New mod: extended line of sight

[HerrNove]

I mean, SuperSight works well with DOSBox on new computers, and on native DOS on machines as slow as a 486. That seems to me a reasonable level of compatibility. Maintaining multiple variants is a chore and I will only do that if it significantly increases the number of machines that can run the game.

[Matei]

I have ~6 machines that can run the game if you change the mentioned setting. If you give me those 3 executables I will put them on my site and I will maintain them. If it's also complicated for you, then ok...

https://matei.one/games.html

I will make a page about Stunts... soon, considering what I recently discovered.

 https://forum.stunts.hu/index.php?topic=2273.msg98125#msg98125

https://forum.stunts.hu/index.php?topic=4440.msg97979#msg97979

[Matei]

I mean, SuperSight works well [...] on native DOS on machines as slow as a 486.

Are you sure? You should try track ZCT004...

https://archive.org/details/msdos_shareware_fb_3DBENCH

From file 3DBENCH.DOC:

HM Systems 486 (25MHz), VGA on motherboard  - 10.9 fps

With DosBOX at 11000 cycles - 24.3 fps.

[HerrNove]

Ok, fine. As long as I am not requested to keep them updated, I don't mind making a couple of detached versions. Here they are, the maximum amount of tiles capped to 40 and 60 respectively.

[Duplode]

https://marnetto.net/2025/08/08/broderbund-stunts-2

Again very enjoyable and informative. Three cheers for in-game-timer debugging!

[Matei]

Here they are, the maximum amount of tiles capped to 40 and 60 respectively.

Thank you, with SS40.EXE I can now play the game with DosBOX at 11000 cycles, even with track ZCT004 and it's still a great improvement over the original game. Most importantly, the original 3D rendering had some bugs that you fixed.

[HerrNove]

Here they are, the maximum amount of tiles capped to 40 and 60 respectively.

Thank you, with SS40.EXE I can now play the game with DosBOX at 11000 cycles, even with track ZCT004 and it's still a great improvement over the original game. Most importantly, the original 3D rendering had some bugs that you fixed.

Happy that you liked it! Looking forward to the Stunts page on your site!

[Matei]

Other observations. The initial version, STUNTS*.exe, with an initial number of 110 tiles, has a size of 856493 B. The new versions: SS60.EXE - 255367 B, SS40.EXE - 255327 B, so 3.35 times smaller. With STUNTS*.exe the clouds flicker in track ZCT004, but with the others they don't. Also, SS60.EXE is much faster than STUNTS*.EXE but the rendering looks almost as good.

[HerrNove]

Other observations. The initial version, STUNTS*.exe, with an initial number of 110 tiles, has a size of 856493 B. The new versions: SS60.EXE - 255367 B, SS40.EXE - 255327 B, so 3.35 times smaller.

That's because you got the new 1.6 version, which is available but I have not yet announced since the only practical benefit is the reduced size (thanks to @llm's work). The official 1.6 version with 110 tiles, available in the wiki and on my site, has size 255467: the only difference are the data for the 50 extra tiles (4 bytes each).

With STUNTS*.exe the clouds flicker in track ZCT004, but with the others they don't. Also, SS60.EXE is much faster than STUNTS*.EXE but the rendering looks almost as good.

The cloud flickering is honestly bizarre, since my mod does nothing with that part of the code. Maybe one day I'll find the time to analyze the related routines. Anyway, if the lite version works better, it's good news. Maybe the engine decides whether to draw these ornaments depending on the time needed by the rendering. Just a vague hypothesis.

[Matei]

The official 1.6 version with 110 tiles, available in the wiki and on my site, has size 255467:

In the wiki there's still the big version (RESTUNTS-10a1e10.EXE),  maybe somebody changes it (and puts all 3 versions). NoRH is also missing from there.

 

[Matei]

I just managed to install DosBOX-X and I can play with Stunts at 16000 cycles now (still SS40.EXE). Below are comparison pictures of all 4 versions (track ZCT007).

You cannot view this attachment. Original game

You cannot view this attachment. SS40.EXE

You cannot view this attachment. SS60.EXE

You cannot view this attachment. RESTUNTS-9003008.EXE

[HerrNove]

In the wiki there's still the big version (RESTUNTS-10a1e10.EXE),  maybe somebody changes it

Now fixed, thanks.

(and puts all 3 versions)

I did not want to do that because that would basically commit me to update them every time I improve the original version, which is precisely what I wanted to avoid. But all the work you're putting in that is making me change my mind. I'll finish the final chapter of my writeup and then decide.

But really, it would be better if you set up the build system and learned to compile the thing yourself, with Wine. It's hard to understand its internals but not difficult to just run. I personally wrote the Linux part of the readme. Try it!

I just managed to install DosBOX-X and I can play with Stunts at 16000 cycles now (still SS40.EXE). Below are comparison pictures of all 4 versions (track ZCT007).

Very interesting comparison, it really gives an idea of what the different versions have to offer. But I must say the biggest insight for me is that the cloud pattern changes every time one reloads the replay (what I just verified in the original game). Cheap guys, it would have sufficed to save the seed of the random generator in the RPL file. It would have also helped with the problem of the opponent taking a different path at the bifurcations.

[Matei]

every time I improve the original version, which is precisely what I wanted to avoid.

Improve what? It's finished, it works.

it would be better if you set up the build system and learned to compile the thing yourself, with Wine.

So you didn't even try my game, which  is easy  to compile and I also compiled it with Wine and Open Watcom 1.9, and you want me to "set up the build system" and compile yours? Besides, I already have what I wanted. Thanks again.

[Matei]

https://github.com/dreamlayers/em-dosbox/tree/em-dosbox-svn-sdl2

DosBOX that uses SDL2, much faster than what I used until now... I can play Stunts with 30000 cycles, CPU Atom N455.

[edit] More like 26000 cycles (SS60.EXE). [/edit]

[llm]

So you didn't even try my game, which  is easy  to compile and I also compiled it with Wine and Open Watcom 1.9, and you want me to "set up the build system" and compile yours? Besides, I already have what I wanted. Thanks again.

It was not clear from your posts between getting the built exes from HerrNove and this post that you already compiling the branch yourself