rec.autos.simulators

-> Somewhere, I saw a message that Papyrus was going to do a NASCAR
-> version.  Does anyone know when it will be out? Are there any sneek
-> peek demos available???

in the september issue of PCGAMER there is a great artical on it....
starts 0n page 8... it looks like an incredible game... expecially the
svga option...   doesn't say anything about a demo though...

                                           later...
                                                    brent f.

in the september issue of PCGAMER there is a great artical on it....
starts 0n page 8... it looks like an incredible game... expecially the
svga option...   doesn't say anything about a demo though...

                                           later...
                                                    brent f.
===================================================

The Papyrus BBS has a .zip file which contains 8 screen shots from the
upcoming game -- it is AWESOME in 640x480 mode.  I just hope that my 486
DX2-66 can handle it!

Rob

Geez, is ICR actually running in 320x200 mode now?   I'm already having
marginal trouble at the current res with everything turned on, and I'm
on a DX2-66...

---

Brian Wong                              Product Marketing Engineering

415-336-0082                            Palo Alto, CA 94303

Perhaps it is your video card that causes causing the slow down.

Ralf Southard

That's bull.  I get good frame rate on my 386-40mhz with most options turned
on most tracks.  

I should be clearer on this.  I get to turn everything on, but my frame
rate drops to 11/sec, while my little DX2-40 portable can do 15 fps!  I've
gotten used to 15 fps so 11 fps looks rough to me.  This is why I called
it "marginal".  It's still playable, but with 4x the data, I wonder how
well I'll keep up.

---

Brian Wong                              Product Marketing Engineering

415-336-0082                            Palo Alto, CA 94303

You must be running in slow motion yourself then.  My old 486-50 ISA was
barely quick enough for driving by myself.  I'd usually crach on the pace
lap of a race thanks to the 1 second plus lag between joystick movement
and response.  On my DX2-66 VLB w/ Stealth 32 it is pretty good except
for the very start of the pace lap.  Considering a game needs to do
about 15 fps before it looks smooth yours and that's just about what
mine does, then yours must be jerky as hell (by my definition 6-8 fps,
which is what you must be getting, is jerky as hell).  Anyway, I couldn't
enjoy this game until I got my VLB motherboard.

BTW, to compare, here is World Circuit's frame rate on the 3 machines I've
had since it came out:

386-33 ISA - Diamond Speedstar 24 = 9 fps / 100% processor occupancy
486-50 ISA - Diamond Speedstar 24X = 20 fps / 100%
486DX2-66 VLB - Diamond Stealth 32 = 25 fps / 70%

I only got any good at World Circuit after I got the 486-50. So, you
can see how much faster a DX2-66 VLB is than a 386-33 ISA (or 386-40)
and in my experience the fps is critical to the success in a race.

--
Portland TrailBlazers      Pacific Division Champs: 1978, 1991, 1992   |
NBA Champs: 1977           Western Conference Champs: 1977, 1990, 1992 |
Manchester United          FA Premiership Champions: 1993, 1994        |

What program can determine fps, so that I may test my machine?

thanks,
jay

(Brian Wong - SMCC Product Marketing Engineering) writes:

I should be clearer on this.  I get to turn everything on, but my frame
rate drops to 11/sec, while my little DX2-40 portable can do 15 fps!  I've
gotten used to 15 fps so 11 fps looks rough to me.  This is why I called
it "marginal".  It's still playable, but with 4x the data, I wonder how
well I'll keep up.

===================================================

Actually, it is not 4x the data.  From looking at the screen shots it
seems to me that the update area is at least half the size of the indycar
by the nature of the window in NASCARs, so with improvement over the
original 3D code, it should run just about as good as IndyCar does.

Rob

It's built into World Circuit - just turn on all detail and see what your
processor occupancy is. If above 100, reduce the number of frames until
you get 100 percent (use the "o" key during the game)

No idea how to do it in ICR - just use manual detail and keep adding
until the thing gets jerky. Especially when in a tight formation on the
starting grid you can tell differences. I compared a 486/66 with ATI
Ultra Pro 32 against a brand new Dell Pentium 90 with Number9 GXE video:
forget the 486 stuff for the upcoming NASCAR hi-rez mode: even Indycar
was noticably smoother on the Pentium!

        I run WC on a Pentium 60 mhz/ 8mb ram and get Proc. occupancy readouts
of up to 170 %. Does anyone else get this?

Rob.

These are the optimal frame rates in World Circuit.  You can change
the frame rate and then check the processor occupancy by pressing 'o'
while driving.  The idea is to set the fps so that you get as close
to 100% without going over it (hmm, sounds like a popular card game).

If you want a benchmark that gives its result in fps the try 3D Bench.

--
Portland TrailBlazers      Pacific Division Champs: 1978, 1991, 1992   |
NBA Champs: 1977           Western Conference Champs: 1977, 1990, 1992 |
Manchester United          FA Premiership Champions: 1993, 1994        |

Hmm, you must have your machine set up pretty badly (no flame intended).

ICR is perfectly acceptable on my 486Dx33 with WD90C31 ISA card, full detail
with full number of opponents. At a guess, it's about 17-20fps

Also, World circuit at 25fps gives me about 70% processor occupancy peak,
it is usually lower....

Frame rate on WC _is_ critical though, as the keys seem to be scanned each
frame...

Just my personal findings (BTW Doom runs lovely and smooth too :-)

William
--------------

Acorn Computers,
Cambridge,
England.