GPxSet

Hi everybody, I'm in a state of confusion as to what GPxSet is actually modifying in the game, specifically things relating to player and AI performance.

Looking at the GPxPatch changelog it appears that this has been an area of constant development for an extended period of time.

For personal reasons I tend to play the game in a vanilla state due to my low computer spec, however I still like to run through GPxPatch 4.44 so I can enjoy the TV graphics and gpxlap functionality, I'm just somewhat concerned that having GPxSet selected is somehow changing the behaviour of the game. If I run gpxpatch without GPxSet, the game lags in certain periods of the race. If GPxSet is selected or I run gp4 without gpxpatch there is no lagging.

My question, is GPxSet modifying the AI behaviour in the game? Based off the changelog the answer appears to be yes. Is there any reason why I should NOT use GPxSet, and there seems to be confusion around the team dependant performance option and exactly what it is changing in the game.

I hope I'm not being too controversial but I just want to know how this is all working, thanks

Your GPxPatch is obsolete. Use the latest GPxPatch. AFAIK it shouldn't impact game performance on your laptop at all but it will cure the player car performance dependent bug, which I think crept in to the 4.44 version.

Read the GPxPatch > docs for more details/info than the changelog.

In terms of your low PC spec, a replacement f1graphics.cfg is almost certainly the single best route to better game performance. You'll probably find one here one the forum designed for low spec machines, or someone might drop by and post theirs.

Basically, GPxSet allows you to set car and driver performance for each race without editing the GP4.exe directly. It's a core feature of what makes GPxPatch great and I can't think of a good reason not to use it.

Finally, it's worth knowing that many of the older mods in particular, are no more demanding on your hardware than the vanilla game - also, it's a lot to learn and too much to explain here, but even the bulkier mods and tracks can be culled in size quite effectively.

Hope that helps.

Noog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your GPxPatch is obsolete. Use the latest
> GPxPatch. AFAIK it shouldn't impact game
> performance on your laptop at all but it will cure
> the player car performance dependent bug, which I
> think crept in to the 4.44 version.
>
> Read the GPxPatch > docs for more details/info
> than the changelog.
>
> In terms of your low PC spec, a replacement
> f1graphics.cfg is almost certainly the single best
> route to better game performance. You'll probably
> find one here one the forum designed for low spec
> machines, or someone might drop by and post
> theirs.
>
> Basically, GPxSet allows you to set car and driver
> performance for each race without editing the
> GP4.exe directly. It's a core feature of what
> makes GPxPatch great and I can't think of a good
> reason not to use it.
>
> Finally, it's worth knowing that many of the older
> mods in particular, are no more demanding on your
> hardware than the vanilla game - also, it's a lot
> to learn and too much to explain here, but even
> the bulkier mods and tracks can be culled in size
> quite effectively.
>
> Hope that helps.

Thanks noog, I'll be sure to dive deeper into the documentation. I can't remember why I was using 4.44 but it was due to some kind of paranoia around the performance files. I'll upgrade to the latest version.

Would I be right in saying that if I was running GPxSet with no mods at all, and power and grip team dependant selected, would this apply the standard power and grip variables from the original game? Or does gpxpatch edit the original settings? I'm quite confused here, in theory if the power and grip is team dependant then what was the original gp4 setting? "old behaviour"?

The game runs fine if GPxSet is selected or gpxpatch is not used at all, oddly the only lags I get is with gpxpatch having deselected GPxSet. Seems strange that this would be the case but I'll do more testing with the latest iteration of gpxpatch

I'm not sure how GPxSet can remove any lag, but if you haven't selected anything on the GPxSet tab and use the default session settings, it shouldn't really change anything to the game.

The original setting for "Player car performance team dependent" is that the player car performance is independent of the team you choose, i.e. when you have this option unchecked.

"Old behaviour" is about the behaviour of this option in old versions of GPxPatch. You can say there was a version 1 of this option, and now there's a version 2 also.

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2019 01:56PM by SDI.

Thanks for the response Rene much appreciated


SDI Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure how GPxSet can remove any lag, but if
> you haven't selected anything on the GPxSet tab
> and use the default session settings, it shouldn't
> really change anything to the game.

I tried this again and it ran perfectly fine, no difference whatsoever, so it must of just been a strange coincidence. Quite strange as I tried it multiple times before with the same lagging issue but now the issue has resolved itself, gp4 truly has a mind of its own


> The original setting for "Player car performance
> team dependent" is that the player car performance
> is independent of the team you choose, i.e. when
> you have this option unchecked.

This is in part what I was so confused about. What exactly is The original setting? Some people say it's the same power and grip as the fastest car (Ferrari?)... This seems odd to me and I don't know if it's a myth or has some basis in reality. Also isn't there a "random" grip/power range in the original game? Or is it only for the Ai?

> "Old behaviour" is about the behaviour of this
> option in old versions of GPxPatch. You can say
> there was a version 1 of this option, and now
> there's a version 2 also.


Sorry again for the overly technical question, but if the power and grip are fixed values for each team, how can there be 2 different manifestations or behaviour of the same data? As in, what is the fundamental difference with the 2 versions?

I'm sorry for the overly technical questions but I'm more familiar with gp2 and never did much modding so my knowledge is fundamentally lacking

I understand you have more questions about it.

Let's consider the original setting first, i.e. vanilla unmodified GP4.

1) The computer controlled cars will have power based on the opposition spread setting. With 2001 levels it will be based on that year. With random it will be randomly picked from some fixed range. And with all the same all the cars will have the same power as the most powerful one. After this, the power is lowered with some random amount.
2) The so called grip is also based opposition spread. With 2001 levels it is based on driver skill and (in)consistency levels.
3) For player controlled cars the power will be fixed to 855 BHP for qualify and 845 BHP for other sessions. The grip will be fixed to the maximum too.

With GPxSet you can change the player's power and grip to be the same as for the AI. Older versions only patched the grip partly (it consists of multiple parts). This 'old behaviour' can be selected to still choose this, because there were performance files that had been balanced on this buggy behaviour. For new performance files it should not be used.

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.

Thanks René, you've mostly clarified it for me. But there's 1 other thing that got brought to my attention... And that is the power and grip range is variable within a certain range no?

So if the option is selected, your power and grip will be pinned to your team mate, but that value is variable I think. I might be missing something here.... Does anybody know or have any theories why Geoff designed the player and AI power and grip independently? Surely there's a logical reason because it's a design feature carried over from gp2

It might not be variable for the player, and variable for the CC team mate. Or both might be variable but with different values. I'm not sure and I can look it up later.

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.

Ok thanks for that mate