rec.autos.simulators

--
Erik Pohjola
Software Technical Support
Ubi Soft Entertainment
1-800-UBI-SOFT
*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Marc

[note, where I list a "name" it is where I've replaced the bogus names with
the real drivers.  I'm sure they are correct, except where McLaren was
switched with Williams.  And I recognized it is based on '97]

** Main one is: no sound in replay mode.

* I get a periodic clicking noise.  On some rapid downshifts, I also get
distorted sound.

* I have to switch from wavx2 to wavpw.

* The sound editor is in French.

* I've noticed that if I go to the garage (telemetry?) when in a session
(qualifying, others?) that the AI cars get a lot faster.  This was when I was
in realistic/amateur mode racing at Monza in a single GP.

* You need a more consistent way to handicap the AI in amateur mode (and
probably Pro).  Their times respond differently to whether the session is
skipped, accelerated through, or raced.  In amateur "skipped" races, Nakano
always turns a 1:27+ lap compared to everyone elses 1:31+.

* small one: when I quit, the taskbar minimized icon is still there.  On about
1 of 3 exits, it leaves an error message.  No biggee.

* Blue flagging: if the overtaking car is a little slow to respond to the
backmarker backing off the racing line, the blue flag disappears and the
backmarker races up to speed closing the door.

* Blue flagging: In one race, "Hakkinen" had a gearbox problem.  A lapped car
passed him, but then got the blue flag, backed off, and Hakkinen went by.
Resulting in the same series of events.

Big recommendations:

* Please add a performance editor for the cars AND the drivers' factors.

*Team tactics.  At least don't have teammates fight for position (unless their
names are Prost and Senna!).  If the faster one is overtaking, let him pass.

Other recommendations:
Don't always listen to Renault!  The Benettons are too fast in the game!
"Wurz" shouldn't be near as good as he is.

And what do they have against "M Schmacher"?  He's slower than "Irvine", not
one of the two fastest.

Why can't I select 800x600 with my Voodoo1 (Pure3D)?  Do you use z-buffering?  
If not, shouldn't the V1 be 800x600 capable?

My system:
200MMX
64 MB SDRAM
Shuttle HOT-569 MB
STB LS 128
Canopus Pure 3D (Voodoo1)
TB Montego
CH Pro Pedals, F16 CS

thanks for listening,
Dave Masten

- cc cars qualify up to 4 secs faster than they should when I use the
garage option (inevitable of course)
- saved game files grow bigger with each save and refuse to load
eventually
- after successfully reloading such a saved game the setup as well as
pit strategy is gone sometimes
- no sound in replay
- it's not possible to change the location of instruments with the
***pit editor, skylines can't be changed and the sound editor does
not work correctly with external sounds (it produces a crack loop),
plus it is in french
- Suzuka still needs to be tweaked :)

Nuff food for thoughts I'd think...

--

Tel
                              http://www.racesimcentral.net/
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a.k.a. Holger Bachert                    F1RS Cars & Design

In this forum you will find many messages about MGPR2.

I've experienced quite a few bugs myself like:

1. If you use the restart option in Time attack you will not be able
    to save your ghost lap time.
2. Save games with a file size bigger than 200k will crash the computer
    if you try to load the save game.  Save games vary between 191k
    and 210k (as far as I can tell).  I have to play with Windows NT
    explorer when I'm driving a race.  Each time I save I use ALT+TAB
    and switch to Windows Explorer and check the file size of the
    save game.  If it's bigger than 200k then I must not exit the game.  
    I will have to run one more lap and save again.  I repeat this process
    until I get a filesize that is smaller than 200k.  Then I can leave the

    game and hope to load it again later without the game crashing.
3. The computer cars are almost silent during a race (especially at the
    start).  One of the best things with F1RS was that you could
    actually hear the other cars.  This was something GP2 lacked.
    In MGPR2 you can almost not hear the AI cars at all.
4. The AI cars are way too fast during qualifying compared to the race.  
    E. g. I was running a Pro race at Melbourne.  The best AI car ran at
    1.31.0x while I set a fastest lap time of 1.32.5x, but during the race
I
    managed to set a fastest lap time of 1.32.8x while the best computer
    car set a fastest lap time of 1.35.5x.  I'm 1.5s off the best time
during
    the qualifying, but I'm nearly 3s better than them during the race.
    The AI warm-up lap times were even worse.  1.29.xxx.  That's
    not very realistic.  I don't dare think how the computer cars perform
    at the Expert level.  I probably won't even qualify.
5. The AI cars don't behave properly when they are about to be
    lapped.  It looks like you have used the driving style of David
    Coulthard and Damon Hill and a model.  E. g. the AI some times
    drives a lot slower than they could.  They even do that in corners
    and when I'm just behind them on a straight.  The result is I run
    into them.  I guess you have used the Coulthard / Schumacher
    incident at Spa 1998 as a model.  Another example:  The AI
    cars will quite often leave the ideal line when I'm about to pass
    them.  But they will get back on the ideal line just before the
    corner making it very difficult to overtake them.  They are
    "weaving" just like Damon Hill does when Michael Schumacher
    is behind him.  I think the AI cars should not leave the ideal
    line on a straight when a faster car is just behind them.  And
    if they decide to leave the ideal line they should not return to
    the ideal line until they have been passed.  They should slow
    down if they have to in order to make sure the faster car
    reaches the corner first.  I've been put out of the race quite
    often because of this.  I usually catch a back marker at the
    beginning of a straight and leave the ideal line to overtake,
    but just when I'm about to lap the backmarker this car
    leaves the ideal line to causing me to ram it.  I've also been
    taken out of the race by driving on the ideal line when the
    AI car moves over only to the the AI car ram me at when
    I reach the corner.  This is because the AI car moves back to
    the ideal line and doesn't slow down.
6. Some times many AI car won't even drive a single lap during
    qualifying.  I had to start one race with only 10 AI cars running.
    Irvine, H?kkinen, Villeneuve etc. were out of the race before it
    even began.
7. I would also like to see a performance editor so we can
    decide ourselves how fast each AI car could drive.  Why let
    the players being able to alter the sound and the graphics of
    the game, but not the performance of the AI drivers.

Besides this I think the game is very good.  It's certainly an
improvement to F1RS.

I've read on the MGPR2 forum at patch was scheduled
for the middle of November, but the patch has been delayed
until December.  So Ubisoft is definitely working on a patch
(Ubisoft France?).

Regards
Borger Borgersen
Oslo, Norway

Yes, this is for real; this is coming from North America which hasn't had
the program released yet, hence the announcement, and therefore has not been
in the loop with problems that have been experienced with the European
versions of the game.

And thank you and everyone for their input as it will be sent to the people
in charge of the North American version and as much will be done to correct
problems as possible.

As mentioned before, your comments are very appreciated and I hope will go
towards making the North American version of the game as good as possible.

--

Tel
                              http://members.xoom.com/Tel33
                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a.k.a. Holger Bachert                    F1RS Cars & Design

Sorry, I should have put North America then, my fault.

And as I said, it has been passed on.

That, as I explained is not within my area, you would need to direct
problems specifically to the European sites in order to get the best effect;
which I am sure you have done. As a tech support grunt I don't exactly have
a lot of say in what is done and what isn't in case you didn't realize that.

Actually that isn't correct, but it also doesn't really matter, I am doing
what I can and what I said I would do. I simply don't have the ability to do
any more, regardless of my agreement with your statements.

Sorry and thanks again.

Wrong. If they'd done that, you'd have Artificial Stupidity cars slamming
into your rear despite leaving them a country mile of open road to pass you.
;-)
---
Jon Petersson (http://jon.svenskabio.com)
Allez Jacques! Hyv? Mika! Vai Pedro! Go Damon! Forza Giancarlo!

Does this mean the US version for MGPR2 will be *different* than the
European version?  Shouldn't the version you release in North America
next year be identical to the *patched* European version that's available
at the release time.  Is it really possible the US version will fix *other*
bugs
than the European version.  E. g. meaning that you have 2 independent
developer teams making patches for MGPR2.   I hope I'm wrong here.  I
would hate to see a bug fixed in the US version, but not being able to
benefit from the bugfix myself since I have the European version.

I also have a few improvements to suggest:
1.  Why not let the computer wave a black flag against you (or the AI
      players) when you get a penalty (e. g. by driving the wrong way).  Now
      you will only get the penalty message, but you won't ever see the
black
      flag.
2.  The computer should also wave a blue flag against me (or the AI
      players). Use the same method as for the yellow flag.  Now I only
      get a blue flag in the upper right corner (like the black flag in
GP2).
      That's not very realistic.
3.  The computer should also show the red flag when a race should be
      stopped (e. g. when there is a big crash at the start affecting many
      cars).  When you have several broken car *on* the track the race
      should be red flagged.
4.   When you load a setup the computer should show only the setups
      for the track you are running on as the default.  Now you have to
first
      scroll through the list of tracks and select the one you want.  The
      point is the computer ought to know which track you want to select.
      When you are driving at Monza the obvious choice will be you want
      to load a setup for Monza.
5.   You should have the opportunity to type the exact number of litres of
      fuel you want when you are making a pitstop or are making a pitstop
      schedule.  You can now only use the + and - keys to alter the fuel
load.
      When I have to make an unscheduled pitstop I lose many seconds
      because I have use the + and - keys.  Just let me type 42 litres.
That
      will take 2 seconds instead of 6-10 seconds.
6.   You have forgotten to creative intermediate and monsoon tyres.  You
      can only choose between hard, soft and rain tyres.  Having the option
      to choose intermediate tyres is an important improvement to the game.
      They are used quite often in real F1 races.  Monsoon tyres are used
       very seldom so you might decide to skip those.  I have a hunch
       intermediate tyres weren't introduced since it will require
programming
       a different driving model than the ones used for hard, soft or rain
tyres.
       MGPR2 is based on F1RS (the software code, that is) and F1RS didn't
       have intermediate tyres.  So maybe we won't see intermediate tyres in
       the patch 1.01, but you should try to create it for patch 1.05 or
even
      1.10.  You should at least introduce intermediate tyres in F1RS3.  :-)
7.   I would love to be able to edit the driver skills and personalities
       programmed into the game.  Quite often one of the two drivers in a
team
       is alot faster than the other and that must be because the skills of
each
       driver is set differently.  Let the players be able to alter those.
Since you
       are using bogus driver names you won't risk a lawsuit from e. g.
Michael
       Schumacher when you reveal the skill settings.  :-)  Grand Prix
Manager
       1&2 had problems with this. They only dared to use terms like very
good,
       excellent and brilliant for the different skill settings of each real
life F1
       drivers.   We all know that's not true.  :-)

Regards
Borger Borgersen
Oslo, Norway

Well can at least we say that UBI is going to have a presence on both boards
from now on?   It would be nice to have at lease SOME representation and
feedback from the publisher.  Sometimes it seems that there is just a whole lot
of preaching on one's soapbox and nothing ever comes out of it.

Alot of people want to see this sim really mature into what it has the potental
to become...the best 'modern' F1-Racing Sim.  But in order for this to happen,
it must be a 2-way street for both sides.

:::Stepping off of soapbox:::
F1Filter

Is it any surprise developers don't come to r.a.s.? Try to ignore any rude
posts. Your presence IS appreciated by others.

David G Fisher