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Firstly, make sure you have
the full version of GP2 installed.It's just under 60mb. You will need this
full installation to be able to use tracks later on.
Next you will need to download some basic tools and utilities to get GP2 up to scratch. Here is a list of what you'll need; GP2Edit v1.85 GP2 NoCD Patch GP2Lap v1.13 or higher |
Before we get going on circuits,
you will need to 'crack' GP2. Unzip the NoCD patch, and export the files
to the same directory as gp2.exe.
Then run the NoCD patch. This will make a backup of your old gp2.exe and replace it with a new version which no longer searches for files on the CD, meaning we can now use updated circuits. |
The next step is to create a directory named 'Circuits' in your GP2 directory. This is where all your tracks are going to go into. |
Download the track from
the main page of this site, and place the Zip archive in the 'add-ons'
directory you created earlier.
It is suggested that you make sub-directories for things such as tracks and carsets to keep everything tidy so you can find it quickly. |
Open the Zip archive which
contains the track. in it will be a heap of .jad or .jam files, a .txt
file and a .dat file. the .dat file is the circuit. this is the easy bit.
Export the .dat file into the 'circuits' directory you created before. Now double click on the .txt file. |
Notepad will load and a
heap of information is shown. We can basically ignore most of it, we are
after 2 peices of information. They are 'slot'number and Jam location.
To find these read the Installation section.
The 'slot' is where GP2 will look for the track. For example, in the original Interlagos is in slot 1, being the first round. Alternatively Adelaide is in slot 16. Each file is named differently. Because there are 16 tracks, they are named f1ct01.dat right through to f1ct16.dat. If the readme says 'slot 6' simply rename the .dat file you exported into the circuits directory to f1ct06.dat. This applies to an slot, be it slot 1 (f1ct01.dat), slot 11 (f1ct11.dat) or slot 9 (f1ct09.dat). Each track works best in one particular slot, because GP2 was written in a way that the slots actually dictate to some degree the speed of the computer cars. |
Once you have exported the track (.dat file) and made sure it was named correctly (if may prmpt you to override files, answer yes) you can move onto the .jad or .jam files. Early GP2 tracks came with .jam files, which are the graphics used for the track by the game. Newer tracks come with .jad files, and convert.exe. This reduces the file size quite dramatically, which is why it was done. |
In the .txt take note of where it says to put the .jam (or just 'jam') files. it may tell you to put them in a folder like gp2/gamejams/usa00jams. If that is the case, export the .jad (or .jam) and convert.exe (any track with .jam files won't have convert.exe) to that directory. If it doesn't exist you will need to make it. Then go into that directory and run the convert.exe if the track came with .jad files. If it came with .jam files you don't need to do this because they are already in their uncompressed state. |
That is the process for installing a track. It sounds complicated, although once you understand what to do and know what you're looking for you can do all this in about 20 seconds (trust us!). |
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Now you should unzip GP2Lap, which if you followed these directions should have been placed in your 'add-ons' folder. This is a real time extention of GP2 which logs various different things, and also adds features such as screen shots and circuit name grabbing (don't worry about it really, it's just very useful, and compulsory for racing in GP2World Championship League). |
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>Now you will need to install GP2Edit. Install that wherever you like, because it will most likely put an icon on your desktop and/or in your start menu somewhere. The beauty of this program is that it allows us to update the cars in GP2 from the standard 1994 cars (which are of really bad quality in comparison to what has been turned out now) and update them with another set of cars - hence the term carset. It also has the power to change different things such as race options, or driver aids and grip levels. It is the be all and end all of GP2 Utils! You will be prompted to set a few things when you first use it, such as the path of your gp2.exe, although the remainder of the stuff you can just click on 'don't show in future' and continue through. |
Once this is installed you will need to download the carset from the main page of this site. We find it easier to simply open the WinZip archive, and double click on the .gp2 file. This is the carset. Ignore the readme.txt because there is nothing in there we need to worry about. Once the carset has been opened by GP2Edit there is a little icon in the top menu with a red arrow pointing upwards. Click on this. This is the 'export to game' button. |
A new window will appear. make sure all 'select all' buttons are ticked. There will be one roughly in the middle down the bottom, one in the section above that, and one over on the right. Then hit the Export button. That will patch GP2 with the contents of the new carset. |
You should then be able to enter GP2 and play on your new tracks with your new carset! |