Checkered Flag Source Code

[spiffyone]

Wait...y'know...now that I think of it...I'd like to see that Highlander game's source code leaked.

 

Again, not a programmer...but I've got to figure that a game that uses pre-rendered backgrounds

might be on some level easier to deal with than sweating over real time stuff.

 

...

 

Am I right? Or way, way off?

[Gorf]

Wait...y'know...now that I think of it...I'd like to see that Highlander game's source code leaked.

 

Again, not a programmer...but I've got to figure that a game that uses pre-rendered backgrounds

might be on some level easier to deal with than sweating over real time stuff.

...

Am I right? Or way, way off?

 

 

It depends on a lot of things. A simple 'looking' process can sometimes be more daunting.

I bet the real pain in the ass about Highlander is matching the 3D characters with the 2D

world.

 

It could also be very easy to deal with. Then there is trying to actually decipher the source

code...even well documented sources can be tough to follow logically...all depends on the

task at hand.

 

I have a feeling Highlander woul dnot be all that hairy though.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Err well,

and since the sources are available now, maybe one could change the controls of CF and upload a version with improved controls here at AA... ?!? -Andreas Koch.

Edited March 13, 2008 by CharlieChaplin

[midnight8]

Err well,

and since the sources are available now, maybe one could change the controls of CF and upload a version with improved controls here at AA... ?!? -Andreas Koch.

 

or add analog control. shouldn't be to hard to hack up a controller to use if someone could add the support for it.

[Atari5200]

if someone would be able to fix the controls, I would happily purchase a re-vamped Checkerd Flag.

[midnight8]

if someone would be able to fix the controls, I would happily purchase a re-vamped Checkerd Flag.

 

me too.

[Gorf]

if I only had the time right now.

 

I did manage to locate the Breakout 2000 control code so, Im looking to see how

to hook in rotary code.....again...as time permits which is not often.

 

I think the CF controls should be simple enough to fix.

 

I think an upload of the result would be more reasonable along side of selling carts

so that folks can DL and upload it if they have an Alpine.

[Chriz-B]

Thanks for posting this Curt! I am interested in the music score and want to put the complete soundtrack back together.

I found the samples and midi score but does somebody know how to convert the (compiled midi score *.scr or *.bin) to readable *.mid or other tracker format?

Thanks

[sh3-rg]

Don't you just love messy old threads rising from the grave?

 

Thanks for posting this Curt! I am interested in the music score and want to put the complete soundtrack back together.

I found the samples and midi score but does somebody know how to convert the (compiled midi score *.scr or *.bin) to readable *.mid or other tracker format?

Thanks

 

Maybe it's QSound stuff, you could try looking here:

ftp://ftp.untergrund.net/users/ggn/JagFiles/code/audio/

Edited October 9, 2015 by sh3-rg

[+remowilliams]

Don't you just love messy old threads rising from the grave?

 

You think Gorf's got the time now for that super rotary control?

[ggn]

 

You think Gorf's got the time now for that super rotary control?

 

You never know. Maybe if people kiss his ass enough...

[+remowilliams]

Hey, I'll give anyone a shot at supporting them if they put in the effort. Until they go off the deep end...

[JagCD]

I'd totally buy a Checkered Flag II cart -- if it had the remapped controls (with just standard left and right) and if possible new tracks.

[LianneJaguar64]

I would buy Checkered Flag 2! If there was a analogue controller, I'd buy that too! XD Love to see an improved version with more cars on track, better controls, some form of password system or save (if on CD)... Would be great xD

[sh3-rg]

I'd buy Checkered Flag 3! If there was MindLink interface, I'd buy that too! XD Love to see an even MOAR improved version with hover cars, thought controls, some sort of online play and cloud saves... Would be great xD

[LianneJaguar64]

I'd buy Checkered Flag 3! If there was MindLink interface, I'd buy that too! XD Love to see an even MOAR improved version with hover cars, thought controls, some sort of online play and cloud saves... Would be great xD

Mind you, I do kinda enjoy OG Checkered Flag...

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

Im ripping all of the sprites and bacdrops from Primal Rage 2 arcade game. Im wondering if the ultra vortek source is around, or any other 2D fighting source for the jag? (Kasumi Ninja maybe?) I know theres a source for fight for life but that wont work. It needs to be pure 2D. i will also make these sprites and backdrops available on the spriters resource.

[+CyranoJ]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but are there any reviews of retropia online?

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but are there any reviews of retropia online?

No there are no reviews however there are 2 let's play videos from some kids. Feel free to do a review if you like CJ.

 

[Clint Thompson]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has really done much of anything with this source outside of the control patch some 8-years later. Easy for me to say though, I'm not a coder. Checkered Flag is probably a fine example as to why I'm not one actually.. because this is how it would probably turn out.. awful.

 

I've always wanted to do a video overview kind of going in-depth with this game and a series called Inside The Source Code but it's not going to happen. But, we can recap a lot of points about Checkered Flag as a whole and the very serious things (or flaws) that stand out just by skimming through the code. I think the biggest thing to point out with Checkered Flag is that it was over taxing the Jaguar from the onset - they just wanted too much, too fast. Completely optimized non-68000 code as a 2nd or 3rd generation game and it's possible it could have been a really great game. Never mind that even in the early stages of development they continued to have problems because the development code was also constantly being updated didn't help matters, I'm sure. You can kind of sense the programmers frustration in bug reports back to Atari.

 

The idea to have a game for the Jaguar that would have so many features:

 

-Sun/Dry and Rain/Wet conditions with controls matching each condition

-Shadows with multiple views or angles, rear views of other cars, etc.

-Instant replay track movement recording

-5 other cars running AI simultaneously

-Multiple sound FX and MIDI music playing

 

I can't seem to find it but I definitely remember a reference to the game only being 16-colors (or was it 256?). Obviously not the gradient sky part but definitely the main polygon parts of the game while racing around the track. Has anyone managed to compile this game at all from the source? Also, are the sounds all 8-bit? I suppose it doesn't matter. Maybe a few things to start with to help remove the laundry list of things the Jaguar has to calculate:

 

+Remove all excess weather conditions (no rain, no multiple control changes as a result)

+Remove shadows and rear views of cars.

+Drop maximum amount of cars to a maximum of 3

+Change gradient sky to solid blue color

 

Interesting notes pulled from the source code, even dated as late as October, so you know they had no time to optimize much of anything:

===========================================================================================================

Noted within AI:

" BIG bad BUG - didn't make sure loop counter was properly initialized !!!!!"
"; make finished cars do one slow lap - actually want to park, so needs more thought"
"count car because its active; slow routine - needs to be faster"
" check for local blockages and adjust target if anything to avoid - must be made faster !!!!!"
" there really should be a detailed position analysis tool here, but left out for now"

Noted within MAPROT:

"; initial trial for rotating map
; rotate map onto main display screen
; using A2 for destination, scanning pixel by pixel, line by line, across a 128*128 zone of main screen
; using A1 for source, scannin at a fixed angle across the"

Noted in OUTER.GAS

"should these processes by managing subsequent sections ?
or should it all be top level management ?"

Noted in PDRAW.GAS:

"; new program for producing a simple structure for drawing a polygon.
; ideally will work using the same blitter code as the old version, but
; with out the endpoint system.
; originally included z-buffer - now removed COMPLETELY"

Noted in SCRNSHOT.S:

"; screen shot program, which reads the object list and copies everything into a known empty screen area
; the following rules are used :
; 1. test that object is an unscaled bitmap - otherwise finish
; 2. test that object is NOT RMW - otherwise skip
; 3. test whether object is 16 bit CRY
; if so then use blitter, with transparency on
; if not, perform full expansion using 68000
; note that blitter could be used for 1 bit objects - and since these are the only other sort I use, its worth
considering"

Noted in SHADOWS.S:

"; this is really nothing at the moment, but the intention is to allow proper shadowing as follows:

; 1. when building the complete 3d structure in the track generator, allow an extra stream, the shadow stream,
; of exactly the same size as the buildings stream.
; 2. taking each polygon of the object in turn, project its points onto the ground along the sun direction, and
; create a new object, which can then be used for the shadows.
; note that only polygons which are facing the sun need to be used (test by assuming viewpoint is sun - ie take the
; object zero point, and subtract $10000 sun vectors from it to give a viewpoint)
; because we assume a distant source, giving parallel rays, we can project without using the viewpoint.
; However the shape projected could be a problem, as overlapping will cause non-constant shadows, which would be silly.
; this is no problem for a cube - each faces shadow should match perfectly with all others - but in the case of a building
which is non-convex, there will be problems.
; The obvious answer is to perform clipping of each new shadow polygon against the old shadow polygons, although perhaps a
better solution would be to change the drawing routine to allow concave polygons. Then the solution is to combine the polygons
into one, which would require the same process as for the clipping, but would cut the drawing time slightly."

Noted in SKYFILLS.S:

"; modified sky blanker, to generate, using the blitter, a controlled, simple, linear colour gradient from pure blue at
the very top - off the screen -
; down to white at the centre line, with a fixed intensity - preset - and then continue from there to green as currently
used for the foreground, with
; the intention of reaching pure green in 16 lines"

Noted in STRIP.S:

"; This is INTENDED to do a blit of a strip from a 320*256 screen - the sky background from checkered flag - into a
2048*32 area.

; Whatever colour is in the top left corner of that strip will be taken as background - that is, replaced by zero to leave
transparent.
; The position to write to will be determined by the current position - which can be calculated direct from the current
direction"

Noted in ZCLIP.GAS:

"Poly_draw:: ; hopefully re-written to properly z-cli"

 

Noted in REDSOUND.INC:

"; This is the file containing macro calls for the Chequered Flag / Red Line Racer game sound system"

===========================================================================================================

 

So just by judging from the source code notes with files dated just prior to being submitted for production, there seems to be a lot of crucial details needing and hoping to be optimized but most likely didn't due to time constraints. What other things can be modified to help increase overall processing speed of this game?

 

[Zerosquare]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has really done much of anything with this source outside of the control patch some 8-years later.

I'm not. Few people have the skills needed to undertake anything significant with it, and since the game is neither good nor appreciated, they'd probably prefer to create their own game instead of trying to salvage this car wreck.

[+CyranoJ]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has really done much of anything with this source outside of the control patch some 8-years later.

 

 

...and the source code wasn't used to rebuild that. So all in all, that zipfile was as much of a complete waste of time as the actual game

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

I wonder how hard it would be to replace in game 3d models such as the cars themselves the penguins and other props with 2D rendered objects like Atari Karts and World Tour racing have? I bet it would speed the game up if it were pushing less polygons. Also how does one apply the control patch to the rom?

[+remowilliams]

Better to replace them with zeroes, that will be even faster and will make the cartridge lighter too.

[NeoGeo64]

This is really cool. Thanks!