GPL Newbie - Must haves?

Hi, I got GPL 3 days ago (for 9 quid!) after reading posts about it on this NG. It's already taken up far too much of my time - what a great sim. My question is: what are the must have add ons/patches for GPL? I already have the latest game patch and Direct3D patch, but that's all. Also, are there any tricks for getting more AI cars running. I have an Athlon 600/Geforce 256/ 128Mb RAM and MS FF wheel but any more than 10 AI cars and the game struggles to keep a consistent frame rate and even with 10 the frame rate is iffy at the start of a race. I have tried dropping graphic detail and turning FF off, but this doesn't seem to make much difference. Any info appreciated, Cheers, Jon.

Yeah you will normally suffer a frame rate drop up until the firts corner, burt after that it's usually excellent. For good addons go to http://www.gplea.org Check their forum as well for other stuff. Jon Mansfield wrote:

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> Hi, > > I got GPL 3 days ago (for 9 quid!) after reading posts about it on this NG. > It's already taken up far too much of my time - what a great sim. > > My question is: what are the must have add ons/patches for GPL? I already > have the latest game patch and Direct3D patch, but that's all. > > Also, are there any tricks for getting more AI cars running. I have an > Athlon 600/Geforce 256/ 128Mb RAM and MS FF wheel but any more than 10 AI > cars and the game struggles to keep a consistent frame rate and even with 10 > the frame rate is iffy at the start of a race. I have tried dropping graphic > detail and turning FF off, but this doesn't seem to make much difference. > > Any info appreciated, > > Cheers, > > Jon.

Jon Mansfield <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:WGAl5.3224$[email hidden]... > Hi, > > I got GPL 3 days ago (for 9 quid!) after reading posts about it on thisNG.

Quoted text (8 lines)

> It's already taken up far too much of my time - what a great sim. > > My question is: what are the must have add ons/patches for GPL? I already > have the latest game patch and Direct3D patch, but that's all. > > Also, are there any tricks for getting more AI cars running. I have an > Athlon 600/Geforce 256/ 128Mb RAM and MS FF wheel but any more than 10 AI > cars and the game struggles to keep a consistent frame rate and even with

10 > the frame rate is iffy at the start of a race. I have tried droppinggraphic > detail and turning FF off, but this doesn't seem to make much difference. > > Any info appreciated, I'll repeat my message from earlier in the week for you: The first thing you should do is download version 1.2.0.1 of GPL. This version includes force feedback. You can find it here: http://www.papy.com/gpl/download.html If you have a non-3dfx graphics card you have you may also want to download the D3D patch whilst your there and the GPL discofix would be useful if you plan to race online. If you have a force feedback wheel add the following to the file core.ini which is in the gpl directory to enable force feedback: [ Joy ] allow_force_feedback = 1 ; Use FF if device has it force_feedback_latency = 0.02 ; force feedback latency (secs) force_feedback_damping = 5.0 ; force feedback damping coefficient max_steering_torque = 250.000000 ; steering torque in N*in giving max device force The above are the settings I use with an LWFF. Opinions differ on the best settings. Fiddle around until you find one that suits. Some useful sites for you to look at are: For a general overview go here: http://simracing.com/alison/gpl/ For the latest car and track add-ons including the sublime Solitude go to the GPLEA here: http://www.kotr.de/org/ For the highest quality add-on dashes go to the GPL Spares Factory here: http://129.100.29.86/gpl/ For other tracks including Road Atlanta, Imola, Brands Hatch and the O-Ring visit the US Pits here: http://www.theuspits.com/owheel/gpl/gpl.html Once you have driven a lap at each track get yourself a ranking here: http://gplrank.schuerkamp.de/ When you want to race on-line go here and download WinVROC: www.vroc.net If you want to race on-line in a low pressure environment I also suggest you check out the VROC-F2 club. We race online in the F2 cars (advanced trainers). Racing is excellent and we are very newbie friendly. You can find us here: http://www.egroups.com/group/vroc-f2/ Tim Wheatley runs a Legends based site including an extensive forum here: http://legends.sports-gaming.com/index.html And finally some other sites of interest include: http://www.the-fastlane.com/ http://users.bart.nl/~hansvd/links.html http://www.parc-ferme.de/fastlaps.htm http://lightsoutracing.simplenet.com/trackguides/gpl/ http://home.c2i.net/thepaddock/ http://warpedracing.figc.net/gaugepages/index.html http://www.kolumbus.fi/ghuttu/ I hope that's enough to be going on with. Cheers Phil -- F1 GPL Handicap: +60.36 secs F2 GPL Handicap: +147.17 secs http://www.youpies.co.uk