So I bought GPL yesterday.

I was so excited to get home and try it out. I even got a bargin, $19.95 less 15% so it was a bit of $16. (so that's about 5 pounds or about 8 euros or something).

So I get home, boot up my laptop that is 3 years old. It's a Dell p2 300 with 256 meg ram and win2000, 8 meg graphics card (it was top of the line inspiron 7000 when I got it. cost $8000 aussie dollars). It runs Quake 3 ok. So I install this beast. Takes up a whooping 135 meg of disk space (that's probably a lot for 1998). I have to reboot. Hmmm, not good for a game install. So I reboot. Watch the opening video seperately. Looked ok. Started the game... Hmm I get the opening title and it shuts down to my desktop. OK, benefit of the doubt, doesn't say win2000 on the box so I install it on another old machine at my place. This one a p2 celeron 366 with 160 meg of ram, but more importantly running windows ME. Installed and this time it ran, so I was all excited. I chose a ran and jumped right into it. Noting that I was running in software mode.

Well, it was just terrific. I turned on to see how many frames per second I was pulling and it was a blistering 1 to 2.5 fps. Yeah it ran like crap. The graphics were rubbish (remember I haven't updated anything with any patches or editing) and I can't believe you people rave on about. Yeah it may look decent when you update the graphics, but then you're not running it on an old pc are you? It says that a pentium 90 is required, not for software rendering.

It might look nice with the updated graphics running on a 'new' machine, but I bet in 4 years time GP4 runs like a dream as well. So unless you are comparing apples to apples (ie GP4 running unedited on a new machine to GPL unedited running on a top spec machine when it was released, quit raising how wonderful gpl is).

I couldn't run it on my new system as I just reinstalled windows 2000 on it so it wouldn't run anyway. (There may be a patch to make it run under 2000 and I will search tonight - if there is, I'll attempt to run it again over the weekend).

Please no more talking about how great and complicated GPL is...
Who do I see to get my 16 bucks back?

JED

oh jed has a bad experience with GPL so it must rubbish



when GPL first came it was a very demanding game that required a hell of a system to run it.

4 years down the line system specsdon't even break into a sweat with it


out of the box GPL is poor graphically wise ( as would be any 4 year old game) but its the community add-ons that have this game fantastic


to get this fantastic sim up and running you will to downloaded the updates from papyrus's website?





look under downloads at [www.papy.com]
Grand Prix Legends 1.2 Patch (Readme)



UK version only (1.2 MB)

Grand Prix Legends Direct3D patch (Readme)



Grand Prix Legends BETA OpenGL patch



Grand Prix Legends Disconnect Fix (Readme)


Grand Prix Legends CPU Speed Fix
(Note: A prior install of the GPL 1.2 Patch is required)

USA version only (920 KB)




then of course you'll need the latest car sets and the brilliant 3rd party made circuits


[www.netrevo.com]



[magnust.d2g.com]




heres a comaparison what GPL looked like 4 years ago, and what it looks like now, you'd be forgiven for being disapointed with a out of the box version, but percevere with it and update it with the above mentioned patchs and you'll wonder why you ever suggested a refund.



out of the box




updated with patches








LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

read this thread about fresh installation of GPL and what essential downloads are required ( after you patch it from the official website)


[dynamic2.gamespy.com]






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

1. Patching GPL

So you've installed GPL on your PC and want to know what to do next. The first step is to download the latest version of GPL from the Downloads section of the Papyrus website at [www.papy.com]. The current version of GPL is 1.2.0.1 that can be downloaded at [www.papy.com]. The patch includes numerous enhancements over the original version including the addition of force feedback support. Make sure that you get the correct country specific version of the update.

There are several other updates available on the GPL download page that may be worthwhile downloading. The first applies if you have a non-3dfx graphics card such as the nVidia GeForce or ATi Radeon. If you are using one of these types of graphics card, download the GPL Direct3D Rasterizer. This will allow you to take advantage of the hardware acceleration provided by your graphics card and get better performance when running GPL. For full details, see the Papy readme file.

If you are intending to run GPL online it is worthwhile downloading the GPL Disconnect fix. This is an unsupported beta patch that should significantly reduce disconnects when running multiplayer races in GPL.

If you are trying to run GPL on a PC with a processor faster than 1.5 GHz you will need to download the fast processor patch to correct a timing problem in version 1.2.0.1 of GPL. Make sure you get the correct patch for your version of GPL.





2.1 Preparing to run GPL

Before running GPL it is important to make sure that there are no other programs running in the background on your PC. GPL is a very powerful simulation and as such requires maximum resources to be available when running it. Programs such as the most common anti-virus software can cause GPL performance to drop if they are left running in the background so close down all programs you can see running such as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express





2.3 Setting up a force feedback wheel

GPL version 1.2.0.1 supports force feedback when using a suitably equipped wheel. To enable force feedback, you first need to locate the file core.ini. This is found in the directory where GPL was installed (by default C:\Sierra\GPL). When you have found this file using Windows Explorer, double click on it to edit it. Add the following information to the file to enable force feedback:

[ Joy ]
allow_force_feedback = 1
force_feedback_damping = 2.0
force_feedback_latency = 0.02
max_steering_torque = 200.0

The numbers shown above are the ones I use for my Act Labs Force RS. They are very much a personal setting and require a lot of experimentation to get right. GTX_SlotCar includes an explanation on setting these numbers at [www.slottweak.com].




2.4 Setting up the graphics options

GPL includes a large number of graphics options that need to be set up to suit your PC. To get to the Graphics options page, click on the Options menu on the main GPL screen and use the left/right arrows at the bottom of the page to switch between the 3 options pages.

When you get to the Graphics page, the first thing to do is set up the graphics mode you want to use to run GPL. By default these are 3 modes, Software, 3dfx and Rendition. If you have downloaded the D3D patch mentioned in section 1, there will also be a D3D option. The mode you choose depends on the type of graphics card you have installed. Here is a summary of common cards and the best mode to use:

3dfx: Voodoo5 5500, Voodoo4 4500, Voodoo3 3500, 3000 and 2000, Voodoo2
Direct3D7: all GeForce, TNT, Matrox and Radeon based cards
Rendition: any card based on the now defunct Rendition chipset
None: any non 3d accelerated graphics card (not recommended)

After selecting the appropriate graphics card type, click on the green button at the bottom right hand corner of the screen and close down and restart GPL for the change to take effect.

When GPL restarts, load up a track in training mode. Jump into the car and then press the Alt and F keys at the same time. You will see at the bottom right hand corner of the screen the is a number. This is a framerate indicator that shows how well GPL is running on your PC. The maximum possible value is 36 frames per second. It is important to set up the GPL graphics options to keep the framerate counter at 36 fps at all times except for the first few seconds of a race.

Leave the pits and note how the framerate counter varies. If it is locked at a steady 36fps, you may be able to increase the graphics detail. If it is below 36fps you are going to have to switch off some options.

Through experience this is the best order to switch off detail in the graphics options page to achieve a solid 36fps:

1. Switch off dirt and dust
2. Switch off quality effects
3. Reduce the detail bias slider
4. Set mirrors to cars and track only
5. Switch off driver arms and clouds
6. Reduce the number of visible objects
7. Reduce the screen resolution and repeat the process

Depending on your PC, you should be able to get a solid 36fps at a resolution of 1024x768 or 800x600 with a minimum amount of detail switched off, provided you have a 3d graphics card. You may also have to reduce the graphics detail when racing against a full grid of cars and when racing online.


2.5 Setting up the Sound options

The number of sounds you have playing at any one time also has an effect on framerate. Depending on the quality of your sound card you may find that reducing the number of sounds heard will improve the graphical performance. Set the number of sounds to 8 initially. You may find that you can increase this number if you have a high end PC and aren't suffering any framerate problems.


3. Downloading new tracks

GPL shipped with 11 tracks, 10 of which were used in the 1967 World Championship. The 11th, Rouen, hosted the French Grand Prix in 1968 and replaced the Le Mans Bugatti circuit that Papy decided not to model. Since the release of GPL a small number of people have been wrestling with the track format used by Papy and have been able to produce several add-on tracks for the sim as well as convert tracks from the other Papy sims. The watershed came when the GPLEA released their track-editing guide. Since that came out, over 200 add-on tracks have been produced for GPL.

Here is a list of some of the add-on tracks and where they can be downloaded from:

The GPLEA at [gplea.racesimcentral.com]
Snetterton, Snetterton 67, Goodwood, Solitude, Crystal Palace

The US Pits at [www.theuspits.com]
Dubai, Brands Hatch, Imola, Osterreichring, Road Atlanta

Team Friendship at [teamfriendship.m4driving.sm]
Virginia International Raceway, Watkins Glen 1971, Silverstone Club, Croft

Andre Streu's tracks at [andre-gpl-texture.m4driving.sm]
Grenzlandring, Halle-Saale-Schleife, Sachsenring, Stadtpark Leipzig

vPaddock at [vpaddock.com]
Salzburgring, Zeltweg

The South African Track Project at [f2festival.simracing.dk]
Aldo Scribante, East London

Castle Combe at [www.racesimcentral.com]

Some of the other tracks available include:

Anderstorp
Falkenberg
Le Mans Circuit Bugatti
Le Mans Sarthe
Sepang


For a full list of over 200 tracks visit Magnus Thome's excellent GPL Track Database at [magnust.d2g.com]. This superb resource is being constantly updated with new features and, of course, new tracks when they are released.

David Noonan has written two utilities to convert tracks from other Papy sims for use with GPL. A demonstration version of the program can be downloaded from The US Pits at [www.theuspits.com]. The full version of the program can be purchased from [www.sim-garage.co.uk]. These utilities will convert the tracks from IndyCar Racing 2, Nascar 2, Nascar 3 and Nascar Legends so that they can be used with GPL.


4. Graphical updates to tracks

Some of the original graphics supplied with GPL were a little bland and in some cases inaccurate. There are a wide variety of graphical updates available to improve the look of many of the original Papy tracks and the converted tracks as well. Here are some websites where these updates can be downloaded:

The GPLEA at [gplea.racesimcentral.com]
Monza

The US Pits at [www.theuspits.com]

GP1960s at [members.home.net]
Kyalami, Spa, Rouen, Silverstone, Nurburgring, Monza, Watkins Glen, Osterreichring

Andre Streu's texture page at [andre-gpl-texture.m4driving.sm]
Cleveland, Laguna Seca, Long Beach, Mid Ohio

GPL Today at [hem.bredband.net]
Anderstorp, AVUS, Brands Hatch, Bremgarten, Kyalamai, Mexico, Monza, Nurburgring and many others


5. Graphical updates to cars

The original graphics supplied for the cars in GPL were probably the least impressive part of the sim. The cockpits and dashboards in particular leave a lot to be desired and are nothing like their real life counterparts. But fear not, help is at hand in the form of a number of websites offering graphical enhancements to your chosen stead. Here are some websites where these updates can be downloaded:

Jon Ferraez Carset at [jfcarsets.cjb.net]
Almost all the car updates grouped together into a single download

The GPLEA at [gplea.racesimcentral.com]
new Eagle, Ferrari, Honda, Lotus and Cooper car shapes, graphics and wheels

Bruce's Stuff at [homepage.ntlworld.com]
new Lotus 49 and Honda RA300, add-on parts including steering wheels and gear knobs for all cars. New Ferrari under development


6. On-line racing

GPL supports a thriving on-line racing community. This was primarily brought about due to the development of the Virtual Racers' Online Connection (VROC) and the program WinVROC. WinVROC provides a gateway into the online racing world. When you log on, you will be greeted with a list of online races, some of which are open to the public (green icon) and some of which are password protected (blue icon). To find out more about VROC, visit the VROC website at [www.vroc.net]. You can download the WinVROC program from the Downloads section there.


7. Other sites of interest

There is a thriving GPL community online with many websites covering all aspects of the sim. Some of the most useful websites are listed here:

Race Sim Central at [www.racesimcentral.com]
Created when Legends Central and Simracing.dk merged. The site provides the latest news and a wealth of information via a series of forums.

Eagle Woman's Grand Prix Legends at [eaglewoman.simracing.dk]
Set up by Alison Hine, one of the beta testers of GPL, this site provides a wealth of general information on GPL including the GPL Race Engineer program.

GPL Replay Analyser site at [home.bip.net]
Download a utility to analyse and compare GPL replays.

GPL Rank at [gplrank.schuerkamp.de]
Set up by Uwe Schuerkamp, the GPL Rank site provides a central resource to upload your lap records for comparison against other GPL drivers and the reference laps supplied by Papy.

GPL Foolishness at [website.lineone.net]
Ricardo Nunnini's site provides a wealth of setup information for the GPL racer.

JC's F2/FD Hotlap and Setup site at [jc.simracing.dk]
Founded by JC and now run by Shane Addison, JC's provides a home for GPL F2 and FD racers

Hotgrid's Ulitmate GPL Linkspage at [hotgrids.racesimcentral.com]
The biggest and most up to date list of GPL links on the web.






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

I remember playing GPL in software mode and it is terrible. As for your win2000 problem I dunno. A mate of mine plays the game in Win 2000, and I play in XP with no problems. All I can suggest is try downloading the latest drivers for your card or something.

great post LS, thanks for that, some really useful stuff there

---

[www.mediafire.com] Some say you should click it, you know you want to. [www.gp4central.com] <----GP4 Central

I take it everybody has missed the point here then ?????

very simple :

STOP COMPARING GP4 OUT OF THE BOX TO A GAME THATS BEEN UPGRADED AND PATCHED TO THE HILT ...(GPL)

wow, LS, what a great how-to-guide. thanks !

if only gpl wasnt so time-consumig and hard to learn...

greetings, jp

" Yeah it may look decent when you update the graphics, but then you're not running it on an old pc are you?"

I run in on my 350Mhz, with XP, with just 32Mb ram (before the update). It ran on low detail at over 20fps.

I was quite pleased at the preformae, despite not having the time to learn the game properly. It ran bout 15fps in traffic, but thats still playable...anyway...the traffic was miles ahead of me




Racing Is Life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting
Jesus may be able to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life, but he can't do shît for low fps

I got the point alright, and someday GP4 may well be able to reach it's full potential with the community behind it and a PC upgrade as did GPL. I waited months for GPL's release only to find my PC didn't have the grunt to run it, now, it's part of my life. Last week a forum member released GPL Glance, a tiny utility that allows the drivers field of view to look where the car is going based on steering wheel and gforce input, the effect once again has transformed GPL into a new experience. In short, it's about comunity dedication. Recently the GPL Editors association sent a CD to Papyrus with all of the latest track, car, sound and interface updates on it (writtenby forum members) in an effort to show them what GPL evolved into and as an appeal for GPL2 based on the awesome turbo era cars...word is they are considering it and are staggered at the talent and dedication the GPL Comunity has displayed.

Guys...I'm an avid GPL player...it's the only sim that accurately portrays F1 of that "big balls" era...and if tweaked properly is stunning. It's so damned hard to play because of it's level of realism. Back in 1967 there were no driver aids..aerodynamic or otherwise and a lap at the Ring was 14.9 miles long with 174 turns. I keep GP3 2000, GP4 and GPL because I like the past and present....GPL on a lap top or in software mode, then judging it??? I laugh at you. 36fps with full detail is the only way to run it........to learn it takes time, as will extracting GP4's full potential.



RA Moats

For your information, this text was written by me and was taken from an article entitled "A Beginner's Guide to Grand Prix Legends". You can read the full article at:

[www.racesimcentral.com]

It would have been nice to have been acknowledged as the author of this text.



Race Sim Central Administrator

LS didn't write it, I did. You can read the full article at:

[www.racesimcentral.com]



Race Sim Central Administrator

oh sorry about that i did'nt realise that


rather than put in a url to the site ( some sites you have to be registered on to read stuff) i pasted the info instead

i never said that i wrote the help files but if it has offended you in some way then i apologise

that list helped me to get GPL running brilliantly so i thought i'd pass on the information to others that were having difficulties getting it to work.






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

GPL will not run on that type of system, you will need something in the order of 1- 2 GHz machine. GPL on a 350MHz... forget it.
You should have a steady 36fps or don't even try driving it. Now this can be done by downloading openGL or directx upgrades. All the upgrades on this site are official an you should use all:

[www.papy.com]

With all updates it running great and lookes better than anything else on my WinXP system. I have updated cars and tracks AND one important thing 20 player online racing via VROC.

"GPL will not run on that type of system, you will need something in the order of 1- 2 GHz machine. GPL on a 350MHz... forget it."

I have been running it on my 350Mhz for over a year now! It runs perfectly fine! It doesnt run at full detail, or at an amazing fps, but it plays well enough to give the feel!

Dont tell us stuff that isnt true! The box says Pentium 90, i think 350mhz can handle it rather well!!




Racing Is Life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting
Jesus may be able to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life, but he can't do shît for low fps

are you from Malmö, Lars?

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

What do i need to download to get gpl looking like it is in the picture above?

Please read the longest post in this thread.

[www.racesimcentral.com]






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat