TIGER-SPL 2 ALPHA has now been ported to Midtown Madness 2.
The TIGER-SPL 2 ALPHA is one of the fastest and most distinctive vehicles in Double-S.T.E.A.L: The Second Clash, presenting unique challenges during the porting process. A significant issue arose from the game’s use of shader-based textures that are dynamically coloured in-game. Consequently, when extracted and viewed in standard .DDS viewers, many textures—including the interior, tyre treads, lights, and grill—appeared white.
Contrary to initial assumptions, the textures were not compressed using complex or proprietary methods. Instead, Double-S.T.E.A.L: The Second Clash employs advanced shaders that were later commonplace in subsequent gaming consoles. Therefore, numerous manual adjustments were necessary to ensure these textures appeared accurately in Midtown Madness 2.
Replicating the original game’s distinctive colour-shifting paint posed additional difficulties, as it involves multiple shader layers and metallic effects—features entirely absent in Midtown Madness 2. Seeking inspiration from previous console generations, I revisited “HSV Adventure Racing,” an Australian adaptation of “Beetle Adventure Racing,” particularly the “HSV Alien” vehicle, which uses an environmental map to create an illusion of colour-shifting. This involved generating a custom environmental map with a liquified, swirl-gradient rainbow spectrum in Photoshop.
However, as Midtown Madness 2 lacks support for environment map shading or vehicle-specific shader adjustments, this approach required modification. Ultimately, I resolved this by unwrapping the car’s entire body and applying a carefully adjusted swirl gradient texture, creating a convincing static colour-shift illusion.
Further modifications were made to the mesh structure to accommodate Midtown Madness 2’s graphical processing constraints. Specifically, windows required reworking to address transparency culling issues affecting characters Mai and Madoka, including partially raising the passenger-side window to realistically position Mai’s hand.
Additionally, characters were manually positioned and posed within the interior, resulting in an especially satisfying depiction of Mai grasping the roof.
Overall, porting the TIGER-SPL 2 ALPHA was among the most technically challenging endeavours I have undertaken, necessitating creative solutions to overcome Midtown Madness 2’s limitations. Despite these complexities, the final result was highly rewarding.
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