GPL - The Sim we all love to hate!

Bummer, ain't it? The pc platform is such a mess. So many things can go wrong, but what's worse is that Windows normally doesn't tell you what's happening. (I.e. the suggested solution to all networking programs is to make sure your modem is plugged in.) rob. >Just wanted to vent a bit.... <snip>

Quoted text (9 lines)

>I should be able to simply drop the CD in, install and go! Not be required >to have an associates degree in Windows debugging! >When F1RS ver 2, Toca ver 2, and Nascar 3 finally hit the shelves this >winter and next spring, will we be inundated with post after post of angry, >frustrated users? Wake up Papyrus, and et al. >Yours truly >Jay J

Just wanted to vent a bit.... Don't take me wrong, I really enjoy GPL and other racing sims, it's just the game makers apparently haven't heard of Beta testing! I purchased GPI about a week ago, and only last night did I finally get it to work right. From my experience, and from the many, many posts from folks online here, I wasn't alone in struggling to get this game to run properly. I'm running a very standard system too, Intel PII 266, Micronics LX440 Mboard, 64 meg SDRAM, Soundblaster AWE32, etc... Why is it, that so many gamer makers these days can't seem to get it right? How many games (racing sims) have hit the shelves this year, only to be followed by patch, after patch, and dozens if not hundreds of frustrating people out there, posting to the R.A.S forum ?!? I should be able to simply drop the CD in, install and go! Not be required to have an associates degree in Windows debugging! When F1RS ver 2, Toca ver 2, and Nascar 3 finally hit the shelves this winter and next spring, will we be inundated with post after post of angry, frustrated users? Wake up Papyrus, and et al. Yours truly Jay J

Jay... I dropped it in, installed it, and went. The OS (Windows) is a greater source of problems than the apps, in most cases. Of course, video card manufacturers (and others) releasing hot-off-the-press hardware with beta drivers makes the mix more volatile. Rgds, Mark R.

Quoted text (28 lines)

> Just wanted to vent a bit.... > Don't take me wrong, I really enjoy GPL and other racing sims, it's just the > game makers apparently haven't heard of Beta testing! > I purchased GPI about a week ago, and only last night did I finally get it > to work right. > From my experience, and from the many, many posts from folks online here, I > wasn't alone in struggling to get this game to run properly. > I'm running a very standard system too, Intel PII 266, Micronics LX440 > Mboard, 64 meg SDRAM, Soundblaster AWE32, etc... > Why is it, that so many gamer makers these days can't seem to get it right? > How many games (racing sims) have hit the shelves this year, only to be > followed by patch, after patch, and dozens if not hundreds of frustrating > people out there, posting to the R.A.S forum ?!? > I should be able to simply drop the CD in, install and go! Not be required > to have an associates degree in Windows debugging! > When F1RS ver 2, Toca ver 2, and Nascar 3 finally hit the shelves this > winter and next spring, will we be inundated with post after post of angry, > frustrated users? Wake up Papyrus, and et al. > Yours truly > Jay J

Avoid the cheap, crappy hardware and you will have MUCH better results. You've also gotta look after Windows (don't install and uninstall lots of demos etc..). NEVER buy the cheapest system you can find. You'll soon realise you have a cyrix chip, a shit motherboard, unstable RAM, and a "who-the-hell-is-(insert strange manufacturers name here)" video and sound card. After working in a software retail shop for nearly 2 years now, I have seen too many people get ripped off this way, when none of the software we sell them will run on their system, and the company they bought the computer from has dissapeared...... Either buy a BIG name system such as Dell or Gateway, or put it together yourself, if you have good technical knowledge and know what bits are good and what is crap....

I would bet lots of hard earned money that GPL has fewer problems out of the box than almost any other game title out there--precisely because Papy does believe in beta testing. Their titles are not perfect, but are a far cry above all of their competitors in attention to detail and play testing. By the way, how many other titles have you had problems with? I have installed every racing sim. going on my system and have no problems with any of them except for sound problems with UbiSoft titles. That's because I always install the latest drivers for my system, but I don't install beta drivers until I am sure they are not causing problems for the majority of users out there. If you are having major problems with GPL, there is something wrong with your system (because GPL just doesn't have any major bugs). Tell us exactly what is wrong, and someone will likely be helpful enough to tell you what the problem is as just about everything has already been discovered and discussed here. Marc. >Just wanted to vent a bit.... >Don't take me wrong, I really enjoy GPL and other racing sims, it's just the

Quoted text (25 lines)

>game makers apparently haven't heard of Beta testing! >I purchased GPI about a week ago, and only last night did I finally get it >to work right. >From my experience, and from the many, many posts from folks online here, I >wasn't alone in struggling to get this game to run properly. >I'm running a very standard system too, Intel PII 266, Micronics LX440 >Mboard, 64 meg SDRAM, Soundblaster AWE32, etc... >Why is it, that so many gamer makers these days can't seem to get it right? >How many games (racing sims) have hit the shelves this year, only to be >followed by patch, after patch, and dozens if not hundreds of frustrating >people out there, posting to the R.A.S forum ?!? >I should be able to simply drop the CD in, install and go! Not be required >to have an associates degree in Windows debugging! >When F1RS ver 2, Toca ver 2, and Nascar 3 finally hit the shelves this >winter and next spring, will we be inundated with post after post of angry, >frustrated users? Wake up Papyrus, and et al. >Yours truly >Jay J

What's the actual problem? You make no mention of what actually didn't work. GPL ran fine right out of the box for me. Just like you said, I dropped the CD in, and I went... -/- WW >Just wanted to vent a bit.... >Don't take me wrong, I really enjoy GPL and other racing sims, it's just the >game makers apparently haven't heard of Beta testing!

>Bummer, ain't it? The pc platform is such a mess. So many things >can go wrong, but what's worse is that Windows normally doesn't >tell you what's happening. (I.e. the suggested solution to all >networking programs is to make sure your modem is plugged in.) >rob. Be patient, my friend. Very soon you'll play all those lovely games using Linux, and thus will be able to do a simple from your Xterm window and have more info spewed out at you than you could wish for. It is not long now, but go tell your favourite sw companies you want a (and would pay money for a) native Linux port now. They will listen as they have before, because it's YOUR money they are after. Windows is seriously ***ed, everybody knows that. Don't waste your time trying to debug it; leave that task to Microsoft and it's "comitted" developers. Cheers for now, Uwe -- Spam-proof e-mail: Uwe Schuerkamp <hoover at telemedia . de> http://www.telemedia.de/~hoover ////// Phone: +49-5241-80-10-66 Best of Scottish Folk: http://home.pages.de/~nsg >>> Blue Ribbon Campaign: Support Free Speech on the Internet <<<