rec.autos.simulators

Secondly, I am convinced that the lap timer is wrong.  For the most part
the numbers make sense, but many times I have gone into the ditch, got
back out on the road, and completed a lap and then gotten a better lap
time than any of my clean laps.  This makes no sense!  I have heard that
there is a fast CPU patch available, but I thought it was only for 1.7
ghz or higher.  I am running a 1 ghz Celeron.  Theoretically I don't
need it, but I wonder if it would fix the timing problem.  Has anyone
tried the patch on slower machines?

TIA,
Hal

That's strange... perhaps it's more to do with the general settings of your
controller. I've found that I need to change these settings from game to
game to maximize the benifit from their internal settings. For GPL I suggest
getting rid of centering spring altogether, have the overal force setting
nominal, the spring effect setting at like 75-80% and the damping at about
34-40% and make fine adjustments through the settings in core.ini (are you
sure you're editing the correct file, BTW, because of Windows default
behavior of hiding extension for certain filetypes a lot of people end up
editing core.ini.sample instead of the actual file). If the effects of the
FF really continue to throw you off course, I suggest increasing the
"overall" damping setting and maybe introducing some centering spring to
help keep the wheel straight under braking.

Nothing wrong with GPL's timing and no patch is required for CPU's < 1.4Ghz,
it's just you need to realise that, true to the era, you're being timed by a
virtual guy with a stopwatch, not a TAG-Heurer timing computer. In places
where you're pitboard guy is stationed along start/finish this manual timing
method implies the time shown to you on the board is that of the last lap
you completed, not the one you're on and about to complete. Only exception
is the Ring, where you're signaller is on the straight following Sudkehre
and receives up to date lap time information via radio from s/f.

Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.

It is really annoying as that like in your case it doesn't appear in any
other game, Nascar 2 & 3, Need for Speed 3, 4, & 5, and numerous Motorcycle
racing games. Constant recalibration of the windows game control panel,
deleting the controls.cfg file in the player directory, recalibrating the in
game calibration every time you start GPL would only be a band aid for
awhile. I would usually end up replacing the pot about every month or so
depending on how much I would want to race GPL without this annoying
problem.

Brand New Pot = smooth GPL racing for several weeks. Long ago I read of
people cleaning the pots, but due to the low price of pots and the amount of
time to R&R them, I would always put a new one in.

Granted I've only had experience with analog (Thrustmaster) controllers, and
the incompatibility of FF with older games has kept me purchasing one. No
really I'm just an "Ole Cheap Bastard" ,,,,,,,, he he

Nascar 4 has had the same problem with my new computer and a Logitech
wingman Joystick, GPL game engine?
I have found that assigning IRQ's for all the PCI slots in the motherboard
bios (ASUS) instead of the AUTO selection gave somewhat of a cure, but
didn't make that jittery wheel disappear, just went from a major jerk (into
the wall) to an annoying but manageable problem.

I don't know how hard it is to get to the steering pot on your Logitech FF
GP wheel, but it may be worth taking a peek at.

Good Luck, and give Logitech a call.

--
R.I.P. - William Joseph Dunlop OBE MBE  2/25/52 - 7/2/2000

http://www.roadracers.uk.com/legend.htm

Thanks for the thorough reply.  I am not using a centering spring in
GPL, but I will try playing around with the other global settings and
see if that helps.  I do have the correct core.ini, I turned off that
silly "hide extensions" feature long ago.  ;o)

Thanks for the explanation of the lap timer thing.  It took a minute to
figure out what you meant, but I think I got it.  The thing that was
confusing me was that you get a lap time displayed the second time you
pass the pitboard, which made me think that was the time for the first
full lap, i.e. the one I was completing as I passed the pitboard.  But
if the timing is based on the start/finish line rather than the pitboard
location, I can see how it would have to be one lap off from that.  That
cleared up a lot of confusion!

Regards,
Hal

Regards,
Hal

: It is behaving exactly like a bad pot,

FWIW, I got this with an old InterAct V3 wheel *and* a brand-new LWFF...
it's not bad pots in my case.

Dale.
==================================================
GPL Rank: +106.12
DSM: www.dsm.org
CP990 Panorama Gallery:
http://members.home.net/digitallattice/pano.html

It's not that bad a job, so it's worth a try. If it makes no difference, you
can always put the original one back.

R.
=-=-
It is behaving exactly like a bad pot, but the reason I doubted it is
that not only is the problem not showing up in other games, but also
when I look at the raw readout in the calibration routine in either N4
or GPL, I do not see any spikes.  Also I thought N4's FF implementation
was similar to GPL's, but I get no spikes in N4.  Anyway, I guess the
only way to figure this out for sure is to dig in and look.  Thanks for
your advice.

Regards,
Hal

--
Posted from motgate4.mot.com [144.189.100.102]
via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Ian P
<email invalid due to spammers>

Must be something about the dead-center or so.

According to my experience the pots give you problems earliest after one year.
This is for extremely extensive use (says my wife, I would call it regularly)
and a very humid and warm environment.
Unluckily you cannot get Logi-spare pots on the market :-(

<snip>

JensSchumi
---------------------------------------------
LWFF Ball Bearing conversion at:
http://members.nbci.com/JensSchu/

GPLRank: -13
Monsters of GPL: sub 200

Jens, you are saying then that I can't just run down to the local
electronics outlet and find an equivalent pot?  What is unique about
them?

| Jens, you are saying then that I can't just run down to the local
| electronics outlet and find an equivalent pot?  What is unique about
| them?
|

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 7/18/2001

| I think that kind of pot doesn't give you headaches, it just makes you
| hungry.
|

| > Wouldnt depend on the quality of "pot" at ur local outlet?
| > oops wrong "pot" sorry :)
| >
| > | Jens, you are saying then that I can't just run down to the local
| > | electronics outlet and find an equivalent pot?  What is unique about
| > | them?

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 7/18/2001

Cya
Jens

BTW: Mike Turner from UK found the manufacturer (who makes these thingies for
several controller producers) and got even a quotation. Price was good, but
minimum purchase 1000 pcs.

GPLRank: -13
Monsters of GPL: sub 200