GP4 bug list *retail version only* PART II
Posted by Morbid
PLEASE READ ALL THE INFORMATION PRESENTED BEFORE YOU POST!!
- Purpose: If we want a quality patch for GP4, we better go bug hunting ASAP. Chances are that the production of patches will stop after a couple of months if not weeks, so the more bugs we find now, the less we will be stuck with later. We aim to provide Infogrames/the GPx-team as potent a tool as we can for the patch production. The final objective is to get the best patch possible. Infogrames has been informed of our efforts. I have asked for an address to send the list to, and for a deadline, so that the list can be incorporated into the patch production. There has been no reply yet, though. If anyone has a reliable contact inside Infogrames please contact me by e-mail, so we can gain a more reliable way of communicating with Infogrames/GPx-team.
- New organization: Every bug has a code now! That way we will all know when we are talking about which bugs. The code for the bugs is generated by the letter that the header it is found under has, and the number in the sequence the bug is listed under that header.
A. Performance- and hardware specific issues
B. General Menu system, Videos and controllers
C. Track menu system and track maps (needs more work!!!)
D. Season 2001 cars and drivers
E. Car damage and physics model
F. Pit stops, pit crews and marshalls
G. Car setup Menu
H. Telemetry menu and traces
I. Steering wheel and LCD display
J. In game overlays
K. Graphical glitches
L. Hotseat mode
M. Tracks (needs more work!!!)
T. NEEDS TESTING/CONFIRMATION
So bug A.2. would be the "WinXP won't start/crash to desktop issues". My way of ordering these bugs might not strike you as logical, so if there is a bug that you cannot find, look under related headers. I might have lost track of a bug or two in the process. If you feel that a bug that has been reported is missing, please speak up! Either I will add it, or I will explain why it was left out.
- How to use: When you report a bug, be as clear as possible on how it shows itself, how easy it is to reproduce and how this is done, and what the effects are, and if there is a workaround. If the tech dudes have to stumble around blindly in the code, or they can't reproduce the problem, chances are that it will be discarded in a cost/benefit analysis. So the better we work now, the higher the chances of getting the bug fixed. Bugs can be software/hardware specific. This list focuses on general code flaws, not dirver or hardware conflicts of a complex nature. If you have such a bug, Infogrames helpesk/support will be of much better use! REMEMBER: to check whether your bug has been reported or not, and if you report sheds new light on the bug in question! This is not a feature list. So don't even ask for a Safety Car
.
- Warez: Do not report bugs that come from any other version than the retail version of GP4. Warez are not only illegal, they often increase the amout of bugs in a game. Be sure that you have observed the bug in the retail version, and that all the details in the report comes from the retail version
- Don't be a Jackass: DON'T send this list to Infogrames. The list is not finished, and we cannot say that our work is done. If 10 different versions of this list begin floating around at Infogrames it will add to the confusion and undermine the credability of this list. It will be sent in when it is ready and NOT BY YOU! Do not screw around, start fights or spam post about how bad GP4, Infogrames, Crammond, and so on, are. It will only serve to undermine our teamwork and make it harder for small bandwidth users to access this thread. I am preparing to organize a public strategy session in the near future, so stay tuned.
- Other efforts: You might want to check out the online petition currently organized by Stuart Ferris and Cmspodwy on this very forum. The typing force behind this list has made his opinions clear about that cause elsewhere on this forum, and they do not need to be repeated. There can be given pro's and con's, and signing up is a matter of choice. BUT, I would like to add, that we are a coordinated effort, and I think that members of this community should at the very least form an opinion about the issues they have raised.
- Contact information: Post here or send e-mail to Morbid@mail.dk
- Thanks: To all of you who report bugs either on this forum and to my email adress. You made this list happen! Thanks those that have supported and encouraged this initiative. Thanks also to those that started all this a long long time ago. You know who you are! Thanks to PCGamer's Ross Atherton, aka MeanMM, for some very sound advice three months ago, and to PCGamer's Trevor Witt for being at the right place at the right time.
- Special thanks: To Doug Hillard for pulling a superhuman testing session with little warning and time. The entire tracks section is mostly his work! So is the core of trackmap section, plus a number of other bug reports. And to Vader for spending the night proofreading and editing my confused and cloudy typing!
There are 85 issues with code numbers, but since their are 5 on the test list, and the track section is a collection of many issues, we have passed well beyond 100. There can't be that many bugs left to hunt down. So lets nail the rest of them and get these reports as fine polished as we can.
Happy hunting! Lets get this patch rolling!!!
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Bug list draft version 2.01
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A. Performance- and hardware specific issues
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A.1. - Performance is noticeably worse in WinXP. This has been confirmed by a number of people with dual boot systems. Workaround: Use other OS than WinXP. If that is not an option then no workaround/fix is currently known. Easy to reproduce.
A.2. - WinXP systems seem more prone to not wanting to run the game at all and to give crashes to desktop. Workaround: Use other OS than WinXP. If that is not an option then no workaround/fix is currently known. Medium to reproduce.
A.3. - Select no acceleration in sound options at control panel. Start GP4 and let it recalibrate sound setup, and make sure that 2d and 3d sound are deselected. After that you get a 2-10 FPS increase, which is the opposite of what should happen. Hardware acceleration should not give higher processor workloads! The bug can be recreated in WinXP, Win2k and WinMe, but has yet to be reproduced in Win98. Confirmed on several different systems, and also confirmed for SB-Live cards and other cards. The bug does not seem to be related to sound card and drivers. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
A.4. - The first calibration/test of graphics in a GP4 sessions is accompanied by an access to the hard drive, while subsequent calibrations/tests are not, even if values are altered. As a result the initial calibration of graphics and the first graphics test in any session returns to low recommended FPS values. Later attempts at calibration/test of graphics returns a noticeably higher recommended FPS value even if values are changed. No workaround, except what is mentioned above. Very easy to recreate.
A.5. - Processor occupancy tool dramatically increases PO. Also keeping the "O" key depressed while running the calibration/test of graphics procedure results in a noticeably reduced recommended FPS - approx 15-20% reduction. It is hard to imagine that monitoring Processor occupancy is supposed to take up so much CPU power. It has been confirmed that on some systems skybox messages give disproportional higher processor workloads. The increased PO that arises when using the PO monitoring utility may be related to the way skybox messages are rendered. Workaround: Do not use PO tool during calibration/graphics test and use it as little as possible while gaming. Very easy to reproduce.
A.6. - Mirrors do not seem to work at all on Voodoo cards. Confirmed on Voodoo 3 and Voodoo 5 cards. No workaround. Easy to reproduce
A.7. - The game sometimes locks up when set to accelerated time. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
B. General Menu system, Videos and controllers
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B.1. - The in game videos stutter. Possibly due to excessive hard disk accessing during playback. Confirmed on several different systems with varying configurations of hardware and software. Has been report not to be present on an minimum spec system. We need to test if this can be cured with a defrag of hard drives!!! No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
B.2. - When selecting a championship season, the game doesn't update the track selected in the main menu. As a result, the track name displayed in the championship season mode is that which was selected in the main menu before championship season was activated. The game does use the proper track for the event itself, only the displayed name is wrong. Workaround: Select the correct track manually before entering championship season mode. Very easy to reproduce.
B.3. - There is no popup text help for launch control in the driving aids menu. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
B.4. - The popup text help for Traction Control is wrong. It states that Traction Control does not work performance enhancing like the banned traction control. Traction control was reintroduced in 2001 and thus not banned anymore, besides Traction Control DOES work performance enhancing in game.
B.5. - After selecting and calibrating a wheel as input controller when some other device had been selected previously, the "disable joysticks in menu" option is not updated. As a consequence the selection highlight flips around across the menu system. Has been recreated with Microsoft Wheels set to separate axis for accel/brake. Workaround: Enter "Workshop", "Utilities", "Menu Setup" and the option updates itself. Very easy to reproduce.
B.6. - Digital Joypads are not recognized when they are used with the game for the first time, thus it cannot be calibrated properly. Workaround: Setup the controller, then restart Grand Prix 4, and the controller works as intended. Very easy to reproduce.
B.7. - It has been reported that when "Force Feedback" is enabled in the game for Logitech Wingman Force 3D joysticks, the game wrongly activates force feedback effects. As a consequence the joystick jerks violently on the "left/right" axis on the starting grid, until the lights go green. After the lights go green the force feedback works as intended. This bug was also present in Grand Prix 3. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
B.8. - If you edit a name for a custom controller set, the game does not rememeber that name when the game is restarted, even though it remembers the controller setup configuration. Workaround: reload the saved configuration. Very easy reproduce.
B.9. - The game code conflicts with Thrustmaster Thrustmapper software. It will not start when this is running in the background. If it is disabled the game starts up fine. Workaround: Eject the CD at the SafeDisc splash screen. This will get your system to prompt you to insert the CD. Do so, and the game starts up fine, WITH the Thrustmaster Thrustmapper software running in the background. Medium to reproduce.
B.10. - It has been reported, that after a 100% lap race a Monza, the lap chart broke down. Several cars are being shown to have finished the race a few laps behind the lead lap, as they should. This is shown by a filled box at the end of the trace for each driver. When the traces for these drivers were highlighted, the boxes jumped around on the lap chart. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
C. Track menu system and track maps (needs more work!!!)
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Note: If you continue the work on the trackmaps, please be absolutely sure that you are using an proper trackmap for 2001 as reference. Corners often change name from one year to the next, even if the layout stays the same. WWW.FORIX.COM is a good place to look.
C.1. - The corner number buttons on the track map in the "track information" menu do not work correctly. Half of them light up in white, when the cursor is placed over them. The other half do not respond. For instance, buttons 1, 2 and 9 at Imola do not respond, whereas all the others do. Also the corner number buttons do not seem to serve any purpose. Was it intended that a clicking on the buttons would bring up the information in the corner of the information list on the left of the screen? No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.2. - Australia trackmap. The corner buttons have the wrong sequence on the trackmap. The trackmap begins with corner numbers 15 and 16, and proceeds in the correct sequence with corner number 1. The information in the sidebar in some entries reflects the correct stats/names for the correct corner number sequence and some entries do not. Thus what is listed as corner 15 can be read as corner 1, but it has the wrong name. It would be prudent not to trust any of the entries for this trackmap. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.3. - Brazil trackmap. Corners 8, 9 and 10 have the wrong names. The following is what the are called and what should be called seperated by a "/". Corner 8: Pinheirinho/Laranja, Corner 9: Laranja/Pinheirinho, Corner 10: Laranja/Cotovêlo. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.4. - Spain trackmap. The trackmap for Spain is incorrect. It shows the 1994 layout, whereas the track in the game is of newer and correct layout. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.5. - Spain trackmap. Corners 7 through 9 are all called Seat. This is incorrect. Corner 9 is called Würth. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.6. - Austria trackmap. Corners 6 through 8 are all called Niki Lauda. This is incorrect. Corner 7 is Gerhard Berger and Corner 8 is Power Horse. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.7. - Germany trackmap. The first chicane complex is called Jim Clark Kurve. The real name is Jim Clark Schikane. The Ayrton Senna chicane complex has the same error. Buttons 5 and 6 are called Ostkurve. This is incorrect. The real name is Bremskurve 1. Button 7 is the wrong place, but has the correct name: Ostkurve. It should be above and to the right of button 5 forming a triangle with button 6. Therefore there is also a missing button for the first part of the Ayrton Senna chicane complex. Furthermore Corner 10 is also called Ayrton Senna Kurve, when its name is Agipkurve. Corner 12 is called Agip Kurve when it should be Opelkurve. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.8. - Belgium Trackmap. Corner 12 in the infobar has a broken layout-script and typos. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
D. Season 2001 cars and drivers
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D.1. - Alex Yoong has the wrong helmet in the game. He has been given Tarso Marques' helmet. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
D.2. - The BAR cars have swapped numbers. In the game Jacques Villeneuve car has number 9 and Olivier Panis has number 10. In the actual entry list for the F1 season 2001, Jacques Villeneuve's car was entered as number 10 and Olivier Panis' car as number 9. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
D.3. - It would seem that Alex Yoong and Fernando Alonso have swapped performance. Third party performance editors for Grand prix 4 confirm this. Alex Yoong was the slowest of the Minardi drivers in that season, yet he is consistently racing in p17 and p18, while Alonso in p21 and p22. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
E. Car damage and physics model
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E.1. - It is possible for the AI cars to roll right over, land on wheels and then continue to race normally. No F1 car could possibly do that. No workaround. Medium to recreate.
E.2. - The right front wheel disappears at random and unprovoked both for player and AI cars. Physics do respond to the bug, and the car behaves as it should with 3 wheels. So it is not only a graphics bug. It does not happen very often. It can happen in any game mode at any location on the track, even during pit stops. Returning to pits with shift-Q does fixes makes the physics model operate with 4 wheels again, but the wheel is still graphically missing. Workaround: Activate the replay function. Hit F5 for a short rewind and let the replay play to the end, and the wheel returns both in the replay and in game. Alternate workaround. Exit to menu with "Esc" and rejoin the game. Hard to reproduce. Shift-Q and lap 1 bug are seperate bugs.
E.3. - After a crash that damages the car, them when you are put back into the pits by a marshall or player uses Shift-Q, the repair car routine doesn't always work properly. The damage model is updated, but the graphics are not. Hence, the car still looks damaged. Workaround: Activate the replay function. Hit F5 for a short rewind and let the replay play to the end, and the wheel returns both in the replay and in game. Alternate workaround: Exit to menu with "Esc" and rejoin the game. Medium to reproduce.
E.4. - When you damage/destroy your front wing/nosecone and pit to change it, it is magically repaired a split second before it is changed by the pit crew. Thus, no matter how much damage you have inflicted on you front wing/nosecone, the pit crew always remove a brand new front wing/nosecone and replace it with a brand new front wing/nosecone. Damage inflicted on the front wing/nosecone should show on the front wing/nosecone that is removed by the pit crew. The same applies to the rear wing, although this is hard to reproduce, since it is harder to lose the rear wing and be able to limp back to the pits. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
E.5. - When cars lose the front wing the grip still seems a little to high, like the physics model doesn't remove enough downforce from the missing wing. It is still possible to take several high speed corners flat out. The problem is even more apparant with Traction Control on. Then it is possible to keep up with the AI cars for several laps with a completely destroyed nosecone (done at Australia by at least two persons, one of them on Ace difficulty). The seemingly high downforce on the front which is made clear by shedding the front wing might be linked to the low front ride height traces in H.3. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
E.6. - More like a feature suggestion. The pit crews are able to fix some kinds of damage that they should not be able to, like a blown engine. It would be preferable if the pit crew couldn't do this.
F. Pit stops, pit crews and marshalls
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F.1. - When player selects used tyres from the steering wheel the tyre menu displays the amount of laps the tyre has been used in hex-decimal. For instance 26 laps is displayed as 1a. When the tyre is selected and the player returns to the main menu on the steering wheel the number of laps driven is displayed correctly. It happens consistently in all game modes where the player has access to used tyres in the pits. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
F.2. - When two AI cars of the same team enter the pits within seconds of each other, in any other mode than a race mode, they become stuck in front of the garage. The pit crew does not come to collect the cars, even though the front car is in the correct position. Hence they are both stuck until the end of the session. It happens in free practice, warmup, qualify. Observed at Nürburgring. It is very likely that the bug is not related to any specific track. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
F.3. - When the player or AI cars enter the pits and are parked in front of the garage waiting to be pushed back, and the team mate is in the garage, it is possible for the team mate's car to leave the pits and drive right through the car waiting to be pushed back into the garage. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.4. - A joystick user has reported that the pit crew will only push him back into the garage if his joystick is in "accelerate" position. Furthermore he is able to control how fast (or not) the pit crew push the player back into the garage. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.5. - Sometimes when pushing a car back into the garage, the crew push it one way and then it magically slides into the right place just at the last second. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
F.6. - Sometimes the pit crew will not let player/AI car go from the pit stop. Happens only in race mode. As a result the car is stuck forever. When the teammate pulls in for a pit stop later in the race, he will park behind you and wait for his his turn to be serviced. Thus the race can never end since the two cars will never cross the finish line. And even if they could the race is pretty much destroyed anyway. The bug can happen on any track, and on any lap. It happens very often when entering the pits on lap 1, and very rarely on other laps. Workaround: Do not pit on lap 1. If problem happens anyway, there is no fix. Easy (for lap 1)/hard (for any other lap) to reproduce.
F.7. - In Practice/Qualifying/Warmup sessions when leaving the garage, the pitcrew man standing in the pitlane gives the driver the all clear when he wants to exit the garage. The AI cars do not wait for this signal and drive out as soon as they get lowered off the jack. Furthermore there seem to be a different routine in the code that prevents AI accidents in the pit lane. Also, the signals the pit crew give to the player cannot be trusted, since they eventually do lead to pit-lane collisions. Workaround: If you suspect that another car is coming down the pit lane, use keys "x" and "c" to make sure that the coast is clear. Very easy to reproduce. Second part medium/hard to reproduce.
F.8. - Garage wall bug. You can drive through the garage walls. Likewise the pit crew can push your car through the walls, and they can themselves walk through walls. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
F.9. - Sometimes when the player has an accident and is pushed by a marshall, this marshall will be transported with the players car to the pits, if the player presses Shift-Q while the marshall is pushing. Workaround: Currently there is only one. Push the marshall with your car until you have room to steer around him. The marshall will stay there for the rest of the session. Medium to reproduce.
F.10. - AI cars suddenly gain the ability to drive through other cars. Example: Car B comes into the pit lane and sees Car A blocking some of the road, waiting to be pushed back in. Car B stops and waits. As soon as the crew even start to push car A, car B drives on with the ability to drive through any car. Possible reason: The code makes the AI car stop some distance away from the stationary car, and then as soon as the stationary car has begun to be pushed the AI declares it a null object and doesn't act around it anymore - ergo, you have cars driving through others. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.11. - Sometimes the marshalls forget to leave the track after they have cleaned up an accident. The yellow flag zone does go away but the marshalls continue to stand by the track side for the remaining duration of the race. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.12. - Not so much a bug this one as a poorly thought out feature. In the last part of the final lap of any race, the marshalls run out and wave blue/green and white flags. This is a problem since players have no way of knowing if cars behind them are about to lap them if they are in any other view than helmet cam. In helmet cam the blue flag can be checked in the sterring wheel. This players racing in other views than helmet cam can be tricked by the marshalls to give up positions that are rightfully theirs. In real F1 races the flags are waved in the victory lap. Maybe it would be better to restrict the marshalls victory flag waving to beyond the start/finish line. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
F.13. - Entire pit crews have been reported to be able to disappear entirely. It was observed that four wheels, two jacks, a lollypop sing and a fuel hose levitated out of the Minardi garage to service the car at the pit stop. Clearly the pit crew was invisible. Best recreated at Spa-Francorchamps, and has been observed there several times. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
G. Car Setup Menu
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G.1. - The slider buttons on the 2 pit stop slider in the setup screen do not work properly. Workaround: Use the slider to decrease, and decrease button to increase. Very easy to reproduce.
G.2. - A crash "setup level 1 and 2 menu" bug, that gives player access to unintended setup values, and to get physics engine to operate with these values. It is also possible to get the game operating with values which are different from the values shown in the setup menu - hereafter named "hidden values". How to reproduce: deselect symmetrical editing. Adjust front right spring value to a higher value than the left. Go back to track and race some laps. Extract telemetry. View telemetry. Return to setup menu and select symmetrical editing. Change any value in setup menu 1 and 2 except springs. Go back to track and race some laps. Extract telemetry. View telemetry. Now the menu crash should appear, although it is currently unknown if it does. If the menu is crashed it is now possible to select unintended spring settings using the slider, for instance 830 lbs. Furthermore adjusting any packer, damper and front spring setting causes the game to operate with hidden values. Use the slider to increase or decrease values. Hold left mouse button pressed while does so. To reveal hidden value, either return to pit options menu, and go back to setup level 1 and 2. The hidden value is revealed - for instance packers where set to 2mm but are now 26mm. Or just select decrease value with the buttons starting with right rear or right front. If you select rear right then decrease rear left setting with buttons and hidden value is revealed. Same procedure can be applied to increase right rear/left rear and to increase/decrease right front/left front. A very serious bug since it totally undermines the flow of actions of which the gameplay revolves for the gamer that creates his own setups, since the player can never be quite sure what setup his car is using. It also undermines the credability of gathered telemetry. I will attempt to write a better description, and need more info as soon as possible. Workaround: Deselect symmetrical editing and reselect symmetrical editing. Game will no longer use Hidden values nor will it allow unintended values. Medium/hard to reproduce.
H. Telemetry menu and traces
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H.1. - Zooming in vertically on the traces in the telemetry menu produces a large grey box in the lower left corner of the screen. The bug only appears when going directly from track to fetch telemetry and the view telemetry. Workaround: Exit telemetry screen and go to setup menu level 1 and 2. Go back to telemetry viewing and bug is gone. Very easy to reproduce.
H.2. - In the telemetry view screen, track distance is displayed in feet despite selecting Metric system in the menu setup. This is perhaps not a bug. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
H.3. - The ride height and available suspension travel traces are suspect/broken. Right rear: ride height and travel seem okay. Left rear: ride height is okay, but available travel is broken. Right front ride height seems broken, and travel is broken. It can display a value of 15mm left when ride height is zero. How can ride height be zero, and furthermore how can you have 15mm available suspension travel when ride height is zero? Should the tyre go through and below the tarmac? Observed at RTL kurve @ Nürburgring. Left front ride height seems okay, but available travel is broken as it almost always shows zero/very low values regardless of ride height and packers. Telemetry problems seem localized to ride height and available suspension travel only. The rest are okay. A very serious bug since it totally undermines the flow of actions of which the gameplay revolves for the gamer that creates his own setups. Also, it becomes impossible to use the advice and procedures suggested in the GPaedia. I will attempt to write a better description, and need more info as soon as possible. The broken/low ride heights might be linked to bug E.5. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
H.4. When entering the telemtry view screen directly from the track, after fetching data, the telemetry window "forgets" the zoom levels that have previously been set, even though the sliders display the selected zoom levels. Workaround: Do not enter directly to this screen - go to setup menus first, then go to the telemetry view window. Alternate workaround: Click once on the slider to refresh the window - WARNING: this alternate workaround might be what triggers the crash setup menu to get unintended and hidden values, if symmetrical setup is deselected!!! Easy to reproduce.
I. Steering wheel and LCD display
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I.1. - If a car has a mechanical failure, it will be displayed on the steering wheel as normal. For example "Loose Wheel". If another driver has a failure later in the race it will display BOTH failures on his wheel. It will have, for example, "loose Wheel" (from the car before) and "engine problem" (the real failure). The two failures texts will be written over each other, which makes the text very hard to read. No workaround. Easy/Medium to reproduce.
I.2. - The player starts in his own car if he has selected a driver. Otherwise he starts in the lead AI car. If the car, that players point of view starts in, when he enters the track, is going to have a mechanical failure, then the left yellow led on the steering wheel is activated on all cars. Hence the player always knows if he will have a failure. Link to failures is possibly not correct - see next bug. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
I.3. - Sometimes right yellow led is lit from the start of the track session. Reason unknown. No workaround. Very hard to reproduce.
I.4. - Sometimes the green rev counter leds on the steering wheel go out when they should not. It is single leds that go out, not the whole string. It can happen to any of the 4 green leds, and in any game mode. Seems to happen more often when, but is not limited to, traction control is activated. Has not been observed in AI controlled cars. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
J. In game overlays
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J.1. - When a car enters the pits in a race, and the point of view is set to any other car in TV-trackside camera view, the TV overlays displays wrong names. At first the correct name is displayed in the skybox, while the TV-overlay displays the teammate as entering the pits. If the view is kept unchanged, then the TV overlay will display a string of cars as entering the pits, all of them incorrect. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
J.2. - Overlays/skybox messages at intermediate timing spots sometimes display garbled text. Also there seems to be no way to switch them off. Recreated on, but not limited to, GeForce 3 Ti500, driver version 23.11, Windows XP Home Ed. No known workaround. Medium/Hard to reproduce.
J.3. - Sometimes the game will post wrong lap/qual times in the skybox messages. The time can both be way off the time set and impossible to do, like 1786.33.326. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
J.4. - Sometimes the game will post wrong lap/qual times in the skybox messages - specific variant! Skybox messages show a new fastest lap/pole time set by player A, but it displays the wrong lap time - the one just beaten. The displaying of the beaten pole time, seems only to happen when the player beats a pole time he himself has set previously. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
J.5. - It would be useful to be able to switch off the skybox messages at intermediate and full lap time spots, since the player can see the relevant information on the LCD display of the steering wheel while in helmet cam. Also some people that race in T-cam view find that the popping up of the skybox messages breaks their concentration during qualifing laps. Easy to reproduce.
J.6. - If Imperial units are selected in the "menu setup", then speed is shown in Miles Per Hour (MPH). If the player then watches a replay with TV overlays on, then the speed measured in the speed traps is displayed in the TV overlays in Kilometers Per Hour (KPH). No workaround. Very easy to recreate.
J.7. - When racing in rainy conditions, the red rear light of cars in front shows through the overlays.
K. Graphical glitches
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K.1. - Brake discs constantly glow red on several cars at long distances, even while not braking. The bug is observable in the TV-trackside camera view when the car is seen from the front. It is the upper and frontmost part of the brake disc that glows. It happens on Williams, Sauber, Prost and Arrows cars. The other cars display no such problems. No workaround. Very easy to recreate.
K.2. - Wheels not connecting properly to ground. Sometimes the wheel of cars, viewed in external modes, looks like the go below the tarmac. Sometimes they also seem to float in mid air. Only some tracks have this problem, and it can be observed at the same places every time the player tries to do so. (COULD WE HAVE SOME EXAMPLES OF TRACKS AND CORNERS PLEASE??). No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
K.3. - At Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium you can see straight into the Prost garage from the trackside shot when a car either in the pitlane or a garage is selected. Either the wall isn't there, or it mistakenly goes translucent. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
K.4. - Heat haze makes distant cars and objects go transparant and hence disappear and reappear. It does not seem to be releated to any specific graphics card. Workaround: Disable heat haze. Very easy to reproduce.
K.5. - When racing with race distance set to 100%, suddenly all of the trackmarks (the burned rubber from wheelspin and skidmarks etc.) disappears. The track is clean again and no new marks are added. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
K.6. - It has been observed once, that under wet conditions in Monaco Mika Häkkinen's McLaren had a long streak coming out of the back of his car. A possible reason could be a texture bleed or a texture that was misplaced by the graphics engine. The bug stayed for the duration of the race. No workaround. Very hard to reproduce.
K.7. - When the pit crew pushes cars back into the pit, they sometimes disappear and later reappear from the helmet cam view, when they should be in clear view. Possibly linked to the pit crews ability to walk through cars. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
K.8. - Sometimes marshalls vanish from the back of damaged/destroyed cars they're are pushing, only to re-appear at the side of the track and run after the car. The car is still being pushed, but now by an invisible force and not by the marshall. Even though the marshalls catch up with the car, they give up completely when they get there. Observered at Imola in particular. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
K.9. - Rain drops show up on the visor, when the car is indoors, for instance in the garage. Rain drops stop hitting the visor while driving in the tunnel at Monaco, like they should. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
K.10. - When the auto-director is activated with the "Keypad 0/Ins" key it is possible to produce strange results. Wait for the director to go to TV trackside viewing mode, and then switch to T-cam with the "Keypad 6/right arrow" key, and not only is the visor visible from the T-cam (if it is enabled), the car is visibly running 20cm below the tarmac surface. Workaround: change camera view. Very easy to reproduce.
L. Hotseat mode
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L.1. - If it is the second players turn, and the first was in the pits when play was handed over, the mirrors on the car are not updated properly. The car changes and it is placed in the correct garage, yet the mirrors will display the previous pit crew men and garage. Workaround: Press "esc" key to go to menu system, then re-enter to the track. Medium/hard to recreate (sometimes dont work).
L.2. - In Qualifying, when you change player, while viewing the drop down monitor in the pits, it displays the wrong laptimes/drivers. Workaround: Press "esc" key to go to menu system, then re-enter to the track. Medium to recreate.
L.3. - When viewing replays on hotseat mode, the replay sometimes shows something that didn't happen. For instance, a stunning hotlap can be transformed into a crash. If replay mode is exited, then the player is dropped into the action that was displayed wrongly in the replay. In effect this bug changes the past and thereby changes the present. This bug was also in GP2, GP3 and GP3 2000 for the normal replay system. It has yet to be found in the non-hotlap replay system. No workaround. Medium/hard to recreate.
L.4. - The car of the second player does not start with a new plank, but keeps the one of the first player. Thus if the previous player wore his plank into the red, the new player will start with a worn out plank. No workaround. Easy (???) to recreate.
M. Tracks (needs more work!!!)
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PLEASE NOTE: The following section maps properties of objects on the track that possible have been done incorrectly. There are two main codes to take note of: Uncertain (may not be correctly reported or maybe it is so by design) and Concrete/tarmac/kerb areas acting like grass. The term "slip roads" is used for any tarmac that links from the track proper to the barriers and this includes old parts of tracks too. Monaco is as yet untested! All other tracks seem to have no problems. BUT all tracks could use further testing and precise location of any problem. NO WORKAROUNDS!! REPRODUCTION METHOD FOR ALL: Just drive over the selected spot.
Colour coded as well...(green for normal - yellow for unsure - red for concrete areas acting like grass)
M.1. - Brazil/Interlagos - paved areas with red and white stripes acted like grass, possibly intentional. All other slip roads OK.
M.2. - Austria/A1-ring - There is a dispute about grasscrete on the A1-Ring, especially corner 1. First of all when where they installed? And secondly some grasscrete acted like grass while other's didn't. What should they be like in season 2001? All other slip roads OK
M.3. - Canada/Montréal - ALL concrete slip roads behaved like grass, which cannot be correct. - The second last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, before the hairpin, lacks a run off kerb. There should be one. - At the last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, the green tarmac produces a rumble effect like it was a kerb. It should not do so. Furthermore it is the wrong shape.
M.4. - Germany/Hockenheim - Nordkurve: Asphalt following rumble strip, and road leading off on right after Nordkurve behaves like grass. - Jim Clark Schikane: Both alternative roads behave like grass. Also at the Jim Clark Schikane on the right hand side at the end of the chicane, there is supposed to be a kerb. When players car drives over this spot, it sounds like there is a kerb and the physics respond to it. It is possibly that the curb is there but lacks a texture. - Bremskurve 1 Old line of track behaves like grass. - Stadium section: road leading off on right just before Agipkurve, the drag strip and road leading off to right just before Opelkurve behaves like grass. All other slip roads are okay.
M.5. - Hungary/Hungaroring - Wide road with double white lines down the middle, somewhere near (after) corner 10 behaves like grass. All other slip roads okay.
M.6. - USA/Indianapolis - All slip roads seem okay, BUT a MAGNETI MARELLI patch on the inside of the slowest hairpin to be seems placed too high, since the car can get partially submerged in it. Possibly intentional.
M.7. - Japan/Suzuka - Wide slip road on right just before the first corner behaves like grass. - Degner Curve has two slip roads just before it on the right, that behave like grass. - Under Bridge - slip road on the right side ONLY, behaves like grass. The slip road on left side is okay. - Back straight (over bridge) superbike "pitlanes", behave like grass. - At the Casio Triangle (last chicane) - two slip roads on left side just before the corner, behave like grass. - Concrete under pit boxes alongside starting grid, behaves like grass. - All other slip roads seem okay.
T. NEEDS TESTING/CONFIRMATION
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T.1. - It has been reported that 3D Hardware sound on SBLive! 5.1 stutters and jerks. Also, the same card and audigy cards have been reported to have poor stereo sound in T-cam view. Could someone please test/confirm this, as it could be a driver specific issue, and not a direct bug in the game code.
T.2. - German translation seems very poor. It doesn't properly reflect that germans use a number of directly imported english terms when talking about F1. For instance: "Intermediate 1" into "Mittel 1". Easy to reproduce. Could some of the german speaking forum users set their game lnaguage to german, and confirm this, and perhaps elaborate a bit?
T.3. - Computer cars can sometimes drive through walls. This is NOT the garage walls. Noticed whilst forcing opponents to the outside. Instead of letting off and falling behind they accelerated and the cars simply went through the walls. No work around. Not easy to recreate, since most of the time they do hit the wall. Could we get a track name, as it might be a missing property on one of the walls. And that would make it to a track specific bug.
T.4. - Some people have reported serious stutters/lock ups at several tracks. This IS NOT a problem that is caused by PO going over 100%. We need more information on this, and currently it seems to be related to drivers. It has been suggested using drivers made for the actual chipset on the card - that probably means look at your manufacturers website (probable cause of problem) and drivers made for the specific chipset (GF 256, GF2 MX, GF2 GTS and so on)! Could we have some more testing on this, or better yet, a confirmation that a change of drivers for GFX card is a fix?
Preliminary list (see in game track maps for turn numbering):
Melbourne - turn 7
Sepang - after turn 8
Interlagos - turn 7
Imola - down to turn 6 (very slight freeze)
Barcelona - turn 8
A1-Ring - turn 4 (very slight freeze)
Monte Carlo - no freezes
Montreal - after turn 8 (very slight freeze)
Nurburgring - turn 7
Magny-Cours - before turn 5
Silverstone - before turn 8
Hockenheim - after turn 6 (very slight freeze) - there's a graphic
bug on the track afterwards.
Hungaroring - before turn 6
Spa - after turn 7 (very slight freeze)
Monza - turn 7 (slight freeze)
Indianapolis - before turn 8
Suzuka - turn 8
T.5. - Is it true that, if the player hits the barrier at turn 1 at SPA fast enough, the car goes right through it, and the game crashes to desktop?
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End of List!
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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
- Purpose: If we want a quality patch for GP4, we better go bug hunting ASAP. Chances are that the production of patches will stop after a couple of months if not weeks, so the more bugs we find now, the less we will be stuck with later. We aim to provide Infogrames/the GPx-team as potent a tool as we can for the patch production. The final objective is to get the best patch possible. Infogrames has been informed of our efforts. I have asked for an address to send the list to, and for a deadline, so that the list can be incorporated into the patch production. There has been no reply yet, though. If anyone has a reliable contact inside Infogrames please contact me by e-mail, so we can gain a more reliable way of communicating with Infogrames/GPx-team.
- New organization: Every bug has a code now! That way we will all know when we are talking about which bugs. The code for the bugs is generated by the letter that the header it is found under has, and the number in the sequence the bug is listed under that header.
A. Performance- and hardware specific issues
B. General Menu system, Videos and controllers
C. Track menu system and track maps (needs more work!!!)
D. Season 2001 cars and drivers
E. Car damage and physics model
F. Pit stops, pit crews and marshalls
G. Car setup Menu
H. Telemetry menu and traces
I. Steering wheel and LCD display
J. In game overlays
K. Graphical glitches
L. Hotseat mode
M. Tracks (needs more work!!!)
T. NEEDS TESTING/CONFIRMATION
So bug A.2. would be the "WinXP won't start/crash to desktop issues". My way of ordering these bugs might not strike you as logical, so if there is a bug that you cannot find, look under related headers. I might have lost track of a bug or two in the process. If you feel that a bug that has been reported is missing, please speak up! Either I will add it, or I will explain why it was left out.
- How to use: When you report a bug, be as clear as possible on how it shows itself, how easy it is to reproduce and how this is done, and what the effects are, and if there is a workaround. If the tech dudes have to stumble around blindly in the code, or they can't reproduce the problem, chances are that it will be discarded in a cost/benefit analysis. So the better we work now, the higher the chances of getting the bug fixed. Bugs can be software/hardware specific. This list focuses on general code flaws, not dirver or hardware conflicts of a complex nature. If you have such a bug, Infogrames helpesk/support will be of much better use! REMEMBER: to check whether your bug has been reported or not, and if you report sheds new light on the bug in question! This is not a feature list. So don't even ask for a Safety Car
.- Warez: Do not report bugs that come from any other version than the retail version of GP4. Warez are not only illegal, they often increase the amout of bugs in a game. Be sure that you have observed the bug in the retail version, and that all the details in the report comes from the retail version
- Don't be a Jackass: DON'T send this list to Infogrames. The list is not finished, and we cannot say that our work is done. If 10 different versions of this list begin floating around at Infogrames it will add to the confusion and undermine the credability of this list. It will be sent in when it is ready and NOT BY YOU! Do not screw around, start fights or spam post about how bad GP4, Infogrames, Crammond, and so on, are. It will only serve to undermine our teamwork and make it harder for small bandwidth users to access this thread. I am preparing to organize a public strategy session in the near future, so stay tuned.
- Other efforts: You might want to check out the online petition currently organized by Stuart Ferris and Cmspodwy on this very forum. The typing force behind this list has made his opinions clear about that cause elsewhere on this forum, and they do not need to be repeated. There can be given pro's and con's, and signing up is a matter of choice. BUT, I would like to add, that we are a coordinated effort, and I think that members of this community should at the very least form an opinion about the issues they have raised.
- Contact information: Post here or send e-mail to Morbid@mail.dk
- Thanks: To all of you who report bugs either on this forum and to my email adress. You made this list happen! Thanks those that have supported and encouraged this initiative. Thanks also to those that started all this a long long time ago. You know who you are! Thanks to PCGamer's Ross Atherton, aka MeanMM, for some very sound advice three months ago, and to PCGamer's Trevor Witt for being at the right place at the right time.
- Special thanks: To Doug Hillard for pulling a superhuman testing session with little warning and time. The entire tracks section is mostly his work! So is the core of trackmap section, plus a number of other bug reports. And to Vader for spending the night proofreading and editing my confused and cloudy typing!
There are 85 issues with code numbers, but since their are 5 on the test list, and the track section is a collection of many issues, we have passed well beyond 100. There can't be that many bugs left to hunt down. So lets nail the rest of them and get these reports as fine polished as we can.
Happy hunting! Lets get this patch rolling!!!
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Bug list draft version 2.01
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A. Performance- and hardware specific issues
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A.1. - Performance is noticeably worse in WinXP. This has been confirmed by a number of people with dual boot systems. Workaround: Use other OS than WinXP. If that is not an option then no workaround/fix is currently known. Easy to reproduce.
A.2. - WinXP systems seem more prone to not wanting to run the game at all and to give crashes to desktop. Workaround: Use other OS than WinXP. If that is not an option then no workaround/fix is currently known. Medium to reproduce.
A.3. - Select no acceleration in sound options at control panel. Start GP4 and let it recalibrate sound setup, and make sure that 2d and 3d sound are deselected. After that you get a 2-10 FPS increase, which is the opposite of what should happen. Hardware acceleration should not give higher processor workloads! The bug can be recreated in WinXP, Win2k and WinMe, but has yet to be reproduced in Win98. Confirmed on several different systems, and also confirmed for SB-Live cards and other cards. The bug does not seem to be related to sound card and drivers. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
A.4. - The first calibration/test of graphics in a GP4 sessions is accompanied by an access to the hard drive, while subsequent calibrations/tests are not, even if values are altered. As a result the initial calibration of graphics and the first graphics test in any session returns to low recommended FPS values. Later attempts at calibration/test of graphics returns a noticeably higher recommended FPS value even if values are changed. No workaround, except what is mentioned above. Very easy to recreate.
A.5. - Processor occupancy tool dramatically increases PO. Also keeping the "O" key depressed while running the calibration/test of graphics procedure results in a noticeably reduced recommended FPS - approx 15-20% reduction. It is hard to imagine that monitoring Processor occupancy is supposed to take up so much CPU power. It has been confirmed that on some systems skybox messages give disproportional higher processor workloads. The increased PO that arises when using the PO monitoring utility may be related to the way skybox messages are rendered. Workaround: Do not use PO tool during calibration/graphics test and use it as little as possible while gaming. Very easy to reproduce.
A.6. - Mirrors do not seem to work at all on Voodoo cards. Confirmed on Voodoo 3 and Voodoo 5 cards. No workaround. Easy to reproduce
A.7. - The game sometimes locks up when set to accelerated time. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
B. General Menu system, Videos and controllers
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B.1. - The in game videos stutter. Possibly due to excessive hard disk accessing during playback. Confirmed on several different systems with varying configurations of hardware and software. Has been report not to be present on an minimum spec system. We need to test if this can be cured with a defrag of hard drives!!! No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
B.2. - When selecting a championship season, the game doesn't update the track selected in the main menu. As a result, the track name displayed in the championship season mode is that which was selected in the main menu before championship season was activated. The game does use the proper track for the event itself, only the displayed name is wrong. Workaround: Select the correct track manually before entering championship season mode. Very easy to reproduce.
B.3. - There is no popup text help for launch control in the driving aids menu. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
B.4. - The popup text help for Traction Control is wrong. It states that Traction Control does not work performance enhancing like the banned traction control. Traction control was reintroduced in 2001 and thus not banned anymore, besides Traction Control DOES work performance enhancing in game.
B.5. - After selecting and calibrating a wheel as input controller when some other device had been selected previously, the "disable joysticks in menu" option is not updated. As a consequence the selection highlight flips around across the menu system. Has been recreated with Microsoft Wheels set to separate axis for accel/brake. Workaround: Enter "Workshop", "Utilities", "Menu Setup" and the option updates itself. Very easy to reproduce.
B.6. - Digital Joypads are not recognized when they are used with the game for the first time, thus it cannot be calibrated properly. Workaround: Setup the controller, then restart Grand Prix 4, and the controller works as intended. Very easy to reproduce.
B.7. - It has been reported that when "Force Feedback" is enabled in the game for Logitech Wingman Force 3D joysticks, the game wrongly activates force feedback effects. As a consequence the joystick jerks violently on the "left/right" axis on the starting grid, until the lights go green. After the lights go green the force feedback works as intended. This bug was also present in Grand Prix 3. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
B.8. - If you edit a name for a custom controller set, the game does not rememeber that name when the game is restarted, even though it remembers the controller setup configuration. Workaround: reload the saved configuration. Very easy reproduce.
B.9. - The game code conflicts with Thrustmaster Thrustmapper software. It will not start when this is running in the background. If it is disabled the game starts up fine. Workaround: Eject the CD at the SafeDisc splash screen. This will get your system to prompt you to insert the CD. Do so, and the game starts up fine, WITH the Thrustmaster Thrustmapper software running in the background. Medium to reproduce.
B.10. - It has been reported, that after a 100% lap race a Monza, the lap chart broke down. Several cars are being shown to have finished the race a few laps behind the lead lap, as they should. This is shown by a filled box at the end of the trace for each driver. When the traces for these drivers were highlighted, the boxes jumped around on the lap chart. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
C. Track menu system and track maps (needs more work!!!)
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Note: If you continue the work on the trackmaps, please be absolutely sure that you are using an proper trackmap for 2001 as reference. Corners often change name from one year to the next, even if the layout stays the same. WWW.FORIX.COM is a good place to look.
C.1. - The corner number buttons on the track map in the "track information" menu do not work correctly. Half of them light up in white, when the cursor is placed over them. The other half do not respond. For instance, buttons 1, 2 and 9 at Imola do not respond, whereas all the others do. Also the corner number buttons do not seem to serve any purpose. Was it intended that a clicking on the buttons would bring up the information in the corner of the information list on the left of the screen? No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.2. - Australia trackmap. The corner buttons have the wrong sequence on the trackmap. The trackmap begins with corner numbers 15 and 16, and proceeds in the correct sequence with corner number 1. The information in the sidebar in some entries reflects the correct stats/names for the correct corner number sequence and some entries do not. Thus what is listed as corner 15 can be read as corner 1, but it has the wrong name. It would be prudent not to trust any of the entries for this trackmap. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.3. - Brazil trackmap. Corners 8, 9 and 10 have the wrong names. The following is what the are called and what should be called seperated by a "/". Corner 8: Pinheirinho/Laranja, Corner 9: Laranja/Pinheirinho, Corner 10: Laranja/Cotovêlo. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.4. - Spain trackmap. The trackmap for Spain is incorrect. It shows the 1994 layout, whereas the track in the game is of newer and correct layout. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.5. - Spain trackmap. Corners 7 through 9 are all called Seat. This is incorrect. Corner 9 is called Würth. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.6. - Austria trackmap. Corners 6 through 8 are all called Niki Lauda. This is incorrect. Corner 7 is Gerhard Berger and Corner 8 is Power Horse. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.7. - Germany trackmap. The first chicane complex is called Jim Clark Kurve. The real name is Jim Clark Schikane. The Ayrton Senna chicane complex has the same error. Buttons 5 and 6 are called Ostkurve. This is incorrect. The real name is Bremskurve 1. Button 7 is the wrong place, but has the correct name: Ostkurve. It should be above and to the right of button 5 forming a triangle with button 6. Therefore there is also a missing button for the first part of the Ayrton Senna chicane complex. Furthermore Corner 10 is also called Ayrton Senna Kurve, when its name is Agipkurve. Corner 12 is called Agip Kurve when it should be Opelkurve. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
C.8. - Belgium Trackmap. Corner 12 in the infobar has a broken layout-script and typos. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
D. Season 2001 cars and drivers
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D.1. - Alex Yoong has the wrong helmet in the game. He has been given Tarso Marques' helmet. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
D.2. - The BAR cars have swapped numbers. In the game Jacques Villeneuve car has number 9 and Olivier Panis has number 10. In the actual entry list for the F1 season 2001, Jacques Villeneuve's car was entered as number 10 and Olivier Panis' car as number 9. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
D.3. - It would seem that Alex Yoong and Fernando Alonso have swapped performance. Third party performance editors for Grand prix 4 confirm this. Alex Yoong was the slowest of the Minardi drivers in that season, yet he is consistently racing in p17 and p18, while Alonso in p21 and p22. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
E. Car damage and physics model
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E.1. - It is possible for the AI cars to roll right over, land on wheels and then continue to race normally. No F1 car could possibly do that. No workaround. Medium to recreate.
E.2. - The right front wheel disappears at random and unprovoked both for player and AI cars. Physics do respond to the bug, and the car behaves as it should with 3 wheels. So it is not only a graphics bug. It does not happen very often. It can happen in any game mode at any location on the track, even during pit stops. Returning to pits with shift-Q does fixes makes the physics model operate with 4 wheels again, but the wheel is still graphically missing. Workaround: Activate the replay function. Hit F5 for a short rewind and let the replay play to the end, and the wheel returns both in the replay and in game. Alternate workaround. Exit to menu with "Esc" and rejoin the game. Hard to reproduce. Shift-Q and lap 1 bug are seperate bugs.
E.3. - After a crash that damages the car, them when you are put back into the pits by a marshall or player uses Shift-Q, the repair car routine doesn't always work properly. The damage model is updated, but the graphics are not. Hence, the car still looks damaged. Workaround: Activate the replay function. Hit F5 for a short rewind and let the replay play to the end, and the wheel returns both in the replay and in game. Alternate workaround: Exit to menu with "Esc" and rejoin the game. Medium to reproduce.
E.4. - When you damage/destroy your front wing/nosecone and pit to change it, it is magically repaired a split second before it is changed by the pit crew. Thus, no matter how much damage you have inflicted on you front wing/nosecone, the pit crew always remove a brand new front wing/nosecone and replace it with a brand new front wing/nosecone. Damage inflicted on the front wing/nosecone should show on the front wing/nosecone that is removed by the pit crew. The same applies to the rear wing, although this is hard to reproduce, since it is harder to lose the rear wing and be able to limp back to the pits. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
E.5. - When cars lose the front wing the grip still seems a little to high, like the physics model doesn't remove enough downforce from the missing wing. It is still possible to take several high speed corners flat out. The problem is even more apparant with Traction Control on. Then it is possible to keep up with the AI cars for several laps with a completely destroyed nosecone (done at Australia by at least two persons, one of them on Ace difficulty). The seemingly high downforce on the front which is made clear by shedding the front wing might be linked to the low front ride height traces in H.3. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
E.6. - More like a feature suggestion. The pit crews are able to fix some kinds of damage that they should not be able to, like a blown engine. It would be preferable if the pit crew couldn't do this.
F. Pit stops, pit crews and marshalls
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F.1. - When player selects used tyres from the steering wheel the tyre menu displays the amount of laps the tyre has been used in hex-decimal. For instance 26 laps is displayed as 1a. When the tyre is selected and the player returns to the main menu on the steering wheel the number of laps driven is displayed correctly. It happens consistently in all game modes where the player has access to used tyres in the pits. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
F.2. - When two AI cars of the same team enter the pits within seconds of each other, in any other mode than a race mode, they become stuck in front of the garage. The pit crew does not come to collect the cars, even though the front car is in the correct position. Hence they are both stuck until the end of the session. It happens in free practice, warmup, qualify. Observed at Nürburgring. It is very likely that the bug is not related to any specific track. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
F.3. - When the player or AI cars enter the pits and are parked in front of the garage waiting to be pushed back, and the team mate is in the garage, it is possible for the team mate's car to leave the pits and drive right through the car waiting to be pushed back into the garage. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.4. - A joystick user has reported that the pit crew will only push him back into the garage if his joystick is in "accelerate" position. Furthermore he is able to control how fast (or not) the pit crew push the player back into the garage. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.5. - Sometimes when pushing a car back into the garage, the crew push it one way and then it magically slides into the right place just at the last second. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
F.6. - Sometimes the pit crew will not let player/AI car go from the pit stop. Happens only in race mode. As a result the car is stuck forever. When the teammate pulls in for a pit stop later in the race, he will park behind you and wait for his his turn to be serviced. Thus the race can never end since the two cars will never cross the finish line. And even if they could the race is pretty much destroyed anyway. The bug can happen on any track, and on any lap. It happens very often when entering the pits on lap 1, and very rarely on other laps. Workaround: Do not pit on lap 1. If problem happens anyway, there is no fix. Easy (for lap 1)/hard (for any other lap) to reproduce.
F.7. - In Practice/Qualifying/Warmup sessions when leaving the garage, the pitcrew man standing in the pitlane gives the driver the all clear when he wants to exit the garage. The AI cars do not wait for this signal and drive out as soon as they get lowered off the jack. Furthermore there seem to be a different routine in the code that prevents AI accidents in the pit lane. Also, the signals the pit crew give to the player cannot be trusted, since they eventually do lead to pit-lane collisions. Workaround: If you suspect that another car is coming down the pit lane, use keys "x" and "c" to make sure that the coast is clear. Very easy to reproduce. Second part medium/hard to reproduce.
F.8. - Garage wall bug. You can drive through the garage walls. Likewise the pit crew can push your car through the walls, and they can themselves walk through walls. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
F.9. - Sometimes when the player has an accident and is pushed by a marshall, this marshall will be transported with the players car to the pits, if the player presses Shift-Q while the marshall is pushing. Workaround: Currently there is only one. Push the marshall with your car until you have room to steer around him. The marshall will stay there for the rest of the session. Medium to reproduce.
F.10. - AI cars suddenly gain the ability to drive through other cars. Example: Car B comes into the pit lane and sees Car A blocking some of the road, waiting to be pushed back in. Car B stops and waits. As soon as the crew even start to push car A, car B drives on with the ability to drive through any car. Possible reason: The code makes the AI car stop some distance away from the stationary car, and then as soon as the stationary car has begun to be pushed the AI declares it a null object and doesn't act around it anymore - ergo, you have cars driving through others. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.11. - Sometimes the marshalls forget to leave the track after they have cleaned up an accident. The yellow flag zone does go away but the marshalls continue to stand by the track side for the remaining duration of the race. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
F.12. - Not so much a bug this one as a poorly thought out feature. In the last part of the final lap of any race, the marshalls run out and wave blue/green and white flags. This is a problem since players have no way of knowing if cars behind them are about to lap them if they are in any other view than helmet cam. In helmet cam the blue flag can be checked in the sterring wheel. This players racing in other views than helmet cam can be tricked by the marshalls to give up positions that are rightfully theirs. In real F1 races the flags are waved in the victory lap. Maybe it would be better to restrict the marshalls victory flag waving to beyond the start/finish line. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
F.13. - Entire pit crews have been reported to be able to disappear entirely. It was observed that four wheels, two jacks, a lollypop sing and a fuel hose levitated out of the Minardi garage to service the car at the pit stop. Clearly the pit crew was invisible. Best recreated at Spa-Francorchamps, and has been observed there several times. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
G. Car Setup Menu
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G.1. - The slider buttons on the 2 pit stop slider in the setup screen do not work properly. Workaround: Use the slider to decrease, and decrease button to increase. Very easy to reproduce.
G.2. - A crash "setup level 1 and 2 menu" bug, that gives player access to unintended setup values, and to get physics engine to operate with these values. It is also possible to get the game operating with values which are different from the values shown in the setup menu - hereafter named "hidden values". How to reproduce: deselect symmetrical editing. Adjust front right spring value to a higher value than the left. Go back to track and race some laps. Extract telemetry. View telemetry. Return to setup menu and select symmetrical editing. Change any value in setup menu 1 and 2 except springs. Go back to track and race some laps. Extract telemetry. View telemetry. Now the menu crash should appear, although it is currently unknown if it does. If the menu is crashed it is now possible to select unintended spring settings using the slider, for instance 830 lbs. Furthermore adjusting any packer, damper and front spring setting causes the game to operate with hidden values. Use the slider to increase or decrease values. Hold left mouse button pressed while does so. To reveal hidden value, either return to pit options menu, and go back to setup level 1 and 2. The hidden value is revealed - for instance packers where set to 2mm but are now 26mm. Or just select decrease value with the buttons starting with right rear or right front. If you select rear right then decrease rear left setting with buttons and hidden value is revealed. Same procedure can be applied to increase right rear/left rear and to increase/decrease right front/left front. A very serious bug since it totally undermines the flow of actions of which the gameplay revolves for the gamer that creates his own setups, since the player can never be quite sure what setup his car is using. It also undermines the credability of gathered telemetry. I will attempt to write a better description, and need more info as soon as possible. Workaround: Deselect symmetrical editing and reselect symmetrical editing. Game will no longer use Hidden values nor will it allow unintended values. Medium/hard to reproduce.
H. Telemetry menu and traces
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H.1. - Zooming in vertically on the traces in the telemetry menu produces a large grey box in the lower left corner of the screen. The bug only appears when going directly from track to fetch telemetry and the view telemetry. Workaround: Exit telemetry screen and go to setup menu level 1 and 2. Go back to telemetry viewing and bug is gone. Very easy to reproduce.
H.2. - In the telemetry view screen, track distance is displayed in feet despite selecting Metric system in the menu setup. This is perhaps not a bug. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
H.3. - The ride height and available suspension travel traces are suspect/broken. Right rear: ride height and travel seem okay. Left rear: ride height is okay, but available travel is broken. Right front ride height seems broken, and travel is broken. It can display a value of 15mm left when ride height is zero. How can ride height be zero, and furthermore how can you have 15mm available suspension travel when ride height is zero? Should the tyre go through and below the tarmac? Observed at RTL kurve @ Nürburgring. Left front ride height seems okay, but available travel is broken as it almost always shows zero/very low values regardless of ride height and packers. Telemetry problems seem localized to ride height and available suspension travel only. The rest are okay. A very serious bug since it totally undermines the flow of actions of which the gameplay revolves for the gamer that creates his own setups. Also, it becomes impossible to use the advice and procedures suggested in the GPaedia. I will attempt to write a better description, and need more info as soon as possible. The broken/low ride heights might be linked to bug E.5. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
H.4. When entering the telemtry view screen directly from the track, after fetching data, the telemetry window "forgets" the zoom levels that have previously been set, even though the sliders display the selected zoom levels. Workaround: Do not enter directly to this screen - go to setup menus first, then go to the telemetry view window. Alternate workaround: Click once on the slider to refresh the window - WARNING: this alternate workaround might be what triggers the crash setup menu to get unintended and hidden values, if symmetrical setup is deselected!!! Easy to reproduce.
I. Steering wheel and LCD display
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I.1. - If a car has a mechanical failure, it will be displayed on the steering wheel as normal. For example "Loose Wheel". If another driver has a failure later in the race it will display BOTH failures on his wheel. It will have, for example, "loose Wheel" (from the car before) and "engine problem" (the real failure). The two failures texts will be written over each other, which makes the text very hard to read. No workaround. Easy/Medium to reproduce.
I.2. - The player starts in his own car if he has selected a driver. Otherwise he starts in the lead AI car. If the car, that players point of view starts in, when he enters the track, is going to have a mechanical failure, then the left yellow led on the steering wheel is activated on all cars. Hence the player always knows if he will have a failure. Link to failures is possibly not correct - see next bug. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
I.3. - Sometimes right yellow led is lit from the start of the track session. Reason unknown. No workaround. Very hard to reproduce.
I.4. - Sometimes the green rev counter leds on the steering wheel go out when they should not. It is single leds that go out, not the whole string. It can happen to any of the 4 green leds, and in any game mode. Seems to happen more often when, but is not limited to, traction control is activated. Has not been observed in AI controlled cars. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
J. In game overlays
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J.1. - When a car enters the pits in a race, and the point of view is set to any other car in TV-trackside camera view, the TV overlays displays wrong names. At first the correct name is displayed in the skybox, while the TV-overlay displays the teammate as entering the pits. If the view is kept unchanged, then the TV overlay will display a string of cars as entering the pits, all of them incorrect. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
J.2. - Overlays/skybox messages at intermediate timing spots sometimes display garbled text. Also there seems to be no way to switch them off. Recreated on, but not limited to, GeForce 3 Ti500, driver version 23.11, Windows XP Home Ed. No known workaround. Medium/Hard to reproduce.
J.3. - Sometimes the game will post wrong lap/qual times in the skybox messages. The time can both be way off the time set and impossible to do, like 1786.33.326. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
J.4. - Sometimes the game will post wrong lap/qual times in the skybox messages - specific variant! Skybox messages show a new fastest lap/pole time set by player A, but it displays the wrong lap time - the one just beaten. The displaying of the beaten pole time, seems only to happen when the player beats a pole time he himself has set previously. No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
J.5. - It would be useful to be able to switch off the skybox messages at intermediate and full lap time spots, since the player can see the relevant information on the LCD display of the steering wheel while in helmet cam. Also some people that race in T-cam view find that the popping up of the skybox messages breaks their concentration during qualifing laps. Easy to reproduce.
J.6. - If Imperial units are selected in the "menu setup", then speed is shown in Miles Per Hour (MPH). If the player then watches a replay with TV overlays on, then the speed measured in the speed traps is displayed in the TV overlays in Kilometers Per Hour (KPH). No workaround. Very easy to recreate.
J.7. - When racing in rainy conditions, the red rear light of cars in front shows through the overlays.
K. Graphical glitches
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K.1. - Brake discs constantly glow red on several cars at long distances, even while not braking. The bug is observable in the TV-trackside camera view when the car is seen from the front. It is the upper and frontmost part of the brake disc that glows. It happens on Williams, Sauber, Prost and Arrows cars. The other cars display no such problems. No workaround. Very easy to recreate.
K.2. - Wheels not connecting properly to ground. Sometimes the wheel of cars, viewed in external modes, looks like the go below the tarmac. Sometimes they also seem to float in mid air. Only some tracks have this problem, and it can be observed at the same places every time the player tries to do so. (COULD WE HAVE SOME EXAMPLES OF TRACKS AND CORNERS PLEASE??). No workaround. Easy to reproduce.
K.3. - At Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium you can see straight into the Prost garage from the trackside shot when a car either in the pitlane or a garage is selected. Either the wall isn't there, or it mistakenly goes translucent. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
K.4. - Heat haze makes distant cars and objects go transparant and hence disappear and reappear. It does not seem to be releated to any specific graphics card. Workaround: Disable heat haze. Very easy to reproduce.
K.5. - When racing with race distance set to 100%, suddenly all of the trackmarks (the burned rubber from wheelspin and skidmarks etc.) disappears. The track is clean again and no new marks are added. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
K.6. - It has been observed once, that under wet conditions in Monaco Mika Häkkinen's McLaren had a long streak coming out of the back of his car. A possible reason could be a texture bleed or a texture that was misplaced by the graphics engine. The bug stayed for the duration of the race. No workaround. Very hard to reproduce.
K.7. - When the pit crew pushes cars back into the pit, they sometimes disappear and later reappear from the helmet cam view, when they should be in clear view. Possibly linked to the pit crews ability to walk through cars. No workaround. Medium to reproduce.
K.8. - Sometimes marshalls vanish from the back of damaged/destroyed cars they're are pushing, only to re-appear at the side of the track and run after the car. The car is still being pushed, but now by an invisible force and not by the marshall. Even though the marshalls catch up with the car, they give up completely when they get there. Observered at Imola in particular. No workaround. Hard to reproduce.
K.9. - Rain drops show up on the visor, when the car is indoors, for instance in the garage. Rain drops stop hitting the visor while driving in the tunnel at Monaco, like they should. No workaround. Very easy to reproduce.
K.10. - When the auto-director is activated with the "Keypad 0/Ins" key it is possible to produce strange results. Wait for the director to go to TV trackside viewing mode, and then switch to T-cam with the "Keypad 6/right arrow" key, and not only is the visor visible from the T-cam (if it is enabled), the car is visibly running 20cm below the tarmac surface. Workaround: change camera view. Very easy to reproduce.
L. Hotseat mode
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L.1. - If it is the second players turn, and the first was in the pits when play was handed over, the mirrors on the car are not updated properly. The car changes and it is placed in the correct garage, yet the mirrors will display the previous pit crew men and garage. Workaround: Press "esc" key to go to menu system, then re-enter to the track. Medium/hard to recreate (sometimes dont work).
L.2. - In Qualifying, when you change player, while viewing the drop down monitor in the pits, it displays the wrong laptimes/drivers. Workaround: Press "esc" key to go to menu system, then re-enter to the track. Medium to recreate.
L.3. - When viewing replays on hotseat mode, the replay sometimes shows something that didn't happen. For instance, a stunning hotlap can be transformed into a crash. If replay mode is exited, then the player is dropped into the action that was displayed wrongly in the replay. In effect this bug changes the past and thereby changes the present. This bug was also in GP2, GP3 and GP3 2000 for the normal replay system. It has yet to be found in the non-hotlap replay system. No workaround. Medium/hard to recreate.
L.4. - The car of the second player does not start with a new plank, but keeps the one of the first player. Thus if the previous player wore his plank into the red, the new player will start with a worn out plank. No workaround. Easy (???) to recreate.
M. Tracks (needs more work!!!)
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PLEASE NOTE: The following section maps properties of objects on the track that possible have been done incorrectly. There are two main codes to take note of: Uncertain (may not be correctly reported or maybe it is so by design) and Concrete/tarmac/kerb areas acting like grass. The term "slip roads" is used for any tarmac that links from the track proper to the barriers and this includes old parts of tracks too. Monaco is as yet untested! All other tracks seem to have no problems. BUT all tracks could use further testing and precise location of any problem. NO WORKAROUNDS!! REPRODUCTION METHOD FOR ALL: Just drive over the selected spot.
Colour coded as well...(green for normal - yellow for unsure - red for concrete areas acting like grass)
M.1. - Brazil/Interlagos - paved areas with red and white stripes acted like grass, possibly intentional. All other slip roads OK.
M.2. - Austria/A1-ring - There is a dispute about grasscrete on the A1-Ring, especially corner 1. First of all when where they installed? And secondly some grasscrete acted like grass while other's didn't. What should they be like in season 2001? All other slip roads OK
M.3. - Canada/Montréal - ALL concrete slip roads behaved like grass, which cannot be correct. - The second last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, before the hairpin, lacks a run off kerb. There should be one. - At the last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, the green tarmac produces a rumble effect like it was a kerb. It should not do so. Furthermore it is the wrong shape.
M.4. - Germany/Hockenheim - Nordkurve: Asphalt following rumble strip, and road leading off on right after Nordkurve behaves like grass. - Jim Clark Schikane: Both alternative roads behave like grass. Also at the Jim Clark Schikane on the right hand side at the end of the chicane, there is supposed to be a kerb. When players car drives over this spot, it sounds like there is a kerb and the physics respond to it. It is possibly that the curb is there but lacks a texture. - Bremskurve 1 Old line of track behaves like grass. - Stadium section: road leading off on right just before Agipkurve, the drag strip and road leading off to right just before Opelkurve behaves like grass. All other slip roads are okay.
M.5. - Hungary/Hungaroring - Wide road with double white lines down the middle, somewhere near (after) corner 10 behaves like grass. All other slip roads okay.
M.6. - USA/Indianapolis - All slip roads seem okay, BUT a MAGNETI MARELLI patch on the inside of the slowest hairpin to be seems placed too high, since the car can get partially submerged in it. Possibly intentional.
M.7. - Japan/Suzuka - Wide slip road on right just before the first corner behaves like grass. - Degner Curve has two slip roads just before it on the right, that behave like grass. - Under Bridge - slip road on the right side ONLY, behaves like grass. The slip road on left side is okay. - Back straight (over bridge) superbike "pitlanes", behave like grass. - At the Casio Triangle (last chicane) - two slip roads on left side just before the corner, behave like grass. - Concrete under pit boxes alongside starting grid, behaves like grass. - All other slip roads seem okay.
T. NEEDS TESTING/CONFIRMATION
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T.1. - It has been reported that 3D Hardware sound on SBLive! 5.1 stutters and jerks. Also, the same card and audigy cards have been reported to have poor stereo sound in T-cam view. Could someone please test/confirm this, as it could be a driver specific issue, and not a direct bug in the game code.
T.2. - German translation seems very poor. It doesn't properly reflect that germans use a number of directly imported english terms when talking about F1. For instance: "Intermediate 1" into "Mittel 1". Easy to reproduce. Could some of the german speaking forum users set their game lnaguage to german, and confirm this, and perhaps elaborate a bit?
T.3. - Computer cars can sometimes drive through walls. This is NOT the garage walls. Noticed whilst forcing opponents to the outside. Instead of letting off and falling behind they accelerated and the cars simply went through the walls. No work around. Not easy to recreate, since most of the time they do hit the wall. Could we get a track name, as it might be a missing property on one of the walls. And that would make it to a track specific bug.
T.4. - Some people have reported serious stutters/lock ups at several tracks. This IS NOT a problem that is caused by PO going over 100%. We need more information on this, and currently it seems to be related to drivers. It has been suggested using drivers made for the actual chipset on the card - that probably means look at your manufacturers website (probable cause of problem) and drivers made for the specific chipset (GF 256, GF2 MX, GF2 GTS and so on)! Could we have some more testing on this, or better yet, a confirmation that a change of drivers for GFX card is a fix?
Preliminary list (see in game track maps for turn numbering):
Melbourne - turn 7
Sepang - after turn 8
Interlagos - turn 7
Imola - down to turn 6 (very slight freeze)
Barcelona - turn 8
A1-Ring - turn 4 (very slight freeze)
Monte Carlo - no freezes
Montreal - after turn 8 (very slight freeze)
Nurburgring - turn 7
Magny-Cours - before turn 5
Silverstone - before turn 8
Hockenheim - after turn 6 (very slight freeze) - there's a graphic
bug on the track afterwards.
Hungaroring - before turn 6
Spa - after turn 7 (very slight freeze)
Monza - turn 7 (slight freeze)
Indianapolis - before turn 8
Suzuka - turn 8
T.5. - Is it true that, if the player hits the barrier at turn 1 at SPA fast enough, the car goes right through it, and the game crashes to desktop?
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End of List!
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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
WHEW --- I feel like I have given birth to an baby elephant. I better rest a bit 
It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.
M.3.
The second last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, before the hairpin, lacks a run off kerb
Turns 8 and 9 - don't have a name.
At the last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, the green tarmac produces a rumble effect like it was a kerb
Turns 12 and 13 - don't have a name - can be referred to as Casino Bend.
HISTORIC BTCC VIDEOS
The second last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, before the hairpin, lacks a run off kerb
Turns 8 and 9 - don't have a name.
At the last chicane (can someone please provide a name?) at Canada, the green tarmac produces a rumble effect like it was a kerb
Turns 12 and 13 - don't have a name - can be referred to as Casino Bend.
HISTORIC BTCC VIDEOS
dam thats a big list
anywayz the tiny freezes i get on tracks only happens in race, maybe something to do with the ai?
plus with the wheels going under ground i'll try get some pics..
anywayz the tiny freezes i get on tracks only happens in race, maybe something to do with the ai?
plus with the wheels going under ground i'll try get some pics..
OFF TOPIC
I feel like I have given birth to an baby elephant
You must have a large hole then
I feel like I have given birth to an baby elephant
You must have a large hole then
Morbid,
You (and Vader) deserve everybody's thanks for this. I only hope Infogrames take notice and work with the community to eliminate as many bugs as possible.
I shall be getting my copy tomorrow and hopefully will not have to add to your list.
You (and Vader) deserve everybody's thanks for this. I only hope Infogrames take notice and work with the community to eliminate as many bugs as possible.
I shall be getting my copy tomorrow and hopefully will not have to add to your list.
Absolutely. This is a phenomenal effort, and I for one am VERY grateful, really well done. Let's hope this effort is put to use by Infogrames!
'I reserve the right to contradict myself' - Richey Edwards, 1994.
'I reserve the right to contradict myself' - Richey Edwards, 1994.
hi,
in reply to that bug at spa, hitting a wall fast enough.
i done it, but it wasnt turn 1 :S i done it at a different turn, if u run the game in a window then u can see the error messages (btw, its an iligal op)
in reply to that bug at spa, hitting a wall fast enough.
i done it, but it wasnt turn 1 :S i done it at a different turn, if u run the game in a window then u can see the error messages (btw, its an iligal op)
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