Play Stunts

A native browser reconstruction of Stunts / 4D Sports Driving, developed by Sven with assistance from OpenAI Codex. Play the hosted version.

Live high scores and community tracks

MS 1990 and MS 1991 compete in one combined high-score directory, without an edition selector. Each named driver has one fastest time across both editions in the selected route category and overall/car ranking. The MS 1990 or MS 1991 badge identifies the winning recording's actual edition. Stored score/replay identities and edition-specific playback remain unchanged.

Website languages

The language selector after GitHub offers English (default), Spanish and Italian. The choice is remembered in the browser and does not restart the game. Website copy, controls and messages are translated; original in-game text, track/car/driver names, filenames and recorded data are unchanged. The original linked manual and developer workbench routes remain in their source language.

Every website-copy change must include both translations. Maintain the catalogues in lib/website-languages.ts and lib/website-*-translations.ts; run npm run test:languages. The production build also checks translation coverage. The hosted game at playstunts.com has shared online high scores and a community track library. The features below describe the hosted online edition, not a local checkout of main.

• Private game scores: the original in-game seven-slot table is saved independently in the browser. Website rankings never replace it.
• Submit any eligible completed race: fresh completed races outside the local top seven offer a submission dialog over the game, including in fullscreen. Enter a name and explicitly consent to publishing the score and replay, or choose Not now to keep it private. Qualifying local times retain the original name-entry flow.
• Top-ten leaderboards: each track has separate Valid and Exploit detected views, with Overall and By car rankings. Overall keeps one place per named driver across cars. The header always shows the fastest valid track record, its driver and car, regardless of the selected category. Leaders have a subtle trophy glow and occasional time shimmer; reduced-motion preferences disable the animations.
• Replay verification: submitted runs are checked on the server by replaying recorded inputs with the original simulation. Valid means an accepted finish without an agreed section-transfer, branch-switching or confirmed grass-speed exploit. Ordinary grass duration and passing beside a tunnel do not impose extra racing rules. Continue driving from a replay makes a run ineligible; restarting begins a fresh attempt.
• Submission progress: consented submissions are saved in a separate server queue and shown publicly as unranked table rows with a Verifying... badge and unable to replace a verified record. Recent Races and High Scores update automatically while visible; accepted runs enter Valid or Exploit detected. Failed verification is shown separately, and temporary failures retry automatically. Offline runs remain private in the browser until uploaded. Verification establishes the simulated result, not proof of human-only or unassisted keyboard input.
• Assessment details: short badge explanations describe detected evidence. Inconclusive runs remain Unverified, not proof of exploitation; they can appear in recent driver history without a separate Unverified leaderboard tab. Existing public recordings are reassessed once per verifier version. Private recordings are not automatically published or reassessed globally.
• Recent races: the homepage shows the latest seven public submissions total, including pending runs, with driver, track, car, time and activity description. Set a new high score means beating the overall valid track record across cars and editions; set a new personal best means improving a comparable personal time. Existing feed entries use these same rules automatically. This feed is separate from each driver's five most recent retained verified submissions per track, available by hovering, focusing or tapping a driver name. Improvement and record claims require retained evidence.
• Public replays: explicit consent is required. Verification, score insertion and replay storage use one atomic batch. Replays remain public while ranked or among the driver's five most recent verified runs per track. Skipping submission uploads no recording; ordinary game saves remain private. Importing an arbitrary replay does not create a score.
• Replay library: filter by track and car, sort by fastest or newest, and load more beyond the first 50 results. Download the original .RPL or add it to the game before starting, then use Options → Load Replay.
• Community tracks: Community tracks → Share track (.TRK) publishes a validated track for everyone. Tracks embedded in verified public replays also appear automatically, including earlier public recordings. Others can download the exact track or add it to their game and select it through the original track menu. Identical content has one listing; different layouts keep separate Track IDs. Personal imports alone do not publish a track.
• Track identity: different layouts may share a filename. Community listings and leaderboards show a content-based Track ID, and View high scores opens the matching board. If an imported name is occupied, a safe DOS alias is assigned without replacing existing files or changing its leaderboard. Adding a track alone does not submit a run; confirm submission after finishing the race.
• Browser-local saves: tracks, ordinary replays, settings and backups belong to the current browser and website address. Export a backup before clearing browser data or changing browser/address. Consented offline submissions retry when connectivity returns; existing local score files are not automatically uploaded.
• Finding scores: the High Scores directory supports search, sorting, twelve-track pages and refreshes automatically while visible, on return or on demand. Identical track contents share a board even when filenames differ. Driver names are not verified accounts; case and surrounding spaces are normalized, and common profanity is masked without changing verification data.
• Display options: English, Spanish and Italian website languages are remembered without restarting the game or translating original game data. Optional CRT display defaults off; the enhanced FPS display also defaults off and can be toggled with Ctrl+F. If enhanced graphics are unavailable, the game can fall back to original graphics without weakening browser security settings.
• Supported uploads: personal imports accept validated tracks, replays and supported backups. Community sharing accepts original validated .TRK tracks; malformed or unrelated files are rejected.
• Replay track extraction: private replay imports also add the embedded track as a .TRK file when its supported recorded name is unused. Identical tracks are retained; conflicting names (including DEFAULT.TRK) require an explicit replay-only or cancel choice. Existing tracks, scores and recordings are never overwritten by this import. VANCOUVR is bundled as an exact copy of the track embedded in the original February 1991 demonstration replay.

GitHub main includes the dual-edition upgrade and online-edition source. Cloning the default branch does not connect your local game to the public leaderboard. Local development uses a separate database; see the online-edition documentation for storage, validation, and deployment details.

You can build and run the game from this checkout using your own compatible DOS game files. The preparation tool generates the required images, catalogs, sound states and fresh native startup resources locally. No original game files, Roland ROMs or captured original sessions are distributed here.

What you need

The website’s optional CRT display adds static scanlines and a soft vignette to either graphics mode, with no additional 3D pass. It defaults off and remembers the browser preference.

• Node.js 24 or newer, with npm.
• Python 3.11 or newer and Pillow from tools/requirements.txt.
• Your own complete extracted PC installation of Mindscape's 4D Sports Driving 1.1, finalized 13 December 1990 (identified as MS 1990 in the Stunts community version table). The 4D Sports Driving 1.1, Dec 13 archive linked by the community download page is a tested input. This is not Brøderbund Stunts 1.0, Brøderbund Stunts 1.1, or the February 1991 Mindscape release. A single executable or .TRK file is insufficient: extract the complete archive and keep its files together. Direct-input checksums identify the accepted source files; the older research inventory also lists private development fixtures and is not an extra download list.
• For Roland MT-32 sound, your own compatible control and PCM ROMs, described below. Without them, select another sound device in Setup before starting the game.
• This dual-edition checkout additionally needs your own February 1991 installation or ZIP to prepare its separate generated resources; follow the preparation below before running asset preparation or building.
• A desktop browser with WebAssembly, Web Audio and WebGL support, and a keyboard. The preparation procedure has been verified on macOS.
• On-screen driving controls support narrow windows and touch-capable browsers. Steering and throttle can be held together, with dashboard, camera, gear, Menu and Enter buttons alongside them. Setup also has touch navigation. Compatibility depends on the device's browser; use vehicle displays only while parked.

Install and run

Run these commands from a terminal on macOS or Linux:

git clone https://github.com/ACatWithEbola/playstunts.git
cd playstunts
npm ci
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r tools/requirements.txt
python tools/prepare_assets.py --original "/path/to/your/Stunts" --output public
python tools/check_assets.py
node tools/smoke_runtime.ts
npm run dev -- --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3000

On Windows PowerShell, use the same commands except for virtual-environment activation:

py -3 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install -r tools/requirements.txt
python tools/prepare_assets.py --original "C:\path\to\your\Stunts" --output public
python tools/check_assets.py
node tools/smoke_runtime.ts
npm run dev -- --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3000

Replace the quoted path with the extracted directory that directly contains files such as STUNTS.COM, GAME.PRE and the *.RES resources—not the archive itself or a parent directory. Open http://localhost:3000. Click Open Setup, choose a sound device you have installed, and select Exit to save. Then click PLAY STUNTS. Saving changed settings restarts the main game automatically. Audio starts after a user click, as required by browsers.

The tool reads your originals without modifying them. It refuses to overwrite an existing output directory. To regenerate, move your existing public directory aside first, or choose a new output directory, check it, and then move it to public. Do not merge partial outputs into a working installation. preparation-report.json records completion and installed options; asset-inventory.json records the generated file hashes.

No game files or ROMs are downloaded by preparation. npm ci and pip download software dependencies. You do not need private development captures, an asset download from playstunts.com, a ChatGPT account, or a Sites account to run locally.

The recognized DEFAULT.TRK, LOAD.EXE, ST.COM and STUNTS.COM variants in the tested community distribution are accepted. DEFAULT.TRK differs only in mutable track metadata. The web reconstruction does not execute LOAD.EXE, ST.COM or STUNTS.COM, so it bypasses the original copy-protection path and works with the supported original files. ST.COM is optional: preparation and reconstructed gameplay were also tested with it completely absent. The optional /work/reference DOS comparison uses ST.COM when it was supplied; without it, the DOS comparison starts STUNTS.COM and retains the original manual check.

Roland MT-32

MT-32 is the default original sound only when both supported ROMs are installed and validated. Otherwise the browser explains what is missing and uses Sound Blaster, while every other Setup sound choice remains unchanged. To enable MT-32, put these two files in a separate directory and include --roms when preparing:

python tools/prepare_assets.py --original "/path/to/your/Stunts" --roms "/path/to/your/MT32-ROMs" --output public

Filename	SHA-256
ctrl_mt32_1_07.rom	a73a06c23ed38370e58a11fb1b86f7ea4c547061a60d7aa62bae446235fd2dff
pcm_mt32.rom	d9164063f293410cf33f2f64cdcea6893b44723fe41938e07ec9aef58b406238

Supply these legally yourself. Renaming a different ROM does not make it compatible. The Munt synthesizer and its corresponding source are included; the ROMs are not. PC speaker, AdLib/Sound Blaster and Tandy sound do not require Roland ROMs.

The controls below the MT-32 provide power, reverb on/off, reverb amount, left/right channel swap, and master tuning. Reverb amount adjusts the synthesizer’s reverb output level. Tuning is shown in Hz. Power cycling restores the device defaults; these adjustments are not saved across reloads.

Optional website artwork

The game works without the hosted site's decorative artwork. The checkout uses a text wordmark and the original game's decoded title screen as fallbacks; the decorative red car, interactive box scans and idle Setup preview are omitted when their optional files are unavailable. These are website presentation differences, not missing game assets.

To reproduce the additional website artwork, supply your own permitted images in a directory with these names and add --site-art "/path/to/art" to preparation:

• manual-cover-spread.png: image used by the masthead wordmark.
• manual-red-car.png: decorative red-car crop.
• setup-menu.png: idle Setup preview.

The front-page 3D box can additionally use six permitted scans in a stunts-box subdirectory named Stunts-front.jpg, Stunts-back.jpg, Stunts-left.jpg, Stunts-right.jpg, Stunts-top.jpg and Stunts-bottom.jpg. Optional enhanced scenery belongs in an enhanced-backgrounds subdirectory. Optional reconstructed title and menu artwork belongs in an enhanced-artwork subdirectory with these names:

• SDTITL-prod-mindscape-v1.png: Mindscape intro card.
• SDTITL-titl-title-v2.png: 4-D Sports Driving title card.
• SDMSEL-scrn-menu-v1.png: main menu background.

These artwork subdirectories are copied by --site-art when present but remain excluded from Git because they contain artwork rather than reconstruction source. If the enhanced title or menu images are absent, the game uses its decoded original artwork.

See app/StuntsBrand.tsx and the .stunts- rules in app/globals.css for the crop/layout. The generated favicon is a simple S fallback. Optional scans and ROMs remain local and ignored by Git.

Checks and production build

python -m unittest discover -s tools -p "test_*.py"
python tools/check_assets.py
node tools/smoke_runtime.ts
npm run typecheck
npm run build
npm run start

npm run start serves the production build through Wrangler; use the address it prints. Build output is in dist/. A hosted installation needs the generated assets as well as the compiled application. The repository's build configuration targets Cloudflare Workers through Vinext; no private hosting credentials are included. Deploying original assets publicly is a separate distribution decision—this repository does not grant rights to them.

The file checker verifies the required runtime files and your installation's hashes. The smoke check initializes a fresh Countach race, completes the starting-truck sequence and drives beyond the original protection interval. Browser checks cover Setup, the opening/menu and a normal race using generated assets. These checks establish an installable game, not perfect equivalence in every race. --reference on the file checker optionally compares the extended reference inventory, which includes unused research fixtures and therefore reports expected differences.

Playing and saves

• Arrow keys: accelerate/brake and steer.
• A / Z: shift up/down with manual gears; Space / Enter also work.
• Escape: game menu. C or F1–F4: camera views. T: view the opponent’s car. D: show or hide the dashboard.
• In replays, Ctrl + arrow keys adjusts the camera, + / − zooms, arrow keys select a replay control, and Enter or Space activates it. Shift + F1 opens the terrain editor.
• Import original .TRK files using Tracks, replays and save backups. Supported track files are 1,802 bytes.
• Import original .RPL recordings with Upload replay (.RPL) beside the track upload. Upload before starting the game, then load the file from the in-game replay menu. Names must use 1–8 letters, numbers, underscores or hyphens. Existing files are kept. Recordings must use the supported original format and contain 1–12,000 frames.
• Export individual files through Tracks, replays and save backups → Download tracks & replays. Downloads preserve the binary bytes and DOS filename (.TRK or .RPL) for use with the original game. The list includes bundled files and files saved or imported in the browser; a browser-local file with the same DOS path and name takes precedence over its bundled counterpart.
• Personal tracks, replays, settings, and save backups are browser-local and tied to the hostname/port. Export a backup before changing browser or address. High scores on the hosted online edition are shared, and explicitly published community tracks are available to everyone. A Git checkout does not contain your hosted-game personal saves.

Updated graphics and audio

The starter track collection is the original six: DEFAULT, BERNIES, CHERRIS, HELENS, JOES and SKIDS. The files were verified against a preserved 1990 disk. Custom bundled tracks/replays are no longer mounted; source archives and personal saved files are preserved. Community track sharing and the editor remain available. Completed-run submission verifies and shares the replay automatically. The replay library lists public recordings; previously retained private recordings remain stored locally, without a manual sharing/recheck section.

Route assessment follows original-game driving options: both divided-road lanes and inside passage through loops and left/right corkscrews can count as Valid. It does not impose extra competition-only stunt-rotation rules. Substantial road-to-road cuts and confirmed grass-speed exploits remain separately detected.

• Enhanced graphics is the launch default and uses a separate website renderer with full colour, source signs and clouds, detailed vehicles, and live steering and suspension movement. Setup still selects MCGA, EGA, CGA, Tandy or Hercules for original graphics. Only the website graphics control switches between enhanced graphics and the selected original display mode; in-game menus preserve that selection.
• With enhanced graphics enabled, Ctrl+F shows or hides the driving/replay performance display: current FPS, session average and 1% low. Ctrl+V cycles the current Stunts camera → close → standard → far → the current Stunts camera; C, F1–F4 or a replay camera-button selection returns immediately to the selected original camera. Both enhanced overlays are inactive outside driving and replay playback.
• Remixed opening/title, menu, victory and game-over music is enabled by default while the original engine and sound effects remain unchanged. The website control switches between remixed and original music, while the in-game Options menu turns music on or off.
• Alpine, Tropical, Desert, City and Country panoramas are presentation-only replacements selected from the same terrain metadata as the original backgrounds. Enhanced track previews use the same panoramas.
• Enhanced cars preserve their five source colours and original geometry while adding clear-coat lighting, palette-matched materials, inset lamp details and filtered grounding shadows.
• 3D CARS opens the interactive showroom in the front page’s game area. It uses the same decoded models and enhanced materials as the game for all eleven cars; drag to rotate, scroll to zoom and select each car’s available colours.

How it works

The main game runs reconstructed TypeScript, not the DOS executable. Preparation decodes the original resources, deterministically unpacks the EXEPACK display binaries, and builds the sound states through the reconstructed resource loader. Startup memory is built by the native initialization code, without importing a captured game session or executing 16-bit setup code.

Reconstruction process · Setup and troubleshooting · Third-party notices

• app/: website and browser orchestration.
• lib/game/, lib/physics/: reconstructed systems and rendering.
• tools/: complete local preparation and installation checks.
• vendor/: redistributable synthesizer runtimes, corresponding source and font licenses.
• docs/: input identification, setup and process documentation.

The NativeDrive prototype and private original-data regression fixtures are reference material, not runtime requirements. Captured prototype seeds are deliberately not distributed. /work/reference provides the original DOS comparison using a bundle generated from your own installation; it is separate from the reconstructed game.

Issues and rights

This is an unofficial reconstruction and may contain visual, audio or simulation discrepancies. Report the browser, car, track/replay, sound/display settings and reproduction steps. Do not attach ROMs, game archives or credentials.

License

Unless a file carries a separate third-party notice, the original source code contributed to this project is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 3 only (GPL-3.0-only). See LICENSE.

Third-party code, synthesizers and fonts retain their existing licenses; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md and the notices in vendor/. This license grant does not cover the original Stunts executables, artwork, game data, Roland ROMs, or data extracted from those files. Those materials remain subject to their respective rights holders’ terms and are not included in this repository.

Social sharing image

The live site uses a branded 1731 × 909 PNG sharing card (approximately 1.91:1). Original-art-derived promotional imagery is not redistributed in this source repository. To supply your own card, place it at public/og.png before building and update its dimensions, image URL and site URL in app/layout.tsx for your deployment. By default the metadata references the publicly hosted playstunts.com card; remove the image metadata if your deployment will not use a sharing image. The live card was generated using the original cover as a reference, with the yellow Stunts wordmark, red car, “PLAY IN YOUR BROWSER” and “playstunts.com” on black.

Replay downloads: compatibility

February 1991 edition

Both editions retain their own original music implementation. Updated music uses the actual Suno recordings, with edition-specific timing, loops and transitions. It does not replace Original music. Original game installations and optional Roland ROMs must be supplied separately when building locally.

New races default to Mindscape 4D Sports Driving 1.1, 25 February 1991 (ms-1991). Use /?play-engine=ms-1990 for the 13 December 1990 edition or /?play-engine=ms-1991 for February 1991. Both editions remain available. Saved recordings select their recorded edition, independently of the edition chosen for a new race.

Preparing and selecting an edition

Use the MS 1990 asset-preparation instructions above for this checkout. The preparation tool still validates the December installation checksums; feeding it the February archive is not a supported replacement. The reconstructed engine and its version-routed resource changes are selected separately from that base asset preparation. Do not overwrite an existing public directory or merge files from the two DOS installations to select a version.

Before asset preparation or compilation in this compatibility checkout, generate the seven local MS1991 resource modules from your own February installation:

python tools/prepare_ms91_resources.py --original "/path/to/your/MS1991" --output "/path/to/new-ms91-resources" --install

--original accepts either an extracted directory or the original ZIP. The checksum recipes in docs/ms91-resource-recipes.json contain no original file payloads. The generator verifies all thirteen required inputs before writing; --output must be new. --install creates missing modules under lib/game and retains identical existing ones; a differing file is rejected, never overwritten. Without --install, it only creates the separate generated output for inspection. No download, executable execution, private capture or Roland ROM is needed for this step. Both original installations remain untouched.

Generated resource modules are ignored by Git and checked by node tools/check_original_resource_boundary.mjs before the production build. Do not force-add them or publish a private source-checkpoint archive containing them. A clean source checkout must generate them locally; they are not bundled original game files licensed with the reconstruction source.

The loopback preview query selects future fresh races only. Loading a saved or shared replay selects its recorded engine instead. On replay upload, choose the edition that recorded it; this label cannot repair inputs recorded under different physics. Untagged existing recordings continue to use MS 1990.

The local Play buttons also offer explicit edition selection. Their play-engine=ms-1990 or play-engine=ms-1991 choice selects fresh games; it does not convert a loaded recording. Explicit play-engine takes precedence over a loopback preview-engine override when both are present. Remove play-engine when testing the preview override. Neither choice changes the release default in source.

The release default is controlled by lib/game/future-race-engine.ts, not by renaming assets or changing a replay header. Keep its legacy default until the release checklist passes. The rollback procedure explains how to switch future races without relabelling existing recordings or restoring an outdated score database.

The explicit 1991 preview includes the expanded graphics menu, slow/fast video management and 10/20 Hz simulation settings. Simulation-speed changes apply to the next fresh race, not an active replay. Saved recordings retain their recorded engine and cadence; old untagged recordings remain legacy. Private score tables remain separate, and exported files do not rewrite stored bytes. Changing a replay header cannot make legacy inputs follow newer physics.

The approved release policy uses 20 updates per second (20 Hz) for public high scores and shared races. MS 1991 slow-mode recordings (10 Hz) remain private, playable and downloadable. Private import accepts supported 10 Hz MS 1991 files without preview flags; select Mindscape 1991 as the recording edition. Importing a replay never publishes it or creates a public score. If its DOS path/name already exists, the import is rejected without overwriting the stored copy; rename the incoming file to import an additional copy. Downloads reconstruct the recording's original versioned file format from its retained engine and cadence, rather than the currently selected fresh-game edition. Existing stored replay bytes and score identities are not rewritten.

See the difference audit and the detailed release checklist for tested scope and remaining original-game/browser checks. Public 10 Hz submission is rejected by both client and server; it is not a pending public leaderboard feature.

Checking compatibility without publishing

For a normal installation, run python tools/check_assets.py after preparing your assets, then npm run build. A source ZIP can be built locally without Git metadata; publishing source requires a separate Git publication audit.

Development checkouts with the private reference corpus can also run npm run test:compatibility, npm run test:engine-retention, and npm run test:replay-download-safety. Some suites require reference recordings such as CTKFIN.RPL, which are not included in this repository or an ordinary DOS installation. They are not required to build or play either edition. These checks do not switch the public default or publish a build. Their passing results are not a substitute for the full release checklist, live audio checks, or a complete website-database backup and isolated restore.

Private browser-save JSON exports preserve that browser's files only; they are not backups of public scores and shared replays. Detailed development and verification evidence is kept in the separate verification log.

Current public release

Downloaded replays target Mindscape 4D Sports Driving v1.1, 13 December 1990 (MS 1990). One public DEFAULT/Indy replay was tested to its correct 1:05.20 finish in that DOS release. The same inputs did not reproduce the race in Brøderbund Stunts 1.0 (October 1990), Brøderbund Stunts 1.1 (February 1991), or Mindscape 4D Sports Driving 1.1 (February 1991). Chocolate Stunts 1.2.0 matched that sample frame by frame with --lcb:off, not its default settings. This is sample-based verification, not a guarantee for every replay.

Public replay download links show a compatibility dialog; OK starts the existing download. Cancel or Escape dismisses it without downloading. Stored replay bytes, scores and verification are unchanged. Standard original DOS .TRK layouts are exchangeable between the four DOS releases, although physics and achievable times differ.