New Star Grand Prix v1.05 *Beta*

[siread]

Ok, this is the latest version with lots of changes. I'm still working on a couple of things (trying to speed up the code for slow machines) but I'd be grateful if people could test this out. You may wanna back up your save files if you have a good career going, just in case something goes wrong in this version.

http://download.newstargames.com/Install_NSGP105.exe

Changes v1.05
Added security to stop cheating on leaderboards
Added team and car stats to leaderboards
Fixed Brazil track direction
License key stored for future careers
Fixed lap total changing during practice
Added collision debris
Added invisible option to see driver names all the time (CTRL+SHIFT+N)
Added lap record sound effect
Fixed pitstop refuel/damage speeds
Fixed unhappy boss when pitting in practice or qualifying
Increased rate at which track gets wet in the rain
Added speedometer
Fixed 50K stake in casino
Fixed Qualifying session ending when game paused
Fixed car image handle getting changed (rain light appearing in wrong place)
Decreased speed of slicks in wet weather
Decreased speed of wets in dry conditions
Increased tyre wear when using wets in dry conditions
Standardised fuel consumption and tyrewear regardless of total laps in a race
Added Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS)
Added car set up screen before race starts
Can finish current lap when qualifying time ends
Improved com racing lines
Added Extreme difficulty
Fixed cars starting with wrong tyres
Fixed start light colours
Added motion blur
Added slipstreaming/drafting
Added car setup screen before race starts

[bazik]

i'm on it :D Thank Si

[WhizzkidOne]

I'm crashing to desktop when I try to start a new career.

Edit: Tried uninstalling and reinstalling and still have the same problem.

[Mr Bismarck]

At first glance a lot of the cosmetic changes are great, but there's way, way too much boost available from KERS.

I don't know what it's like in career mode, but it felt like I could boost for virtually the whole lap in Australia on a quick race.

In real life it's a 6 second boost, but real laps are ~twice as long as NSGP laps.

[bazik]

At first glance a lot of the cosmetic changes are great, but there's way, way too much boost available from KERS.

I don't know what it's like in career mode, but it felt like I could boost for virtually the whole lap in Australia on a quick race.

In real life it's a 6 second boost, but real laps are ~twice as long as NSGP laps.

5stars on the hud!!

i have to agree with the too much kers thing, unless ofcourse, there are significant advantages by not fitting kers. What are they?

i still cannot ulpoad my times, i can see the online leaderboards for the current track, but if i change the track, says it cant connect (like the v1.04)
full screen is still not working for me

[bazik]

it just crashed on me, i'll try to repeat the crash to have some clues to what's causing this.

EDIT: sometimes when i click practice, it freezes. But when i pressed 'Esc', i could hear the engine, after some more "escing" (seems i skipped the setup, i couldn't see the setup screen) i could see the track, and i could go on my practice... weird

EDIT2: everytime i go to pratice qualify or race, it takes about 15seconds to load the screen, that's a lot more than in 1.04, maybe its related to my problem... anyone else experiencing this?

EDIT3: seems to get worse and worse, this time i went to practice... froze again, again a lot of 'escing' and i could hear the car, but i couldn't see the track, i even started to drive, and could hear i was driving but i couldn't see nothing.

EDIT4: ok just ignore all of that, i restarted the pc, and i have no problems now

[bazik]

in practice if the fuel ends... the practice is not finishing, i just stayed on the track.... and stayed in the track until i manually quited.

[bazik]

I'm crashing to desktop when I try to start a new career.

Edit: Tried uninstalling and reinstalling and still have the same problem.

its working fine here.

[Rory426]

My initial reactions:


Changes v1.05
License key stored for future careers Thank you!
Added collision debris Looks great!
Added invisible option to see driver names all the time (CTRL+SHIFT+N) Very nice
Added lap record sound effect Didn't get a chance to hear it yet :lol:
Increased rate at which track gets wet in the rain This certainly makes it more interesting - I was skidding after about 1/2 a lap
Added speedometer The HUD looks awesome - great addition
Added car set up screen before race starts Nice addition
Can finish current lap when qualifying time ends Nice addition too
Added motion blur Again, looks great!

Added Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS)

The KERS was the most biggest addition and I would agree with what's already been said about the amount of time you can boost for. Maybe it's a bit too much, but the amount of boost is certainly spot on, a noticeable increase in speed, but not so much as to seem like a boost button in your standard arcade game.

I'm loving 1.05! :D

[dfajar2]

Thanks. I am at work right now :doh: and just read about the update. Now I am lookng for an excuse to leave work early and start testing it.
Great work.

[Mr Bismarck]

I'm crashing to desktop when I try to start a new career.

Edit: Tried uninstalling and reinstalling and still have the same problem.

Same here. I can start Quick Race no problem, but when I try to start a new career I fill in my details, hit Proceed and *bang* the game is just gone. No error message, no hanging, just straight to desktop.

[jaykayzer]

Just gave the beta a quick go - great improvements - thanks.

If I notice any bugs I'll let you know.

Keep up the good work!

[WhizzkidOne]

Another tiny bug. The cars on the minimap and on the car where your time to the car infront is shown (when you complete a lap, hard to explain :redface:) have no front wheels.

[bazik]

i might just change my mind about KERS, i said the KERS available time was too much, but i suggest you all: run some tests!

i timed the KERS time, and i think the current time is about 5s per lap.

then i took a "Walliams" on Australia, and i made some tests

With KERS, best time, on very low fuel = 0:29:950 (used all the KERS available in the lap)
Without KERS, best time, on very low fuel = 0:29:124

all best times were made in DRY weather

i'm sure the PROS/CONS of using KERS, vary from track to track, car to car, even player to player, so i think to fine tune this thing, everybody should run tests, on diferent Tracks and Cars, i think Siread could fine tune from our data.

[sickbrendan]

1.5 works awesome! Im all ready to purchase this game!

I agree with Bazik...maybe Siread could enlighten us how he programmed the KERS?

Just wondering, if i buy the game, and switch computers in a few weeks time, i just need to redownload and put in the same passcode i was given right?

[Rory426]

I actually might have changed my mind also. I ran a couple of races now with KERS and the more I use 1.05 the more I think the KERS is spot on. Just had my most exciting race ever on NSGP too, so that was awesome. 1st to 7th on the first corner (should have used the KERS!) but worked my way back up to 2nd and then overtook on the finish straight using the KERS and drafting together.

[siread]

Just wondering, if i buy the game, and switch computers in a few weeks time, i just need to redownload and put in the same passcode i was given right?

Yes, the key works on any machine, providing you use the same driver name.

[bazik]

Tire wear when qualifying is almost non-existing, this doesn't happen in race or practice.

i can run 5+ laps on qualifying with the same tires, having less wear than after doing 1 lap in practice!

(i'm not using KERS)

[Conway1992]

Speedometer a great addition.

[rmallen]

I assume there's no Mac beta?

[captinfranko]

Is there no mac version as of yet? 1.05 sounds brilliant, cant wait

[siread]

No Mac version at the mo. It will be out once the Windows version 1.05 is nailed (before Sunday). :)

[scuff]

Starting a quick race, the game did hang on the title screen for me once. No error message and not repeatable, so maybe just my computer.

One other thing, perhaps the KERS system should only work in a straight line? I'm fairly sure the real system works that way or they'd be spinning off all over the place. I realise that's not an issue here, but thought I'd mention it.

1.05 inspired me to buy the game and quit with the demo :D

[bazik]

One other thing, perhaps the KERS system should only work in a straight line? I'm fairly sure the real system works that way or they'd be spinning off all over the place. I realise that's not an issue here, but thought I'd mention it.

you are wrong, KERS works at the push of a button on real life, works on any part of the track, but contrary to popular belief, race car drivers are not THAT dumb :P so they only push the button when they can.

Also note that are corners and bends in real life that can handle more 80hp without going all crazy, (Kers F1 limit is 60 kW = 80hp), plus usually you only accelarate on a tight bend, after the appex when you are already leaving the corner.

[markohladnik]

So what's the advantage of NOT fitting KERS?

EDIT: Never mind, read the help file :P appologies.

[bazik]

So what's the advantage of NOT fitting KERS?

Fitting KERS is not just roses, its also 30kg more. more weight, means slower car, more tire wear, and affects the weight distribution.

[ninalouise]

great update si. only snag is the new career option crashes the game :( thankfully i have 2 saved games. but fancy starting a new one with update

regards

[markohladnik]

Fitting KERS is not just roses, its also 30kg more. more weight, means slower car, more tire wear, and affects the weight distribution.

Well, in real life, I know ... how is this implemented in the game? Heavier car?
EDIT: Never mind, read the help file :P appologies.

I tried unselecting the KERS option - and then the pit screen as well as the pre-race setup screen don't look so nice. Before the race you have to press down twice to get to 'pause/continue', apparently the selection moves to the invisible KERS line first.

[scuff]

Starting a quick race, the game did hang on the title screen for me once. No error message and not repeatable, so maybe just my computer. Same issue again, Malaysia again, though don't know if that is relevant. The tracks generally are seeming to take longer to load in 1.05, and I have plenty of lag on the setup display (though can hear the fuel changes being made, is just the display that slow). Don't know if this is related to the above issue I've experienced.

Oh, and boost remaining display over the car when you use it would be a nice option - it's rather out of the way atm, and I'd prefer to keep my eyes on the road

[Cookie Monster]

There's no damage to cars on qualifying.

[Rory426]

The pit stop menu obstructs the time limit in qualifying. Not a major issue, but I realized today when I wanted to see how many laps I'd be able to get in.

[Cookie Monster]

Si, if we are running the game in a resolution higher than 800*600, can we have the whole UI expanded to fill up the entire screen? I'm running this in 1280*800 and only a small portion of my screen is filled up by the UI, while the background takes up the whole screen.

[markohladnik]

One thing about the weather (applies to the previous version already): since you fixed how varied the weather can be in longer races, my experience has been that once it starts raining, it never stops. I play 15 laps, and in 2 seasons it never changed from rain to dry, however early the rain started. Could you check the code if that's not intentional?

At the end of the race, you now get the Monday notification, and the feedback from the boss and the fans no loger shows.

[dfajar2]

I could not change the resolution in the NSGP starting menu.
If I notice anything else I'll let you know.

[MarcoGazpacho]

Right, as someone who got 168 points out of 170 in their last season with a Toyota on hard level, this 1.05 update is much improved again on difficulty!

Firstly, the KERS is a great addition, but the AI is having a bit more difficulty and colliding with the other AI cars more often, ruining some of their races.

Secondly, I love the speedometer graphic, but it seems just a little...big for my liking! And the sound doesn't appear to quite match what gear I'm in- when I'm zooming along a straight, I'm in 7th gear, but there's the sound of an upchange- either that's just the way the sound is, or the speedometer isn't quite getting my velocity correct.

Another glitch is fuel consumption differing from practice to races. In China, for example, I could only get 4.5 laps of fuel from practice (as opposed to 5.1 laps in v1.04!), but in the race it was more like 6.7 laps. Is it adjusted depending on race distance?

I also still have the sound glitch in qualifying, where my car is totally silent apart from when I change tyres in the pits and hit things. I'll check my sound drivers, but I updated those fairly recently when I had sound glitches in NSS4...;)

Finally, in the online records, my car isn't quite listed right, it has handling of 5* and acceleration of 2*, but in the table those are listed the other way around. That could be because I've loaded from a saved game in the third season.

Other than those moany moans (tch, I sound like Fernando Alonso, I'll be complaining about the tyres next), superb work! I particularly like how I can use KERS to blast past bothersome backmarkers...:D

[bazik]

Firstly, the KERS is a great addition, but the AI is having a bit more difficulty and colliding with the other AI cars more often, ruining some of their races.

i always thought the AI never crashed against each other, so i welcome this.

[DVG]

The only issue I have so far is that the AI drives at the same speed in dry and wet conditions. Whenever it rains, my car is the only one that is slower in the rain (and yes, I was using the correct tire).

Difficulty: Extreme
Car: Form India

[rmallen]

They do. I've only got the demo version and I've seen it.

[Alex Reeves]

Great update! The KERS implementation is excellent, as is the changes in racing line and difficulty. The biggest (and best, IMO) change is the pre-race setup - my test race I qualified in pole on Extreme, but was totally blown away by P2-4 on the first two laps. However, they pitted on lap 2, so obviously had gone for a low-fuel strategy! Brilliant! Seeing people pitting on different laps makes for better racing as well, it was a much more interesting race with positions changing because of pit strategies.

The Extreme racing times are a lot better, as I didn't win the race (China) and everyone was lapping very close to optimal times. I think the drafting has also made the AI more aggressive for overtaking, which is good.

Comments and bugs :

- Bug : My team stats are Acc:5 Speed:5 Handling:3, but when my time was uploaded it showed Acc:3 Speed:5 Handling:5. My car actually felt slow in accelerating, so I'm not sure which stat is right?
- Fuel consumption seems to be greater now, even without KERS installed.
- I saw a car during qualifying going backwards down the main straight to get into the pits. Not sure what made that decision for it, but not an ideal thing!
- Bug/Feature still exists that you can enter the pit lane backwards.
- Still seems to be issues with display resolution. Won't run at 1680x1050, seems to drop down to a very low res when it misses the setup resolution.

I'll run a few more races and see what else pops up.

[Alex Reeves]

Bug : If you finish your race through the pit lane, the computer tries to drive through the pit wall to get back on the track, trashing your car and annoying your pit crew.

[markohladnik]

I salute the improved AI. Com cars drive better on all settings (due to a better racing line, it seems), although as before, they tend to crash into me from the sides quite a lot, while they are good at reducing speed when they come too close from behind.

An additional difficulty setting inbetween normal and hard might be welcome (if you're not fed up with game difficulty issues) - to me, this step seems very steep.

And yes, I agree that the speedometer is a bit big ... I end up disabling the option usually.

[Sida79]

I cannot seem and get any mods to work.

When doing it 'old school' the game just crashes to desktop when trying to start a career. Then after loading if going to options screen it crashes again etc.

When doing as described in the .txt file nothing happens. I still have no other option but 'no' on wether to use a mod.

I don't want to play with silly driver names :(

[siread]

The mod files aren't in the correct place if you cannot see them. Check the folder structure again. (Mod>Mod Name>Database)

As for crashing, the NSGP.db has a new 'kers' field in the 'drivers' table, so any modified databases will need to be based on the new NSGP.db.

[ninalouise]

hey si. sorry im confused. what u said about crashing, all previous versions it ran fine but 1.0.5 only allows the quick race to run properly. career modes crash after we input the driver details and start our campaign. how do we get the game to run now in career mode?

[Alex Reeves]

I'm noticing a lot more of the issues with AI cars missing the pit entry and then floundering for long periods of time crashing into walls etc... Turkey or any course where the pit entry is after a turn seems to be a particular issue, the cars seem to run around the final bend too wide to get into the pit lane, then get confused as they miss or enter the pit lane wide. Perhaps the new racing lines don't accomodate pitting well?

[DarrenG]

Good stuff.... 1.05 seems to have some great additions!


Few bugs though...

1: With my 1.04 install.. I put in the F12009 aero mod .. I just put the folders where the old ones were.. didn`t select any mod on the title screen ( not there was any to select ) go to game - crash .. goto options - crash.. maybe it`s me there!

2: Fuel doesn`t go down in either quali or race.. same for tire wear! [FOUND]

3: I`m with the `you get too much `kers` time ` crowd!

Other than that.. everything else is excellent.. the new graphics etc.. nice stuff

I`ve found in the settings that tire wear and fuel consumption are deselected by default ! o_0

[bazik]

Good stuff.... 1.05 seems to have some great additions!


Few bugs though...

1: With my 1.04 install.. I put in the F12009 aero mod .. I just put the folders where the old ones were.. didn`t select any mod on the title screen ( not there was any to select ) go to game - crash .. goto options - crash.. maybe it`s me there!

2: Fuel doesn`t go down in either quali or race.. same for tire wear!

3: I`m with the `you get too much `kers` time ` crowd!

Other than that.. everything else is excellent.. the new graphics etc.. nice stuff

1) above you siread explained that the new dbs are not compatible, so mod db, must be based on the new db.

2) i think its only on quali at least for me.

3) i was with that crowd, but have you made tests? try lapping your best on the same weather, with and without kers.

[bazik]

btw... siread, can you make the next version with realistic 2009 values for the cars, brawn has to be better, and ferrari and mclaren worse.. for instance.

A customizable helmet color for your driver would be also great!

[markohladnik]

I played some more the whole morning :) so ...

First of all, congratulations on the good work and the time and effort invested! It's a big big update.

Now I can definitely say that com cars bump too much, both into you (but ok, that could be me driving recklessly at times) and even more into each other.

Slipstreaming is a nice addition, I just have to get used to it a bit - it often happens that it kicks in right before a bend, and I find myself catapulted off the track :)

Once upon a time we discussed cars retiring from race and unexpected failures that require pitting. Are you still considering adding that? Just as an option for more realism, it's rare that everyone finishes a race, as mentioned before - the underdogs thus have a chance to scrape some points every now and then.

[siread]

hey si. sorry im confused. what u said about crashing, all previous versions it ran fine but 1.0.5 only allows the quick race to run properly. career modes crash after we input the driver details and start our campaign. how do we get the game to run now in career mode?

Sorry, I was referring the mod. I'm looking into the New Career crashing issue.


I'm noticing a lot more of the issues with AI cars missing the pit entry and then floundering for long periods of time crashing into walls etc... Turkey or any course where the pit entry is after a turn seems to be a particular issue, the cars seem to run around the final bend too wide to get into the pit lane, then get confused as they miss or enter the pit lane wide. Perhaps the new racing lines don't accomodate pitting well?

Yep, noticed this too. Working on it as I speak. :)

[sickbrendan]

Just played a round on the Singapore Map.... the majority of the AI cars seem to be stuck (semi-translucent) while trying to enter the pit lane after the last bend. Just letting you know :)

Btw, the Singapore map just seems like it has way too many trees! Its a street circuit! haha..

And in my opinion the walls should be closer to the track...less run-off area and more damage when banging against the walls...gives us more variety in the type of races we have. Cheers!

Thanks for this game! Its really really awesome :D

[sickbrendan]

btw... siread, can you make the next version with realistic 2009 values for the cars, brawn has to be better, and ferrari and mclaren worse.. for instance.

A customizable helmet color for your driver would be also great!

Williams does seem really underpowered..considering how well they are performing these days!

[Thor]

The latest file with Polish translation hasn't been implemented (also the translations I posted, like Throttle, and so on). Check the Translation thread please, and change the latest translation file (and check my all posts there which concern the latest things you've added :( ).

[siread]

The latest file with Polish translation hasn't been implemented (also the translations I posted, like Throttle, and so on). Check the Translation thread please, and change the latest translation file (and check my all posts there which concern the latest things you've added :( ).

Yes, but there are some new words to translate (Extreme, Fitted, Not Fitted) so it would be easier if you could post an updated TransFile. Thanks. :)

[siread]

Anyone with the new career crashing bug, could you open My Docs/New Star Grand Prix/Settings/Settings.ini and change it to debug=1. Then run the game, start a career and when it crashes let me know what the .log file says (last few lines). The .log file can be found in C:/Program Files/New Star Grand Prix.

Thanks. :)

Edit: Also, you aren't running a MOD are you?

[siread]

New version...
http://www.newstarsoccer.com/newstarforum/showthread.php?t=9375

Please post any comments in that thread. :)