1972 Volkswagen Bus
An original scratch-built car by Mr_Sparkle of Pinnacle Design

NOTICE - This vehicle MUST be distributed with this readme file and the original vehicle AR file intact. This vehicle MAY be posted on any website as long as proper credit is given to me. This vehicle MAY NOT be tweaked, repainted, or modified in any way without my consent. Violation of any of these guidelines will result in action against the offending people and/or website(s).

INSTALLATION

Place "car_vwbus.ar" in your MM2 directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Midtown Madness 2)

TOOLS USED

Zanoza Z-Modeler 1.0
Paint Shop Pro 6.0
Adobe Photoshop 5.5
GoldWave 4.24
WinZip 8.0
Windows Notepad

WHAT DOES IT HAVE?

Scratch-built model: Yes
Breakables: Six (Both wing mirrors, both bumpers, license plate, front VW emblem)
New tuning: Yes
New sounds: Modified from default Beetle - idle sound was an unused file extracted from the audio core
Selection sound: Yes
Damage Textures: Yes
Software rendering: Yes
Interior: No
3D Wheels: Yes
Dashboard: No

BASIC DESCRIPTION

My fourth scratch-built project. I found good pictures of the vehicle on eBay Motors, and then ended up hand-drawing most of the textures myself. The Bus that I created is the newer "Type 2" design, which began production in the mid-1960's. The Type 2 bus category can be further divided into Type "2A" and Type "2B". This is a Type 2B bus, signified by the high-set rectangular turn signals which flank the front vent.

FOOTNOTES

- The rear wheels have two minor problems. First, they sink into the inner surface of the wheelwell. However, this is not noticeable unless you are rotating the camera around below the lower edge of the bus. Also, the rear wheels will occasionally "pop" through the sides of the bus during hard cornering. This was unfixable without modifying the suspension to be very stiff, which wouldn't have been accurate. Neither of these problems affect the performance or playability of the bus.

- The "Beater" texture is supposed to be fun, it's full of rust spots, repaired panels, primer, and even a broken window which has been hastily covered with plywood to keep out the weather. And check out the weathered old-school graffiti!

- The "Kelly Green" texture was inspired by the short-lived TV show "The Lone Gunmen". They drove a Volkswagen bus very similar to the one I have created, and I have replicated the paint color as accurately as possible. Even the license plate features the same tag number as the bus on the show.

- Don't complain about the bus being slow and about it losing speed on hills. These vehicles were made tough, but they were hideously underpowered. I have set the top speed at roughly 105 MPH, and 0-60 takes about 10 seconds. Believe me, these figures are actually fairly generous!

SPECIAL THANKS

Oleg - Thanks for making Z-Modeler available to amateur modelers such as myself.
Rippance and TEK_Xacto - Thanks for taking time to help me with beta testing!
Bonfire - For locking the AR file and putting up with a bit of hassle in the process ;-)
Qwerty_86 - For suggesting the "Lone Gunmen" themed texture and also for the cool license plate textures.
TEK_Xacto - For providing the picture used as the hubcap texture.
The late John Muir and Volks.net - For the neat selection sound.
The community - For your continued support, encouragement, help, and constructive criticism

A Pinnacle Design Creation
pinnacledesign@hotmail.com
http://pinnacle.makes.it