rec.autos.simulators

Thanks for your patience everyone while
we worked on CPR to include the requests
and changes that have been posted and sent to
us.

The patch is intended to address the top issues:-

1)     Improve AI
2)     Boosting frame rate
3)     Game controller null-zone
4)     Pit lane auto-pilot
5)     Gamma for track brightness
6)     Gamma for car brightness
7)     Rain tires
8)     Friction levels on the grass
9)     More precise control over graphics settings
10)   Assorted bugs

The good news is that the patch addresses all of these items.

We are expecting to send out CD's to beta testers shortly -
we do not want to rush this and I'm sure you understand why.

Track editor hasn't been forgotten either - but we assumed the
patch is higher priority!

- Dean (still on RAS!)

Well Dean, here's another problem to work on that I haven't seen listed.
When I exit a race and come back in, either by saving or viewing a
replay, the cars handling seems to be completely different, even when
restoring the same setup. How about a pause switch so I just take a
break to rest a while?

Mike

Dan,

The good news is we have achieved between 25 and 50% (or greater) frame rate
improvements for ALL users regardless of 3D card type - or no 3D card at
all.

We did a lot of benchmarking on Glide (that's what we have been doing for
the last 3 weeks) but it didn't buy us very much  - you need a really slow
(yes, s-l-o-w) machine to see any difference at all. So TRi found several
other ways to achieve much better improvements - for everyone.

I am sure many of the "3D experts" on this NG will cry foul - but TRi  spent
weeks on the Glide version and have benchmarked the two versions of the SAME
game side-by-side. Anyone else who has done this much research and coding in
this area is welcome to offer their data - but the glib "Glide is much
faster than D3D" story does not turn out to be the case. I am sure that
won't satisfy everyone - especially those that love a good MS ***
theory - but that's the reality.

And before anyone posts their MS *** theory <yawn>, go here and check
out a posting that corresponds exactly with what we found - and these guys
have no reason to support MS - they develop a competing product to our own
Flight Simulator ...

http://www.racesimcentral.net/
39978.800457020&hitnum=0

"The patch is indeed reality. It should be on our web site next week. It
does not include native glide support. But its not like that would get you
vast speed improvements anyway. We've worked hard to get good efficiency
with d3d. The biggest thing you can do for your hardware performance is to
make sure your driver supports DrawPrimitive.

-James Fleming,
lead programmer on fu2"

 See my posting on Glide - and yes, I can say!

Setting turbo above 5 causes the pop-off valve to blow - it defaults to the
highest setting (5). Turn it DOWN
to conserve fuel.

Jason L'Hirondelle wrote in article

 Forgot to add:

11) Steering ratio maximum increased in garage
12) <Default> setups improved for beginners
13) Wing-type error fixed

I'm sure there's more I've forgotten ...

Just go to the "realism" dialog to change the field size - up to 29 cars.

Jason L'Hirondelle wrote in article

On Mon, 8 Dec 1997 17:49:31 -0800, "Dean (CART Team)"

[snip]

How about Glide/Voodoo graphics support??

Dan P.

_______________

Remove 99 in my address to reply

Great. Here is some more...
How about support for Glide, Rendition or (OpenGL), Microsoft just gave
into it I have read.
Man I hate D3D, It so sucks, Just my opinion...But Im sure anyone with eyes
would agree, Im sure you do but can not say.
And how about YELLOW flags and pace laps, not cars on rails, this is a sim?
And what about the turbo setting problem, anything above 5 and it sounds
like my
Grandmothers Volkswagon.
More to come.

Opps, forgot one other thing.
How about the ability to race with a Full Field, 12 cars is good for a Go
Cart race, not
an Indy Race, Hey I just want to push the limits of reality... like the box
says.
I suppose this has to to with the poor Framerate, again D3D rears its slow
and ugly head.

Since you posted this, I think it's only fair to point out that Andy
Hollis, the highly respected sim designer/project leader on LongBow2,
has stated just as emphatically (if not more so) that the LB2 graphics
quality and speed can not be done via D3D on any current 3D hardware
(3dfx or otherwise). Only Glide was fast [and feature rich] enough.

Not suggesting a ***, just pointing out that not all
programmer's have reached the conclusions you are posting here. Of
course, Mr. Hollis was referring to graphical quality as well as speed
- there are several features of the 3dfx card that can only be
accessed via Glide. A "feature gap", I might point out, that will only
grow wider in the future if Microsoft doesn't change their stance on
the issue of supporting hardware geometry acceleration in D3D.

I'm not saying I boycott D3D games or anything. But I prefer Glide
games, as they seem generally more reliable, faster, and of higher
visual quality.

Joe

Perhaps people have forgotten that D3D looks and runs great with MotoRacer.
Now maybe it runs great because the field or AI racers is smaller than a
full field of a CART race or that the physics model is way more simple but I
am confident that the framerate in CPR has much room for improvement.
Unfortunately I did not see any mention of yellow flags added. Now this I
feel is important because if there is a multicar pile up in turn 2 at
Michigan, trying to drive around the track at 230MPH is not going to be a
pleasant experience.  Now as far as the patch goes, will it be available on
the web at the same time it is sent to the beta testers on CD?

I'm looking forward to it and this game can only get better.

Kas

PS:  I apologize to the newsgroup for a poorly thought out post I left last
week.  It was not my intention to start a flame up but the post went crazy
and I said some things that were not necessary.  Well everyone makes
mistakes and I have had my share of them.  It won't happen again.

I'm new to this discussion, but along with the crazy AI, no yellow
flags, slow frame rates and auto-pilot I would like some other things
addressed:

When you save a race and reload it puts you in first gear even if
you were in sixth gear doing 240 mph! Is this intentional or a bug?

There is no central location to see opponents best times in comparison
to your own. The Hall of Fame only shows how you are doing against
yourself. But I'd like a central place to compare my scores (and
single-race wins) against everyone elses. Its a drag waiting to only
get this information AFTER the race and then have to save it
individually for every race.

All the save features, in fact, are confusing and non-intuitive. I've
been playing the game for a week and haven't been able to restart a
season once I've saved it. I never seem to know what I'm saving and
where. I'll be more specific about how I would like it to operate if
this seems like something that would plausibly be changed.

Also needed is the Nascar Racing 2 "SHIFT-R" restart key. This
immediately restarts a race so if you get in a pileup early on you don't
have to wade through a bunch of menus to start over. This is a small
easy to implement feature that eases frustration and really adds to the
playability of a game.

Finally I'd like to see more comprehensive damage reports and tire
temperature readings. Sometimes its hard to tell what is going on
just by the feel of the car.

I have more suggestions but I don't want to overload everyone right
now.

Tom

I think its a performance boost which is controlled by pressure. Therefore
if you over do it, you get the noise.

Best Regards

Trevor Dwyer

So the possibility of GL patch is gone, what a disappointment.  I was hoping
to see an end to all of the flicker that owners of 3dfx Voodoo Rush cards
have been getting with the D3d.  I do recognize that CPR is the only D3D
program that I have with the flicker problem (FS 98, and MotoRacer look
great).  So if the flicker is still in CPR and GL patch does not happen, I
can always use another coaster for my coffee table (CPR CD) I was eager to
have a choice, and to make judgements on my own which mode, GL or D3D  I
would prefer to run in.