MTM2.com

So, I re-downloaded MTM1 today from the link here on mtm2.com. However, I went to play a game and the AI opponents simply don't work. Usually they don't move at all and if they do they run in a straight line. I tried compatibility mode for XP and I tried to run the set-up from and install it properly instead of just running it out of the box and had the same issue. Frustrated, I found another source from a shady abadonware site and it too had the same AI problem.

Am I missing something? Has anyone else run into this issue before? Maybe its a windows 10 issue?

Not sure, when I tried it on 7 it worked, after a lot of fiddling.
I think you need dgvoodoo, or run in software mode.
Both MTM1 and MTM2 have issues above 30fps.

I remember years ago you described how AI truck behavior wasnt properly designed for powerful CPUs. the faster the computer/gpu, the more FPS you get, the worse they behave.

Thats interesting... so if there was a way to limit the FPS to 30, the AI would function?

I don't have any issues with MTM2 AI with the same build so I don't it has the same issues above 30fps.

MTM2 has a different variation on the problem. Trucks can get stuck in the ground and end up in an endless reset cycle. Usually you just start seeing them miss their turns fantastically.

It also has a weird effect on the network. A long time ago, back when the zone was still a thing, and I was still using a Pentium 2, for some reason I was near unmovable in rumbles . We assume it was because I was only getting 15 to 20 fps most of the time. I could actually lag shot on command by pressing F11 (or was it 12?) to change CD tracks, causing my game to lock up for half a second each time.

When I was getting slapped like that at the Zone was because I was on a slow PC on 33k baud dial-up and the other user I was rumbling with was on DSL or cable. I couldn't budge him, but I would take mystery hits because of and sent flying over the mountain ridge over and over. The difference in communication speeds really screwed up the game play and took the fun out of rumbles for me. I was using a Pentium-1 233mhz with a VooDoo 2 card. at the time.

Hey BD - good to see ya, bud!

There are definitely different theories with respect to fps and rumbles, how "strong" you were or not. If I recall, it wasn't the cpu speed that affected your 'manliness' (seems appropriate lol) on the cube, but rather how many fps you were cranking out. Slayer, I guarantee you if you were unmovable it's because you were on the high end of the fps scale, not the low end. You can see the effect of fps on the game if you run Dxtory, which allows you to manipulate the games's fps. Years ago N8 and I both built what we called "racing computers", machines with a P-I, P-II or similar AMD cpu, along with a bargain basement video card in order to reduce the number of fps we were getting. As a result, the game saw fewer bumps in the road, allowing for some really fast laps. Taking nothing away from the likes of GTX_Bug, RIP_Buzzz, GTX_Fly, etc., but in those days everyone was running low-end machines, and on top of that, they raced using software mode, so the game, although it looked like crap and lagged like crazy, allowed you to turn some crazy fast laps. Again, to be clear, those guys were simply super fast, highly skilled racers - no question, but when you're already getting 25 to 30 fps and you use software mode, if you can keep the truck on the road and run a flawless line, you're going to produce some really fast laps.

What Slayer said is true, and I never realized it before now because I don't use computer opponents when I race offline, but I used Dxtory to limit my fps to 25 and the computer trucks ran pretty well. Without Dxtory I'm getting above 300 fps consistently and the trucks are all over the place. I never knew anything about how fps affected the game when I started back in '99 (learned about GOLD mode in 2001 I think), but I do recall losing to the computer trucks more times than I should have, then having guys like RIP_TK laugh at me, telling me I should be ashamed of myself lol. No one had issues with the comp trucks back then because the game was running on machines it was designed for.

WorpeX, if you're looking to race, come on over to Voobly's and run some with Fila and I. There are also a few other guys who drop in to race now and then. ;)

Sorry everyone, I have been MIA.

But just to reiterate, yes the both MTM1 and MTM2 have a problem once the game goes above 30fps. This is a coding issue that many games from that era have. Basically back then the physics engine was tied to the FPS because no one ever thought the computers will become more powerful. Modern games, or most of them, don't have this issue anymore unless it's a lazy game port from the consoles (as consoles run a fixed fps, some games are still coded like that. Most famous example is Dark Souls which, if hacked to work with more fps it, would mess up the weapon durability. It has since been fixed in the subsequent releases).

Fixing this is not an easy thing as the way physics interacts with the game engine/video renderer has to be completely rewritten. In 2D games it's easier to do than in 3D where a lot more things are intertwined.