legitimized. Removing the death plane and making the roof off-road would keep it exclusive to boost items and thus could act as a catch-up tool while not being exploitable for end-of-race major upsets.
 
After a few more Time Trial replay observances, there's a few cuts that seem to be unintended on the map designer's side.

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This one comes from Silvercloud Island and it's not a big skip but it still feels like you're pulling one on the developers by taking it. Especially since none of the staff ghosts take it (I only checked the first lap so I don't know if they do take it on laps two or three but I have doubts they do).

If I had any say I think this could be kept as a shortcut but changed to offroad so it's not possible to just cheese the one sharp turn with driftboosts alone.

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Another aspect of the track that's always bugged me was the misplacement of this one random Gargoyle here right before the finish line.

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Compared to Silvercloud Island's skip, this one on Petroleum Refinery lets you completely bypass the U-turn with a Sneaker or another similar boosting item plus some lawnmowing if you drive off one of the small ramps on the lower path and onto the offroad.

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This is minor since it's not likely to happen, but this particular pit is pretty punishing if you fall or get knocked into it.

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Speaking of pits, Blue Mountain's pits in the second and third outdoor sections of the track are a still a bit too low to my liking- I know they were adjusted for later into the third outdoor section as well as the first and final sections but this spot as well as the icy U-turn are rather big drops if you fall or get knocked off.
 

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Last edited:
Kart Rev has updated to Version 1.3.0! A variety of changes have occurred, such as:
  • The removal of many maps from Rev's listings
  • 2 new map additions, Egg Zeppelin and Peach's Castle
  • Re-implementation of some past items
  • The removal of additional skips and other quality of life changes

Please read the Public Documentation for more details.

Please note that Version 1.1.4 will be left up for the time being for archival's sake. This may not be the case in the future, but it should not be ran with Version 1.2 of SRB2Kart!
 
Rolled an invincibility in 1st

Just a little quickie for Egg Quarters. I don't know exactly if this could be a shuffled waypoint issue or a game bug, but I managed to roll an invincibility in first place:

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Just a little quickie for Egg Quarters. I don't know exactly if this could be a shuffled waypoint issue or a game bug, but I managed to roll an invincibility in first place


The "invincibility in 1st" is rather a base game bug and nothing to do with waypoints; if the item roulette stops at the same time someone is starting to respawn, the game will assume you're in 2nd and not 1st when determining the item to give to you (even though in the HUD you don't drop to 2nd) and also bases it on the distance between you and the player that is respawning
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.1. This fixes some issues with 1.3.0 updates and adds a new map for softlock fixes, Northern District.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.3, adding in a previous Rev map (Misty Maze Zone) and updates to Daytona Speedway as well as Petroleum Refinery.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.4, featuring a previous Rev map being added in (Hill Top Zone), a new map with OGL-related fixes (Sonic Speedway), and a variety of minor fixes for several maps.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.5, featuring a variety of changes, major skip culling and some fairly longer-requested adjustments.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.6, featuring a handful of minor map adjustments.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.7, featuring some fairly minor adjustments.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.8, because the MB decided to completely wipe the MB copy of the V1.3.7 update's contents and instead produce a completely blank pk3 file for the previous version online!

This is more or less a soft iteration, but obviously please download immediately if you are running 1.3.X builds.
 
Kart Rev has been updated to Version 1.3.9, including a new map and some minor changes.

Please see the Public Documentation for a full list of changes.
 
There is a very unintended way to do a shortcut in Green Hill Zone.
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Would you guys consider patching this one?
 

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