cc: RAS, EricST, John Browne
I've always been skeptical of the "try installing it again" advice.
PCs are machines which work in more or less predictable ways, doing
the same install a second time should give you the same results,
right?
Well, I've had trouble with steering problems, both with joysticks
and a T2 in CPR. I had trouble keeping it on the track on the
straights, must less the turns, every little twitch would lead to
overcorrection. Well, I've done the reinstall route and *drum roll
please* it's made all the difference in the world! I'm still using
the default settings, which will need tweaking for my taste, but at
least the car is consistently on the road, not jumping all over the
place.
I did a reinstall of both DirectX5 and CPR. Note that the first
time I installed DX5, it did not install a sound driver for my sound
card and the spoken text was all chopped up. Car sounds were
tolerable, but defective (I now know). On my first install, the DX5
Game Controllers control panel did install, so I *think* it was
installed properly (although I'm not really sure of anything now :).
All DX5 drivers show as certified in DXSetup now. Frame rate has
remained the same. :)
The bottom line is:
1) For the MS/CPR guys: you need to work on the install of DirectX5
and/or CPR. Maybe CPR install can check the status of DX5 drivers and
warn the user?
2) For the folks having CPR control problems, make sure all of your
DirectX drivers are certified (use DXSetup in
C:\Program Files\DirectX\Setup\Dxsetup.exe) and try reinstalling
DirectX5 and CPR.
3) For the folks *not* having these control problems, you can keep
telling us to tweak linear steering or check web tips until your blue
in the face, these *problems are real*. Just because you haven't
experienced them, doesn't mean that we're morons or that they don't
exist. <Soapbox Off!>
PS - For the record, my system is:
Windows95 ver. 4.00.950a
Pentium 133
Intergraph Reactor (V1000)
SuperMicro P5STE
32 meg EDO
CH gamecard
2x CH joysticks *or* T2 w/adapter
Reveal 8-bit sound (SoundBlaster Pro compat.)
Before you send me UCE, I know what you're thinking... Did he complain
to five or six postmasters last month? Now, you must ask yourself one
question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do you, punk?
Great Post Jeff. =)
Marc
