Hello everyone! I just joined forums today though I have been a lurker for over a year, lol. I would like to start out by thanking everyone who runs The Pits for an excellent site and for all the great info and help in the forums. It is the place I check first and usually the last place I have to
I joined the forums so I could share a tidbit of info myself concerning editing NR2k3 for standing starts. If this has already been discussed then please just dismiss. I hadn't been able to find a thread on it when I was looking to try it, so assumed no one else had posted. I hope this helps someone else avoid wasting over a week of editing and testing like I did *sobs*
while trying to make a road course.
I don't have a diagram but will try to explain it best as I can, so here goes.....
This will require editing the track with sandbox or whatever you use plus editing the track.ini file
First an observation about how the game recognizes start positions. It 'seems' that when looking at the track.ini the game looks for the dlong and dlat positions closest to and behind the S/F for the pace car, not of racers, and assumes 'That' is the quick start. 2nd set of numbers with pace car further back it uses for the full pace lap. The reason I think this is, is because I had to set the no pace start to [ starting_grid_0 ] but have to check mark the full pace lap option at track screen in order to get it to work and obviously have the pace car further up the track for this. My actual pace lap start is only a 1/4 of the distance away from S/F of track length just because I hate long waits
Also I ran across the wierd fact that NR2k3 assumes that if the pace car is just behind the halfway track length mark that it's in front of you but if it is even 0.1 meter ahead of this point then the racers must have passed it and the pace car is behind, thus getting a blackflag immediately upon start.
so with that in mind we continue.
The track I made is 4116.(something or other) meters long. I divide that length in half...2058 meters. With my start grid layed out about 10 meters from S/F line and my pit area layed out there like any other track, I go to 2070 meters (just to be safe) and split the segment (if it isn't split there already) I should be so lucky, hehe. Then I go back to 'just' inside my halfway point, say 2057.5 meters and split it again. then back a lil more to around 2056 meters and split it a 3rd time. Done with the geometry part.
Now to the extended surface types option. With those showing, change the segment of racing area between 2057.5 - 2070 to [pit road] type, change the segment of racing area between 2056 - 2057.5 to [apron near pits] type. The pace car doesn't need to run between the AppRuleEnterPits points to initiate a start, just a section of pitroad, maybe not even the apron before pits but I haven't tested without it in place. The regular pace stall for the pace car is at the end of the pitstalls like other tracks but the stall for it listed in the [startgrid0] section is at 2055.0, setting on a nice piece of racing surface, setting in the middle of where I guess my pit0.lp to have crossed which is important because the pace car must merge to pitline before crossing the halfway point for this to work, else the pacecar just continues around on a 1 1/2 pace lap before green and all the AI cars have caught up by then so.....anyhoo.
I previously made a pit0.lp running nice and slow and down the middle of the track so alignment isn't a problem. Although there are now 2 pitroad areas, 1 normal sized for 34 cars and another dinky one halfway around the track, I only need [pit_lane_0] info in the .ini file. No need to make [pit_lane_1] section for this to work, all the pace car needs to know is that it has not been passed by anyone, it will merge to pit0.lp while driving on a surface called pitroad all before anyone crosses the S/F line. It's happy, I'm happy. I placed my starter Positions to just before and after where all the cars will take off from, like so...
;------------------------standing start----------------
;original st ;starter_decision = 4091.00 4116.00
; Starter decisions:
starter_decision = 3920.00 4091.1
;------------------------------------------------------
It's a little cramped for restarts or pace lap starts but it works, haven't tested to see if lengthening it back hurts or not, just wanted to make sure all the cars had passed through some area of it quickly.
I start the race as a full pace lap, all of the cars are on the grid, pace car halfway around. We get the 'GSYE' and as soon as the pace car starts to move the other cars start also. They take off a hair slower than a normal standing start would because they assume it is a pace lap. I can accelerate as soon as they move too, providing I don't pass anyone before the S/F line, NASCAR rules and all that. In under 1.5 seconds the pace car has merged to pit0.lp and driven on a piece of pitroad, all of us are in the starter decisions area still, not having passed the S/F yet and we get the official green flag with no problems and all heck breaks loose cause turn 1 is a slow left hander and most of the cars are still bunched when they get there, hehe.
For all intents and purposes it resembles a cold start and it allows me to keep 1 setup for starter decisions and the pace still comes out for yellow flags and returns to its pit stall normally.
The only issue I have run across is on laps under yellow the crew chief will say the pace car is in and we are going green, twice, once when pace crosses the improvised pitroad and again when it really does enter pitroad. During races the AI don't slow up for this piece of track and it functions like it isn't even there, pitroad-wise. And I must remember to check for a pace lap to get a quick start and uncheck for a small pace lap.
This post is so long because I'm still high on getting it to work, lol. I hope this info has been of help. Happy racing!!!
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