SHAR PC/Console Differences / Possible PC Bugs

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but after playing the Console versions of SHAR the sign outside Springfield Elementary and the two Springfield Community Center signs don't seem to change on the PC version, they only have one phrase unlike the console versions that seem to change on level reload or after completing a lap of the level. This seems to affect all Evergreen Terrace Levels: level 1, 4 & 7.

PC Signs
Springfield Elementary Sign Springfield Community Center Sign 1 Springfield Community Center Sign 2
Console Springfield Elementary Signs (Examples)

Console Springfield Community Center Signs (Examples)

Also I have noticed that the reflection/sheen on vehicles is somewhat different between consoles and PC. The reflection/sheen on PC only seems to move when you steer left and right while on console it moves while you are driving forward or backward aswell.

PC Vehicle Reflection/Sheen

Console Vehicle Reflection/Sheen

I am just making sure that I am not the only person who knows of these differences.

I can provide some insight on the signs not changing in the PC release.

From what we can tell, they simply exported that region incorrectly and they are not using Random Texture chunks (which are basically a special chunk which contains several textures, when loading one of these the game will select one of its textures at random and use that one) as they should be which results in the signs being static. I actually wasn't aware they didn't make this mistake in the console versions so good catch.

Also I see what you mean with the environment map on the cars behaving differently between versions though I don't really have any insights as to why that is.

To add to this discussion, there's a couple other notable version differences between the console and PC releases:

• The refraction effect on the hover car is completely absent in the PC release and was replaced by the car simply becoming semi translucent. This may have been a technical limitation in DirectX 8 but we're not 100% sure.
• Animations for drivers and passengers in a car are completely absent by default due to an oversight in the PC version. This mistake is actually corrected by the bug fixes hack that we include in the mod launcher though by default these are absent like I said.
• The lens flare on the sun that appears in some levels is disabled in the PC release though it is present in the games files.

I demonstrated these features in a video of mine using the GameCube version in the Dolphin emulator. You can see the refraction effect right away in this video after I start driving the car (though it is actually broken in different ways on the GameCube version). The lens flare is visible at around 14 seconds into the video (look around where the clouds are to the right of the trailer park). I also demonstrate the driver animations working fine at around 1 minute into this video.


EDIT:
Oh, one more thing: The frontend files (HUD) use higher resolution images on PC than any other platform as far as I can tell.

I have noticed the sign issue for a while now but I didn't see any mention of it anywhere and I also didn't list the other differences due to them being more well known and listed on websites such as on The Cutting Room Floor.

tcrf.net/The_Simpsons:_Hit_%26_Run

I have seen other places where signs do work correctly such as: The Power Plant Sign, The Springfield Stadium Signs in Level 2 etc. but i don't know whether that is because of Mod Launcher or whether they change in the stock game.

They only made this mistake with the region file that contains the school and community center as far as I know so all the other ones should work as intended.

I Wonder if it is fixable like the Steering Animations.

We already did that for Donut Mod 4 (not out yet) so yes. It's just a matter of manually changing the region files to work how they're supposed to.

Will it be released separately along side Donut Mod 4 such as part of the Bug Fixes in Mod Launcher?

It's not a bug fix so, no, it won't be part of the mod launcher.

I Just thought that other people might want it to be fixed aswell.
Anyway I have fixed it for level 1 using the Lucas Pure 3D Map Editor, i will go on to do both Level 4 and 7 as well.

"I Just thought that other people might want it to be fixed aswell."

I know, but it's not a bug fix since it's not a bug. It's an oversight in the actual P3D file. The game is working as intended but the file is wrong.