[HN Gopher] Wipeout (PSX and Windows Source)
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Wipeout (PSX and Windows Source)
        
       Author : haunter
       Score  : 195 points
       Date   : 2022-03-27 14:42 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (illusion.64history.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (illusion.64history.net)
        
       | a-dub wrote:
       | wipeout xl and soul calibur were my two favorite psx 1 games!
       | 
       | (i never actually owned any games myself, but psx 1 units and
       | games were common at certain types of parties and bars back then.
       | my psx 1 was for caetla only!)
        
       | taylorius wrote:
       | Such a rad game. I only got into the super league a few times.
       | That ice planet was a slippery bastard.
        
         | Pxtl wrote:
         | The difficulty curve on the first game was monstrous - every
         | track was trivially easy compared to that brutal ice world.
        
       | hwers wrote:
       | Waiting for the wasm version eagerly
        
         | pronoiac wrote:
         | Here's a track viewer: https://phoboslab.org/wipeout/
        
       | dal wrote:
       | I can't find any information about the license. Does anybody know
       | how it is being released?
        
         | haunter wrote:
         | It's not an official release, probably sent by someone who
         | worked on the game back then.
         | 
         | It's getting more common nowdays that the source code of
         | abandonware games have been released by insiders.
        
           | fistynuts wrote:
           | Wipeout is clearly not "abandonware".
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | License?
        
         | detaro wrote:
         | none, it's a leak
        
           | spyc wrote:
           | For the record, "none" means "all rights reserved"
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | djmips wrote:
       | It's interesting. I downloaded, then renamed the Windows files
       | from CPP to C so that I could easily compare the PSX to Win98
       | source version. You are struck at how small the project is
       | compared to modern games. When you compare the source it becomes
       | both a view into mid nineties game programming and how the game
       | was ported from the Playstation to the PC. They really used a
       | kind of emulation layer to ease the port to PC. There is a
       | LibGTE.h which should be an abstraction of the 'Geometry
       | Transform Engine' of the PSX hardware. I'm just getting into the
       | code but it's small enough to grok and fun to look at.
        
         | djmips wrote:
         | It appears that the game on Windows (correction MSDOS) used raw
         | frame buffer not Direct 3D. The entire polygon rendering
         | appears to be in x86 assembler contained in 3DPOLY.ASM with the
         | triangle setup in DRAWPOLY.ASM
         | 
         | However there is also a code path for drawing using a
         | proprietary ATI CIF hardware accelerated 3D API in winati.c -
         | support for RAGE cards only.
         | 
         | I'd never seen the proprietary ATI 3D calls before.
         | 
         | I dug up some more info here: https://drew1440.com/tag/ati-cif/
        
           | saiya-jin wrote:
           | Back in those days, there was 3dfx and ATI was just starting.
           | Direct3D had abysmal reputation and only for very unstable
           | Windows 95, I don't think 3dfx worked with it very well. Plus
           | as you wrote it was DOS game, nothing like that there, just
           | direct programming for specific cards.
           | 
           | Boy some good vertigo memories come with that game.
        
         | djmips wrote:
         | Yes, and there it is. Libgte.c a PC implementation of the PSX
         | libgte library. Some of these functions are quite laborious
         | without the hardware support. See NormalColorDpq3()
        
         | djmips wrote:
         | The ApplyMatrix and DLSRotTransPers functions are implemented
         | with inline x86 assembly. Must have been on the hot path. There
         | is also some inline assembly around decimating textures to
         | adjust their size on load.
        
       | Ftuuky wrote:
       | Me as a kid discovering Wipeout soundtrack was truly mind-
       | bending: Photek, Future Sound of London, Prodigy, Chemical
       | Brothers, Daft Punk, Orbital and so many other gems in one go. It
       | was overwhelmingly cool!
        
         | glouwbug wrote:
         | I loved how accurate FSOL's music videos were. They had
         | iPhones, iPads, iWatches, google maps, windows surfaces,
         | everything down to a modern day T. The following was uploaded
         | 2007, but I wonder if it was shot or made even earlier:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ZB6jgJMS8
        
         | joezydeco wrote:
         | I loved that soundtrack too.
         | 
         | Fluke also used Wipeout imagery for their "Atom Bomb" video.
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHMzCpy0fXc
        
           | zumu wrote:
           | Wow the visual aesthetic of this video is almost exactly what
           | I've been seeing the kids get into these days.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | hsbauauvhabzb wrote:
         | I never played wipeout but Tony hawks pro skater 1/2/3 had
         | equally eye opening soundtracks for me in punk / rock / hip
         | hop. I was always interested in EDM so now I feel like I missed
         | out but will listen to it today at least!
        
           | oneepic wrote:
           | If you stopped at 3, I suggest checking out the soundtracks
           | for THPS 4, Underground 1 and Underground 2.
        
         | kelsolaar wrote:
         | My current pseudo comes directly from the game! :)
        
         | mywacaday wrote:
         | Thanks for that, never occurred to me to look for game
         | soundtracks on Spotify until now,
         | https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3E6gcAU0fyq74s3oUomwfo?si=...
        
           | liyanage wrote:
           | Thanks for that link! I just converted it to an Apple Music
           | playlist as well:
           | https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/wipeout-
           | soundtracks-1995...
        
             | franzb wrote:
             | Thank you!
        
           | monkeybutton wrote:
           | I have Hotline Miami's soundtrack favourited for a specific
           | stretch of highway.
        
           | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
           | I don't know this game at all, but oh god this soundtrack is
           | amazing! Listened to the first 3 songs so far. Thanks for
           | sharing.
           | 
           | How did they fit so many songs on the 1990s media?
        
             | pvg wrote:
             | The game shipped on a CD. What's more, after the game
             | booted, you could replace the game CD in the Playstation
             | with your own music CD and the game would play the music
             | from your CD, apply the environmental sound effects, etc.
        
               | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
               | But the Spotify soundtrack that was linked is 5 hours 27
               | minutes. Even with poor mp3 encoding, some space for code
               | and data, it seems like an awful lot for one CD. Maybe
               | they just had song excerpts?
        
               | Ftuuky wrote:
               | The Spotify link is a compilation of all Wipeout
               | soundtracks, not just the first one.
               | 
               | Here's a Youtube link to the original game's soundtrack:
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmkdRG7MQm4
        
               | protiex wrote:
               | PSX game soundtracks tended to be less than an hour total
               | runtime. The Wip3out (Wipeout 3) soundtrack was amazing
               | too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFkpcgMuotY
        
               | pvg wrote:
               | Oh I see - yeah like the other comment says, it's music
               | from the 8 zillion other wipeout games as well. The
               | original PSX game just had a CD's worth of CD audio on
               | it.
        
           | protiex wrote:
           | This comment thread and all the music in that playlist has
           | triggered a massive rush of nostalgia, thanks for linking!
           | I've realised how formative all the design and music I
           | consumed at the turn of the millennium was. Design wise: The
           | Designers Republic, Praystation, We Work For Them. Music
           | wise: Photek, Dieselboy, Sasha, The Chemical Brothers. It
           | really was a unique time, thanks for taking me for a trip
           | down memory lane! :)
        
             | joezydeco wrote:
             | I'll still listen to a long Big Beat playlist when doing
             | heavy coding. My go-to is still
             | "Decksanddrumsandrockandroll" from Propellerheads.
        
               | protiex wrote:
               | Saved, thanks! For when you want to pretend that you're
               | Neo in the original Matrix ;)
        
         | Pxtl wrote:
         | IIRC that was WipeOut XL/2097 and 3 that had proper name-brand
         | electronic music on it. The original one was all a guy called
         | Cold Storage. Still excellent.
        
         | Eduard wrote:
         | the in-house soundtrack from _Cold Storage_ is amazing as well.
         | I love to listen to it to this day
        
           | dm319 wrote:
           | Yes, his music is terrific. Great to put on your headphones
           | and immerse yourself in the layers of sounds. Think my
           | favourite track was called Messij or something.
        
           | Lammy wrote:
           | And he's on Bandcamp! https://coldstorage.bandcamp.com/
        
         | thot_experiment wrote:
         | I came here to say this and you beat me to it. Absolutely a
         | formative experience for me. I may have to replay it soon.
        
         | fb03 wrote:
         | I believe the Wipeout soundtrack was a introduction to 'real'
         | electronic music to a lot of kids/teens at the time, including
         | me.
         | 
         | The instrumental version of Firestarter is forever embedded in
         | my memories ;-)
        
           | protiex wrote:
           | It was really amazing how pervasive this music was at the
           | turn of the century, it really was everywhere. Games like
           | Wipeout re-introduced a generation that just missed the tail
           | end of rave culture to Big beat, Trance and Drum & Bass and
           | it really felt like a pivotal cultural moment with how
           | accessible these genres were becoming in the late 90s.
        
         | protiex wrote:
         | I blame this soundtrack for piquing a curiosity in me for
         | electronic music that I never really lost. Listening to Xpander
         | (Edit) by Sasha for the first time as a 9 year old on the
         | Wip3out soundtrack was an interesting experience!
        
         | LgWoodenBadger wrote:
         | Same with discovering that the in-game advertising for RedBull
         | was actually for a real beverage
        
           | asteroidp wrote:
           | Where in game advertising felt real and sensible. Yet was low
           | key
           | 
           | Then advertisers went bat shit insane
        
             | JNRowe wrote:
             | Or, perhaps it was the sweet spot. A few years earlier a
             | 7up advert _was_ the game1, although to be fair it isn 't
             | that bad for a 90s platformer.
             | 
             | 1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Spot
        
               | rzzzt wrote:
               | Cereal mascots also starred in one (starts with a
               | surprise sound effect if you launch the emulator, keep
               | volume low): https://archive.org/details/KELLOGG_201902
        
               | naoqj wrote:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex_Quest
        
             | a-dub wrote:
             | it was more like how kubrick made use of real branding in
             | 2001 a space odyssey. it actually played a role in
             | advancing an optimistic futurist aesthetic.
        
       | haunter wrote:
       | Seems to be a leak from someone who worked on it back then, not
       | an official release. Still cool nonetheless
        
       | phoboslab wrote:
       | Doesn't seem like an official release, but really cool either
       | way. Time to dig in and see what I got wrong in my 2015 reverse
       | engineering[1] of the data format!
       | 
       | [1] https://phoboslab.org/log/2015/04/reverse-engineering-
       | wipeou...
        
         | spicyjpeg wrote:
         | That post introduced me to both WebGL and reverse engineering
         | back in the day. I remember reading it years ago and asking
         | myself "seriously, is it that easy to do 3D in a browser???".
         | The web as an app platform is not without its issues, sure, but
         | for quick prototyping being able to just write some JS and have
         | instant access to plenty of APIs is awesome.
         | 
         | Last year I decided to finally break out of the browser and get
         | into actual PS1 homebrew. Unfortunately the state of the scene
         | wasn't, and to some extent still isn't, that great: most
         | homebrew games are still made using what's basically a modded
         | version of the original Psy-Q SDK, which is rather limited in
         | many ways. I started contributing to an open-source PS1 SDK
         | instead [1] by first adding a dynamic linker, then revamping
         | the build system entirely and now building a custom high
         | efficiency FMV playback library (totally not inspired by
         | pl_mpeg of course) that combines the hardware accelerated
         | MJPEG-like decoder with the GPU's alpha blending capabilities.
         | I'm also working with a few other people on reverse engineering
         | one of the most famous PS1-based arcade systems, the Konami
         | System 573.
         | 
         | It's a shame the PS1 isn't receiving the attention other
         | consoles are getting in the homebrew scene. The hardware is
         | architecturally simple yet powerful [2], but I guess nobody
         | wants to fiddle with 120mm polycarbonate circles anymore.
         | 
         | [1] https://github.com/Lameguy64/PSn00bSDK [2]
         | https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/playstation
        
           | oneepic wrote:
           | That may be true, but maybe people just want the graphics and
           | nostalgia rather than 120mm polycarbonate circles. For
           | example, check out BallisticNG, or for some horror titles --
           | Fatum Betula, most games by Puppet Combo, or Compound
           | Fracture (not out yet).
        
           | vikingerik wrote:
           | I've noticed that too, the PS1 just doesn't seem to inspire
           | the same passion that other popular consoles do. I think it's
           | because most of the top games on it were part of franchises
           | that flowed on to the PS2 and Xbox. Other than Final Fantasy
           | 7-9 and Castlevania SOTN, there's not really that much to do
           | on the PS1 that you can't do better with a sequel on a later
           | console, and even FF7 had a PC release back in its day and
           | now other remakes. And the internet was becoming common by
           | then, so the PS1 never had the "my uncle works at Nintendo"
           | air of mystery.
           | 
           | And from a developer perspective, it's not all that
           | constraining enough to be interesting. It's just low-res and
           | slow. The architectural simplicity works against it. There's
           | not all that much to do by cleverly arranging tiles and
           | sprites or banging hardware registers like on the earlier 2D
           | consoles. And nobody is really going to be impressed by any
           | 3d lighting or animation wizardry that's still going to fall
           | short of what even the N64 can do. The PS1 dominated its
           | market at the time, but that market just moved on to the
           | newer generations rather than capturing much nostalgia.
        
       | Narishma wrote:
       | > Today we have released the source code to Wipeout by Psygnosis
       | 
       | Who is 'we'? Is this legal?
        
       | bsder wrote:
       | I seem to remember a multiplayer racing game like this from about
       | 1990(?) for PC/DOS.
       | 
       | What sticks in my brain was the fact that mines, caltrops, etc.
       | would _persist_ throughout the game unless somebody actually hit
       | them. This meant that jumping out to first immediately wasn 't
       | always a good strategy as somebody behind you could drop a bunch
       | of stuff in a pattern at a corner and a lap later the person in
       | _first_ would be the person to hit all the stuff.
       | 
       | The rocket-powered explosive skateboard was also amusing as if a
       | couple people dropped them all at the same time you could
       | effectively close down all but a small width of the track when
       | they came flying around.
       | 
       | I wish I could remember what it was.
        
         | tom_ wrote:
         | Hi-Octane? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-Octane
         | 
         | edit: somebody else got there while I was searching! And we
         | can't both be wrong
        
           | bsder wrote:
           | Maybe, but the timeframe seems off. I _know_ I played this
           | game somewhere from 1989-1992. Hi-Octane wasn 't until 1995.
           | 
           | Edit: I got the timeframe right but the multi-player wrong.
           | Apparently the game I was thinking of was "Deathtrack" but I
           | merged that with the later games that were multi-player.
        
         | sotsoguk wrote:
         | maybe Hi-Octane?
        
       | blenderdt wrote:
       | I still listen to the soundtrack once in a while. The tracks were
       | created by Tim Wright: http://coldstorage.org.uk/
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wright_(Welsh_musician)
        
         | skibz wrote:
         | Thanks for sharing the composer. I was coming here to
         | compliment the music, too.
        
         | cheschire wrote:
         | tim is such a great guy, and still makes music!
         | https://coldstorage.bandcamp.com/
        
       | cammikebrown wrote:
       | I'm a huge fan of the Designers Republic, the studio responsible
       | for Wipeout's brilliant aesthetic. Being from Sheffield, they
       | also worked closely with Warp Records on a bunch of beautiful
       | album artwork for Aphex Twin, Autechre and others. The studio
       | shut down in 2009 sadly, but the website popped back online a
       | couple years ago. I hope they keep making stuff! It seems slim
       | that there will be more Wipeout, however. Sony Liverpool
       | dissolved awhile ago
        
         | naoqj wrote:
         | Don't forget Pop Will Eat Itself. They did practically all of
         | their graphics.
        
           | cronix wrote:
           | Thanks for that. Was a big PWEI fan in the late 80s/early 90s
           | but had no idea of their connection to games/graphics.
        
         | DoneWithAllThat wrote:
         | TDR'a graphic design is still some of my favorite to this day.
         | It was so iconic and instantly recognizable. Their album art
         | for PWEI's "This Is The Day..." and WARP's "Blech 2"
         | compilation for example are incredible.
        
         | Thaxll wrote:
         | Yes, they were awesome: https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-
         | images/imageserve/61558b...
        
           | tezza wrote:
           | They also did a lot of album art for the Gatecrasher Trance
           | discs
           | 
           | So fresh in 1998/99
           | 
           | https://www.thedesignersrepublic.com/gatecrasher
        
         | _dain_ wrote:
         | Someday I want to rice my linux desktop to look like the
         | Wipeout interface style.
        
           | eecc wrote:
           | is Enlightenment still a thing? It would make a good start?
           | 
           | https://www.enlightenment.org/
        
         | 1986 wrote:
         | Still have this on my bookshelf:
         | https://www.amazon.com/Sampler-2-Contemporary-Music-Graphics...
         | 
         | It's got tons of TDR work in it, in addition to several other
         | studios / designers. I could definitely see the TDR aesthetic
         | resurfacing with all the 00s revival stuff going on right now.
        
         | deltaonefour wrote:
         | I believe they were only responsible for wipeout 3.
        
           | musha68k wrote:
           | Designer's Republic? They were definitely involved in the
           | original design for Wip3out.
           | 
           | The packaging and manual alone still feel fresh after almost
           | 30 years IMHO:
           | 
           | https://www.mobygames.com/game/wipeout/cover-
           | art/gameCoverId...
           | 
           | You can see the little "I love my DR" logo on the back cover:
           | 
           | https://www.mobygames.com/game/wipeout/cover-
           | art/gameCoverId...
           | 
           | https://www.mobygames.com/game/wipeout/cover-
           | art/gameCoverId...
           | 
           | It truly felt like "an experience from the future" back in
           | 1995 - and to some extent still does, for this fan at least
           | :)
        
             | monocasa wrote:
             | I think you misunderstood the parent.
        
               | detaro wrote:
               | What's the non-misunderstood interpretation, because I
               | also don't get it? If it's about Studio Liverpool, that's
               | also wrong since Studio Liverpool was just a rename of
               | the original developer Psygnosis after it got integrated
               | deeper into Sony.
        
               | monocasa wrote:
               | The original parent claimed that Designers Republic
               | _only_ collaborated on the design of Wipeout 3 (also
               | known as Wip3out). The user replying countered this with
               | proof that they collaborated on Wipeout 3.
        
               | lkitching wrote:
               | All those links are to the first game, not Wipeout 3.
        
               | musha68k wrote:
               | If the confusion stems from me writing 'Wip3out' I'm
               | sorry about that, just a habit of mine. I've always
               | written out any WipEout title as Wip3out (the capital 'E'
               | looked like a horizontally flipped `3` in the original DR
               | design). I was referring to the source leak related
               | title, the original WipEout (1) of course (see cover art
               | links).
        
             | thot_experiment wrote:
             | > It truly felt like "an experience from the future" back
             | in 1995 - and to some extent still does, for this fan at
             | least :)
             | 
             | This fan as well. Really fantastic, innovative stuff.
        
           | whywhywhywhy wrote:
           | They were involved in all of it with box art and logos, but I
           | think it extended to the game UI [1] and more in the 3rd
           | game.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOYY7w5VUN0
        
           | chaboud wrote:
           | TDR was responsible for the logos, team design, manual, and
           | packaging of the first WipEout, working through XL to Wipeout
           | 3. The feel and character their work gave to those simple
           | polygonal wedges was impressive, and that graphic design
           | perfectly laid out the ultra-futurist vibe with global half-
           | kanji minimalism.
           | 
           | We'll never know for sure, but I've always thought that the
           | success of the franchise really stemmed from their influence
           | at the beginning.
        
       | andoli wrote:
       | very interesting & love to see the bits of builds and other
       | "garbage" left here and there. Wondering if somebody has actually
       | tried building it or even just considered to do so...
        
       | pjerem wrote:
       | I love that, in the archive, the last modification dates of the
       | files are from 95-98.
        
       | silverfrost wrote:
       | Error 512, website is down for me.
        
         | only4here wrote:
         | RIP, HN hug of death.
        
         | merlinscholz wrote:
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20220327115948/https://illusion....
        
       | errozero wrote:
       | Are there any model or texture files included? I can't seem to
       | find any.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | eecc wrote:
       | My 4.5yo son often asks for "daddy's precious disk" and proceeds
       | to faff around with the admittedly insanely difficult controls of
       | Wipeout for longer than anyone would expect.
       | 
       | There is hope for the future :P
        
       | r618 wrote:
       | it's buildable
       | 
       | after opening Wipeout98.sln VS 2019 migrated it somehow, fixed
       | #includes paths - use relative "..\PSX26" instead of full
       | "\WIPESRC\\.." - added missing int type to previously allowed
       | implicit int where needed, and added _USE_32BIT_TIME_T #define to
       | Release config (it seems it's the only config present..) I was
       | greeted with 'missing CD drive' dialog
       | 
       | didn't pursued it further
        
       | merlinscholz wrote:
       | Since the server seems to be down:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20220327115948/https://illusion....
        
         | suprjami wrote:
         | Did anyone get a copy of the actual source file? Seems Internet
         | Archive didn't.
        
           | thefreeman wrote:
           | Site is back up now, the download link goes to: https://cdn.d
           | iscordapp.com/attachments/937373217268572161/95...
        
       | akselmo wrote:
       | Never played the first one, only 2097 and 3. Really great games,
       | managed to play it back then as a kid in the highest difficulty
       | just fine. But if I try now, my ship gets destroyed in seconds
       | heh.
       | 
       | I kinda hope someone can make this build in a modern system. Nice
       | to see iconic games like these to be preserved.
        
       | NKosmatos wrote:
       | I still have the memory card with my track times and everything
       | completed with a gold trophy. Many many hours with PSX and
       | WipEout when I was studying in Sheffield. One of the best zero
       | gravity racing games of all time IMHO. Where to start from.. the
       | soundtrack with all these electronic/techno tracks by the biggest
       | names at the time, the artwork and aesthetics of the game (by The
       | Designers Republic who were based in Sheffield), the gameplay and
       | how the game feels (developed by Psygnosis otherwise known as
       | Studio Liverpool) or the fact that the prototype of the game was
       | featured in the cult film Hackers. There is an online leaderboard
       | for all wipeout games: https://www.wipeoutrankings.com
        
       | unixhero wrote:
       | What's that thing on the footer? I love it, but have no idea what
       | it is.
        
         | moron4hire wrote:
         | It changes when you reload the page. There's also some kind of
         | character walking across the screen. I can't tell if they are
         | supposed to match up so the character looks like it is walking
         | through the environment. At least on my phone they don't line
         | up.
        
         | whywhywhywhy wrote:
         | Different graphics form mostly SNES games, Chrono Trigger,
         | Earthbound etc.
        
       | ydnaclementine wrote:
       | A modern spiritual successor to the wipeout series is Ballistic
       | NG. No fluff anti gravity racing. Highly modable, which allows
       | you to import the wipeout music into the game easily, custom race
       | tracks, etc.
       | 
       | Just a fan, not associated with it
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-27 23:00 UTC)