newbie from France

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bernieGP
GP2 Newbie
Posts: 15
Joined: 02.11.2022, 17:32

newbie from France

Post by bernieGP »

Hi everyone.
My story is probably similar to many others here. I have recovered last month my original GP2 CD-ROM in a box, after 25 years...
I was such a fan of the game, ... can't count how many hours I played (with Thrustmaster T2 wheel of course), F1 was such a passion... to a point that I have been able to work for a F1 team some years later, on-track assistance, for 18 months.
It took me a week to understand DosBox, install it... and waw ! So funny to hear this music again and experience this 'back to the future' phenomenon that we all like. Not to mention playing in full sVGA which was impossible 25 years ago if you wanted the game reasonnably fast. What also strikes me is the AI of the game. I mean when your are off the trajectory, well, the other cars do not stay behind you like in other (even official...) F1 games. I am really not sure that many progress has been made. I understand also that GP3 and GP4 have a little something less than GP2?
Of course before GP2 there was F1GP on my Amiga 500 (that I also recovered during the Covid lock-down) and I realized recently that Revs that I used to enjoy on my Commodore 64 was also from god Crammond !! I have also recovered it with TheC64.
OK that's it, I think my first questions will be how to upload and use the recent cars designs for use in GP2 (under DosBox) and if affordable wheels from Thrustmaster (T128 ? T80? or other brands) will work with DosBox (and USB I guess) on PC/Windows. Because at the moment I am not happy with my 1m24s711 at Monza using the keyboard !!
Cheers and sorry if this presentation has to stand somewhere else in the forum.
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samsepi0l
GP2 Racer
Posts: 301
Joined: 01.03.2019, 01:39

Re: newbie from France

Post by samsepi0l »

It's so nice to see someone new on the site! When I read your story and saw how you worked with real f1 I literally said "oh wow". I remember when I rediscovered gp2 again and I loved how it made me feel.

There are some great videos on how to set up gp2 with a modern wheel. There is a guy named Ted Meat who did a video on youtube. Also- you should be using dosbox ECE, not the regular standard Dosbox.
ismael
GP2 Racer
Posts: 395
Joined: 02.05.2016, 14:58

Re: newbie from France

Post by ismael »

Hello and welcome to the forum!
The feeling you describe, I "got it" in 2014, when I realized I hadn't played GP2 for more than 15 years. Then it set the wheels off.
For uploading car designs and carsets you'll need GP2edit by Steven Young, currently in version 1.86.

I strongly recommend you check out the 500+ or something GP2 tracks developed by the community. Either for the racing challenge or the visual effect, you'll be amazed. Some of them are not uploaded here in the site because the webmaster, patron and benefactor of grandprix2.de didn't have the time, but they're somewhere throughout the forum and I can share them. I like particularly some recents tracks by Antonio Pessoa or/and RRemedio, as they are better and more realistic than the original ones of the game.

Cheers, enjoy!
narva93
GP2 Starter
Posts: 63
Joined: 22.05.2020, 10:58
Location: Catalonia/Catalunya/Catalonha

Re: newbie from France

Post by narva93 »

samsepi0l wrote:
06.11.2022, 05:04
It's so nice to see someone new on the site! When I read your story and saw how you worked with real f1 I literally said "oh wow". I remember when I rediscovered gp2 again and I loved how it made me feel.

There are some great videos on how to set up gp2 with a modern wheel. There is a guy named Ted Meat who did a video on youtube. Also- you should be using dosbox ECE, not the regular standard Dosbox.
Using standard DosBox and works fine. :D

Also, welcome!
El seny, si no es combina amb una ferma voluntat de combat, no és res més que una mostra de covardia.
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samsepi0l
GP2 Racer
Posts: 301
Joined: 01.03.2019, 01:39

Re: newbie from France

Post by samsepi0l »

Standard dosbox runs the time at a faster rate than the original game. Try Dosbox ECE- it fixes this.
bernieGP
GP2 Newbie
Posts: 15
Joined: 02.11.2022, 17:32

Re: newbie from France

Post by bernieGP »

Thanks for the welcome and the tips.
So far I am happy with the speed of the game (and the "feeling" of the car) with standard DosBox so I am going to stick with this, unless there is a specific need for installing a modern USB wheel (I will watch the Youtube videos about this) ?
Then I need to think back "in DOS mode" as in the good old days to understand how to use GP2edit, where to place the GP2 files in the folders etc... but I guess it will come back.
Not a lot of time though, between the job, the family and the wife not super happy to see my back on computer games in addition to watching F1...
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MaxX
GP2 Star
Posts: 1073
Joined: 28.02.2007, 11:41
Location: Salzburg, Austria

Re: newbie from France

Post by MaxX »

Welcome to the Board :D
bernieGP
GP2 Newbie
Posts: 15
Joined: 02.11.2022, 17:32

Re: newbie from France

Post by bernieGP »

Hi. Just tried some Carset from 2000 (the year I was on track)... well... it's pretty cool !
I was just wondering how to go back to the original 1994 carset from the standard game ? Just in case I wanna feel like when I was playing before.
Apart from that I am still impressed by the speed of the game in full sVGA with a modern PC and how I have to fight to end up +3s compared to the other cars (still playing with the keyboard at the moment). The appeal of the Thrustmaster wheel is more and more present...
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MaxX
GP2 Star
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Joined: 28.02.2007, 11:41
Location: Salzburg, Austria

Re: newbie from France

Post by MaxX »

Hm, for that purpose it is best to import the whole data into gp2edit from an unpatched version. I can`t attach the version I have because I imported everything and the file is more than 5MB and exceeds the allowed quota in the forum. Maybe you would have to install a fresh version and export it.

Personally I have a fresh GP2-Folder for every season I want to have playready, because the community tracks are just awesome and truly enhance the game feeling. But there is also some patching utility around by rremedio, which can do the trick. Don`t have a link to it, neither do I know how`s it called to be found.

Enjoy that jewel of a game. Currently I am into the official series by CM/EA but I always come back to GP2. GP2 is just the game, which provides the most fun. And this community has a vast share in that =D>
narva93
GP2 Starter
Posts: 63
Joined: 22.05.2020, 10:58
Location: Catalonia/Catalunya/Catalonha

Re: newbie from France

Post by narva93 »

Welcome hehe.
El seny, si no es combina amb una ferma voluntat de combat, no és res més que una mostra de covardia.
bernieGP
GP2 Newbie
Posts: 15
Joined: 02.11.2022, 17:32

Re: newbie from France

Post by bernieGP »

Just played 30 mins at Monza and I was suprised to experience... bouncing ! Plain and simple. I had that exact visual feeling behind the wheel !?!
My settings ultra close to the track are logically leading to this (and my board was worn out).
Mercedes engineers and good old Lewis should have played GP2 this year instead of making new wings etc... :))))
Just another credit to this incredibly realistic game that GP2 is.
Still fighting with keyboard control and a ridiculous 1,24,900 at the moment...
As for my question of coming back to original 1994 colors and performances... I just reinstalled the game in a second file :)
ismael
GP2 Racer
Posts: 395
Joined: 02.05.2016, 14:58

Re: newbie from France

Post by ismael »

My two cents:

"Not a lot of time though, between the job, the family and the wife not super happy to see my back on computer games in addition to watching F1..."

Precisely! Happens to me and many, I guess. Ted Meat says time is short... regarding your wife, Jacques Villeneuve said in a recent interview that one of his current hobbies is "vintage computing". I think if you tell her that it's a respectable hobby with a name in English, "vintage computing", it will sound better :D


"I was just wondering how to go back to the original 1994 carset from the standard game ?"
Not sure if I understood this question but MaxX already answered it. One of the cool stuff about modern vintage computing is that we can have 20 or 100 different GPTwos installed because there is "infinite" space in our hard disks for them, unlike 25 years ago.


"I just reinstalled the game in a second file"
Be careful as I believe that reinstalling the game in the same file a couple of times increases the risk of corrupting it. It happened something like this once and I read something about it here in the forum, so I prefer to install new versions and export data the least possible times for each version.

I say goodbye with a nod to a different F1 game: "Nice driving! Good luck." :wink:
bernieGP
GP2 Newbie
Posts: 15
Joined: 02.11.2022, 17:32

Re: newbie from France

Post by bernieGP »

Woops, I didn't realize until yesterday that the carsets were accompanied with, of course, a specific spread of performance between the teams to reflect their respective levels but also, I think, an general increase of performances compared to 1994 levels. Correct ? I was running at Imola with original game and 1'20''500 is worth the pole... but it was only worth 19th position with the 2000 carsets (pole aroung 1'18'500) !!? Honestly too hard for me with the keyboard controls. Anyway, good fun with final P5 for the full race with the support of my kids watching me :)
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