Xenosoft 2/Xenosoft 2 (Game collection)(1994).iso/games/nascar.arj/NASCAR/README.TXT

Text File | 1994-10-31 | 15KB | 268 lines

                                NASCAR Racing
                                     by
                          Papyrus Design Group, Inc.

                 Copyright (c) 1994 Papyrus Design Group, Inc.
                             All rights reserved.


1. Damage/Damage Repair
2. Audio CD Tracks
3. F4 - Tire Temperature
4. Tire Temperatures, Part 2
5. F5 - Tire Change
6. Championship Season
7. Sound Card Setup
8. Genovation/Colorado Spectrum Game Ports
9. Save Race Changes
10. Qualifying Setup
11. Gravis Ultrasound and GUS Max Music
12. Black Flag Addition
13. Pentium Performance
14. Race End
15. Garage/Replay Issue
16. Multiplayer Race - Initialization Strings
                     - Baud Rates
                     - Troubleshooting
17. Creating a Boot Diskette


1. Damage/Damage Repair
     If you have damage set to on, and you get into an accident, your car
will be affected by the damage.  The primary areas which will be affected
are the aerodynamic drag and the downforce.  The severity of the effect
depends on how much damage the car has sustained.  If you look at the
F9-Pit Status view you will notice "repairs" as one of the things your
crew is going to fix next time into the pit.  Once in the pit, your crew
will remove damaged pieces and try and fix other crumpled areas of the car.
This could take some time depending on how damaged the car is.  Once they
are done, the timer in the upper right corner will change colors and you can
re-join the race.  The car will not be perfect like it was when you started
the race but at least you'll be able to finish and get some all-important
championship points.
     Sometimes you may not want the crew to fix the car damage.  For
example, at a short track like Martinsville the effect is not as serious as
it would be if you were at Talladega.  On the F9-Pit Status menu just press
"enter" to toggle between "repairs" and "do not repair".  Now the crew won't
bother to repair the crumpled sheet metal.  However, if you do have damage
to your wheels the crew will fix that no matter what.  After all, you
need the wheels in order to drive!

2. Audio CD Tracks
     In addition to the game on the CD-ROM we have shipped a couple of
original songs which can be played on any audio CD player.  All you have to
do is put the CD-ROM in an audio CD player and select either track 2 or 3.

 - WARNING do not play track 1 in your audio player, it contains the game -

     Track 2, called "Race Riff," is a piece which was written and performed
     by Rachel Bolan and Dave "Snake" Sabo of the band Skid Row.
           (C) 1994 Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo of Skid Row

     Track 3, called "The Fastest Sport," is a piece which was written and
     performed by the Fat Man and Team Fat.
           (C) 1994 Fat Manor Publishing (BMI)

3. F4 - Tire Temperature
     In the F4 view, the temperature numbers will change color depending
on how hot the tire is.  White is normal or ok.  Yellow means the tire is
getting a little hot.  Red means the tire is overheating.  If your tires are
constantly red it means there is a problem with your setup or it is time to
change the tires.  Hotter tires wear faster, so, if you have a bad setup in
which the tires run too hot you will most likely have to pit earlier and
more often than your opponents.  One way to affect tire temperatures in the
garage is too change the tire pressures.  Higher pressures will yield lower
temps and lower pressure will yield higher temps.

4. Tire Temperatures, Part 2
     It is important to remember that when you start a session (practice,
race, etc) your tires are cold.  If you jam on the gas your car is likely
to spin out.  When the tires are cold the car has a tendency to "oversteer".
Take it easy on the first few laps around the track.  Let the tires warm up
before putting the gas to the floor.  Once they are you'll find the car
will lose that "oversteer" tendency.

5. F5 - Tire Change
     In the F5 view, the bars under the tire boxes indicate the amount of
wear that tire is undergoing.  The bar will change color depending on the
current wear of the tire.  Green indicates a new or hardly worn tire.
Yellow means the tire is getting a little worn.  Red means the tire is very
worn and it could blow.  Once the tire wear is red you should definitely
come into the pit to get fresh rubber.
     Generally, a car will be able to go about 80 to 100 miles before
needing to come in for tires and fuel.  However, some tracks are rougher
on tires than others.  Worn tires are not as fast as fresh tires, sometimes
by as much as 3 or 4 mph.  The car's handling will change when the tires get
too worn.  Most likely the car will develop a "push" or "understeer" in the
corners.

6. Championship Season
     Upon entering a championship season for the first time you will see
the season schedule.  This screen shows the races in the order they appear
in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup schedule.  Selecting "enter" will take you
to the first race in the season at Atlanta.  After the race is over,
selecting "exit" will take you to the season race results screen.  This
screen displays the results of the race just completed.  At the bottom of
the screen are three options "print", "save", and "done".  Print and save
work as if you were in the race weekend/standings menu.  Selecting "done"
or hitting "enter" will take you to the season standings screen.  This
displays the standings of the race for the championship.  You will also be
able to "print" and "save" from this screen.  "Enter" or selecting "done"
will ask if you wish to go to the next race.  A yes will take you again to
the season schedule.  If you press "enter" with the cursor on Atlanta (or
later, any race already completed), you can view the standings from that
race.  Selecting "enter" will take you to the season standings screen and
then to the next race.
     The game will automatically save the season for you.  Anytime you
leave the championship season you will be able to pick up where you left
off.

7. Sound Card Setup
     Most sound cards should be set up at a port of 220 for digital sound
and 388 for music.  For General MIDI/MPU-401 ports, the number for music
is generally 330.  For Gravis Ultrasound/GUS Max cards, the IRQ is
usually 11.  The music port for the AWE32 should be set at 620.
    If you have a Sound Blaster Pro, you should choose Sound Blaster 8
Stereo for digital sound.  If you have a Sound Blaster AWE32, you should
choose Sound Blaster 16 Mono or Stereo for digital sound.
    If you are not getting stereo music on a stereo sound card, you probably
have the wrong port entered.
    If you are having problems with your digital sound, chances are that you
have the wrong settings.  Please test your sound card with a test program
supplied with your sound card.
    There are several sound cards not listed in the setup program for which
choosing another sound card should work, though we have been unable to
verify their correctness.  For the Sierra Semiconductor Aria and Aztec
cards, choose Sound Blaster 8 Mono.  For the Reveal FX/30, choose Ensoniq
SoundScape.  For the Toptek, Media Trix, and Media Magic ISP-16 cards,
choose Microsoft Sound System.

8. Genovation/Colorado Spectrum Game Ports
     If you have one of these cards and wish to run NASCAR you must start
the game with the -j option, (ex. nascar -j).  Using these products may
cause problems with 2 player modem mode.

9. Save Race Changes
     When leaving a race you WILL BE prompted to save the race if you
have qualified and the race is not yet over.  If you have not qualified for
the race and do not complete more than two laps during the race you WILL NOT
BE prompted to save the race.  Also, if the race is almost over (within the
last few laps) you will not be able to save the race.

10. Qualifying Setup
     Each track has a settings file called "qual".  This setup will allow
you to get faster times in qualifying.  Only experienced drivers should try
this setup because it can be tough to drive.  Also, don't try and use this
setup during a race or you'll find yourself back in the garage to get a new
motor.

11. Gravis Ultrasound and GUS Max Music
     In order for music to work with the GUS card, you must first run
the program "loadpats.exe".

12. Black Flag Addition
     During the first lap after a yellow flag comes out the pit will be
closed.  If you pit when the pit is closed you will be put at the back of
the field.  You can tell this has happened because the "stay behind car#"
message will keep changing as the field goes by you.  If you do not get at
the end of the field you will get a black flag.

13. Pentium Performence
     It should be known that even with a Pentium 90Mhz machine with a fast
video card it is unlikely that you will be able to have all the graphic
textures on in SVGA mode.  But, with only a few things like the grass and
asphalt turned off, it should be acceptable.  The big difference with a
Pentium and SVGA mode is how crisp and clear everything appears.  You can
see much further down the track making it easier to plan you next move.

14. Race End
     The race does not necessarily end once you have crossed the finish
line.  The other cars on that lap must also cross the finish line for the
race to officially end.  You can either drive around for one more lap to
make sure of this or press "a" for accelerated time and the race will
finish.  You will not get a DNF once you have finished the race.

15. Garage/Replay Issue
     It is important to note that once you enter the garage your replay is
lost.  So, make sure you view the replay before going to the garage.  This
isn't a problem during a race as you can't go into the garage while a race
is running.

16. Multiplayer Race - Initialization Strings
    It is very important to use the correct initialization strings for your
modem when using the Multiplayer Race feature of NASCAR Racing.  Under
Multiplayer Race/Setup/Specify Modem, we have included the correct setups
for many popular modems.  However, if your modem brand is not listed, you
will need to manually enter the correct initialization information for your
modem.
    Your initialization string must do the following (and typically, ONLY
the following):
               1) Reset the modem to the factory default settings.
               2) Turn off all error correction.
               3) Turn of all data compression.
               4) Force the modem to the desired baud rate.
     The first step is almost universally accomplished by starting your init
string with "AT&F^M~~~".  From there, the commands to satisfy steps 2
through 4 must start with "AT" and end with "^M".  For example, if the
command to turn off all error correction on your modem is "&Q6", the command
to turn off data compression is "%C0" and the command to force your modem to
9600 baud is "&N6", your init string would read "AT&F^M~~~AT&Q6%C0&N6^M".
     A good rule of thumb to follow when determining your init string is
KEEP IT SIMPLE.  Include only the commands that are necessary to satisfy
steps 1 through 4 above.  We have found that including extraneous commands
that happen to work with other modem games (e.g. Doom) can adversely effect
communications in NASCAR.  If all else fails, contact your modem's
manufacturer and ask them for the specific commands necessary.

Baud Rates
     NASCAR Racing supports communication speeds of 9600 through 38,400 bps.
However, as with all high-speed communications, speeds over 9600 bps are
unreliable on systems that do not have 16550 UARTs on the COM port to which
the modem is connected.  If you don't have a 16550 UART, you aren't sure, or
you don't have a clue of what a UART is, you should not attempt to
communicate at over 9600 baud.  Performance differences in NASCAR between
different baud rates is negligible.  (To determine whether you have a 16550
UART for your modem's COM port, you should be able to run the Microsoft
Diagnostic program, which should be included with Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS 6.)

Troubleshooting
     If you are still having trouble with Multiplayer Race communications
and/or performance after reviewing the previous 2 sections, you should try
the following:
     1) Make sure that the baud rates match on both the dialing & answering
        systems in the init strings AND on the multiplayer setup menu.
     2) Make sure that the "answering" system is the more powerful of the
        two systems.  For example, if one user has a 386 processor and the
        other has a 486, the user with the 486 should be the answering
        system.  Most of the "work" in Multiplayer Race is done by the
        answering system.
     3) Try selecting a "mono" audio driver or "none" in the NASCAR setup
        program for the answering system's sound board.  Or, start NASCAR
        with the "FM Sound" option (NASCAR -F). Again, the answering system
        does most of the work in Multiplayer.

17. Creating a Boot Diskette
     The purpose of creating a boot diskette will be to limit the number of
device drivers that are loaded in order to maximize memory, while at the
same time providing you the minimum device drivers necessary to run NASCAR
Racing with your unique system configuration (i.e. CD-ROM drive, sound
board, etc.).
     The SETUP program included with NASCAR Racing provides an option to
create a bootable floppy disk.  In most cases, the diskette that is created
with this process will contain everything that you will need to run NASCAR
Racing.  However, if you are using the CD-ROM version of NASCAR and you
chose "CD-ROM INSTALL" during installation, you will need to manually alter
the CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT files on your boot diskette after it is
created in order to load your CD-ROM device drivers.
     The easiest way to do this is to copy the appropriate lines from the
CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT files on your hard drive to their respective files
on the boot diskette.  If you are not sure of which driver(s) to load, refer
to the documentation for your CD-ROM drive.
     If you use a memory manager on your system and you will not be using
that memory manager on the boot diskette (which is what we recommend), make
sure to remove any memory manager specific instructions when you copy the
device driver lines to the boot diskette (for example, if you use EMM386
change DEVICEHIGH to DEVICE in CONFIG.SYS, remove LOADHIGH & LH in
AUTOEXEC.BAT, etc.).