Hats off to that guy who did it. What a fabulous achievement! I think he is a former
employee of Papyrus. I wonder what they think of him doing this or if they even care.
I also wonder if this guy has crossed any legal boundaries by creating these patches for
Indianapolis?
As far as the production of this patch, I wouldn't think it would be that hard using the
existing .DAT file from the old indycar indianapolis track. Wouldn't it be interesting
if he could create, from the ground up, a .DAT for your favorite local short track? I'm
thinking of my favorite criss-cross track at Raceway Park in Shokapee! That would be
great fun!!
Jason Boche
#8 No-Fear Ford Thunderbird
B & B Motorsports
http://www.mm.com/user/hulio496
Better yet, who is the guy that did it? WHo is Gerhard? He hasn't surfaced
to my knowledge. Maybe Rick and the boys put it out under a nom de plume!
It interests me that someone would know so much about the file structure
of the track.dat file. It appears that the conversion program actually
takes the file apart, makes changes and rebuilds it. Not easy stuff in my
estimation. I realize the stuff that was done with WC but this seems to
have been done awfully quickly after the game release...
No doubt I'm blowing smoke up my ***but it's interesting to speculate.
In any case, I doubt that Papyrus would be thrilled about having the
Nascar Indy.dat file being freely distributed...
Well as far as I know he never worked for Papyrus.
From what little I know about him from my 'contact', John Wallace his
full name is Gerhard Lingenberg and he's over in Germany.
He competes in the Compuserve on-line Nascar leauge but seems to
derive alo lot of pleasure from tinkering with the programs.
My assumption is that he has some programming/hacking background and
he's pretty damn good at it.
We tend to use The Pits as his 'medium' for getting his utilities out
on the 'net and we intend to put a 'Gerhards Utils' page on The Pits
to get him a bit more of the acclaim he deserves.
He's a fairly quiet nad shy chap - he likes the acclaim but doesn't
talk to too many people.
So, there you go.
Not disputing Gerhards skill and his work but if like myself you have
a programming background, its a little easier.
The DAT files are modular in their construction, containing various
file formats that define the track, objects, textures, etc.
Rather than put all of these files separate in the directory, Papyrus
put them all into a single DAT file and reference each item with a
sort of mini 'F.A.T' that defines what objects are in the file and
what the starting offset and size of the elements are.
In the case of Gerhards utilities, by understanding how to read the
'F.A.T', the individual elements can be extracted and modified, then
reassembled into another file.
In most cases, the majority of the changes are to textures and object
colours, needed because of the different game palettes used in the two
games.
Now, before you all start sending me e-mail saying "Well if you
understand the files can you make me Daytona?", the answers No!
At present, the file format used to define the 3D objects and the
track shape is still a little grey to me. I can't vouch for Gerhards
findings, but I assume he's in a similar situation.
Also theres the question of getting the track AI right, again another
grey area.
I don't know if Gerhard was already working in it when I released my
very rough and crude patch for the Indy500 track.
I'm assuming as soon as I posted it, Rick G told the guys at work
about it.
If not, I can imagine the puzzled look on the faces of the sales team
at Papyrus at why after discontinuing Indycar 1, suddenly everybody in
the world wants a copy of the Indycar 1 painkit pack! ;-)
Think of it this way. Gerhard, myself and everybody else who produces
and distribute utilities for Nascar, Indycar, etc al. can't charge for
it or we would, in many cases, be breaking the law.
In the meantime, Papyrus make even more money from a sudden, second
demand for the ICR1 track pack.
Theres no justice is there.....
Jed
The Pits
www.ukps.com/thepits
www.fwb.gulf.net/~jkohl/thepits
Jed knows the guy, and Rick sure would like to talk to him. In email with
Rick he said that, so I doubt that Rick & friends did it. Given their
non-release agreements, I don't think they would jepordize their careers
over this.
You're not the only with similar awe. Being able to do that with 0
technical support is incredible, but Rick said that given enough time,
someone would probably be able to make the change. Making it work well on
the other hand...
Yep, and he's got a few ambitous plans on the burner right now. I just hope
the guy takes the time out to really enjoy the product of his creation.
Hey, it's always fun to play the guessing game.
That they did object to. Strenously.
--
_
___/ \___ Speed Bump Motorsports... The name says it all.
NRL95 #110 Hershey's Kiss Chevrolet Monte Carlo
PRO95 #53 Hershey's Kiss Penske PC23/Ilmor D
SIMCAR96 #45 Hershey's Kiss Pontiac Grand Prix
IVGA #2027 (membership, not the car!)
Rick Genter
Technical Lead, IndyCar Racing II
Papyrus Design Group, Inc.
Thanks
RR> Personally, I think it's great. Gerhard is not a former Papyrus
RR> employee. As to whether he's crossed any legal boundaries, I don't
RR> know. As long as people don't post the converted tracks, I don't
RR> think we care too much, either
Congratulations on such a sensible, mature attitude.....always hoped for
but never expected..... B-)
Cheers!
---
* RM 1.3 U0414 * Panther v. _._ will be released in the _rd qtr. of 19__!
