When was the last time...

OK. Interesting question time. When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or sound options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high performance PCs need not reply. Chris

I hate to say this, but nearly every game I get I can play straight out of the box. F12002, N2002, Never Winter Nights, etc. I do believe that if folks kept their system up to speed and kept a good watch on it and did the basic things (defrag, run End It All, stay away from anything related to Norton's or any other Virus program), then they'd have no problem. To tell you the truth, I can't remember the last time a game didn't work out of the box. I might have to go back to Diablo II, which had a copy protection problem which prevented the game from knowing that the CD was in the drive, fixed finally by updating my sound-card drivers. Not to say some games aren't crappy, system hogs that need some PC tinkering to get them to work as you'd like them (FPS, mainly). But overall I've had little if any problem. I consider Virus Programs to be one of the biggest culprits in screwing up a game, right from the start. Why anyone in their right mind would have a Virus Program running constantly in the background has always escaped me. Why not turn the blasted thing off and when you want to check a file before it comes in, turn it on. (Virus alerts are 90% bogus and software virus companies just want to scare the public so that the public spends more money on virus-prevention software.) So keep your PC tuned, as you would your car or your body or mind, stop running Virus Programs in the background (and everything else, too), and your problems will go away. Oh well... Alanb "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic orsound > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously highperformance > PCs need not reply. > > Chris > > >

I can't think of a time when a game HASN'T worked on my PC really. Aside, from trying to play really old DOS games... but I can still get "Scorched Earth" to work in XP, so that's all that really matters. FWIW, I never run virus programs.. because I know who emails me, and I know not to open attachments. I go to Windows Update occasionally, just to keep things up to date, same with Vid card drivers. and I have nothing running in my task bar... whenever a program puts something in my task bar (Winamp Agent, ICQ whatever, etc..) I get rid of it. Actually.. I had a problem with Max Payne crashing at a certain level midway through the game. So I checked out the ATI site, and noticed there were new drivers posted.. problem solved. That was the last time I've had problems. Mike http://mikebeauchamp.com "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic orsound > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously highperformance > PCs need not reply. > > Chris > > >

Almost every game I've ever bought since the DOS days. I'm running a PIII 500 with 256MB RAM and an GF2MX400 card, nothing fancy or high performance at all. -- Biz "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and the....." - Ash Chris <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or sound > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high performance > PCs need not reply. > > Chris > > >

Most play very well for me out of the box as well, I use Win XP Home and I also have Norton System Works 2002 installed. I do let autoprotect run in the background, however I disable the anti-virus any time I am installing games. Don Burnette "Alan Bernardo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:zf9T8.185018$[email hidden]... > I hate to say this, but nearly every game I get I can play straight out of > the box. F12002, N2002, Never Winter Nights, etc. > > I do believe that if folks kept their system up to speed and kept a good > watch on it and did the basic things (defrag, run End It All, stay awayfrom > anything related to Norton's or any other Virus program), then they'd have > no problem. > > To tell you the truth, I can't remember the last time a game didn't workout > of the box. I might have to go back to Diablo II, which had a copy > protection problem which prevented the game from knowing that the CD wasin > the drive, fixed finally by updating my sound-card drivers. > > Not to say some games aren't crappy, system hogs that need some PCtinkering > to get them to work as you'd like them (FPS, mainly). But overall I'vehad > little if any problem. I consider Virus Programs to be one of the biggest > culprits in screwing up a game, right from the start. Why anyone in their > right mind would have a Virus Program running constantly in the background > has always escaped me. Why not turn the blasted thing off and when youwant > to check a file before it comes in, turn it on. (Virus alerts are 90%bogus

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> and software virus companies just want to scare the public so that the > public spends more money on virus-prevention software.) > > So keep your PC tuned, as you would your car or your body or mind, stop > running Virus Programs in the background (and everything else, too), and > your problems will go away. > > Oh well... > > Alanb > "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > > OK. Interesting question time. > > > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out

of > > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or > sound > > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, thenwe

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> > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high > performance > > PCs need not reply. > > > > Chris > > > > > > > > >

> OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic orsound > options? most games require this..as the settings are usually default for the lowest common machine...16bit 640x480 or 800x600 - even those games that have automatic settings based on your hardware need playing with sometimes - in my case, every time >Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. oh yeah, because all PC's have exactly the same hardware in them and all games are programmed by the same small group of guys in Japan somewhere Those with ludicrously high performance > PCs need not reply. athlon 1.2ghz 512mb leadtek gf3 ti200 crappy enough ?

I guess we all have different experiences-- that's what makes us all different. But Systems Works hosed my system. Somehow it altered my boot.ini file and I couldn't even start my machine (XP Pro). I had to run a start-up disk for Win98 and edit out what was in the boot.ini file. It was a hassle, to say the least. Norton's and I do not get along. I stay away from that company. But with most people's general ignorance of how to properly configure a PC, it's no wonder they have problems with games and such. Alanb "Don Burnette" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:QGaT8.182414$[email hidden]...

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> Most play very well for me out of the box as well, I use Win XP Home and I > also have Norton System Works 2002 installed. I do let autoprotect run in > the background, however I disable the anti-virus any time I am installing > games. > > Don Burnette > > > "Alan Bernardo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:zf9T8.185018$[email hidden]... > > I hate to say this, but nearly every game I get I can play straight out

of > > the box. F12002, N2002, Never Winter Nights, etc. > > > > I do believe that if folks kept their system up to speed and kept a good > > watch on it and did the basic things (defrag, run End It All, stay away > from > > anything related to Norton's or any other Virus program), then they'dhave

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> > no problem. > > > > To tell you the truth, I can't remember the last time a game didn't work > out > > of the box. I might have to go back to Diablo II, which had a copy > > protection problem which prevented the game from knowing that the CD was > in > > the drive, fixed finally by updating my sound-card drivers. > > > > Not to say some games aren't crappy, system hogs that need some PC > tinkering > > to get them to work as you'd like them (FPS, mainly). But overall I've > had > > little if any problem. I consider Virus Programs to be one of the

biggest > > culprits in screwing up a game, right from the start. Why anyone intheir > > right mind would have a Virus Program running constantly in thebackground

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> > has always escaped me. Why not turn the blasted thing off and when you > want > > to check a file before it comes in, turn it on. (Virus alerts are 90% > bogus > > and software virus companies just want to scare the public so that the > > public spends more money on virus-prevention software.) > > > > So keep your PC tuned, as you would your car or your body or mind, stop > > running Virus Programs in the background (and everything else, too), and > > your problems will go away. > > > > Oh well... > > > > Alanb > > "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > > > OK. Interesting question time. > > > > > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out > of > > > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or > > sound > > > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX,

then

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> we > > > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high > > performance > > > PCs need not reply. > > > > > > Chris > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

"Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight outof > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic orsound > options? All my Xbox games worked straight out of the box. ;o) > Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously highperformance > PCs need not reply. I definitely do not have a ludicrously high performance PC.

N2002 a few months ago. Achim

"Chris" wrote...

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> OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked > straight out of the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or > fiddling with graphic or sound options? Theoretically, if we > all have the latest drivers for DX, then we shouldn't have to > change anything. Those with ludicrously high performance > PCs need not reply.

Turning the question around makes it easier to answer. In my gaming "memory" those which didn't work "out of the box" were GP3, because of it's poor V2 support and F1 2001, because it didn't support the V3 card I was using at the time (which wasn't mentioned on the packaging). Jan./ still bitter. =---

99% of game run out of the box for me. Of the ones that don't, Rally Trophy, with it's piss poor controller configuration, is one that comes immediately to mind! Gerry Chris wrote:

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> > OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or sound > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high performance > PCs need not reply. > > Chris

On Sat, 29 Jun 2002 01:54:27 +0000 (UTC), "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>OK. Interesting question time. > >When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of >the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or sound >options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we >shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high performance >PCs need not reply.

I've been computer gaming since the Atari 800/C64 days, and I can count on one hand the games that wouldn't run out of the box. Of those, four were DOS games that needed 600K+ of conventional memory, and I had to create boot disks for them... Falcon 3 and Wings Of Glory come to mind. The only "modern" game I ever had that wouldn't run at all without a patch was Flight Unlimited III. It had a problem with NVidia cards and needed to be patched before it would run. The three I've cited are all flight sims... how about that. Maybe if you ask this question in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim you'll get a better discussion.

I completely got rid of anti virus protection on my game computer. Got tired of it freezing up windows when it wanted to update and I told it to wait 1 day. Of course I scan any files I download over my home network with av software that is on a different computer. Never had norton find a virus in 3 years. Do not miss it at all. "Alan Bernardo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:zf9T8.185018$[email hidden]... I consider Virus Programs to be one of the biggest > culprits in screwing up a game, right from the start. Why anyone in their > right mind would have a Virus Program running constantly in the background > has always escaped me. Why not turn the blasted thing off and when youwant > to check a file before it comes in, turn it on. (Virus alerts are 90%bogus > and software virus companies just want to scare the public so that the > public spends more money on virus-prevention software.) > > So keep your PC tuned, as you would your car or your body or mind, stop > running Virus Programs in the background (and everything else, too), and > your problems will go away.

In article <afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]>, "Chris" <[email hidden]> writes:

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>OK. Interesting question time. > >When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of >the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or sound >options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we >shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high performance >PCs need not reply.

You mean fiddling with graphic and sound options to get it to work at ALL? I've done some tweaking to improve FPS, but the only games I've had problems RUNNING were F1 2001(controller issues), MTBR(controller issues), and the LeMans demo(blank screen). Diablo II, Star Wars GB, Civ III all ran fine out of the box. Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Viper Racing worked well right out of the box. -Larry "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]... > OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic orsound > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously highperformance > PCs need not reply. > > Chris > > >

I have two Windows XP boot partitions on my system. One for general apps, the other strictly for gaming. The one for General Apps has everything and anything enabled, installed, protected, etc... The gaming partition has nothing installed that's not necessary to make it run. No AV. No Keyboard/Mouse drivers (I just let it use the generic built-in). All external hardware (scanners, printers, etc...) disabled in the device manager. Works for me :) -Larry "jon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:hSiT8.3622$[email hidden]... > I completely got rid of anti virus protection on my game computer. Gottired > of it freezing up windows when it wanted to update and I told it to wait 1 > day. Of course I scan any files I download over my home network with av > software that is on a different computer. Never had norton find a virus in3

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> years. Do not miss it at all. > > > "Alan Bernardo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:zf9T8.185018$[email hidden]... > I consider Virus Programs to be one of the biggest > > culprits in screwing up a game, right from the start. Why anyone in

their > > right mind would have a Virus Program running constantly in thebackground

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> > has always escaped me. Why not turn the blasted thing off and when you > want > > to check a file before it comes in, turn it on. (Virus alerts are 90% > bogus > > and software virus companies just want to scare the public so that the > > public spends more money on virus-prevention software.) > > > > So keep your PC tuned, as you would your car or your body or mind, stop > > running Virus Programs in the background (and everything else, too), and > > your problems will go away. > > > >

GTA3 NR2002 Rally Trophy N4 Midtown Madness2 Ghost Recon Black and White N3 N3 expansion pack Re-Volt Half Life HL: Opp Force NFS:PU Combat Flight Sim 2 Interstate 76 I76 Nitro Pack Fly II (beta 1) Allegiance (beta 0) Return to Wolfenstein The Sims GPL Deus-Ex Indy Jones/ Infernal Machine Pro Pinball: Timeshock Pro Pinball: BRUSA Fly Fly II (gold final version) Homeworld Motocross Madness 2 Nascar Legends Rainbow Six R6: Eagle Watch Nascar 99 Sim City 3000 N1 All these titles ran fine on my systems over the years, after stock installations. Your question is slightly loaded as everyones computer is different. Thats why programers add in graphic and sound options. Also, seeing how you can buy a new computer from just about anybody these days with not much less than a 2gig setup, im not quite sure where "ludicrous" is. My system, P4 1.8gig w/ Asus P4T mobo (275 bucks) 512mb ramdac (120 bucks) GeForce 3 (Asus V8200) (150 bucks) Monster MX300 sound (now worthless) Win98 Bang for the buck..Priceless :)

In article <afj40i$i3a$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Chris) wrote:

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> OK. Interesting question time. > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out > of > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or > sound > options? Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then > we > shouldn't have to change anything. Those with ludicrously high > performance > PCs need not reply.

Pretty much every game I've bought works straight away out of the box. I think its a just a matter of keeping your pc in good condition. EG: running scandisk and defrag every now and again, keeping your drivers fairly up to date, deleting stuff you don't need, and running the bare minimum programs required at all times. 8-) *Peter* - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergagg/

In article <afmpjv$aov$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] writes: >Pretty much every game I've bought works straight away out of the box. > >I think its a just a matter of keeping your pc in good condition. YOu also have to worry about conflicts with other games. I did some computer work for a guy - he needed to upgrade his system to run JetFighter 4. I loaded it on my system just to see what it was like. After I loaded it and played for a while, I checked something later in N2002 for the RASCAR race. N2002 wouldn't run. By that time, I'd forgotten that I'd even *loaded* JF4. When I remembered, I un-installed it. Then N2002 worked fine. Not sure exactly what the conflict was, but on my system those two don't play nicely together... Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Viper Racing was brilliant. Even the demo was extremely polished and ran at a hugely high frame rate on my (at the time) outdated system. Powerslide was also quite ahead of other games in terms of raw framerates, but I guess that's a different topic . . . Ryan -----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----= Over 100,000 Newsgroups - Unlimited Fast Downloads - 19 Servers =-----

I completely agree. I still play Viper Racing to this very day. It's a damned shame we can't get them to release a sequel. I'm sure Sierra has something to do with that:( -Larry "Ryan Mitchley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Viper Racing was brilliant. Even the demo was extremely polished and ranat

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> a hugely high frame rate on my (at the time) outdated system. > > Powerslide was also quite ahead of other games in terms of raw framerates, > but I guess that's a different topic . . . > > Ryan > > > > > -----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News

==---------- > http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! > -----= Over 100,000 Newsgroups - Unlimited Fast Downloads - 19 Servers=-----

Athlon 750Mhz, 128MB RAM, Sparkle Geforce 2. I win. Chris "Papa Lazarou" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:WGaT8.371930$[email hidden]... > > > OK. Interesting question time. > > > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight outof > > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or > sound > > options? > > most games require this..as the settings are usually default for thelowest

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> common machine...16bit 640x480 or 800x600 - even those games that > have automatic settings based on your hardware need playing with sometimes > - in my case, every time > > >Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > > shouldn't have to change anything. > > oh yeah, because all PC's have exactly the same hardware in them > and all games are programmed by the same small group of guys > in Japan somewhere > > Those with ludicrously high performance > > PCs need not reply. > > athlon 1.2ghz > 512mb > leadtek gf3 ti200 > > crappy enough ? > >

This is basically the gist of it. I currently have two games on my system (because of the hassle), one is Civ3 (ran OK), but the other is GTA3 which took me a couple of hours to get right before it was playable. I haven't had to run a game in 640x480 for a very long time and actually find it quite offensive. But how realistic is it to keep a computer completely bare of other software? Some of us can't afford to run three different PCs just to internet and home office stuff on one and games on the others. I have to confess though, never had a single problem with Viper Racing, still the greatest sim ever produced (knocks GPL into second, GP3 third). Chris "EldredP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> In article <afmpjv$aov$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] > writes: > > >Pretty much every game I've bought works straight away out of the box. > > > >I think its a just a matter of keeping your pc in good condition. > > YOu also have to worry about conflicts with other games. I did some

computer > work for a guy - he needed to upgrade his system to run JetFighter 4. Iloaded > it on my system just to see what it was like. After I loaded it andplayed for > a while, I checked something later in N2002 for the RASCAR race. N2002 > wouldn't run. By that time, I'd forgotten that I'd even *loaded* JF4.When I > remembered, I un-installed it. Then N2002 worked fine. Not sure exactlywhat > the conflict was, but on my system those two don't play nicely together... > > Eldred > -- > Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beatsyou > with experience... > > Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

On Wed, 3 Jul 2002 01:56:31 +0000 (UTC), Chris <[email hidden]> wrote: > > But how realistic is it to keep a computer completely bare of other > software? Some of us can't afford to run three different PCs just to > internet and home office stuff on one and games on the others. Why? Get a second hard disk and install Linux. Windows is for games[1], Linux is for productivity ;-) Regards, [1] even less nowadays now that wine runs buckets of native windows games. -- Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

Celeron 500mhz, 192 mb RAM, Verto TNT 32mb I win unfortunally. Tim -- Golf and Sex are the only two things you can be bad at and still have a good time! "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:aftl4i$ib9$[email hidden]... > Athlon 750Mhz, 128MB RAM, Sparkle Geforce 2. I win. > > Chris > > "Papa Lazarou" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:WGaT8.371930$[email hidden]... > > > > > OK. Interesting question time. > > > > > > When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out > of > > > the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or > > sound > > > options? > > > > most games require this..as the settings are usually default for the > lowest > > common machine...16bit 640x480 or 800x600 - even those games that > > have automatic settings based on your hardware need playing with sometimes > > - in my case, every time > > > > >Theoretically, if we all have the latest drivers for DX, then we > > > shouldn't have to change anything. > > > > oh yeah, because all PC's have exactly the same hardware in them > > and all games are programmed by the same small group of guys > > in Japan somewhere > > > > Those with ludicrously high performance > > > PCs need not reply. > > > > athlon 1.2ghz > > 512mb > > leadtek gf3 ti200 > > > > crappy enough ? > > > > > > >

On Sat, 29 Jun 2002 01:54:27 +0000 (UTC), "Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote: >When was the last time that anyone had a game that worked straight out of >the box, i.e. didn't require any downloads or fiddling with graphic or sound >options? Every time I buy a console game. Was that a trick question? ;-)

In article <aftlkf$c4i$[email hidden]>, "Chris" <[email hidden]> writes: >But how realistic is it to keep a computer completely bare of other >software? Some of us can't afford to run three different PCs just to >internet and home office stuff on one and games on the others. It *isn't* realistic, but that's what many expect that we do. Some also expect you to be happy with 'pausing' races your're running for days on end, as opposed to being to SAVE the f'king thing... :( Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Stolen vehicle! - Det,MI 1999 Blk Pontiac Grand Am SE, Lic# 947SLS, VIN:1G2NE12EXXM815898 carjacked from Grnfld/W. Chicago 6/30/02.Contact Officer Penn at 313-596-2850.Thanks Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.