HSC7 Game 20: Pole Position

[Divya16]

Race E Namco Speedway NTSC 88,400

and i did better at race G DataSoft 500 NTSC 88,050

I was doing good until i got stuck behind a big pack of cars near the end of lap 7.

 

Try with PAL as well. I just did PAL with Atari Grand Prix and finished the race (race F).

 

Remember, "it doesn't matter if it's PAL or NTSC, as long as you win the race." PAL is much easier and it's worth taking the 500/lap hit.

 

I'd say the PAL final score of the race should be lowered with 20% of the total score. I think that gives a rather 'fair' result (comparing to same race in NTSC)

 

Or not?

 

Greetz

M.

 

I have figured so far 1200 points/lap for all races. That makes my scores even out for the races I have tried on both pal and ntsc. Here's race C for example in PAL.

[Divya16]

Ok we are having a rather 'unclear' thread now... (due to me too)

 

What we need is a GOOD score conversion. I think Pal - 20% total score is rather 'fair' and comes close.

 

 

A conversion of the game is harder than you think. I think the NTSC version should run slower... (that is easier to realise!) than to fasten up the PAL version, since it is using the Vertical Blank interrupt for timing.

 

But ok.

 

I'm rather confused now. Do I stick to my real hardware (The Real Bounty Bob advised me that) and get only PAL results? Or do I play on Emulator on NTSC setting?

 

I have to admit I was rather 'proud' of my NTSC scores though

 

I think it is the coolest when everyone races in the same 'system' ... so the scores are all comparable.

 

Greetz

M.

 

I have played now Race B and C to death on PAL and NTSC without crashes and it's 1200 points/lap difference. So let's use that equation.

[Mister VCS]

I am not into emulation - and i live in PAL-land. I am out if we play NTSC only. This round is a little bit confusing. Should I play all PP-tracks?

[roadrunner]

I just had a few goes at race E Namco Speedway on NTSC and got only 65,000

PAL is alot easier.

[roadrunner]

@Roadrunner

 

I knew it... I found your colors looked like PAL and not like the GREEN SKY NTSC...

 

I was wondering why my color looked different.

In my defense i run so many different emulators it's easy for me to get confused.

Sorry for the mix up.

[Divya16]

I am not into emulation - and i live in PAL-land. I am out if we play NTSC only. This round is a little bit confusing. Should I play all PP-tracks?

 

You don't need emulation. It's a 3 on 3 competition. Get 3 people to do the 7 races. Your scores will get adjusted at the end according to pal or ntsc.

[4Ks]

OK, tip time for the newly acquainted. Never try to squeeze between two cars, unless they are at least the distance of one car sprite away from eachother. Unless you have magical powers (or your name is roadrunner), YOU WILL CRASH. Don't try it. My pic below shows the results of this. Now excuse me while I weep.

[Divya16]

OK, tip time for the newly acquainted. Never try to squeeze between two cars, unless they are at least the distance of one car sprite away from eachother. Unless you have magical powers (or your name is roadrunner), YOU WILL CRASH. Don't try it. My pic below shows the results of this. Now excuse me while I weep.

 

If they are on a straight part of the road, you can squeeze through using the invisible center lane. Hard on Atari 5200 with wacked out mouse interface on the emulator but easy on the Atari 800 with self-centering car.

 

There is a color difference in NTSC vs. Pal so people can't cheat. Here's race B in NTSC and PAL.

[4Ks]

Wooo, I'm on a roll! I almost completed Race D, but I crashed one too many times. I still got more than twice my original score on this race, though. And while I'm posting, here's another tip: always accelerate one LOW until you reach 70mph, then switch to fast. You'll gain a lot of time that way. Now, time to see if I can apply my new knowledge to a better score in Race A.

[4Ks]

Minor improvement on Race A. There just isn't a lot you can do with a one-lap race.

[sloopy]

Attention There and Backsters, aka TheRealBountyBob and Sloopy,

 

you two should take the two hardest because I think you'll do better than I will.

 

Let me know what you'll take, and I'll take what's left. I'll get going tonight and tomorrow,

 

and then post the races I am doing for the competition, and then focus on those.

 

hey, i already said that :')

 

i did a test run and got almost 30k on race A

 

sloopy.

How about

trbb D, F

sloop B, C, G

lj A, E (or if you can't complete E swap with D or C)

 

i tried F or G dont rem which ;'), and in NTSC i couldnt get beyond 4th in qualifying, and couldnt get beyond the 3rd lap... and in PAL i would qualify 2nd, and get to the 5th or 6th lap...

 

trbb, altho you say dont worry about PAL/NTSC, this would make a significant dif in my score as i get 40-50k max in NTSC, but well over 60k in PAL, and with adj it still would put me 5-7k ahead in PAL vs NTSC... if i continue to practice in PAL i could probly complete the race, but i dunno about in NTSC...

 

sloopy.

[Marius]

I have played now Race B and C to death on PAL and NTSC without crashes and it's 1200 points/lap difference. So let's use that equation.

 

I think a fixed amount / lap is not a good idea. It does not make complete sense too, because the "Qualify round" is a round too, but without passing and time bonus (another awarding system). So I'd say: lower the PAL score with 20% or 21% and you get rather close.

 

% is always better.

 

OK?

Marius

[atariksi]

Minor improvement on Race A. There just isn't a lot you can do with a one-lap race.

 

That's pretty good. If you practice the harder races then come back to A, it sometimes help make it easier.

[atariksi]

I have played now Race B and C to death on PAL and NTSC without crashes and it's 1200 points/lap difference. So let's use that equation.

 

I think a fixed amount / lap is not a good idea. It does not make complete sense too, because the "Qualify round" is a round too, but without passing and time bonus (another awarding system). So I'd say: lower the PAL score with 20% or 21% and you get rather close.

 

% is always better.

 

OK?

Marius

 

Just played a few games and I can get Pole Position in all the races so qualifying round doesn't really need a scaling. But the other rounds probably need a factor on a lap basis as I see some really high scores for PAL that are impossible to get with NTSC. I would suggest that the Atari Grand Prix be scored on a per lap basis with minium of 4 laps or something like that and then deduct the factor for PAL scores. So if you score 57K on NTSC and did 4 laps, you would get 57K/4 and for PAL if you did 100K in 8 laps, you would get 100K/8-C. Where C is the factor that evens things out.

 

Here's my scores for races C, E, G; I haven't yet completed 8 laps on either E or G.

[a8isa1]

The Fres, Orpheuswaking, and A8isa1 team is now known as "Pole Dancers".

 

Sorry for the late announcement. Fres had concerns that we would never live the name down. I think he's really afraid that he can't live up to it

[4Ks]

OK, I think I've hit my limit on Race A. I played Atari Gran Prix to warm up, then I played Race A and got the Pole Position in both the qualifier and the race.

[sloopy]

The Fres, Orpheuswaking, and A8isa1 team is now known as "Pole Dancers".

 

Sorry for the late announcement. Fres had concerns that we would never live the name down. I think he's really afraid that he can't live up to it

 

 

that takes some intestinal fortitude to use that name, and like i said, its what you should use...

 

sloopy.

[+therealbountybob]

I have played now Race B and C to death on PAL and NTSC without crashes and it's 1200 points/lap difference. So let's use that equation.

 

I think a fixed amount / lap is not a good idea. It does not make complete sense too, because the "Qualify round" is a round too, but without passing and time bonus (another awarding system). So I'd say: lower the PAL score with 20% or 21% and you get rather close.

 

% is always better.

 

OK?

Marius

 

Just played a few games and I can get Pole Position in all the races so qualifying round doesn't really need a scaling. But the other rounds probably need a factor on a lap basis as I see some really high scores for PAL that are impossible to get with NTSC. I would suggest that the Atari Grand Prix be scored on a per lap basis with minium of 4 laps or something like that and then deduct the factor for PAL scores. So if you score 57K on NTSC and did 4 laps, you would get 57K/4 and for PAL if you did 100K in 8 laps, you would get 100K/8-C. Where C is the factor that evens things out.

 

Here's my scores for races C, E, G; I haven't yet completed 8 laps on either E or G.

I went for a factor based on the highest 8 lap scores, but am happy to use something like this too. Have added the 500pts PAL penalty per lap to all races. I'm going to play on the emulator on NTSC (for only 1st time in a HSC game) as I want a tougher game, luckily I have a joystick setup (using ppjoy)!

 

So lets say play NTSC if you can, unless you struggle with the game then PAL is ok. If you are PAL only then that's fine (unless Fandal plays ) Think there's not too many PAL players at the top end of the tables so this should be ok and let a few others have a chance of winning. I knew this would be a can of worms. Am going to award two separate bonus points for races F and G combined - 1 for PAL and 1 for NTSC I have updated the 1st post with these amendments :!:

 

Braking news (pun intended) we have a 6th team on the grid, checkout the teams on post 67 still needing a team name for Mister VCS, Goochman and Phaxda

[a8isa1]

Doing a little practice

 

Race B - 30,750 on my 3rd try

 

Race F is not looking good. I haven't even made it to the 4th lap yet.

 

btw, my team's name is "Pole Dancers" not "The Pole Dancers". We aren't the only pole dancers. *<|

Edited December 12, 2010 by a8isa1

[zylon]

Here's my A, B & D

 

Not bad. I think I will top that B score so your A and D. Although, try race F and see if you can beat my score there and I'll upgrade you from D to F.

Here's my attempt at F and an improved A

[littleman jack]

Attention There and Backsters, aka TheRealBountyBob and Sloopy,

 

you two should take the two hardest because I think you'll do better than I will.

 

Let me know what you'll take, and I'll take what's left. I'll get going tonight and tomorrow,

 

and then post the races I am doing for the competition, and then focus on those.

 

hey, i already said that :')

 

i did a test run and got almost 30k on race A

 

sloopy.

How about

trbb D, F

sloop B, C, G

lj A, E (or if you can't complete E swap with D or C)

 

i tried F or G dont rem which ;'), and in NTSC i couldnt get beyond 4th in qualifying, and couldnt get beyond the 3rd lap... and in PAL i would qualify 2nd, and get to the 5th or 6th lap...

 

trbb, altho you say dont worry about PAL/NTSC, this would make a significant dif in my score as i get 40-50k max in NTSC, but well over 60k in PAL, and with adj it still would put me 5-7k ahead in PAL vs NTSC... if i continue to practice in PAL i could probly complete the race, but i dunno about in NTSC...

 

sloopy.

 

Sloopy, you did say that! I'll have to read the thread more often before posting.

I'll take up trbb and do A and E (that's the name of a semi-cheesy American television network, A & E, by the way) if that's alright with you Sloopy. I'll post some scores tomorrow. The camera is still awal. I have only NTSC Pole Position, so I'm going with that one on disk and an 800.

[atariksi]

OK, I think I've hit my limit on Race A. I played Atari Gran Prix to warm up, then I played Race A and got the Pole Position in both the qualifier and the race.

 

You're only 400 points from highest score for race A submitted so far.

[Marius]

Hehe yesterday I tried Race F on NTSC. I played this for HOURS and I managed to get IN lap 8... but crashed aaargh.

 

Today new chances. I hope to get a nice time there.

 

Greetz

M.

 

@therealbountybob ... aha So you are still using also my PAL contrubutions too in the score-chart?

[atariksi]

Hehe yesterday I tried Race F on NTSC. I played this for HOURS and I managed to get IN lap 8... but crashed aaargh.

 

Today new chances. I hope to get a nice time there.

 

Greetz

M.

 

@therealbountybob ... aha So you are still using also my PAL contrubutions too in the score-chart?

 

I haven't played it that much but it seems even if I don't crash but use cloak, it's still hard to get past lap 5. It seems you need some alignment of the planets so that not too many cars going at about same speed show up at curves.

 

Namco doesn't have cars at same speed hogging up the road so you don't have to use that much cloak.

[Marius]

I haven't played it that much but it seems even if I don't crash but use cloak, it's still hard to get past lap 5. It seems you need some alignment of the planets so that not too many cars going at about same speed show up at curves.

 

Namco doesn't have cars at same speed hogging up the road so you don't have to use that much cloak.

 

In Dutch there is a technique called "zigzaggen" ... I don't know how to say that in English... perhaps "to zigzag" hehehe. But that's what I do and that works great. You have to watch carefully ahead which are the slower and faster cars, and then you'll see fast enough how the pattern to move. When they are at same speed it sometimes help to hit the border of the road just a sec, and then there is room.

 

In the worst scenario it is even possible to pass cars OUTSIDE the road! That is cool too. But you have to watch carefully for the billboards :D

 

I must say thanks to this HSC project I really LOVE Pole Position now. I never thought I would like this game, but on the hardest level it is definately FUN!

 

Marius