rec.autos.simulators

Im not winning any races nor do i expect to (at this point) as online
racing and the sim are two totally different animals.

That being said, are there any legal mods to the .ini or other files
allowed. I seem to remember a discussion somewhere about a drafting mod
to an .ini file.

I dont care about cheats or cracks, just would like to be on a more
eveen keel if others are modding files legally for online racing.

Secondly, when joning a race what's happening when I get the message
that the race director is downloading some info....

thanks

Dockmaster #24

Bill D
Pensacola, FL

Not sure what you mean by "legal mods"...
Project Wildfire is moore or less the clearing house for N 2003 mods.
They are legal and free.. you just need the patch from Papyrus (Official)
and you can download Busch, Truck and Trans Am mods, as well as a host of
add on-tracks for N 2003 (including setups for the new tracks and better
ones' for the existing tracks.)
    As far the message you get when  trying to join an nonline race... I
personally stay away from those.
    My reason is simply personal... I like to keep my lap times as close
real as possible. Some racers like to get into the sim code and alter the
track physics in order to produce high speeds. (I once entered a race at
Daytona  where the Temperature was -250F) You are more or less at the mercy
of whomever is hosting the race if they have altered the code. Your setup
probably won't keep up with theirs although it will be much faster than you
even ran before.
    That error message is agood clue that something is afoot.
    As I said, I don;t begrudge those who like to race those races- it's
just not for me. I do like those kind souls who label their servers or at
least give hint that it's a "High-grip" race or some such before I try to
join.
    If in doubt, check the lap times of those running befoire you take a
lap...if they are 2-3 seconds faster than the lap records.. then someone is
altering the code somewhere.
     Hope this helps,
Timmy

As I understand it, the message is merely an indication that the host
will be sending you the laptimes and such from the drivers who logged
in before you and have already registered some laps. If the race is
using fixed setups, they may also be included in the download.

To the best of my (limited) knowledge, there are no changes being
made to your ini files or anything else.

HTH,
--
  Darryl

    but sometimes you might join a server where they (as in the server owner
or host) has modified the traction or something, (used a lot more for
realism or so I have skimmed through some peoples sites in the PTA-TPTCC
mods) and if you get such messages, this is equalizing you to the server...
when they have modified the certain settings (allowed ones & they are on the
server) it tells you what is being chaned, like "modified grip/traction"...
but you dont know if you now will have more or less grip, which can ruin a
setup you have worked 30 hours ofline testing, LOL.  So when I see that one
in CUP, BGN, or CTS, I duck off ASAP, BUT -> PTA-tptcc.

You can read about some of that by searching for "NR2003 Achim Trenz" in
quotes in google.  in there they talk about making a tweak to the a
certain.ini on the HOST's Machine, so it affects anyone who joins, something
to actually even the fields a bit, and help tirewear for more realistic.
when you join, it is sent to your game making it a level playing field,
unlike hacks where some guy figures out how to become invulnerable...

AFAIK when you leave the server, you will go back to default values, for
these.

Free, yes.  Legal, probably not.  Anything they put on must have the
approval, and I doubt they have.  I mean nothing against them, au contraire.
It's just something that many people are surprised by.  Every painted car,
track, graphics, etc... for any kind of sim that isn't approved by, is
technically "illegal".  Even if it's accepted.

I'm absolutely sure, per example, that Molson or any of those billboards in
the Trois-Rivires track have given their approval.  Normally they CHARGE
money for that (some form of weird reverse marketing thing that happens in
games, advertising doesn't cost a dime, it actually gives you money).

Same goes for all the sponsors on the trucks, or the BGN cars.  Or the
Trans-Am sponsors.  Or the track themselves.  The cars in the trans-am mods.
Billboards on tracks.

Not that anybody cares fortunately, I'm just passing some information here.
In the past 10 years, only a half dozen concerns have happened about
copyrighted material done by third-users groups for simracing.  That IRL mod
for an ISI F1 sim, the Daytona track before it's licensing by Papyrus,
etc...  Fortunately just a few.

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