"The GPL 1.2 patch is here! Click here to download the readme.txt to
find out what improvements have been made in the GPL patch. This patch
will update both 1.0.0.0 and 1.1.0.3 versions of GPL. Also, you must
download the correct country patch that is appropriate for your copy of
GPL. As a final note, installation of the patch over third party
utilities is not supported."
Go to http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Below is the GPL 1.2 readme file.
A GPL 1.2 FAQ is available at http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Alison
--
Grand Prix Legends PATCH README
Version 1.2
8/18/99
[ To read this file, select Edit/Word Wrap from the menu above ]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. GENERAL
2. MULTIPLAYER
3. CONTACTING SIERRA
1. GENERAL
----------
This patch will upgrade GPL version 1.0.0.0 and 1.1.0.3 to version
1.2.0.1.
GPL 1.1.0.3 introduced a bug that could cause the game to run slower
than normal. This lead to numerous problems, most of which were even
worse when running multiplayer races. This is now fixed.
The driver selection list on the race weekend screen could contain blank
entries. Also, when selecting a driver from the list, the program might
focus the camera on the wrong car. This is now fixed.
If you miss the start of the race, you must now join the race within
about two minutes, or the green button is taken away and you will not be
allowed to join.
If you have installed replays from many different players, the <Player>
drop-down list on the Load Replay screen would expand off the bottom of
the screen, instead of turning into a scrollable list of players. This
is now fixed.
If you had any saved replays from players that did not enter a driver
name, the <Player> dropdown list would default to showing only replays
created by these players, instead of showing replays created by "All
Players." This is now fixed.
2. MULTIPLAYER
--------------
GPL 1.2.0.1 clients and servers will not connect to GPL 1.1.0.3 clients
and servers (and vice versa). If you try to connect, you will be told
that the server is incompatible.
If you disconnected from a race server, and then reconnected to the
server, the server would no longer score laps driven by you during the
practice session. This is now fixed.
A new chat command has been added. Any Boss may now tell the server to
stop the current race (if any), disconnect all clients, and exit by
issuing the "!shutdown" command as a chat message.
It was possible, particularly when connected to a fast dedicated race
server, that your pit stall placard and lap time board would be
positioned incorrectly when transitioning from one race to another.
This is now fixed.
You can now issue private chat messages to any one of the players
connected to the server. Begin your message with "/", followed by the
name of the player (or #car_number), followed by the message. For
example
/#16 Hey, John. What's up?
/smith What's up?
/j.smith What's up?
/jo.smi What's up?
/john.smith What's up?
The message will only be sent to the person you identify (or you
will be given an error message if the program couldn't figure out who
you meant).
GPL 1.1.0.3 added a new method by which a client would try to stay in
step with its server. When latencies were fairly stable, it was
smoother than the original method employed by GPL 1.0. When latencies
were unstable, however, the game could speed up or slow down rather
excessively, making it very difficult to control the car. We've
reworked this synchronization method to make it less sensitive to
fluctuations in latency, and to prevent it from applying excessive
adjustments. It should now be much smoother than the GPL 1.0
synchronization method, even when the latency is very high and very
unstable. The new synchronization method is used by default. However,
if you had switched to using the old synchronization method with GPL
1.1.0.3 because the "turbo/slow motion" effect was destroying game play,
please give the new method a try (just remove the synch_method=0 line
from core.ini, or change it to read synch_method=1).
The Internet can be a harrowing medium through which to race. Game play
is directly affected by the latency, reliability, and consistency of the
connection between you and the game server, so it's important that the
program give you a good sense of these factors. GPL 1.2.0.1 now has
graphical displays that allow you to monitor the status of your
communications with the server when you are a GPL client. These meters
can only be displayed while in the car. They can be toggled on/off by
pressing Alt-M while in the car. They can be distracting while driving,
so they are turned off by default. You can request that they be turned
on by default by adding the following two lines to core.ini
[ Communications ]
show_meters = 1
The bar graphs are as follows...
(L) Instantaneous latency from 0.0 seconds (the bar is
empty) to 1.0 seconds (the bar is full height). This is the amount of
time that it takes for a message to go from the server, to your client,
and back to the server. Note that Alt-L shows average latency, not
instantaneous latency.
(Q) Quality from 100% (the bar is empty) to 0% (the bar is
full height). The more data that is lost or garbled during transmission
from the server to you, the lower the quality of your connection, and
the higher this bar will go.
(S) The time skew (difference) between your GPL client and
the server. If your current time is behind where you expect the server
to be, this bar will be below center. If it is at the bottom, then you
believe that you are 1.5 seconds (or more) behind the server. If your
current time is ahead of where you expect the server to be, it will be
above center. If it is at the top, then you believe that you are 1.5
seconds (or more) ahead of the server. If the bar reaches the top or
bottom, then your client will resynchronize itself with the server (it
will smash its clock).
Ideally, no red bars should be visible whatsoever. That is, you
have 0.0 seconds of latency, 100% of data from the server is getting to
you, and your client believes that it is at the same point in time as
the server. In practice, this will not happen.
The (L)atency bar will almost always be visible since it is not
possible for data to get from the server to you instantaneously. The
higher the latency, the longer it takes for data to get from the server
to your computer, and so the older it is when it gets there. The older
the data is, the more "predicting" your client has to do about the
positions of other cars on the track. The more that it has to predict,
the more likely that it will predict incorrectly, and the more the other
cars will jump around when it realizes its error.
It is not uncommon for the (Q)uality bar to be completely empty
(indicating little or no data loss), but it is also not uncommon for a
few percent of the data to be lost or garbled during transmission,
showing as a small (Q)uality bar. If the bar starts to grow steadily,
then something bad has happened on the route through the Internet
between you and the server (or the server has crashed). If the route
doesn't clear up quickly, you will soon be disconnected. If it does
clear up, there will probably be short period of mayhem as the route
settles down, and old data that has been stuck in transit is flushed.
If the latency is varying a bit, it can be difficult for your
client to determine what point in time the server is currently at, and a
small (S)kew bar is likely to appear. If the (S)kew bar grows
continuously until it hits the top or bottom, your client will smash its
clock to resynchronize itself to the server. If it does this, then
either the connection between you and the server is very poor, or either
your machine or the server machine is extremely overloaded, and your
client can no longer stay in step with the server.
3. CONTACTING SIERRA
--------------------
[Sierra contact info snipped; you'll find it in the full readme in the
patch.]
Alison
Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
http://www.racesimcentral.net/