GPL - Final Results

Yes- the REAL FINAL RELEASE of GPL is floating around the warez circuit just 48 hours before it hits the shelves. After reading some negative comments and reviews I figured I'd check it out (only a 32mb download). Here are the results: Test Machine: P2-400 w/ 256mb RAM and two Monster2 cards in SLI mode. Diamond MX200 Sound. All tests had EVERY detail turned on and all 19 opponents active during one RACE lap at Grand Prix Skill level: Resolution France Monza Monaco 640x480 56-62fps 68-87fps 48-55fps 800x600 48-58fps 59-70fps 30-41fps 1024x768 21-36fps 24-38fps 18-32fps For those of you who "sampled" the previous warez version - this is at least a 10fps increase over that version. Generally the framerate dips during the starting grid (naturally) during a race and pulling out of the pits during practice. Turning off the "fancy stuff" in the rearview mirrors will add another 8-10fps to your display. Anything in the Dynamic Lighting will also affect your fps. As for the game itself - the track detail has been increased at least 300% over that last beta version floating around. There are lots more sponsor signs, banners, billboards, grandstands, and crowds. The rumble strips are now painted the various striped colors (specific to the country I assume) and the car and driver detail is unreal. In fullscreen replays you can see the drivers EYES through the goggles. The crash model is totally realistic and hard as hell. If you smack a curb too hard you will knock your alignment out of whack and you will be fighting the wheel for quite some time. I did manage to re-align my car by hitting the right wall (after previously hitting the left wall) and it drove pretty straight after that. Wheels will snap off if you look at them wrong and your car will go airborne, flip, tumble, spin and burst into flames. You can also sit there in N and rev the engine until the rods fly out and <tink> <tink> to the pavement in a cloud of black smoke. The AI is awesome. Naturally ( as with all racing games) I had to do a reverse lap at Monza driving into the pack. Even with me coming at them at 180 they were able to swerve and avoid me. I missed the first 8 cars before I manage to clip the front left wheel of an oncoming Lotus. The resulting devestation was quite a satisfactory display of an awesome damage model. I haven't seen such a crash since the old EA Indy 500 came from 8 years ago. Bottom line: The finished product kicks ass. Better get in line early on Wed. This is going to be one hot title!!!!

I can only say one thing: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAoooooooooaaaaaAAAAAAAWWWWWW :-) Now we can discuss Cris Amon's eye color, etc :-)) Bart

what about the car handling ? Ayrton McKafre and

It's top notch. Don't worry about it. It's a challenge of course (how easy do you think it should be to drive a very light car of 400hp with rock hard tyres), but a very satisfactory one when you're hurling it around Spa at breakneck speeds. Mike.

I tried a different car on each track so I never got really good with any one car. They all have WAY TOO MUCH POWER. If you punch it in any of the first 3 gears you will spin-out at almost any speed. I was begging for posi-track the other day when I got up on the curb and my RR wheel was about 2 inches above the pavement and my LR wheel was in the grass and I couldn't go anywhere - my RR just kept spinning. I was able to slightly perfect a small powerslide move in the Lotus on the Africa and France tracks but it still is a risky move. I think I try to hard to follow the dark-path on the pavement and end up screwing up because I'm looking at the stripe and not the upcoming track and curves. It's by far the most realistic driving model I have ever seen. I can only imagine what the new NASCAR 99 will be like using this same engine.

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>what about the car handling ? >Ayrton McKafre >> Yes- the REAL FINAL RELEASE of GPL is floating around the warez circuit >just 48 >> hours before it hits the shelves. After reading some negative comments >and

Mark Smith wrote <snip> Hmm.... shouldn't the Frame counter be locked at 36fps ? Please explain ! - Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard! - Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. - Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking) - Sponsored by http://www.awpss.com/ on the NROS - "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

Why would the frame counter be locked at 36. It will fluctuate with what is happening on screen. More cars - more scenery - less fps. I just hit ALT-F and the FPS is displayed in realtime in the lower right corner.

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>Mark Smith wrote >>640x480 56-62fps 68-87fps 48-55fps >>800x600 48-58fps 59-70fps 30-41fps >>1024x768 21-36fps 24-38fps 18-32fps ><snip> >Hmm.... shouldn't the Frame counter be locked at 36fps ? >Please explain ! >- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard! >- Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. >- Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking) >- Sponsored by http://www.awpss.com/ on the NROS >- "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise >how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

[email hidden] (rrevved) wrote:

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>On Tue, 29 Sep 1998 07:27:39 +1000, >in msg <[email hidden]>, >Bruce Kennewell <[email hidden]> said : >>Yeah.....sure. >>Now pull the other one. >version 1.0.0.0

I can only assume you are implying that I am making this up (about having the final) so here is the readme.txt file from the final game: Grand Prix Legends Version 1.0 Readme File 8/31/98 *********************************************************************** About This Document: Thank you for purchasing Grand Prix Legends. This document contains last-minute information about Grand Prix Legends as well as information that pertains to general problems and questions you may have concerning the game or your computer. Should you experience any problems with Grand Prix Legends, please refer to this file for additional help on answering questions about the game and solving technical difficulties. *********************************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS II. GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES Using the 3D Accelerated Version of the Game "Focus follows mouse" Issues Performance Sound Quality Issues Modem and Direct-Connect Issues TCP/IP Issues Graphics Tablet Issues Cyrix 6x86 Issues Windows 98 Issues III. GENERAL GAME ISSUES The Right Shift Key Keyboard HotKeys Capturing Screenshots Repairing Damage and Righting an Overturned Car Car Setups Flags Pit Board Championship Points System Hot Laps Why won't my car roll downhill? Modification of INI Files Controlling AI for league play IV. CONTACTING SIERRA I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS ----------------------- Required: Pentium-166 Windows 95/98 w/ DirectX 5.0 or later 32 MB RAM 2X CD-ROM Drive 2MB DirectX compatible SVGA Video Card Mouse Preferred: Pentium II-266+ 64 MB RAM 3D Accelerator Card (3Dfx or Rendition) Joystick or Steering Wheel/Pedals - Full Install: Copies all of the GPL program files to your hard drive (133 MB) - Typical Install: Installs everything except for tracks to your hard drive (59 MB)* * Requires the GPL CD-ROM to play II. GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES ---------------------------- USING THE 3D ACCELERATED VERSION OF THE GAME During the installation of Grand Prix Legends, you will be prompted to select the type of 3D accelerator present in your system. If you have a video card based on the Rendition V1000, V2100, or V2200 chipsets, you should select Rendition Verite Adapter. If you have a card using the 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo2 chipsets, you should select 3Dfx Adapter. All other cards and chipsets will need to select Software. The Rendition version of Grand Prix Legends requires RRedline compatible drivers. If you do not have the drivers or you experience problems loading or playing the Rendition version, contact your video card manufacturer for information regarding obtaining the latest drivers. The 3Dfx version of Grand Prix Legends requires Glide 2.43 or later. If you do not have Glide 2.43 installed, or you experience problems loading or playing the 3Dfx version, contact your video card manufacturer for information regarding obtaining the latest drivers. Voodoo2 users should not enable the 'Force Triple Color Buffering For Glide Apps' option in the advanced properties of the Voodoo2 display control panel. "FOCUS FOLLOWS MOUSE" ISSUES If you are using the 3Dfx version of Grand Prix Legends, and you are also using the "xmouse" utility to cause the focused window to follow the mouse, to start the game you must minimize all applications and start GPL from either the Start menu, or from a desktop shortcut. If you do not, you may see only a black screen with an hourglass cursor. If this happens, wait a few seconds, press the ESC key, then press ENTER, wait a second, then press ENTER again to close Grand Prix Legends. PERFORMANCE Because of the requirements that Grand Prix Legends places on your system, it is recommended that you reduce the number of additional applications running in the background while playing GPL to a bare minimum. If GPL is running slowly on your system, several options may help to improve performance: - Run using one of the supported 3D accelerator cards. - Switch to a lower screen resolution. - Reduce the number of Computer Opponents. - Reduce the Detail Bias, Mirror Detail Level, Trackside Objects, and the number of checked graphics options. It is also recommended that you obtain and install the latest drivers and firmware for all of your hardware devices. If your machine does not have a secondary cache, GPL will probably run very slowly. If your machine has an Intel Pentium, Pentium MMX, or compatible chip made by another company, you will need at least 256K of secondary cache for GPL to perform well (512K would be even better). If your machine has an Intel Pentium II processor, it already has a secondary cache built in, and should perform well. If your machine has an Intel Celeron processor, GPL will generally perform well, though we have heard of some performance problems when using high speed connections on a serial port. SOUND QUALITY ISSUES If you experience any problems with the quality of the in-game sounds, try reducing Max # of Sounds Heard on the Sound & Gameplay section of the Options screen. Additionally, if you are using a Diamond Monster Sound card, try reducing the acceleration level in the Monster Sound control panel. MODEM AND DIRECT-CONNECT ISSUES If you experience problems dialing out with your modem, and the modem is installed properly and is being recognized in the Modem Control Panel, it is recommended that you reduce the 16550 UART FIFO buffers to their lowest setting: 1. Open the Control Panel 2. Open Modems 3. Highlight the modem and click Properties 4. Choose the Connection tab and click 'Port Settings' 5. Move both sliders to their left-most position It is recommended that you use the DirectInput joystick driver with the "poll with interrupts enabled" option checked in the Advanced tab of the Game Controllers Control Panel. If you experience problems with playing games reliably over high-speed connections, try selecting lower speeds for the connection on the multiplayer screens. TCP/IP ISSUES If you connect to the Internet using a modem, and wish to play GPL over the Internet, connect to the Internet before starting GPL. If you do not intend to play GPL over the Internet, there is no need to connect before playing the game. If you have a local area network, and your network card is dynamically assigned an IP address (using DHCP), you must tell GPL to use an alternate method of determining your machine's IP address. Using Notepad, create a file named core.ini in the same folder in which gpl.exe exists containing the following two lines: [Communications] alternate_ip_addr_lookup = 1 Note, however, that if you use this alternate method, and your only TCP/IP connection is via a modem, and you have your Internet properties set to automatically connect to the Internet, and you're not connected to the Internet when you start GPL, Dial-Up Networking will start up when you launch GPL. This may cause GPL to not function properly, and/or your machine may connect to the Internet. GRAPHICS TABLET ISSUES If you have a graphics tablet connected to a serial port on your computer, you must disable GPL's "direct connect" multiplayer option. There is a bug in the drivers for some tablets that causes the drivers to become corrupt when GPL looks for serial ports on your computer. If this occurs, you will need to re-install the drivers for your tablet. You can disable GPL's direct connect multiplayer option by using Notepad to edit the app.ini file in the GPL directory, to change the 0 to a 1 (the digit one) on the disableDirectConnect line. [ Communications ] disableDirectConnect = 1 ; Disable Direct Connect CYRIX 6x86 ISSUES GPL uses a Pentium instruction which is not supported by the 6x86, and as such GPL will not run on this CPU. It will run on later Cyrix chips such as the MX and MII, the AMD K5 and K6, in addition to all genuine Intel Pentium chips. WINDOWS 98 ISSUES On some Windows 98 machines if user profiles are enabled applications will encounter problems when attempting to change the screen resolution or color depth. If you experience this problem, it is recommended that you disable user profiles: 1. Go to the Control Panel 2. Open Passwords 3. Choose the User Profiles tab and check 'All users of this computer use the same preferences and desktop settings'. III. GENERAL GAME ISSUES ------------------------ THE RIGHT SHIFT KEY Due to rather wacky behavior on the part of Windows with regard to the right shift key with the NUM-LOCK state active, GPL ignores the right shift key. Any mention of the shift key in the documentation or in-game help screens is in reference to the left shift key only. KEYBOARD HOTKEYS The following list of keyboard hotkeys can be used from within the car: ESC - Return to Pits/Retire F1 - Help Display F2 - View Replay (Single Player Only) F3 - Options (Single Player Only) F10 - Toggle Driving View PAUSE - Pause/Continue Game (Single Player Only) ENTER - Type/Send Chat Message (Multiplayer Only) ALT+F - Toggle Frame Rate Display SHIFT+R - Car Reset (see section below) SHIFT+T - TellTale Reset Additionally the following hotkeys are available to control the replay and live feed views: C - Change to Next Camera V - Change Focus to Next Driver SHIFT+C - Change to Previous Camera SHIFT+V - Change Focus to Previous Driver Keypad1 (END) - Fast Forward to End Keypad4 (Left Arrow) - Frame Rewind Keypad5 - Play/Pause Replay Keypad6 (Right Arrow) - Frame Advance Keypad7 (Home) - Rewind to Start SHIFT+Keypad4 - Rewind SHIFT+Keypad6 - Fast Forward Keypad. (Del) - Switch to Live Feed Mode ... read more »

Yeah.....sure. Now pull the other one. > Yes- the REAL FINAL RELEASE of GPL is floating around the warez circuit just 48 > hours before it hits the shelves. After reading some negative comments and > reviews I figured I'd check it out (only a 32mb download). > Here are the results: -- Regards, Bruce. ---------- The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club is located at:- http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/legends/

Could you make some screenshots, so we can see the difference between the warez-beta and the final ?????? please please please please :-) If you don't have the time, I'll convert them to Jpg's and put them on a seperate webpage AND post the link in the ras newsgroup! Bart

>Yes- the REAL FINAL RELEASE of GPL is floating around the warez circuit just 48 >hours before it hits the shelves. After reading some negative comments and >reviews I figured I'd check it out (only a 32mb download). <snip> Are you going to be in line on Wednesday or playing your Warez version? rob.

>Here are the results: >Test Machine: P2-400 w/ 256mb RAM and two Monster2 cards in SLI mode. > Diamond MX200 Sound. >All tests had EVERY detail turned on and all 19 opponents active during one RACE

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>lap at Grand Prix Skill level: >Resolution France Monza Monaco >640x480 56-62fps 68-87fps 48-55fps >800x600 48-58fps 59-70fps 30-41fps >1024x768 21-36fps 24-38fps 18-32fps

<snip> So how exactly did you come up with these fps if it is capped at 36 then how can you say your getting 60's. I too have the 1.0.0.0 version and from intensive frame rate watching on both versions I have to conclude that there is absolutely no increase in frame rates. One major change I have found is the AI cars. In the Beta I could quite easily go from last to first in the first lap. I was getting a bit worried about that but with this version I am on the limit just trying to stay with the pack.

Fair enough. Now...answer truthfully.............you going to get rid of the pirated version and buy the product? > I can only assume you are implying that I am making this up (about having the > final) so here is the readme.txt file from the final game: -- Regards, Bruce. ---------- The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club is located at:- http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/legends/

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>>Yes- the REAL FINAL RELEASE of GPL is floating around the warez circuit >just 48 >>hours before it hits the shelves. After reading some negative comments and >>reviews I figured I'd check it out (only a 32mb download). ><snip> >>Bottom line: The finished product kicks ass. Better get in line early on >Wed. >>This is going to be one hot title!!!! >Are you going to be in line on Wednesday or playing your Warez version? >rob.

YOU BET! I've already prepaid my $24 to EB - I'll be there as soon as the UPS driver drops them off. I want that GIANT car setup manual.

YOU BET! EB already has my $24.95 - I'll be there as soon as the UPS driver drops them off. I want that GIANT car setup manual. I don't think you can win a race without tweaking the default cars.

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>Fair enough. >Now...answer truthfully.............you going to get rid of the pirated >version and buy the product? >> I can only assume you are implying that I am making this up (about having the >> final) so here is the readme.txt file from the final game: >-- >Regards, >Bruce. >---------- >The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club is located at:- >http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/legends/

WOW - I'm impressed - you had this version for 2 weeks. That's incredible - especially since the group who released it didn't do so until the 25th.

Mark Smith wrote >WOW - I'm impressed - you had this version for 2 weeks. That's incredible - >especially since the group who released it didn't do so until the 25th. Actually... all my GPL versions are legal on my Hard Disk.... I was informed by somebody I won't named and informed David Matson. As a proof here is the *.nfo file : (sorry if this is an html file). Please, backup your information before telling me your know the real thruth. You obviously think Im just a nobody... ========= t??22 ? ?2?? 2? ? t ? ??2 t ? ?2??? t 22? T2 ?? ?? ?? ? ??2? ??t t? t ?2???22YT??? ??????????YT????? ? ??2?? ?22? ? ???2Y ???? ?2Y ???Y ??Y ???? ?2Y T??2Y ??????Y ???22 ?2??? ?Y ?? T???2???? ??? T??2 T?2Y2??? ???? ???2 ??? ???Y ??? T??Y ??? ?2? ????Y T??22 ???2????22 T?2Y ?? ?22???22 ??2 T??2YT?2Y ??2???? ?2Y ? ???2Y T??22Y ?????Y ??22Y ?22 T??? ?2Y T?22YT22 T?22Y ???2Y ????YT?22Y ??22Y ????22 ????2 T?22? 2? T2???Y 2Y T??2? ?2 ??22 ???2? t? ???YT?22Y ???2Y ??? ???2t? 2? T???? 22t? ????22? ? ?Y ?22YT??2? ??22? ?? T?? ?? ? ??22 ???? ? ?2? cH!SAC/PDM ? ???2??? ? ?? 3 SIERRA SPORTS GRAND PRIX LEGENDS FINAL 3 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 3 Supplier.....: YAZZ 3 Date...: 09/13/98 3 3 Cracker......: N/A 3 Game Type......: RACING 3 3 # of Disks...: 60 x 1.44MB 3 Game Rating....: N/A 3 ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 3 REQUIREMENTS: PENTIUM 166, 32MB RAM, 3D Card 3 ?? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 3t RELEASE NOTES t3 3 ?? 3 3 3 3 Ok, here's the deal, the last release of this sim was a BETA!! 3 3 This is the bonafide final version! Enjoy! 3 ID MUD 3 3 Installation: 3 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 3 Just unzip to the installed directory and run the Setup.EXE and it will 3 3 unpack (overwrite) (in case you hit UNPACK or sumth:) and you're done. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Greetz: 3 3 ~~~~~~~ 3 3 Greetings of the day fly out to my gal who was spending a long weekend 3 3 in bed with me. :) 3 3 3 3 As you can see - without appropriate hardware you cant work at a hundred 3 3 percent - as so - we are looking for HARDWARE SUPPLIERs! - If you think 3 3 can help us and contribute to the group contact any PDM member asap! 3 3 (We are looking for almost everything - RAM, HDs, MAINBOARD, CPUs, 3 3 3dfx(2) cards and - as a matter of fact - external devices such as 3 3 controlling devices :) 3 3 3 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 3t GROUP NEWS t3 3 ?? 3 3 3 3???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????3 3 3 ?? 3 PARADIGM SITES 3 3???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????3 3 ET WHQ XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX ET Staff 3 3 PC USHQ XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX PC Staff 3 3 BB2 EHQ XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX BB2 Staff 3 3 AV GHQ XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX AV Staff 3 ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?? 3 HOW TO REACH US: 3 3???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????3 3 3 3 3 3 WWW.XPXDXMXWXOXRXLXDX.COM 3 3 [email hidden] 3 3 3 3 3 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????[02.07.98]?? == - Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard! - Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. - Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking) - Sponsored by http://www.awpss.com/ on the NROS - "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

Almost every r.a.s. regular who is seriously interested in GPL has been playing the warez of GPL for weeks now. If you are going to be *** one person for doing it, then be *** them all. Maybe you have and I just missed it. Dave DmndDave

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> Actually... all my GPL versions are legal on my Hard Disk.... > I was informed by somebody I won't named and informed David Matson. As > a proof here is the *.nfo file : > (sorry if this is an html file). Please, backup your information > before telling me your know the real thruth. You obviously think Im > just a nobody...

= Cracker group .NFO file suppressed What makes this legal on *your* Hard Disk? You have some wacky new technology hard drive that makes piracy legal? Dammit, it's a warez copy of GPL you're playing. It's a good thing you're not going to name the somebody (?) because you'll make them look ignorant too. As soon as GPL hits the stores, you can (like me) go get a legitimate copy of the game...unlike what you're playing now. -- Neil Yeatman Ajax, Ontario, CANADA

Neil Yeatman wrote That's what the person said to me in the email with that file attached. I actually didn't even know such thing existed. Who said I had the full version on my hard disk ?? Actually, just re-read what I wrote, I said === === It is the *.nfo file I was _sent_ , since I don't have any illegal GPL version on my PC. I may had choose the wrong word (as I re-read my sentence it wasn't quite clear). As I say another time... it's not because you received via email a *.nfo file that your actually have this title on your HD. I would name the person who send this file to me (Im mostly helping people on the NROS about GPL, so he though I would be the best guy to receive this info and pass it to Papyrus employees), but I just wouldn't want to ridiculise this person. Oh and just email David Matson if you want.. he probably (hopefully) still has the copy of the information email I sent to him. I wouldn't do such a thing... - Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard! - Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. - Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking) - Sponsored by http://www.awpss.com/ on the NROS - "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--