i76render

Greg Kennedy, 2022

Convert Interstate '76 maps to POV-Ray scenes

About

This is a script for rendering 3d previews of Interstate '76 maps. It accepts a map definition file (.MSN, .CBT, .RAC, .CF2 etc) and produces a set of output files containing a stylized preview of the terrain layout:

• a POV-Ray script with the map centered in the view. The .pov rotates 360 degrees in the view and can be animated using the usual clock variable
• a 16-bit grayscale heightmap of the terrain
• (maybe) a 16-bit grayscale heightmap indicating the paved road surface
• (maybe) a 16-bit grayscale heightmap indicating the dirt road surface

Call the main.pl script and pass it the map file. Once the output files are produced, you can use POV-Ray to render the outputs. For example:

Render one frame:

povray37 -W1920 -H1080 +A +Q11 M01.MSN.pov

Render an animation (600 frames at 60fps):

povray37 -W1920 -H1080 +A +Q11 +KFF600 +KC -D M01.MSN.pov
ffmpeg -r 60 -i $ARGV[0]%03d.png -crf 0 $ARGV[0].mp4

Renders

I have used this script to render previews for the 15 multiplayer maps included with Interstate '76, as well as the 39 additional maps added by the Nitro Pack expansion. You may view them on Youtube by clicking a thumbnail here:

Original Maps

Expansion Maps

Resources

This project would not have been possible without the reverse engineering efforts of some brave souls who posted their work before me. Specifically, "That Tony" produced a couple of invaluable blog posts with information about the formats:

• http://hackingonspace.blogspot.com/2016/08/even-more-i76-levels-and-heightmaps.html
• http://hackingonspace.blogspot.com/2016/08/those-i76-level-heightmaps-in-3d.html

I also found the Asset Bible extremely useful for converting in-game object names to dimensions and object type.

• https://interstate76.com/resources/diver/index.html