tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post7901883174423598721..comments2023-10-10T21:06:12.984+01:00Comments on Reassembler - Emulation & Decompilation: Binary Translation, Emulation and Decompilationythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06951854683143825385noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-31890931901334604022010-10-17T23:55:32.031+01:002010-10-17T23:55:32.031+01:00So it's possible that the AI path wasn't d...So it's possible that the AI path wasn't designed to avoid Autobahn as such... Let's face it, the graphics were pretty sumptuous by 1986 standards and had significant "wow" factor even if the player's Testarossa kept stacking it into the central reservation! ;)<br /><br />Couple of things I think I remember, though - but it may be my memory playing tricks on me:<br /><br /> - A collision with a non-player car at the point where the road forked could sometimes send the AI down a route other than that which was intended<br /><br /> - When the AI route circled back around to Coconut Beach, thus starting the player car at a different X point on the road from where it starts in the game, the player car could indeed crash into the central reservation at the start of Coconut Beach<br /><br />Like I say, these may be completely erroneous recollections, but I did spend a lot of time around the coin-op that particular summer - making it a nemesis of sorts!bluepillnationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12034896270917574622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-51394441831646285272010-10-17T12:11:14.762+01:002010-10-17T12:11:14.762+01:00@bluepillnation. OK, I've looked into the Japa...@bluepillnation. OK, I've looked into the Japanese version code and I can confirm the same AI route choices are made (in terms of turning left and right at the fork).<br /><br />These are:<br />Stage 1: Turn Left [Wheat Field]<br />Stage 2: Turn Right [Alps]<br />Stage 3: Turn Right [Gateway]<br />Stage 4: Turn Left [Desolation Hill]<br /><br />By fudge, I really just mean that there is no specific AI code to handle the road split. Coconut Beach just doesn't trip the AI up.ythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951854683143825385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-59649761674449885342010-10-17T02:24:52.528+01:002010-10-17T02:24:52.528+01:00Ooh - fudged how? (if you don't mind me asking...Ooh - fudged how? (if you don't mind me asking)<br /><br />Very intriguing that the attract mode is hard-coded to avoid Autobahn - wonder if it's the same in the JP version (Autobahn being a different part of the course there)?bluepillnationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12034896270917574622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-54013774038594385062010-10-12T22:23:56.005+01:002010-10-12T22:23:56.005+01:00Oh, and just to clarify, it seems that Coconut Bea...Oh, and just to clarify, it seems that Coconut Beach was fudged to work around this limitation...ythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951854683143825385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-56151728284484689082010-10-12T22:22:51.209+01:002010-10-12T22:22:51.209+01:00@bluepillnation: You're right about Autobahn, ...@bluepillnation: You're right about Autobahn, I hadn't noticed that.<br /><br />I quickly replaced Stage 2 with Autobahn, and then made attract mode AI play the game (was too lazy to play).<br /><br />Now the interesting thing is: the attract mode code can't handle the lane split in the level! On the straights it's fine, but as soon as there's a bend - it crashes into the central reservation.<br /><br />Normally, the attract mode code is fixed to never choose the Autobahn route (this is hard coded), so this isn't apparent to the user.<br /><br />I wonder if this had anything to do with the decision?ythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951854683143825385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-10526612046955419312010-10-11T18:12:16.205+01:002010-10-11T18:12:16.205+01:00The comments echo my sentiments.
Would it be fair...The comments echo my sentiments.<br /><br />Would it be fair to judge the code in such contrasted depth considering the foresight and technological standpoint we have to form criticism?<br /><br />I would agree getting it out the door was a priority though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-79820330931225614152010-10-07T20:48:21.479+01:002010-10-07T20:48:21.479+01:00...and come to think of it, I could swear that the......and come to think of it, I could swear that the Autobahn stage does indeed split and rejoin at multiple points...bluepillnationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12034896270917574622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-27968669462409614942010-10-07T20:46:37.989+01:002010-10-07T20:46:37.989+01:00The Autobahn and Alps stages are as wide in places...The Autobahn and Alps stages are as wide in places as Coconut Beach - though I guess their motivation was to make Coconut Beach a relatively easy stage to let the player get used to the controls... Though having said that they do throw in that evil S-bend just before the final corner leading to the checkpoint split.<br /><br />Said S-bend caused me to utter words that should not have really come from the mouth of an 11 year old back at the holiday camp where I first tried to master it!bluepillnationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12034896270917574622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-43174364281878368232010-10-06T11:55:14.909+01:002010-10-06T11:55:14.909+01:00I think the most underused feature of the OutRun h...I think the most underused feature of the OutRun hardware, from a gameplay point of view, was the road splitting.<br /><br />Would have been awesome for the road to split and rejoin at multiple points of the level.<br /><br />Also a shame there weren't more wider stages like Coconut Beach - as these are a lot more fun to drive down that the more confined later stages.<br /><br />Reason for the lack for splits is the fact that they had to be hardcoded and weren't encoded into the level format!ythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951854683143825385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5633037.post-90341631473941342622010-10-04T20:55:04.496+01:002010-10-04T20:55:04.496+01:00This is really cool information. All I can imagin...This is really cool information. All I can imagine is that because OutRun was quite an early game on this particular hardware set, the focus was on getting it out the door rather than optimising it to the Nth degree.<br /><br />Also, you've already shown that code from other games (Space Harrier) has definitely ended up in the OutRun codebase. It's possible that a programmer had something that worked and so they reused where possible, but still wrote new code if they couldn't find something that would work with what they were trying to achieve.<br /><br />Although the game is not as much fun, I note that the scaling in Turbo Outrun seems somewhat smoother than the original by comparison, so maybe by 1988 they had mastered the hardware a little more.bluepillnationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12034896270917574622noreply@blogger.com