skids/README.md

Skids: a Super Skidmarks revival

A cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux) engine written in Rust that plays Super Skidmarks (Acid Software, 1995) on the original Amiga data.

The game's data was converted from the original ADF disk images (disks 2–6 of the six-disk set) into editable files in assets/. The images themselves are no longer kept in this repository.

• Each track: a 16-colour PNG (the PNG's palette is the track's palette), plus a text file with the lap gates and height map.
• Each car: a PNG sprite sheet, plus a text file with its name and handling.

Edit them with any image editor or text editor. The build embeds the assets/ folder, so the finished program is a single self-contained file.

The engine can still read the original disks directly: ADF images, the LHA archives on them, and their CrunchMania-packed files. skids extract --data <adfs> regenerates assets/ from them.

Because the binary and assets/ carry the original game data, anyone you give either to also gets the game data.

What works

• All 24 tracks across the four track files. Each has its isometric height map and lap gates.
• All 8 vehicles (Mini, Beetle, Porsche, Formula 1, Midget, Truck, Police, Cow), with 32 headings and 25 body-tilt frames for hills.
• 1 or 2 players (split screen) plus up to 7 computer drivers.
• Power-slide handling, slopes, car-to-car bumping, and skid marks burnt into the track.
• Lap and position tracking, lap times, and a results table.
• Procedural engine, tyre and crash sound.

What's reconstructed

Disk 1 of the six-disk set is missing from this archive. It held the executable, palettes, sound and music. As a result:

• Handling, AI and race rules are new code written to feel like the original, not a translation of the original 68000 code.
• Colours come from a reconstructed palette, built around how the tracks use their 16 colour indices. If you have the real palettes, put them in a palettes/ folder next to the disks as .pal files (16 lines of RRGGBB):
  • track1-3.pal for one track
  • track1.pal for all six tracks in a file
  • default.pal for everything
• Sound is synthesised.

If you find disk 1, drop it in with the others. Anything it contains under track/ or vehicles/ is picked up automatically. The format notes in docs/FORMATS.md cover everything reverse engineered so far.

Running

cargo run --release

The built executable (target/release/skids, or skids.exe on Windows) runs on its own from anywhere.

--data DIR adds to or overrides the built-in data. DIR can be an assets folder, which lets you try edits without rebuilding: skids --data assets. It can also be the original ADF images or LHA archives. Without --data, a folder like that in the current directory or next to the executable is picked up automatically. When a track or car exists both as an asset and on disk, the asset wins.

Action	Player 1	Player 2
Accelerate	↑ (or W in one-player games)	W
Brake / reverse	↓ (or S)	S
Steer	← → (or A D)	A D
Pause	P
Leave race	Esc

Options: --scale 1|2|4 (window size), --mute.

Tools

skids info    --data DIR                  # list tracks and vehicles found
skids extract --data ADFS [--out assets]  # convert original disks into editable assets
skids bench   --data DIR --seconds 120    # race CPU cars on every track: laps and time on road
skids trace   --data DIR --track 11 --out t.png   # plot CPU racing lines
skids render  --data DIR --track 3 --out shot.png # headless screenshot

Building

You need a stable Rust toolchain.

• Linux: install the ALSA and X11 development packages, e.g. sudo apt install libasound2-dev libx11-dev libxkbcommon-dev. To build without sound (no ALSA needed), use cargo build --release --no-default-features --features embed.
• macOS / Windows: cargo build --release works as is.

The build embeds assets/. To use a different folder, set SKIDS_ASSETS_DIR=/path/to/assets. To build without embedding, so the game needs --data at run time, use --no-default-features --features audio. The ADF images aren't needed to build.

GitHub Actions builds all three platforms on every push (.github/workflows/build.yml).

Layout

assets/        the game data as editable PNG and text files
build.rs       embeds assets/ into the executable
src/formats/   ADF (OFS/FFS), LHA and CrunchMania readers
src/data/      track, vehicle and palette decoding; locating the game files
src/game/      physics, AI and race rules
src/render/    software renderer at 320×256 (PAL low-res) and a bitmap font
src/audio.rs   synthesised sound (cpal)
src/app.rs     menus, race screens and results

Credits

Super Skidmarks is by Acid Software. This project is an unofficial revival for preservation. The CrunchMania bitstream layout follows Teemu Suutari's ancient (BSD-2-Clause).