What I finally did to transform the standard GP4 game into a CSM mod was the following. Just to note: I'm not a fan of the 2000 season, the available mods like DTM 2005, Season 2005 etc. are WAY better grafically and for what a lot of people have added. I want to honor that. My quest in getting the standard game to run in CSM is only to understand the modding process and how different modding tools are working together. That said, here my steps:
As Doug gently suggested, I build from my GP4 install a custom 'mod' by lauching Build in TSM 'Other Stuff'.
I then manually create new tracks in TSM and pointing to the WAD files in the main GP4 directory; it's the fastest way I know, and all the wad/dat files must be in the mod folder anyway to tell CSM which track to load when a mod starts.
After that, it gets complicated...I haven't fully figured out which ini files in the GPSAVES\Carsets\[your mod]\Settings can be left blank. The GlobalVar.ini is the only one that CAN be left blank, it governs all the mod configuration in CSM, leaving it blank you still can make changes with GPxPatch.
For the CSM.ini, I have simply copied all and pasted from the 2009_Empty_Season. I added my own Damage.ini file.
The swap.ini is very important, here is a good generic content IMO:
[Main]
Format=
[Vars]
; track specfic visors
;visor9 =Montreal
[Swapfiles]
File1 =Tweaker\gp4tweak.ini,gp4tweak.ini
File2 =Tweaker\gp4tweak.dll,gp4tweak.dll
File3 =Tweaker\gp4tweak.bin,gp4tweak.bin
File4 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\wheel_lo_blur.bik
File5 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\BG_flag.bik
File6 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\BG_Rain - Light.bik
File7 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\BG_Tyretread.bik
File8 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\CornerL.bik
File9 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\CornerR.bik
File10 =Menu\tracks\track%tracknum%.bik,MenuData\PC\GP2001\Videos\Straight3.bik
[SwapFolder]
Folder1 =Performance,gpxpdata
Folder2 =GpxPatch,gpxpdata
Folder3 =GpxPatch\pnl,gpxpdata\pnl
Folder4 =GpxPatch\snd,gpxpdata\snd
Folder5 =GpxPatch\gfx,gpxpdata\gfx
Folder6 =Tweaker\gp4tweak_data,gp4tweak_data
Folder7 =%visors%,gp4tweak_data\sprite\visor
Folder8 =%visors%\(visor%tracknum%),gp4tweak_data\sprite\visor
Folder9 =%visors%\%trackname%,gp4tweak_data\sprite\visor
Folder10 =%visors%\dirt,gp4tweak_data\sprite\visor\dirt
Folder11 =Cockpit\StWheels\%team%\Fonts,fonts
FOlder12 =Setups,GPSAVES
Now comes the most important part: the edition of the [your mod].csm file. I use UltraEdit texteditor for convenience. This file must be completed where some iomportant entries are blank with = followed by nothing. Otherwise CSM will launch the mod but GP4 will crash and you will not realize it because CSM will immediately restore everything (you won't see any crash screen of GP4 or similar). There is also another reason why GP4 may crash, but for this later.
First if CSM tells you "blah blah, you need a higher version to start", then simply edit the "MinimumVersion" entry to be lower, otherwise no go.
Then, your [F1gstate] must look like this:
[F1gstate]
Track =%racenum%
Difficulty =%difficulty%
Racetype =%racetype%
Driver =%driver%
in the [Files] section, everything in your mod should point to an existing config.ini with the path before, for example
TeamArt =Teamart,Teamart\config.ini
Helmets =Helmets\config.ini
Now, the [Settings] edit:
Very important the 2 entries here below must point to [your mod].ini in the GP4 Track folder. In my case this is
FixedTrackProfile =Standard Game.ini
TrackProfile =Standard Game.ini
Then, EVERY one of the basic ini file in the GPSAVES\Carsets\[your mod]\Settings folder must be pointed as here below.
SwapINI =swap.ini
PatchINI =Patch.ini
CSMINI =CSM.ini
GlobalVars =globalvars.ini
That's it ok? NO
Two important things to do still:
a)
You must tell CSM which tracks to load with your mod. Launch TSM, gp om 'Manage Profiles', create a profile with the exact name of your mod, click once in the first row of the section above (which should all be empty), then select tracks from below which will be the exact track order when you start the game.
b)
I have taken hours to figure out this, you MUST get your GPxPatch files into your mod files. The TSM built has not done it for you. Go in your main GP4 directory and copy the entire content of the gpxdata folder into GPSAVES\Carsets\[your mod\Data\GpxPatch. If you skip this GP4 will simply not launch (again, you won't realize it). If still GP4 crashes for some reason, then re-copy the decrypted GP4.exe into your main game dir.
You are done, you can launch the standard game with CSM. The standard tracks that you have painfully created can be handy for you everytime you don't have a track for your mod - or to use as a replacement track.
XenonS
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2016 11:04PM by XenonS.