I had some thoughts about the demo, so I thought I'd share them, along with
the readme.txt file attached below.
First, I noticed that the track and car directories had .pcx files of the
drivers, the track logo's, and track pictures. I'm assuming if these stay
as .pcx files in the full version, we will be able to change them, since not
all logo's will be allowed in the game (ie. Winston Select 500 logo). This
should also mean that we could paste a picture of ourselves into the .pcx
file to be displayed on the Driver info screen.
The Driver Info screen has the options of bio, stats, etc., but as stated
below we will not be able change the bio of licensed drivers. What this will
mean as far as simulating past seasons, I'm not sure. I guess we could
probably create a new 1989 Earnhardt with a seperate bio, leaving the
licensed earnhardt out. We'll have to wait until the full release version.
The sound option screen has an option called Announcer priority, which if
turned all the way up gets rid of the engine noises so all you hear is the
announcer, and vice-versa if you turn it all the way down. This is a great
option for setting how loud you want the engine noises to be. You can also
set the spotter to speech or text messages, but not in the demo.
On my 75mhz Acer with 16 megs of ram, the graphics are okay. I'm still
toying with min and max frame rates, but I can turn on objects, car paint,
skids/paint, and run okay. You can only see a small area of sky from the
cockpit, and turning clouds on didn't seem to slow my computer down much.
The tracks have definitely been improved upon, though they lack skidmarks in
the demo(which I used occasionally at the Glen as braking points). Watkins
Glen does have curbs in the corners now, and if you hook a wheel too far
you'll get out of shape.
Great job so far Papyrus. Now I just have to wait for the full version, so I
can start painting cars again(which will be done through the driver info
menu), and practicing for the NRL.
NASCAR Racing 2 Demo
README.TXT
**** TO ORDER CALL: 1-800-757-7707 ****
*** INSTALLATION AND SETUP ***
REQUIREMENTS: The demo requires 16MB RAM and a Pentium. The requirements
for the full product are not determined at this point, but may be lower.
STARTING THE GAME - After installing the demo, start it from DOS by
typing N2DEMO <enter>. The demo will automatically run SVGA graphics
and will use the UniVBE if it is loaded. (See below.)
WINDOWS 95 - Currently, NASCAR 2 must be run in DOS. If you are using
Win95, please make sure you restart the computer in MS-DOS mode. We
hope to be able to run the game from a DOS box within Win95 soon.
MOUSE - You must have a mouse installed for NASCAR 2 to run.
UNIVBE - We also support UniVBE. If you wish to run the game with this
option, type "uvconfig" from the NASCAR2 directory. In the release version
you'll install this from the setup program.
SOUND - If you have difficulties setting up your sound, and you have the
original NASCAR Racing game, you can copy the sound.cfg file from that
directory to the NASCAR Racing 2 Demo directory.
*** MAIN MENU ***
The first thing you should do is select "options" and set your
controls and calibrate your joystick (if you are using one). You can only
use one joystick at this time so pedals won't work yet. (You can use the
controls.cfg file from your NASCAR 1 main directory to get the same controls
you had in N1.) Once this is done, go back to the main menu.
>From the main menu "championship season" and "multiplayer" will only take
you to the main screens for those options. You won't be able to go any
further yet.
*** DRIVER INFO SCREEN ***
Selecting "Driver info" will take you to a screen showing info for
some NASCAR drivers. Currently, there is not much here, but we intend to
have a bio of the driver, bio of the team, career stats of the driver, and
the ability to enter the driver's ratings (power, traction, etc). The
3D car will have a slightly different angle. You will be able to access the
paintkit directly from these driver screens, and view and change (for
unlicensed drivers) driver attributes. Eventually, the first screen will be
an entry list management screen in which you'll be able to create new drivers
and new race entry lists.
*** QUICK RACE MENU ***
Selecting "Quick Race" will take you to our new quick race screen.
In this screen you can set your preferred options, them just jump in and
race. You can select between the Race at Watkins Glen and The NAPA 500 at
Atlanta. Notice that you actually select "events" and not tracks. In the
demo, you can select "race length", "# of opponents", "Opponent strength",
and "pace lap". The rest of these options will be implemented in the
full release version of the game.
Eventually, you will be able to select "driving mode - simulation or arcade",
the "entry list" (list of drivers available to race), and the race weekend
type (none, full, test). Note that "preseason testing" has moved from the
main menu to "weekend type - test" (unavailable right now). Select "Race"
when you have set the options you want.
NOTE: the different way you change options is still being worked on. The
controls you see now are just temporary until the real ones are put in.
*** RACE WEEKEND MENU ***
Once you select "race" from the quick race menu you will come to the
race weekend screen. Currently, we have the Interstate Batteries car on the
screen. Eventually, this car will be the player's car.
Specific race info will be displayed across the top of the screen. Notice
in the top right the description of the current session. To change the
session you click the "next session" button at the bottom of the screen.
We may make the top right display a drop down box. When you select it,
the box pops down and you can drag the cursor to the session you want.
CAR SETUP - will take you to a non-working version of the new car setup.
You can't change anything yet, but notice the difference. In the full
version, clicking on an option will allow you to change it. You can see
the whole car setup from one screen. We also tried to make the car weight
stuff easier to understand.
REPLAY - will take you to a semi-working version of the replay. To
manipulate the replay in the demo, you must use the keyboard controls
listed below. The full version will be controlled by the mouse and will
allow you to choose between the view you see in the demo and a full screen
view. The TV camera angles are not functioning in the demo.
v to change car
c to change camera
< for rewind
> for fast forward space to play
esc to exit back to the weekend screen
OPTIONS - will take you to the same options screens as the main menu. This
will allow people to easily change their configuration without having to
escape back to the main menu. In the demo, most options are functioning,
however, the Lap Display is not.
NEXT SESSION - changes the session among practice, qualify, warmup, and race.
STANDINGS, ACCELERATED TIME, LOAD/SAVE - are not available in the demo.
DRIVE - will take you to the track, ready to drive.
*** DRIVING ***
KEYBOARD CONTROLS - Only 2 black box functions are working F1 (Lap
Info) and F4 (Tire Temps). These are not 100% accurate at this time.
Select "m" to toggle the mirror on/off. We are displaying the real
3D cars in the mirrors. Because of this there is a large hit to the frame
rate when you turn these on. We are working on improving this.
You can change the various graphic options while driving with the number keys
(1-9), just as in NASCAR 1.
In the full version, you will be able to select a key (s) to toggle the
gear and speed indicator.
FRAME RATE - The frame rate should improve in the final versin of
the product. We still have some things left to do to improve this.
SPOTTER/CREW CHIEF - The big thing you'll notice is the spotter/crew chief
voice. Drive around for a while and listen to the speech. If you have
the pace lap and yellow flags on he'll say more things. The full version
will contain more speech (crashing stuff, etc.) and we will be tweaking the
frequency of the various speech. There will be an option in the sound
screen to determine the level of frequency which the spotter will talk
to you. Right now the spotter may say some things which are inappropriate
for the situation.
TRACKS - Check out the new and improved Watkins Glen. It is now about 110%
better than it was. Unfortunately, we still have the walls in the chicane,
despite all our efforts to change this. Also notice the curbing.
--
Brian Fox
The Fox Den: Nascar and ICR2
http://www.4w.com/pages/fox AND/OR
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/1238
When I die, I want to go peacefully, like my grandfather in his sleep,
not screaming like the other passengers in his car.
>First, I noticed that the track and car directories had .pcx files of the
>drivers, the track logo's, and track pictures. I'm assuming if these stay
>as .pcx files in the full version, we will be able to change them, since not
>all logo's will be allowed in the game (ie. Winston Select 500 logo). This
>should also mean that we could paste a picture of ourselves into the .pcx
>file to be displayed on the Driver info screen.
Heh... I wonder how many people here will make elaborate mugshots
of themselves with their personalized car sponsor logos on a pseudo
(or real!) firesuit.....
It could happen!
Well, I don't see that that's such a big deal. So long as you've got
the right name and number and the car and its abilities, who cares what
the bio section says? It's what's on the track that counts.
Announcer? That's still just the opening screen thing, right?
As for the spotter... People who can use the demo have been saying
that he refers to cars by number sometimes. How is this achieved?
What happens if the user edits the car numbers from how they came
packaged in the game? Perhaps the numbers are read like the telephone
voice, so the spoken numbers always will conform to the actual car
numbers -- hope hope...?
--
http://members.cruzio.com/~keeper/toons.html - Contemporary WB cartoons info
http://www.armory.com/~keeper/midi.html - My own MIDI music and arrangements
