rec.autos.simulators

> >Then I had the game crash during a replay and I had to reboot.

>     Mine crashes EVERY time I try to view a replay at 1024x768, requiring a
> reboot.  I can drive or race at this resolution with no trouble, so that's odd.
>  The replay WORKS fine at 800x600, just doesn't LOOK as fine.  No troubles with
> FPS at any resolution, considering my equipment; generally 30's hotlapping and
> mid to upper 20's racing with 10 comp. cars, less at the start, of course.
> That's on a 200mmx, 32MB EDO Ram, 8MB Monster II, Ensoniq AudioPCI, new drivers
> all 'round.
>     Haven't driven any but the Lotus yet, but has anyone noticed their sound
> being really gravelly?  Mine's got a lot of static-like noise; really
> ***-sounding, and no - it's not the wind noise.  The sound drops out entirely
> at times when braking and downshifting.  Not just the engine, but the wind and
> everything - silence, if only for a moment.  Kind of annoying.  It seems
> unaffected by the # of sounds chosen; already tried that.
>     Still light-years ahead of any other sim, though, and better than the demo
> led me to expect.  Great job.

> Steve Blankenship

>I bought GPL yesterday and installed it, filled with trepidation because
>the demos didn't work at all for me.  My worst fears were confirmed.   It
>doesn't work.   Well,  let me put it this way:  it doesn't USUALLY work.
>Let me explain. First here are my system specs:
>P166
>128mb RAM
>Monster 1
>ACM Game Card
>Thrustmaster T1
>AWE64 Value
>Win98

>I installed GPL. It came up fine.  I calibrated my wheel (Direct Input was
>the default for me).  I turned down some detail (all mirror detail,
>clouds, crowds, Specular lighting, Dynamic lighting) and went to Training
>at Spa.   I hit Alt-F and saw that my frames at Spa varied from 12 to 20
>depending on my driving and where I was on the track.  Despite that, it
>seemed smooth and I was liking it immensely.  I drove for about an hour,
>trying different tracks, trying a race (frames dropped significantly here)
>etc and then shut down to do other things.   I entered and reentered the
>game several times and drove for a while. Everything seemed cool and I was
>ecstatic.

>Then I had the game crash during a replay and I had to reboot.  When I
>came back into GPL my frames were between 2 and 4 and I couldn't drive the
>car at all.  Curiously, when I would go into the grass or onto the side of
>the track my FR would jump to 12-17.  When I would reenter the track, all
>be messed up again.  Another strange thing was that, even though my FR was
>abysmal while driving, my replays would be silky smooth as well as any of
>the other Saved Replays that came with the game.  That perplexed me.  I
>turned the sounds down to 3, I turned more detail off but nothing would
>affect it.   When the game was paused the FR would read 30fps but as soon
>as I started driving the FR dove for the ba***t again.

>Then, I recalibrated my wheel in Generic mode and my frame rate jumped
>back to where it was when I installed.  Yea! I though.  Not.   When I
>reentered the game again,  the frame rate was 2-3 again.

>I thought it might be my controller.  I unplugged it and tried a generic
>joystick.  Same problem.   I thought it might be my game card.  I ripped
>it out, and plugged my wheel into my sound card.  Same problem.  I thought
>it might be joysticks in general, so I removed them all and reconfigured
>to use the keyboard.  Same problem.

>It seems to be some sort of internal-to-the-sim clock timing problem but I
>have no answers as to how to fix it.

>At this point, about every 15-20th time I go into the game, I can run it
>with acceptable frame rate (yes, I have been patient...) but it does not
>seem to be based on any action on my part and I am giving up.  I don't
>think I have anticipated the release of any sim more than this one and not
>being able to run has gotten me very, very bummed out.  Please help!!!

>Jeff