Version 0.1beta first release
1999-09-15
Fran?ois Mnard
This FAQ will be sent to all 3 USENET message group. Those are the public
newsgroup rec.autos.simulators, the public newsgroup server 206.27.21.29
n3.discussion and finally the server localnews.ten.net
TEN.games.simulations.nascar, until the last one is officially deleted from
POGO. You can send this to anybody you want as it will be very important
with a client/server based multiplayer that everybody is on the same track.
This will give you the chance to race any Nascar Racing 2, Nascar Racing 2 :
BGN Add-on pack, Nascar Racing 99, Nascar Racing 2 (50th Anniversary
edition), and finally Indy Car Racing 2 /CART Racing. All those titles are
by Papyrus.
In no way this is done to promote illegal piracy of Papyrus-copyrighted
files. I would hope that everybody that uses this also has legally the
titles above.
Finally, please note that if this doesn't work for you it is possible, I did
this from a simple test on my PC configuration and nothing is official yet.
It's normal it might not work, later FAQ's will be much more complete.
ALWAYS make backup of your files, in case it goes wrong.
1.0 == What is this FAQ for ? ==
So you want to race Pocono in N3 ? Your ashamed at NASCAR for pulling out
North Wilkesboro out of the calendar ? Well here is a step-by-step
intruction on how to convert those tracks. It's actually more easy than you
think! Tools that you should get :
- Pack.exe and unpack.exe (included in many Papyrus utilities and websites)
- David's Noonan N2/NR99 <--> Icr2 converter. Buy it, the shareware version
only gives you a limited choice of track
- Upcoming Old Engine <--> GPL converter
2.0 == What are those tracks ? ==
Here is a list of tracks you can convert to Nascar Racing 3.
2.1 Nascar Racing 2/BGN track pack:
- Atlanta
- Bristol
- Bull Run
- California
- Charlotte
- Darlington
- Dover
- Gateway
- Hickory
- IRP
- Milwaukee
- Martinsville
- Myrtle Beach
- Nashville
- Nazareth
- Bristol Night
- Charlotte Night
- Richmond Night
- Loudon
- Phoenix
- Pocono
- Red Rock
- Richmond
- Rockingham
- South Boston
- Sears Point
- Talladega
- Texas
- Watkins Glen
- North Wilkesboro
2.2 IndyCar Racing 1/2:
- Australia
- Cleveland
- Detroit
- Elkhart Lake
- Indianapolis
- Laguna Seca
- Long Beach
- Michigan
- Midohio
- Milwaukee
- Nazareth
- Loudon
- Phoenix
- Portland
- Toronto
- Vancouver
2.3 Nascar Racing : 1999 Edition
- Atlanta
- Bristol
- California
- Charlotte
- Darlington
- Dover
- Evergreen
- Flemington
- Gateway
- Heartland Topeka
- Hickory
- i70
- IRP
- Las Vegas
- Louisville
- Memphis
- Mesa Marin
- Michigan
- Milwaukee
- Martinsville
- Myrtle Beach
- Nashville
- Nazareth
- Bristol Night
- Charlotte Night
- Richmond Night
- Loudon
- Phoenix
- Pike's Peak
- Portland
- Rockingham
- South Boston
- Sears Point
- Talladega
- Texas
- Watkins Glen
2.4 Grand Prix Legends: (please note that not all tracks are available yet)
- Brands Hatch
- Dubai
- Watkins Glen
- Kyalami
- Mexico
- Monaco
- Monza
- Mosport
- Nurburgring
- Rouen
- Silverstone
- Spa
- Zandvoort
2.5 Please note that user-created tracks may work, but I haven't tested them
unfortunately. You may try at your own risk. If there is any other
original-Papyrus track I omited, I will feel free to update this FAQ. I did
not include any Nascar Racing 1 track because I did not made any test with
it. Maybe in a future version of this FAQ I will. And yes I ommited the
Daytona International Speedway from Papyrus on purpose ;)
3.0 == So how we convert those tracks ? ==
3.1 This will be a little more complicated. As you may have seen in the
list above, many tracks appear in different version of Papyrus racing
simulations. Somehow this FAQ was also made so that everybody can be racing
with the same tracks. Mixing somebody using the NR99 Charlotte with the N2
Charlotte and N3 Charlotte could create some very odd situation, such as
reboot, some players being faster than the others (because of the slight
track accuracy modification from a title to another). I do not see any
server checksum for the .dat file in Nascar Racing 3 like we had on the
NROS, but this is another issue that I won't get into. This FAQ is in
no-way pushing people to cheat or try to cheat. In fact it's the opposite,
It is here to make a consortium between all N3 users. This way nobody will
get mixed up. Here is a list of tracks that are duplicated in titles :
3.1a Nascar Racing 2/bgn track pack:
- Atlanta
- Bristol
- California
- Charlotte
- Darlington
- Dover
- Gateway
- Hickory
- IRP
- Milwaukee
- Martinsville
- Myrtle Beach
- Nashville
- Nazareth
- Bristol Night
- Charlotte Night
- Richmond Night
- Loudon
- Phoenix
- Richmond
- Rockingham
- South Boston
- Sears Point
- Talladega
- Texas
- Watkins Glen
3.1b IndyCar Racing 2 / CART Racing
- Indianapolis
- Michigan
- Milwaukee
- Nazareth
- Loudon
- Phoenix
- Portland
3.1c Nascar Racing : 1999 Edition
- Atlanta
- Bristol
- California
- Charlotte
- Darlington
- Dover
- Gateway
- Hickory
- IRP
- Las Vegas
- Memphis
- Michigan
- Milwaukee
- Martinsville
- Myrtle Beach
- Nashville
- Nazareth
- Bristol Night
- Charlotte Night
- Richmond Night
- Loudon
- Phoenix
- Pike's Peak
- Portland
- Rockingham
- South Boston
- Sears Point
- Talladega
- Texas
- Watkins Glen
3.1d NOTICE : If one of your track you want to convert is in that list,
please read the whole FAQ before converting, especially the 3.2.1 point.
3.2 Indy Car Racing 2 / CART Racing tracks
You will need to load the Icr2 <--> N2 converter and convert the Icr2 track
you want into Nascar Racing 2 or Nascar Racing 99 Edition. Another time I
suggest you really go buy the converter from David Noonan, it is a great
utility. After this here are the steps.
Copy the now N2/NR99 converted track (found in Nascar2(99)/tracks) into your
Nascar3/tracks/ directory. Please note that will only works for tracks that
have a different name than a N3 track. DO NOT overwrite any file. We will
discuss this issue a little later.
Now you will need to edit a file called all.cal in your main Nascar3
directory. I suggest you open it with Notepad. This file is what we call
in Papyrus-jargon the "Calendar file". It list all the tracks you have in
your N3 folder. You need to add the tracks you want so that N3 can see
them. If per example you now convert the Elkhart track in N3 ; Here is what
the line should look like :
31 1 31 0 0 ELKHART Race31 Race31 200 event1.tga biglogo1.tga
One-by-one those settings mean :
31 = The track list. Each time you will need to add them in numerical
order. I do not know if there is a limit of tracks in N3, but there is
probably one. I will modify this for a future version of this FAQ.
1 = The month of the race
31 = The date of the race
0 = Hmm I forgot that one, leave it to 0
1 = Means it's a Night tracks (Charlotte, Richmond, Bristol)
ELKHART = This is the name of the track folder. Always write it in CAPS.
Race31 = Another time you will have to add this in numerical order
Race31 = Same as above
200 = The number of laps a 100% Race at that track should have
event1.tga = Those are only if you want to add a track logo on the main
track list menu. It is not nessecary to have those files in your track
folder.
biglogo.tga = Same as above, but this is the track race Logo (ex: Bud at the
Glen)
Note that at the end of your all.cal you should always have this :
32 12 99 0 0 XXXXXXXX
It should always be left that way, except that you add the first number in
numerical order (that would mean I have 31 Nascar3 tracks).
Open the track.txt in your N3 folder now. You will have to add the new
lines that N3 has. Im not sure yet of all the meaning of them.
SUN 270 80 Add this after the RAIN line. I would speculate that it's the
sun position on the track in degrees to set the dynamic shadows and specular
hightlights.
BLAPT 55000 This is probably a temporary setting. It's made to set-up the
Trucks to run a specific power at that track, so it was placed there in case
N3 will have a truck add-on possibily. Just add the line after the BLAP and
put the same number in both lines.
RELST 102 Another truck setting, after the RELS line. Another time, put
the same number than the RELS line for the moment.
TIRET 62985 5200 80500000 62985 3500 85000000 0 Yet another truck setting,
after the TIRES line. It's made to set the grip of the trucks at that
specific line. Add the one from the TIRES line, not needed but nessecary.
Save and quit. That's all you need. Load Nascar 3, go in the track list
menu and you should see the track at the bottom of the list. Happy now ?!
3.2.1 Now let's go into the complicated thing. We will have to face
multiple tracks in multiple shape and configuration. Per example there is
Michigan in every Papyrus title. So how will we make this all work ? It
will be simple, and a little complicated at the same time. But don't worry,
be happy :)
The easy way and the most intelligent will be to create a prefix to the
duplicate tracks. This way you will be able to tell (from racing offline and
also in multiplayer) that the tracks is not a N3 original track, and that
also what version it is from. Prefix will be kept simple, since you can't
have more than 8letters for each track:
N1xxxxxx will mean it's a Nascar Racing 1 track
N2xxxxxx will mean it's a Nascar Racing 2/BGN add-on track
N9xxxxxx will mean it's from Nascar Racing : 1999 Edition
Icxxxxxx will mean it's from IndyCar Racing 2 /CART Racing (the IMS from
Icr1 also)
The only track in Grand Prix Legends that could cause a problem is Watkins
Glen, but David Noonan has made that track for N2/NR99 and it's under
"THEGLEN" track name, so we will keep it that way.
The tracks that have a possible duplicate name in Icr2 are Indianapolis,
Michigan, Milwaukee, Nazareth, Phoenix, Portland and Loudon. Those tracks
will be renamed
...
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