GPL and XP?

[Aysedasi]

Has anyone experience of running GPL on Windows XP?

The game ran perfectly on my old Win98 system, but I've now upgraded. I thought I'd sorted out my GeForce 2 card, but the game runs ridiculously fast....

I put my foot on the accelerator and the car accelerates to about 300 mph in the blink of an eye! Anyone else had this problem?

Is it a graphics card problem or something to do with my wheel/peddles set-up, do you think?

[AllonFS]

Hi there Ayse, sorry to hear about your GPL problem. I have GPL on XP and no problems with it at all. I wonder if you have transfered old settings from Win98, could there be a problem there? Also check you have the most up to date drivers for your card with XP.

Jeesh 300mph, I have enough trouble at 30mph!

[Tony_Simpson]

ayse, what cpu do you have now???

Gpl has always worked fine on Xp for me, and i am running a geforce2 as well.

try downloading the updates from: www.papy.com for any graphic/cpu/game updates that you might not have atm. There is a specific cpu fix that might fix it.

[Sharky]

It's probably a problem with the drivers. The drivers that come with win XP are useless. Try downloading the latest drivers from the Nvidia page (www.nvidia.com I would think) for Win XP.

[paul-collins]

I've tried to run the demo on Win2k and never get any further than the splash - I think I've the same video card as y'all (GeForce 2?). Again, works in '98.

No ability to upgrade, obviously, as it's the demo. Unless I'm sure I can get GPL to run in Win2k, I won't be ordering it.

Any ideas?

[Sharky]

Ah.....now wait just a minute. You've installed the D3D patch right? Because if you don't you won't get 3D support for non 3dfx cards.

[Aysedasi]

Thanks guys. Yes Sharky, I've got the patch and GPL brings up the card in the top left hand corner. It's a absolutely clean install with nothing imported from old at all. I thought about drivers, but read quite a lot on another forum (can't remember which now) about very mixed performance from the recommended drivers.

What makes me wonder is that I've just renstalled GP3 with all the whistle and bang downloads and is superb no graphics card problems there, for sure.

So I wonder what I'm doing wrong? I'm not about to mess up the drivers if GP3 is running well.

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by paul-collins
I've tried to run the demo on Win2k and never get any further than the splash - I think I've the same video card as y'all (GeForce 2?). Again, works in '98.

No ability to upgrade, obviously, as it's the demo. Unless I'm sure I can get GPL to run in Win2k, I won't be ordering it.

Any ideas?

Paul I've heard a lot on the various forums I've dipped into over the last couple of days about the unreliability of demos. Don't trust 'em at all. The full GPL is so cheap, you might as well get it anyway.

Two other things, Tony, you asked me about my CPU. It's a 2.2Ghz P4 running without any tampering from me and 512 meg of RAM.

Oh, and just one other thing, again on GPL. I've looked at various other sites, including the US Pits and so on, and they often refer to various versions of the game. Mine is 1.2.0.2 - is that what I should expect?

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by Tony_Simpson
ayse, what cpu do you have now???

Gpl has always worked fine on Xp for me, and i am running a geforce2 as well.

try downloading the updates from: www.papy.com for any graphic/cpu/game updates that you might not have atm. There is a specific cpu fix that might fix it.

Aha, I've just been to Papy's site and found a "CPU Speed Fix" - I wonder if that might do the trick? I gather it's intended for faster CPU's? I'd like to hear from someone who's used it successfully before I mangle my system with it!

[Sharky]

You should always go for the latest drivers whichever is your card. You'll get a performance boost and it will fix a lot of problems but do download them from the manufacturers site, not from some microsoft page or something.

Now, it's really strange because my PC is an athlon XP 1600+ (oc to 1800+) and a Radeon 7000 and I've had no problems with GPl.

the thing you've got to take into account is that GPL was built for 3Dfx cards (cards that support Glide) which means that patches "force it" to work with other cards which might give some problems. On the other hand GP3 came when the market was pretty much an open competiton between Nvidia and 3Dfx so it supports direct3D and therefore can run "narturally" on any card.

Though I must say that it's pretty strange what's happening to you.....perhaps you should try the OpenGL patch and see what happens. Anyway, I do agree that you should buy the game anyway as it's really cheap and it MUST run on any PC.

[AllonFS]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
Aha, I've just been to Papy's site and found a "CPU Speed Fix" - I wonder if that might do the trick? I gather it's intended for faster CPU's? I'd like to hear from someone who's used it successfully before I mangle my system with it!

yup, I downloaded that one and it works fine, I think it is a must for faster CPUs. Maybe check out the beginners guide to setting up GPL, (try racesim central for it). I know you aren't a beginner but they do tell you all the downloads you need to make it run well. It is well worth it, the cars look gorgeous.

[Tristan]

I have a high speed CPU and Xp: no probs whatsoever. Oh, except on top res the buttons on the replay menu are shrunken and don't work.

[Aysedasi]

Thanks for all your tips guys.

I'm now sorted.

Or rather, I think I am, but I'm not sure!

I tried the fast CPU fix - three times - and it made no difference at all. So I did what all sensible people do - I threw my toys out of the pram. Yes, I uninstalled and did a clean install. I then tried the game. It worked fine, although the graphics were obviously **** running in software mode. I followed the beginners advice at racesimcentral (very good Allon), and installed the 1.2.0.1. patch. Like a good boy, I then tested that - still working OK. Next up was the D3D patch - on the test after installing that - no problems at all. All running well with no speed problems. (Just a very slight stutter, very occasionally).

OK, says I. Everything is now working but I should have to use the fast CPU patch. So, again being a very good boy, I backed up the entire installation and installed the CPU patch. Guess what? Yep, running at 3000 mph again. Hopeless.

As a final test, I put back the back-up and everything is hunky dory again.

I've been to www.guru3d.com and downloaded what appears to be the latest drivers for my card. But I'm hesitating. I've heard so many horror stories about drivers ing up your system that I'm a bit wary. XP has this facility of "rolling back" driver installations - has anyone tried it? Does it work?

Can someone who needed the fast CPU fix tell me what their symptoms were before they patched it?

[Tony_Simpson]

All running well with no speed problems. (Just a very slight stutter, very occasionally).

Yep I get that slight stutter as well, I think it is just one of those small problems that come up with xp and gpl.

[Tristan]

Actually, yes. I get that too. Usually as I'm doing a really nasty breaking manuvure!! ...like coming out of the Speed Trap at the Glen. Horrible!!

On a different note: how fast do you lot take the Nouvelle Chicane?? I find, the faster I go, the easier it is, but that being said I still make a hash of it around 1 in every 4 laps. What's your technique??

[Tony_Simpson]

Nouvelle Chicane???? do you mean the one at Monaco? If so then yes keep alot of throttle on, to keep the car settled, aim to hit the left hand kerb to straight line the corner more.

If you want to get a better idea of how to drive teh circuits then go to www.ukgpl.com and download some of the server replays of the tracks. Go to season 1-5 and then choose division, then press on the national flag and choose to download the server replay. They are usually 30mb big and save it to your gpl replay directory and watch in the game at all the great racing.

Hope that helps you.

[Aysedasi]

Thanks again guys - I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one with a stutter!

Funny isn't it, this GPL business. It was the game that made me go out and buy a steering wheel in the first place. I then played it and played it and, as one does, gradually stopped and moved on the SCGT and GP3. Having just bought my new PC, I was deciding what games to install and thought I'd have another blast at GPL and lo and behold I'm well and truly hooked again!

But I can't seem to get away from Monza and Spa - my two favourite circuits - always in a Ferrari - that noise!

But I warn you, if you're thinking of going away and leaving GPL for a few months - don't!! It's not like riding a bike - you do forget!

By the way, I've been downloading set-ups all over the place - looking for those that aren't so nervous. Any good ones that you know of?

By the way #2, I've just been watching that amazing Wolfgang Woeger (I think that's how you spell his name) replay of the Nurburgring - have you seen it - 7:57.82 - you have to be psychic to know the track that well!!

[Tony_Simpson]

Try not to download too many setups as the people who make them drive in the wrong way. They are good for one or two laps then you can not drive them.

To get a better base for the setups have a look a www.gplea.org and download the Solitude track. This is where I start with my setups for each track (you load it in for each track and car). They are very good as the spring rates are set up right (so do not change them), and all you need to do is fine tune it for each track (ride height, arb, toe, etc) Also try to stay with a 85/45 diff and 6 clutches, set brake balance to about 54 front, while trying to get to a 53 front. Then it is just down to practice. Try to stay in the lotus/cooper/eagle cars as they are the best to learn in, and keep practicing Monza and the Glen till you are getting 1mmin31 or less and 1min07 or less, then start at other tracks.

Also if you have driven laps at all tracks have a look at http://gplrank.schuerkamp.de/ if it is working and get a ranking. Then aim to get a negative rank, and it is harder than it looks.

Also the 7:57.82 is not that special, my housemate has done that in most cars (he did spend alot of time playing it though), and the world record is around the 7:45 area. There area alot of mad people in this world. The track is not that hard to learn (but difficult to master), just drive around very slowly, not spinning and where you do, learn why and improve the next time around, and the time will drop off.

[AllonFS]

Thanks Tony, but I am too lazy to try and work out my own settings, like Ayse I could do with some non-nervous downloadable setups.

Got some decent F2 settings from Alison Hine's pages, as I am currently learning to drive F2 (advanced trainer) without aids. The settings made a real difference, cars are definitely easier and therefore quicker to drive. The only pity is that no-one does settings for the Honda, with the graphical upgrades it is just sooo nice to look at. With the F2 cars, does anyone know if there is a sound patch so that the cars rev higher and sound better? That is the main thing I miss from the F1 cars.

If I ever get proficient with the F2s, I might go back to the big beasts, but at the moment my right foot is far too heavy and I just spin out all the time in the F1 cars without the aids.

[Aysedasi]

You're clearly way ahead of me Tony!

I've just got back down to the 1:32s at Monza (Ferrari), but I used to be able to do a low 30's. Not that much to shout about, but It's always good to see some progress!

Can someone do me a small favour (or at least humour me!), by cuttung and pasting their core.ini file here? I've created a core.ini (as the D3D readme tells me to), but I'm told there should be anothr line in there regarding replays. It would be interesting to see what others have got in their core.ini files by way of comparison.