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ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: TEST DRIVE 3

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That looks pretty similar to what I have, so it seems like it should be working. Maybe double check that the file buffer has the right data (e.g. the model at 0x32F9A should start with "0B 12")

 

In the switch statement that checks the polygon type, 0x60 is also used for lines. That's the only thing I notice that's different.

 

I did have to do a bit of cheating to get the windows on the house to show up correctly. Unlike the terrain models, the objects sometimes have multiple polygons overlapping on the same plane, so if you just draw them normally you get a lot of "z-fighting." I wrote a function to try to detect these polygons and shift them forward slightly so they are visible. You might need to do something similar once you get the models to load correctly.

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If you get the models to work, try using this for the color palette:

 

 

var Colors = [
   0, 0, 0,            // 0
       0, 0, 162,
   0, 162, 0,          // 1
       0, 162, 162,
   162, 0, 0,          // 2
       0, 255, 255,
   162, 81, 0,         // 3
       81, 81, 81,
   0, 0, 0,            // 4
       81, 81, 243,
   81, 243, 81,        // 5
       0, 255, 255,
   243, 81, 81,        // 6
       0, 255, 255,
   243, 243, 81,       // 7
       243, 243, 243,
   40, 40, 40,         // 8
       243, 243, 243,
   77, 190, 105,       // 9
       255, 0, 255,
   227, 0, 0,          // a
       0, 255, 255,
   190, 89, 0,         // b
       190, 174, 190,
   89, 85, 89,         // c
       109, 113, 255,
   150, 223, 166,      // d
       255, 0, 255,
   255, 109, 109,      // e
       255, 0, 255,
   231, 239, 174,      // f
       223, 199, 223
];

 

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Is there any good open world driving games which has good world detail like this? (maybe down to the chickens)

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As promised, here's the rest of the race courses. Renders and maps done in Blender. Order is: course 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and finally main menu. As you probably notice, the maps repeat infinitely, which is why you can endlessly drive straight on that highway on course 3..

 

This is just awesome. Thanks a lot man!

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Well, here it is! It's 11 pics in total, but "only" 8 camera angles, the others are existing pics with depth of field (distance blur) added to them and I don't want to make someone very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very sad. Every pic has a glow / bloom effect, because it makes it a bit "happier" imo. I'm not a photography expert, though, so please do tell me about the pics being too bright etc., so I can fix it! :)

 

http://imgur.com/a/tycvo

 

Enjoy! It's all 1920x1080, by the way, so it's HD enough for a wallpaper (unless you're on something close to 4K. In that case, I won't do new renders because I didn't save the camera positions...)

 

 

Thanks a lot man. These were like snapshots from the past. I used play TD3 for hours when I was a kid.

Just wonderful to see these.

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By the way if you guys want to see a more advanced 3D flat style graphics be sure to check out the classic modern jet sim TFX.

It blew my mind back in the day. Still one of my favs.

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Is there any good open world driving games which has good world detail like this? (maybe down to the chickens)

 

I guess the GTA series fit pretty well here. Or maybe "Interstate 76" from the year 1997.

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Is there any good open world driving games which has good world detail like this? (maybe down to the chickens)

 

I guess the GTA series fit pretty well here. Or maybe "Interstate 76" from the year 1997.

Yeah, I've been playing GTA V, modifying cars, putting on 1st person and driving around, more fun than I imagined.

 

How about the crew? Is it any good?

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^^^ I think there is a hotkey to increase the emulation speed in DOSBox.

 

I just made some progress with the model decoding. I was able to find where all the data is for one of the models with multiple levels of detail, and now I'm going to try to load it in 3D and then find the other ones. It shouldn't take long now.

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I think I figured out why the controls are so bad - they're trying to simulate an analog controller (like a joystick or a steering wheel) using a digital input (your keyboard). I'm guessing that's because analog inputs (such as steering wheels) weren't popular when most input was digital - this isn't the Magnavox Odyssey or a Pong console, with their weird prototypes for analog sticks.

I came to this theory because the framerate is low, but the polling rate for the input is the cycle rate. Meaning that the player can input multiple keystrokes, and the game can process them before showing an actual change! I started thinking about this after I saw this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZPQ29NayVQ

 

So how do you play? Only with a keyboard, unless you want to program a macro that's tied to your joystick/steering wheel input and the emulated CPU speed and converts them to really fast taps.

You cannot hold the direction you're driving in - that'll cause you to break the wheel in that direction.

You have to tap in rhythm to the steering. Faster taps mean harder steering. Once you start driving this way you'll get used to it and get a feel for the rhythm for each angle.

The same also applies to your acceleration!

 

How do I know this is really the case with this game? First of all, because I tested it and IT WORKS. And because the angle cursor doesn't jump back to the middle when you release the input. And because you can add and subtract from it gently with longer presses and longer pauses. And (I think) that while the game world runs at 6 FPS, the HUD's FPS is actually higher - so you can actually predict your input before they happen.

And that's how you make a precise racing game in a time you the range of your input was 1 (right), 0 (mid/no input), and -1 (left)!

 

So what was the issue with Ross's steering? When he played it at a higher FPS, the polling rate was so high every small tap was registered as a button hold and just sent the steering wheel flying in that direction. Same goes for acceleration. Also, when using a steering wheel that essentially gives the game a 0 or a 1 in the direction he is steering, he thinks he has control of the angle with it when he actually only has control of the direction, and this made him "correct" the input only after he has gone too far.

To properly play this with an unmodified controller input would mean shaking it very fast between the middle and slightly to the side, which is torture and I think that the keyboard or a d-pad is a far more fitting tool for the job.

 

So, if anybody wants to try Test Drive 3 out, be prepared for a control scheme you've never seen before, and vigorous tapping. Also, don't try OCing the emulated CPU, it'll only end badly.

 

EDIT: Also,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?start=1198&v=oPrU7LSqiX0

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I just made some progress with the model decoding. I was able to find where all the data is for one of the models with multiple levels of detail, and now I'm going to try to load it in 3D and then find the other ones. It shouldn't take long now.

 

Shouldn't take long? {Checks calendar} Well, I didn't think it would take very long, but I sort of got stuck on a technical problem and gave up temporarily. I eventually got back to it and figured out what I was doing wrong. (I was trying to decode one of the car models and the game kept overwriting some of the vertices for the windshield wiper animation, which confused the hell out of me.)

 

Anyway, I eventually figured it out and I managed to export the rest of the models!

 

TKCHgK3m.png

 

BpxUCnYm.png

 

bAM7DGAm.png

 

I was able to export everything from the first map. I'm going to try to find the data for the other maps as well.

 

mQNieaam.png

 

I put this in a Blender file, and I was able to set up a shader to show a checkerboard pattern with two different colors. It's more accurate to the original game, but I think I like the solid-color version better.

 

pavmDCjm.png

 

You can download the Blender file for the first map from HERE. Feel free to use it as you wish.

 

BlgnPVtm.jpg

 

It's slightly modified from the original data; Some polygons weren't showing up correctly because they were on the same plane as other polygons, so I moved them ever so slightly to make them visible. I also extruded the lines into 3D objects, which aren't necessarily as wide as they appear in the game. Each face has a special property that determines if it's a triangle, quad, line, or disc shape. I tried to figure out the pattern by trial and error, and I may have missed something but I think I got at least 99% of the model data.

 

I'm having fun with this. Time to try the other maps!

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Some technical info:

 

The indices for the objects in the first map are in SCENE01.DAT starting at 0x11121. The header looks like this:

 

84002D003400

 

"84" is the total number of objects. "2D" is the number of moving objects, and "34" is the number of objects with multiple levels of detail. After the header are the indices for the objects. First there are moving objects, then static objects with multiple levels of detail, followed by smaller objects with one LOD. Each object ID has two bytes. The first byte determines which model is used, and the second byte defines the behavior:

 

0x00: Static decoration

0x10: Static decoration (multiple LODs)

0x20: Player car

0x22: Vehicle

0x62: Opponent car

0x63: Opponent car

0x27: Vehicle

0x28: Vehicle (train car?)

 

Immediately after the header there is "0120" which refers to the player's car. If you change the 01 to something else, you can replace the player's car model, so you can drive around as a police car, a train engine, or even a large building! If someone finds the object data for the Cape Cod expansion you should be able to hack it to drive around as an X-Wing!

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I'll just pop in here to say 'congratulations' and 'good work' :)

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fCGxb35m.jpg

 

I'm starting to decode the models for the Cape Cod expansion! I've got basically all of the model data for the first map, but I don't have the color palettes yet. The game has multiple palettes for different weather conditions and so far I only figured out the one for the first map. It think it looks pretty cool so far, though.

 

HditDcIm.jpg

This screenshot shows the first map from the Cape Cod expansion (with a few missing polygons I need to fix.) There's something interesting I didn't notice earlier: There's a whole island in the corner of the map that you normally can't get to! Unless there's some cheat that I'm not aware of, it's too far to get over the water so normally the player would never see it. I got all the object models to show up and I was hoping there might be something there, but unfortunately there's nothing on the island except empty roads. Now you know!

 

For anyone else interested in hacking the data, here's where I found the model locations in the files:

 

 

SCENE01.DAT
0x11121 : Map 1
0x1B0AD : Map 2
0x1D1FA : Map 3
0x22446 : Map 4
0x24593 : Map 5

SCENE02.DAT
0x1102E : Cape Cod Map 1
0x22470 : Cape Cod Map 2
0x27154 : Cape Cod Map 3
0x292A1 : Cape Cod Map 4
0x2E75D : Cape Cod Map 5

 

The object info for each map has a 6 byte header describing:

- the number of objects

- the number of active objects

- the number of objects with multiple levels of detail

This is followed by a list of object indices, X/Y/Z coordinates, and then rotations. The start of each section is always 320 bytes after the start of the previous section, starting after the header.

 

 

I don't know if there is any object data for the title screen map. I suspect it might be empty. At least, I can't find anything that looks like a player start.

 

I1X06QX.png

 

Bonus: If you have the Cape Cod expansion and you want to replace the player car model with an X-Wing, open SCENE02.DAT with a hex editor and edit one of the following locations:

0x11034 (map 1)
0x22476 (map 2)
0x2715a (map 3)
0x292a7 (map 4)
0x2e763 (map 5)

Change 01 to E4 to set it to an X-Wing, and change it back to 01 to set it back to normal. Try setting it to something else and seeing what happens. :)

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Rewatching Test Drive 3, I find a map and a short audio thing i never noticed before at 19:33, anyone else?

100% is going to be a cut-rate clown

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Komojo, you have done AMAZING work. Its really cool to see this modern resolution.

It's also really interesting just how bad the models really are. I grew up with this game, and even so, in modern resolution its clear they were hiding a lot behind that low res. Damn, even the headlights don't actually line up with the car.

 

I'm pretty sure Ross's joke about the studio waving a gun around might not be far off the mark.

 

Komojo, I've noticed that your rips are missing trees. You have done so much already, but I have to ask, is it possible to obtain them?

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I have a full copy of Test Drive 3: The Passion and the Road and Car (Cape Cod to Niagra) expansion with a few changes:

1. The copy protection is stripped so you can type anything at the code screen and it will let you play.

2. Installed the infinite lives cheat Ross was using. I also changed the message to say "ha ha" just like Ross's.

3. My EXE wasn't the same as Veyrdite's but using his guide a page back I figured out how to (mostly) disable the "Press F6 to return to the road" message. (it still pops up but only for a split second.)

 

Download here and spread it around:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/csjk62vvb9o59oi/Test%20Drive%203.rar

Or

https://mega.nz/#!2k0jyKyR!aAp5EUfV4OcDG027x1j4Uart608fiy3oydwnXExb4qI

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