@djo1961:

Keep calm! We're going to find a solution. That's what the help forum is for.

My first advice is: be a bit more sensitive about your personal data on the internet.

Now to your questions:
You have to do the whole procedure if you want everybody else to listen to your song. If you do it a different way, you'll be the only one hearing the song.
Why? I cannot really tell, but I think the most important thing is to keep the actual filesize low. A track is usually about 500kb, a song probably around 5MB. So you don't have to wait until the music is downloaded to play the track. You can start racing and the music dowloads in the backround.

Calculating shadows:
You have to do that, to get the track validated. Only a validated track can be played by others in normal game modes. To validate a track, you need the build a start, a finish, drive an author time and calculate the shadows.
In the editor: click on the hammer and choose "Calculate Shadows" (I guess that's what the button says in english).
Then you can choose different levels of calculation. Select "normal" shadows. (Everything else is not enough, or not necessary for validating the track/ playing and sharing online.) It will take a few minutes.
You can see if your track is validated in the upper right corner of the editor.

I hope you've got some hair left. If you have more questions don't hesitate to ask.
Hans Holo


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Edit: Your tracks (.gbx) should be in ...documents/Mania Planet/Maps/My Maps

Good tutorial Hans Holo

I'm not sure but from what I have been told also what I have seen via opened mp3 music files dBpoweramp is a Microsoft product, it can bring with it tracking cookies etc. Which is not good if you have free mp3 files on your pc. I'm not suggesting braking any copyright laws but these days Microsoft have a tendency 'not' to like people to have 'free stuff' on their pc's
Back in the day when I put music on tracks in TM1 I used 'Audacity' music program.
In fact I still use it

Free download at >

http://www.filehippo.com/download_audacity/


But for it to work to it's full potential you also have to download 'Lame MP3 encoder' .
Not sure where to download that from though. But it's also free...
But once you download both of them your good to go...

'Audacity' is a very basic looking (no frills) program, I've used it for years and practically all my music (125 GB's) has been sent through it over the years;
Used in conjunction with your desktop, it allows you to remove all the rubbish web address tags etc. that come hidden in the background with MP3 downloads. It converts all the main formats; mp3 , ogg, wav, fraps, etc.

trax_

Thx for the additions trax. I agree that Audacity is a great (free) program. I never used it for conversions.
There is no specific reason for using poweramp. But I don't see any problems with it. Maybe you can post the source of your information.

- I don't see any connection of illustrate to Microsoft
- if there should be some tracking (which I doubt), what should be wrong with music you "bought" somewhere else
- during installation you probably have to de-select some stuff that usually comes with every free software (like toolbars...)
- and to be the complete smartass: lame is not mp3

I only got that opinion though loads of downloads, mainly by doing the following (via audacity).
> Download the mp3 file straight to my desktop.
> Drop the mp3 file on the audacity icon
> The program opens and I make whatever changes are necessary; increase the volume, base etc.
> Click on File > export ; ensuring that the export destination is 'desktop'.
> The program asks if I want to replace it (because it is already on my desktop)
> After clicking 'Yes', the actual mp3 file data list opens .
This usually includes the song title, artist, album etc. Music downloaded from free sites, however, more often that not also include more data, sometimes a 'Lot' more data, including all sorts of unwanted rubbish connected to the mp3.
> Simply highlight the unwanted stuff on the list and delete it...
>Then click save.
Your mp3 file is now a lot cleaner than it was.
Using your desktop like this is easier than opening files all over your pc.
You can then put the mp3 file wherever you save your music.
It also has an added bonus;
If you change the title of a song in a music program, wmp for example, it only changes the name in that particular program, it does not change the name in your C/Drive.
If you make your alterations on your desktop (which is a window to your C/Drive), prior to moving the file, any changes will remain the same everywhere and anywhere you put it.
Hope that makes sense

The Mind blowing toolbar thing is a rooky mistake these days,
just look at the [ tick boxes]
Lame is an audacity add-on.

I moved this one from General help to Track Building and Media Tracker because I think it fits a lot better here next to the other tutorials

Where to find "Help" in step 2? searching for hours now -.-

That's in the launcher menu, before you actually get into the game.