GPL Pit board man position editor

hi all, i am sure you are all aware of the setting in the track.ini files that allows you to position the pit board guy (for lack of a better name) so that you get your most recent lap time after crossing the start / finish line. anyway, i've been looking for a quick and easy editor to set these values and haven't found one yet. yesterday i whipped one up in delphi and i was wondering if maybe i am doing it for nothing. my question is. does any of the existing gpl tools do this already. i haven't found it yet in another program, but maybe i just overlooked an option in the Replay Analyser or something. If there is a need for this, i might as well make the program available to the community. sort of my thank you to all of you fellow racing nuts.

On Mon, 02 Jul 2001 09:44:56 +0200, istoff wrote:

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>hi all, > >i am sure you are all aware of the setting in the track.ini files that >allows you to position the pit board guy (for lack of a better name) >so that you get your most recent lap time after crossing the start / >finish line. > >anyway, i've been looking for a quick and easy editor to set these >values and haven't found one yet. yesterday i whipped one up in >delphi and i was wondering if maybe i am doing it for nothing. > >my question is. does any of the existing gpl tools do this already. >i haven't found it yet in another program, but maybe i just overlooked >an option in the Replay Analyser or something. > >If there is a need for this, i might as well make the program >available to the community. sort of my thank you to all of you fellow >racing nuts.

Istoff, I'm not aware of any program to do this, and yes, I think it would be very useful. I often advise people, when trying to learn a track, trying different lines, trying different approaches etc. etc. to alter the pit board to get immediate feedback as to whether that approach was faster than the previous. Thing is you need to change it back for any online racing as it is confusing in a race situation, often giving misleading information. Not sure how your program works but it would be good if you had the revised location user-configurable, even if just in an ini file. Some of the alternate locations I've seen are not what I would personally choose. Also you'd perhaps need to cater for new tracks seeing as we are getting them thick & fast at the moment adn this is where altering the lap display is most useful. Maxx

On Mon, 02 Jul 2001 10:31:54 GMT, Maxx <[email hidden]> wrote: hi all, well. currently the program needs to to be told where your gpl is installed. it then reads the gp.ini and gets a list of the installed tracks. it then reads an ini file which contains the default values for the two parameters and also suggested values. the suggested values are currently the same as the default values, but I intend to change them to the ones on the gplglory site. finally the currently installed settings from your gpl tracks folder is imported. there is a button to auto set each track back to the default or recommended settings. you can also just type it in yourself. there is an apply button which writes it all back to your gpl tracks directory. i've been meaning to put in a backup option just in case of earthquakes / solar flares / whatever causing the program to corrupt the track.ini files, but i haven't. i figure GPL is probably the most backed up thing on my hard disk and its probably the same for you guys. :) It seems that you would appreciate having more than one pre-set pitboard man position (a la ring trainer) so I might build that in as well. the program is currently totally configured via the ini file and new tracks can be added simply by maintaining the .ini file. I think that I will release a default ini file and its up to the community to bring it up to date. I don't have Noonan's converter and I currently only have 46 tracks installed, so i would hope that someone else could produce an up to date ini file. anybody wanting to try a beta, drop me a line via email using istoff at worldonline dot co dot za i am at work now and will only be able to get a version out tomorrow at the earliest.

Here's a site with some great info on this subject that you may find useful. http://www.cyberjeans.de/gpl/Pitboard.htm istoff wrote:

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> hi all, > > i am sure you are all aware of the setting in the track.ini files that > allows you to position the pit board guy (for lack of a better name) > so that you get your most recent lap time after crossing the start / > finish line. > > anyway, i've been looking for a quick and easy editor to set these > values and haven't found one yet. yesterday i whipped one up in > delphi and i was wondering if maybe i am doing it for nothing. > > my question is. does any of the existing gpl tools do this already. > i haven't found it yet in another program, but maybe i just overlooked > an option in the Replay Analyser or something. > > If there is a need for this, i might as well make the program > available to the community. sort of my thank you to all of you fellow > racing nuts.

In article <[email hidden]>, Maxx <[email hidden]> writes: >Thing is you need to change it back for any online racing >as it is confusing in a race situation, often giving misleading >information. Are you sure about this? I thought the server controlled the pitboard. I seem to remember run a Nurburgring race, and the pitboard was normal even though I'd moved it on my system with ringtrainer... Eldred -- Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001 Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59... Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

I think Ringtrainer just moves the offline pit stall position, not the pitboard. AFAIK the pitboard location is determined locally. The server determines online pit stall positions and your Ringtrainer pit positions will be ignored. The misleading info to which Maxx refers is I believe caused by the guy behind you not having crossed the start/finish by the time you read the pitboard (assuming you've moved it to near the beginning of the lap) and so you end up with "old" data on your board. I'm using the word "pitboard" to mean the board held by a little man with your lap times, number of laps to go etc on it (the one you see every lap), NOT the little tiny black one that marks your pit stall position. Dunno what the latter is called. Cheers, if you can understand all that then your brain is probably suffering as much as mine in this heat :0) Jim "EldredP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> In article <[email hidden]>, Maxx > <[email hidden]> writes: > > >Thing is you need to change it back for any online racing > >as it is confusing in a race situation, often giving misleading > >information. > > Are you sure about this? I thought the server controlled the pitboard. I

seem > to remember run a Nurburgring race, and the pitboard was normal eventhough I'd

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> moved it on my system with ringtrainer... > > Eldred > -- > Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001 > Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59... > > Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats

you > with experience... > Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

hi all. prog is on track for a release tomorrow night. 1) revamped the interface to make it easier to use. 2) support for all tracks in \tracks folder including any 3rd party ones 3) default ini file with Andreas Frank's setting already inserted (i can only type in the tracks that I have, so no Dave Noonan converted tracks, sorry). 4) added the ability to have multiple settings per track so you can have more than one position for the pit board guy per track there will just be a single .exe and .ini file. currently < 500k. i can put in nice logo's & splash screens or whatever, but it will add no functionality to the program so why bother? Eldred, I don't play the game online at all (yet). I can't test the effects of these changes on online play. I don't think it causes any problems though, but I've been wrong before. the ini file is quite simple [kyalami] Setting1=9.0 3953.4,Original setting2=6.4 400.0 ,Andreas Frank setting You can have as many settings as you like, but I can't see the point of having more than 2 or 3 really. Regards all, istoff

In article <[email hidden]>, istoff <[email hidden]> writes: >hi all. > >prog is on track for a release tomorrow night. >Now, *where* have I heard that before...? :-)

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>1) revamped the interface to make it easier to use. >2) support for all tracks in \tracks folder including any 3rd party >ones >3) default ini file with Andreas Frank's setting already inserted >(i can only type in the tracks that I have, so no Dave Noonan >converted tracks, sorry). >4) added the ability to have multiple settings per track so you can >have more than one position for the pit board guy per track > >there will just be a single .exe and .ini file. currently < 500k. >i can put in nice logo's & splash screens or whatever, but it will add >no functionality to the program so why bother? > >Eldred, I don't play the game online at all (yet). I can't test the >effects of these changes on online play. I don't think it causes any >problems though, but I've been wrong before. > >the ini file is quite simple >[kyalami] >Setting1=9.0 3953.4,Original >setting2=6.4 400.0 ,Andreas Frank setting >

I think that it's cool that people can even WRITE utilities like these. I wouldn't have the first idea how... Eldred -- Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001 Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59... Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

In article <nb107.4863$[email hidden]>, "Jim Seamus" <[email hidden]> writes: >I think Ringtrainer just moves the offline pit stall position, not the >pitboard. AFAIK the pitboard location is determined locally. The server >determines online pit stall positions and your Ringtrainer pit positions >will be ignored. Ah...ok. Nevermind...<G> Eldred -- Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001 Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59... Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

hello again, On 02 Jul 2001 20:36:26 GMT, [email hidden] (EldredP) wrote: >In article <[email hidden]>, istoff ><[email hidden]> writes: > >>prog is on track for a release tomorrow night. >> >Now, *where* have I heard that before...? :-)mmmm. just to prove my dedication, i just sent the first release off to a unsuspecting beta tester. hope he has the time to test / approve it. so there eldred, its actually done :) made it even more friendly than b4. all that's missing is a readme file. i am looking for someone to host it as my fortunecities account is pretty slow. i will probably put a version on there just to see how many people actually download it. good for my ego :) >I think that it's cool that people can even WRITE utilities like these. I >wouldn't have the first idea how...it's a lot easier than you think :) without meaning to get all technical and all, as long as somebody can explain what the settings in the .ini files mean, its easy to create a frontend for it. now converting track data from one format to another (eg GPL to N4) and reverse engineering something like that is another story and *WAY* beyond me. now *THAT's* cool. :) I started this thing just as a way for me to quickly (and safely) change the pit board position and having looked at the ini file, I see that there's lots more interesting settings in there. maybe the program can be expanded to do some more useful stuff. damn. all this because i can't seem to convert from a digital throttle/brakes (remember my trusty psx joypad) to my MS FF wheel with analog throttle/brakes, but that's another topic and i'm off to bed. regards, istoff Regards all, istoff

EldredP <[email hidden]> wrote on 02 Jul 2001: > I think that it's cool that people can even WRITE utilities like > these. I wouldn't have the first idea how... Writing stuff like this in Delphi is actually quite simple - Delphi's such a nice environment, far better than bloody Visual Basic <ducks>. For heaven's sake, even *I've* written a util in Delphi, so it can't be that hard. Doing it in assembler is another matter. The real difference between istoff and me is that he actually *finishes* his programs... <g> -- David. (GPLRank handicap -6.57; Monsters of GPL +271.79) The GPL Scrapyard: http://scrapyard.9ug.com "After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really" - Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh.

On 2 Jul 2001 21:22:18 GMT, [email hidden] (David Buttery) wrote: >EldredP <[email hidden]> wrote on 02 Jul 2001: > >Writing stuff like this in Delphi is actually quite simple - Delphi's >such a nice environment, far better than bloody Visual Basic <ducks>. >For heaven's sake, even *I've* written a util in Delphi, so it can't be >that hard. Doing it in assembler is another matter.you'll find that many delphi programmers / hobbyists are actually ex-VB users. I find that delphi allows me to do *almost* anything i want. normally you use a particular tool for a particular task. delphi allows you to write programs for so many different environments. >The real difference between istoff and me is that he actually >*finishes* his programs... <g>define finish :) for me, its finished when i can use it. i don't mind if it looks lousy or if the manual is vapourware. hell, if i wrote it, i should damn well know where to click! now all you gpl fans are a tough crowd. i cringe in anticipation of the criticism and wish lists. mmmm. time to read the bofh manual again. tonight i did some programming to clean it all up, spent some time with my daughters and watched vertical limit on dvd with my wife. also did a few laps of kyalami to test the proggy. not bad! :) its hard balancing real life with learning to drive quickly in gpl. now i complicate matters by attempting this as well. btw, if anybody wants the source code for this thingy, they are welcome to it. my email is in the original post of this thread. for interest sake, its only about 200 lines of code in the program. it might make interesting reading for guys who don't know how to program, but wonder what lurks behind the scenes. regards, istoff Regards all, istoff

In article <[email hidden]>, istoff <[email hidden]> writes:

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>>>prog is on track for a release tomorrow night. >>> >>Now, *where* have I heard that before...? :-) >mmmm. just to prove my dedication, i just sent the first release off >to a unsuspecting beta tester. hope he has the time to test / approve >it. so there eldred, its actually done :) >

But is the *installer* finished already? Ok, I'll stop... <g> Eldred -- Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001 Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett F1 hcp. +16.36...Monster +366.59... Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

hi there folks...i'd like to introduce myself. i'm the unsuspecting beta tester... as soon as i'm through reading tonight, i'll check out istoff's little prog. he is quite good, he made a file swapper for me a while back that changed all the various nascar heat mods. I meant to pass it along but the newest patch kinda takes care of that. Anyhow..i can vouch for his programming skills, his stuff worked very well for me...i'll let ya know soon about this one...btw...whats good for cleaning 'non-working left shift keys'? dave henrie "istoff" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On 2 Jul 2001 21:22:18 GMT, [email hidden] (David > Buttery) wrote: > > >EldredP <[email hidden]> wrote on 02 Jul 2001: > > > >Writing stuff like this in Delphi is actually quite simple - Delphi's > >such a nice environment, far better than bloody Visual Basic <ducks>. > >For heaven's sake, even *I've* written a util in Delphi, so it can't be > >that hard. Doing it in assembler is another matter. > you'll find that many delphi programmers / hobbyists are actually > ex-VB users. I find that delphi allows me to do *almost* anything i > want. normally you use a particular tool for a particular task. > delphi allows you to write programs for so many different > environments. > > >The real difference between istoff and me is that he actually > >*finishes* his programs... <g> > define finish :) > > for me, its finished when i can use it. i don't mind if it looks > lousy or if the manual is vapourware. hell, if i wrote it, i should > damn well know where to click! > > now all you gpl fans are a tough crowd. i cringe in anticipation of > the criticism and wish lists. mmmm. time to read the bofh manual > again. > > tonight i did some programming to clean it all up, spent some time > with my daughters and watched vertical limit on dvd with my wife. > also did a few laps of kyalami to test the proggy. not bad! :) > > its hard balancing real life with learning to drive quickly in gpl. > now i complicate matters by attempting this as well. > > btw, if anybody wants the source code for this thingy, they are > welcome to it. my email is in the original post of this thread. > > for interest sake, its only about 200 lines of code in the program. > it might make interesting reading for guys who don't know how to > program, but wonder what lurks behind the scenes. > > regards, > istoff > > Regards all, > istoff

Dave.... Try getting a bottle of "Shiftex"....its the green stuff.....not the blue stuff. Tom ...lol......

i just ran istoff's utility. Seems to be pretty bug free. I had to manually edit the ini file only to assign the drive my gpl install was on. otherwise it worked very well. i used the included settings by Andreas and changed the pitboard locations at all the tracks that he had settings for, this included many of the new homemade tracks. Road Tested at monza and Silverstone. monza moved the sign to near the end of the pits/grandstands. Silverstone put the guy right at the S/F line...i'm not sure i like that spot, but the utility worked perfectly. And it keeps the default settings if you want to change back. you can change one or any # of tracks at one time. A nice tidy little program. Good job Ian. dave henrie (I asked jan at theuspits if he can host the file. let ya know tomorrow.) dave henrie

On 03 Jul 2001 02:33:31 GMT, [email hidden] (EldredP) wrote:

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>In article <[email hidden]>, istoff ><[email hidden]> writes: > > >But is the *installer* finished already? >Ok, I'll stop... <g> > >Eldred

ok eldred. thanks to you, I am going to release it in time with the f1rc patch. any day now. from what i hear. *grin* seriously though, i will probably just zip it. if you want an installer, i can do it, but its so small, the installer will probably double the size. maybe just a self-extracting zip file or something would be a good compromise? regards, istoff Regards all, istoff

On Tue, 03 Jul 2001 04:43:47 GMT, "Tom Pabst" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Dave.... > >Try getting a bottle of "Shiftex"....its the green stuff.....not the blue >stuff. > >Tom > >...lol...... >

be careful to get the bottle for the left-shift key. using the right-shift bottle makes the keyboard handle a bit funny. something to do with um, inverse kinematic polymer resistance between the left and right shift keys or was it the opposing amber of the 2 sides of the keyboard. it depends of course if you are typing more on the left or the right side, in which case you ca.... *wife smacks me on head*. (stop typing and come eat your breakfast) er, gotta go. regards, istoff Regards all, istoff

Can you please send me your editor. I'll gladly use it and reported you if I find any bugs. My e-mail: [email hidden] Thanks. juvand