Supercars 2 AGA

[CFou!]

Originally Posted by jotd

I just published a new version on itch: https://jotd666.itch.io/supercars-2-aga

It's really worth upgrading because of the huge FMODE=3 speed up (which was not that easy to adapt, and thanks to Ross for help with screen settings & centering).

I just tested previous version, then newest version. Previous version was slowing down when there were a lot of cars (slightly improved by NTSC mode) whereas the new version doesn't slow down, and looks smoother than the ECS original too. I had great fun playing that one tonight.

great job

I never had fun testing FMODE =3.
(interesting use)

[acidbottle]

Very underused is FM3, probably because its a pain to implement An awesome game gets even better, nice job!

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by jotd

I just published a new version on itch: https://jotd666.itch.io/supercars-2-aga

It's really worth upgrading because of the huge FMODE=3 speed up (which was not that easy to adapt, and thanks to Ross for help with screen settings & centering).

I just tested previous version, then newest version. Previous version was slowing down when there were a lot of cars (slightly improved by NTSC mode) whereas the new version doesn't slow down, and looks smoother than the ECS original too. I had great fun playing that one tonight.

All these informations have to be documented and kept. It shows that even if the AGA is slow, there is a way to achieve good speed on A1200.

[nikosidis]

This for sure helped. I tried the game now. The game itself does not have my favorite controls but nothing to do about that.Thanks

[jotd]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

All these informations have to be documented and kept. It shows that even if the AGA is slow, there is a way to achieve good speed on A1200.

I didn't check official AGA games, but at least Chaos Engine uses FMODE=3 when running game.

Maybe other AGA ports were lazy and didn't use FMODE=3... to be checked, specially if the game is not that fast on real hardware when the ECS version was OK.

Upgrading FMODE is not a real difficulty but by whdload patch it may be not that easy because you have sizes to change if bitplanes aren't aligned. Copperlists aren't a problem, FMODE can be set at startup.

I'm beginning to regret having posted this topic in "games that need to be whdfied"

[mahen]

Oooh, this is getting seriously cool and definitely fixing the flaws of the original game (lack of music & speed)
Yeah, thank you !

[crazyc]

I have been struggling with at least the last few versions (my amiga time has been limited over the last year or so meaning I dont have specific timelines) - I play through this fine but then when I get to track 6 or seven, it just locks up on the loading screen (with the track details etc) and keeps playing the music but goes no further.
This is on an a1200 with B1230MKIV (32mb). I need to find time to troubleshoot a bit more and compare on my other a1200s, but life keeps getting in the way - but just wondered if anyone else had seen this?

[jotd]

whdload or normal DOS launch?

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by jotd

whdload or normal DOS launch?

Sorry - should have said - WHDLOAD
I use the WHDLOAD scripts to shut down the network and USB stacks.

[jotd]

corrupt files maybe? happening at each race 7 for each easy/medium/hard level?

whdload allows to start directly at a given track. Have you tried to start at track 6 or 7 see if it works?

lots of things to test.

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by jotd

corrupt files maybe? happening at each race 7 for each easy/medium/hard level?

whdload allows to start directly at a given track. Have you tried to start at track 6 or 7 see if it works?

lots of things to test.

Aah - I had forgotten about that - will try and test. Cheers.

[crazyc]

Well, I have had very little time to test, but what I did do was extract the lha on my PC (I generally do not do this, and extract lha files on the amiga itself), and then copy it over already extracted. A quick test choosing track 6 on easy level via whdload shows :

Version extracted on Amiga : freezes on the track loading screen
Version extracted on PC: seems to run fine.

Caveat: literally 5 mins testing only.

But, it appears to me that something got corrupted extracting the files on the amiga, even though I am sure that I did this on more than one amiga. My systems are all offshoots of each other so maybe my setup just doesnt like something in that lha and is refusing to extract it properly.

Anyway, I think I now have a functional version

[jotd]

that's great news!

[crazyc]

Looks like I spoke too soon - track six works but now I have the issue with track seven.....

[alexh]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Version extracted on Amiga : freezes on the track loading screen
Version extracted on PC: seems to run fine.

This sounds like a MAX_TRANSFER issue. Are you using the Gayle IDE? (the built in A1200 IDE controller?) I suspect you've partitioned your drive/cf card with the wrong MAX_TRANSFER value and as you write files on a real Amiga you're corrupting the drive.

Open up HDTOOLBOX and check your partition MAX_TRANSFER. For Gayle IDE it should be 0x1FE00 if it is set to 0xFFFF_FFFF then that's your problem.

[jotd]

anyway not a problem with the game itself. MAX_TRANSFER issues are horrible

[crazyc]

Max transfer is fine, 0x1FE00

[jotd]

hint: if you have some RAM, extract the archive in RAM. Archives have a CRC so can't be corrupt, original files don't (unless they're XPK packed, whdload would support those, and there would be crc check)

[desiv]

Originally Posted by jotd

I just published a new version on itch: [.

Awesome, thanx...
And I was just looking for another reason to test my paypal again... ;-)

[jotd]

Even if you think your paypal worked the first time, don't hesitate to double check

Thanks for your purchase!

Had another go at the game tonight and got my ass kicked at hard race 3...