rec.autos.simulators

    Now, I JUST CAN'T WAIT for the patch !  Since we were BLESSED with
a PATCH in GPL, I am sure their hard work and dedication will give us
a unique experience.

    Rendition cards can't be used anymore, (never mind that THEY were
HARPING the THRILLER 3D experience just a short while ago in their OWN
magazine for INDY2!)

    Give them time to work on it, I am sure you will say.

    "It just came out, giove them time to work out the bugs."

    Then it will be ready for the garbage, in case it hasn't ended up
there already!

--
Don Burnette
Dburn on Ten
http://members.home.net/d.burnette/Sportsman%204.htm

It was said a long time ago, that Papyrus would slowly start to eliminate
their Rendition Rasterizer out of their titles.  The first step was the N2
beta 3dfx patch, after the NR99 Glide implementation.  You finally got the
Glide/OpenGL rasterizers in GPL, then Direct3D in Nascar Racing 3.

I think anybody that looks at the situation from an outside Point-of-view
understands that even if Rendition cards might still do a good visual
representation compared to other 3d cards and is still very fast, it is time
to pass to something else.

You thought that in 2008 Papyrus would still be doing a Rendition rasterizer
for their titles ? Somewhere they have to stop it.  It's dead, and there is
a very big chance that it will never come back.  At the moment Direct 3d is
the future of 3d-technology for ***.  Not Rendition.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

I seriously doubt that a patch can help this game, It needs a major
overhaul.......opps.....That would be NASCAR 4 LOL

   *However*, they also told us, "but you can always use Direct 3D
with your Rendition cards".  Unfortunately, that is *not true* (not
with the Thriller drivers, and only halfway with the Rendition
reference drivers [it won't crash but it won't show some features,
plus I believe you lose other facilities such as gamma control]).

   I understand that it's a bit of the chicken and the egg (blame your
software publisher versus blame your hardware/driver vendor), but it
is a big letdown for many faithful Rendition/Papyrus users.

   Just about the only 3D programs I run are Papyrus sims, so I was
happy.  I didn't mind spending $750 or so building a new PC for GPL.  
But considering I'm not that e***d about spending $45 for N3 to
begin with, another $100+ for a Voodoo3 further dampens my interest.
Maybe someday, though...

   Yeah, it's not like we'd have CPU compatability with 8086 programs
10-20 years later, right?  ;)

PS - Francois, thanks for the tracks FAQ.  While everyone was buying
their copies of N3 this week, I got a copy of NR1999 for $18 at the EB
for the unique tracks inside (hey, I had GPL to play the past year,
why would I want NR1999? :)

"But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was
nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into
a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

Withya on this one Jeff. 14 months  ago I put together a Celeron/Herc
Thriller system to play GPL, which it does very nicely. BTW I tried a
12Meg Voodoo 2 in it as well, which I found IMHO to be inferior to the
Thriller for GPL.

I really think Papy have scored an own goal with many fans as
rendition support in 12 months has gone from being top of the heap for
Papy sims, to what sounds like an extremely limited implementation for
N3 via D3D by all accounts. Again, I used a V1000 card for a time
before the Thriller on my old P200 - as it was the ONLY chipset for
ICR2/N2.  

Now I need to think that as well as buying N3, I apparently need to
either buy a V2 or a V3 - will be expensive.

ian

Chris
"Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold
that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass."--Mark Twain

Cheers!
John

%     Rendition cards can't be used anymore, (never mind that THEY were
% HARPING the THRILLER 3D experience just a short while ago in their OWN
% magazine for INDY2!)

They are moving in the right direction to hardware support.  And thank
goodness they still provide a "generic" controller input interface.
However, I would be a happier camper, if they gave us a new CART based
sim so I could get rid of my Rendition for ICR2 <G>

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Think about it, Oh Intelligent one.  I'll bet you have no problem dropping
a bundle to go see Smashmouth or a bazzabaw game or a NASCAR race (or
whatever other instant gratification floats your boat), at which you net
maybe three or four hours of euphoria.  But for a lousy fifty bucks (or
less) you get hundreds of hours of enjoyment with a Papyrus sim, no matter
what the flavor.  Are they perfect?  No.  Are they worth the money?  To me
they are, and I'll continue to buy everything Papy sells until I don't
think I'm getting my buck's worth.

If you don't like Papyrus, don't buy their products.  If you're going to
buy a Papyrus product, expect a patch later on.  They've put out a patch
for every sim they've ever sold since Indy Car Racing.  Would you rather
they just say "Screw it.  It's good enough," and not support their
products once they hit the market, (like Crammond, for instance?)

I, for one, can remember a time when there were no racing simulations --
only arcade jokes like "Pole Position."  Papyrus changed all that.
Papyrus has given me thousands of hours of fun in their line of sims, in
Hawaii and in NROS.  I'll bet there's many more who feel as I do, and are
also tired of the constant pissing and moaning about the trivial..

What's in the box is better than what you are imagining.

-Larry

            Zog