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My History
by TermKilla
I first bought the game in late 1998 all thanks to PC Zone which I got and it had a Demo CD with Motorhead on it, played it liked it went out and bought it, played it for a while until I could easily beat the CPU opponents, then I put it away and play other games. Come April 1999 I get myself a PII 233 MHz computer all of my own, sweet! So I begin to browse the internet and come across 3dfiles.com which has a patch for Motorhead, so I start to download the 13Mb file on my trusty 33.6k modem. After I install it I fire up the game and check out these ghosts by Drunk_Driver (apparently one of the best MH drivers out there, wish I took that seriously at the time!) what followed in the next 2 hours was my ego taking a MASSIVE battering, never had I been so shell shocked, the times he got where at the time totally beyond my comprehension, after attempting to beat one of his ghost’s for about 1 solid hour I just gave up, promising 'never to play this f*****g game ever again' (how many times I would say that to myself I can only guess).
Now it is July 1999 and I have upgraded my system to 128Mb and added a Voodoo2! So I again install MH on my system, and start to watch DD’s ghosts, hours where spent just watching, trying to learn how he took the corners, where he braked, what gear he was in. Still I was no where near his times although I was getting quicker, now I decide to take the plunge and race online.
My first stop was Mplayer, first I had to think of a name to sign up for, this took me a while, trying to think of a name so as to sound cool was very difficult eventually I decided I did not want a name because it sounded ‘cool’ but something I could relate to, and that was when Terminal_Killa was born. So now I was in the lobby of Mplayer, I checked out a couple of rooms which where all ‘demo’ apart from one room which was for retail drivers. I entered the room, and from what I can remember these where the names I saw: Dantackle1, Mikko, Xcopy-TTC, Dou-Girl and some others I cannot remember (hey it was almost 2 years ago!), so I joined the room and waited for them to finish their race, next track was Gold R, great never really raced that one but never mind, I can think of several words to sum up my race but I will not say them. After about 2 laps I was being lapped by both Dantackle1 and Mikko, I pulled off the track and hit F4 to Dantackle1 (who was in the lead at that time) all I can remember thinking was “F*****g Hell” I watched for about another 2 laps and quit with my tail between my legs. I spent the next couple of day deciding if had what it took to become even half decent at this game.
After two day I decided to log back on and see what I could do, here is where I had my first troubles, I saw a lot of people with TTC beside their names, I had no idea what this stood for but that was to cause some trouble. First room I went into I was in for no longer than 10 seconds before I was booted because I was ‘AOD’, this was bloody annoying, I went in again this time I got some sort of half story saying ‘I’ was someone called ‘AOD’ of course I had no bloody idea what the hell they where on about and told them I was not AOD but Terminal_Killa, basically what had happened is that some guy called AOD (Angel of Death) had caused some trouble for TTC (which I later found out to mean The Terminal Clan) and they thought I was him, after about 1 month of this I finally convinced (I gave them my IP address AND bought a microphone so they could hear my voice!!!!) them that I was not AOD and was able to join TTC. However I had to change my name to make sure I could fit TTC on the end, ugh took me long enough to think of my original name, ideas where tossed around finally (I cannot remember who) TermKilla was said, sounded good to me, that was when TermKilla came of age.
What I now find is that to be good at MH I had to make some ‘adjustments’ to my settings, first off was to make sure Track Detail was set to ‘medium’ (this REALLY helps on RuhrStadt) and to make my resolution the lowest setting. Also I found out about ‘wall sliding’ something which was to be very difficult for me at the start. So now I am browsing the net searching for MH related stuff when I come across 'Barrysworld Motorhead Page', this IMHO is(was) one of the best sites ever for MH related stuff, run by none other than DD himself, I went straight to the ghost section and downloaded as many ghost’s as I could. Now starts the time of my ‘Insomnia’.
Now I start watching ghosts like crazy, trying to figure out how to drive the tracks. Night after night was spent in front of my computer screen playing MH, 8, 9,10,11,12 hours I spend every day just racing trying to understand how to race. Most of my team mates where in the US so I stay up till 4,5 or 6am in the morning racing MH, trying to catch up to AJ, Python, Speed, Whocares and Xcopy. Still I am not anywhere near good but I keep trying. I hear that we have entered a Team League competition called TSL4, I was not looking forward to that much as I was no where near anything like competitive. TSL4 started on 19991003 there where 8 teams involved: Motorhead Maniacs, Turbo Tigers, Speed Junkies, Team FOX, The Terminal Clan, Team KMA, GrovGasarna (Winners of TSL4, and with guys like Mikko, Moto Boi it was awesome racing them!) and Team LV. I did not too well in my first season I was completely overwhelmed by most other drivers, only as the end came was I starting to get better times and grabbed my first ever win on RedRock against Turbo Tigers! TSL4 ended on 19991114. My stats where as follows: Races - 31 / Points - 134 / Avg.Points - 4.32 - Number of Wins - 1 / Fastest Laps - 3 Computer - PII233Mhz, 128Mb PC66, Voodoo2 SLI, MS FF Wheel/Pedals.
Ok so now I becoming half decent at MH, my times slowly start to drop, I upgrade to my system which gave me my best for MH which was a Celeron 466 MHz, and a Voodoo2 SLI with MS Wheel and Pedals for control. Still I am up for 18-48 hours with little sleep in between, a usual day would be (if I went to sleep) wake up, knock mouse to interrupt screen saver, boot up MH, go to bathroom wash face, brush teeth, shower (if I had time, if not just a quick splash) then on the bog, into bedroom and get changed, play MH for a bit, downstairs then realise I am 15 min late for school (AGAIN!), grab something to eat and outta the door. Back home, upstairs to computer boot up MH play for 2 or 3 hours, then downstairs to eat, back up and play MH for rest of the night, depending who was on I might get to bed before 5am, if not then sod sleep stay up and day goes on. Homework was done somewhere in between. Apparently this in not good for you ... oh well.
So now it is December and I am still playing MH like crazy, my times somehow are coming down! Also TSL5 will be starting in the New Year and TTC have entered two teams into it! The car to use is the Serpent, my times are now becoming faster and faster, still I practise without much sleep or thought to anything but MH. Come the 20000116 TSL5 begins, over the next 3 months I race with some conviction but not enough thought, to bothered about lap times and trying to push myself too far. Out of all the races I have raced one stands out, that race was in TSL5, it was our second to last race against Team FOX, we had just been demolished by the Jodda inspired SJ’s and I was not feeling too well (had some sort of bug) my internet was up and down, on top of that I had to race at 5am (so I actually forced myself to sleep the previous night, although I could only muster 3 or so hours and was up from about 6am that day), worst of all when we came to race we could only get 3 drivers, myself, AJ and Speed, FOX decided to race 4 on 3 (something which they where quite entitled to do) my first thought was “that’s it we’ve lost”, never have I been so wrong. Over the next hour or so I(we) produced an absolutely first class performance, first race I remember being to f****d up with some bug I forgot what track I was racing until about half way through when I realised I was leading on Atlantika! Next up was Gold and I won that one, then GoldR (5th), Neo (1st), NeoR (1st), Okkun (2nd), OkkunR (2nd), Oly (1st) and Red (1st, willing AJ to finish ahead of Kan_1), and we did it beating Team FOX 5-4. TSL5 ended on the 20000327, the following teams competed in TSL5: Dutch Force, Team FOX, GrovGasarna, Team KMA, Midnight Order, Speed Junkies (Winners with the star of the team Jodda leading the way), The Terminal Clan, The Terminal Clan 2, Team Whoop Ass, Turbo Tigers. My stats where: Races - 58 / Points - 476 / Avg.Points - 8.20 / Number of 1st places - 22 / Fastest Laps - 40, Computer - Celeron 466Mhz, 128Mb PC66, Voodoo2 SLI, MS FF Wheel/Pedals.
Ok so now I am STILL practising long and hard slowly my times get lower still, now some people start to recognise me as fast, still I am not sleeping. Now I make my assault on mike-bike’s amazing All Car ranking points total of 3,753! I remember when I broke his total, it was an assault on Ruhr with the Venom, I needed to get below 3:02 on Ruhr and as my best ever was 3:04 it was not going to be easy, but I did it with a super 2:59:19! I was over the moon at finally accomplishing what I had wanted to do, which was to be good at this game and earn the respect of others (I hope!).
I now race in ESL1&2 which was a Driver league which was raced over 10laps instead of the normal 5 which I found thoroughly enjoyable. I did not do too well finishing 5th and 7th respectively. Still trying to beat myself I practise now with less emphasis on lap time but more on consistency, slowly I start to become consistent, time does not fly by as we wait for news on TSL6. I find out that TTC may not compete so I wonder what to do, this is where I join my current team of The Renegades, Player (ex-TTC) asked me to join a while ago but I wait for about a month until I realise that TTC is not going to race so I join [TR].
Finally TSL6 starts on the 20001106 I am feeling good with myself and my team. Well everything went well with only 1 loss (against GG) we won TSL6, I came first in the Drivers Championship (just an added bonus) overall I was very pleased with my team’s performance, my own could have been a little better but then I don’t think I will always be 100% satisfied with myself. Teams that where in TSL6: Team Euro, GrovGasarna, The Turbo Tigers, The Speed Junkie’s, Team USA, Team Whoop Ass, Team KMA, The Renegades (Winners, finally I was able to win something online! Thx to me team mates for a sterling job). My stats where: Races - 89 / Points - 954 / Avg.Points - 10.72 / First Places - 64 / Fastest Laps - 69. TSL6 finished on 22/04/2001 (yes I know 5 bloody months!!), Computer - Celeron 466/Dual PIII 733 MHz, 128Mb PC66/512Mb PC133, Voodoo2 SLI/GeForce2MX, MS FF Wheel/Pedals.
So now …. Well know I am practising more or less 0 hours a day, I have a total of 59 lap time world records (whoopie do!), I am ranked Number 1 in All Cars, Serpent, Venom and (if Prince updates his site
) Division 1, basically more or less any ghost you download will be mine. So what now for Term, nothing for the time being I still cannot sleep at all well so I'll try to sort that out first and maybe, just maybe if TSL7 happens you all might see me there (oh how I can hear the screams of delight ).Ok now for a rant:
I am not nor have ever said I am the Greatest, the best or even fast, I simply race MH if I get good lap/race times then I get good times, I care little for praise, my ego DOES NOT need feeding. People who *I* think have influenced MH (and me) in one way or another are the following (no particular order):
Shiv”, Drunk_Driver, Mikko, Motocycle Boi, Trix, mike-bike, Sinister, Quaider, Tiny Tim, Jodda,CoDa, ClubTE, Viper, Groove, LOPS, Dantackle1, Merc, Vertigo1, Pro, Pino, Spart, -=CoS=- and many, many others, you know who you are
.Notice my name IS NOT there, all I have done is take MH to the next step in terms of lap/total times, also I do not write this so that people will say “oh no Term but U are soooo good, U are the best”, fuck off!. Also I do not care who I race, be they a total newbie or one of the oldies where all here for the same reason... to race MH. Over time I have improved as a Driver to a level where I feel able to explain what it takes to become decent at this game, I see too many people interested in what lap time I get and not what total time I get? Lap times do not win races nor do they get extra points, again just another ego feed I could do without. This game does not ‘require’ massive amounts of fps, there are (as far as I know) only 2 tracks that really benefit with more than 230fps (hey if I can get 250 with my Celeron 466 and measly Voodoo2 SLI I am sure most of U now can get that) they are RedRock and RedRock R, although I have run Red with 400fps and I am actually slower than with 260-270fps. When I first found out about how FPS can help you all I looked at was that the top drivers all had (supposedly) fast systems, however they where few and far between, guys like Tiny Tim, Jodda, Prince, Moto Boi, etc did not have the ‘best’ systems yet where able to compete with guys who had much better systems, surely not, that would mean MH requires some degree of skill. a
Cheating, I have never nor will ever cheat or use shortcuts in MH, some drivers have done and that is fine, EVERY SINGLE one of my times is TOTALLY achievable with only three things: Practise, luck and a bit of skill. I have never used ANY crack or messed around with MH files, nor is the Euro version any FASTER than any other version *sigh*.
One of the funnier sides of Motorhead was when Mplayer was around, now once I got a so called 'name' for myself it was fun going into a full room of 12 people then 30 seconds later the room had one person in it ... ME!!! Now I always thought that it must have been dinner time or something
.Well as of 20030101 it looks as thought I'm still racing Motorhead! Participating in the Motorhead Party League (MPL), even managing to get somewhere near my best times after a 6 month absence. Current specs for my computer are a little better now
. STILL not sleeping well, but hey I'm alive and kicking so that'll do for me 
).So why do I still continue to race Motorhead? May seem strange but its kinda part of me now, one of my regular routines. This may sound somewhat 'sad' or 'pathetic' but for those few minutes and hours racing Motorhead, I kinda forget about things, what’s going on in the world, my situation good or bad, there is nothing .. For me anyway that comes close to perfecting something and I can see the light now, I figure I'll give one last try see what I can do and then.... well like it's said 'all good things come to an end', I don't mean to put a dampner on things just, it's like doing something that is bad for you that makes you feel good, I know I need to quit just don't know how.
For those still trying to perfect this damn game, don't give up a lot of hard work and effort is required to get good at anything in life and this really applies to Motorhead, keep practicing and you'll get there.
Simon Rothwell a.k.a. TermKilla