Considerations about the FM Towns version and the *REAL* Otto Track

[viniciusferrao]

Sorry to start this *FLAME* thread. But it was necessary. And the old one is older than 120 days, so I'm opening a new one.

I've seen that thread and all the hype about the Otto track. So I got an Windows just to run the FM Towns emulator, got the 4D Driving ISO and everything else. A lot of work to put all running, since I'm run Mac OS X and actually I was emulating the emulation: Mac OS X to a Virtual Machine Running Windows XP to UNZ (FM Towns Emulator).

What a deception!

First of all EA Games has taken over in DSi/Broderbound work. It's everything ridiculous. Sorry, but even the music and all the "4D Driving song faggotry" that everybody here liked. The cool car driving in the DSi diskette was replaced to a fixed screen of EA Games Canada with the narrator speaking: 4D DRIVING IS BOUGHT TO YOU BY EA GAMES.

The next 'skid up' is the Otto Track. Really... this shit is NOT the original Otto Track, take a look:


Seriously? This is made by a junior employee to "finish" the game. A shitty track made by a shitty company (EA Games).

After seeing this I just realized that Otto Track is nothing else than DEFAULT.TRK. Why? It's simple. In a untouched Stunts installation we got all tracks with high scores on it. Bernie has it own high score on Bernie's track, Joe, Cherri, Helen and Skid too. And Otto is on the DEFAULT Track. Which lead me to conclude: Default is the Otto Track.

Why it's not named OTTO.TRK? Simply: because the stunts engine need some default files to load up. They are: DEFAULT.TRK and DEFAULT.RPL; this is why "Otto Track" is named default.

Check it out:


Another drawback in the FM Towns version is: if the HERROTTO.TRK is real, it should be named OTTO.TRK and not HERROTTO.TRK.

And talking about default files, let's watch the DEFAULT.RPL and realize that the track on the replay is not on the game. When we load it up and just leave the replay and go to track selection screen we got a "hidden" track: VANCOUVR. Clearly a mention to Vancouver City. Hometown of Distinctive Software, in Canada.



No record as expected, but this appears to be a genuine track. Look at the finishing, it's well made, and not shitty made like HERROTTO.TRK in the FM Towns Version.

And to finish up my conspiracy theory it's perfect to have seven tracks (including VANCOUVR.TRK and DEFAULT.TRK) due design choices in Stunts. Look at the track selection menu, it fits perfectly seven tracks:



So just face it. Otto track was the most played track of history. People never realized that Otto track is the default one.

And the third 'skid up' from FM Towns version is the tournament mode. WTF is this? Someone made up some poor made tracks and put in the game. They don't even have a name! It's TRACK_00.TRK to TRACK_25.TRK.

Seriously, EA Games destroyed our game. And just to put more fire on it: they should have the source code, at least the fucked up version from FM Towns. But they will never, ever, release it. Because this is will not make them profit. And EA Games is *ALL* about profits.

[zaqrack]

my jaw just dropped. Default = Otto. Makes perfect sense, if you consider the strengths and weaknesses of Otto. Great discovery!

I can't see the images in your post - may be just a China firewall issue. Can others see them?

[viniciusferrao]

I've hosted the images at my university: www.if.ufrj.br/~ferrao/stunts

Hope China does not block this.

[Chulk]

I can see them perfectly, Zak

[Oscar]

¿Viniciusferrao can upload a zip file with the emulator and the game ready to play?

thanks

[Duplode]

The first time I read this I was distracted by all the EA flaming. But the speculative explanation is really good!

[Chulk]

I don't have Default.rpl in my folder (replaced it with my winning replay from Z57). Has anyone got this Vancouvr.trk? Maybe we could have a Live race on it if it's not that complicated...

[dstien]

Has anyone got this Vancouvr.trk? Maybe we could have a Live race on it if it's not that complicated...

VANCOUVR is hidden in at least Stunts 1.1 as well. While dissecting the original files I noticed DEFAULT.RPL were included on both disk A and disk B. The replay on disk A is the one that ends up being installed, while the one on disk B is in fact a different file; an Indy replay for VANCOUVR. Attached the file for your convenience.

[dreadnaut]

And you can get tracks out of replay with phpStunts! :-p  default/vancouvr was among the list I used.

[Chulk]

Thank you guys! I didn't have default replay so this comes in really handy.

[CTG]

Let's give it to permanent tracks. The closed version, too.

[GTAManRCR]

I became really surprised, that VANCOUVR.TRK is a genuine track by DSi/Broderbund, and not a piece of crap like HERROTTO.TRK from the FM Towns version

[Overdrijf]

Nice. Another thing about Stunts I didn't know. Thanks for bringing this back up GTAMan!

So I immediately went into my game, and started playing Default.rpl. The first thing I thought was "hey, this looks like the thing that starts playing when you leave Stunts open without playing for a while". And it is, so that's the function of Deafault.rpl, neat. The second thought I had was "this looks a lot like the kind of tracks I made a lot of, a lot". And I was right on that one too, because apparently about 10 years ago I either intentionally or accidentally overwrote default.rpl to feature my own track.

So I went to get a different Default file from a fresh install I have in a different folder. And it turns out JTK had the same idea, and also overwrote the original file before packing Stunts up in the downloadable we still use.

So I'm very happy that the original file was enclosed in this thread. I now have another sort of official track! Aaaaaand it's kinda boring. Also, that driver needs to retroactively learn some proper replay handling.