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Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
#299992 - 12/04/12 03:49 PM
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Hope it's ok to post here, please move if considered off-topic...
I'm delighted to announce the release of Cannonball; a portable C++ OutRun engine. This is the product of many years of reverse engineering, hacking and debugging.
 
The entire OutRun codebase has been decompiled and rewritten from scratch in C++. This extends to the Z80 sound program code and therefore full audio is supported.
Not only that, but the game now runs at 60 frames per second and many bugs present in the original code are eradicated.
This is just the beginning. Future releases will include a full menu, proper control, video & audio configuration plus an array of options and game modes not present in the original game.
I'm hoping to find OutRun enthusiasts who will port Cannonball to a variety of platforms. I'd love to see Linux, Mac, Wii, Raspberry Pi and other platforms supported. I will facilitate serious offers of help. We can ensure that any changes make it into the master branch, so it's easy to keep ports up to date.
The codebase isn't perfect; the original code from 1986 can prove messy and inconsistent. Some of this is naturally carried through to the rewrite. For now, the focus has been on the accuracy of the conversion, at the expense of serious refactoring. But that's not to say this isn't a viable future goal. And I've been working on this long enough, it's time to release.
Why do this? Because I love OutRun, and no one else would have done.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#299993 - 12/04/12 05:21 PM
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Any plans for analog input and a non-toggling shifter?
This would be a sweet addition to a driving cab.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: BadMouth]
#299994 - 12/04/12 05:43 PM
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> Any plans for analog input and a non-toggling shifter?
>
> This would be a sweet addition to a driving cab.
Yes to both.
I'm working on video sizing, controls and so forth next. This is really a proof of concept, and to give anyone interested in porting a head start.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#299995 - 12/04/12 06:28 PM
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I'm confused, is this going to be in MAME?
Great job regardless, looks awesome!
Edited by XtraSmiley (12/04/12 06:28 PM)
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: XtraSmiley]
#299997 - 12/04/12 06:54 PM
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> I'm confused, is this going to be in MAME?
>
> Great job regardless, looks awesome!
No, it's not an emulator. It's a rewrite of the actual OutRun game code into C++ (which would have been impossible without the prior work of the Mame team, thankyou Mame team).
The main aims here are as follows:
- Port OutRun to as many systems as possible (I like OutRun did I mentioned that hehe)
- Extend OutRun with new optional features (like 60 fps, new courses, more game modes)
- Have fun
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#299999 - 12/04/12 07:34 PM
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Sweet!
Can't wait to try it when I get home from work.
Any plans to eventually add directX vibration in place of the original shaker motor feedback?
That would be my only other dream feature.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#300006 - 12/04/12 08:32 PM
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heh, this is so cool! great work!
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: BadMouth]
#300046 - 12/05/12 11:05 AM
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> Any plans to eventually add directX vibration in place of the original shaker motor
> feedback?
>
> That would be my only other dream feature.
Yes, that would be relatively easy and is on the list 
Someone suggested adding 3D support, another cool side-project. Although not a priority right now...
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#300047 - 12/05/12 12:39 PM
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This is pretty awesome. It's one of those things where the only reasonable answer when asked "Why?" is just to say "Why not?"
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: Vas Crabb]
#300078 - 12/05/12 10:54 PM
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I love this version too. Incredibly fast and good 60 fps... should we get splitscreen mode? Pretty high skies and wide screens makes enough room for 2/4 player.
I love the 2 position shift, I hope it stay for an option...
Thanks for this release!
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: GreatLamer]
#300080 - 12/05/12 11:43 PM
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> I love this version too. Incredibly fast and good 60 fps... should we get splitscreen
> mode? Pretty high skies and wide screens makes enough room for 2/4 player.
>
> I love the 2 position shift, I hope it stay for an option...
>
> Thanks for this release!
I added support for the alternate shifter (for driving cabs) that was requested. And a bunch of other stuff. New version on the site.
I like the idea of doing multiplayer and ghostracing in general... but I think that's quite far off. More basic stuff to complete first.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#300118 - 12/06/12 11:33 AM
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will it support custom music \mpe3?also,would it be possible to change the sprite of the car with,say,the ones from outrunners ?
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: Solstar]
#300121 - 12/06/12 12:41 PM
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I just had a quick go, nice work!
However it did crash the cannonball executable just before the tunnels appear on stage 2 (left), but worked fine the second time.
I'll be keeping an eye on this project!
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| Tomu Breidah |
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No Problems, Only Solutions
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Reged: 08/14/04
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: Solstar]
#300122 - 12/06/12 12:50 PM
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: Solstar]
#300127 - 12/06/12 04:24 PM
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I liken this build to restoring old muscle cars here in the U.S.
It's not good enough to restore them to how they were.
They need to be restored to how people remember them, which is way better than what they actually were.
Personally, I don't care for alternate bg music or cars.
Having a perfected version with the original flaws corrected is pretty friggin' awesome.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: BadMouth]
#300138 - 12/06/12 11:21 PM
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> I liken this build to restoring old muscle cars here in the U.S.
> It's not good enough to restore them to how they were.
> They need to be restored to how people remember them, which is way better than what
> they actually were.
>
> Personally, I don't care for alternate bg music or cars.
> Having a perfected version with the original flaws corrected is pretty friggin'
> awesome.
I'm going to have to completely disagree with you on this one. I would very much like to see mods and improvments. Afterall, Outrun is already in mame and mame will run on just about anything. Otherwise it's just a seriously impressive exercise in reverse engineering made just for the heck of it. Outrun imho is the pan-ultimate 16 bit racer. We could make a ton of cool games using it's engine.
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: HowardC]
#300143 - 12/07/12 01:29 AM
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The source is out there, so people can use it to extend the game in whatever way they desire.
I have a high-level todo list here of things I'll probably work on:
https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/wiki/TODO
Really, this is just the beginning of the project in many ways...
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#300165 - 12/07/12 11:57 AM
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> The source is out there, so people can use it to extend the game in whatever way they
> desire.
>
> I have a high-level todo list here of things I'll probably work on:
>
> https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/wiki/TODO
>
> Really, this is just the beginning of the project in many ways...
Unfortunately I doubt I'll get the time anytime soon to do any major mods. 
I've got a couple of suggestions for your todo list.
Aside from dedicated cabs there are also people with generic racer setups that use shifter paddles and/or a multi-switch shifter. So it would be nice if there was a shifter mode where you could bind an input to high and another to low aside from the current hold or toggle shifters.
Also I haven't had a chance to look at the source yet, but would it be possible to render in other aspect ratios? I know that you've added a stretch mode, but I was thinking that since the outrun engine zooms sprites out of frame anyway you could just extend the width of the frame for 16:9/16:10 modes. I'm sure there would be some graphics issues but it might look pretty good.
Great job btw... I sometimes forget to say that. 
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: HowardC]
#300723 - 12/16/12 03:24 PM
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> Also I haven't had a chance to look at the source yet, but would it be possible to
> render in other aspect ratios? I know that you've added a stretch mode, but I was
> thinking that since the outrun engine zooms sprites out of frame anyway you could
> just extend the width of the frame for 16:9/16:10 modes. I'm sure there would be some
> graphics issues but it might look pretty good.
>
> Great job btw... I sometimes forget to say that.
I liked this idea... and so:
http://reassembler.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/outrun-in-widescreen.html
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#301524 - 12/29/12 12:11 AM
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reassembler as a fellow Outrun fanatic of stray-jacket proportions, I salute you. Great job my friend! I am looking forward to where you take this project. Some things I would like to see eventually:
A)Force feedback support
B)Online Multi-player support...each player can take whatever route they want
C)Replay support. Download replays of other players
D)Online spectating support. Watch other drivers play.
E)First person view mode. Drive from the hood or bonnet view of the car
Would be awesome to see those things incorporated but in the meantime keep up the good work bro!
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: Outrun2006]
#301525 - 12/29/12 12:21 AM
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....Online Multi-player support...each player can take whatever route they want
haha would be fun if u could choose your vehicle.. i dont know about u guys but id take the large lorry. any1 tries overtaking me and they get smashed up 
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: grog]
#301561 - 12/29/12 05:54 PM
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> ....Online Multi-player support...each player can take whatever route they want
>
> haha would be fun if u could choose your vehicle.. i dont know about u guys but id
> take the large lorry. any1 tries overtaking me and they get smashed up
This would be relatively easy to do, but most of the frames would be missing (for example skidding, crashing etc.)
Force feedback / Analogue support: I'll get round to this eventually, but I don't have a wheel to test with. Obviously if someone donates me one, this will happen faster!
Replays and so forth: Would be cool. Probably someway off at the moment, until I iron out the odd remaining engine kink.
I'm quite keen to implement a single level time trial mode as a starting point. Mainly because it will be easy.
Multiplayer: I think ghost racing yourself is the first stage towards getting there.
Thanks for giving it a spin anyway!
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: reassembler]
#303400 - 01/28/13 04:33 PM
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Cannonball has been updated with analog controls!
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| Tomu Breidah |
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No Problems, Only Solutions
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Reged: 08/14/04
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Supports analog controls, Time Trial [nt]
[Re: BadMouth]
#303478 - 01/30/13 07:13 AM
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I was going to ask where 'brake' was on my controller, I found it... The brake lights on the car weren't coming on the instant I pressed the button (and since I didn't hold the button down long enough).... 
Anyway, good update!
eta: update in the title draws more ahtenchione. 
Edited by Tomu Breidah (01/30/13 07:15 AM)
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Re: Cannonball - Enhanced OutRun Engine Released
[Re: BadMouth]
#303700 - 02/03/13 02:10 AM
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Cannonball has been updated with analog controls!
>>>>>>>>>
Analog *and* ffb or just analog?
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