Superfast GP4 ??

can you guys test this, and put here your opinions?

from another forum:

Hello all,
I have a PIII 850 with a Geforce2 32MB, win2000 sp2, Detonator 40.. driver

I play GP4 in 1240*1024 with 26 image/sec all details full mirror full, all full and in the game in Monaco i have a CPU use of 90% (with O in the race)

How to do:

go to the graphic configuration, change the resolution to maximum of your card support, select all details and image to 23-26 sec, you can test the configuration, the game say use 14 sec ? igior it let it at 23-26.

if you have under 14 image or cpu that's not so fast, you can take the resolution to 1024*768 it works nice too, or don't use 26 image but 20

Quit the game, don´t forget to save change when you leave the game.
Go to your game directory gp4, open the f1graphics.cfg with the editor then :

change the value to 0:
[RELEASE] Enable 32bit mode if available NB. If Windowed then is forced to desktop format

and play your superfast gp4

i have only test it on my pc i hope it works too at your computer,

some other, when you go back to your graphic it's write 640*480 but it isn't it



-----------------------------
Virtual-Games.com: [www.virtual-games.com]
Virtual-Games.com Racing Team: [racing.virtual-games.com]

G'day all...

I can't test it right now, but I'd love to see some response to this...

Can you maybe clarify this, which value exactly is set to 0, is it the enable 32 bit mode? If so It's pretty usual to set this to 0 on low end machines anyway, that way you can force 16bit rendering although this really only helps the card somewhat and not the cpu. Also the bit where you mention 640x480, do you mean the in-game graphic config menu? Why would you ask for a test when the f1config.txt is set to 1 (default is 0). Any adjustments you make to the in-game graphics menu are void when the f1config.txt is enabled. Seems a bit strange to me. Anyway I have the auto performance line at 153 and the tested low/tested high lines set at 0. I have similar PO rates on a P2 525mhz with a Geforce3mx400 64mb and det21:83 directx8.1 res at 800x600 cars only in mirrors. oh and in win98se of course. You can't do this in xp or me with machine specs like this ;-/
Nuno can you post the contents of the amended f1config.txt for us to read please. Ta m8

System: P111 1Ghz. Graphics Card: G-Force2GTS 32MB(Det 30.30). 128MB RAM. Windows Me.

After reading this thought I must try it as I'm sick of hi-res snail racing. Prior to any editing I had all details set at top end. GP4 looked brilliant but was far too slow. All I have done initially using the above advice is changed the line mentioned in the f1graphics.cfg file and what a difference in speed. What you lose is the hi-res car textures and some reflection effects(most noticeable around the cockpit surrounds and from onboard cameras). Now another improvement can be made. Because the geometry of the car remains unchanged, the hi-res textures can still be used. Heres How:
1. Extract cars.wad to a directory using GP4Master
2. Copy hi_teamnamex.tex files x3 and paste outside of the cars folder and remove the hi_ prefix.
3. Paste these 3 textures back into the cars folder - they'll replace the original ones.
4. Compile a new cars.wad file with the edited folder and use this one

Okay, a bit of a nause to do but the results are great. I'm using Ralph's Williams as a test at the moment and all seems fine. If this has been covered before okay; I haven't seen it b4(Just to avoid smart arsed comments ). Remember - back everything up!
I haven't mentioned PO or frame rates because I haven't tested head to head with original file yet. Will use FRAPS later and let you know. Hope this lot helps restore some faith to those with lower end machines like me. PS the pit crew actually walk rather than use invisible zimmer frames now.

hahaha good one, zimmer frames! That's very good info about the tex files. Did you use gp4master to complile the wad, can you maybe post a detailed "how to" on this in a new thread as some users including myself are not that familiar with wad editing being used to gp3 and it's jam file editing system. Cheers.

This is a very interesting post. Has anybody else had a lot of sucsess?

Success? hahaha, gp4 has the rather entertaining property of performing differently on every machine, a config file supposedly set up to rock on one machine can run like a pig on another with similar specs. Your os is a huge factor as well as different driver and card combinations. I have tried just about every driver and some make gp4 run like a pig and others make it fly. Trouble is you seem to spend more time tweaking than you do racing ;-/
It's a challenge just getting it to run every time you start it sometimes. Half the fun really, and to think I actually paid for this as well lol. If anyone want's my f1config.txt they're welcome to it.

maybe that was Geoffs intention..... To screw the game up and see if we can fix it :P

Oh MY GOD !!!!!!! How is this possible??? OK..Dell 4100 P3 866/384mb ram/voodoo5500 agp 1.18 bios/NuAngels drivers/ dx 8.1/Microsoft non ff wheel/SB Live Value/4 speakers EAX enabled...I have installed the decrypted 2nd patch.
I did the following.....
Made sure the graphics config was set to 0 at f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0)
and
[RELEASE] Enable 32bit mode if available NB If Windowed then is forced to desktop format was set to 1.

I lanched the game, went into graphics selected 1024x768 and enabled mirrors, visor and video walls. Entered advanced and maxed all settings. Tested it and it crawled through the test at 8 FPS. I ignored it and selected 23 FPS and ok'd my way out and saved. I then opened the graphics config and placed a 1 at f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0)
and a zero at [RELEASE] Enable 32bit mode if available NB If Windowed then is forced to desktop format.
I also set the following based on an earlier reply.
I launched it, played a quick race at SPA and it was awsome. All detail working and what I perceived to be my 23 FPS. (I had disabled sky messages)

This is freakin amazing...how can this be???? I'm not complaining...and Nuno.....I love you man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



RA Moats

Sorry the additional setting I forgot to put in was:
153; [RELEASE] AutoPerformance (Automatic Performance Setting)
0; [RELEASE] TestedPerformanceLow (Tested Performance Setting)
0; [RELEASE] TestedPerformanceHigh (Tested Performance Setting)

I got so excited I freaked.....



RA Moats

Yes I can't quite get my head around it either lol, Also see Kev's post to me about the wad file tex changes to get even more speed. I'll be testing later but now I'm off to do a few laps of my local supermarket with a trolley. With a bit of luck I'll get a good start and won't get held up into the first turn at fruit n' veg , the chicane at the checkout can be very nasty too <sigh>

eehehehe glad that this is opening new options to us



-----------------------------
Virtual-Games.com: [www.virtual-games.com]
Virtual-Games.com Racing Team: [racing.virtual-games.com]

WOW, i tried this and my game runs just like b4 but everything can now go on FULL and i run in 12** by 1*** res now :D



Chris C
--------------------------------------
GPTC &amp; GPVWC Manager o' CVRT
HawkEyE '01WC' Driver o' CVRT
http://cvrt.tk

Eh? The tips I supplied for GP4 master don't offer any performance changes but just allow you to use better car skins with the lower settings enabled. If these tips have speeded you up Mortal then all the better

Edited the wad file, downsized the textures and renamed them all, followed the instructions in the first post. Set config file to 0 and gp4 ran like a pig with huge PO rate. Exit and save then opened config file to see the auto performance, low res and high res lines had changed. I reset to 153 and low 0, high 0, the values before the calibration, I set the res to 800x600 in the hope I'd get a little more . Enabled the config file, run gp4 quickrace at Monza, PO rates at race start are the same, textures, track graphics ect. look great. I don't know why it works or even how but it does seem to have helped a little bit, all in all it was worth the effort. A good find by Nuno

I was playing around with the original setting change but didnt have much luck. then I made the changes just noted and yes a big difference in playability. basically I run the same resolution with all features on full now. i run 800x600 very smooth even at the start of a race and can run 1024x768

This is with an Athlon 1200 and a TNT ultra 2! Yes thats right a TNT Ultra 2!

Thanks a lot!Can someone xplain how this can be?

This is great!

I didn´t gain any in performance but now the game is much more stable.
Had a lot of "throwing out to Windows" issues before, now it´s history.

P4 2.0/ SB Live 1024/Geforce 3 ti200/ 256 ddr/Win98/MsFF wheel.
1280x1024/28 fps/PO 75-95 in race/most details on max.

Many thanks for a great tip!

hey thanks mates.. but the finder of this was a guy called Superking... i've only passed the word

hail to him!



-----------------------------
Virtual-Games.com: [www.virtual-games.com]
Virtual-Games.com Racing Team: [racing.virtual-games.com]

this needs to be a sticky topic

f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0)
1024 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Horizontal Resolution
768 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Vertical Resolution
1 ; [RELEASE] Enable 32bit mode if available NB. If Windowed then is forced to desktop format
1 ; [RELEASE] Enable hardware T&L if available
0 ; [RELEASE] Run in a window



right then, what do i need to alter?






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