Custom Track Tutorial/Minimap

Minimap Creation
Programs: Subtutorials:
 * Wiimm's SZS Tools by Wiimm
 * mkdd track editor by Yoshi2
 * Converting Images

Minimaps are less subjective than the previous steps, so stricter advice can be gen.
 * Each minimap image has the dimensions of 128px in length, 256px in height
 * Course minimaps are in grayscale, while battle minimaps are colored. However, a course can load a colored minimap.
 * Colored minimaps for courses are often difficult to see (defeating their purpose), and whenever implemented so far, they have looked plain bad. Don't color your course minimap.
 * The transparency of the minimap is applied by the game; all minimap image pixels are either fully opaque or transparent. Basically, use the CMPR image format.
 * Cannons and notable areas of offroad (such as the pit in Dry Dry Desert) are usually indicated in gray.

 Creating a mimimap image in Blender
 * 1) Trace over the road collision mesh/object with a Nurbs curve.
 * 2) Solidify the curve by going to the “Modifier” section and adding a “Solidify” modifier. The thickness of the Solidify modifier will determine how thick the outline will be.
 * 3) The outline is a faux outline in which the solidified curve is duplicated, and further thickened and extruded less.

 Creating a minimap image using the mkdd track editor 
 * 1) Load the .bco into the course editor, and make everything invisible. If only one road collision flag it used, highlight it. Take a screenshot of the main workspace.
 * 2) In an editing software, get rid of all the non-road pixels, and make the resulting image white.
 * 3) Shrink the image to fit into a 128x256 image. Apply a 1-3 px solid colored black outline.

Changing game Minimap positions
 * 1) In the mkdd track editor, Minimap -> Load Minimap Image, also, load the .bco
 * 2) Move the corners so that the .bco/.bmd and the image line up
 * 3) Minimap -> Save data to JSON. This will create a file that can be shared to others who want to play the course.
 * 4) Minimap -> Save data to .dol. Then, choose the .dol that will affect your gameplay. This will edit the actual .dol so that the minimap works in-game.