Once you’re done in ModWork and you’re happy with your changes, it’s time to save your texture files as a proper mod.
- Create a
.zip file of your ModWork directory and place it in Trackmania\Skins\Stadium\Mod - create the folder if you don’t have it yet.
- Ensure the
.zip contains this structure: \Image\imagetexturefiles.dds.
Because the player will need to download the mod on the fly, you need to upload it to a commonly accessible place.
Generally, you can host your mod anywhere you want as long as it’s a direct link. Here are the most common choices:
- ManiaCDN: This is a free hosting service for the Trackmania community. All uploads are manually approved, so your mod might not be available immediately. But it’s a cool service, especially since it’s free and supported by the community.
- ManiaPark: This is a free mod hosting and sharing service run by the TMX crew. Automatically provides locator files and a public URL to use.
- DashMap: DashMap is a public community-hosted CDN to be used exclusively for assets used in maps for Trackmania/Shootmania games. It is intended as a modern alternative to ManiaCDN.
- Github: Typically Github and other git hosts are meant for storing code and other technical assets, but you can also host generic files on there. Just make sure you can get a direct link to the file that’s publicly accessible.
- Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud storage providers: These mostly work fine, but some of them might limit downloads after a certain number of accesses. If your mod gets used in a competition and only the first 1000 players are able to download it, that might be a problem.
Discord is changing how all file upload links work, making them require additional parameters and essentially turning them into temporary links. We therefore strongly advise against using Discord file uploads for mods, signs, and any other embedded content in your maps.
There’s two ways to go about this. If you don’t know which one you need, the direct link approach is probably fine.
Before you get started, make sure your link is really pointing at the .zip file.
- Copy the direct link to your mod you uploaded earlier.
- Hold CTRL when opening your map in Trackmania and paste the link in the URL input field.
- Save your map.
- Create a new text file and paste the direct link to your mod into it.
- Save it as
YOURMODNAME.zip.loc and place it in Trackmania\Skins\Stadium\Mod.
- Hold CTRL when opening your map in Trackmania and point to the mod you placed in
Trackmania\Skins\Stadium\Mod. It should already be in the little green day/sunset/night window in Trackmania as an easy pick.
- Save your map.