N2 BUG LIST

1)Jim Sokoloff - Thanks for taking so much ***and suppling so many answers...not that all are acceptible but anything is better than pure speculation and I sincerely, as many others do appreciate and look forward to your replies in this newsgroup!!! 2)Does anyone have the complete list of bugs for N2?? If so PLEASE e mail me. Other Issues: 3) Why when you have an accident do you not see those skid marks next the time around? 4) What is up with all that AI fake pitting stuff..especially on restarts? 5) Does Pappyrus know there are at least 11 different types of clouds? (Please no snide remarks about having time to look at the clouds..I'm a pilot and can't help but notice) 6) In Multiplayer if the dial-ee hangs up the race is over, no continue or print, not so if the dialer hangs up. 7) No Chat during race bites big ones ...as stated in N1 manual it's there to raz your opponent...talk about stealing ones thunder. Ok, so you can park and enter chat mode to do it's but very inconvenient. I can see if NRO takes it out, but not for cross town racing!!! 8)How come you can't control the start race feature with Joystick/Wheel accelerator button? I'm pointing and clicking myself to death? 9) Since I don't want to be all negative, I dig the new Glen course. 10) No two line restarts is inexcusable! 11) In you spin out onto pit row you should be allowed to break the speed limit w/ out getting the dreaded black flag. If the only way to avoid a wreck is thru pit row the speed limit should be non existant....you guys missed this one in both games. 12)Ok, I'll stop until I get the entire bug list for fear of repetition. Scott Walter

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> 1)Jim Sokoloff - Thanks for taking so much ***and suppling so many > answers...not that all are acceptible but anything is better than pure > speculation and I sincerely, as many others do appreciate and look > forward to your replies in this newsgroup!!! > 2)Does anyone have the complete list of bugs for N2?? If so PLEASE e > mail me. > Other Issues: > 3) Why when you have an accident do you not see those skid marks next > the time around? > 4) What is up with all that AI fake pitting stuff..especially on > restarts? > 5) Does Pappyrus know there are at least 11 different types of clouds? > (Please no snide remarks about having time to look at the clouds..I'm a > pilot and can't help but notice) > 6) In Multiplayer if the dial-ee hangs up the race is over, no continue > or print, not so if the dialer hangs up. > 7) No Chat during race bites big ones ...as stated in N1 manual it's > there to raz your opponent...talk about stealing ones thunder. Ok, so > you can park and enter chat mode to do it's but very inconvenient. I can > see if NRO takes it out, but not for cross town racing!!! > 8)How come you can't control the start race feature with Joystick/Wheel > accelerator button? I'm pointing and clicking myself to death? > 9) Since I don't want to be all negative, I dig the new Glen course. > 10) No two line restarts is inexcusable! > 11) In you spin out onto pit row you should be allowed to break the > speed limit w/ out getting the dreaded black flag. If the only way to > avoid a wreck is thru pit row the speed limit should be non > existant....you guys missed this one in both games. > 12)Ok, I'll stop until I get the entire bug list for fear of repetition. > Scott Walter

Scott, in answer to number three, "why no dynamic skid marks?" It's simple. These skid marks each entail the computer handling an object. If hundreds of these get put down on the track throughout a race, the computer's got to keep track of too many objects, and that would slow the frame rate down way too much (though it'd probably still be faster than GP2!!) In answer to number seven, use the autochat feature during the races to raz the other driver- it's detailed in the game's readme file.

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>>> : 11) In you spin out onto pit row you should be allowed to break the >>> : speed limit w/ out getting the dreaded black flag. If the only way to >>> : avoid a wreck is thru pit row the speed limit should be non >>> : existant....you guys missed this one in both games. >>> This one's gotta be a real toughy. How is the computer going to know >>> why one is speeding down the pit? This would be real nice, but "Damn it >>> Jim, I can'ta make her going any faster!" >>Simple solution. If you don't stop in your pit - don't enforce the stop >>and go for speeding. This way there is really nothing to gain by speeding >>in the pits. >That's a great suggestion, Tom! They would still have to give you a black >flag if you are caught speeding under full yellow, because you could race >through the pits to gain positions, but other than that, I can't see any >holes.

<Snip> David, I am not a Nascar nor Nascar2 expert, but I think the AI would still have to make sure the car was spinning, or that there was NO way to avoid an accident short of going down pit lane. I know I would be tempted to get around a pile upin the front straight if I knew that I wouldn't get black flagged for flying through the pits. This is a tough thing to program because it is a judgement call. I am not sure, but the officials at a race will probably determine if you could avoid going down pit lane rather than slowing up and pulling to the side of the track. In the spirit of trying to find a solution, it may be that Papyrus has a Spin function in the code that is executed when the car is spinning or out of control. It should be easy to check if the car is spinning. If Papyrus would send me the source code, I woulds be VERY happy to look at it....... ; ) Thanks, Paul

<snip> : 3) Why when you have an accident do you not see those skid marks next : the time around? Well, I'd be in trouble. I use the existing marks for the "groove". I already have enough trouble staying in the groove without following my last accident. <g> : 4) What is up with all that AI fake pitting stuff..especially on : restarts? I think this is one of the bugs. There was a quick fix posted in r.a.s a few days ago. I hope that Papyrus comes up with a real fix for this one. : 5) Does Pappyrus know there are at least 11 different types of clouds? : (Please no snide remarks about having time to look at the clouds..I'm a : pilot and can't help but notice) Speaking of clouds... I recall a post by Adam mentioning that there might be different "sky/clouds" based on the variable weather conditions. Has anyone seen such, or was this left out like the sun-glare? <snip> : 9) Since I don't want to be all negative, I dig the new Glen course. I will loudly SECOND that!!! : 10) No two line restarts is inexcusable! I am sure they have their "programming" reasons, but I too find this one hard to fathom. If they can have double file "starts", the code is there for possible double file restarts. inside_position = 0 outside_position = 0 lapsdown = 1 carid = 2 # assumes car() is a list of cars in the order they are on the track # 1=leader if laps_remaining > 10 then { for i = 1 to active_cars ( if car(i, lapsdown) > 0 then inside_row(+inside_position)=car(i,carid) else outside_row(+outside_position)=car(i,carid) endif } else # another routine to put those on the lead lap first, everyone else in # the order they were on the track for the last 10 laps. ) endif I know, it's not that simple, but. . . : 11) In you spin out onto pit row you should be allowed to break the : speed limit w/ out getting the dreaded black flag. If the only way to : avoid a wreck is thru pit row the speed limit should be non : existant....you guys missed this one in both games. This one's gotta be a real toughy. How is the computer going to know why one is speeding down the pit? This would be real nice, but "Damn it Jim, I can'ta make her going any faster!" -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I love that they shut those people up.Now maybe those idiots will keep the hands on the steering wheel and off the keyboard.

... |> > 3) Why when you have an accident do you not see those skid marks next |> > the time around? ...

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|> Scott, in answer to number three, "why no dynamic skid marks?" It's |> simple. These skid marks each entail the computer handling an object. |> If hundreds of these get put down on the track throughout a race, the |> computer's got to keep track of too many objects, and that would slow |> the frame rate down way too much (though it'd probably still be faster |> than GP2!!) In answer to number seven, use the autochat feature during |> the races to raz the other driver- it's detailed in the game's readme |> file.

Doesn't Need for Speed do this though? I seem to recall that on each subsequent lap I could see my previous skid marks. Granted, the races are only 6 or 8 laps so you don't get that many, but it's kind of cool anyway! -- IBM Microelectronics Burlington, VT Phone: (802) 769-7104 (tie 446)

Simple solution. If you don't stop in your pit - don't enforce the stop and go for speeding. This way there is really nothing to gain by speeding in the pits. /THansen

> Speaking of clouds... I recall a post by Adam mentioning that there > might be different "sky/clouds" based on the variable weather > conditions. Has anyone seen such, or was this left out like the > sun-glare? Yes. When the weather is clear, you'll see clear skies with slight wisps of clouds. Cloudy weather produces a grey sky engulfed in cloud cover. Yeah, that's it. Now if only we can port the rest of the game code to Visual Basic...:)

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> Why when you have an accident do you not see those skid marks next > |> > the time around? > ... > Doesn't Need for Speed do this though? I seem to recall that on each > subsequent lap I could see my previous skid marks. Granted, the races > are only 6 or 8 laps so you don't get that many, but it's kind of cool > anyway!

Yes, but need for speed is only handling a maximum of eight cars, at only six or eight laps per race. Plus, most of the tracks are longer than NASCAR 2 tracks, and use fewer objects onscreen at a single time.

><snip> >: 3) Why when you have an accident do you not see those skid marks next >: the time around? We were unable to fit dynamic skid marks (the fancy-pants technical name for that feature) into the timeframe available for N2. It would be cool, and we're definitely in favor of implementing that. But, in a 16MB machine, we're already pushing the limits, especially in Win95. That's a bug at Atlanta. (I'm not aware of it elsewhere; if someone almost MANDATORY for this bug, as it's not 100% repeatable except at Atlanta under caution.) The Atlanta problem is going to be fixed, likely in the first gameplay patch. In fairness to us, we are making a racing sim, and the clouds are purely eye candy. Once we get EVERYTHING else about the game spot-on, we can worry about dynamic clouds. Until that happens, we'd be remiss in spending too much time on eye-candy, when it's gameplay that's important. The problem is actually getting the AI cars to line up double file without crashing into each other and/or the player. When the AI subsystem is re-vamped, double file restarts will be a requirement of the new AI. (And yes, I realize how important they are to NASCAR competition...) ---Jim Sokoloff, Papyrus

: > This one's gotta be a real toughy. How is the computer going to know : > why one is speeding down the pit? This would be real nice, but "Damn it : > Jim, I can'ta make her going any faster!" : > : Simple solution. If you don't stop in your pit - don't enforce the stop : and go for speeding. This way there is really nothing to gain by speeding : in the pits. Sometimes the obvious and simplest approach is easily overlooked. -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

That's a great suggestion, Tom! They would still have to give you a black flag if you are caught speeding under full yellow, because you could race through the pits to gain positions, but other than that, I can't see any holes. Dave Sparks IWCCCARS Project: http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html Late Night League: http://www.sequoia-dev.com/Hawaii/latenite.html Hawaii Handle: davids

Maybe there's a accident variable for each car. If a car is in a accident the variable reads 1 at that time put about 7 seconds on the clock and the racer can go at top speeds throw pit lane without penalty. So if your hit the accident variable reads 7. So if you go at top speeds into the pit the Black Flag won't register and you have 7 seconds to get through pit lane before the accident variable is put back to zero. Q.B.M.