Test Drive III Enhanced

Test Drive III Enhanced — SDL3

An enhanced native port of Accolade's Test Drive III: The Passion (1990). Not an emulator. The original game files are not included.

Features

• Smooth 3D view at your display's refresh rate.
• High resolution (up to 2560 × 1600) with anti-aliasing.
• Longer draw distance and gradual distance fog.
• Smooth steering; spins, slides and the handbrake as in the original.
• Truer game speed; the race clock counts real seconds.
• Finish marker on the compass.
• Fixes to police, landings and other original quirks (see CHANGELOG.md).
• A launcher for car, course, skill and picture options.

How to play (Windows)

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

2. Place the program files next to it:

   Test Drive III Enhanced\
   ├── Game\                           <- your game files (TDIII.EXE, DATAA.DAT, PLAYDISK.DAT, ...)
   ├── Test Drive III Enhanced.exe     <- the launcher
   ├── testdrive3-enhanced.exe         <- the game
   └── SDL3.dll and the other DLLs
   

3. Run Test Drive III Enhanced.exe, pick your options and press Play.

• The folder must be writable (high scores and choices are saved in Game).
• Alt+Enter: full screen.
• Launcher settings: %APPDATA%\Test Drive III Enhanced\settings.ini.

Requirements

• Game files: TDIII.EXE (or TD3.EXE), PLAYDISK.DAT, DATAA–C.DAT, INSTR.DAT, the car (C*) and scene (SCENE*) files.
• A multi-core CPU for the default picture; lower the resolution or anti-aliasing on slow machines.
• To build: CMake 3.24+, C11, SDL 3; the launcher needs C++17 and wxWidgets 3.2.

Build

In Git Bash or an MSYS2 MinGW64 shell:

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

• -DTD3E_LAUNCHER=OFF builds the game only.
• The MSYS2 SDL3.dll also needs libiconv-2.dll from C:\msys64\mingw64\bin.

Run

./build/testdrive3-enhanced.exe --game-dir Game

Option	Meaning
--game-dir DIR	Game files folder (default Game)
--scale N	Window size, × 320×240 (default 3)
--fullscreen	Start in full screen
--res-scale N	Resolution, × 320×200 (default 4, 1–8)
--aa N	Anti-aliasing, N×N samples (default 2, 1 = off)
--motion-delay P	Smooth view delay, % of a game frame (default 100)
--haze P	Distance fog, % of the sky colour at the edge of the view (default 70, 0 = off)
--draw-distance N	Map cells drawn around the camera (default 7, 0 = original)
--fog-start P	Where the fog begins, % of the way to where it is full (default 10)
--beam-night P, --beam-day P	Headlight beams' strength at night / by day, % (default 100 / 35)
--beam-soft N	Headlight beams' soft edge, pixels (default 3, 0 = hard)
--enh-lights 0|1	Enhanced headlight beams (default 1; 0 = the original's)
--keys NAME=CODE,...	Key bindings (the launcher's Game settings > Key Bindings)
--finish-marker 0|1	Finish marker on the compass (default 1)
--frame-ticks N	Game speed, timer ticks per frame (default 14)
--classic	Original picture only
--sound adlib|speaker	Sound device
--car CODE, --course CODE	Start car / course, e.g. CCNSX, SCENE02
--skill N	Skill level 1–9 (1–3 automatic)
--check	Check that TDIII.EXE loads, then exit

Controls

• Arrows / keypad: steer, gas, brake. Space: handbrake. A / Z: shift up / down.
• R mirror, H headlights, W wipers, C wheel centring, M radio.
• F1 window, F2 detail, F3 steering sensitivity, F5 chase view, F6 back to road, F7 mouse steering.
• F10 replay, F9 pause replay. Esc: leave.
• Ctrl-P pause, Ctrl-S sound, Ctrl-Q music, Ctrl-E engine sound, Ctrl-J joystick, Ctrl-K keyboard.
• The launcher's Game settings > Key Bindings changes the driving, car and game keys.

Layout

• src/ — the game (ENGINE.md; changes marked ENH:).
• src/enhanced/ — the enhanced renderer (ENHANCED.md).
• launcher/ — the launcher (launcher/README.md).
• third_party/nuked-opl3/ — the OPL2 emulator.

License

MIT (LICENSE). Nuked-OPL3 is LGPL 2.1+. Test Drive III is © Accolade; its files are not included.

Support

https://buymeacoffee.com/krzysztofkania