Codemasters' F1 game discussion

Just gave it a quick go with a wet race at Catalunya... hear are my thoughts:

Positive:

- The graphics are much better and suprisingly the frame rate too
- The AI cars no longer rockets off the start line
- The AI behind you seem more patient, instead of just ramming you off they wait for an opening.

Negative

- For some bizarre reason they've added an extra digit to the speedometer. So 100mph now reads as 0100 instead of 100. How fast do they think F1 cars can go?!
- The gaps aren't really displayed that clearly... and you've got no idea whether you're catching or falling behind someone
- It seems as though AI fuel consumption has not been touched.
- Rubber banding still seems in full force. On the few laps I drove de la Rosa and Hulkenberg (the drivers directly in front of me) set fastest laps.

Didn't test pitstops yet or dry tyres so not sure about those issues.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2010 10:05PM by Rams.

I agree with most of that - regarding the AI, they still sometimes set weirdly inconsistent lap times though they are a little better than before (with the catchup.xml deleted of course), and the fuel consumption is slightly better but still fairly broken - e.g. the AI seems to have around a 3/4 full tank at the start of a 100% race (why they still get off the line quicker with fuel sim on). I still don't understand how they haven't properly fixed fuel sim though - surely the devs should realise that if when fuel sim is on your car is slower in a straight line than slower cars while it's fine with fuel sim off that something's not right? The AI also seem to be affected a little too much by the prime tyres compared to options (though I've not tested it that much)
Seems to be a slight improvement though. Perhaps I'll give an offline career another go (though unless I can mod the fuel sim it'll have to be left off)

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Pedersen écrivait:
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> is it out for the xbox????

Not yet! The Xboxlive will be updated tomorrow or thursday so I think the patch will be available before friday...

Edit: I thought we could save the replay after a race. I don't see the option...

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2010 03:06AM by Excalibur.

LOL.

Program removed.

Good luck in 2011 folks!

My thoughts exactly Razorzedge.

It's pissing me off now. Patched it, did Malaysia through Montreal, saved, went out of the game, came back a bit later and voila, back to Malaysia!!! Did Malaysia again, saved, exited, came back again, back at Malaysia! It doesn't save anymore, which renders the game pretty much useless. It doesn't show the Autosaving circle/text anymore either, so obviously it's not saving.

Some people seem to think it's when you meddled with database.bin. Well, I haven't touched mine.

Ho3n3r Schreef:
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> I get the feeling pace is simulated per position.
> E.g. say around Bahrain first place is around
> 1m57.0 and 1m58.5, 2nd is around 1m57.3 and
> 1m58.8, last place is around 2m02.0 and 2m03.5,
> etc. regardless of catchup.xml, as I still notice
> this after deleting catchup.xml.
>
> That's why if Vettel for example pits early and
> gets stuck in 18th position, he can't go any
> faster so then he stays in the position as the
> position dictates his pace rather than his car or
> his skill.
>
> Another thing I noticed that also points to this
> is for example when I'm 9th behind say Kubica
> after the start, for the first 8 laps before
> anybody pits, he stays consistently about 1.5 to 2
> seconds ahead of me. As soon as the Red Bulls,
> Ferraris and Mclarens pit, before him, and end up
> behind us, he starts strolling away because he is
> in 3rd now suddenly. And this is not an illusion,
> I am in my 6th season now on 40% races and this
> happens a lot.
>
> That's what I liked about GP4's AI, they were
> always true to form and related to the specific
> car. If this game had GP4's AI it would have been
> the perfect game.

I think you could be right about that. I also noticed that at the end of a race (usually, I like to do a 30% sprint race) the gap between the cars at the final classification screen will nearly always be the same: the car finishing second will be crossing the finish line about 2-3 seconds after the winner, number 3 will have a retard of approximately 10 seconds... Just try it for yourself and you will notice. Because of what you're saying here, I tend to think that it's not some kind of coincidence anymore. Now I rather tend to think it just has been scripted into the game. Which means that not only qualifying times are fake, but in some kind of way race results as well.

I dont fully agree on the lap times compared to the position in the race...atleast not on the xbox, drove around hungaroring in my second season, was running very low down in the field, Di Grassi hadnt pitted while everyone else had so he was up to 6th and was holding up the field, when he pitted Vettel and then Webber set the fastest lap, then all of a sudden, running last(!) Di Grassi puts in the fastest lap!
And it happend again at SPA but this time it was Kovalainen....

and a very annoying thing happend at Singapore, should add, i´m terrible at that track, after i banged myself around the first lap i pitted on lap 2 for new tires and front wing, as i entered the pit i got overtaken by De La Rosa(my teammate) or should i say he drove straight throu me and pitted, and i had to park behind him but then nothing happend, race went on but dlr didnt move and i couldnt move either..and he was still transparent...WTF was that all about?? Also in the contracts menu, it says Kobayashi is my teammate....yet its DLR driving...

That's a first for me Pedersen. On my PC version there has never been a queue formed, except first laps of course. If a Ferrari gets stuck in 22nd he drops back from the 21st placed car at a steady rate, even if it's Senna ahead of him.

It depends if they've got Rocket Mode engaged or not.

I was running around 12th in China at the start of a 50% race with Fuel and Tyre sim on. I was doing low 42s on primes, Sutil behind me doing late 42s and Webber the leader doing mid 38s (despite pole being a 37, but that's another issue).

This went on for the first 5 laps or so. I started going a bit quicker into the 41s and then out of nowhere Sutil suddenly does a 40, and he's so fast that even down the small pit straight he screamed past me before the s/f line! Then on his first clear lap he did a 37.0, 1.5 seconds faster than the leader!

In the pre-patch list of issues being looked at they said that the damage sensitivity would be increased.

I did not see it in the final changelog. Can anybody confirm whether the patch has changed anything on that front?

Keith from F1Fanatic has posted the readme file of what has changed from the PC version: [www.f1fanatic.co.uk]

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Go Alesi Wrote:
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> In the pre-patch list of issues being looked at
> they said that the damage sensitivity would be
> increased.
>
> I did not see it in the final changelog. Can
> anybody confirm whether the patch has changed
> anything on that front?

I'm not sure how much has changed in the patch, but if you download this file and put it in the main game directory you'll get much more realistic damage - around 125-150% of original levels - so for example a colision with the wall at even 50mph will mean a lost wing and puncture at least if not a lost wheel
[rapidshare.com]
Make sure you backup the original file as I'm not sure whether you can race online with the edited damage (probably not)

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Batracer - the online racing manager game - join here [batracer.com]

Guys, I have a question for you. Do you know where are the helmet shapes stored for the game? I think it would be much easier to paint helmets if we could use our well used shapes, like Arai 2010! I would be grateful for any help!





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2010 10:15AM by Yulcsa.

More presentation grumbling from me.

Okay... so to apply the patch automatically you have to open the game. You can't just get to a menu, tell it to apply the patch and then quit... no, it gets to the "checking autosave locations" or whatever it is, tells you there's a patch, you tell it apply said patch, so it tells you to quit..... and to quit you have to load to the paddock. ARGGGHHH!!!

Also, in a race weekend, you just want to quit to the game for whatever reason (let's admit it, there are plenty) but you can't just hit escape and quit... oh no, you've got to load the paddock. ARRGGGGHHHHH!

I don't mind the majority of the presentation, but the loading of the paddock, especially when need, does my @#$%& head in.

I'd hate to think to think how slow these processes are on an average PC.



On another note, the patch has made the game much more playable. I'm not even getting prime and options the wrong way around, which many seem to be getting. They are wearing correctly (in accordance to their stripe or lack of), and the only tyre-related issue I've seen is when putting the options on in the garage, the green stripe only appeared after they were fastened to my car.

I've even started a 20% career now there are less punctures. Winning at Bahrain in a Virgin at legend level of course, so it's still far too easy.

One thing about the patch that really pisses me off is their implementation of the AI cars moving out of your way in practice and qualifying... they do move and go slowly in front of you... then drive at 100% to catch back up and pass you, then slow down immediately they're back ahead of you, whether they're on a hot lap or not... COME ON! This is the easy bit to program for @#$%& sake!

It's still a horribly broken game, but I find it can be fun now.

post patch i quite like it, because i can use fuel sim and turn damage on without fear of a random puncture.

Ai slightly easy but it is such a difficult thing to balance.

Biggest dissapointment though is 0 performance increase on my q8400. But oh well.

Also, i discovered that i couldn't save because i deleted my catchup.xml. Restored it and now i can save again. It doesnt seem to be activated on legend anyway.

Quote
Ho3n3r
Also, i discovered that i couldn't save because i deleted my catchup.xml. Restored it and now i can save again. It doesnt seem to be activated on legend anyway.

Ah bugger, you're right. I deleted the catchup.xml pre-patch, and now my autosave data is corrupt. There goes my 1-race career. Can't really blame Codies for me breaking the game, but still, it worked fine before the patch... grr.

Edit: Oh for @#$%& sake... the unstoppable intro. AAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. SHUT THE @#$%& UP!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2010 12:42PM by gav.

gav Wrote:
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> More presentation grumbling from me.
>
> Okay... so to apply the patch automatically you
> have to open the game. You can't just get to a
> menu, tell it to apply the patch and then quit...
> no, it gets to the "checking autosave locations"
> or whatever it is, tells you there's a patch, you
> tell it apply said patch, so it tells you to
> quit..... and to quit you have to load to the
> paddock. ARGGGHHH!!!
>
> Also, in a race weekend, you just want to quit to
> the game for whatever reason (let's admit it,
> there are plenty) but you can't just hit escape
> and quit... oh no, you've got to load the paddock.
> ARRGGGGHHHHH!
>
> I don't mind the majority of the presentation, but
> the loading of the paddock, especially when need,
> does my @#$%& head in.
>

Yes this is annoying, but for quitting the game good old Alt + F4 is your friend

That's if you trust the autosave...

I lost my career as well, had to start over, did Bahrain again, next day, went to do Melbourne, back to Bahrain again! Not saving, and I haven't deleted the catchup.xml either. This game sucks. Re-installed, no patch this time. Maybe it will save again.

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

Can someone convert my GP4 helmet?
[www.megaupload.com]

first we should convert the shape! any idea?