Dethrace 20261008

Beta. Third release of Dethrace for MiSTer: Carmageddon (1997) as a hybrid core.

New

• Resolution: 320x240. A new OSD option. During a race the view from outside the car is drawn with 240 rows instead of 200: the same view, finer vertically. The instruments keep their size, at the top of the screen and about 10 rows above its lower edge. Menus, the cockpit view, the map and a reduced view size stay 320x200. It takes about 10% more time per frame and applies at once. 320x200 stays the default.
• Pratcam button. Pratcam (the driver's face in the corner, key P) can be given a gamepad button in the OSD under Define Dethrace buttons. It has no button by default.
• Cutscenes. A new OSD option: Off skips the intro and the other videos.
• Without the game running, the core now shows the MiSTer logo instead of colour bars.
• The launcher is our own danik_hybrid_cores, which comes in the zip. MiSTer Frontier is no longer needed.

Updating

Extract Dethrace_20261008.zip to the root of your SD card (/media/fat) and delete the old _Other/Dethrace_2026100x.rbf. If you come from 20261004 or older, run danik_hybrid_cores once from the Scripts menu.

New installation

1. Extract Dethrace_20261008.zip to the root of your SD card (/media/fat)
2. Copy the game's DATA folder (original CD or the GOG release, not included) to /media/fat/games/Dethrace/DATA
3. Optional (GOG release): copy the MUSIC folder to /media/fat/games/Dethrace/MUSIC
4. Run danik_hybrid_cores once from the Scripts menu
5. Load Dethrace from the Other menu

The core in this release shows the build date 261007 in the OSD.

Dethrace 20261004

Beta. Second release of Dethrace for MiSTer: Carmageddon (1997) as a hybrid core.

New

• Renderer: Fast. A third renderer option that simplifies the perspective texture mapping (exact every 16 pixels, interpolated in between). The picture is nearly the same and the game runs 20-25% faster. Optimized (pixel for pixel the same picture as the original code) stays the default and is itself about 5% faster than before.
• Lock to 30 FPS. Shows every frame for exactly two video fields (29.8 fps) instead of a frame rate that floats between 30 and 60 fps. Steadier motion, best together with the Fast renderer.
• The game binary is now built with profile guided optimisation (5-8% faster).

Benchmark on the MiSTer at full detail: Original 35.7 fps, Optimized 44.1 fps, Fast 54.0 fps.

Updating

Extract Dethrace_20261004.zip to the root of your SD card (/media/fat) and delete the old _Other/Dethrace_20261002.rbf. The Renderer option moved in the OSD settings: if you had saved Original, select it again.

New installation

1. Requires MiSTer Frontier, which starts the game when the core is loaded
2. Extract Dethrace_20261004.zip to the root of your SD card (/media/fat)
3. Copy the game's DATA folder (original CD or the GOG release, not included) to /media/fat/games/Dethrace/DATA
4. Optional (GOG release): copy the MUSIC folder to /media/fat/games/Dethrace/MUSIC
5. Load Dethrace from the Other menu

See the README for details. Please report problems in the issues.

Support

If you enjoy this project, you can support my work on Patreon.

Dethrace 20261002

Beta. This is the first public release of Dethrace for MiSTer: Carmageddon (1997) as a hybrid core. The game (dethrace) runs on the MiSTer's ARM CPU, and the FPGA core provides native 320x200 15kHz video, 44.1kHz audio and keyboard, mouse and gamepad input.

Requirements

• MiSTer Frontier, which starts the game when the core is loaded
• Carmageddon game data (not included): your original CD or the GOG release

Installation

1. Extract Dethrace_20261002.zip to the root of your SD card (/media/fat)
2. Copy the game's DATA folder to /media/fat/games/Dethrace/DATA
3. Optional (GOG release): copy the MUSIC folder to /media/fat/games/Dethrace/MUSIC
4. Load Dethrace from the Other menu

Features

• Original 320x200 mode with native 15kHz video for CRTs, plus VGA and HDMI
• OSD options: Sound Volume, Music Volume, Renderer (Optimized, about 1.6x faster with the same picture, or Original), and Menu OK/Menu Back (the gamepad buttons used as Enter/Esc in menus)
• Gamepad race controls: Accelerate B, Brake Y, Handbrake A, Change View X, Repair L, Map R, Recover Select, Pause Start. Assign the triggers yourself in Define Dethrace buttons if you prefer them.

See the README for details. Please report problems in the issues.

Support

If you enjoy this project, you can support my work on Patreon.