3D Ultra RC Racers

3D Ultra RC Racers
Also known as: 3D Ultra Radio Control Racers Developer: 3D Ultra Publisher: Sunflowers Interactive Platform: Windows Released in US: 1999 Released in EU: October 1999 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

3D Ultra RC Racers is a racing game developed by 3D Ultra and published by Sierra Entertainment in 1999.

Development-Related Text

Developer Messages

In the executable at 68120 (v1.0) or 73130 (v2.0) are shoutouts from the developers.

Hello 
Slugo John Leavens

Read Books
Ken Rogers

I love Victoria, Carly, Colin and Sierra
Richard Gabrielson

Hi Mom and Dad, I love you
DANNY RUBYONO

In honor of ChrisG
VANCE NAEGLE

Thanks Shawni, I Love You
MICHAEL DESALVO

Pure quality since 1993
John Wolf

Mmmmmm chocolate
Trevor Lanz

Beth Ingram, I Love You
Aaron Anderson

I have no recollection!
Garrett Turner

Thanks Detroit family
Kenn Smith

Top of the world, Ma
Geoff Hampton

Now I can ride my Harley!
Dave Steele

Hi Julia Jongla and Mombo! Love, Stinkley
David Aughenbaugh

Hi J.T.!
KATE ALLEY

Allyson, Heather, Sydney, Hi! Grampa Jimbo
JAMES CAREY

Jo, Sam and Alex, Daddy loves his girls
ANTHONY LEWIS

Glenn Wallace - dedicated to Alexandra
Glenn Wallace

Aloha Nuuanu Boys
Peter Lewis

i love you laurie, ryan and lindsey
Brian Hahn

Hi London, luv u!
JON MILNES

Hi Liam, Brendan, Clare, Sean and Kieron!
KEVIN RYAN

Hi Mom!
DAVE MCCLURG

Build Dates

To do: Compare to v2.0 (Traxxas Edition)

At 6449F in the executable in v1.0:

real-time data compression library
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Markus Franz Xaver Johannes Oberhumer
<markus.oberhumer@jk.uni-linz.ac.at>
version: v0.28, 22 Feb 1997
build date: Apr  1 1997 13:38:22

The file Sierra.inf in v1.0 contains this. When updating to v1.1, the entry PatchVersion changes to 1.1.0.0.

[Ident]
Title = 3D Ultra Radio Control Racers
Version=1.0.0.0
ProductID=70732
StrippedDemo = 0
ShortTitle=RCRacers
Readme=Readme.wri
PatchVersion=1.0.0.0
WebPage=http://www.sierra.com

Player Names

At 68560 in the executable these familiar names can be found:

ai_Lisa
ai_Bart
ai_Marge
Homer

Perhaps these names have been used during development. The released game does not use them.

Developer's Hard Drive

The following directory names can be found throughout the executable.

c:\rcracing\Dev\tbShell\APP.CPP
c:\rcracing\Dev\sim\DIRTY.CPP
c:\rcracing\Dev\Sim\script.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\sim\task.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\sim\track.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\sim\vehicle.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\sim\vmodel.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\menus\Signin.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\menus\vdraw.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\menus\vehicle_select.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\graph\cGraph.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\io\RESOURCE.CPP
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\input\gameInput.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\graph\BMP.CPP
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\misc\simbase.cpp
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\io\RESBLOCK.CPP
c:\rcracing\Dev\chaos\io\UNPACK.CPP

Debugging Features

The game comes with a handful of .ini files that allow the user to enable various debugging features. The information below is based on v1.0 of the game.

control1.ini

Your keyboard, mouse and joystick configuration. The keyboard settings include the following entries by default:

[Keyboard]
...
Trick1=1
Trick2=Control 1

Trick1 and Trick2 seem to have been used for testing. When using either one, it may cause any or all vehicles to lose control. When using the former after a race starts, it draws a white line into the direction that you are pressing. You will now also move into that direction directly without taking facing direction into account.

There are also files for additional human players, named control2.ini, control3.ini and control4.ini.

Trick1

To do: Maybe investigate more. It's possible that the effect of trick1 and trick2 depends on what other keys you are pressing.

game.ini

[Keyboard]
WirePrevObject=F5
WireNextObject=F6
WireFlaggedObjects=F7
WireTransponders=F4
WireAllObjects=F8
ReloadINIConfigs=F12
SavePointText=F11

Pressing any of those keys in-game doesn't seem to do anything. These features might have had a significance during development but have been disabled or removed before release.

RCRacers.ini

This file contains a ton of settings mostly relating to the game's logic, physics and debugging features. Interesting ones are listed below.

[Prefs]
...
physicsMode=1
Textures=1
showVehicleInfo=0
showPhysicsInfo=0
showControlInfo=0
showCollisionInfo=0
showBoundaryGrid=0
showHeightGrid=0
showTransponderGrid=0
Particles=0
flipView=1

Changing physicsMode to 0 changes some aspects of the physics. Acceleration seems increased, and gravity seems decreased. Changing it to any other values makes it so that vehicles can't move at all.

Changing Textures to 0 causes the game to not show any vehicle graphics. Only the shadows are shown.

showVehicleInfo

Changing showVehicleInfo to 1 causes the game to draw lines inside each vehicle to show alignment.

showControlInfo

Changing showControlInfo to 1 causes the game to draw a green line from each CPU vehicle to the next checkpoint, and a red line from each human vehicle depending on facing direction and the direction you are pressing.

Changing any of the other entries doesn't seem to have any effect. It is possible that they had some significance during development but have been disabled or removed internally. Features like showBoundaryGrid and showHeightGrid might or might not be displayed behind the race track graphics, thus being invisible to the player.

[Debug]
DebugX=9
DebugY=585
DebugW=302
DebugH=200

This might have been for a button or other graphic, but seems to be disabled.

[Desert]
Gravity=50
MusicID=4001

[Test]
Gravity=50
MusicID=4003

These two entries seem to be referring to race tracks. Unlike the other tracks, they don't hold lap times for the CPU. There exist no files for these names, but a Desert race track was added in the game's v2.0 (Traxxas Edition).

V2.0 has a track.ini file which contains the following settings, but the Test race track appears to be absent in all versions.

[Test]
LapTimeOffset=0
DifficultyOffset=0
GammaOffset=0
scroll=1
zoom=100
Gravity=50
CDTrack=3
NormalColor=1.0,1.0,1.0
ShadowColor=0.7,0.7,0.7

Cheat Codes

These codes can be typed in while racing. Type the same code again to turn it off. The money cheat should be entered while on the vehicle upgrade screen.

Code	What it does
bouncy	Makes you bounce off of walls.
sticky	More friction.
slippery	Less friction.
moon	Low gravity.
heavy	High gravity.
ghost	No collisions.
turbo	Makes cars go double their normal speed.
hitme	Hard mode.
war	Everyone has an unlimited supply of rockets.
bugoff	Disables track hazards. Only works in v1.1.
money	Gives you $200. This only works if your name is "i cheat" (case insensitive).

Revisional Differences

There is a patch that updates the game from v1.0 to v1.1. The patch is dated October 25, 1999 and only works for the US version. There is also an add-on titled Radio Control Racers Deluxe: Traxxas Edition which basically acts as the game's v2.0.

Changes from v1.0 to v1.1

• Adds the cheat bugoff which disables track hazards. According to the patch notes, this cheat was suggested by a user named SWMBO Racing.
• Allows custom vehicle skins. In the vehicle skin selection screen, press the graphic in the top right and select a 128x128 24-bit BMP file. The patch adds the folder paint that includes the game's pre-existing BMP files.
• Fixes a bug related to multiple human players using joysticks.
• The Minigolf race track description contains the word fore which is a golf term used to warn of flying golf balls. This was changed to four. The Traxxas Edition add-on does not include this change.

v1.0, v2.0	v1.1
A truly unique "course," complete with sea monster, lasers, and windmill hazards. Fore!	A truly unique "course," complete with sea monster, lasers, and windmill hazards. Four!

Changes in v2.0

This version is mostly based on v1.0. The bugoff code is not included and the Minigolf description has the Fore typo, but skins are still customizable.

• Different intro cinematics.
• Six new race tracks: Thrill Ride, Traxxas Raceway, Desert, R/C Off-Road Classic, Aztec, R/C Racers Pro Am.
• A new mode titled R/C Battle which includes two minigames: R/C Soccer, where the objective is to score more goals than the other team. And Battle Ball, where the objective is to move balls into the center of the arena.
• Options in the name entry screen to turn on "controlled steering" and "wear & tear".
• The ini files have been renamed and restructured and moved to their own folder. Vehicle colors, item locations in race tracks and vehicle physics are now customizable.
• The settings showVehicleInfo and showControlInfo as well as Trick1 are disabled. The game does not draw any lines on the screen.