KBDSTEER.EXE issues

[Casmiel]

First of all, I'd like to say Hello to all GP2 fans. I was really amazed when i discovered an existing GP2 community. I played GP2 since I got 7 and still play it today.

Unfortunately I do not own my old joystick anymore, so I have to play with my keyboard.
The steering help is really annoying (last round and you have to drive to your box because of 1 broken wing and so on...) and I'm experiencing serious issues with my keyboard at the moment. Sometimes it is just crashing down: The game does not react on my keyboard commands, still accelerates when I'm using the break button or goes in the wrong direction.

Then I heard of KBDSTEER and thought that this would be the solution to my problems.
If I start it it shuts down immediately. Then I tried to start it through cmd.exe, which works pretty good.
I enter the following lines

G:\GP2\KBDSTEER.EXE 0

in order to use the following setting

G:\GP2\KBDSTEER.EXE help# [lock]
where help#=0..3, lock is steering lock in degrees

0 sets steering help and opposite lock off
1 sets.....

I want to use setting 0.
But if I type in G:\GP2\KBDSTEER.EXE 0, it just says:

File F1GSTATE.SAV not found.

Well, the file is in the GP2 folder, the same folder where KBDSTEER.EXE is. What am I doing wrong? (the game doesn't adopt setting 0, i guess because of this error)

Thanks for your help, guys!

EDIT:
Sometimes I got the feeling that the game is following commands i gave some seconds ago... for example: I was heading into the Parabolica in Monza, accelerating till the end. Then i used the break button and steered right. The game just continued accelerating and i drove into the gravel, where my car just continued to break (i couldn't accelerate) and then just steered right, no matter which direction i wanted to go.

[AD]

Welcome aboard! Pixely corners of racing still exist, and that's good.

On the more simpler issue, you can always cancel a pit stop automatically being scheduled for you when damaging your car seriously, just toggling the status with the 'Enter' key. So unless your damage occurs right before pitlane entry, in case of which you'd need to be mighty fast in time response, you can finish your race.

On your actual topic, I'm afraid I haven't heard of this keyboard .exe tool. However, F1GSTATE.SAV becoming corrupted or defective, causing crashes or game instability is a known issue. You could try temporarily removing the file from the directory (or deleting it), as referenced in our knowledge base here:

GP2 has crashed and now I can't start it up again!
You can solve this by deleting the file F1GSTATE.SAV from the GP2 directory.
Note this will destroy some of your settings but these can be restored by loading a previous saved game. So make sure you always have one!

This is just a general idea, but maybe it happens to work out this way. If anyone else knows more specific stuff, I'm sure they'll chime in.

[Casmiel]

Thanks for your advice with the Enter" key... forgot all these old tricks

Unfortunately removing the F1GSTATE.SAV doesn't change these "command-delay" problems... it just adds the problem that my game starts to run in extremly high speed. : /

[MaxX]

If the game runs too fast, try SlowDownCPU. I think it can be found in the tools-section of grandprix2.de

Why do you need an extra extra for keyboard play? Gp2 does support playing with the keyboard also with the original exe

[Casmiel]

Yeah, I know it does but it doesn't work at the moment. It would just be a very welcome addition to me if there is no steering help anymore (faster times, test different driving styles)

I have the feeling, that sometimes my GP2 just can't cope with my keyboard commands, its really frustrating if you always drive into the wall because the Game does not react to your commands anymore (well it does, but very delayed). I'll try that SlowDownCPU, thanks for your tip.

I do not use DosBox, may this be the source of my problems? If I try to run the game with DosBox it says "Cannot start GP2. Bad or Missing f1system.dat". Without DosBox it works... should i reinstall? (have to search my CD first)

[Casmiel]

OK, i tried SlowDownCPU (didn't find it here, so i downloaded it elsewhere), it slows down my CPU so much that I cannot start GrandPrix2. (it runs the DOS starting window, but no further). I'm really desperate, since the problems with my keyboard commands do not get any better... the game is simply unplayable right now, these reaction delays are occuring very often at the moment.

[AAS]

Your operating system? How do you start GP2? VDMSound?

[Casmiel]

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
GP2 start: Double-click on GP2.EXE No, seriously. Had no problem with simply starting it before. Not even compatibility mode.
VDMSound: Didn't seem to work, however I don't really try to get it work until I fix these steering issues.

[MaxX]

I also play GP2 (with Gp2lap) by simply clicking the Gp2Lap-link and it works perfectly on my PC (Win XP - SP2, the last windows update was 2k6 I think, the PC has no Internet connection), but it did only work after installing VDMSound correctly

[Casmiel]

Thanks for your tip with the VDMSound, I'm going to try it.

Meanwhile I found the origin for the delayed reaction of the game. Sounds funny, but it is my Instant Messenger!
I use Miranda Fusion, if I shut it down the game works properly! I tried ICQ then, but the game minimizes itself if I'm playing GP2 while using ICQ. This is really freakin strange

EDIT: OK, it happens even without my Instant Messenger running, but it happens VERY rarely.

[treadrubber]

I resume this 2009 thread because I'm also having KBDSTEER.EXE issues, in that it simply seems to have no effect on the game.

The program is in the same folder as gp2.exe, when I run "KBDSTEER.EXE 0" (to disable all steering aid), it says "GP" keyboard control: Steering help off, opposite lock off", and the F1GSTATE.SAV file date modified changes. But then ingame everything seems the same, in the controls menu there is still steering help on, and while driving there is still the "on rails" effect (fixed driving lines).