Over the years, I've tried to use it a dozen times on as many computers and not once has it ever performed as advertised. In times past, it was usually a problem connected with the
'Gp4.exe' not being the right one, despite whichever version I'd downloaded and installed, so eventually I gave up and played with F1 Challenge.
However, after seeing the pre-patched (full version) of GP4 with the correct version of Gp4.exe on GP4Central, I thought I'd try again.
Step 1: Downloaded & installed the game from GP4Central and it runs fine. Step 2: Installed ZaZTools (repacked) from GP4Central and this time it saw Gp4.exe and seemed happy that
it was the correct version. At last! Step 3: Downloaded Gp4Central's three CSM mods 2012, 2013 & 2014. The three .cuh files seemed to do their thing okay. In the CSM window, the
green bar wizzed across unpacking files and in due course, three new folders of stuff appeared under 'GPSAVES\Carsets'. All fine, so far.
I open CSM and all three mods are listed. I choose 2012 and click start. GPXPatch appears, but it's different to the one that came pre-installed with the game. I'd already changed a
couple of things, such as: 'enable 3d engine sounds', and under 'Session Settings', set Quickrace to 50%, but now the 'enable 3d engine sounds' was off, and Quickrace was back to it's
default 5%. I noticed that the 'Info' tab showed that 4 items such as 'pitboard' & 'defpanel' had been added, 3 of which were ticked. I left these alone, keen to see the results.
I start the game, but there's no change at all. it's just the original names and cars. And it's the same with the other two mods. I've tried every which way but loose, to no avail.
It's almost as if GPXPatch can't see any of the modified data.
I know from reading the forums that over the years a great many have had problems with CSM, but I'd hoped by now they had all been sorted out.
It's good that 'stand-alone' mods are being produced now, even though they are 'fixed' as low-res versions. But in the 10-12 years since i bought the bloody thing, I have yet to see
what GP4 is really capable of, so if anyone out there can help, it would be much appreciated.