Older racing games upscaled to 1080p!

[VirtuaIceMan]

I mentioned this in the hacking Hydro/Offroad Thunder thread...

I've been using 3Dfx Glide wrappers like nGlide and dgVoodoo for a while now, which allow games to be scaled up in resolution. However, recently I've been playing with dgVoodoo(2)'s Direct3D wrapping, which allows old Direct3D games to be upscaled too!

Here's a mix of games, some classics, some absolutely not! There's many more games I could have run, but I wanted to focus on ones either locked to 640x480 res, or those with no higher than 1024x768.

Note: all are in 4:3 dimensions (so 1440x1080 pixels), as that's the aspect ratio they ran!

What looks good, do you think? (click to see full-size!)

ABC Sports Indy Racing - Road To The Indianapolis 500 (using dgVoodoo):


Autobahn Racer (using nGlide):


Boss Rally (using nGlide):


Carmageddon (using nGlide):


CART Precision Racing (using nGlide):


Colin McRae Rally (using dgVoodoo):


Daytona USA Deluxe (using dgVoodoo):


F1 2000 (using dgVoodoo):


F1 Racing Simulation (using dgVoodoo):


Formula 1 (using dgVoodoo):


Formula 1 97 (using dgVoodoo):


GP Rally (using dgVoodoo):


Hydro Thunder (using dgVoodoo):


Ignition (using nGlide):


International Rally Championship (using dgVoodoo):


Jeff Gordon XS Racing (using dgVoodoo):


Jet Moto (using dgVoodoo):


Lotus Challenge (using dgVoodoo):


M25 Racer (using dgVoodoo):


Mad Trax (using nGlide):


Sega Manx TT SuperBike (using nGlide):


Midnight Racing (using nGlide):


Monster Truck Madness 2 (using nGlide):


Moto Racer (using dgVoodoo):


Moto Racer 2 (using dgVoodoo):


Motor City Online (using dgVoodoo):


NASCAR Racing 2 (using nGlide):


Newman Haas Racing (using nGlide):


Need For Speed II Special Edition (using nGlide):


Prost Grand Prix (using nGlide):


Screamer 2 (using nGlide):


Screamer Rally (using nGlide):


Sega GT (using dgVoodoo):


Sega Rally Championship Direct3D (using dgVoodoo):


Sega Rally 2 (using dgVoodoo):


Sega Touring Car Championship (using dgVoodoo):


Spirit Of Speed 1937 (using dgVoodoo):


Sports Car GT (using nGlide):


Taxi 2 (using dgVoodoo):


Test Drive 4 (using nGlide):


Test Drive Off-Road 2 (using nGlide):


Test Drive Off-Road 3 (using nGlide):


The Real Car Simulator R - Nissan Edition (using dgVoodoo):


Ultim@te Race Pro (using nGlide):


V-Rally Multiplayer Championship Edition (using nGlide):


VR Sports Powerboat Racing (using dgVoodoo):


WipEout 2097 (using dgVoodoo):


Extreme G2 (using dgVoodoo):

[BadMouth]

Wow!

If only there were some trick to improve draw distance......

[Malenko]

I used to love me some JetMoto , blatant advertising that actually made sense.

[buttersoft]

Great post

EDIT: Are these all PC games? Or all on the one emulator, or what? (How do I get wipeout 2097 looking like that?)

[Howard_Casto]

Wow!

If only there were some trick to improve draw distance......

Well in theory at least somewhere in the code is a variable that tells the games how many units ahead to crop off.  It would be extremely difficult to find, but a one line change could fix it.  If the draw distance was already known, it might be easier to find. 

Great post... I'm amazed how many obscure titles got a pc port. 

[VirtuaIceMan]

Great post

EDIT: Are these all PC games? Or all on the one emulator, or what? (How do I get wipeout 2097 looking like that?)

PC games. Most just need 3 dll files from the MS folder the config exe of dgVoodoo2 dropping into the game's folder, then configuring to show HD resolution :-) some games require a bit more faffing though.

[isamu]

WOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!

Had no idea so many of these got PC ports!!! Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---! I gotta hunt down some of these games!

[VirtuaIceMan]

Yeah I threw a few random ones in there. I've got about 600 PC racing games, so I probably have some more you're not aware of.

I've also managed to collect a few PC racers that were never released, for example 4x4 Thunder (PC version of Dreamcast game), an FIA GT racing game by Kalisto, XLR8 futuristic racer by Speedworks/Europress... there were a few super rare ones I chased but never found though, like Rally Cross by Anco (DOS; spoke to both the authors but neither have the code any more), Ultim@te Race Rally (became 4x4 Thunder), and others like an unreleased rally game called Powerslide that Mike Singleton worked on (even spoke to him, prior to his death, he couldn't remember much about the game, apart from the 3D0 version).

Game credits/LinkedIn/Facebook = good ways to locate and speak to games devs ;-)

[BadMouth]

Do you happen to have 4x4 Evo working?
I own it, but haven't been able to get it to work on modern PCs.  (I think the last I tried was Win7)



Also I've never been able to get a PC wheel to work correctly with the original Screamer in DosBox.
Any luck there?

[Pedro Pablo]

Did you use a modern Windows and high tech hardware to run those games???

[VirtuaIceMan]

Not got 4X4 Evo. Don't know if Screamer can be made to work with a wheel.

Am using Win10 64bit with Nvidia 980 GTX.

[Pedro Pablo]

Am using Win10 64bit with Nvidia 980 GTX.

And no compatibility issues??

[VirtuaIceMan]

It depends on the game. Some may use no-CD exe files if they used a protection system that Windows 10 doesn't like. Some use compatibility settings, some I needed to fiddle around in Application Compatibility Toolkit. I've got tips for getting many to work in VOGONS forum (it may say Windows 8.1, as that's what I had at the time): http://www.vogons.org/

If anyone wants to get any of the games above working then just ask, and I'll check how I got them working!

[adder]

hi virtuaiceman, ace pics 

what are your top 5 fave racing games and on which format (arcade/console/pc)?

[Pedro Pablo]

I wanna try to install NFS II SE, just because on NFS III, IV and Porsche are compatible with FFB wheels

[VirtuaIceMan]

I wanna try to install NFS II SE, just because on NFS III, IV and Porsche are compatible with FFB wheels

https://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2013/02/08/need-for-speed-2-special-edition/

[VirtuaIceMan]

hi virtuaiceman, ace pics 

what are your top 5 fave racing games and on which format (arcade/console/pc)?

There's quite a few. If I was going for arcade racers I'd say Out Run (arcade), Hydro Thunder (arcade/PC), Sega Rally Championship (arcade), Out Run 2006 Coast 2 Coast (PC), WipeOut 2097 (PC, though PlayStation has better soundtrack). Then again things like Need For Speed Underground are great too (I prefer the original to the open world sequel). I'm sure there's more too. Of course there's plenty of games on consoles that are great too, but I've been a PC gamer since post-PlayStation 2.

Sim-wise, let's go for Grand Prix 4, Richard Burns Rally, DiRT Rally, rFactor, Assetto Corsa.

[adder]

cool, i was wondering if outrun arcade would make the list 

[MrThunderwing]

Great post

EDIT: Are these all PC games? Or all on the one emulator, or what? (How do I get wipeout 2097 looking like that?)

You can get the PS1 version Wipeout 2097 looking this good in ePSXe with a bit of upscaling magic in the emulator options. I'd recommend using an American version of the game if you go down this route (it was called Wipeout XL over there), the US version runs at 30 fps compared to the PAL version we got in the UK that runs at 25fps. That 5 fps really does make a big difference to how smooth the game looks IMO. The US version also has slightly tweaked ship physics which makes the game a little bit easier. It's also still got all the awesome licensed music (absolutely love the Underworld and Photek songs in that game).

[VirtuaIceMan]

Try my guide for PC version here (should work on Win10 too): http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9898-How-I-got-WipEout-2097-(European-version)-to-work-on-Win8-1-64bit

[jackiabu]

Great job men 

[VirtuaIceMan]

cool, i was wondering if outrun arcade would make the list 

If I was to list the most important racing games in my life, they'd be as follows:

Out Run (arcade) - I thought this was amazing at the time.

Formula One Grand Prix (PC) - first time real life tracks appeared looking realistic in an F1 game.

F1 World Championship: Beyond The Limit (Sega Mega CD) - still probably the best presentation of any F1 game (shame the gameplay wasn't that good).

WipEout 2097 (PC) - I had tried the original WipEout on a PlayStation and didn't think much of it. But when I got the sequel free with a graphics card I appreciated it so much I ended up buying almost every PC futuristic racing game ever released!

Sega Rally Championship (arcade) - got me into rally games!

Colin McRae Rally (PC) - like Sega Rally but lots more of it!

ToCA Race Driver 3 (PC) - still the game with the most varied content of any racing game (excluding something like rFactor with fan made additions).

Chase HQ (Amstrad CPC) - one racing game I probably played more than any other!

Hydro Thunder (PC) - I played the arcade in Vegas in 2000, then found out the PC port existed! It lead me to buy a lot of sub standard boat racing games, going they'd be as much fun!

Road & Track Presents: The Need For Speed (PC) - the game that launched a series! One of the first two 640x480 racing games I owned (the other being Network Q RAC Rally Championship).

[BadMouth]

Relevant:

[Howard_Casto]

LGR is always relevant.  Fantastic channel. 

Also check out MrThunderwing's vids.... plenty of excellent comparisons of various revisions of games.

[MrThunderwing]

LGR is always relevant.  Fantastic channel. 

Also check out MrThunderwing's vids.... plenty of excellent comparisons of various revisions of games.

[shaolindrunkard]

I have to say playing Hydro Thunder with the wrapper is glorious! Its also awesome that it lets you adjust the brightness, seems like a lot of these old pc games were super dim, or at least they display that way on modern computers.

I'm hoping I can get this working with Howard's version of Offroad Thunder from but no luck so far.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah something odd is going on in that port.  I actually found the surface resolution variables in the game and upped them but everything looked the same.  Some sort of hard-coded filter or odd 3d compositing must be going on behind the scenes. 

[shaolindrunkard]

That's a shame, oh well.

[BadMouth]

Yeah something odd is going on in that port.  I actually found the surface resolution variables in the game and upped them but everything looked the same.  Some sort of hard-coded filter or odd 3d compositing must be going on behind the scenes.

Being the arcade machine ran windows and used a Quantum 3D card (voodoo successor), could it be that the game is already running a glidewrapper to make it compatible with home PCs?

[VirtuaIceMan]

The Midway Arcade Treasure ports uses DirectX9 I think, which dgVoodoo2 doesn't wrapper (only up to DX8.1). I tried to make the PC port of Stateshift (locked at 640x480 I think) run higher res, but it too wouldn't work.

Either that or they're rendering internally at 640x480 in the Midway ports then scaling that to fit the screen, so the wrapper wouldn't help.

[VirtuaIceMan]

Updated: added M25 Racer, which often loads the game in a separate, low-res, window. But when it boots it full res, it's tasty! Way better than the 640x480-only res it shipped with!

[POOTERMAN]

What's the difference in using NGLIDE and DGVOODOO2 wrappers?

Does Nglide do something that DGVoodoo2 can't?

I use Dgvoodoo 2 for all my 3DFX games and as I saw both wrappers listed above in the screenshots I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing something by not using Nglide in some games?

Can somebody shed some light on this please?

[VirtuaIceMan]

nGlide I find easier to use as it just needs installing once. I only use dgVoodoo with certain games.

I'm not sure there's a huge list of differences between them; I try to use nGlide for 3Dfx then fall back to dgVoodoo2 if it's not quite right.

dgVoodoo2 does do Direct3D games (of DirectX8.1 and below) too (as seen above!).

[MrThunderwing]

Updated: added M25 Racer, which often loads the game in a separate, low-res, window. But when it boots it full res, it's tasty! Way better than the 640x480-only res it shipped with!

M25 Racer? Is that a game where people just sit in stationary vehicles on a Motorway around the outskirts of London, getting more and more pissed off?

[MrThunderwing]

Speaking of older PC racing games, does anyone on here have a Daytona USA Deluxe for PC save file, with the secret top stat original Hornet unlocked, that they'd be willing to share? The hard drive of the old PC mine was on died awhile back and I really can't be arsed to get a first on all the tracks again to re-unlock it. Thanks in advance if anyone does  .

[maarcis12]

Hello, i wanted to know how did you manage to run F1 2000, cause i'm having trouble running the game without crashing on loading.

[VirtuaIceMan]

Hello, i wanted to know how did you manage to run F1 2000, cause i'm having trouble running the game without crashing on loading.

I'd need to check at home to be sure, but I know I'm using a no-CD executable on that, plus the official patch (1.09).

[maarcis12]

what kind of OS are you using?

[VirtuaIceMan]

what kind of OS are you using?

Win10 64bit, Nvidia 980 GTX

[2huwman]

This is great - I'm also loving upscaled Hydro Thunder!

I've also tried Daytona USA Deluxe but the framerate takes a massive hit. Any options in dgvoodoo I should be ticking/unticking to get a better frame rate?