Hey all! I've been working on getting Carmageddon (1997) running on the MiSTer, and the first beta is out.

GitHub: https://github.com/ItsDanik/Dethrace_MiSTer

Download: https://github.com/ItsDanik/Dethrace_MiSTer/releases

What is it?

It's a hybrid core, so to be upfront: the FPGA does not recreate a 90s PC. The game is Dethrace, the open source reimplementation of Carmageddon, and it runs on the MiSTer's ARM CPU. The FPGA core handles everything around it:

• Video: native 320x200 at 15kHz, straight to your CRT, or through the MiSTer scaler and filters on HDMI
• Audio: sound effects, CD music and cutscene audio at 44.1kHz
• Input: keyboard, mouse and gamepads through the usual MiSTer input system

The two halves talk through shared memory. In practice, you load it from the menu like any other core and it just starts.

What you need

• Your own copy of Carmageddon. No game data is included. The original CD or the GOG release (Carmageddon Max Pack) both work.

Installation

1. Download `Dethrace_YYYYMMDD.zip` from the releases page and extract it to the root of your SD card. You get the game and its launcher:

• _Other/Dethrace_YYYYMMDD.rbf
• games/Dethrace/`

1. Copy the game's DATA folder to `/media/fat/games/Dethrace/DATA`
2. (Optional, GOG release) copy the MUSIC folder to `/media/fat/games/Dethrace/MUSIC` for the CD soundtrack
3. Run "danik_hybrid_cores" from the Scripts menu in your MiSTer. This only needs to be done once for any of my hybrid cores. If you have the Wolfenstein3D or the Shadow Warrior core installed, you don't need to do this.
4. Load Dethrace from the Other menu. Done.

Quitting from the game's main menu takes you back to the MiSTer menu.

Controls

Keyboard works like on the PC. Gamepad defaults in a race:

• D-pad / left stick: Steer
• B (Xbox A / PS Cross): Accelerate
• Y (Xbox X / PS Square): Brake
• A (Xbox B / PS Circle): Handbrake
• X (Xbox Y / PS Triangle): Change view
• LB / RB: Repair / Map
• Select: Recover
• Start: Pause

Want triggers for gas and brake? Assign them in Define Dethrace buttons. MiSTer's default mapping can't use triggers, so you have to set them once yourself.

OSD options

Sound Volume / Music Volume: independent master volumes for effects and music

Renderer: Optimized (default) or Original. The optimized one is a rewrite of the hot rasteriser loops. The picture is the same, byte for byte, and it's about 1.6x faster.

Menu OK / Menu Back: which gamepad buttons act as Enter/Esc in the game's menus. The default follows your MiSTer menu's OK/Back buttons, and the same button can also be a race control (e.g. Handbrake in a race, OK in menus).

Performance

Racing runs at around **35-40 fps** on average in my testing. It dips in busy scenes, and the exact number depends on the in-game detail settings. The 3D renderer is pure software on the ARM, so this is where most of the work has gone.

Known limitations

• 320x200 only. The 640x480 mode was too slow on the ARM, so I dropped it.
• Requires MiSTer Frontier for launching
• Triggers need to be mapped manually (see above)

Bug reports and feedback are very welcome. Please open an issue on GitHub and attach `/media/fat/logs/Dethrace/dethrace.log` if something goes wrong.

Credits

• The Dethrace team (Jeff Harris and contributors) for the reimplementation that makes all of this possible
• Argonaut Software for BRender, released under the MIT license
• Sorgelig and the MiSTer-devel contributors for the framework and template

Not affiliated with or endorsed by SCi, Stainless Software or THQ Nordic. Bring your own game data.

Have fun, and watch out for the pedestrians!