Messages

Gabber

Desert

(Because poorplain isn't really a word, as far as I'm aware.)

Education

Donkey

Pyromania

I'll look into the the dosbox answer later. I did downloaded the Stunts game from your website (zakstunts 2024 edition) so it would be a bit strange if there would be files missing from that download.

I'm going to make a suggestion that's probably not it, but it happens to be what's on my mind. I reinstalled Stunts a few days ago because my hard drive crashed, and one of the first signs that it was going to crash, looking back on it,  was problems with the installation and running of some programs because files had become corrupted, including Stunts. So that's probably not why you seem to be missing a file, but in that low odds scenario where that is why you seem to be missing files I don't want to not have suggested it. (I didn't get the same error you describe, I got the one you get when cars don't have all the right files available.)

A less frightening option is that some security program has blocked one of the files as suspicious, maybe a McAfee free trial or something, but reputable software sometimes does this too. i've never seen that happen with Stunts, but at this point I'm just guessing.

Hi there, sounds mysterious. I'm sure one of our Dosbox experts will drop by in the next few days at most, but let me take a stab at it first.

Also, I've played Stunts a bit on Boxer (a Mac based emulator) but here it had the problem that it couldn't save any tracks or replays. I've even tried to copy one of your tracks into the Stunts folder but even that one didn't appear in the game itself. It only showed the tracks that where already included in the base game. Other games had this problems to (the lost files of Sherlock Holmes for example) so I tried Dosbox but that gives the problem described above.

I don't know Boxer, but if this happened on Dosbox it would be because you're placing the new track in the game while the emulator already has the game loaded. In Dosbox you'd fix that by exiting from the game, mounting a new virtual drive (the "mount K D:\wherever\stunts" part) and starting from that drive.

Maybe a stupid question but I'm quite a noob with dosbox. But after I insert the Stunts_k.exe code into dosbox it seems to start up Stunts normally. But after a few seconds it gives the following instruction:

Loading Stunts: Please insert disk 'B'. Press any key when ready...

Whatever I do I just can't seem te get right of this message. I've looked online and it seems that a few other people had this problem. Unfortunately they didn't have any solutions.

Hmmm, that does sound weird. Could you do me a favor and try to start Stunts_k without typing the .exe? I never type .anything in Dosbox, and I feel there might have been a reason for that. Also, which version of the game and which version of Dosbox are you using? You could try the Zakstunts edition. There's nothing weird in it, it's just version 1.1 with some extra cars and skidding sounds for dirt tracks (which the original game didn't have), but it's a version I know is clean and good because I (re)downloaded it just a few days ago.

If that helps: happy to help! If that didn't help: hold on, help is on the way!

Pyrite

But you'll have Mark Rutte! Don't you just feel much safer now?

Bite

(No wait, tree. No, bite, final answer.)

Actually, physics simulations existed much earlier than that:

https://fshistory.simflight.com/fsh/index.htm

Actually, would Deltar count? It was a purpose build analog computer, first put in use in 1960 but with prototyping going back as far as 1944, in which electrical current, voltage, resistance and capacity were used to model the equivalent principles in water. It ran simulations/calculations for building the Delta Works, the famous Dutch dike system in the province of Zeeland. I've always thought that was a cool bit of simulation, if distressingly lacking in a way to race in it. The graphics presumably sucked too.

Although I guess if I'm counting that I may have to count the computers the US army and navy pursued during WW2 for ballistics calculations as well. That might cross the border from simulation into just calculation though.

It looks like Mark Rutte is going to be the next NATO chief. Funny, I always figured we should give him to the US so they can make him president. They'd like him there. He'd also be a better option than any if the pensioners we've seen running since 2016. He's right wing enough to be a centrist candidate there, yet more and more internationally oriented. He's well spoken, and quiet about his private life even when he has reasons to brag. He clearly defends the interests of his own office, country and consituents, is clear about his diplomatic objectives, is well connected (but right wing, so fortunately being surrounded by millionaire buddies and CEO acquaintances doesn't make him the elite), keeps all scandals as quiet as possible, lies like nobody else, only fakes having a bad memory rather than really having one, drags his feet on resolving issues yet keeps media attention to this fact to a minimum, and he's always solidly on the side of shareholders of multinationals, who should be pandered to at all times. He's basically the perfect candidate.

As for the job at NATO: I never got the impression he can tell a tank apart from a submarine, but as its mostly a political job he'll probably do fine. Not spectacular, I mean, if Russia does attack the Baltic countries he mught not actually get every country in the fight, but he'll find a way to let some countries stay home while officially and on paper keeping NATO a strong alliance with everyone on board. And the people who get screwed will probably mostly be poor anyway.

There are certainly much worse candidates possible. That's not sarcasm, I truly believe that by the standards of popular politicians he doesn't suck all that bad.

I think I can do all the ones that aren't Easter.

So... it seems we have a full set of friendly names for the track sections this time: brain stem, middle brain, cerebellum, hypothalamus (?), prefrontal cortex, premotor and motor cortex, and optical cortex 

Huh, yeah, that works.

The hypothalamus is a little off (hippocampus could be an alternative but would basically be off by the same amount) and the optical cortex is only a smallish part of the sector, but as racing section names they work nicely.

"Transitioning from the prefrontal to the motor cortex I build up plenty of speed, but the trick is keeping it building towards the optical cortex."

Yeah, thanks, good terminological move.

The reason this was ever a thing was the variomatic transmission in these cars. One side effect of the technology is that the car can reach all the same gear ratio's in reverse that it can going forward, and is thus just as fast going backwards. Well, just as slow anyway...

Wait, so the cars in the video at the beginning of the thread are all DAFs? Wonderful! 

Yup. This race was organized as part of a show called "Te land, ter zee en in de lucht", which means something like "Over land, through the sea and into the skies". By the time I was watching television it was a pretty wholesome television show where candidates would bring a homemade contraption to tackle some sort of short obstscle course, with them cycling through a bunch of different courses, one per episode. The contenders are often people who also build carnaval floats and such, so they will show up in beautiful creations with no chance of being the fastest to the bell, which is usually the official objective. Note the present tense there, they still occasionally make episodes today, the show is a cultural landmark at this point. But the program started out pretty hardcore. One of the courses they no longer use is a big tower you're supposed to jump off with your contraption, and the winner is the one with the most flight time. The tower is in a lake, but still. The DAF reverse racing is also not scheduled anymore. Back then they were cheap little cars, and while I personally can't imagine ever having enough money that I'll voluntarily crash my car like that, at least they were pretty replacable at the time. Now they're all oldtimers and nobody would do this. Also the race would be an insurance and court case nightmare today, even with signed waivers.

When I get to the computer I'm going to edit in some pictures and some video links. It might be better to see these things than to read about them.

The flying event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJIh2ueC7uk

Another early event: caravan racing. Unlike on Top Gear, these are not professionals:
https://youtu.be/S7ipFApsFec?si=nvBUQeLke3cGYg5L&t=205

Tobbedansen, one of the events that did stand the test of time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OyAovxJQ0g

And of course the ancient Dutch sport of riding your bike into a canal:
https://youtu.be/3PclbivYZ6c?si=i06067vNGMYv4Jrv&t=42

And finally some Dutch carnaval floats to give an idea what those are like. It's not South American style, but in our defense: it can get pretty cold here in February:
https://youtu.be/46O10Oq4djA?si=2HpathzippKt1vdq&t=2675