---------------------------------------------------------------------- XCar Mini Manual V1.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cars ---------------------------------------------------------------------- XCar simulates the next generation, closed wheeled, closed cockpit race car. These cars, often referred to as sports-prototypes, have a rich history. They are typically manufactured to showcase new technology and design techniques. Few are ever sold to the public but are manufactured in limited quantities and raced in various classes. Each car featured in XCar has a unique sponsor, design and default setup. Even though each car is different, their default setups make them essentially equal. The default setup is adequate to begin racing but to be really competitive you will have to modify your car to suit a particular track as well as your own preferences. To select a car, choose Select Car from the Main Menu. Using the up/down cursor keys, mouse, or joystick, select a car from the list of cars. This list is revolving and will continuously loop through all the available cars. When additional cars are added (through expansion disks or other means) their names and images will automatically appear in the list. Once you have chosen a car, you will be prompted to type a new name for the driver. This name will be saved along with any changes made to the car in the Car Modify section of the program. During multi-player network play, the other players will see this name displayed above your car. Calibrating the Joystick ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Before the joystick can be used it must be calibrated. When XCar is started for the first time and a joystick is detected, you will automatically be asked to calibrate your joystick. After the first time, there is no need to re-calibrate (the calibration is saved for you) unless your joystick goes out of calibration or you switch joysticks. To calibrate a joystick, select Options from the Main menu and select Calibrate Joysticks. Move all joysticks to their limits then release them to their default, center position and press a button. The calibration is automatically saved and will be loaded next time you play. If you change joysticks or experience problems with a joystick, press the R key at the calibrate screen to reset the calibration. You must then re-calibrate your joystick. During game play it is not uncommon for a joystick to "drift" off center. Most joysticks have an adjustment wheel or slider to correct this or you can press the F2 key when the joystick is centered to reset the joystick center location. Controls ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When selecting menu items the following controls are active: Action Keyboard Joystick Mouse ---------------------- -------- -------- ------ Change highlighted item. Up/Down arrow Joy A- Y axis Position cursor and press Left button. Toggle/execute option ENTER Key Button Left button press Previous screen ESC key ESC key Right button press The controls used during the racing portion of game play are customizable. If a joystick is detected, the default controls will be joystick-based, otherwise keyboard controls will be selected, even though a mouse may be present. The default controls are as follows: Action Keyboard Joystick ----------------- -------- -------- Steer left/right Cursor left/right Joystick left/right Accelerate Cursor Up Joystick forward Brake Cursor Down Joystick backward Shift up A key Button A Shift down A key Button B HUD toggle Space Bar Space Bar Previous view < key < key Next view > key > key Reverse R key R key Customizing Controls -------------------- Before racing you should customize the controls to suit your personal preferences. You need only do this once. XCar will automatically save and reload the control settings each time you run the game. To customize the controls, select Options from the Main Menu and then Select Controls. Move to the control you wish to change and press ENTER. Press or move the control (key, joystick, or mouse) you wish to assign. The display will change showing the new selected control. Pressing ESC while assigning a control will cancel the operation. The following controls can NOT be customized and are always assigned to the following keys: Action Key -------------------- -------- Map on/off TAB key Spin Help F1 key Re-center Joystick F2 key Metric/US units F3 key HUD on/off F4 key Pause Game F5 key Side view mirrors on/off F6 key Spin help on/off F7 key Steering help on/off F8 key Auto-braking on/off F9 key Race line on/off F10 key Zoom map in + key Zoom map out - key Begin/Reset telemetry 0 key Front roll arm softer 1 key Front roll arm stiffer 2 key Rear roll arm softer 3 key Rear roll arm stiffer 4 key Move HUD left Q key Move HUD Right W key Take a screen shot INS key NOTE: The above fixed keys can not be assigned to other functions and are disallowed while customizing controls. Improving The Frame Rate ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Normal video plays back at 30 frames every second. The lower the frame rate, the jerkier the display seems and quick maneuvers will seem sluggish. Even though the Xngine technology is inherently faster than typical 3D systems, the processing power of your computer may not be enough to produce acceptable frame rates. XCar was designed so that you can customize the frame rate while sacrificing graphic realism. The following is a quick list of options that can improve your frame rate. 1) Horizon- Turn off the fully textured horizon. The textured horizon will be replaced by a solid blue horizon. Turn the horizon off on the Graphics options screen under Horizon. 2) Resolution- Use low (320x200) resolution while racing. To select low resolution, select 320x200 from the Resolution section of the Graphics options screen. 3) Number of Opponents- Racing against fewer cars will increase frame rate. To reduce the number opponents, reduce the value in the Opponents slider on the Realism menu. 4) Textures- Turn textures off. The least noticeable textures are the walls and grass. When textures are turned off they are replaced with a comparable solid color. To turn textures off, toggle the corresponding option on the Graphics options screen. 5) Trees and Buildings- Lower the level of trees and buildings rendered. Do this by selecting Trees or Buildings from the Graphics options and reducing the level. 6) Render Distance- Shorten the render distance. The render distance can be adjusted from the Graphics options screen. 7) Race line- Disable the Race Line option. Turn off the race line from the Realism options menu. Setup Tips ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following section is a quick reference guide to the effects of modifying various car components. Springs and Dampers ------------------- Adjust springs/dampers to affect grip in corners and suspension travel. Adjustment Effects -------------------- ------- Stiffen front springs Adds understeer. Car is more stable. Less front grip on bumpy surfaces. Greater traction on corner exit. Greater front tire wear. Less “dive” under braking. Stiffen rear springs More oversteer. Car is less stable. Less rear grip over bumps. Less traction on corner exit. Greater rear tire wear. Less “squat” under acceleration. Stiffen front dampers Increased understeer in bumpy turns. Increased steer responsiveness. Less front grip on bumpy surfaces. More front tire wear. Stiffen rear dampers Increased oversteer in bumpy turns. Increased steer responsiveness. Less rear grip over bumps. More front tire wear. Anti-roll bars -------------- Adjust roll bars to affect grip in corners. Adjustment Effects -------------------- ------- Stiffen front Adds understeer. Less front grip on bumpy surfaces. Greater front tire wear. Stiffen rear More oversteer. Less rear grip over bumps. Less traction on corner exit. Greater rear tire wear. Wings ----- Adjust wings to affect grip and top speed. Adjustment Effects -------------------- ------- Increase front Increased oversteer. Increased aerodynamic drag. Increased cornering speeds. Reduced top speed. Can affect rear wing effectiveness. Increase rear More understeer. Increased aerodynamic drag. Increased corning speeds. Reduced top speed. Gear Ratios ----------- Adjust gear ratios for maximum acceleration out of corners and down straits. Adjustment Effects -------------------- ------- Increase gear Increased top speed. Less acceleration. Decrease gear Lower top speed. greater acceleration. Brake Balance ------------- Adjust brake bias to optimize braking performance. Adjustment Effects -------------------- ------- Increase front bias Understeer under braking. Front tires can lock. Braking distance can increase. Decrease front bias Oversteer under braking. Rear tires can lock. Braking distance can increase. Steering -------- Adjust steering parameters to fit the track. Adjustment Effects -------------------- ------- Decrease Steer Ratio Wheels turn faster. Allow for taking tighter corners. Less Steer Ratio is good when racing on twisty tracks. Less stable. Increase Steer Lock Increases the amount of steering available. Allows sharper, tighter turns. Less stable at high speed. Increase Steer Scale Make steering have less influence the faster you go. Higher values are good for high-speed tracks. Troubleshooting ---------------------------------------------------------------------- General ------- Problem: The program hangs when I try to run it. Solution: Try selecting NO SOUND in the setup program. If the wrong sound card was chosen it is possible that XCar can hang when trying to play a sound. Another problem may be memory. XCar requires 12 meg to be free for XCar to run. If you do not have 16 meg or more of memory installed, chances are XCar will not run. Check the amount of memory free by running the dos program mem. If you don’t have 12 total meg free you will have to free some memory up by removing programs from your CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT files. See your DOS manual for help. If you are running under Windows you may have to shut down Windows and run under DOS. Problem: X-Car won't recognize that I have a joystick plugged in. Solution: X-Car will only detect joysticks using the standard joystick port. If a joystick requires a special card or a connector which plugs into multiple places, chances are X-Car won't detect it. Some computers have multiple joystick ports (i.e. one on a sound card and one on a multi I/O card). Only one of the ports will function at a time and the other must be disabled. Make sure the joystick is plugged into the active port. Look in the hardware's manual for how to do this. Problem: I switched to a different joystick and now my controls are messed up and joystick calibration doesn't help. Solution: Different joysticks return different ranges of values. The calibration settings must be reset in order for X-Car to detect its real range. To do this, select OPTIONS from the main selection screen and then CALIBRATE JOYSTICKS. Press "R" to reset the values and then, once again, move the joysticks to their extents. The new calibration will be saved. Video ----- Problem: I get a video error when I run XCar. Solution: This is probably due to not having a VESA driver installed. XCar requires a VESA driver and uses mode 101 by default. If you have a VESA driver but XCar still gives this error it may be because your VESA driver doesn’t support this mode. Check that your VESA driver is loading and working properly. If you don’t have a VESA driver and don't know where to get one, you can use the universal VESA driver found on the CD. It is a trial version but should get you up and running. Sound and Music --------------- Problem: The SETUP program won't recognize my sound card or no sound is heard. Solution: It is sometimes possible for the auto detect routines in the setup program to mistake the type or configuration of your sound card. Verify that the settings are correct using a setup program provided by the sound card manufacturer. If all else fails, the basic Sound Blaster configuration seems to be the "universal" standard (assuming the card is supposed to be compatible). Problem: The music is too loud and I can’t find a volume control in XCar. Solution: XCar only uses Redbook-type audio for music and can not control the output volume. If the music is too loud, the volume of the CD music will need to be adjusted outside of XCar, usually in a mixer program supplied with your sound card or CD manufacturer. Problem: I don't get any digital sound. Solution: First try running the setup program. Select the sound card you have installed (or let setup autodetect it). Be sure to try the test sound. If you get a test sound, XCar sound have sound. If this doesn't fix the problem, make sure the volumes of the sound effects are turned up. Do this in the Sound Options accessed from the Options Screen.