I99Real.exe 1.5 99-03-15 Simulator CyberWorld Indycar Racing 'Realism' Project Team for 1999 Requirements: Indycar 2 version 1.0.2 (but I think WinIndy will also work) Quick explain from Chas Bornemann: "SC has been working for several months on a project for N1/ICR2/N2 that will allow you too race your championship seasons outside of the champ season mode currently available in the sims. One of the key features of the patch is that you will run your race against the actual starting lineup of the event. This means you will qualify for the event and be placed in the lineup just as if you had actually run the race yourself. For example, if you had qualified with a 216,6 mph at Homestead, you would have the pole and not Greg Moore. But Gref would lineup right alongside of you and each of the other drivers would fall into their proper places right behind. The patch is allowing you to edit the calendar, and adjust many things outside the sim as well as inside the sim. Also, all season points are tracked outside the sim and the latest carsets are made available for each race." The utility allows the user to qualify, race and then generate season standings after every event. The utility allow user to qualify, race and then generate season standings after every event. INSTALLATION: ============= Place the patch in your Indycar 2 directory and run the patch by typing in the command line: i99real_s.exe -y It will install automatically creating the needed directories. RUNNING THE GAME FOR THE FIRST TIME: ==================================== From your i99real directory simply select the i99real.exe file. The first time you select it you will be prompted to enter the full-path to your nascar game. For example, if the path to your nascar game is c:\indy2\indycar.exe then enter it exactly like that !!! Each time you start the FedEx CART patch afterwards, it will never ask you again. It will be stored in a a file called i99real.ini. If for some reason you change the directory your indycar/cart game is in, please contact us to help you change it with the FedEx CART patch. ======= SPECIAL NOTE for Windows 95/98 Users !!! Occassionally you may receive a message that the patch must be run from a full-window. This is ok. Simply hit any key and continue and the patch will correct itself. This is because the game itself needs to be run in full window. ======= AFTER INSTALLATION: ================== After installation procedures you will find following files in your I99REAL directory : 1. I99Real.exe - utility 2. I99Real.cal - calendar file (see below) 3. i99real.txt - this file 3. Some additional documentation in DOCS subdirectory 4. 'Races' directory - the setting for all the races, starting grids etc. 6. In CARS directory - FEDEX99 directory with 'fedex99.dat' carset - this carset is for use by this util + some additional files: 'c-patch.exe' - carset patcher NOTE: The carset was painted by Jeff McKeand - please visit: http://www.theuspits.com/crc/ - fantastic place for every Indycar 2 fan. BEFORE THE START: ================ 1) Using paintkit tool import (to the user spot of 'I99REAL' carset) your car unless you want to race using Jeff's car ;) 2) go to the CARS directory then to I99REAL dir and edit 'c-patch.ini' file. This are 'user' settings for carset and patches - the rule for editing is the same as editing 'drivers2.txt' file. NOTE: you'll notice that 'drivers2.txt' file is READ-ONLY. This is set to prevent the game change the number of chassis and engines. 3) go to I99REAL directory (in most cases it will be in main Indycar 2 directory) and take a look at 'i99real.cal' file: This file stores all important information for each event and some of them you'll have to edit if you want to be competetive with AI cars. The given values are average values so every user can change them to suit his racing skills etc. format of this file: 1st line - number of events in season (if this value is higher then following entries, you'll get error message about not enough events) following lines: event description: event number - must be individual for each race event name - only for display purposes track name - IMPORTANT - must be exactly the same as the track name in the tracks directory, cars - number of cars running in this event (pacecar + player's car + this number of AI cars) AI_f - the factor for comparing user qualify times with 'real' qualify times (used only in qualifying): ie. when you run your qualify at Pocono and your speed is 164.000 mph then your 'real' qualifying speed will be 164*100/98 (AI_f) = 167.346 mph - so in 'real' grid you'll start from 3rd place. See FAQ for additional info AI_str - AI cars strength (not from RELS line of track.txt file, is equivalent to the strength value set inside the game - may be set according to player's skills) - used only in racing. Q/S/R - qualify type: Do not use - it's internal 'i99real' value. Temp - temperature Wind - wind speed WDir - wind direction (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) So you're now ready to run the util !!! RUNNING I99REAL: ================ 1) start i99real.exe First you'll have to input full pathname to your indycar2.exe file ie. d:\game\indy2\indycar.exe REMEMBER: path + exe file name. The util stores this path in 'i99real.ini' file along with race number. DO NOT DELETE THIS FILE !!! 2.) Then you'll be asked if you want to apply the patch to update the carset with data prepared for current event. If you're doing it first time select YES - otherways your results may be messed - the AI names may be different from 'real' drivers names. When you already did it (you patched the carset, run qualify and exit the util) you may answer NO. When patch is running you'll be asked if you want to modify 'drivers2.txt' file with your data stored in 'c-patch.ini' file. If you done it before you may answer NO. The patch will create 'I99Real.org' file - this is stored ORIGINAL carset - DO NOT DELETE IT - it will be used in the next race for patching !!! USING THE FedEX CART PATCH: ========================== The menu setup is very simple. When you are in simply select qualify to start the game. You will then be prompted to update the carset. ALWAYS CHOOSE YES !!! This ensures that the proper drivers are installed for the race. Qualify at the track and save the qualifying results as xxqual.stn where xx = the race number. For example, the Homestead race would be 01qual.stn. Then save the race, exit the sim and it will generate the proper starting lineup based on your qualifying effort. This simply means you will be placed in the starting lineup based on the formula in the calendar (see the calendar section below for more details). Then you will be prompted to run your race. Go into the sim, run your race (you may change any options in the sim you want to) and when finished with your race save the results as xxrace.stn (where xx = race number) and then exit the sim (returning to the FedEX CART Patch Program. The program will then generate and display point standings. The util always ask for parameters for Indycar2 (start the game such as the -f and -h) as well. Remember to change the carset to ICR2REAL, before starting the race !!! THIS UTIL USES QUICK RACE ONLY - DO NOT CHOOSES SEASON ! Here is short info about all the options: a) Qualification session: player will run qualify session at the proper track and save: qualify results to the 'NNqual' file (STN) and then save the game and exit the sim. If something goes wrong (wrong filename, not saved results etc.) user can run it again. NOTE1: util doesn't check for existance of NNqual.stn and racesave.bin files, so if you're not satisfacted with your results you can run qualify again. NOTE2: player will ALWAYS qualify no matter how poor his qual speed will be (G) b) if qualification is over, util will prepare starting grid according to the Q/S/R value from 'i99real.cal' file. Player can start 'Race' session. If player wants to exit the race before the finish, he can store his game, but DO NOT STORE standings, because util will think the race is over ! User can back to race by choosing 'Race/Race continue' option after running the util. NOTE: utils will check for existence of qualify results: 'NNqual.stn' and 'racesave.bin' files. c) 'Scoring/Standings' will generate points standings after the current event. This option will generate 'NNstand.stn' file after Event No 1, and 'points.std' files in the util directory. DO NOT DELETE THIS FILES. NOTE: util will check for the presence of 'NNrace.stn' file in the track directory, if it won't be presented, util WILL NOT GENERATE THE STANDINGS. d) ESC key will exit the util. Remember to store: - qualify effort with name NNqual + save the game when asked. - race effort with name NNrace where NN is race number. NOTE: a) if you want to exit the race during it - do not save the standings using NNrace - exit the game and then exit the util. You may continue the race using option 2 of the util. b) remember to let the race to finish (after pressing ESC - the screen with your cars winning or finishing) !!!!! When crashed use "A" key to accelerate the race and then exit the game. ADJUSTING THE GAME - THE CALENDAR: ================================== Ok, so now it gets a little complicated . I'll try to make this as easy as I can. Below are the first lines from the calendar (I99REAL.CAL file can be found in I99real directory): 20 No Event Track Cars AI_f AI_str 1 Homestead CHRLTTE 30 102 100 ... 19 is the number of races in the calendar. The first event is Homestead at Homestead (converted from Nascar99) track. NOTE: If you plan to use different tracks for the events, please inset them with the names exactly like the directory where the track is held (ie. SONORAN) and put those track names in the I99REAL.CAL, by inserting them exacly in the column "Track". Of couse you'll have to adjust AI_F value to make this track emulate the real event (see below) It has 30 cars in it (29 cars + your car). The next entry AI_f is the AI factor. If you multiply your qualifying speed by this number you will end up with your actual qualifying speed for the event. For example if you qualified at 230 mph (in the sim) simply because the sim speeds are not realistic to the real racing world we adjust them by a factor to make them more realistic. So in this case that 230 would actually be a 216.20 mph (you'll be outside the 1st line - starting 2nd). Here's how we do it. (((100-106)+100)/100)*230 = 216.20mph or easier formula: ((200-102)/100)*230=216.20mph Consider this AI_F value (in our example 102) as the AI cars strength compared to 'real cars' strength: so in this example AI cars strenth is 102 % of 'real cars' strength. Sound complicated enough? Ok, it is !!! But after couple of test you'll be changing the values without any problems ;) The next number AI_str is simple enough. It tells the sim what AI% to run at. So 100 simply means your AI opponents will run at 100% !!! NOTE: Remember, all the values must be in the proper column in CAL file, look at the above example - the columns are determined by the first letter of description verse (No,Event,Track,Cars,AI_f,AI_str etc.) VIEWING THE RESULTS: ==================== After events following files are located in i99real.directory: - 'i99real.pts' - points standing after event No NN, DO NOT DELETE THIS FILE !!!!!! - 'NNstand.stn' - season standings after the race NN - 'NNrace.stn' - race results - 'NNqual_r.stn' - qualification results - user is places to the real starting grid. Also the util will itself display the qualify, race and post-race standings results. ADDING THE PATCHES AND RACE STARTING GRIDS: =========================================== All the new carset patches (car paintings and 'drivers2.txt' files) + real starting grids files will be published at Simulator Cyberworld, after the real race is over and new cars are prepared (painted). When you download it - further instruction will be given. Enjoy !!!! Simulator CyberWorld I99Real Project Team: Chas Bornemann, Jaroslaw Polewka Special thanks go to Jeff McKeand for permission of using his Fedex99 carset during the year. ===========