F1GP/WC: GPCSetup

Just uploaded to http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/f1gputil/ GPCSetup, a tool to alter the computer cars' setups. Not perfect, but the best I can do right now. -- Gizmo http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not necessarily represent those of UNC-Chapel Hill, OIT, or the SysOps. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

>Would anyone be interested in a utility that modifies the outside >view camera angles and zoom factors? It would be great to have the camera angles from beside the driver's head (forward and backwards), the rear wing or facing the driver (ala Hill at Silverstone). it also makes it more realistic... just my 0.01 cents of thoughts cu.. - student of information management & technology ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Attends-moi, ce ne sera pas long." - "Wait for me, I won't be long." Gilles Villeneuve * 18-1-1950 (Richelieu,Canada) x 8-5-1982 (Louvain,Belgium) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Jean, La Ferrari non ti merita"

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>>Just uploaded to http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/f1gputil/ >>GPCSetup, a tool to alter the computer cars' setups. >>Not perfect, but the best I can do right now. >>-- Gizmo >>http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/ >I also wrote a nice Windows application to allow you to do this. >Only one problem: Using it myself, with the settings from the >HoF, I can't actually get the computer cars to lap any faster. >I don't know what everyone else has found, but brake balance >seems to have no affect on the computer car's braking distance, >and however you improve their wing settings, they won't lap any >faster (but, if you give them stupid wing settings, they will >lap slower, so at least it does something).

I have looked a bit at the disassembly of the code that handles the computer setup. It copied the front wing value (which is the same for all computer cars at a certain track, randomized this (ended up a bit lower or a lot higher upto +12), then copied this into the car's private data for both front wing and rear wing. So it seems like it always ends up with the same value for both wings unless you patch the code. Maybe this is why the effect of Dave's GPCSetup is not that noticeable. It also randomized the tyre choice btw. GPLapTim doesn't record setups of computer cars, but the counterpart on the Amiga I'm working on does. For example, in USA, most cars started on C's, some on D's. I will look some more at the brake balance. I like the one on the Amiga. It would be great to have it on the pc too! It's great to look from the front or the rear of the car really low. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rene Smit AKA The SDI, Technical University Delft Faculty of Computer Science <A HREF="http://dutian.twi.tudelft.nl/~smit/sdihome.html">WWW</A>

: As there's some interest, I'll dig out what needs to be changed in the : exe file, and write a simple editor ASAP (everyone has VBRUN300.DLL : and THREED.VBX in their Windows set-up don't they?). Come on now. Don't make it for windoze! Write it for DOS.

I can't! Coming from the Amiga, I'm not used to such primitive forms of user interfaces :-) Seriously, using Visual BASIC for Windows would allow me to finish a complete editor for F1GP in a few days. Imagine writing something similar that ran under DOS. Only problem is, I can only find a few minutes here and there to spend on writing non-business code :*( Providing you've got the DLLs and VBXs already, the executable itself will probably be under 50k. _________ ___________________________________________

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>>: As there's some interest, I'll dig out what needs to be changed in the >>: exe file, and write a simple editor ASAP (everyone has VBRUN300.DLL >>: and THREED.VBX in their Windows set-up don't they?). >>Come on now. Don't make it for windoze! Write it for DOS. >I can't! Coming from the Amiga, I'm not used to such primitive forms >of user interfaces :-) Seriously, using Visual BASIC for Windows >would allow me to finish a complete editor for F1GP in a few days. >Imagine writing something similar that ran under DOS. Only problem >is, I can only find a few minutes here and there to spend on writing >non-business code :*( Providing you've got the DLLs and VBXs already, >the executable itself will probably be under 50k.

DO it Steve ! I'll collect some money in the LFRS-ranks and you could take a day off at work! ;-) ********************************************************** De most civilised nations are as close to barbarism as the most polished iron is to rust. Rivarol ***********************************************************

>: As there's some interest, I'll dig out what needs to be changed in the >: exe file, and write a simple editor ASAP (everyone has VBRUN300.DLL >: and THREED.VBX in their Windows set-up don't they?). >Come on now. Don't make it for windoze! Write it for DOS. Yes yes! In fact, for simple changes, if you (Steve Smith, or anyone else) send me the details of what bytes to change where, I can easily add another utility to my growing GPTools collection (log2hof, GPFPS, GPCSetup). [Interactive? User interface? Me command line dude, you WIMPI! :-] -- Gizmo http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not necessarily represent those of UNC-Chapel Hill, OIT, or the SysOps. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

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> >>Would anyone be interested in a utility that modifies the outside > >>view camera angles and zoom factors? > >It would be great to have the camera angles from beside the driver's head > >(forward and backwards), the rear wing or facing the driver (ala Hill at > >Silverstone). it also makes it more realistic... > >just my 0.01 cents of thoughts > From what I can remember, it is possible to put the camera as if it was > mounted on the gearbox, or as if it was mounted on the nosecone for those > real down low shots. Unfortunately, the game looks a bit jerky from down > there, but it's O.K. for replays (not because its too complicated for the > machine, simply because when you are using the chase camera views, the > camera doesn't change angle as quickly as the car does). The other place > where the camera looks good is to put it just behind the top of the > rear ring. You can also change the track side camera to be lower to > the ground. This means that at Monaco, the cars actually drive over the > camera.

Please send me a copy when something is sorted.. god do I love that game! :) Ray Ko School of Information Science, University of Portsmouth (UK) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= (Valid until August 1996) URL : http://www.pbs.port.ac.uk/~sis4381/ (Until August 1996.. or it could be on the move) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "Desperation is not attractive" =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

With millions of people World-wide upgrading to Windows '95, I think that there really is a need for a good "control centre" for F1GP that runs under Windows and prevents novice users from having to dip into DOS to apply all the patches. I was in the process of writing a something along these lines, but stopped because GP II was supposedly coming out soon. However, I spoke with a friend in the trade, who told me that a Microprose employee had told him that there wasn't a hope in hell of Microprose shipping GP II before Christmas. So, I've started working on it again. Although we have lots of amazing patches for F1GP/WC, I don't believe anyone has actually written something for Windows that lets you combine everything. If you want to see just how brilliantly useful something like this can be, check out Oliver Roberts' F1GP-Ed on the Amiga. When it is finished, it will do everything that GPED can do, as well as changing the external view camera setup (my own invention, ported from the Amiga version of my editor), crash damage (ala GPDAMED) including the way the marshals react to crashed cars (ala GPFLAG). Obviously, the user interface for this will not be a case of entering numbers on the command line, but will instead have stuff like scroll bars for setting time delays in seconds, accident speeds in MPH etc. As well as this, the utility will allow GPLAPTIM, GPPERF and GPGAP to be configured using the same method. It will build the user a batch file in their F1GP directory, and on clicking on a button or menu option will launch the batch file to run F1GP/WC with the patches enabled/configured where needed. Plus, I'm thinking of including a bridge between the performance of the real cars and drivers and their computer representations in F1GP/WC. Anyone who's seen my Amiga editor (F1Ed) will know that this means a kind of built in "database" where you enter in real recorded lap times from qualifying and races, you then give the editor a horsepower range to work with (eg. the slowest team to have 700 BHP, the fastest 1000 BHP), and it will go away and produce the appropriate BHP figures for the teams, and the qualifying and racing figures for each driver. My tests with the Amiga version of F1GP proved that although far from faultless, this method generally put the right cars in the right place on the grid. For instance, last year Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill often qualified in pole, whilst Jos Verstappen would be back in about 10th, and the Pacific cars would be way down at the back of the grid. O.K., you can do this by inventing the figures yourself, but by using this system, you don't really have to think about it, just copy type a few lap times :-) For other editor writers, the offsets of the .exe file will all be in the ini file (my idea to make it easy to add new versions of GP.EXE without having to rebuild or redistribute the application). The .ini file will be commented, so you'll be able to see what needs changing just by reading it. Also, the data file that the application uses to save all of these settings will be in Windows .ini file format, (a) because it's very easy to write the code for Windows, and (b) it makes it very easy to distribute your own data files by email or usenet (without even needing encoding). For instance, part of the file may look like: [Teams] 1=Benetton,Renault,775,1,2 2=Tyrrell,Yamaha,765,3,4 .. [CarColours] 1=33,135,255,135,8,255,141,5,135,56,36,5,5,5,5,5 2=33,160,160,8,0,160,160,160,160,84,36,160,135,135,160,160 .. With such a potentially short lifespan, the editor will of course be freeware, and I expect to have something ready to distribute in a couple of weeks, although this will not be a finished version. I've found some space on a WWW site for it, and the URL will be posted here when it's ready. Sure, I could have written all this to run under DOS, but when everyone will soon be running Windows '95 or some other kind of GUI on their computer, what's the point? _________ ___________________________________________