Hi peeps, new guy looking for original 1990 Stunts

[Nilex]

Last time I've ran Stunts with any degree of seriousness attached to it was two decades ago just before I broke my installation with numerous well-made tracks in it. Game refused to run after years of playing I finally decided to delete many of the clutter tracks that accumulated over the years (several of the tracks that came with the game were totally broken too). I goofed the deletion process and my younger self, not knowing better, deleted the game. Losing my tracks still hurts when I think about it.

Since then I occasionally watched gameplay videos of the game to relive those many good moments I've had playing Stunts. Can't remember what attracted me to the game but what kept me playing was its well made physics for the time, the not so easy difficulty, car's ability to jump (novelty for me as other games always had cars glued to the road) and of course the editor. Oh and the replays, which I just realized as I type this I also lost together with the tracks (#$%&!). And also the bugged 6th gear in the Formula car (this alone provided countless extra hours). I know from reading the post you guys are familiar with it too. Wasn't it a blast when you first discovered it? All the tracks suddenly got a whole new meaning.

What blew me away was that in all my previous searches of the game I never came across this community, until now. It only happened because I searched for the game's manual specifically and few links later... here I was. Not only are you peeps running this joint for what, 16 years? You seem to be thriving here, with active competitions & shitz. I mean Diablo is a younger game than Stunts, is backed by Blizzard still. Its activity I get. Doom? Less younger but cult classic with Romero still giving interviews left n right about it (and I thank him for it). What is it about Stunts though? I don't remember it being high-profile (how could I, without internet at that time) though in my conversations with other people when playing newer car-sim games online some did recall playing it and were fond of it. Is it simply down to Zak's meticulous love and support over the years? In any case I find it remarkable. Btw I hope you aren't some dark cult searching for fresh meat though this elaborate scheme. It wouldn't surprise me all that much.

That about sums up my ties with the game and I wanted to write this intro for this community. As strange as your existence is to me I feel you guys would appreciate it. I don't plan to contribute much with activity as you guys seem to hold the fort on your own pretty well. I hoped to participate in the competitions because I like those, especially as easy to get into as yours are, but I realized how far behind I am in skill department. Years did their thing. Maybe, we'll see... Let it be known I was pretty good 20 years ago! (oh if you only knew how funny that sounds to me)

* * *

Fast forward to a year ago I began the process of improving my old game backup collection. Adding official manuals, patches, guides, community MODs and anything else I deemed worthy. So a few days ago Stunts' turn came up. All it was is a .zip file I downloaded a few years ago from God knows where with many, many clutter tracks of unknown quality (all of which I'm afraid to delete now). I since added the tools, addons, FAQ/guides from Zak's site to it but my core game is still a mess!

I would like to ask if someone has an original 1.0 Stunts from 1990 (not that 4D thing)? Either floppy images or game files in their purest form - file dates from 1990 (release year, important) with original tracks only? And an official 1.1 patch pretty please. If the 1.1 came not as a single patch but a whole game release then sure, I'll take it. But I'd still need a pure 1.0 if someone has it.

I'm kind of a purist in that I want by backups to have as much as authenticity as possible. I searched everywhere and the best I've found was some guy's personal archive of 150 files, with file dates from 1996. Far from good.
ZakStunts 2016 edition is probably the best yet but I'd still need 1.0 to document the differences made to it. Yeah, THAT kind of purist.

Is there any hope?

* * *

Excuse my bit longish post, the words started to write themselves all of a sudden. I figured time passes slowly for you guys here so no harm done, right? :p

[dreadnaut]

Hello there, and welcome aboard!
Yes, it's a surprisingly well hidden community, bar rare occasions. And time does indeed pass slowly, except at the wheel

Regarding your quest, Kalpen's website hosts the contents of the two floppies for version 1.1, but also zips for all versions: Stunts 1.0, Stunts 1.1, and 4d Sport Driving 1.1.

I would still suggest to grab Zak's package for playing, as it comes with community-developed cars, some of which are in use in the current season. See you on the new track!

[Nilex]

Would you believe I've read that same article you posted while having ZakStunts and this forum page in the background tabs? They hanged in the background while I read the article first, before spending any time over here. Very touching story that shows the value of what you guys have here.

Thanks a bunch for the Kalpen's link, that hit the nail right in the head. It's a treasure cove for Stunts related goodies. I've grabbed version 1.1 and used the wiki for 1.0 and 4D, all kept safely in their original vintage state now.
Never expected this game has such a dedicated cult following. From the colossally detailed FAQ I found there, there was about 20 fan sites in year 1998 alone. Mind boggling. I've also come to discover about Shift+F1 trick from same FAQ... Knew it was true without even testing it. I just stood up from my chair, laid on the bed and looked to the ceiling with a blank stare in my eyes. Oh how much time I've spent working around the damn terrain, making track adjustments just so it fits... only to realize the editor trolled me 20 years later.

Anyways, I'll dedicate a separate 1.1 copy and bring it up to speed and see where it takes me. Btw, can't remember if I've read it on this forum or not, there was a short story told by one of the latino brothers that played the game among each other back in the day. They competed on DEFAULT track with the Formula and eventually the brother telling the story prevailed with a laptime of 1:12. And even later than that he managed to drop it to 1:10 or something, thinking that 1:09 would require perfect driving. So he was shocked when he saw a highscore of 1:08 on the school computer.
I found it nostalgic and funny but interesting enough to have it as a reference. I drove 20 minutes last night for the first time in 20 years and managed 1:08.90. Felt pretty good despite I knew the fastest time is waaay down there.

Few closing questions if I may:
- optimal CPU cycles to set in DOSBox? (20000 feels good to me)
- way to remove the music fade-out pause between transition screens? (music off has no effect)
- auto or manual?
- I tried "munt", emulator of Roland MT-32 system, for the first time yesterday and Stunts sounds awesome, anyone else uses it?

[arturbmallmann]

I was going to comment about kalpen's drive copie, but forget.
About dosbox 20000 runs very well to me too.
I prefer manual, ever, every game, but it's much personal.
Sound is very affected to cpu use on my notebook. I just don't mantain others demanding process. Never tried munt, but I will give a shot someday.

PS. My surprise discorvering this comunity was the same hehehe.

[Duplode]

Welcome, Nilex!

- optimal CPU cycles to set in DOSBox? (20000 feels good to me)

Yup, 20000 is a good default (though it might be necessary to lower it with very old computers).

- auto or manual?

Manual. Like Artur, I also prefer it with pretty much every game. Besides that, there are quite a few ways to gain advantages from manual shifting in Stunts -- for instance, upshifting just before a jump, rather than on landing, often gives a speed boost.

- I tried "munt", emulator of Roland MT-32 system, for the first time yesterday and Stunts sounds awesome, anyone else uses it?

It is awesome indeed! I found out about and switched to it last year, but then I had to switch computers and haven't got down to setting it up again yet. The only issue I had with munt is that the DOSBox video recorder won't capture the sound, but that is only occasionally a concern, and you can always temporarily revert to PC speaker if need be. (I say "PC speaker", by the way, because I don't use or recommend the Sound Blaster driver anymore -- at least on DOSBox, it doesn't play skidding on grass sounds.)

[Nilex]

Thanks for the feedbacks boys I think I grasped most of it by now!

Game feels a tad harder then it did years ago. Not sure why, it should be the opposite, lol. I do like that the game follows certain racing principles like following ideal line through the corner and no tire sliding to get the most out of it. I don't recall paying much attention to it before. Feels great to use what you've learned over time and apply it to old Stunts and find it working. A hole new level I never knew existed, further enhanced with munt. Long live Stunts