Hot Wheels: World Race (May 12, 2003 prototype)

A debug prototype of Hot Wheels: World Race for the PC.

Hot Wheels: World Race (May 12, 2003 prototype)
Build date May 12, 2003 at 14:08:37 Build name DEV (Debug) Dump status Released Dumped by Anonymous, Glitchmaster, Ziimbiian Released by Glitchmaster, Niko, Ziimbiian File release date May 3, 2021 Origin possibly a CD-R from Climax's offices Labels hotwheelsPC Ownership Climax Brighton employees (2003-2019), Anonymous (2019-2020), Ziimbiian, Niko, Glitchmaster and The Hot Wheels Modding Community (2020-Present) Game Hot Wheels: World Race System PC Final build October 29, 2003 Release date November 19, 2003

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Notes

The Cutting Room Floor research

This prototype has a research article on TCRF.

Note from one of the dumpers: Me and Niko had to mess around with the executable code to get it working on modern computers. It was unstable on some PCs, while others had improper texture mapping on the cars and on the tracks. We also had to limit the frame rate to 60 in the menus so it wouldn't crash upon selecting a track. I have provided the original unmodified executable in the zip folder for preservation. - Glitchmaster

• Dated five months before the final build.
• In order to make it work, select the hotwheelsD2 application to start it up. When prompted, use the "P" key to access the menus. Other executables exist such as hotwheelsD and hotwheelsDX, but won't start up due to bog errors.
• Uses the unused "Boy_Band.bog" image for the title screen.
• There are only 15 cars and 10 tracks, similar to the Game Boy Advance version.
• Car selection screen is 3D models of the cars spinning instead of a video of the cars driving on a track.
• There is no sound or music in this build, but information in the music.xml file states that some levels have the Wave Rippers and Scorchers theme as a placeholder. This was also the case with the March 31, 2003 build.
• Options are limited to only one menu and that's Quick Race.
• The game's name in this build originally had the full title Hot Wheels: Highway 35 - World Race, but the word Highway 35 in the game's name was removed before release. Other early builds have this name as well.
• Most of the bog graphics and menu styles were taken from previous builds, like the currently undumped March 31, 2003 prototype.
• Despite being a PC build, it has PlayStation 2 buttons, because initial development of the PS2 version began on Windows.
• There's a frame rate counter at the bottom of the screen. The frame rate varies between computers. Unlike the final game, which is capped at 60 frames per second, the prototype can go up to 400 frames per second in the menus and 200 frames per second-in game. It can go even higher with more modern PCs.
• Stale tricks in this build are called "Tired".
• Egyptian Dunes has a boost pad near the first split turn that was removed in the final game.
• Egyptian Dunes has tall pillars near the stunt ramp. These were replaced by generic floating pyramids in the final build.
• This is the first known build to have unlockable paths.
  • The unlockable paths are still in a work-in-progress, once you grab the red ring trigger, the unlockable path remains open indefinitely. Unlike the final where the barriers come back up after 20 seconds of being unlocked.
  • Locked paths can be unlocked using a Red Ring, instead of the final game’s Flame Wheel.
  • Some unlocked paths with stunt ramps forcibly make the player use Nitrox 2, when in the final game, they can use Nitrox 2 whenever.
• There are references to the Cloud and Space tracks, but they are only placeholders.
• At this point of development, Challenge Mode hasn’t been implemented in yet.
• To unlock the other vehicles, you must manually edit the pointers in the "car_info.xml" file to “false".
• To access more menu features, you must manually swap the "frontend" and "frontend_E3" xml files.
• Controls are specified in a readme text file, but there are some controls not mentioned: The 9 key pauses the game, the spacebar applies the handbrake, and the K key flips the car forward off stunt ramps.
• The graphics on the cars are inconsistent between computers. On some computers they are rendered with no textures and transparency issues throughout gameplay, while on some old computers the graphics are properly rendered on the cars.
• The graphics on the cars have an early Highway 35 logo, a leftover from earlier builds. A couple of the early graphics can be seen in the final game, on some car preview videos. Oddly enough, the only car to have its final graphics is Muscle Tone, which is strange considering the rest of the cars still have the early logo.
• Graphics for the boost coming out of the tires are more exaggerated than the final game, earlier builds had this feature as well.
• When the race is finished, you can enter your name, but it restarts the race afterwards.
• Mist Mountain seems to be finalized at this point of development, except for the positions of locked paths.
• In Mist Mountain, some debug text appears when doing stunts. The text says "OUTSIDE CAMERA BOX".
• The track names still use numbers instead of unique names. The early name for Mist Mountain is still in the files, and can be restored using some hex editing.
• Only Mist Mountain and Egyptian Dunes can be selected. Other tracks crash the game entirely due to them lacking the file folders.
• Performing tricks are more unforgiving than the final game. You can land a perfect landing with a barrel roll and you will not get the Nitrox 2 bonus most of the time.
• Upon bootup in the E3 menu, you will be prompted to choose your language. When selected, the title screen has the "Boy_Band.bog" image stretched and the text at the bottom of the screen doesn't pulsate. Regardless of what language you choose, it will remain in English, because the localization was at its infancy during this point of development.
  • The gallery is incomplete, instead of showing camera icons, it shows the car selection icons.
  • The credits are not implemented, although the menu option for it exists.
  • Even though this build has no sound effects, you can turn the volume slider from 0 to 9 in its respective menu settings.
  • This build removes the respawn button.
  • Controller vibration does nothing.
  • Screen size options does nothing except for showing a border where the screen goes.
  • Loading and saving games does not work.
  • You can change your controls from three sets, although they have no effect in gameplay.
  • The difficulty is always set to Hard, regardless if you change it to Easy.
  • Cheats exist as a separate menu option instead of button combinations. The menu doesn't function.
• Selecting 1/4 Mile Coupe crashes the game, for an unknown reason.

Gallery

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  Main Menu

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  Single Player Mode Select

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  Car Select

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  Track Select

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  Egyptian Dunes

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  Results

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  Name Entry

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  First Person POV

Acknowledgments

• Special thanks to Ziimbian for dumping this build, thanks to Glitchmaster for doing the initial and internal research, and a huge thanks to Niko for fixing errors in the build!