ROM Builder - Atari ST Stunt Car Racer (Micro Style, 1989) to Atari Lynx
Version Pre-Alpha 0.2

WHAT THIS IS
This tool builds a Lynx cartridge image (.lnx) of the Atari Lynx port of Stunt Car Racer from your own
original Atari ST disk of the game (Micro Style, 1989).

The tool contains only the port itself (our own code, already assembled) and the rules that convert the
game data. It contains no data from the original game. Everything the port needs - tracks, graphics,
tables, sounds, texts - is read from your own disk image on your own PC while it builds.

STATUS
This is a pre-alpha build of the port: it plays, but it is not finished, and details may still change.

WHAT YOU NEED
Your own original Stunt Car Racer disk for the Atari ST, as a disk image:

  - .stx  (Pasti), the format that preserves the original disk's copy protection
  - .st   (plain sector image)
  - .msa  (Magic Shadow Archiver)

A .zip that contains one of these also works. The builder accepts only the original release; it checks
the decrypted program against a known checksum and refuses anything else.

HOW TO USE IT
Windows: start the .exe, then choose your disk image (or drag the image onto the .exe).
Linux:   python3 scr-lynx-builder-0.2.pyz IMAGE [OUTPUT_DIR]
         (needs Python 3.8 or newer and nothing else; --help, --info IMAGE, --version)

The result is written next to your disk image as:
  Stunt_Car_Racer_V0_2.lnx

Start it in a Lynx emulator (for example Felix or Handy), or copy it to a flash cartridge.

HOW IT WORKS
The program on the original disk is fully encrypted and protected. The builder runs the original
protection code itself, in a small 68000 interpreter written in Python, and derives the key the same way
the real machine does: from checksums of the code and from the data of the special sector (track 0,
sector 6). With a .stx image the sector read times are checked as well, exactly as the protection does on
a real ST. Nothing is patched or bypassed; the original program decrypts itself.

The builder then converts the game data and assembles the cartridge image. The result is checked against
the reference build of the port.

MADE BY A HUMAN AND AN AI
Idea, direction, testing and all decisions: a human.
Analysis, code, tests and texts: Claude (Anthropic).

This is an unofficial, non-commercial fan project. It is not connected with Micro Style, Atari, or any
rights holder. Use it only with your own copy of the game.

Python (https://www.python.org) - Python Software Foundation License.
Packaged with PyInstaller (https://pyinstaller.org) - GPL with an exception that allows distributing
programs packaged with it.