Enduro Racer...

[FedePede04]

Hi all
With the priceless help from Maartau i now have the full source code to Enduro Racer.
the last week i been using to learn the code, and have starting on optimize the code, but i will have a long way to go, the code is not optimize for speed in any way.

my question is should i replace the old menu system and adding a new one more the one in (Arcade) game .
(i am self in favor of this)
Or Keep the old one.
what do you guys think?

[FedePede04]

Btw here is the new title picture.

Enduro Racer.png

[AtariZoll]

Hi all
my question is should i replace the old menu system and adding a new one more the one in (Arcade) game .
(i am self in favor of this)
Or Keep the old one.
what do you guys think?

Great news. I think that best is to go step by step. First the speed, and menu system can come later.

[FedePede04]

i am also thinking making it an STE version, replacing the sound FX with samples
an replacing the heavy graphic thing with blitter routines, if i can find out how to use the blitter

[AtariZoll]

Blitter is very useful for games. As with everything start is hard, but later is goes faster.

I'm working on sprite draw demo/test program, which will be little different than what is already done. 80x80 px sprites for start. Only blitter aided draw for start. There will be settings for sprite count, drawing method, etc. And fps indicator, so may see speed differences. Later may come other draw methods. It should be modular for that purpose. Had not much time and energy for it lately, and still struggle with some problematic games.
But I plan to publish all sources for it, especially the src. of sprite draw code.

[FedePede04]

i only had a STfm back in the days, so i never tried to code for the blitter, but it should be fun to see if i can get it to work.

i also know how it is to lack energy to code,
but you have also been very busy modifier alot Atari games the last couple of years, so no wonder if you start to go cold.
but i am look forward to see what do fiddling with


...

2 thing that take time in the program,

all text on game screen is strings being printed up, instead of a bitmap.

and clear game screen, is a 2 part routine the first clear the sky and the next clear the ground .

the loops clear a line and then dbra to the loop the number of lines.
so a blitter clear screen should give a good advantage.

--------------------------
he also used a lot of mulu $a0, (screenwidth) i have replaced those with a Y multiply-list

in the print road routine was there two of these functions

Code: Select all

			swap	d3
			swap	d4
			swap	d5
			swap	d6

			move.w	d3,(a1)+
			move.w	d4,(a1)+
			move.w	d5,(a1)+
			move.w	d6,(a1)+

			swap	d3
			swap	d4
			swap	d5
			swap	d6

			move.w	d3,(a1)+
			move.w	d4,(a1)+
			move.w	d5,(a1)+
			move.w	d6,(a1)+

I have replace them with these two

Code: Select all

			Movem.w	D3-D6,8(A1)

			swap	d3
			swap	d4
			swap	d5
			swap	d6

			Movem.w	D3-D6,(A1)
			Lea		16(A1),A1

[Maartau]

[smilie=greencolorz4_pdt_01.gif]

- It's one of my favorite game -

[FedePede04]

[smilie=greencolorz4_pdt_01.gif]

- It's one of my favorite game -

You are the Man
again many thx for the source code....

[AtariZoll]

I got STE somewhere around 2007. Did not even see one in old, active Atari days. But as may see, it is now popular for new releases, or improvements of old games.
Text as ASCII takes much less RAM than bitmap based. And printing ASCII must be not slow.
Considering clearing screen: you can do it very fast with CPU, almost as fast as with blitter:

Code: Select all

 moveq #0,d0
 moveq #0,d1
*etc - up to d6

 move.l  d0,a0
*etc, up to a5

  lea  screenend,a6
  move.w  #count,d7
loop  movem.l d0-d6/a0-a5,-(a6)
  movem.l d0-d6/a0-a5,-(a6)
* enroll some 16 times ...
  dbf d7,loop
* add here similar for the rest when less bytes left than in 1 cycle of main loop    

Road draw can be much faster with blitter, indeed.

[Hazzardus]

This has to be my favorite Arcade game of all time. When I used to play it, the handlebars used to give you a nasty electric shock if you ever touched the metal bits in the middle when I used to play it in Barcelona as a kid lol. Never thought the ST port was that good to be honest. Compared to the Super-Hangon Port, I always though it was lacking.

Good luck at making it better!

[FedePede04]

I got STE somewhere around 2007. Did not even see one in old, active Atari days. But as may see, it is now popular for new releases, or improvements of old games.
Text as ASCII takes much less RAM than bitmap based. And printing ASCII must be not slow.
Considering clearing screen: you can do it very fast with CPU, almost as fast as with blitter:

Code: Select all

 moveq #0,d0
 moveq #0,d1
*etc - up to d6

 move.l  d0,a0
*etc, up to a5

  lea  screenend,a6
  move.w  #count,d7
loop  movem.l d0-d6/a0-a5,-(a6)
  movem.l d0-d6/a0-a5,-(a6)
* enroll some 16 times ...
  dbf d7,loop
* add here similar for the rest when less bytes left than in 1 cycle of main loop    

Road draw can be much faster with blitter, indeed.

2007 that was late, but was the ST your first 68000 computer?

i bought my new STe because i missed to code on the 68000. i remembered it to be so great to code on, compared to the PC.

it is something like about they use,
The problem is that the horizon is not at the same line it's moving, so it is only one line it is clear at the time, so you end up using 200 dbf, I don't recall the clk it takes, but it is not optimal

the problem with letting the blitter draw the road, is the road color number is changing( maybe its not a problem, i am guessing here), so it's not always .eg color 1, but i will see if i can find out there graphic format, and if it can be change, also many of the color are dark and doll compare to the arcade.

[FedePede04]

This has to be my favorite Arcade game of all time. When I used to play it, the handlebars used to give you a nasty electric shock if you ever touched the metal bits in the middle when I used to play it in Barcelona as a kid lol. Never thought the ST port was that good to be honest. Compared to the Super-Hangon Port, I always though it was lacking.

Good luck at making it better!

Thx

[Hazzardus]

This has to be my favorite Arcade game of all time. When I used to play it, the handlebars used to give you a nasty electric shock if you ever touched the metal bits in the middle when I used to play it in Barcelona as a kid lol. Never thought the ST port was that good to be honest. Compared to the Super-Hangon Port, I always though it was lacking.

Good luck at making it better!

Thx

Good Luck! if anyone can do it, you can.

[AtariZoll]

The problem is that the horizon is not at the same line it's moving, so it is only one line it is clear at the time, so you end up using 200 dbf, I don't recall the clk it takes, but it is not optimal
the problem with letting the blitter draw the road, is the road color number is changing( maybe its not a problem, i am guessing here), so it's not always .eg color 1, but i will see if i can find out there graphic format, and if it can be change, also many of the color are dark and doll compare to the arcade.

That moving horizon (gradient) was problem with Pole Position too here. Don't know is fixed now completely. In any case it needs timer B to be triggered accurately. Possible at some smaller CPU time cost.
Color number is not relevant for blitter. Maybe no need to change graphic self, just palette at specific level, section ?

[FedePede04]

no it was not what i meant it was the array size between the sky and the ground that change, but i noticed that they never have done it, i have add it to the program, it i think that it look a lot better, will upload within the next hour.


but later on i will also add horizon gradient

[FedePede04]

video of work in progress.
the new tittle screen is not finish it is only part of the picture.

if you look and the original version the left one, you can see the horizon i not moving, it is fixed it the right window, don't know if one can see or get the feeling, but it feels better playing it.

[Hazzardus]

video of work in progress.
the new tittle screen is not finish it is only part of the picture.

if you look and the original version the left one, you can see the horizon i not moving, it is fixed it the right window, don't know if one can see or get the feeling, but it feels better playing it.

I see what you mean, even though it is slight, it adds a hell of a lot more to the port.

Edit: you have the source code. Do you have all the graphic resources too? How were the sprites stored, and in what format? I always thought the graphics were really off, compared to other Sega Arcade ports like Super Hang-On, Space Harrier and Golden Axe. This port reminds me of Arcade Double Dragon Vs ST/Amiga Double Dragon. At least DD2 looked close to the arcade. With this game it looks like they didn't get access to anything apart from a rented arcade cab, and couldn't (or didn't have the time) to get the original graphics to use as a starting point.

The colours are all off in this port too, I know it's a 16 colour palette, but it looks nothing like the arcade. It looks more like Buggy Boy than Enduro Racer.

Would it be possible to replace the sprites? I have an Ultimate Ripper on my STFM, so could grab them and edit them if it's even possible to replace them? even using the same palette, I'm sure I could do better than this port.

[FedePede04]

the hill is way to small compared to the arcade version, but it still bring a little, i think it will be hard to do anything about it.

i do have the graphic files to, it is some custom format not have a change to look at it yet, first i have to figure out this program, but it is coming alone, i don't think the graphic is the worst, but it do look like the spectrum add a couple of extra color to it.

but the palette is way out, i have play around a little with it, and it can be much better,
one of the problems is that the road in not always the same color position. if one should change it to the better, you need to have it into a drawing program and change the colors position on some of the graphic.

when i have the time, and figure out the format, I will add and import/export function to ST-Paint.

[TheNameOfTheGame]

Can you put a link to the video? My browser is not showing the embedded video.

[FedePede04]

sorry i did not know, that it was not showed on all browser, so here you are
https://youtu.be/NqtacSWsHrA

[MM41]

Nice idea to rework this game , awesome !

[mlynn1974]

What an excellent idea. I played the Spectrum version of Enduro Racer for ages but not the Atari ST version.
The rewrite looks as if you are making excellent progress and I can't wait to play it.
Does the timer count down correctly on faster machines or if the frame rate increases? I seem to remember Turbo Outrun (maybe on the Amiga) not syncing with the vertical blank which caused problems on faster machines.

The music was very similar on the ST and Spectrum by David Whittaker.

[FedePede04]

Nice idea to rework this game , awesome !

thx

What an excellent idea. I played the Spectrum version of Enduro Racer for ages but not the Atari ST version.
The rewrite looks as if you are making excellent progress and I can't wait to play it.
Does the timer count down correctly on faster machines or if the frame rate increases? I seem to remember Turbo Outrun (maybe on the Amiga) not syncing with the vertical blank which caused problems on faster machines.

The music was very similar on the ST and Spectrum by David Whittaker.

Thx.
it does use vsync, but if you speed the emulator up the game will run faster. i think it is because the game are using more then one fps to generated the frame, so it is maybe sync (don't know) to every 2-3-4 fps, so when speeding the emulator up, it will maybe starting sync to ever fps, and that will make it faster.

there will goes some time before i am done, but i hope, that i have it finish before Christmas

[AtariZoll]

no it was not what i meant it was the array size between the sky and the ground that change, but i noticed that they never have done it, i have add it to the program, it i think that it look a lot better, will upload within the next hour.
but later on i will also add horizon gradient

Ah, I see it now - in video I thought that there is some palette color change involved, as it is in many games.
And I see, you will be quite busy for some months

[Ragstaff]

I'm curious, have the small changes such as replacing lots of movew's with Movem.w had much impact on performance? It's hard to tell in the youtube video.

Regarding colours and palette, I'm sure you have seen the thread by Anima on Ghouls n Ghosts, including his posts about palette reduction already but for the record this might be a direction to follow if you could get some higher quality, original graphics from the arcade version: http://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 9&start=96

Speaking of the arcade version, it looks like the horizon doesn't move up and down in that either. Perhaps that's why it was added, then removed from the ST port.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5dus3aDQ84