NEWS: Supermodel WIP Update (2011/07/05)

I finally found a few hours to play with Supermodel these past few days. [krom] submitted a patch adding a few ROM sets. Dirt Devils appears to be playable, albeit with encrypted 2D graphics and also some unusual 3D glitches, namely inverted polygon normals on the left wheels of the vehicles. Spikeout was also easy to get up and running but something is preventing it from entering the game.



I finally got around to hooking up a feature I had worked out months ago in my standalone prototype renderer: texture offsets. Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram makes extensive use of them, which is why the bots never looked quite right. They are also cleverly employed by Scud Race and Daytona USA 2 during the vehicle selection screens to apply different texture maps without updating polygon vertices.

Unfortunately, texture offsets are not yet ready for prime time and likely will remain disabled in the next release. They are not compatible with Supermodel's texture and model caching systems, and actually cause more problems than they solve. Eventually, I intend to rewrite the entire 3D engine but before embarking on such a time-consuming overhaul, I need to uncover more of the Real3D's secrets.

With texture offsets enabled, the vehicle selection screens in Scud Race and Daytona USA 2 look correct.

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