The CWA Board

Happy April Fools Day! Have a gift from me which I was sitting on in hopes of it getting an official release some day but due to the lack of response from THQ Nordic on the matter I figured I might as well just share it anyway as an April Fools on them: The final experimental beta patch for Max Damage.

How to get the beta patch
Right click on the game in your Steam library, go to properties, click on the Betas tab, enter VmfPZyCgXec4v2R4 into the code box and press the button, change your beta to "experimental".

Enjoy the unreleased beta patch which fixes various problems, notably it makes normal maps actually work and adds in open-ended mod support to replace Carmodgeddon.

Disclaimer
This is an unfinished, untested, EXPERIMENTAL beta patch which was in the works by a single coder at Stainless with feedback and suggestions from a couple of us modders. It might solve numerous problems people have had with the game but it might also cause other problems which no one knows about because it's not been properly tested and is not finished. Your mileage may vary. Use at your own risk. I take no responsibility for whatever might happen because I didn't make it. Stainless takes no responsibility because they didn't intend it to be released in this state. THQ Nordic take no responsibility for anything.

Mods

Did I mention it adds open-ended mod support? Well it does! Here's the highlights:

• Mods need to be placed inside a folder called ZIP_MODS in the game's root directory.
• Mods need to be ZIP files and contain the same folder structure as inside the ZAD files.
• Mod ZIPs can contain any of the game's data, from scripts to peds to UI to levels to cars to trailers.
• Anything can be modded and you can still play singleplayer and career mode with working saves and also multiplayer.
• Did I mention anything can be modded? All the scripts (previously .LOL files, no .LUA files) are 100% vanilla LUA script files and not compiled to byte code, so they can be editted without having to use my janky decompiler and they come with all the original comments! This helps a lot when it comes to modding the LUA scripts.
• Run mods by adding a command switch with comma seperated mods, so if you wanted to run a mod whose zip is called MyMod1.zip and one whose zip is called TrentsAwesomeMod.zip, you would run them by adding this to the command line:
  -mod=MyMod1,TrentsAwesomeMod
• Due to all these changes none of the Carmodgeddon cars or levels will work with the new mod system, they will need to be repacked. Luckily, I have made a handy dandy little utility to do it for you: https://carmatools.com/downloads/tools/ ... pdater.zip
• There is an issue where the command line is limitted in length, so if you have too many mods in the commandline it won't run properly. It is advisable to pack as many mods together into a single mod as possible, e.g. put wheel mods in the same zip as the car mods they're for, pack related mods together in a megamod, etc.This also helps with writing the command lines to launch the mods with. The conversion tool above has some unseful options for packing mods together, so make sure to read the readme!
• I had intended on making a new version of Minge which properly support this new mod system but as the patch never got released I didn't get around to it. I guess I might take a poke again at some point if there's enough interest.

To start you all off, I've packed up my Carmageddon 1 ports into a zip mod compatible with this new mod system. Just dump the zip into your ZIP_MODS folder and launch the game with the appropriate command line arguments: http://carmatools.com/downloads/mods/Carmageddon1TC.zip

April Fools Day haha!

haha?

Hello!
I just had to create a account because... why hasn't this patch/mod/thing gotten more traction?
This is just amazing, and this is the open modding I have longed for.
Although, the only thing I've gotten to work is the C1 pack you've included. I've tried to make my own packs with '80s Time Warps cars, single cars, used the included tool to repack minge carmod and such, but I just can't get it to work at all.
C1 works, STshotguns overhaul works. But nothing else. If anyone have any input, i'd be glad to hear it!

Best regards

Hello Shigurath,
I hadn't modded the experimental build yet, but just did it a whirl using Trent's CarMODgeddonUpdater. I had installed three cars by '80s Time Warp via Minge, then ran CarMODgeddonUpdater with the combineAll argument to make one big zip file.
Just had to update the launch options in the steam game properties like so:
-mod=zmod_ST_Overhaul_BETA_v090,zmod_transparent_maps,zmod_z_no_pup_outline,carmodgeddon_mods

It takes more time to install stuff via Minge then repackage with CarMODgeddonUpdater, but at least you're sure that the directory hierarchy within the zip file is correct (it's not exactly the same as zip files from CarMODgeddon).

Hey!
I've done some testing, and due to the slow repacking with the CarmodgeddonUpdater tool, it's taking quite a while to get it confirmed. But, either there is a limitation to how many cars you can add at a time, or there is a/several cars that creates something wrong. I've tried to add 3 cars at a time now, and so far it's working.
Minge, adding 3 cars at a time - deleting old carmodgeddon_mods.zip - running tool with combineall line - testing game.

If I find out more I will post more here!

For the record, I will be putting together an Experimental branch megapack that contains all of my vehicles (Full size cars, Muscle Cars, Heavyweights, Interstate '76/Vigilante 8, Roadkill, Redone version of FCs Abbacab, Trailer Pack).

At this point, I'm still trying to find the right zip structure, if everything is in one zip - it is over 3 Gb, and that's with shared textures like tires moved to the shared textures folder.

I might even throw in something else I'd been holding back.

Hey 80s Time Warp!
That's what i'm doing at the moment. Although I'm sure your pack will be smarter packed I'm doing "combineCars" now, because repacking with combineAll can take hours on my PC atleast. So far i've packed 25 cars from you Mike, and also Alex RedTech and Alpha Eagle IV. All without wheels atm the moment, so I can seperate if those are causing the issue I'm having.
So far it's going well, but if I put in all cars, with "combineAll", it's about 3.6gb and no car will show up ingame. 3 at a time to isolate if it's car-related, but holy hell it's taking a while

EDIT: Took the whole day yesterday, but i've come across some issues.
It seems to be a hard-cap at 27 cars? Not sure why, but if I add one more car they won't show up ingame at all. And if I have 27 cars, then I can't have "wheels" in the combineAll argument, I have to use combineWheels seperate.
That's what I've come across so far. Man I wished the modding scene was more hopeful and active for this game. I may be in the minority, but I think this game is awesome. I wish there were more tools to make the career-mode more substanstial for instance. Earning cars and such, with some incentive for money or stealing.
And also, the mod Anyopponent doesn't seem to work either with ST_Overhaul or experimental beta.

There might be an issue with the updater tool then.

I haven't encountered any limit (yet) on the overall number of vehicles with the experimental branch.

shigurath wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:49 pm Hey 80s Time Warp!
That's what i'm doing at the moment. Although I'm sure your pack will be smarter packed I'm doing "combineCars" now, because repacking with combineAll can take hours on my PC atleast. So far i've packed 25 cars from you Mike, and also Alex RedTech and Alpha Eagle IV. All without wheels atm the moment, so I can seperate if those are causing the issue I'm having.
So far it's going well, but if I put in all cars, with "combineAll", it's about 3.6gb and no car will show up ingame. 3 at a time to isolate if it's car-related, but holy hell it's taking a while

EDIT: Took the whole day yesterday, but i've come across some issues.
It seems to be a hard-cap at 27 cars? Not sure why, but if I add one more car they won't show up ingame at all. And if I have 27 cars, then I can't have "wheels" in the combineAll argument, I have to use combineWheels seperate.
That's what I've come across so far. Man I wished the modding scene was more hopeful and active for this game. I may be in the minority, but I think this game is awesome. I wish there were more tools to make the career-mode more substanstial for instance. Earning cars and such, with some incentive for money or stealing.
And also, the mod Anyopponent doesn't seem to work either with ST_Overhaul or experimental beta.

Hey, Shiggy, do you mind answering a few questions to help me debug this?

Have you successfully run the C1 mod pack?
If you install carmodgeddon version of the C1 mod and run combineAll on that does it work for you?
Does the resulting zip file open in zip software?
If so, are all the expected files in it?
If so, if you make the zip software test the zip, does it get any errors?
Can you list out the exact mods you're trying? What size are they individually?

Regarding the slowness of it, what are the specs of your computer? How much memory & cpu is in use while it's packing? How fast is the harddrive you're doing it on and how much free space does it have? I imagine if you're packing up all Mike's mods that will be very resource intensive as it needs to read each of the old mods while keeping the target zip file open for writing.

I've only tested it with my C1 mods which are small but with 30 cars, 23 wheels and 11 levels it's been a good benchmark in terms of numbers; it only takes five minutes on my machine and it worked without issue.

Made an account just to say thanks for making me aware of this. Reinstalled Max Damage with this new patch and played till 5am this morning lol. Very excited for some mods to be ported to this version of the game.

Trent wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:21 pm

shigurath wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:49 pm Hey 80s Time Warp!
That's what i'm doing at the moment. Although I'm sure your pack will be smarter packed I'm doing "combineCars" now, because repacking with combineAll can take hours on my PC atleast. So far i've packed 25 cars from you 80s Time Warp, and also Alex RedTech and Alpha Eagle IV. All without wheels atm the moment, so I can seperate if those are causing the issue I'm having.
So far it's going well, but if I put in all cars, with "combineAll", it's about 3.6gb and no car will show up ingame. 3 at a time to isolate if it's car-related, but holy hell it's taking a while

EDIT: Took the whole day yesterday, but i've come across some issues.
It seems to be a hard-cap at 27 cars? Not sure why, but if I add one more car they won't show up ingame at all. And if I have 27 cars, then I can't have "wheels" in the combineAll argument, I have to use combineWheels seperate.
That's what I've come across so far. Man I wished the modding scene was more hopeful and active for this game. I may be in the minority, but I think this game is awesome. I wish there were more tools to make the career-mode more substanstial for instance. Earning cars and such, with some incentive for money or stealing.
And also, the mod Anyopponent doesn't seem to work either with ST_Overhaul or experimental beta.

Hey, Shiggy, do you mind answering a few questions to help me debug this?

Have you successfully run the C1 mod pack?
If you install carmodgeddon version of the C1 mod and run combineAll on that does it work for you?
Does the resulting zip file open in zip software?
If so, are all the expected files in it?
If so, if you make the zip software test the zip, does it get any errors?
Can you list out the exact mods you're trying? What size are they individually?

Regarding the slowness of it, what are the specs of your computer? How much memory & cpu is in use while it's packing? How fast is the harddrive you're doing it on and how much free space does it have? I imagine if you're packing up all 80s Time Warp's mods that will be very resource intensive as it needs to read each of the old mods while keeping the target zip file open for writing.

I've only tested it with my C1 mods which are small but with 30 cars, 23 wheels and 11 levels it's been a good benchmark in terms of numbers; it only takes five minutes on my machine and it worked without issue.

Hey Trent! Sorry for the wait, life getting in the way as usual.

C1 mod pack works fine, and if I do the Carmodgeddon version it goes quick with combineAll.
I get the zip, ran a test on it, no errors. Everything is in the file.
I even tried to unzip the combineAll file with C1 pack, added the modded vehicles, and repacked it. But then no cars show up ingame at all, not even C1.

And yeah, regarding slowness, i'm guessing it have to unpack, add to temp, then repack all of it individully. As far as I know, repacking takes a hit on both HDD speed and RAM speed. And 80s Time Warps files are around 150-200mb each * 43 if I add all of them. That takes a while on normal non SSD/M2 disks. Might switch of to my SSD to be able to do quicker tests.

shigurath wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:02 pmHey Trent! Sorry for the wait, life getting in the way as usual.

C1 mod pack works fine, and if I do the Carmodgeddon version it goes quick with combineAll.
I get the zip, ran a test on it, no errors. Everything is in the file.
I even tried to unzip the combineAll file with C1 pack, added the modded vehicles, and repacked it. But then no cars show up ingame at all, not even C1.

And yeah, regarding slowness, i'm guessing it have to unpack, add to temp, then repack all of it individully. As far as I know, repacking takes a hit on both HDD speed and RAM speed. And Mikes files are around 150-200mb each * 43 if I add all of them. That takes a while on normal non SSD/M2 disks. Might switch of to my SSD to be able to do quicker tests.

Heh no worries, life is a nightmare for getting in the way of things

Could you ilst out which cars you are combining and which you add last? Is there specific order you do it in or is it always the same car which breaks it? If you try comining just the last few in your list alone does it not work?

Recent 80s Time Warp had a issue with his T-Bone Express breaking save games due to a hyphen in the car's folder name. I'm wondering if this is a similar issue....

I've entered VmfPZyCgXec4v2R4 into GOG Galaxy as a private beta channel password, but it does nothing whatsoever. Am I doing something wrong?

Oh yeah, the beta branch is only available through Steam. It seems the first post doesn't mention this.

Any way to make this work with the GOG version (like just providing the patch files instead of locking it behind Steam)? A modded career playthrough has been one thing I've always wanted out of this game but the idiotic decision to disable saving with mods always prevented this. If I were able to play through the campaign without the terrible vanilla damage system and use Psyrgery's mod for the entirety of it, I might actually come back to this game.

caiusmisus wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 8:45 pm Any way to make this work with the GOG version (like just providing the patch files instead of locking it behind Steam)? A modded career playthrough has been one thing I've always wanted out of this game but the idiotic decision to disable saving with mods always prevented this. If I were able to play through the campaign without the terrible vanilla damage system and use Psyrgery's mod for the entirety of it, I might actually come back to this game.

Unfortunately most of the functionality of the patch is part of the EXE would require a GOG verison to be compiled from the the source code. I can't imagine there's any way of patching the features into the GOG version without years of reverse engineering it.

Ok so this is great!, thanks so much for doing this. I bought the game yesterday and always wanted to mod it, it seemed very hard to find and then I found this site.
And much to my surprise its active til this day and it even seems like its growing right now. So thank you for making this!

Now I just got one question, I want to play career, and I can. but I do have everything unlocked.
Is there a way to not have everything unlocked? with the experimental it also comes with CarMODgeddon and therefore everything is unlocked.

thanks a bunch guys!

mightymick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 1:12 pm Now I just got one question, I want to play career, and I can. but I do have everything unlocked.
Is there a way to not have everything unlocked? with the experimental it also comes with CarMODgeddon and therefore everything is unlocked.

Are you running any zip mods through the "-mod=xxx" command? If so then that'll enable the CarMODgeddon sandbox mode in the experimental version, otherwise the game should allow you to progress through the game normally (including with mods if you're using the ZAD method instead of zip_mods).

Yes I am indeed, that explains it, but when I use ZAD files in the ZAD folder, the game can't save right? and therefore not progress? and is multiplayer still possible with the ZAD method?
Thanks! and thanks in forward!

mightymick wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 7:10 pm Yes I am indeed, that explains it, but when I use ZAD files in the ZAD folder, the game can't save right? and therefore not progress? and is multiplayer still possible with the ZAD method?

It should still save but you'll still get the annoying modified data popup which is a leftover from vanilla.

Modded multiplayer is possible but normally with mods it gets locked out which was another frustrating thing the vanilla game did, so you'll need a mod that gets rid of those setbacks, e.g. my Overhaul (which admittedly isn't suited for MP), or Trent's Cheat UI Mod.