NASCAR 99 SECTION

  • 3DFX screen shots are quite easy in N99. Use the MS-DOS executable and simply use the \ key. Another means is to add the -3dfx switch to the end of your shortcut in Windows. Doing so will give you a tga file though instead of a pcx. Still viewable in Paint Shop Pro and other fine graphics programs.
  • In the driver info section there are "chassis 1,2,3" simply means Chevy/Ford/Pontiac (or Dodge for trucks).
  • Marcello Bassino was kind enough to send me a list of exactly what tracks were changed in NR99 and how they were changed.
     
    
    Tracks with graphic updates
    =====================================
    - Dover
    - Gateway
    - Hickory
    - IRP
    - Michigan
    - Myrtle
    - Nashville
    - Night Richmond
    - New England
    - Phoenix
    - Rockingham
    - South Boston
    - Watkins Glen
    
    Tracks with some track adjustments
    ==================================
    - Bristol / Night Bristol
    - California
    - Charlotte / Night Charlotte
    - Martinsville
    - Milwaukee
    - Nazareth
    - Talladega
    - Texas
    
    Tracks with major track updates
    ===============================
    - Atlanta
    - Darlington
    - Sears Point
    
    New tracks
    ===============================
    - Evergreen
    - Flemington
    - Heartland Park
    - Homestead
    - I70
    - Las Vegas
    - Louisville
    - Mesa Marin
    - Memphis
    - Pikes Peak
    - Portland Speedway
    
    Not included
    ================================
    - Bull Run
    - North Wilkesboro
    - Pocono
    - Red Rock
    - Richmond
    
    
  • Tracks not included with NR99 that were included in N2 can be found in the NROS directory of your CD.
  • It is worth mentioning that not all tracks are updated to the latest graphics however. Some good websites including Sim Cyberworld have already addressed some missing components at Phoenix and Loudon. And as with all simulations aimed at mass markets, no tobacco advertising is displayed (understandly so).
  • Can you use your Nascar 2 stuff in NR1999? The answer to this is yes. (This info courtesy Jimmy McKinley).

    • CARS - just copy your cars, lists, and cars.dat files over into N1999's "CARS" directory. The directory for the Trucks in NR1999 is called "TRUCKS". The cars.dat file for the new Trucks is of a totally different design, so if you try to use like a "street stock" cars.dat in the "TRUCKS" folder, the paint job will come out all screwed up. The door paint ends up on the tailgate and nose, the hood paint comes out on the roof, etc. However, if you're running a certain car set with N2, all you have to do is copy it all (entry lists included) into the NR1999/cars directory.

    • Tracks - Tracks (dirt, real, fantasy, historical, etc - any downloaded tracks) work the same way. Just copy them over from N2 to NR1999, along with your calendars.

      The only (minor) problem is, the track and event logo palettes are different. If you're handy with Paint Shop Pro, all you have to is this: open an ORIGINAL NR1999 track or event logo in Paint Shop Pro. Go to "Colors", then "Save palette as..." Then you'll be prompted for a name to save the palette; I chose "n99logo.pal". Then, open up the track or event logo that you want to change the colors on; go to "Colors", then, "Load palette". Then choose the NR1999 palette you just saved.

      As for Pocono and North Wilkesboro, they're on the NR1999 CD. Just look in the NR1999/NROS/Tracks folder on the CD. Then copy them into the NR1999\tracks directory on your hard drive. When you copy tracks from N2 into NR1999, you may want to run the Trucks on those tracks. To do this, here's what you need to do: you need to create *.ttg (chassis setups for the Trucks) , rectrk.txt (Truck track records); and add a couple of lines to the track text. To create *.ttg files - copy your *.stg (car chassis setups for that track) to a different directory (a temp if you prefer). Rename them *.ttg and put them back into that track folder. If they don't handle like you want, obviously you can go and change them in the Garage.

      For the track text, you need to add a "BLAPT" right under "BLAP", and a "RELST" line just under the "RELS" line. The BLAP means the AVERAGE best lap the AI will qualify in seconds. A BLAP number of 27990 is a lap time of 27.990 seconds, which means that half the AI will qualify better than that, and half slower. For the BLAPT line, make it about a second and a half or so slower (larger) depending on the track. In our example of 27990 for BLAP, the BLAPT would be 29490 or so (a time of 29.490 seconds). For the RELS, this is a RELATIVE AI strength. A RELS of say, 98, would make the AI run at 98 percent of their full potential. Make the RELST line a tick lower, such as maybe about 96 or 95.

      For the rectrk.txt, just copy one over from a similar track from the original NR1999 track. Then, just change the names in the text. So, to run the trucks, here's what you do: create the *.ttg files; add the two lines BLAPT and RELST to the track text; and create the rectrk.txt.

    • Importing car pcx's in Paint Shop - The car paint palette is exactly the same as N2, so those of you creating cars with Paint Shop Pro can just load up your N2 palette when using PSP to create new paint. Remember, the car pcx is named like the *.car file, only with an "X" to designate it as the car pcx. For example, the "T_Player.car" pcx is named "XT_Playe.pcx". When you EXPORT the car pcx's in NR1999's Paint Shop, it's the same thing. Look in your NR1999 main directory for the pcx files.

    • Decals - Papyrus figured everyone loads up their own decal sets anyways in the NASCAR sims, so they left out a great many detailed decals in NR1999. There are a great many sites out there with decals for N2 and NR1999, most with installers. However, if there isn't an installer, all you have to do is upack the NR1999\layout\layout.dat file; find the decal set; name your new decal the same as the original; copy it into the layout directory, overwriting the original decal sheet; and pack the layout.dat back up. I won't go into great detail about pack/unpacking here; you find all that out on many sites on the 'Net.

    • Generic cars and trucks - Again, Papyrus figured most everyone loads up new car sets anyways, so they came up with generic-looking Trucks and cars. You can find many great 1998 car and truck sets, along with sites already working on 1999 sets. As to the "Chassis 1, 2, 3" thing, Chassis 1 corresponds to Chevy; 2 to Pontiac (or Dodge in the Trucks), and 3 to Ford. You can find sites with chassis logos to replace the "Chassis

    • Calendars - work the same as N2. You can't have more than 34 races in one season, and more than 64 tracks in the tracks diretcory.

    • Multiplayer - Only works with the DOS executables in NR1999. I know, that kinda sucks for a lot of people, but, hey, I didn't design the thing. WILL NOT WORK IN WINDOWS.

    • Sounds - if you have a sounds.dat file from N2 that you particularly like, you can just copy it into NR1999. If you find a sound file for N2 that you like, you may just prompt it to load into NR1999.

  • EDITED TRACKS - Installing N2 edited tracks in NR1999 is actually quite easy. First, the many of the N2 tracks are already on your NR1999 CD in a directory called NROS. You must copy the track from your CD to your NR1999 directory. Then simply run the track installer. Now the initial start up screen will be a bit screwed up, but if you follow the directions in the paragraphs above you can easily fix that problem. Then it just becomes a matter of adding a few lines (BLAPT, RELST, TIRET) to your track.txt file and also making sure you have a rectruck.txt file, *.ttg file and a default.tt1 file so you can go truck racing.

    Now in the case of the BB&B tracks, a patch from Michael Asher already exists to fix the screen colors and another patch exists as well to install the proper txt files, ttg and tt1 files to the tracks so you can go truck racing without a lot of screwing around.

    Now just in case you can't wait for us to finish the NR1999 N@50 you can do the very same with those tracks as well.

  • THE REALISM PROJECT has gotten rave reviews from sim racers all around the world since it adds that extra edge of realism to sim racing that wasn't there before. Can the N2 version of the Realism Project be used in NR1999? Yes it can. Lee Zude came up with this fix and I'd like to thank him for it.

    I had been running a season with the Real Project. I then installed NR1999 and wanted to run the season with NR1999. I transfered all files relating to the Real Project from N2 to Nr1999. I did this by dragging and dropping the files in my file manager. I transfered all files, the n2real folder, all .stn files, calenders and the complete cars folder. I did not change any file or folder names. I attempted to run the Real Project out of NR1999 and my machine locked up. I then decided the .exe file would not work, so I deleted the n2real.exe file from the n2real folder. I ran the n2r_set.exe file. When it found my N2 directory, I changed it to my NR1999 directory. I let the install finish and then ran the new n2real.exe from the n2real folder in NR1999. Everything worked great!

    Please NOTE, this fix appears to only work in the DOS version of NR1999.

    Hmmmmmmm, maybe we won't have to program afterwards :) Thanks for the info Lee !!!