Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 ************************ Readme File (English) V1.00 March, 2002 Contents ******** 1. Video cards successfully tested on & supported 2. Video Card Drivers 3. Advanced Graphics configuration 4. Audio Problems and Sound Card drivers 5. Processors successfully tested on & supported 6. 3D performance 7. Networked play 8. Keyboard Shortcuts 9. Web Site 10. Credits 1. Video cards successfully tested on & supported ************************************************* 3Dfx Voodoo3 3000 AGP 3Dfx Voodoo3 3500 AGP 3Dfx Voodoo3 3000 PCI 3Dfx Voodoo3 2000 PCI 3Dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP ATI Rage 128 ATI Rage Pro AGP 2x (Software) ATI Rage Fury Kyro 2 NVidia GeForce256 NVidia GeForce256 DDR NVidia GeForce 2 NVidia GeForce 3 NVidia Riva TNT2 & Ultra NVidia Riva TNT2 M64 Matrox Millenium G200 Matrox Millenium G400 Dualhead Matrox Millenium G400 MAX Matrox Millenium G550 Radeon 256 Radeon 7500 Radeon 8500 S3 Savage 4 Savage 3D Grand Prix 4 requires the latest video drivers, available from your hardware manufacturer's web site. Please see below for internet links to hardware manufacturers web sites. 2. Video Card Drivers ********************* You can download these drivers from the Internet. If you are experiencing problems with Grand Prix 4, look for your video card below to find the Web address where you can download the appropriate drivers. Creative Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT Creative Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 & Ultra Creative Graphics Blaster Annihilator & DDR http://support.soundblaster.com/files/download.asp Matrox MGA Millennium series Matrox MGA Mystique series Matrox Millennium G400 & G400 Max http://www.matrox.com/mga/drivers/latest_drivers/home.htm ATI 3D Rage Pro ATI Rage II ATI Rage II+ ATI 3D Rage 128 ATI 3D Rage Fury Maxx http://support.atitech.ca/drivers/drivers.html 3Dfx reference drivers (for all Voodoo cards - recommended) http://www.3dfxgamers.com/ NVidia reference drivers (for all NVidia chipset based cards - recommended) http://www.nvidia.com/ 3. Advanced Graphics configuration ********************************** *** This information is intended for advanced users only. It is recommended that you *** *** back-up the file "cards.txt" before making any changes. *** GP4 creates a file named "cards.txt" in the root of the installation directory when the game graphics are first calibrated. This is a .ini style file which lets you override certain Direct3D specific settings at run-time. The file will have an entry for each 3d card in your system (usually only one) in the following format:- [Video card make and model] There will also be a [general] entry - this is unused at present and can be safely ignored. The following is a list of the current flags you can set. Simply type the required flag beneath the card which you want to affect. The defaults for each flag are listed in the examples below. FLAG EXPLANATION ++++ +++++++++++ CompressedTextures=0 Force compressed textures to off. CubeMaps=0 Force cubemapping to off. Tnl=0 Force tnl off. MipTyres=0 Turn mipmappin off on tyres. FMTA8R8G8B8=0 Force textures to be 16 bit. explicitTyreSize=0 Resize tyre textures on load. wheelSpecular=0 Turn off specular on wheels. surfaceAsRenderTarget=0 Don't allow surfaces to be used as render targets. D3DTextureSize32=0 Resize textures of with a width or height of 32 . 4. Audio Problems and Sound Card drivers ************************************ 4.1 Sound Driver Issues ----------------------- As with all drivers you should ensure you have the latest available. This will usually fix any problems associated with older drivers. When you install new drivers please remember to re-calibrate the audio from within the audio menu to get the suggested audio settings. The recalibration may not work on all sound cards. If you experience any problems recalibrating the audio please manually change your audio settings. 4.2 Reducing CPU hit for audio ------------------------------ Some sound cards and drivers can have a detremental effect on the performance of the game. When you have no hardware acceleration available or selected in the audio menu, windows will be mixing all the sounds for the game in software. This can reduce the speed of the game considerably. You can adjust windows audio system settings in the windows control panel. *In windows 98/Me look at Control Panel->Multimedia->Advenced Properties->Performance *In windows 2000/XP look at Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices->(Speaker Settings) Advanced->Performance. Here you will find two sliders. The top slider is the amount of hardware acceleration windows will try to use for the sound. The bottom slider is the output quality of the sound. If you put the top slider to "Full" windows will try to use all the features of your sound card. i.e. hardware acceleration and EAX (if supported). If you put the slider all the way to the left windows will use a very basic way of creating the sound. (On some machines this will not replay the sound correctly in the game). If you are having problems with the sound try adjusting this slider until you find a satisfactory result. The bottom slider is useful to adjust the sound reproduction quality. If you do not have any hardware acceleration available in the game you can adjust this to use less CPU time at the expense of sound quality. In windows XP the default value for this slider is "Best". This will render the highest interpolated quality sound (at a high CPU hit). Reducing this down to a lower level will help to ease the CPU hit significantly and therefore speed up the game. 4.3 Internet Driver Links ------------------------- You can download these drivers from the Internet. If you are experiencing problems with Grand Prix 4, look for your sound card below to find the Web address where you can download the appropriate drivers. Please see below for internet links to hardware manufacturers web sites. Creative Audigy (all versions) Creative Soundblaster Live Creative Soundblaster PCI 512 Creative Soundblaster PCI 128 Creative Soundblaster PCI 64 Creative Soundblaster AWE 64 Creative Soundblaster 16 PCI http://www.soundblaster.com/drivers/ Videologic SonicFury Videologic SonicVortex2 Videologic SonicStorm Videologic SonicStorm Pro http://www.videologic.com/Support/SupportFrame.asp All Yamaha branded Soundcards http://www.yamaha.com/lsi/support/downloads.htm Guillemot Maxi Studio ISIS Guillemot Maxi Sound http://uk.guillemot.com/brand/ind-gamme.html Diamond Monster Sound Diamond Sonic Sound Diamond Sonic Impact Diamond Sonic Vibes http://www.diamondmm.com/ Aztech Labs Aztech Aztech Labs Sound Galaxy Aztech Labs waverider http://www.aztechca.com/support/soundcard.htm Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Voyetra Turtle Beach Montego II http://www.voyetra-turtle-beach.com/site/sales_support/sales_support.asp 5. Processors successfully tested on & supported ************************************************ Intel Pentium II Intel Pentium III Intel Pentium IV Intel Celeron AMD K6-2 3DNow! (via DirectX7) AMD K6-3 3DNow! (via DirectX7) AMD K7/Athlon 3DNow! (via DirectX7) 6. 3D performance ***************** The game's 3D performance will vary from configuration to configuration, but there are many options available in-game to allow the user to get the best compromise between performance and gameplay. During a race, you can find out your "Processor Occupancy" rating by pressing the "O" key. This figure is given as a percentage. It is important that this figure is kept as close to (or below) the 100% mark as possible - anything higher and the game physics will be compromised and gameplay will suffer. Here are some tips for lowering the occupancy:- - Run the game in a lower resolution - Reduce the quality of the textures used in-game in the Advanced Graphics Options - Reduce the quality of the shadows and turn off environment maps in the Advanced Graphics Options - Reduce the objects shown in the mirror view in the Advanced Graphics Options - Turn off some of the trackside objects - Lower the frame rate setting - Reduce the size of your replay buffer in the Graphics Detail Menu - Run the audio calibration from the sound menu. (see section 4 above) - Adjust windows audio system settings from the control panel (see section 4 above) 7. Networked play ***************** Network play is supported for up to eight players simultaneously via a Local Area Network. It is possible to play with up to 22 players, but this is not supported due to current hardware limitations, and the need for high-spec systems to be able to run such large network games. The following points should be noted for larger network games:- 1. The game will run at the same speed on all machines. This means that if you have one slow machine on the network, then everybody's game performance will suffer. The problem machines should lower the detail/frame rate settings to improve overall performance. You can trace problem machines using the Processor Occupancy button ("O"). 2. The game can support 22 players, but only if all players are running on high specification machines. This is to future proof the game. It is not possible at this time to have a large network game using minimum specification machines. 3. TCP/IP play over the internet via analog modems is not currently supported due to the low transfer rates. 8. Keyboard Shortcuts ********************* +Q - Jump to pits (Practise and qualifying session) +U - Jump all players to multiplayer lobby screen (multiplayer only) O - Show processor occupancy 9. Web Site ************ At Infogrames, it is a priority to ensure that you have everything you need to get the best out of your product. In fact, our web sites are designed to enhance your playing or learning experience and not just be there to help if you have a problem. Therefore, Infogrames has a full and exciting web site dedicated to ensuring you can see the latest information, obtain technical support, download the latest upgrade, read the latest hints and tips and a great deal more. You can reach the site at: http://www.grandprixgames.com 11. Credits *********** Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 Credits For Simergy Game Design & Programming Geoff Crammond Performance Analysis & Test Driving David Surplus For MicroProse Studio Manager & Executive Producer Nick Court Producer Phil Gilbert Software Engineering Manager Nick Thompson Art Director Andy Cook Lead Programmer Gareth Jones Programming Neil Alford Jason Barstow Jalea Clements Simon Michael Matt Patterson Duncan Rooth Jeremy Sallis Nick Thompson Jason Turner Additional Programming Neil Duffield Julian Foxall Steve Haggerty Tim Round Audio Systems & Programming Nigel Brown Lead Artist Andy Cook Artists Pete Austin Carl Edwards Maff Evans Eddie Garnier Lisa Godwin Jeffrey Miranda Greg Shill David Smith Track reference surveys Norman Surplus Additional Artwork Halli Bjornsson Noel Uche Audio Producer John Broomhall Original Music James Hannigan Additional Location Recording Pete Guppy Motion Capture Studio Manager Tony Wills Motion capture artists Dave Hingley Andrew Lee Rob Millington Mick Sheehan All motion capture undertaken with the kind assistance of the Orange Arrows Formula One Team. GPAEDIA VIDEO PRODUCTION Featuring Mark Hemsworth Script Mark Hemsworth Ossi Oikarinen Andy Cook Sound & Original Music John Broomhall Camera Matthew Grant Editing Matthew Grant Andy Grierson Directed by John Broomhall Andy Cook Produced by Phil Gilbert THANK YOU... John Cook Laura McNamara Andy Rogers of Jemlar (www.jemlar.com) Nvidia Logitech Steinberg Software for audio production systems SPECIAL THANKS GO TO the Orange Arrows Formula One Team for all their help during the development of this product Office Manager Christine Upham Administration Assistant Pat Edwards