Hi guys.....
I was thumbing through my TEN N2 Notebook today.....pulling out stuff useful for
racing N3 online...and came across this document...hard copy of my "league"
autochat messages used on TEN. I remember many of the good leagues required
standardization of the AutoChat.....among other restrictions and rules designed
to make the races safer (less crashes) and more enjoyable for everyone! The
good leagues on TEN did a good job of standardization.....now we need to
"police" ourselves...so thought I would post this for all the new N3 drivers
who've not raced on TEN.
A reminder......the TOP TEN Leagues did not allow "chat message" during the
race....except those on this official AutoChat list. I'm not saying we can all
do this....but any chat messages during a race...that are "off topic" to the
ones listed below....are not appropriate! They distract both the "readers" and
the "sender"...distractions cause wrecks....plain and simple!
Here's my OSCAR League Racing AutoChat list which...like many leagues...required
our "names" since the car numbers changed all the time....at least there was a
chance you'd know which drivers were in some of the cars in your league
race....the car numbers are too hard to read even in N3 while racing:
AutoChat Message File
[Hit cntrl and F1 thru F10 keys to automatically send the messages below...
[F1] "Pabst" Exiting Pit Stall Now
[F2] "Pabst" Exiting End Of Pit Road Now
[F3] "Pabst" Back Straight - Pitting On This Lap
[F4] "Pabst" Nice Race....Congrats To Winner!
[F5] "Pabst" Thank You!
[F6] "Pabst" Holding My Line - Pass Me High Side
[F7] "Pabst" Holding My Line - Pass Me Low Side
[F8] "Pabst" Damaged - Moving Slow - Holding Line????
[F9] "Pabst" Wreck Wreck - Slow Slow Slow Down !!!
[F10] "Pabst" Need A Drafting Partner !!
Explanation of the above chat messages....why these were used:
[F1] This gives drivers on the track a good idea if they will or will not
encounter you exiting onto the racing surface at a reduced speed. If (for
example) I'm on the back straight at Michigan....and I see "Smith" Exiting Pit
Stall Now.....then there's a good chance I will encounter him when I get around
to entering the back straight again...next lap. But....if the message were
"Smith" Exiting End Of Pit Road Now.....then there's no chance I will encounter
that car on my next trip around the back straight. This isn't perfect...but its
light years better than....Exiting Pits....which tells me just about
nothing....and people were all using this at different points...some when
leaving their pit stall....some while traversing pit road....some while on the
warm up lane..... Gosh....that was so varied that the "message" became
useless...no one paid attention to it. Does this make sense?
[F2] Same explanation as above.
[F3] Kind of the same thing....it lets the drivers know where you are when
sending the "Pitting Now" message...so this helps others determine if you are
going to be an "obstacle" to watch for! It also helps us all "use" this message
at roughly the same place on the track ......all the time.
[F4] and [F5] Free space...use any way you want....but NOT DURING A RACE...!!!
These were messages I used on the cool down laps only. I choose these "keys"
because of their location to my hands....my keyboard is mounted on my racing
wheel cover.....not because of any order of the keys or something.....these were
hard keys to reach while racing....so I didn't have to use them while racing.
[F6] Ah....the most controversial topic of most TEN chat rooms...just about any
night of the week! Usually because some dumb-head......moves low (or high) when
the leaders are coming up on them...right about the time the "leader" commits to
a "pass low"....bam.....leader watches the rest of the race! Never, never,
never, never....is that enough "nevers"....nope.....never, never, never.......
alter your racing line...move out of the way....for a car overtaking
you....leaders or not! Hold your line....let the car behind you....whose
probably either faster, a better driver...or in better control of his car
because he's not damaged as you may be (reason for slower race speed?) decide
how and when and where he will pass you......its his/her job to make a clean and
safe pass! And he/she are in a much better position to decide how to do
it....than you are looking in your review mirror....part time!
......Ok....all you veteran TEN drivers.....could I have made this clearer to
the rookies reading it??????
[F7] Same as above.......never, never, never...alter your line when being
overtaken by faster cars.
[F8] This is letting cars know...coming up on you....that you are moving even
slower than race slow speed....and damaged so you may have "control" problems
too. Use this when "limping" back to the pits......flat tire....out of
fuel.....and repeat sending it while you are on the track....I did it about
every 10 secs or so until I entered pit road.
[F9] DO NOT USE THIS KEY WITH "CNTRL" IN NASCAR 3 IF YOU ARE USING VOODOO CARDS
WITH "GLIDE" RASTERIZER.....YOU WILL BE BOOTED BACK TO YOUR DESKTOP! Move the
message above to the F10 key below in that case!
[F10] Voodoo users use "Wreck, wreck" message here......alerts everyone on the
track to an accident...
Or......it's a "free space" key I used for special messages....at certain
tracks.....but NOT in league races unless approved before the race. This one
was used at Talladega for an OSCAR League Race......obviously so we could try to
get a "dance partner" to draft with!
I hope this is "helpful" to all you new guys? Most of the vets probably already
have programmed their AutoChat in something similar.
For the rookies........the file to do that is in the Papyrus/NASCAR 3
folder......named ..."autochat.txt" Use "Notepad" or any text editor to open
it.....erase the "canned" message in the Papyrus autochat.txt list...and put in
these...or something like them......you have limited space...so why not just
copy the above text? "Save" the document before closing.....leave the
autochat.txt file right where it is!
Tom Pabst
--
Tom Pabst
