rec.autos.simulators

Editor for Indycar racing (Long)

Beau Mersere

Editor for Indycar racing (Long)

by Beau Mersere » Tue, 22 Mar 1994 09:01:20

        A friend of mine programmed an editor for Indycar by Papyrus.
My only problem is, I don't know how to transfer it to an FTP site.  If
someone could tell me how to do this, I'll upload it for you guys.

        Here's the readme file.  Sorry about the enter character.  I don't
know how to strip it out.  

                                  IndyEdit

                              Copyright (C) 1994
                               Jeffrey A. Ross
                               CIS #71561,3161

     Introduction:

          First, let me say thanks for trying out this program.  For those
          of you who don't feel comfortable editing the text files that
          come with INDYCAR RACING (tm) you now have an easier way to do
          so.  IndyEdit gives you an alternate, and hopefully an easier and
          more effiecient, way to do so.

          The programmers at Papyrus have given you a great deal of control
          over the program's various details/funtions as it is. In addition,
          they've left various options open for the user to 'tweak'.  These
          include many items pertaining to each track and all of the
          computer drivers in the simulation.  

          If you're like me you rarely put a dent in the manuals that
          come with most utility programs so I'm providing two main sections
          to this manual; a QuickStart section and more detailed area.  
          There's really nothing complex about operating the program so you
          should be able to get by with the QuickStart section just fine.

     Features:

          Tracks - Allows you to edit the following items from each track's
          text file:

               1) Wing type, either Road/Street or Speedway. You will see
                  the difference in the sim.  If you load Speedway wings
                  and run on a road circuit you will notice some loss of
                  downforce as well as physically smaller wings on the car.

               2) Maximum laps for each race. You can run a 250 lap race
                  at Laguna Seca if you want for example (if you have the
                  stamina that is).

               3) Mininum/Maximum opponents/cars to RACE against.  The
                  maximum number specifies the most cars that may qualify
                  for a race.  The actual number that can possibly qulify
                  will be between the minimum and maximum.

               4) Track Record.  You can set the track record that is
                  displayed on the initial screen when you've selected a
                  track.  This is included if you want to put your personal
                  record here.  This only has an affect when you've set
                  the weather to random in the sim.

               5) Average temperature and temperature variation for the
                  track.  This only takes has an affect when you've set
                  the weather to random in the sim.

               6) Best lap (BLAP). You can adjust the absoulte fastest time
                  that any computer car will have for any track.

               7) Opponents relative strength (RELS).  This sets the upper
                  limit of the computer cars speed for RACING.  The opponent
                  strength feature in the INDYCAR program adjust the max
                  speed for both qualifying and racing. Howver, while
                  testing the program I seemed to notice the effect while
                  in practice mode under the Single Race option.

               8) You can view any or all tracks at one time.  Each track
                  and it's associated data are contained in their own
                  'window'. You can open, close and move these windows
                  around as you wish.

               9) Print the data for each track (must have a printer).

          Drivers - Allow you to edit/adjust the following items for each
          driver:

               1) Drivers name.

               2) Drivers nickname.

               3) Drivers hometown, state, country and country abbreviation.

               4) Change the chassis.

               5) Change the engine.

               6) Change the power values for each drivers engine.  This
                  is a neat feature.  You can adjust the minimum and maximum
                  possilbe values in several different ways; Minimum value
                  only, maximium value only, both min/max values or have
                  the program randomly select values.  By varying these
                  values you control the drivers absolute speed. The
                  difference between the two values controls how consistent
                  the driver will be.  This is because the value the
                  program finally uses will fall between the two numbers.

               7) Print the drivers data.

     Installation:

          Unzip the file IE.ZIP to either you INDYCAR directory or unzip
          it somewhere else and copy all the files to your INDYCAR
          directory. That's it.  If you want to backup you original
          <track>.TXT and DRIVERS.TXT files you should do so now and I
          HIGHLY recomend that you do. Ya never know <G>.

     Requirements:

          Basically if you can run IndyCar then you can run this program.
          One exception is that you MUST have a mouse installed and
          functioning correctly.  The majority of the program is mouse
          driven.  Also, if you want printouts of track and drivers data
          you will need, of course, a printer. A printer isn't mandatory
          however as the program will warn you if it can't find or
          'talk' to your printer.

          For the technically minded out there the program runs in
          640x480 mode with 16 colors (native VGA mode 18).

     Included Files:

          <track>.DEF   - These files contain the original data from version
                          1.0 of the simulation.  They are used by IndyEdit
                          for restoring/reloading the 'factory defaults'
                          should you so choose.  This is done via the
                          save options.

          <drivers>.DEF - Original data files for the DRIVERS.TXT data.

          Clasic08.fgf  - Data file used internally by IndyEdit.

          Readme.txt    - Installation instructions.

          IndyEdit.Doc  - This file.

          IndyEdit.exe  - Main program file.

          Ie.hlp        - Help file used by IndyEdit. Even though you can
                          view this file DON'T change anything in it.

     To Run:

          Change to the INDYCAR directory, or wherever you've located the
          INDYCAR.EXE file and type INDYEDIT.

     ************************************************************************
     QUICKSTART:
     ************************************************************************

     KEY COMMANDS

          Alt Q          =    Quit program.

          Other keys     =    If a menu option or prompt has an underline
                              beneath a letter then pressing that key
                              will activate that option/item.

          ESC            =    Cancel an operation.

     MOUSE

          Left button    =    Used to open a menu, move a track window or
                              cycle a value.

                              In the Drivers window the left button is used
                              to increase/decrease the MINIMUM engine power
                              via the [-], [+] icons.

          Right button   =    When a Track window is open you may point
                              to any item in the window and click the
                              right button to bring up a brief help window                              
                              telling what the option does.

                              In the Drivers window the right mouse button
                              is used to increase/decrease the MAXIMIM
                              engine power via the 2 small [-], [+] icons.

     Selecting
     Menu Options        =    Generally if an item (drivers name for example)
                              is colored WHITE then clicking on it will
                              change it or call up another menu.

                              Example: In the Drivers window if you click
                              on an engine name (ie; CosXB) the you will
                              cycle through all possible engine names.

     ************************************************************************
     TRACKS|DRIVERS WINDOWS
     ************************************************************************

     Features common to both the Track window boxes and the Drivers window.

     Open a track or the Drivers window:

          Click on the TRACKS option on the top menu bar. This will open
          another menu showing all tracks available for editing/viewing.
          Click on a track name to open that track's window.

          Click on Drivers. There is only one window and it contains
          information on all drivers.

     Close a track/Drivers window:

          Click on the checkered flag icon in the upper left corner of the
          window.  If the flag is yellow it means you've made some change
          to the data.  You will also be warned that changes have been made.

          Note: You may still close the track window.  The changes you've
          made are still there, they're just not saved. You won't lose
          the changes until you actually quit the program.  This goes for
          the Drivers window also.

     Move a Track window:

          This only applies to the track windows.  Click the left button
          a hold it on the name of the track at the top of the window. Then
          drag the mouse to where you want to move it.  Release the left
          button when you've got it where you want it.

     Save data:

          Click on the floppy disk icon at the top right (yes my bitmap
          art needs work <G> ).

          This will open another window giving you the possible options.
          You can:

               Save as is to disk - Save what you got so far.
               Load defaults      - Loads the default data that came with
                                    the original INDYCAR program files.

     Print data:

          Click on the printer icon (2nd from right at the top).  Another
          menu will pop up prompting you to ready your printer.  Then
          just press any key to start printing.

     ************************************************************************
     TRACKS|EDITING
     ************************************************************************

          Each option in the tracks window(s) contains the following:

               Option Name         [-][+] Icons      Current values

          Just click on the plus/minus icons to cycle or increase/decrease
          the values.

          If you click with the right mouse button a help window will appear
          telling you more about the option in question.

     ************************************************************************
     DRIVERS|EDITING
     ************************************************************************

          Viewing from left to right you will see:

               1) Drivers name
               2) Drivers car number (cannot be changed)
               3) [-] Icon. For DEcreasing the Min/Max engine power values.
               4) Bar graph showing engine power values from 0 on the left
                  to 999 on the right side. From 0 to min value is colored
                  in RED.  From this min value to the max value is colored
                  GREEEN.
               5) [+] Icon.  For INcreasing the Min/Max engine power values.
               6) xxx - Digital readout of Minimum engine value.
               7) yyy - Digital readout of Maximum engine value.
               8) Chassis name.  Abbreviated name of the chassis. The program
                  writes the full names when you save the file.
               9) Engine name. Same as chassis but it applies to the
                  engine.

          Change Drivers Name:

               Click on the name. A box will pop up showing the remaining
               data for the driver; Nickname, hometown and country etc..
               You can change any item by hitting the key coorsponding to
               the letter that is underlined. Example: to change the
               drivers Country hit the 'C' key.

               Note: You can enter new data for you, driver 1, but it will
               NOT be changed in the sim.  I'm not sure why. I guess
               that Papyrus has this data in another file somewhere.

          Change Chassis/Engine:

               Click on the current chassis or engine displayed.

          Changing Min/Max Engine Power:

               Here's the fun part.  You have several ways to changes these
               values:

               Mouse click - You can click on either the Plus or the
               Minus ICONs to increase/decrease the values. Or, you
               can click on the bar graph itself.

               !!!NOTE: The program uses both mouse buttons; LEFT
               button affects the MINimum value and the RIGHT button
               changes the MAXimum value.

               You can't increase the minimum value above the maximium
               value or decrease the max value below the min value and
               so on.

               Click on the ICON to the right of the menu title
               "Engine Power".  It's a small icon with a GREEN/RED
               horizontal bar on it.  This will bring up a menu
               giving you 4 options. These options affect ALL
               drivers engine power settings

               1) Change MIN values.  Hit the '1' key and type
                  in a new min value.

               2) Change MAX values.  Hit the '2' key and type
                  in a new max value.

               3) Random MIN values.  Hit the '3' key and the
                  program will generate random minimum values. The
                  values will be anywhere from 0 up to but not
                  including the current max value for EACH
                  driver.

               4) Random MAX values.  Hit the '4' key and the
                  program will generate random maximum values. The
                  values will be anywhere from the min value up to
                  999 for ALL drivers.

               What value is this you ask? I dunno, but it could make for
               a more interesting race. You'd have some cars screaming
               around the track and some that can barely get out of their
               own way.  By selecting a wide range between the min and
               max values you'd create a driver, or drivers, whose ability
               would be pretty unpredictable.  At the very least it allows
               you a fine degree of control over each computer opponent.

               For instance: While testing the results one time I had
               entered a MIN value for all cars at 1 and a MAX value at
               999, then ran a single race (practice session) at Michigan.
               Of the 5 cars on the track (I've got a slow computer) one
               was going so fast I couldn't catch him, one was running
               at about 130mph, one at about 165mph and one at around
               65mph.  This was with an Opponent Strength setting in the
               sim of 100%.  If you've set the min/max VERY low the cars
               will actually just sit there on the track.

               This is feature that is fun to 'play' with; creating a
               more varied field of drivers.

     ************************************************************************
     DISCLAIMER
     ************************************************************************


rec.autos.simulators is a usenet newsgroup formed in December, 1993. As this group was always unmoderated there may be some spam or off topic articles included. Some links do point back to racesimcentral.net as we could not validate the original address. Please report any pages that you believe warrant deletion from this archive (include the link in your email). RaceSimCentral.net is in no way responsible and does not endorse any of the content herein.