Stunts

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¦ Stunts/4D Sports Driving Frequently Asked Questions ¦
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¦ Last edited on May 10, 2000 ¦
¦ Currently maintained by Robert Riebisch ¦
¦ Internet resources by Lukas Loehrer ¦
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [0.0] INTRODUCTION ¦
¦ [0.1] COPYRIGHT ¦
¦ [0.2] DISCLAIMER ¦
¦ [0.3] TRADEMARKS ¦
¦ [0.4] CONTRIBUTORS ¦
* [0.5] UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [1.0] WHAT IS STUNTS/4D SPORTS DRIVING? ¦
¦ [1.1] STUNTS/4D SPORTS DRIVING VERSIONS ¦
* [1.2] A WORD ABOUT THE CREATORS ¦
¦ [1.3] AN INTERVIEW WITH DON MATTRICK ¦
¦ [1.4] ELECTRONIC ARTS BUYS DISTINCTIVE SOFTWARE INC. ¦
¦ [1.5] A LATE REVIEW ¦
¦ [1.6] A COMPARISON OF DRIVING SPEEDS ¦
* [1.7] SIMILAR RACING GAMES ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [2.0] SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ¦
¦ [2.1] HARDWARE ¦
¦ [2.2] SOFTWARE ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [3.0] BUGS & GAME ERRORS ¦
¦ [3.1] STRANGE GRAPHICS ¦
¦ [3.2] BUILT-IN TRACK EDITOR BUG ¦
¦ [3.3] TOO MANY TRACKS BUG ¦
¦ [3.4] SWERVE ABOUT GAME ERROR ¦
¦ [3.5] OVERDRIVE BUG ¦
¦ [3.6] ROCKET BOUNCE ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [4.0] DRIVING TIPS & TRICKS ¦
¦ [4.1] CURVES ¦
¦ [4.2] CORKSCREWS (LEFT/RIGHT) ¦
¦ [4.3] PAVED SLALOM ROADS ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [5.0] CHEATS ¦
¦ [5.1] FALSE START ¦
¦ [5.2] INTERNAL TERRAIN EDITOR ¦
+ [5.3] HARMLESS OBJECTS ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [6.0] STUNTS/4D SPORTS DRIVING SPECIFIC UTILITIES ¦
¦ [6.1] 4D SPORTS DRIVING TERRAIN EDITOR (TER3) ¦
¦ [6.2] CAR BLASTER (CB) ¦
+ [6.3] CAREDIT ¦
¦ [6.4] OPPONENT BLASTER (OB) ¦
¦ [6.5] REPLAY ANALYZER (RA) ¦
¦ [6.6] REPLAY DATA VIEWER (RPLINFO) ¦
¦ [6.7] SCORE BLASTER (SB) ¦
¦ [6.8] SCORE VIEWER (SV) ¦
¦ [6.9] STEDIT ¦
¦ [6.A] STUNTS HIGHSCORES (STHIGH) ¦
¦ [6.B] STUNTS LAND EDITOR (STUNTSED) ¦
¦ [6.C] STUNTS MAP EDITOR (MAPED) ¦
¦ [6.D] STUNTS SCENERY GENERATOR (SSG) ¦
¦ [6.E] STUNTS TERRAIN EDITOR (TERREDIT) ¦
¦ [6.F] TRACK BLASTER PRO (TB) ¦
¦ [6.G] TRACK EDITOR (TE) ¦
¦ [6.H] UPDATE.EXE ¦
+ [6.I] WINEDIT ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [7.0] OTHER UTILITIES ¦
¦ [7.1] DAVE'S .TGA ANIMATOR (DTA) ¦
¦ [7.2] PICTURE VIEWER (PICTVIEW) ¦
¦ [7.3] PROGRAB ¦
¦ [7.4] VIDEOTHIEF (VTHIEF) ¦
+ [7.5] MAKING A MOVIE ¦
¦ ¦
¦ [8.0] FILE FORMATS ¦
¦ [8.1] CAR RESOURCE FILES ¦
¦ [8.2] HIGHSCORE FILES ¦
¦ [8.3] OPPONENT RESOURCE FILES ¦
¦ [8.4] REPLAY FILES ¦
* [8.5] TRACK FILES ¦
¦ ¦
* [9.0] INTERNET RESOURCES ¦
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+ = entry added since last version
* = entry modified since last version

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [0.0] INTRODUCTION ¦
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This unofficial document is about Frequently Asked Questions concerning
BrÝderbund's Stunts and Mindscape's 4D Sports Driving, which are the same
game in general. This FAQ is still incomplete, so if you have more
information about a specific topic or if you find some errors then contact
the authors.

Revised versions will be available at:

http://www.dataway.ch/~lukasl/4dsports.html

To view this file, we recommend to use the built-in text viewer from the
Norton Commander for MS-DOS, the Aurora Editor from nText Research or even
"more < stunts.txt".

[0.1] COPYRIGHT

This document is copyright by Robert Riebisch and Lukas Loehrer. All
rights reserved. Portions of this document are copyright by their
contributors.

[0.2] DISCLAIMER

The authors make no warranty of any kind, either express or implied,
including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and
fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to this document.

In no event shall the authors be liable for any damages resulting from
the use of this document, including but not limited to, damages for loss
of business profits, business interruption, loss of data or business
information, incidental or consequential damages, or other financial loss
arising out of the use of or inability to use this document, even if the
authors have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

[0.3] TRADEMARKS

Trademarks of companies mentioned in this document appear for
identification purposes only and are the property of their respective
owners.

[0.4] CONTRIBUTORS

Robert Riebisch
Chief Editor

Lukas Loehrer
Second Editor

Lynne Henderson, David Leadbetter, Markus Nagelholz, Alan Robinson, Jeff
Sember

* [0.5] UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

If you have more information about one of the following topics, then
contact one of the authors. We really need your feedback!

- What's your opinion about the FAQ?
- What information do you miss?

- Who retains the copyright for Stunts/4D Sports Driving (BrÝderbund,
Mindscape or Electronic Arts)?
- Why did DSI switch from BrÝderbund to Mindscape?
- Was there ever a version 1.00 of 4D Sports Driving?
- Was there ever a version, which contained the small "radar" screen
described in the manual? (section "The Opponents")
- Did Mindscape ever release the track pack announced in the manual?
(section "Your best tracks" on the last page)
- What are the real names of the different driver actors and actresses,
or were they employees from DSI?
- Are there any reviews from gaming magazines?

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¦ [1.0] WHAT IS STUNTS/4D SPORTS DRIVING? ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

(original 4D Sports Driving packing text)

4D Sports Driving lets you loose on the most amazing test tracks ever built
in the fastest and best cars the world's motor industry have ever created.
This is the ultimate proving ground where you can test these super cars to
destruction - literally!

Take your pick from the mechanical stars of Road, Racing Circuit or Dirt
Track including cars by Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, Lancia and
Honda. Put these power cars through their paces on stunts including the
nerve-rackin' 360° loop-the-loop, the hair raisin' jumps, the breath takin'
topsy turvey tunnels and the heart stoppin' pipe!

Without a doubt 4D Sports Driving gives you the best selection of supercars
and stunt obstacles ever seen in a driving game!

4D Sports Driving presents you with a large selection of 'ready-to-race'
tracks to really test your skills to the limit. In addition 4D Sports
Driving gives you a comprehensive editor to create your own 'nightmare'
track - which you can save for future use or challenge a friend with.

Race against the clock or 6 different intelligent dare devil racers.
Amazing 'seat of the pants' stunt driving simulator.
Fast, detailed and smooth polygon graphics.
Choose from 11 different performance cars.
Select from pre-set tracks or design your own.
4D Sports Vision replay system lets you re-live your most perilous
crashes and amazing stunts.
User selectable camera angles.
Digital sound effects and music scores.

[1.1] STUNTS/4D SPORTS DRIVING VERSIONS

Release date ¦ Game ¦ Version ¦ Verified by ...
-------------------+-------------------+---------+-----------------
October 05, 1990 ¦ Stunts ¦ 1.00 ¦ Lukas Loehrer
¦ ¦ ¦ Robert Riebisch
December 13, 1990 ¦ 4D Sports Driving ¦ 1.10 ¦ Lukas Loehrer
¦ ¦ ¦ Robert Riebisch
February 12, 1991 ¦ Stunts ¦ 1.10 ¦ Lukas Loehrer
¦ ¦ ¦ Robert Riebisch
February 25, 1991 ¦ 4D Sports Driving ¦ 1.10 ¦ Lukas Loehrer
¦ ¦ ¦ Robert Riebisch

* [1.2] A WORD ABOUT THE CREATORS

Stunts/4D Sports Driving was developed by Distinctive Software Inc. (DSI)
in 1990. DSI was founded by Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember in 1982. At
least from 1988 until 1991 DSI resided in Vancouver, British Columbia
(Canada). Electronic Arts took over DSI in 1991.

First versions of Stunts/4D Sports Driving were published by BrÝderbund
Software as Stunts in October 1990. Later ones were brought to the gamers
by Mindscape (a Software Toolworks company) as 4D Sports Driving.

Stunts/4D Sports Driving was developed using Microsoft C version 5.10.
Parts of the code are copyright by Unlimited Software Inc. (graphics
code?) and Voyetra Technologies (sound/music code).

The following people at DSI created Stunts/4D Sports Driving:

Design - Don Mattrick
(Evolution, Grand Prix Circuit, 4D Sports Boxing)
- Kevin Pickell
- Brad Gour
(Grand Prix Circuit, 4D Sports Boxing)
- Rob Martyn
- Stan Chow
(4D Sports Boxing)

Music & Sound FX - Michael J. Sokyrka
(4D Sports Boxing)
- Kris Hatlelid
(Grand Prix Circuit)
- Brian Plank
(4D Sports Boxing)

Programming - Kevin Pickell

Technical Support - Brad Gour
(Grand Prix Circuit, 4D Sports Boxing)
- Rick Friesen
(Grand Prix Circuit, 4D Sports Boxing)

Art - Mike Smith
- David Adams
- Nicola Swaine
- Kevin Pickell

At least Don Mattrick, Kevin Pickell, Brad Gour, Rob Martyn and Mike
Smith work for Electronic Arts:

Don Mattrick - Executive Vice President, North American Studios

Kevin Pickell - Senior Computer Programmer

Brad Gour - Programmer on several racing games

Rob Martyn - Producer, Executive Producer, Supervising Producer for
several sports games

Mike Smith - ?

Kris Hatlelid worked some years for Electronic Arts too, but now he is
the president of ICE Online Inc.

DSI developed several other games, including such titles as Evolution
(1982/Sydney Development), Grand Prix Circuit (1988/Accolade), Test Drive
(1989/Accolade), Hardball II (1990/Accolade), The Duel - Test Drive II
(1990/Accolade), Bill Elliot's NASCAR Challenge (1991/Konami), Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles (1991/Konami) and 4D Sports Boxing (1991/Electronic
Arts).

[1.3] AN INTERVIEW WITH DON MATTRICK

(by Lynne Henderson for the Canadian "The Computer Paper", 1990)

THE GAMES GAME

Don Mattrick is in The Games Game. As co-founder of Distinctive Software
Inc., 26-year-old Mattrick has come a long way from his Burnaby North
high school days and his first business success with the computer game,
Evolution. Now, as the chairman of B.C.'s largest computer game
development company, he presently devotes 60 to 70 hours a week to games
and entertainment software, his growing business that yielded $3.2
million revenue in 1989.

NAUTICAL BUT NICE

His 4th-storey view office, decorated with a large Metal Art fish
sculpture and a spectacular wall-to-wall tropical fish tank, is
reminiscent of a captain's quarters in a luxury yacht. It is a Nemo-esque
haven apart from the madcap offices of his R and D group where creative
license is apparent with high-tech toys, MIDI equipment, arcade games,
and graffiti on the "playroom" walls. Mattrick speaks modestly of his
successes which have in January 1990 allowed him to take over the entire
14,000-square-foot fourth floor of his building - one step toward even
greater future expansion. "We've had a lot of successful ventures as a
company. I think some of the most important accomplishments that we have
are the client base that we work with at this time; companies like Walt
Disney, Konami, Electronic Arts, Accolade, BrÝderbund, NEC, IBM -
companies that publish products throughout the world and are in the top
ten in our industry." Mattrick co-founded DSI in 1982 with a partner,
Jeff Sember. The two severed their relationship three and one half years
ago. The company has grown steadily in the past few years and employees
number close to 80 at this time. The average age is only 27. Mattrick is
proud of his unique team. The creation of software is very
time-intensive, he explains, and projects take many man-years to complete
and require specialized skills, teamwork, patience and dedication to be
successful. "We have a diverse group of people that have specialized
skills and bring a spark to the artistic side of what it is we do."
Mattrick emphasizes the importance of a good team and notes that every
year that they are together they improve their performance as well as
their products. Part of the success of the firm is linked to his strong
family ties. His mother, Joan Mattrick, is active as manager,
administration services, while his cousin Bruce McMillan is
vice-president of operations. Mattrick recognizes that his success is
determined both by how well the products sell and are enjoyed by the
buying public, and peer acceptance. For example, the emergence of
Nintendo has had a dramatic impact on the consumer market. An authorized
Nintendo developer, DSI develops products for the Nintendo Entertainment
System 8-bit system, and Gameboy handheld and new 16-bit Super Famicon
System in the future. He announces that in the upcoming quarter, some
major Nintendo titles will be released, with TV, print and special
promotions. As well, Bill Elliot's NASCAR Challenge (Konami), Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles (Konami) and 4D Sports Boxing (Software Toolworks)
are scheduled for release.

HIGHER AND DEEPER

Aside from the emergence of the dedicated video game machine, Mattrick
addresses the fact that all products tend to increase in scope as
consumers become more sophisticated. "So product quality need be higher
and the designs need be deeper in terms of game play and the amount of
hours that it takes to complete a product." He recognises that company
growth must be balanced by maintaining a cash reserve in the advent of
their market declining or the economy cooling in North America. Market
share which is dependent upon time, product and competition is
unpredictable in many ways.

DRIVING FORCE

Mattrick is proud of his driving products, which have been a focal point
for Distinctive Software. They've produced the now-famous Accolade titles
Test Drive, Grand Prix Circuit and The Duel - Test Drive II including
various car and scenery disks for those products. Hardball II and Test
Drive II continue to sell well and maintain their position within the top
twenty best sellers in North America. Some ten new driving products will
be released between November 1 and the first quarter of 1991. One from
BrÝderbund called Stunts was just released within the last week. A
Ferrari owner, as well as an aficionado and racer of exotic automobiles,
Mattrick's eyes gleam with intensity as he explains, "It's a combination
of a bitmap and 3-D polygon-type driving game where you can select
various cars, various opponents and build your own race tracks to drive
on. The race tracks can be normal tracks or tracks with stunts like a
loop-de-loop or a corkscrew or jumps and it tends to make for a lot of
excitement." However, he is quick to specify that DSI is more than just a
games developer. It has diversified into the educational software market.
Mickey's ABCs and Mickey's 123s, which were developed on the IBM PC as
the lead format, are two products recently released with Disney for the
Christmas season. He explains, "(It) comes with some specialized hardware
that allows your IBM to have digitized speech coming back. So our
software is bundled with a hardware package and all that is coupled with
a fairly extensive advertising campaign with Disney targeted at families
and learning." Three or four years ago DSI worked with the government in
the area of computer-aided instruction programs. Mattrick acknowledges
that it was a different type of process as opposed to working with movie
companies and private industry. Although rewarding in its own way, it was
more time-consuming. With the popularity his company now enjoys, it can
pick and choose from virtually any number of opportunities. "We've been
in discussions with companies like Philips and various movie companies on
new development of intellectual property [based on] movies and consumer
goods, on a frequent basis. The structure of the deals that we can do is
anything from just a purely contractual relationship to shared investment
and risk." Mattrick emphatically denies any plans to go public at this
time. He states that DSI has been able to grow and develop its own cash
reserves without having to raise money from venture capitalists. Whatever
the strategies are, revenues exceed $5M so far this year.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

DSI has undergone a significant management shift in the last year with
the appointment of Tarrnie Williams as president. Why did Mattrick
appoint to the Number One Office the former CEO of Sydney Developments, a
man who had received such notoriety both during and subsequent to his
resignation in 1984? Mattrick explains that Williams had been involved
with DSI over the years in an advisory position at a board level. "I
particularly wanted someone who had a wide range of experience who could
bring different ideas from past experience and also understood people.
And I think with all the experience that Tarrnie's had, that's a minimum
description of his skill set." Mattrick is enthused about the future
directions his company could take. "The emergence of optical disks, CD
ROM, CDI, DVI and CDTV all lend themselves to a number of exciting future
prospects. Outside of that you even have the development of new
technologies like virtual reality."

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY?

Although he approaches work responsibilities with a high degree of
intensity, Mattrick denies the adage that all work and no play make him a
dull guy. Equally important are friends, sports, car racing, and travel.
For December, he plans to combine Spanish beaches with his European work
schedule, which includes visits with Mindscape, Software Toolworks, and
some friends at companies such as US Gold and Infogrames. When asked
about rumors of his retiring at age 30, this computer veteran jokingly
replies, "I've booked my flight!" He looks forward to a time when his
business could function without him. "That still leaves me four years and
probably a lot of hard work and long evenings between now and that future
point."

[1.4] ELECTRONIC ARTS BUYS DISTINCTIVE SOFTWARE INC.

(from the Canadian "The Computer Paper", 1991)

Distinctive Software Inc., producer of popular games including the
best-selling Test Drive series, has been sold to California-based
Electronic Arts for a reported $11 million. Under the terms of the sale,
EA will pay $785,000 in cash, with the balance in shares. Don Mattrick,
who co-founded DSI in 1982 with then-partner Jeff Sember (now at MindSpan
Technologies), will continue as V.P., Marketing, and Tarrnie Williams
will stay on as DSI President.

[1.5] A LATE REVIEW

(by David Leadbetter for the "Game Bytes Magazine", 1994)

INTRODUCTION

If you've never heard of the game Stunts by BrÝderbund, or 4D Sports
Driving by Mindscape (from here on referenced as Stunts), then please
allow me to introduce you to this little gem of a game from days gone
past.

In brief, Stunts is a stunt car racing game that has plenty of cars to
drive, plenty of opponents to race (and beat), plenty of cliff hanging
stunts to try, and thousands of hours of game playing excitement. Stunts
is not a realistic racing simulator. If you want racing realism there are
hordes of other titles out there to choose from.

Stunts belongs to a distinct genre of games that include other titles
such as Stunt Driver and Hard Drivin' II. All promise to offer similar
features, but Stunts inevitably rates the best due simply to it's perfect
controllability, which is sadly lacking in the other titles no matter how
much configurability the try to provide. (And in my opinion a racing game
is not worth playing if the car is impossible to control!)

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Visually, Stunts can easily compare to other games of it's time. It
caters for a wide range of machines, with video support for everything
from Hercules graphics to VGA. This is nice to know if you don't have
VGA, but I would not recommend playing with less. The game world is drawn
with 3D polygon graphics and includes a selectable detail level, which
provides a fluid frame rate on even a low end 386. A variety of horizon
backdrops and scenery add to the overall atmosphere of the game (though
you don't normally have time to comment on such things while you thunder
down the track ;-)). Each car has it's own rough polygon model, and
dashboard design (which you see when you view from inside the car).

Sound support is equally well done. Stunts has sound support for
everything from the PC speaker to the SoundBlaster. Stunts manages to
provide quite realistic engine and skidding sounds. A different sound is
provided for each car you can drive. For total enjoyment though, a
SoundBlaster is recommended (preferably pumped through an amplifier, for
an engine you can feel ;-)).

INTERFACE

Stunts provides excellent game controls. It supports all three main input
devices: keyboard, joystick and mouse. I recommend using the keyboard for
easiest driving control. Strangely enough it is in this department that
so many other driving games fail. The most frequent problem I've seen is
"super sensitive/unresponsive steering". But Stunts handles exquisitely.
The designers appear to have found the perfect balance between initial
turning resistance for fine steering adjustments, and continuous turning
speed for main maneuvering.

THE RACING

Before you begin racing, there are a few things you need to do.

First, select your car. Stunts has a wide range to choose from, from the
slow offroad 4WDs to turbo charged Formula 1 racing cars. Each car type
has it's advantages and disadvantages. The 4WDs are slow as snails, but
handle well on icy roads. The racing cars on the other hand are fast, but
are not much fun to drive on icy roads (in fact, it's possible to out
drag a F1 car in a 4WD on an icy road over a short distance!). You also
have the option of driving a manual or automatic gearbox for each car.

Next, you should pick your opponent. In this area, Stunts has two modes
of racing. A "practice" mode where you race against the clock (no
opponent), and a "competitive" mode where you race against a single
opponent. There are range of opponents all with their own various driving
strengths. Sadly, the opponent intelligence is rather weak in general.
The toughest opponent is called "Skid Vicious" - a name to instill fear
in would be challengers perhaps? His driving sure doesn't! In fact, all
computer opponents share a high level of driving incompetence. They are
slow, will reliably crash on any slightly tricky track, and if they
don't, it is unbearably easy to "influence" them into doing so. But, the
computer opponents can still provide a tough challenge if you don't mind
racing them in a much slower car.

Finally, you need to pick a track to race. Stunts comes with a small
number of rather simple "training" tracks, and those quickly become
boring, but, Stunts comes with a fully featured built-in track editor, so
you can make your own tracks to race. It is the presence of the track
editor and it's operating simplicity that make Stunts a really great
game.

You can build tracks with three types of road surfaces, from solid paved
roads to slippery icy roads. There are a variety of "standard" road
pieces, like corners, chicanes, crossroads, ramps, elevated roads, and
banks. But the exciting part is the huge number of stunts pieces that you
can include in your tracks. The range includes tunnels, loops,
corkscrews, piper, half pipes, "slalom" roads (roads with barricades that
you have to "slalom" through), and corkscrew ramps. In addition there are
a number of scenery pieces including buildings of various sizes, trees of
various types, ships, and even a tennis court! All these pieces can of
course be combined together to make a vast variety of jumps and stunts.

And, if you ever tire of the set of provided landscapes for building your
tracks on, Stunts also includes a terrain editor as part of it's track
editor.

Hint: The terrain editor is an undocumented feature of Stunts. You can
access the terrain pieces in the track editor by pressing
.

So, once you've picked your car, opponent and track, the aim is to
firstly finish the course, secondly to beat your opponent, and thirdly to
do it in record time, but most of all to have a ball while doing so.
Which isn't all that hard, since not much can compare to leaping a
building in a Formula 1 racing car (or any car for that matter)!

Now you're hurtling down the track. You took that last jump with ease,
and a corkscrew looms menacingly ahead. No problem you think to yourself,
you've completed this stunt successfully many times before. But this time
you are over confident and the inevitable happens. You approach the
maneuver too fast and lose control, and the wreckage of your car gets
strewn all over the race track.

There's nothing extremely exciting about that, except the amazing things
that can happen as you crash! Do not be surprised if you find your car
soaring hundreds of meters above the ground! Sometimes before a crash,
sometimes after, but don't ever expect to survive such a fall! And there
is nothing like going vertical in a F1 racing car to add some thrill to
you spill! It's all part of the fun.

To top it all off, Stunts also includes a 10 minute replay buffer (which
is long enough for almost any race!). So when you complete that perfect
drive, make an incredible recovery from a certain death situation, have a
crash that is truly spectacular, or do anything that you want to take a
second look at, it's preserved for you in the replay, which you can watch
immediately, or save to disk for viewing later. Plus, for ultimate
viewing scrutiny, Stunts provides a number of viewing cameras (for both
viewing replays and racing from!), including a user controlled viewpoint!
And of course, you are free to give your replays to your friends, so that
they can see your incredible feats of driving. In fact, you can use the
tracks you design on any version of Stunts, including the PC and Amiga
versions. Sadly, the same compatibility is not true for replays, which
will only work accurately on the same version of the game that they were
saved on.

Stunts does have a small number of bugs. The most notable is the infamous
"overdrive" bug. This is essentially an "afterburner" for your racing
car, or a tank of nitrous oxide that never runs out. "Overdrive" is
really more of a feature than a bug, since it does make the game more fun
to play (as you can imagine).

WRAPPING UP

To me, Stunts is a fantastic game. I consider it so good that it has had
permanent residence on my harddrive for more than three years! This says
quite a lot to me, since no version of DOS that I've used has lasted that
long (or any machine I've had)! In fact, the only additional feature that
Stunts does not provide, which would be truly appreciated is the ability
to play head to head with a friend through a serial link.

I barely hesitate to suggest that there would be no one that would not
enjoy playing Stunts, however if you enjoy a fast paced, action filled
game, then Stunts is definitely for you. And when you find it, you should
be pleasantly surprised that it won't cost you an arm and a leg to buy
it.

[1.6] A COMPARISON OF DRIVING SPEEDS

(by Alan Robinson for "The Stunts Shrine", 1996)

ABSTRACT

Which driving program is better, Stunts version 1.10 or 4D Sports Driving
version 1.10? These are slightly different versions of the same program,
and therefor driving times can be compared using the same cars and
tracks. The driving speed of two cars on two different tracks using both
Stunts and 4D Sports Driving were compared in this study. Results where
not completely conclusive, but the two programs are roughly equivalent,
for most uses.

INTRODUCTION

There are four versions of the program in question, Stunts version 1.00
and version 1.10, and 4D Sports Driving version 1.00 and version 1.10. A
question that has been raised, mostly in high score competition is, "Are
there any differences between the handling of the two programs?". Since
access was only available to Stunts version 1.10 and 4D Sports Driving
version 1.10, this study only concerns itself with those two programs. It
is hoped that most people have upgraded to the latest version of there
respect program, one way or another.

The speed issue is a complex question that would require many tests to
truely determine for all cars and conditions. The goal of this study is
not to do so, but instead to determine if such studies are needed.

MATERIAL & METHODS

Two tracks were created for use in this study.

Track One is a large (one track editing screen full) banked circle, with
no stunts. This track was driven with the Porsche March Indy car, at full
speed for the entire track.

Track Two is a small track, with four large size, unbanked turns, making
a almost perfect circle. This track was driven with the Corvette ZR1,
attempting to drive the car as fast as possible, without spinning off the
track.

In both cases the games were run on a 60 MHz Zeos Pantera, using the
keyboard as driving input, and SBOS providing SoundBlaster emulation for
the Gravis UltraSound. No simulation engine bugs were exploit to attain
higher speeds.

RESULTS

Track ¦ Stunts ¦ 4D Sports Driving ¦ Average Difference
-------+--------+-------------------+--------------------
One ¦ 32.25 ¦ 32.20 ¦ \
¦ 32.35 ¦ 32.25 ¦ > 0.200 second
¦ 32.75 ¦ 32.30 ¦ /
Two ¦ 23.30 ¦ 24.20 ¦ \
¦ 23.40 ¦ 24.65 ¦ > 1.183 second
¦ 23.40 ¦ 24.80 ¦ /

Track One results are faster for 4D Sports Driving, but not by more than
the experimental error. Track Two results show Stunts ahead by a
significant amount.

DISCUSSION

In the first test there was very little experimental error, because the
car was made to drive as fast as it could, i.e. the accelerator was
floored the entire time. While the experimental error is very small, the
difference between the two speeds is just as small, suggesting that if
there is any difference between the Porsche March Indy top speeds for the
two programs, it is insignificant.

The second track implies fairly strongly that cars (or at least the
Corvette ZR1) in Stunts version 1.10 have higher top turning speeds then
they do in 4D Sports Driving version 1.10. However, due to the fact that
these scores rely purely on the skills of the driver, and his luck, they
have high experimental error. Even so they imply pretty strongly that
Stunts' cars are faster.

CONCLUSION

There does appear to be some difference between the two programs, at
least for the Corvette ZR1. More cars, tracks, and stunts need to be
tested before any definite conclusions can be drawn, but it looks like
all 4D Sports Driving users should update to Stunts version 1.10. In any
case, competitions, while slightly less valid when competing between
different versions, should not be a problem unless the driving time
between first and second place is less than a few seconds.

* [1.7] SIMILAR RACING GAMES

If you want more action similar to Stunts/4D Sports Driving you may want
to try the following games: Big Red Racing (Domark), Destruction Derby
(Psygnosis), Fatal Racing (?), Midtown Madness (Microsoft), Monster Truck
Madness (Microsoft), S.O.D.A. Off-Road Racing (Sierra), Screamer Fun
(Virgin), Stunt Track Racer (?) and Test Drive: Off-Road (Accolade).

The long awaited successor of Stunts/4D Sports Driving called "Thrust,
Twist'n Turn" by Carts Entertainment/Take 2 seems not be as good as
expected. At least the PC versions were rated very low by the top two
German gaming magazines.

"PC Games" 7/99 rated it 45%. "PC Player" 7/99 rated it 44%.

TTT seems to be very different from its packaging text: There are only 8
tracks instead of 18. It has four different but boring cars. And the most
important: it does NOT contain a track editor.

They are still some rumors Electronic Arts is working on a sequel of
Stunts/4D Sports Driving, but we can't confirm or deny this.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [2.0] SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

All modern computer system match these requirements, but for your
satisfaction, here they are.

[2.1] HARDWARE

Stunts/4D Sports Driving requires an Intel 8086 processor (or
compatibles) running with 8 MHz or faster. You will also need a video
card, such as Hercules, CGA, EGA or MCGA/VGA, 640K of memory and a 5.25"
or 3.5" disk drive.

AdLib, SoundBlaster or Roland MT-32 sound cards and Joystick or Mouse are
supported.

[2.2] SOFTWARE

Stunts/4D Sports Driving requires Microsoft MS-DOS version 3.30 or later.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [3.0] BUGS & GAME ERRORS ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Yes, your favourite racing game contains some bugs and game errors, which
are listed here, because DSI did not release any official bug-fixes and it's
very hard to bug-fix an encrypted program ourself ;-).

[3.1] STRANGE GRAPHICS

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

Since Stunts/4D Sports Driving is a really old game, which was developed
for XTs and ATs, the programmers had to highly optimize their code to run
at a reasonable speed. In these times computers did not have a math
co-processor which would be required for 3D graphics (because you have to
calculate some matrices/vectors). DSI decided to use integer math instead
of floating-point routines. But integer math is sometimes a little bit
inaccurate and computer displays do not have half or quarter pixels, so
the result has to be rounded. All these facts lead to strange graphics
known to you.

SOLUTION: Buy a high-end IBM-PC/Sony Playstation/Nintendo 64, and a
modern racing game.

[3.2] BUILT-IN TRACK EDITOR BUG

VERSIONS: DEC-13-90

If you use the cursor keys (left, right, up, down) in the Track Editor's
tile selection bar, your computer system probably hangs after a few
keypresses.

SOLUTION: Do not use the keyboard, use your mouse or use one of the
external terrain/track editors!

[3.3] TOO MANY TRACKS BUG

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

The number of track files per directory is limited. If you have more than
127 files in one directory, the track selection window does not display
any tracks, the display screws up or your computer system hangs. The
later versions allow more files, but these files are not displayed, and
the quick access keys ('A' for the first track file that begins with an
A) are disabled.

SOLUTION: Split up your track files into sub-directories!

[3.4] SWERVE ABOUT GAME ERROR

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

Sometimes your opponents will behave a little bit strange. They swerve
about, especially on banked corners on hills. This seems to be caused by
a game design error.

SOLUTION: Give them a slower car! ;-)

[3.5] OVERDRIVE BUG

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

At a certain speed your car will fire something like an afterburner and
if you go off the track (to the grass) your car will not become slower.

SOLUTION: This is not a real bug. It is feature. Just use it!

[3.6] ROCKET BOUNCE

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

Imagine that you have several bridges or ramps in a row and your jumps
are going wider and wider from bridge to bridge. Then if you hit such an
obstacle exactly at the highest point (where the up and down elements
connect) your car will bounce off in a nearly 90° angle and start like a
rocket to the moon. In most cases your car crashes if you return to
earth.

SOLUTION: How about braking before a jump?

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [4.0] DRIVING TIPS & TRICKS ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[4.1] CURVES

In order to drive a curve really quickly, you should try to avoid the
skidding sound. It will slow you down more, than if you had broken a bit
more earlier.

[4.2] CORKSCREWS (LEFT/RIGHT)

The corkscrew (left/right) is a very difficult object for beginners to go
through. Simply pass it at the right, between the red separator and the
corkscrew's lane. This should save you some seconds.

[4.3] PAVED SLALOM ROADS

Paved slalom roads are passed best, if you drive your car exactly on the
dashed centre line.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [5.0] CHEATS ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[5.1] FALSE START

Choose your car, your opponent and your opponent's car.

a) Click on the "Let's Drive" icon!
Your car leaves the truck.
b) Press twice!
The replay menu appears.
c) Choose "Continue Driving"!

Now you can start right from your truck. This will result in a longer
run-up way, which will give you a lead over your opponent. Best results
are achieved with slow cars like the Lamborghini LM-002.

NOTE: This cheat will make the replays going crazy.

[5.2] INTERNAL TERRAIN EDITOR

Stunts/4D Sports Driving comes with a built-in terrain editor, which can
be reached via from the track editor screen.

+ [5.3] HARMLESS OBJECTS

There are some objects which do not cause a damage to your car. These are
traffic signs, traffic lights and trees at the highway, the pylon at
"Joe's", pumps and the pylon at the gas station.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [6.0] STUNTS/4D SPORTS DRIVING SPECIFIC UTILITIES ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

This section contains some information about the editing/viewing facilities
provided by several external programs. All these utilities are either
freeware or public domain. They are available from at least one of the
websites mentioned in section [9.0].

[6.1] 4D SPORTS DRIVING TERRAIN EDITOR (TER3)

AUTHOR : Lukas Loehrer
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [**___]

TER3 is the only terrain editor that is a native Microsoft Windows 3.xx
application. It provides the basic drawing functions like STUNTSED or
TERREDIT. On some computers I was unable to start TER3, I only got an
empty message box with an button. No error message was displayed.
But if you can make TER3 run, there are no problems in creating track
terrains.

CONCLUSION: + native Microsoft Windows 3.xx application
+ 'whole-track-at-once' editing
- has a serious bug, which prevents it from starting
properly on some machines

[6.2] CAR BLASTER (CB)

AUTHOR : The Nailwood Company
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [****_]

CB provides a fully functional 'garage' for tuning your racing cars. It
allows editing of all power parameters (e.g. gears, rpm) in a
semi-graphical environment and has a description of 122 out of 814
parameter bytes (14.9%). You also can compare different cars.

CONCLUSION: + powerful car tuning
- hard to setup as most Nailwood products

+ [6.3] CAREDIT

AUTHOR : ?
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [**___]

With CAREDIT you can modify the most important values in car resource
files. It can be compared with WINEDIT and CB. It is not as powerful as
CB but easier to use.

CONCLUSION: + fast & easy to use
- not very powerful
- no manual

[6.4] OPPONENT BLASTER (OB)

AUTHOR : BTTR Software
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90
RATING : [****_]

OB allows you to modify the opponent resource files of Stunts version
1.00 (OCT-05-90) to make it a little bit harder for you to beat the
computer opponents. You can edit each opponent's speed value for specific
track tiles, e.g. paved roads, paved corners, bridges or chicanes.

CONCLUSION: + editing of all speed parameters for the 6 opponents
+ easy to use interface
- for OCT-05-90 only

[6.5] REPLAY ANALYZER (RA)

AUTHOR : BTTR Software
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [***__]

RA performs a driving style analysis for a replay file and displays a
statistic about accelerate, brake, steer left, steer right, ... keyboard
commands. This may give you some idea about the used track without
loading Stunts/4D Sports Driving or an external track editor.

CONCLUSION: + driving style analyzer
- a little bit useless

[6.6] REPLAY DATA VIEWER (RPLINFO)

AUTHOR : Lukas Loehrer
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [****_]

RPLINFO is dedicated mainly to the maintainers of driving contests,
because it let's you view the name of the track used in the replay, the
time achieved, the opponent's name, your and your opponent's car and
their colors and the gear shifting mode (auto or manual). Also it can
extract the track used in the replay. RPLINFO for Windows supports the
same driving style analysis as RA.

CONCLUSION: + view data of replay files
+ extract track file from replay
+ driving style analysis
+ DOS and Windows versions available
- '(finished)' not 100% foolproof

[6.7] SCORE BLASTER (SB)

AUTHOR : The Nailwood Company
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [***__]

SB allows you to change the names (not the times) of the drivers in
existing highscore files. Also it let's you merge highscore files. SB
combines the functions of SV and UPDATE.EXE into one program.

CONCLUSION: + driver name editing
+ driver time viewing
+ merging of highscore files
- hard to setup as most Nailwood products

[6.8] SCORE VIEWER (SV)

AUTHOR : The Nailwood Company
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [****_]

SV is an easy to use viewer for Stunts/4D Sports Driving highscore files.
It shows all seven ranks with driver names, cars used and the time
achieved in a clear presentation.

CONCLUSION: + easy to use
+ very fast
+ can be integrated into the Norton Commander
- has problems, if the extension .HIG is given on the
command-line

[6.9] STEDIT

AUTHOR : Soleil Lapierre
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [****_]

STEDIT is the best terrain editor available. It outdoes all other terrain
editors with it's automatic drawing mode for hills. Otherwise it is
similiar to TERREDIT, but it's faster.

We recommend to use this editor in combination with TE. STEDIT for the
terrain (due to the automatic drawing mode) and TE for the real track.

CONCLUSION: + automatic drawing mode
+ 'whole-track-at-once' editing
+ mouse support
+ small and fast
- you can't load another track in editing mode, you have to
quit and restart the program

[6.A] STUNTS HIGHSCORES (STHIGH)

AUTHOR : Martin Brunner
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [ N/A ]

Coming soon!

[6.B] STUNTS LAND EDITOR (STUNTSED)

AUTHOR : Wayne Buttles
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [**___]

STUNTSED can be compared with TERREDIT: It has only the basic drawing
functions for creating terrains. There are no special functions or
editing assistents.

CONCLUSION: + 'whole-track-at-once' editing
- loses the track information
- no automatic drawing mode
- no mouse support

[6.C] STUNTS MAP EDITOR (MAPED)

AUTHOR : St'phane Jantzen
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [***__]

MAPED can be compared with TERREDIT too: It has the basic drawing
functions for creating terrains and in addition it has an rectangle,
flood fill and an automatic drawing mode. The automatic drawing mode is
not as nice as the one in STEDIT, but it fulfills it's job. MAPED becomes
nearly unusable by a mouse routine bug, which let's you over-draw the
menu. That's a shame!

CONCLUSION: + 'whole-track-at-once' editing
+ automatic drawing mode
+ mouse support
- nearly unusable due to a mouse routine bug, which destroys
the menu

[6.D] STUNTS SCENERY GENERATOR (SSG)

AUTHOR : Wayne Buttles
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [***__]

SSG creates a random scenery (with boats, tennis courts, trees, ...) for
your existing track files. Most of the frequencies can be controlled by
the user, e.g. to get more buildings. SSG is command-line based, so it is
a little bit hard for the novices to use. But it is great for track
creating people, who do not have any idea for their sceneries.

CONCLUSION: + powerful
+ takes thinking from you ;-)
+ source code available
- hard to use for novices

[6.E] STUNTS TERRAIN EDITOR (TERREDIT)

AUTHOR : Ron Lewkiewicz
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [**___]

TERREDIT has only the basic drawing functions for creating terrains. No
special functions, no gimmicks, just straightforward.

CONCLUSION: + 'whole-track-at-once' editing
+ mouse support
- no automatic drawing mode
- slow, due to the BGI interface

[6.F] TRACK BLASTER PRO (TB)

AUTHOR : The Nailwood Company
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [***__]

TB is a terrain and track editor with lots of special functions directed
towards the power user, these include an automatic scenery generating (as
in SSG), a clipboard function (for terrain only?) and the possibility to
compare 2 tracks. It also allows 'whole-track-at-once' editing.

CONCLUSION: + automatic scenery generator
+ clipboard
+ 'whole-track-at-once' editing
- confused design
- hard to use and hard to setup as most Nailwood products
- unable to create new tracks
- no mouse support

[6.G] TRACK EDITOR (TE)

AUTHOR : Marcin Wichary
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [****_]

TE is a very well designed editor for terrain and track pieces from
Poland. It is very similiar to the built-in track editor but has some
additional tiles for combinations often used in tracks and a
'whole-track-at-once' preview mode. Unfortunatly it lacks mouse support
and an automatic drawing mode (available in STEDIT). We recommend to use
this nice editor in combination with STEDIT. STEDIT for the terrain (due
to the automatic drawing mode) and TE for the real track.

CONCLUSION: + well designed
+ for terrain & track editing
- lacks mouse support
- no automatic drawing mode

[6.H] UPDATE.EXE

AUTHOR : Andrew Shugg
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [***__]

UPDATE.EXE was made for those racing championships which are held all
around the globe. It writes an updated highscore file by comparing two
existing highscore files and the relating track files taking the better
times to this new file.

CONCLUSION: + very fast
- multiple files only via batch files
- annoying self-check

+ [6.I] WINEDIT

AUTHOR : Mirko Ruschmeyer
VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91
RATING : [*____]

WINEDIT is a native Win32 application similar to CB. It allows you to
change several parameters of your car to maximize its performance. I
tried WINEDIT on 3 different computers running Windows 95 with various
different car resource files from all Stunts/4D Sports Driving versions
but I never got a correct display of the values. Every time it displayed
something like: "Number of gears: 62534".

CONCLUSION: + native Win32 (Windows 9x/Windows NT) application
- only in German?
- no manual
- does not work properly

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [7.0] OTHER UTILITIES ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

This section contains information about not Stunts/4D Sports Driving
specific utilities.

[7.1] DAVE'S .TGA ANIMATOR (DTA)

AUTHOR : David K. Mason <76546.1321@compuserve.com>
DOWNLOAD: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/msdos/animate/dta18g_3.zip
RATING : [****_]

DTA is a command-line utility for creating Autodesk Animator .FLI and
.FLC animation files from lots of file formats including .PCX and .TGA.
DTA can also perform a wide range of post-processing functions on image
files such as arbitrary rotation, scaling, tiling, multi-layer
compositing and averaging images together for a variety of effects.

CONCLUSION: + creates Autodesk Animator .FLI animation files from your
screenshots (the only way for version independent replays)
- not longer supported?
- expensive shareware (US$ 35.00)

[7.2] PICTURE VIEWER (PICTVIEW)

AUTHOR : Jan Patera
DOWNLOAD: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/msdos/graphics/pv250.zip
RATING : [*****]

PICTVIEW is a mouse-driven viewer and converter for images. It runs on
all EGA, VGA, SuperVGA and Extended-VGA video adapters. PICTVIEW is able
to read images stored in approximately 37 graphics file formats and can
convert them into other formats. All functions are extremely fast, up to
10 times faster than other programs. It also contains a small .FLI
player.

CONCLUSION: + fast and easy to use picture file viewer and converter
supporting approximately 37 graphics file formats
+ Czech freeware

[7.3] PROGRAB

AUTHOR : Giorgio Beccalli
DOWNLOAD: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/msdos/screen/pgrab110.zip
RATING : [*****]

PROGRAB is a very powerful screen-grabbing program. It can capture
screens from any standard or non-standard (like Mode X 360x480) 256
colors VGA mode, and from any 256 colors VESA mode. It outputs directly
to .TGA files. It requires less than 2.7k in memory!

CONCLUSION: + small and fast
+ easy to use
+ inexpensive shareware (US$ 10.00)

[7.4] VIDEOTHIEF (VTHIEF)

AUTHOR : Andrew A. Aksyonoff
DOWNLOAD: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet/msdos/graphics/vthf006.zip
RATING : [*****]

VIDEOTHIEF is another powerful screen grabber that supports all VGA and
VBE 1.2 compliant SVGA modes, including non-standard ones (so called Mode
X). It requires 2.2k in memory only and writes BMP files.

CONCLUSION: + small and fast
+ easy to use
+ free for personal use

+ [7.5] MAKING A MOVIE

As replay files can not be exchanged between different versions of
Stunts/4D Sports Driving we looked for another method to make replays
available to all people.

A combination of DTA, PICTVIEW and PROGRAB lets you create replay
animations which can be displayed without Stunts/4D Sports Driving or
even if you have the wrong version of Stunts/4D Sports Driving. Here is a
step-by-step description to build a .FLI file from your finest replay:

1) At first you have to load PROGRAB as a TSR.

# prograb

2) Now you can run Stunts/4D Sports Driving. Load your desired replay
file from the options screen. Rewind the tape to the beginning
(00:00.00). Make your first screen shot by pressing LOCK>. Forward the tape after each screenshot by 0.1 (or 0.2, 0.5, 1)
seconds. Take your next screenshot. Proceed until you reach the end of
your replay. Quit Stunts/4D Sports Driving by pressing .

3) Imagine that you took the first 10 seconds of your replay with 10
pictures (frames) per second. So you have 100 .TGA files plus 1 for
00:00.00. Each picture occupies exactly 64.786 bytes, i.e. this short
sequence of pictures takes ~6.390 Kbyte on your hard disk. So please
bare in mind that 1 minute would take ~37 Mbyte!!!

4) You do not need PROGRAB any more.

# prograb /u

5) DTA will build a .FLI animation from your screenshots. This may take
several seconds or even minutes.

# dta *.tga /snnn

Where nnn should be 7 if you made 10 screenshots a second (14 for 5
shots, 35 for 2 shots, and 70 for one shot per second).

6) PICTVIEW can be used to display this animation.

# pictview anim.fli

For your most spectacular crashes remember that you can change camera
positions and zoom in/zoom out. If you have a picture editing software
like NeoPaint or DeluxePaint you can add several nice effects to your
pictures before creating the .FLI file.

You are now able to create your own stunt movies & crash scenes without a
risk for your life!

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¦ [8.0] FILE FORMATS ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

This part contains information about the specific file formats used in
Stunts/4D Sports Driving. These information might help some programmers to
write new editing/viewing programs.

[8.1] CAR RESOURCE FILES

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

OFFSET SIZE DESCRIPTION

0x0000 LongInt Resource file size in bytes
...

[8.2] HIGHSCORE FILES

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

In highscore files (*.HIG) are stored: driver's name, driver's car name,
opponent's initials, opponent's car name and the time achieved by the
human driver. Highscore files are always 364 bytes large (7 entries á 52
bytes).

OFFSET SIZE DESCRIPTION

0x0000 17 Chars Driver's name
(zero-terminated string)
0x0011 25 Chars Driver's car name
(zero-terminated string)
0x002A 8 Chars Opponent's initials + "/" + opponent's car name
(zero-terminated string)
0x0032 Word Time achieved by human driver

The time value has to be divided by 20 to get a result in seconds, e.g.

2131 / 20 = 106.55 seconds = 1 minute, 46 seconds, 55 hundredth

[8.3] OPPONENT RESOURCE FILES

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90

Each opponent has an individual file (OPP?.RES) which contains his/her
speed (must be between 5 and 200 mph) for the different track tiles, the
driver's initials and his/her messages after a race. Only version
OCT-05-90 has these files unencrypted. All other versions have the
opponent information in the OPP?.PRE files which are encrypted.

OFFSET SIZE DESCRIPTION

0x0000 LongInt Resource file size in bytes
...
0x00DE 2 Chars Opponent's initials
...
0x019B Byte Paved road
0x019C Byte Dirty road
0x019D Byte Icy road
0x019E Byte Paved sharp corner
0x019F Byte Dirty sharp corner
0x01A0 Byte Icy sharp corner
0x01A1 Byte Paved corner
0x01A2 Byte Dirty corner
0x01A3 Byte Icy corner
0x01A4 Byte Bridge
0x01A5 Byte Paved slalom road
0x01A6 Byte Corkscrew up/down
0x01A7 Byte Chicane
0x01A8 Byte Loop
0x01A9 Byte Corkscrew left/right, Pipe
...

[8.4] REPLAY FILES

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

There are two different formats of replay files. The old format is
compatible with versions OCT-05-90 and DEC-13-90. The new format was used
in FEB-12-91 and FEB-25-91.

CONFIGURATION BLOCK

The configuration block starts at offset 0x0000 and is 24 Bytes (new
format: 26 Bytes) long.

OFFSET SIZE DESCRIPTION

0x0000 4 Chars Driver's car abbreviation
0x0004 Byte Driver's car color number
0x0005 Byte Driver's shift mode
0x00 = manual
0x01 = auto
0x0006 Byte Opponent number
0x00 = no opponent
0x01 = Squealin' Bernie Rubber
0x02 = Herr Otto Partz
0x03 = Smokin' Joe Stallin
0x04 = Cherry Chassis
0x05 = Helen Wheels
0x06 = Skid Vicious
0x0007 4 Chars Opponent's car abbreviation
0x000B Byte Opponent's car color number
0x000C Byte Opponent's shift mode
0x00 = manual
0x01 = auto
0x000D 9 Chars Track name
(zero-terminated string)

OLD FORMAT

0x0016 Word Replay length in 1/20 of a second

NEW FORMAT

0x0016 Word Replay length divisor?
0x0018 Word Keyboard Event Block length in bytes
(To determine the replay time in seconds you have
to divide this value by the word at offset 0x0016.
See section [8.2].)

TRACK BLOCK

The track block starts at offset 0x0018 (new format: 0x001A) and is 1,802
bytes long. See section [8.5].

KEYBOARD EVENT BLOCK

At offset 0x0722 (new format: 0x0724) the keyboard event block begins.
Each event is represented by one byte and can consist of up to six
simultanously keypresses (in theory).

The following chart shows how keypresses are encoded. If a specific bit
is set the corresponding key was pressed, if the bit is clear the key has
been released.

Bit 76543210 Keyboard event
¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦¦¦¦¦+-- Accelerate key pressed
¦¦¦¦¦¦+--- Brake key pressed
¦¦¦¦¦+---- Right key pressed
¦¦¦¦+----- Left key pressed
¦¦¦+------ Shift up key pressed
¦¦+------- Shift down key pressed
+--------- Unused (should be 0)

But how large is the keyboard event block? You will find out by reading
the word value at offset 0x0016 (new format: 0x0018). It shows how many
bytes you have to process.

FORMAT DETECTION

To detect the old format you have to read the word at offset 0x0016. If
its value + 0x0722 corresponds to the replay file size you have detected
the old replay file format.

For the new format you have to read the word at offset 0x0018. If its
value + 0x0724 corresponds to the replay file size you have detected the
new replay file format.

Weird, huh?!

CONCLUSION

As you see from above you can write a replay file viewer and probably an
editor. But writing a converter between the old and the new format is
useless, because there are some things, which we call "environmental
conditions", that influence the behaviour of a car too. These settings
vary from version to version and can't be controlled by the user.

* [8.5] TRACK FILES

(major corrections by Markus Nagelholz)

VERSIONS: OCT-05-90, DEC-13-90, FEB-12-91, FEB-25-91

Each track is on a 30x30 grid of squares: 30 x 30 = 900 bytes for track
layout + 1 byte for horizon + 30 x 30 = 900 bytes for terrain information
+ 1 pad byte (zero), i.e. any track file should be 1,802 bytes long.

Track layout starts at offset 0x0000, which is the bottom left corner of
the track [30/01]. The next element is [30/02], and so on. The mapping
system is therefore row by row, bottom to top. Offset 0x0383 defines the
top right track element [01/30].

Horizon is at offset 0x0384.

Terrain elements start at offset 0x0385. The coding system is row by row
too (from left to right), but from top to bottom (contrary to the track
elements).

TRACK VALUES

Empty track elements have the value 0.

NOTE: A value of 2 displays the currently selected car in the default
color. A value of 3 represents the opponent's car.

Multi-field elements (e.g. banked corners, chicanes, ...) have a special
coding system:

ID 255
254 253

2-field elements (corkscrews left/right and loops) only have the ID
element and 255 (horizontally oriented) or 254 (vertically oriented). The
element is defined by the top left byte (ID). The whole element is
displayed and also the track is valid, even if the bytes of the other
sub-elements are set to 0.

If a sub-element is not set with the values described above, it will
still be displayed as defined by the ID element, but it will behave like
the track element corresponding to the specific value.

If a track has been created with some of the special effects described
above, it should only be opened with special editors like TRACK BLASTER
PRO and not with the integrated editor of the game. Otherwise such
elements will be deleted.

VALUE DESCRIPTION

0 Empty
1 ?
2 Ghost car 1 (currently selected car in default color)
3 Ghost car 2 (opponent's car in default color)
...
253 ?
254 Vertically oriented 2-field element
255 Horizontally oriented 2-field element

HORIZON VALUES

VALUE DESCRIPTION

0 Desert
1 Tropical
2 Alpine
3 City
4 Country

TERRAIN VALUES

X and Y describe the tile's position in the terrain selection window (can
be reached via ) of the built-in track editor.

VALUE DESCRIPTION X Y

0 Plain 1 1
1 Lake 2 1
2 Shore 2 2
3 Shore 1 2
4 Shore 1 3
5 Shore 1 4
6 Hill 3 1
7 Descent 4 2
8 Descent 3 2
9 Ascent 3 3
10 Ascent 4 3
11 Descent 2 5
12 Descent 2 4
13 Ascent 1 4
14 Ascent 1 5
15 Descent with hill 4 5
16 Descent with hill 4 4
17 Ascent with hill 3 4
18 Ascent with hill 3 5

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
*¦ [9.0] INTERNET RESOURCES ¦
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

This part of the FAQ contains some interesting links to Stunts/4D Sports
Driving related stuff on the Internet.

4dStunts Speed Track

Tracks and high scores. There're also lots of information about the game.



Andrew Shugg's 4D Stunts Driving Page

Links, tracks and a very useful utility.



Autoracer's stunts page

Two different versions of Stunts, tracks, cars and a terrain editor.



brainSteen

The game, some tracks, cars and replays are available from this page.



Christian Schuster's Stunts Site

Another very well designed page. There's a newsletter, lots of tracks,
hints and the game itself. Christian has also got his own driving contest.



CyberRacer's Stunts Page

The game, additional tracks, and experimental cars.



Gray's Stunts Page

Offers the actual game, tracks, replays, custom cars and much more.



Igor's Stunts Page

This site contains lots of Stunts info. Contains tracks, game info, and a
competition.



Integri's Games! - Stunts

A track can be downloaded.



Jurgen's homepage

Some tracks and highscores.



KHR's & JTK's World of Stunts Driving

A must visit page. Offers a lot of interesting stuff all around 4D/Stunts.



La seule page de Stunts franþaise (in French)

Le site franþais pour les amateurs de Stunts francophone.



Luke's 4D/Stunts Homepage

FAQ, tools, tracks, replays.



Mach_5's Home Page

A few tracks.



Mark's Stunts Stuff

Some quotes, rating of tracks and designers and a competition.



Markus Nagelholz's Stunts Page

Home of all the "... Blaster" tools. These programs are really essentially
to every ambitious 4D/Stunts driver, so you must visit this site.



Marv's Fanpage von Stunts (German)

On this site you'll find links, tracks, replays for 4D/Stunts. There is
also a tuned version of the Porsche March Indy.



Matteuz Stunts Page!

Nicely done page; some tracks and utilities.



NRGSpoon's Stunts Page

Page containing the actual game, tracks, and stuff about another game,
Acrophobia.



Peter's 3D PC Driving Games Page

A page devoted to 3D driving games. Has a section about 4D/Stunts.



Petrol Peter's Stunts Page

Very comprehensive page; contains cheats, challenges, a lot of tracks and
some other cool information on 4D Stunts Driving.



Royforever

Another comprehensive site. Has some very special tracks (BLASTS).



STUNTS

Download Stunts version 1.1, and wicked tracks. Also, get the cracks for
version 1.1.



Stunts!!! - Metal Marine's Lair

Offers a bunch of tracks and a few links.



Stunts Official Message Board

Another message board. Less frequented than "The PitStop Braging Pages".



Stunts Online

Stunts Online has almost everything you ever wanted to know about this
cool classic game. Another game that offers a wide range of material.



Stunts Page by Vajhra

Some tracks can be downloaded from here.



Stunts Racetracks by Tyrone Settlemeier

Quite a lot of tracks to download.



Stunts Racing

On this site you can race in a Contset, you can race with any car you want
to. There are also some cool cars to download. Very well designed site!



Stunts Site by Bamse

Tracks, replays, links.



Stunts World by Inavoeg

A 4D/Stunts driving contest.



Stunts Zone

Some good tracks, tips and information on the game.



SWIRL - Stunts World Internet Racing Leauge

This site is your gateway when competing for top times on Stunt tracks.



The PitStop Braging Pages

A 4D/Stunts message board.



The Stunts Page

Some tracks, a cool cheat car and a few screenshots of the game.



The Stunts Ring Homepage

The official homepage of the 4D/Stunts webring. It is now maintained by
Christian Schuster.



The Stunts Shrine

This page by Alan Robinson distinguishes itself through an extensive
comparison between 4D Sports Driving and Stunts.



Tom's Stunts Page

Another place where you can download the game, including the cracks.



TSST - The Swedish Stunts Team

Yet another contest. Great looking site.



Widdie

A lot of cool stuff like landscapes, tracks, tools, links.