Test Drive III: The Passion — SDL3 port

A faithful C reimplementation of Accolade's Test Drive III: The Passion (1990), running natively on SDL3, in the same way as the Test Drive (1987) and Test Drive II ports. It is not an emulator: every function of the original program was reverse-engineered, documented and rewritten in C, and the port reads the original game's files at run time. The original data is not redistributed, and you need to get it yourself.

How to play (Windows)

You need the files of the original DOS Test Drive III (TDIII.EXE, DATAA.DAT … and the car and scene files). They are not included.

1. Open the latest release and download td3port-…-win64.zip.

2. Put your original game files in a folder named Game.

3. Open the zip. Copy all of its files into the folder that holds Game, so that Test Drive III.exe sits next to Game:

   Test Drive III\
   ├── Game\                 <- your original game files (TDIII.EXE, DATAA.DAT, PLAYDISK.DAT, ...)
   ├── Test Drive III.exe    <- the launcher
   ├── td3port.exe           <- the game
   ├── SDL3.dll
   └── (the other files from the zip)
   

4. Double-click Test Drive III.exe, choose your car, course and options, and press Play. (td3port.exe also starts on its own with the defaults.)

Keep the folder somewhere you can save files, such as Documents or the Desktop, not Program Files: the game saves its high scores (SCENE0x.HI) and your last choices (PLAYDISK.DAT) in Game. If Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. Press Alt+Enter for full screen. The keys are listed under Controls and in the launcher.

Status

• The VGA version (320×200, 256 colours) with AdLib / Sound Blaster music and effects is ported and playable: the title and credits, all menus, the five cars, both courses (Pacific – Yosemite, Cape Cod – Niagara) with all their legs and routes, traffic, police, the replay, results and high scores. Please report any difference from the original in the issues.
• The EGA and Tandy graphics and the MT-32, Tandy and Game Blaster sound are not ported (see PLAN.md).

The launcher

Test Drive III.exe starts the game with the options chosen in its window (td3port/launcher/README.md):

• Game files: the game folder and td3port.exe (by default both beside the launcher).
• Start: the car, course and skill level the game starts with, as if chosen in its own menus.
• Game speed: timer ticks per frame while driving (default 23, see below).
• Sound: AdLib / Sound Blaster or the PC speaker. Window size and full screen.

Settings are remembered in %APPDATA%\Test Drive III\settings.ini.

Game speed

Test Drive III moves the cars, the traffic and its race clock once per drawn frame, and only waits for at least 5 timer ticks (1/29 s) between frames. On the PCs of 1990 the 3D view took much longer to draw, so the game ran at a handful of frames a second and was tuned for that; on anything faster (or in DOSBox at high cycles) the whole game runs several times too fast. The port keeps the original rule but waits for 23 ticks by default (about 6 frames a second), which plays like the game was meant to; 29 runs the race clock in real time and 5 is the original program's limit. Choose it in the launcher or with --frame-ticks.

Requirements

• Your game files in a folder (by default Game beside the program). The port needs TDIII.EXE (packed or unpacked), PLAYDISK.DAT, DATAA.DAT, DATAB.DAT, DATAC.DAT, INSTR.DAT and the car (C*.DAT/.LST/.POB) and scene (SCENE*.DAT/.LST/.HI) files. TD3.CFG is optional (VGA + AdLib without it).
• The folder must be writable (high scores, last choices).
• To build: CMake 3.24+, a C11 compiler and SDL 3; for the launcher a C++17 compiler and wxWidgets 3.2.

Build

From the repository root, in Git Bash or an MSYS2 MinGW64 shell:

export PATH="/c/msys64/mingw64/bin:$PATH"
cmake -S td3port -B td3port/build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=gcc -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=g++ -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DTD3_LAUNCHER=ON
cmake --build td3port/build

The build copies SDL3.dll and the launcher's wxWidgets DLLs next to the programs. The MSYS2 SDL3.dll also needs libiconv-2.dll from C:\msys64\mingw64\bin; to run outside the MSYS2 shell, copy it there too. Leave out -DTD3_LAUNCHER=ON to build only the game.

Run

./td3port/build/td3port.exe --game-dir Game

Option	Meaning
--game-dir DIR	Folder with the original game files (default Game)
--scale N	Initial window size as a multiple of 320×240 (default 3)
--fullscreen	Start in full screen
--frame-ticks N	Game speed: timer ticks per frame while driving (default 23; 5 = the original's limit)
--sound adlib|speaker	Sound device (default: TD3.CFG's, AdLib without it)
--car CODE, --course CODE	Start with this car / course, e.g. CCNSX, SCENE02
--skill N	Skill level 1–9 (1–3 automatic gearbox)
--check	Verify that TDIII.EXE loads, then exit without opening a window

Alt+Enter toggles full screen. The window keeps the 4:3 aspect of the original monitor.

Controls (from the original)

• Arrow keys / numeric keypad: steer, accelerate, brake. A / Z shift up / down (Enter + Up/Down: the gear gates); skill levels 1–3 shift automatically.
• R mirror, H headlights, W wipers, C wheel centring, M radio station.
• F1 window size, F2 detail, F3 steering sensitivity, F5 chase car view, F6 return to the road, F7 mouse steering, F10 instant replay, F9 pause the replay.
• Esc: leave the race or the game. Ctrl-P pause, Ctrl-S sound, Ctrl-Q music, Ctrl-E engine sound.
• A connected gamepad acts as the joystick: Ctrl-J joystick, Ctrl-K keyboard, Ctrl-A / Ctrl-D analog / digital. The mouse can steer (F7).

Changes from original

• Removed: the copy protection (the game runs as after a correct answer) and all disk handling: Play Disk prompts and drive letters. Files are found in the game folder whatever their case.
• Game speed: frames are paced at 23 timer ticks instead of the original's minimum of 5 (see above). Loops the original ran at CPU speed (the main menu's turning car, the water roll) are paced to the timer.
• Graphics: VGA only; an EGA or Tandy TD3.CFG starts in VGA.
• Sound: AdLib through the Nuked-OPL3 emulator, or the PC speaker. An MT-32, Tandy or Game Blaster TD3.CFG falls back to AdLib (with its sound effects on).
• Joystick and mouse: a gamepad replaces the analogue PC joystick; the mouse driver is emulated.
• Robustness: a few spots where the original could read past its data or trap on a division overflow are guarded (the compass picture's run count, some 3D divisions). A Shift key released outside the window no longer sticks.
• Everything else, including the original's quirks and bugs, is kept on purpose.

Layout

• Game/ — your game files (not in the repository).
• tools/ — reverse-engineering tools and data decoders (pictures, 3D objects, maps, music), see FORMATS.md.
• port/ — function index, module assignment, specs (port/spec/), format documents (port/formats/) and the guide for writing them (port/RE_GUIDE.md).
• td3port/ — the SDL3 port (td3port/PORTING.md: architecture and rules) and its launcher (td3port/launcher/).
• FORMATS.md — decoded file formats. PLAN.md — the plan, decisions and what is parked.

License

The port, launcher and tools are MIT licensed (see LICENSE). Nuked-OPL3 (td3port/third_party/nuked-opl3) is LGPL 2.1 or later. Test Drive III is © Accolade. Its files are not part of this repository or the releases.

Support

https://buymeacoffee.com/krzysztofkania