TrackMania Nations ESWC

This page details pre-release information and/or media for TrackMania Nations ESWC.

Trailers#

Teaser Trailer#

A short teaser trailer was published for download sometime before the game's release. This video can actually be seen in some shots for the final trailer on the in-game display panels.

Teser Trailer differences#

Advertisement screen textures are replaced with the TrackMania Nations logo in some shots, presumably for trailer purposes.
At around 0:13, there are visible platform walls on the right, using the early "blue" texture.
At around 0:22, on the left video, a weird block can be seen on the right. Same block can be spotted later on at 0:27 on the left.
Flags are using early textures, and sometimes they are missing from the flagpoles entirely in some shots.

Final Trailer#

Watch on YouTube

The second, and final trailer that was published 3 days before the game's launch. This trailer is almost identical to the in-game intro video, but in much higher quality and a slightly different ending title card, with the words "fight for the first place" appearing at the end. This version has minor differences from the final game, like the big screen missing from one side of the Stadium.

The video was available to download from the game website and other sources. ¹ ²

Screenshots#

The game has several screenshots that were published throughout the game's development. We can categorize these into two distinct eras.

The Early Era, where the vehicle, blocks and overall mood of the environment are way different from the final game.
The Modern Era, where the game much more resembles the final product, but still has several differences.

Early Era#

Not much is known about this stage of development. It has a different, more darker art direction with completely different models. It was most likely developed around mid to late 2005.

These screenshots come from various news publications³ and other sources.

These screenshots come from the official TrackMania Nations website from December 2005.⁴ Most of them were ripped from the SWF file used to show an animated gallery of the game's screenshots.

Early Era differences#

Overall darker mood.
Completely different vehicle model and unique car skins.
On one screenshot, the vehicle seems to be using BayCar's shadow caster model.
Different road models.
Different arch-shaped checkpoint(?) model.
Different grass stripe pattern.
An opening in the Stadium to drive through.
No advertisement panels on Stadium.
No spotlights on the Stadium roof.

Modern Era#

The art direction has been fully established and the game much more resembles what we got on release. The shift in direction was most likely been done in early January 2006.

There are many similar screenshots released for news outlets weeks before the game's release. Here is a condensed gallery of the most interesting screenshots with notable differences.

On the current official website for the game⁵, there is this image at the bottom of the page, which is a screenshot of Stadium in much earlier development state. There are no flags on the flagpoles, no big screen between them, different grass pattern and all advertisements are using the same texture.

Modern Era differences#

Missing screen on one side of the Stadium.
Platform loop blocks using a different "blue" texture and models.
The 3-pillar obstacle block has much shorter pillars.
Flags using early textures
The vehicle wheel rim texture is missing ambient occlusion.
Glass texture for the spectator block is slightly different from the final version.
Sky color is slightly different from the final version.