Jump to content
IGNORED

Pole Position modest sprite hack !


TIX

Recommended Posts

In game shot, looks pretty good !

the car appears flatter than the image in the editor.. I think I have to fatten it up ;-)

It's now 21 pixels high, the original was 24..

 

Do you like the see through highlights ? I think they are better, very inconspicuous !

i couldn't say if I like that better or lighter highlights you showed just before, until I see them in game. Either way is better than before, that's for sure.

 

What are you hacking this from? Is this Pole Position + with the extra courses, that just got the title screen and explosion? (that was + wasn't it?) or is this the original rom? I pretty much only ever play PP + or PP X hacks myself anymore.

Edited by Gunstar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a different topic: I'd like to suggest the AA admins to have more pinned topics. For example one with links to new hardware developments and other with a hacks index (I know there is one somewhere). There are a lot of interesting topics lost in the bottom of the forum. I also would like to make my own hacks, hopefully someone can make a basic video of how to start modifying sprites. I think there will be a lot of interested people and there will be more game improvements. There are many advanced users in software and electronics, but sometimes it seems difficult on how to start. There should be more sub-forums inside the main 'Atari 8-Bit Computers'.

Edited by tane
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i couldn't say if I like that better or lighter highlights you showed just before, until I see them in game. Either way is better than before, that's for sure.

 

What are you hacking this from? Is this Pole Position + with the extra courses, that just got the title screen and explosion? (that was + wasn't it?) or is this the original rom? I pretty much only ever play PP + or PP X hacks myself anymore.

 

I'm with Rybags on this, I prefer them to be more subtle (with the only negative being the see through), but I will do a comparison gif later on.

 

No it's not Pole Position +.. I think its the standard version with some tweaks done by MrFish

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Arghhhh :mad:

 

there are literally dozens of frames between your car and the rivals in the rom !

it's overwhelming at times for an amateur hacker :woozy:

There appears to be a 4th frame in the turning animation (between the 1st and the 2nd)

Back to the editor..

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Arghhhh :mad:

 

there are literally dozens of frames between your car and the rivals in the rom !

it's overwhelming at times for an amateur hacker :woozy:

There appears to be a 4th frame in the turning animation (between the 1st and the 2nd)

Back to the editor..

You can do it! You are amazing! :thumbsup:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So...was this just given up on? It seemed to be coming along nicely, then you mentioned finding new frames, TIX, then...nothing for days...or is it just life has slowed your hack down? I've really been looking forward to see the new looking car in the actual game...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So...was this just given up on? It seemed to be coming along nicely, then you mentioned finding new frames, TIX, then...nothing for days...or is it just life has slowed your hack down? I've really been looking forward to see the new looking car in the actual game...

 

Hey guys !

well it's been waay harder than I thought (its my third hack and the first that I have to do the investigation on my own),

the f1 frames are all over the place in the rom.. but after many tears I have them sorted !

yes there are 4 frames on the turning animation, and the opponent cars share one of their animation (the large one obviously) with the main car..

Well I have finally replaced all the frames of the main car with my own designs :grin:

Its not final yet, they need to gain height because they appear squashed they need detail added in the 3rd and 4th frames and I don't know what else..

Then there are the opponents I have to tackle..

 

But have a look, tell me what you think !

Pole Position (new sprites).xex

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

you've turned my tires and most other racers dark green! yeah the car is indeed a little squishy...

the first time I played the text at the end left the screen real quick...

somethings just ever so slightly offf.

 

NTSC 130XE avg cart side loader....

Edited by _The Doctor__
Link to comment
Share on other sites

how many frames do we have as car goes straight?

 

the reason I ask.. the tire bands move kind of slow and are always there.. I'd like them to disappear once in while or maybe the reverse where they only appear once in a while.. just to see the effects..

 

Or like appear on one side of the car then the other. etc.

Edited by _The Doctor__
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, this is a great upgrade over the original! Great job, TIX! Now, with design being great, is there a way to make the code a little more efficient to make everything look a little smoother?

 

thanks for the encouragement !

Edited by TIX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doctor,

  • I have not messed with colors at all.. so I don't know what the problem is !?!
  • About the squashed cars.. unfortunately in the editor I used (aseprite) they appear "fatter" (as the examples I posted in earlier posts) I noticed that very late and in the middle of other difficulties I had, I pushed on to finish the initial hack before I loose interest ! Now that I have them sorted I'll tweak them eventually.. :)
  • There are 2 frames of animation in every position, I have added the tire highlights only at the forward looking frame, I left the front tires with the simple flash and the double line roll on the back.. I will experiment further and post examples.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few years ago, KJMANN 12 asked me to hack Pole Position, improve the graphics, and have it ready for sale on Cartridge. I basically stated Atari did the best they could with it with the limitations of the 8-bit hardware. He wanted to use screen graphics for the cars, but keep the same road graphics. We know from the layout that won't work because of the HSCROL + Load Memory Address on each scan line that shift each pixel line left or right. As said, it would require a major overhaul of the game design.

 

The one solution I explored was with how my multiplexer handles more sprites on the screen and make cars and road signs with 2 player + 2 missile sprites to give 10 pixels of resolution, and only flicker between stuff if more than 2 objects share a common vertical position. What stopped that from going forward was doing such a multiplexer requires much more CPU cycles with the missiles vs just using 2 player sprites.

 

Also I looked at the ideal of the 2 player sprites for the car body and use the missiles for the tires, make PF3 black creating a 4 color car. But what would be left to make the side road signs?

Edited by peteym5
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it can be done better on the 8-bit Atari, like the picture above, but not starting with this program, it would require a completely new Pole Position using soft-sprites and maybe multiplexing like peter says. It could be done though, as it has been done; I once again refer to E-Type which is the best looking racer on the Atari.

 

It has hills and cars with good resolution (though there are no angled views on the cars, always directly behind view only), but then it's a port from BBC micro, so one built from the ground up on the Atari could have more animation frames to it. And of course it isn't full screen, it's a smaller window with a big dash on the bottom, and not as fast and smooth as Pole Position, etc., but then it is a port and not something new on the Atari from the ground up, if it were I think it could be done even better and faster.

 

But this is all academic in the case of hacking the original Pole Position, TIX is doing a fantastic job with the horrendous limitation of this program.

post-149-0-47373700-1542817864.png

Edited by Gunstar
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

E-Type is in Antic 4, which is 5 color (4 + 1 toggled color) character mode.

 

You could use Antic 2 interpretted as GTIA 10 (with an E-Type kind of "engine"), which will give 9 colors,

but at 80 pixel width resolution. The resolution is good enough with so many colors, though; 2x wide pixels

are better than 4x wide pixels too.

 

I did this mockup to see what it might look like. The upper part of the screen is in Antic 2 (hi-res character mode),

middle part is in Antic 4 (160 width, 5 color character mode), and the bottom is Antic 2 interpretted GTIA 10

(80 width, 9 color character mode). [Edit: note that no P/M's have been used, so all are available for use on the

signs; that means higher-res multi-color signs would be possible as well.]

 

As you say, the window would have to be scaled to the size of E-Type; but at least this gives some idea.

[Edit: Although, as you said, E-Type was a port; so, something built from the ground up on the Atari might not

need such a small viewport.]

 

Anyway, back to the thread subject...

 

post-6369-0-65160400-1542821163_thumb.png

 

post-6369-0-27041200-1542821169_thumb.png

 

post-6369-0-39273500-1542821175_thumb.png

Edited by MrFish
  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...