L'attesissima patch per Nascar Racing 2003 Season della Papyrus porterà importanti novità anche per quanto riguarda l'editing di questo stupendo simulatore: nell'attesa del rilascio, ormai imminente (l'update è in fase di testing), è stato pubblicato il file readme che potete leggere qui sotto.
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NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season PATCH README 1.1.0.0 06/25/03
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[1] WHAT THE PATCH FIXES [2] HOW TO INSTALL THE PATCH [3] ADDITIONAL INFORMATION [4] CONTACTING SIERRA
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NOTE: The 1.1.0.0 version of NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season is not multiplayer compatible with previously released versions. As a client you will only be able to see and join 1.1.x.x servers, and similarly as a host only 1.1.x.x clients will be able to see and join your server.
Additionally, telemetry gathering programs built for the previously released versions of the game will not be compatible with the 1.1.0.0 version. These utilities will need to be re-linked with the updated papytelemapp.obj that is distributed with the 1.1.0.0 patch.
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[1] WHAT THE PATCH FIXES
AI:
AI cars will now be less likely to retire as a result of suffering damage.
CAR FILES:
Changed the #155 to a Ford.
CAR MODEL:
Added jack screw holes to rear window.
Fixed incorrect shininess map on steering column.
CAR SETUPS:
Slight adjustments to the FAST and JASPER setups to account for ride-height and front spring changes. See PHYSICS section below for more details.
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON:
Qualifying results and number of poles will now be properly saved in Event Results and Season Standings after a completed qualifying session was restarted.
Fixed some minor sorting issues on the Event Results and Season Standings tables.
Practice length, Happy Hour length, and the roster name are now properly saved into the season file.
CONTROLS:
When throttle or brake are assigned to a digital control such as a keyboard key or joystick button, traction control and anti-lock brakes can now be disabled.
GARAGE:
Car setup ranges are now properly applied as a setup is loaded. This prevents the use of setup files from previous versions which allowed different ranges.
MULTIPLAYER:
Fixed a bug which prevented in-car chat when the chat filter was disabled.
Fixed a bug which prevented bosses from ejecting other clients.
The !clear command has been renamed !clear_black so as to not conflict with the various clear password commands.
Increased timeout for Sierra.com race list download.
Hardcore mode now has separate options for driving aids and visual restrictions. When driving aids are restricted, anti-lock brakes, stability control, steering assistance, and traction control will be disabled for all drivers.
Increased race session start countdown from 30 to 60 seconds.
Black flags that are issued by an admin or as the result of a poll can now be cleared.
Non-animated opponent pit crews can now be seen in multiplayer races.
Sierra.com system messages are now properly translated eliminating the cryptic "@#1267ever" and similar messages.
PHYSICS:
Updated super speedway aero drag and downforce maps based on new data Jasper Motorsports.
Extended the non-super speedway aero-downforce and aero-balance maps so that when the car is run very low to the ground an aero understeer problem caused by running off the end of the aero maps is fixed.
Softened motion ratios of the front springs based on new data from Jasper Motorsports. Slightly stiffer front springs will be required to get the same front wheelrate as before. Version 1.0 setups will still have the correct wheel rate, their spring rate will be displayed based on the new motion ratio.
Slightly reduced front bump camber effects.
Front suspension geometry has been reworked to fix a camber fall-off with steering bug.
Chassis had too much ground clearance, so bottoming out wouldn't occur when it should.
Chassis bottoming out friction is increased.
Reduced draft effects.
Rear weight bias at restrictor plate tracks is now limited to 50% of the car's minimum weight to match 2003 rule changes.
Tire wear is now more affected by running tires hot.
Stability Control has been tweaked to affect tire wear.
PIT CREW:
Pit crew will no longer wave pit sign when you are serving a drive-thru penalty unless you pull into the pit stall area indicating that you actually want to pit (note that the drive-thru penalty will NOT be cleared if you do in fact stop for service).
RACE CONTROL:
Fixed a bug in Arcade mode which prevented you from being able to clear a drive-thru penalty after speeding in the pits.
Penalties for cutting the course are no longer enforced after a car has taken the checkered flag.
Qualifying session time will be extended for longer tracks. This will allow the use of 3rd party tracks where qualifying laps previously could not be completed within the game's default session time limit.
Caution periods at the short ovals (Bristol, Martinsville, and Richmond) have been extended by an additional lap.
Fixed a bug which caused the speed/gear indicator's yellow flag to not reset after a debris caution.
Increased caution sensitivity.
With damage enabled, debris cautions for single car accidents are now possible.
RENDERER:
Fixed a bug which could cause low track rail LODs in wide FOV camera views.
Greatly reduced framerate impact of advanced "on-car shadows" Graphics options when using the DirectX D3D renderer.
Car shadows can now use Shadow Volumes. See Additional Information section below for details.
Slight optimization to multi-pass rendering in the DirectX D3D renderer. See Additional Information section below for details.
Fixed bug which caused car to car shadows to appear opaque black in the OpenGL renderer.
Fixed a bug in the DirectX D3D renderer that for some users would cause a crash at the Eight-Bowl track (this fantasy track is available via a separate track pack download).
Fixed a bug in the OpenGL renderer that caused some of the shadows at Las Vegas (76 balls and the scoring tower) to not be cast onto the car.
SPOTTER/CREW CHIEF:
Added support for "3-wide on the left" and "3-wide on the right" messages.
If you are already on pit road, the spotter will no longer remind you to come in and serve a black flag penalty when you cross the start finish line. If you exit pit road without serving the penalty, the reminder message will then be triggered.
TELEMETRY:
Player car gauge data and opponent car track position information are now available. See "telemetry\papytelemapp.h" and "telemetry\tsample.cpp" for details.
TRACK ARTWORK:
Fixed a problem with the horizon texture at Darlington when cloudy weather was selected.
Fixed a graphical issue that could be seen in the rear-view mirror at Texas.
Added missing wall ads back to New Hampshire.
TRACK GEOMETRY:
Fixed an incorrect extended surface type on the apron at Bristol-Night.
TRACK SETTINGS:
Increased Bristol, Bristol-Night, and Martinsville pace speeds to 40 mph to prevent passing the pace car while on pit road.
Tightened up the qualifying checkpoints for Daytona and Daytona Night.
Added a new track.ini setting "track_dir". See section below for details.
USER INTERFACE:
Fixed scroll bar on Sierra.com available races table.
Added a checkbox to the Options screen to disable the menu background animations.
Fixed a typo in the garage's transmission ratio pop-up help box.
Added "Import" and "Export" buttons to the Opponent Manager Screen. See Additional Information section below for details.
Volume of the garage background sound is now properly controlled by the Sound Option screen's "User Interface" slider.
Added a display of the total number of servers and players to the Available Races table.
Improved scrolling for the driver list table on the Opponent Manager screen.
Correct manufacturer car model is now loaded on the post-race newspaper winning screen.
Fixed a bug which could cause the displayed calibration values to carry over from one "page" of the controller calibration dialog to another. Note that this was a display-only issue, and in no way had any affect whatsoever on the actual calibration data used by the game.
[2] HOW TO INSTALL THE PATCH
1. Run the saved patch executable.
2. The patch should automatically detect your NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season installation directory and then begin the patching process.
Note that if you have modified any of the game's files using 3rd party utilities, it may be necessary to reinstall the game before the patch can successfully complete its installation.
[3] ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
SHADOW VOLUMES
When using the DirectX D3D renderer Car shadows can now be rendered using Shadow Volumes on hardware that supports Stencil Buffers. This feature allows for more realistic car shadows that can be cast on walls. This feature also eliminate the "double-dark" shadows that would be seen when multiple car shadows overlapped. To enable this new feature, you will need to manually edit your PLAYER.INI, changing default "0" to a "1" as shown below:
[Graphic Options] enable_ShadowVolumes=1 ; set to 1 to enable shadow volumes
CAR MEGA SHADER OPTIMIZATION
When using the DirectX D3D renderer multi-pass rendering can now be made more efficient on cards with advanced shader capabilities. To enable this new feature, you will need to manually edit your PLAYER.INI, changing default "0" to a "1" as shown below:
[Graphic Options] enable_CarMegaShader=1 ; set to 1 to enable advanced shaders where applicable
OPPONENT MANAGER IMPORT & EXPORT BUTTONS
You can now import and export car and pitcrew skins directly from the main Opponent Manager screen without entering the paintkit. This allows for the use of "hi-res" textures that previously were only available to advanced users who manually edited MIP files. The texture must be a power of 2 multiple of 512x512 such as 1024x1024. Note that the paintkit is not compatible with these "hi-res" textures.
By default texture compression will be enabled when a texture is imported through the Opponent Manager. If you would prefer that the Opponent Manager not compress these textures when they are imported, edit the import_textures_with_compression line in your PLAYER.INI, changing the 1 to a 0:
[Opponent Manager] import_textures_with_compression=0 ; Enable texture compression on imported textures.
TRACK DIRECTION SETTING
There's a new line which can be added the TRACK.INI near where you specify chassis and track types, called "track_dir". A setting of "1" means the track turns left or counter-clockwise only, so the normal "inside=left" and "outside=right" spotter is used, and tires are mounted on the car for turning left. A setting of "-1" means it's a right or clockwise track, so a reversed "outside=left" and "inside=right" spotter is used, and the tires are mounted on opposite sides than a left track. A setting of "0" means the track turns both left and right, so the spotter will only refer to "left" and "right" instead of "inside" and "outside", and only "outside" tires are mounted on the car so it can turn in both directions equally.
Note that by default the game assumes a track is a left-hand oval, so for most tracks this setting will be absent. Additionally using "track_type=5" to specify a road course automatically turns on the "left/right" spotter behavior, so you should only need to use the "track_dir=0" if you had a left/right track that you did not want to be counted as a road course (i.e. single-file restarts only, road course Sierra.com ratings, etc.).
