THIS VERSION IS NOT TO BE POSTED ON THE WEB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TRACK TXT FILES ***************************************************************************** CREDITS ***************************************************************************** Below is a list of individuals who have helped me figure out the information that I have in this document. Steve Weinkamer (Ualani@aol.com) Jake (Snake43@aol.com) Ken (Phienox@aol.com) Randy (Randy_Young@prodigy.com) André de Boer (andredb@molyvos.net) Chip Taylor (ctaylor@pbmo.net) André de Boer (andredb@molyvos.net) Eric Busch SmallTalk ***************************************************************************** DESCRIPTION ***************************************************************************** The .TXT file in folder contains information reguarding the track. Each line of the file starts with a keyword in capital letters followed by data. I will list each keyword here in order of occurance in the file, along with a description of what all of the parameters for the keyword are for. I have compiled this listing from many different sources, including experimentation of my own, but I have NOT confirmed that all of the contents of this file are correct. Feel free to use this document and the information in it in any way you please. If you find any errors or want to make some additions to this document, please e-mail me about them at: rueck_cw@cslab.uwlax.edu ***************************************************************************** THE KEYWORDS ***************************************************************************** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FVERS (File Version) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword only appears in NASCAR Racing 2 tracks and has one parameter. FVERS2 designates use for Nascar 2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TNAME (Track Name) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter which is the name that is used to refer to the track within the game. It is displayed in the track selection window during track selection. The track selection window changes size to be just wide enough to contain the track name with the greatest width. The parameter may be left blank, in which case, the name will appear to be blank in the game, but can still be selected as normal. The name may be as long as you wish, although it will be truncated to a maximum of 50 characters in length. Keep in mind that since the track selection window grows with the width of the track name, keep it reasonably short or you'll cover up the track information display with the track selection window. Track names do not have to be unique, but it's a good idea if you don't want to confuse yourself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SNAME (Secondary Name) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which is the secondary name given to a track. It is optional and I have not been able to find a use of this name anywhere within the game. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GEARS (Gears) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has six parameters. These parameters specify the gear ratio for gears one through six. I assume that this keyword is used only in IndyCar Racing. I haven't done any experimentation with these values to see what they actually do. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PIT (Pit Lane 1 Attributes) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has eight parameters, IndyCar Racing II tracks have three additional parameters. The first parameter defines the left/right position where the pit ends. If the position is a 1/4 mile it will equal 7920000. 1 mile will be equal to 3168000. The value can be obtained from the trk file. Be sure when editing the txt file to add a margin to track.txt file so that it is not too exact. The turns must be 5 units before it's real position. The second parameter defines the location on the track the the pace car leaves to head for the pits during a green flag. A lower value causes it to pull off sooner, and a higher value causes it to exit farther down the track. The third parameter may have something to do with the spacing of the cars in pit lane or the beginning of the pit row where the player car sits. The fourth parameter specifies the location of the pits along the track. *** The fifth parameter specifies the position along the track that the pace car parks during a race. If you think of the pit row as running north and south, this defines north\south orientation. The next number defines the east\west pace car location. This number specifies the location in Papy feet that the pace car parks during a race from the start finish line. *** The sixth parameter specifies the distance from the center of the track that the pace car parks during a race. Specifies the distance in Papy feet the cars pit during the race. The distance is measured from the center line of the track. *** The seventh paramater designates where the ai enter the race track when leaving the pits. The eighth parameter specifies the number of cars that are to be in the pit lane. This parameter can get kind of complex. This value seems to be used only when the keyword PIT2 is also specified, so changing it probably wont affect any track with only one pit lane. If the PIT keyword is not specified within the track.txt file, you will have some pretty interesting problems with pitting. The following information only refers to parameter eight for tracks that have both the PIT and PIT2 keywords defined within. The sum of this parameter with the equivalent parameter in PIT2 should probably equal the value of the second parameter to the CARS keyword. The pace car is included in the value given for PIT2 if PIT2 has any cars in it. Your car is always included in the value given for PIT unless the value for PIT is '0'. If the value for PIT is less then or equal to the value of PIT2, each pit lane seems to work properly, with the right amount of cars in each. If PIT2 is specified as '0' and the NUMBER OF OPPONENTS within the game is set to at least the number of cars specified in PIT, all of the cars will line up in the pit lane specified by PIT (don't forget that the pace car and yourself are NOT included in the NUMBER OF OPPONENTS option, but ARE in the eighth parameter to PIT). If PIT2 is specified as '0' and NUMBER OF OPPONENTS is lower than that specified as parameter eight to PIT1, the cars are equally divided between the two pit lanes (the pace car is included in PIT2, you are included in PIT). If there are an odd number of cars, PIT gets the odd car. Now to top all of the confusion off, I don't know what would happen if you specify values for PIT and PIT2 that don't add up to the value specified as the second parameter to CARS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PIT2 (Pit Lane 2 Attributes) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has the same parameters as the PIT keyword. PIT2 is only present for tracks with pit lanes in two places. See the PIT keyword for details on the PIT2 keyword. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PITSP (Pit Speed) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword appears only in NASCAR Racing 2. It has one parameter which specifies the pit speed in miles-per-hour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPDWY (Speedway Attributes) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has three parameters. The first parameter specifies whether or not a restrictor plate is used on your car at this track. If the value is a '0', your car doesn't use a restrictor plate. If the value is '1', your car does use a restrictor plate. This will NOT affect the computer controlled cars in any way. The second and third parameters specify the beginning and end of the pit window. The pit window is the range in laps that the computer controlled cars will race before they will go in for a pit stop. I have not found the last two parameters in IndyCar Racing tracks, so I assume it is not used there. I also do not know if restrictor plates work in IndyCar Racing or in IndyCar Racing II. I also don't know what will happen if you specify anything other than '0' or '1' for this parameter. Then next values represent the PIT WINDOW. The first value is the beginning of the pit window for ai cars and the second value is the end of the pit window for ai cars. The ai cars will attempt to pit between these values (in laps) under green flag conditions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LENGT (Track Length) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which specifies the distance of the track. It doesn't actually affect the size of the track, only what is displayed in the track information window that is displayed when you select the track from within the game. The value assumes three decimal places, for example 2500 would be a distance of 2.500 miles. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAPS (Laps) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. These two parameters play a major part in determining the number of laps for races held at this track. Each value represents a possible number of laps for a race at this track with a RACE LENGTH of 100% specified within the game. If the SINGLE RACE option is chosen within the game, the first parameter is the number of laps the race will be at 100%. If CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON is chosen, it is slightly more complicated. Each race in a CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON is specified by a line in the CALENDAR file in the game directory. Each line has a value that specifies which LAPS parameter to use to determine the number of laps for the race. If the value in the CALENDAR file is '0', the first parameter will be used, and if the value is '1', the second parameter will be used. If '0' is specified and no parameter is defined, if '1' is specified and a second parameter is not defined, or if any values other than '0' or '1' are used in the CALENDAR file, it will result in the same situation as described below for when the LAPS keyword is omitted entirely from the track.txt file. Useful values for each parameter range from '3' to '2147483647'. The actual number of laps for a race is determined by taking the RACE LENGTH percentage from within the game, times the value of the LAPS parameter used for this race as explained above. Each race automatically has a minimum of '3' laps. If the LAPS keyword is omitted, or if no parameters are specified, the race length value within the game remains unchanged from when it was last set. For example, let us pretend to remove the LAPS keyword line from the file BRISTOL.TXT. If you go to the track selection screen and have ATLANTA highlighted, and the number of laps at ATLANTA is '25', and then you hit the down arrow on the keyboard to highlight BRISTOL, which doesn't have LAPS specified, '25' will be the value used for the number of laps. This little tid-bit of knowledge is absolutely useless to the best of my knowledge, but I discovered it and thought it was amusing enough to share. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FNAME (Formal Name) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which is the formal name used for this track. Displayed in bottom left window of track selection screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CITYN (City Name) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which is the name of the city closest to the track. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- COUNT (Country Name) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which is the name of the country in which the track is located. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECRD (Track Record) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, but I have not looked at it to determine exactly how it is used. This keyword only appears in IndyCar Racing tracks. I assume this keyword specifies the record speed at this track. IndyCar Racing II and NASCAR racing have a seperate RECORDS.TXT file that I assume does the same thing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PACEA (Pace Alignment) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has a variable number of parameters. The first parameter specifies the number of columns the cars line up in for the pace lap. A 1 indicates single file, a 2 indicates two-abreast and a 3 would indicate an Indiapolis style start. I have not tried more than these three numbers. The second parameter indicates the position on the track where the pace lap begins. A smaller number means the pace lap will start closer to the location that either the green flag drops or to the start\finish line, I'm not sure which. If you want a shorter pace lap, lower this value. If you enter a number that is too large here however, the program will crash. The next X parameters (with X being the value used for the first parameter) specify the distance each column of cars is from the center of the track, starting with the inside row, and ending with the outside row. Following these parameters is the last parameter which always seems to be a '0'. I am not sure what it is for. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUAL (Qualifying) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. The parameters depend on which type of track this is. For NASCAR Racing tracks, the first parameter should always be a '2'. Specifying '1' prevents the LAP INFO window (the pop-up window that you get when you hit F1) from showing any info. Specifying '0' prevents you from qualifying entirely. For IndyCar Racing II tracks, the first parameter determines whether the qualifying procedure will be a timed open session or a specific number of laps. A value of '0' means that it will be a timed open session, and a value of '1' means that it will be a specific number of laps. For NASCAR Racing tracks, the second parameter specifies how many qualifying laps each driver gets during qualifying. All laps must be completed for any one of the laps to be counted for qualifying, which means you will be placed at the end of the race field if you exit qualifying at Talladega after the first lap, with this parameter set to '2'. For IndyCar Racing II tracks, if the qualifying procedure was specified as a timed open session, the second parameter specifies the number of minutes each driver gets to spend driving qualifying laps. If the qualifying procedure was specified as a specific number of laps, the second parameter works the same way that it works for NASCAR Racing tracks. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLIMP (Blimp) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. It sets the location of the blimp camera in the replay mode. Change to adjust x-y axis views. No real need to play around with this one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GFLAG (Green Flag) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which defines the location of the pole sitter when the green flag is to be dropped. A lower value means farther from the start\finish line, and a higher value means closer to the start\finish line. When adjusted with the first PACEA number, you can tailor starts to your liking. Reports exist of this keyword not working for certain tracks (Talladega, Sears Point). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TTYPE (Track Type) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which specifies what type of track this is. The only known effect this has in the game is the speed of the pace lap and caution laps. VALUE TRACK TYPE PACE SPEED ----- ---------- ---------- '0' Short Oval 40 mph '1' Mid Oval 55 mph '2' Large Oval 70 mph '3' Superspeedway 90 mph '4' Road Course 70 mph '5' Unknown Unknown ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARS (Number Of Cars) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. The first parameter doesn't seem to do anything, so my best guess is that it specifies the number of cars allowed to to make qualifying attempts for each race at this track. The second parameter specifies how many cars are on the track for each race at this track, including the pace car, and your car. This number overrides the NUMBER OF OPPONENTS setting within the game, meaning you can't set NUMBER OF OPPONENTS to '38' and expect to race against 38 other cars at Bristol without changing the second parameter to the CARS keyword first. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEMP (Temperature 1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. The first parameter specifies the average temperature at the track, where 839 would mean 83.9 degrees F. The second parameter specifies how much the acutual tempurature can differ from the average temperature. When you play a SINGLE RACE, the values parameters for the TEMP keyword are used. When you play a CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON race, the game seems to randomly choose either the parameters from the keyword TEMP or from the keyword TEMP2 to use. This may not be random, but may in fact be a pattern that I have not discovered yet. The TEMP2 keyword doesn't appear in IndyCar Racing tracks, so I assume the TEMP keyword is used for all races. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEMP2 (Temperature 2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. The first parameter specifies the average temperature at the track, where 839 would mean 83.9 degrees F. The second parameter specifies how much the acutual tempurature can differ from the average temperature. When you play a CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON race, the game seems to randomly choose either the parameters from the keyword TEMP or from the keyword TEMP2 to use. This may not be random, but may in fact be a pattern that I have not discovered yet. This keyword doesn't appear in IndyCar Racing tracks, so I assume that all races use the TEMP keyword. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- WIND (Wind 1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has five parameters. I haven't experimented with these yet so I don't know exactly what will happen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- WIND2 (Wind 2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has five parameters. I haven't experimented with these yet so I don't know exactly what will happen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- RAIN (Rain) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has two parameters. I haven't experimented with these yet so I don't know exactly what will happen. More than likely, they are not used. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLAP (Best Lap) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which is the time (in seconds) it takes the fastest computer cars to make a lap during qualifying. Three decimal places are assumed so '23849' would mean 23.849 seconds. Half the field will always attempt to qualify faster than this time and the other half will always qualify slower. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- RELS (Relative Strength) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has one parameter, which is the percent of the speeds defined in the LP files that the cars will attempt to achieve. This will increase the speed the cars attempt during pace laps and pit stop too, so increasing this may allow computer players to break the pit lane speed limit (which you cannot get away with). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THEAT (Tire Heat) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has eight parameters. This keyword is only used in IndyCar Racing II. The eight parameters are grouped into two sets of four values. The first set specifies the heat generated by the tires under dry conditions, the second set specifies heat under wet conditions. The values in each set are for the tire compounds in this order: soft, medium, hard, rain. I'm not sure how this keyword is used in the game, since I believe that TCFF and TCFR do the same thing. The fourth value may be for rain tires. The next four val ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TCFF (Tire Compound Friction Front) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has eight parameters. This keyword is only used in IndyCar Racing II. The format for this keyword is the same as that of the THEAT keyword. I assume these values are for Front tires, but I haven't experimented to make sure. The first 3 values refer to left side tire heat, right rear tire heat, and right front tire heat. Higher values mean that the tires are more sensitive to heat buildup and heat up quicker. The fourth value might be for rain tires. The next four values are assumed to be used for grip although I have not checked them out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TCFR (Tire Compound Friction Rear) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has eight parameters. This keyword is only used in IndyCar Racing II. The format for this keyword is the same as that of the THEAT keyword. I assume these values are for Rear tires, but I haven't experimented to make sure. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIRES (Tires - Goodyear) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has seven parameters. This keyword doesn't appear in IndyCar Racing tracks. This keyword is used to define the characteristics of Goodyear tires. The first parameter defines the grip for the left side tires. The second parameter describes the heat generated by the left side tires. The third parameter specifies the tread life of the left side tires. The fourth parameter defines the grip for the right side tires. The fifth parameter specifies the heat generated by the right side tires. The sixth parameter specifies the tread life of the right side tires. I have no idea what the seventh parameter is for. Increasing the grip values increases the grip of the tires. Increasing the heat values increases the heat generated by the tires. Increasing the the tread life values increases the life of the tires. Increasing grip increases heat and decreases tread life and decreasing grip decreases heat and increases tread life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIRES2 (Tires - Hoosier/Firestone) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has seven parameters. This keyword doesn't appear in IndyCar Racing or NASCAR Racing II tracks. This keyword is the same as the TIRES keyword, except TIRES2 refers to the characteristics of Hoosier tires in NASCAR Racing, and for Firestone tires in IndyCar Racing II. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCTNS (Sections) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have no good guess as to what this does. It may have something to do with dividing the track into sections? This keyword does not appear in IndyCar Racing I. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DDLNG (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 6 parameters. This keyword only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. This keyword helps to control the spotter voice and provides the sim with different locations on the race track. A track appears to be measured in units from the start/finish line, and one mile equals 313 units. The two lines below are from Talladega... track is about 835 units long. Note that if you make changes they must be put in from smallest to largest or they don't seem to work i.e. if youy want it to say "Final Straight" for Talladega below, you would need to put in the 001 or 1 position (denoting the start finish line) at the START of DDLNG (and the 30 code at the start of DIDNT) and not at the end or it gets ignored. DDLNG 95 168 240 486 560 635 735 835 linear location on track (units down the track each zone ENDS) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DIDNT (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 6 parameters. This keyword only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. This keyword controls the spotter voice at various points on the race track. Working with the DDLNG line which provides the location on the track, the DIDNT line then provides the sim with the appropriate wav file to play. DIDNT 22 1 2 19 3 4 21 20 name of area, in the list below. DIDNT References: 1 -13 - Turn 1 - 13 T1.WAV to T13.WAV 14-16 - Turn 1A, Turn 2A, Turn 3A 1A.WAV 2A.WAV 3A.WAV 17 - Front Straight FSTR.WAV 18 - Back Straight BSTR.WAV 19 - Back Stretch BSTC.WAV 20 - Trioval TRI.WAV 21 - Into Trioval TRIIN.WAV 22 - Out of Trioval TRIOUT.WAV 23 - Esses ESSES.WAV 24 - Into Esses ESSESIN.WAV 25 - Out of Esses ESSESOUT.WAV 26 - Long Pond Straight LPOND.WAV 27 - Short Chute SHCH.WAV 28 - Tunnel Turn TTUNNEL.WAV 29 - First Straight 1STR.WAV 30 - Final Straight FNLSTR.WAV 31 - Short Straight SHRTSTR.WAV 32 - Long Straight LONGSTR.WAV 33 - Outer Loop OLOOP.WAV 34 - Inner Loop ILOOP.WAV 35 - Stretch STRETCH.WAV 36 - Carousel CSEL.WAV 37 - Strip STRIP.WAV 38 - Hairpin HAIRP.WAV 39 - 1st Hairpin HAIRP1.WAV 40 - 2nd Hairpin HAIRP2.WAV 41 - S Turns STURNS.WAV 42 - Kink KINK.WAV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLOR (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 2 parameters and only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. It consists of two values which are the palatte locations of the colors used by the in-car mirror. The first value is the palatte number of the road (bottom half of the mirror) and the second number is the sky (top half of the mirror). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTRN (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 1 parameter, and only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. They controls the strength of AI cars in arcade mode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- APOWR (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 1 parameter, and only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. They controls the power of AI cars in arcade mode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PCARL (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 2 parameters, but I don't know what any of them are for. This keyword only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PTICK (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 2 parameters, but I don't know what any of them are for. This keyword only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PBRKS (???) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This keyword has 2 parameters, but I don't know what any of them are for. This keyword only appears in tracks for NASCAR Racing 2. ----------------------------- -Corey Rueckheim (rueck_cw@cslab.uwlax.edu) -Chas Bornemann (Chasman@dataplusnet.com) BB&B Track Editing Project http://www.simcyberworld.com/