Super Sprint AGA

[mcgeezer]

Managed to get this working - thanks Toni and Ross!

Here's what it looks like....

[ Show youtube player ]

[saimon69]

I remember using dpaint in my unexpanded A500 telling me there was no RAM to use more than four colors in Hi-Res - so i assume minimum this would take the fast mem to run; you could however cheat a bit using Med Res (and rectangular pixels, that however would give a new range of problems)

[phx]

Looking good! You are now nearly as far as I have been, 30 years ago. But your approach looks better, as it is based on the original and not on the ST-version, and you have already the better strategies to tackle the remaining problems.

BTW, what would be the target architecture? Is it still OCS? If it would be ECS or AGA you might also try a DblNTSC screen to avoid flickering.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by phx

Looking good! You are now nearly as far as I have been, 30 years ago. But your approach looks better, as it is based on the original and not on the ST-version, and you have already the better strategies to tackle the remaining problems.

BTW, what would be the target architecture? Is it still OCS? If it would be ECS or AGA you might also try a DblNTSC screen to avoid flickering.

Thanks PHX.

Yes it is based on the original arcade assets.

Target architecture would be ECS or AGA simply because of the required number of colours (32) and the native resolution of the arcade display (512x384).

Currently it is running in NTSC mode with HiRes Interlaced, but your comment suggests there is a mode available that would give me the required resolution but without interlacing??? If so could you give me some pointers?

Thanks,

Graeme

[ross]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Target architecture would be ECS or AGA simply because of the required number of colours (32) and the native resolution of the arcade display (512x384).

ECS does not allow hires with 5 planes, so for now only AGA.

Currently it is running in NTSC mode with HiRes Interlaced, but your comment suggests there is a mode available that would give me the required resolution but without interlacing??? If so could you give me some pointers?

Yes, the suggested DblNTSC gives you the required resolution without interlacing.
But it require a 31Khz monitor and a proper driver..

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by ross

Yes, the suggested DblNTSC gives you the required resolution without interlacing.
But it require a 31Khz monitor and a proper driver..

Ahh yes, I did see that reading the docs and it was the reason I steered away from it.

[Havie]

Loved this on the ST - thought it was a pretty close conversion from the arcade.

I think if you are going to remake it using hi-res then that would make it something special (not many games in hi-res and certainly not many arcade games)! Also, us SCART based Amiga users don't worry about interlacing...no flicker here

[phx]

Originally Posted by ross

Yes, the suggested DblNTSC gives you the required resolution without interlacing.
But it require a 31Khz monitor and a proper driver..

You're right! It's easy to forget when you have only 31Khz monitors on your Amigas...

[Solo Kazuki]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Ahh yes, I did see that reading the docs and it was the reason I steered away from it.

You can always make some kind of preferences added to game and leave choice to player. I used with Amiga multisync monitor with both 15KHz and 31KHz available at once and they are still available (however scarce nowadays).

[mcgeezer]

With some help from Ross I've fixed up the interlaced display.

Here's an updated video.... note - I've also put it into NTSC mode and you can really tell the difference. I also fixed the palette which seems to have fixed up some of the flicker.

[ Show youtube player ]

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Ahh yes, I did see that reading the docs and it was the reason I steered away from it.

Another good reason to avoid the 31KHz modes is that the faster pixel clock puts pressure on Chip RAM bandwidth and you lose a big chunk of the AGA speed advantage.

[mcgeezer]

Here we are...

[ Show youtube player ]

I've moved to using hardware sprites here which are interlaced. The display has also changed to using Dual Playfield. Again, those little details many take for granted in the arcade games features in Super Sprint.

If you look at the display it has a perspective to it, so things like barriers are in the foreground and in front of the cars, there was also the problem with going under and over a bridge which I've solved here using the Dual Playfield with Sprite priorities.

I wanted to use hardware sprites because otherwise I would have to double (even triple) buffer the display and with each 16 colour play field taking up 100Kb, it amounted to a fair bit of ram and having to mask/blit/restore etc... to seemed easier and faster / more efficient route to do it this way hardware sprites (although I will have to blit some objects such as the helicopter and tornado stuff).

The other problem this might help with is collisions, it looks like I can check against bitplanes on each independent sprite so that could come in very handy.... if not I'll have to use bitmasks or something.

Geezer

[jotd]

I remember bridges were also an annoying issue when done by software. Good job using sprites & dual playfields for that. I'm not sure it has already been done for a topdown racer.

And you'll have enough sprites to do that for computer cars too (else this strategy fails)

I just love this game.

[Retro1234]

bit confused are you making this? whats the point of someone spending time converting stuff from ST if someone just then decides to remake it?

[jotd]

just to prove how superior a native conversion from 2020 would be compared to ST version

[microfinne]

I like the idea of making an Amiga optimized version. Would it be possible to implement analogue controls?

[jotd]

I loved the original endless wheel controls. But I doubt that such a controller exists as DB9.

I had a play with MAME yesterday with arrows and ctrl to accelerate and it was pretty much playable (and the coin-guzzling aspect hasn't aged!)

[nikosidis]

I think this kind of car games are extremely fun. Ironman Off Road racing was a favorite of mine. I also played ATR a lot on Amiga but there the cars are to big for real multiplayer fun. A good multiplayer racing game is a long time since we seen on Amiga. I hope it will be a real game. I think the F1 cars don't look so good. If this is going into a real game we could get someone to redraw them.

[jotd]

the point is to remake the game 1:1 like the arcade... Maybe alternate cars could be possible as an option.

[mcgeezer]

As jotd has stated, it's to try and replicate the arcade with mutli-player options.

One addition I want to add though is DRS, so any players other than first place can use DRS to over take in specific zones on the track.

I just need to point out, the target is an A1200... I doubt I would have enough DMA to target an A500, but I might.

In this update I've added the other cars which can be independently controlled. I also want to point out that I fixed a major problem with the car graphics, that's why they looked so bad previously.

[ Show youtube player ]

As each track is 512x384, if you divide that by 8 you get 64x48... so the idea is to have a byte map controlling various things that previously discussed earlier such as drone guides, and checkpoints.

Here's what I have come up with.

64x48 bytes, Each Byte has following bit selection
[  7   6   5   4   3  |  2   1   0  ] 
[  Track Checkpoints  | Drone Guide ]

-----------------------------------------------------
Track Checkpoints (5 bits/0-31)
Bit Description
7   Track Checkpoint bit 4 (Level Select)
6   Track Checkpoint bit 3
5   Track Checkpoint bit 2
4   Track Checkpoint bit 1
3   Track Chechpoint bit 0
2   Drone Guide bit 2
1   Drone Guide bit 1
0   Drone Guide bit 0


Track Checkpoint (bits 3-7)

31 DRS Enable             15 DRS Disable 
30 Track Jump             14 Track Land
29 Track Incline          13 Track Decline
28 Decrease Tracktion     12 Increase Traction
27 Switch to Higher Level 11 Switch to Lower Level 
26 CheckPoint 10 Upper    10 CheckPoint 10 Lower
25 CheckPoint 9 Upper      9 CheckPoint 9 Lower 
24 CheckPoint 8 Upper      8 CheckPoint 8 Lower 
23 CheckPoint 7 Upper      7 CheckPoint 7 Lower 
22 CheckPoint 6 Upper      6 CheckPoint 6 Lower 
21 CheckPoint 5 Upper      5 CheckPoint 5 Lower 
20 CheckPoint 4 Upper      4 CheckPoint 4 Lower 
19 CheckPoint 3 Upper      3 CheckPoint 3 Lower 
18 CheckPoint 2 Upper      2 CheckPoint 2 Lower 
17 CheckPoint 1 Upper      1 CheckPoint 1 Lower 
16 Upper Terrain           0 Lower Terrain


Drone Guide (bits 0-2)
0 = North
1 = North East
2 = East
3 = South East
4 = South
5 = South West
6 = West
7 = North West

Geezer