Happy 10th anniversary to TM2 Canyon!!!
This track is a massive update to "
District 25", the track released in 2013, built by 25 mappers from the Canyon community.
The original map was over 73000c display cost. Many players at the time couldn't play it due to graphics performance issues. In addition, the original map had some reuses which confused some players. As a result, sometimes checkpoints were missed and the map couldn't be completed.
In early 2017, eyebo set about trying to reduce the display cost by removing every auto-generated pillar in the map. This helped the display cost, but he went even further by removing every sign and light block, and then began systematically replacing them with arrow items that doubled as direction signs and lighting. These sign+light combo items (made especially for this map by xrayjay) also made it possible to give each tower its own color theme. All of these changes brought the display cost down to around 53000c.
In addition, small route changes were made to help with wayfinding. Some reuses were changed (or removed) to hopefully prevent players from missing checkpoints like they sometimes did in the original.
To make the new version truly feel like a new map, eyebo asked the creator of one of the original towers, Alteran, if he would be okay with his tower being replaced. Alteran agreed to have it replaced. But what to add in place of Alteran's tower?
GanjaRider had always expressed interest in these big track projects. So in 2017 eyebo approached GR with the idea of creating a new tower for the map. He accepted, built a part, and it was immediately integrated into the layout. He was given a little more space to build, which enabled the creation of a speedier tower. GR also did all the work of setting up the proper speeds going into and out of his tower. His new part is a real pleasure to drive and fits perfectly into the map.
In mid 2017 we received the MP4 update which optimized the platform blocks and added clips to them. This reduced the display cost further. The original map went from 73000c down to 57736c, while the reduced display cost version dipped under 40000c.
Some additional updates and beta testing were done to the map in 2018, thanks to Larentz and others, and then the map sat idle for several years.
Enter 2021. Canyon is having its 10th anniversary, and eyebo is preparing a titlepack including maps from the 10 year history of Canyon. Naturally he wants to include District 25, but not the original (due to the aforementioned issues). So this was the perfect opportunity to give one last push to complete all the little details on the map and release it.
Plantathon did a drive-through of one of the last versions of the map while streaming on Discord, which allowed eyebo to see small problem areas of the map from a different viewpoint. So thanks to Plantathon for testing.
chuckie drove the incredible author time on the original District 25, and was willing to drive it on this one. Unfortunately eyebo ran out of time and wanted to get the map posted on the anniversary. So eyebo drove the author time himself this time.
Mandark was also willing to update his Intro from the original. But again, time ran out, so eyebo did some small tweaks to the original Intro and kept it.
Thanks to everyone who helped on this reloaded version! But especially thanks to GR for the new tower, and to xrayjay who made these combo arrow+light items specifically for this map.
In 2019, GR. asked if he might release his tower on its own. At the time it looked like the reloaded version may never see the light of day. So if you'd like to try the standalone version of his tower, check it out here: