GPxSet

Season set

The season set handles the use of custom liveries, performances, names and car shape within the game. The liveries consist of car liveries, cockpits, helmets, tyres, jack men, and pit crews. They can have custom names, but they locations are somehow restricted (see below). GPxPatch doesn't touch any files of the game, but rather redirects it to use the new ones. You still need to use some carset creator or installer that puts all the files into the proper locations, unless you know the locations by head (or read below where they should be located) and want to put them there by hand.

Most files should be located under the gp3jams directory (software jams), the gp3jamsh directory (hardware jams), or both. Files are usually specified to be within the gp3jams directory. When hardware graphics mode is being used within the game, the game will instead search the same file under the gp3jamsh directory.

Selected jam files should contain the correct jam id's. As far as they are available in the GUI, the jam id's are specified in the labels. The jam files are validated when they are selected.

Car liveries and cockpits

GP3-2000 itself only supports two different liveries for the McLaren team (1mclar00.jam and 2mclar00.jam), but GPxPatch enables two different liveries and cockpits for all teams. This means you can specify 22 liveries instead of 12, and 22 cockpits.

Note that due to a bug in GP3-2000 only each 1st car of a team will have a rear light.

Helmets

But helmets are a special case (they are not supported in the GUI to prevent confusion). First, their names need to start with "helmet". Second, even if you only use hardware mode, there must be an equivalent software version, or else the cars will disappear when viewed from a distance. The reason is that the game always uses the software helmet jams in the rcr jams, and doesn't bother to create rcr jams at all if it can't load the helmet jams.

The way to specify the helmets is in the car.set file(s) selected in the season dialog. There should be two keys under a [Helmets] section named Jam01 and Jam02 that specify the two helmet jam files. Paths are relative to the gp3jams\liveries directory.

Jack men and Pit crews

The way to specify the jack men and pit crews is in the car.set file(s) selected in the season dialog. There can be upto 22 keys under a [JackMen] section and upto 66 keys under a [PitCrews] section. The keys are named JamXX_YY, where XX is the nth team ranging from 01 to 11, and YY is the nth jam file for that team, ranging from 01 to 06. These keys specify the respective jam files. Paths are relative to the gp3jams\main directory.

Tyres

Note: like the software helmet jams, the software tyre jams are also used in hardware mode (when viewed from certain camera views).

GP3-2000 itself only supports one tyre type for all teams, unlike GP3, which had two tyre types. GPxPatch enables the use of two tyre types for GP3-2000 again.

Tyre jams only contain slick versions. Treads for wet weather are located within separate files. These are located in gp3jamsh\techjam for both software and hardware mode. For software mode there are eight files for each tyre type called tread??.bin (tread0?.bin and tread1?.bin for type 1, tread2?.bin and tread3?.bin for type 2). Their hardware mode counterparts are located within treadXX1_art.bmp and treadXX2_art.bmp.

Car shape

Physics

Torque

Performances, names, nationalities, tyre brands, gears, and driver aid masks

If you want to change any of the names you should do it within the editor, not within the game, or your changes will be overridden.

Performance files can also be specified in the GPxSet tab for all GPx versions. For GP3-2000, any performance file specified in the season set will supersede it though. Track specific performance files for non-GP3-2000 can only be specified directly in gpxset.ini (see below).

Extra columns from the First Driver and Second Driver lines can be specified for the nationality and the 3-letter code. These are e.g. used in GPxSAT digital 2010 mode. They are both optional, but if the 3-letter code is specified, the nationality must be specified too. Example: First Driver=5,Michael Schumacher,16440,512,15889,512,DE,MSC

Tracks

Random seed

Right now, the random seed feature only works for quickrace and unlimited practice. The used value is being logged by GPxLap and shown by HOFxLap.

Important: do not assume the same random seed will give the same results under different circumstances like a different track, different performances, etc., even while it may seem to work that way. A specific random seed has to be accompanied by a specific carset, track, car shape, etc. In other words, the ones who use the random seed should have the same conditions as the one who recorded the random seed. Most leagues already enforced the same conditions for everyone, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Also important: do not assume any pattern in the random seed value. For example, a higher value will not mean heavier raining, or better performances, etc.

Keep in mind that although the race conditions should be equal, it is of course influenced by user input, so no race can ever be the same unless you deselect all players. Also, testing has shown that GP3 1.00/1.13 gave slightly different results even when no players were selected. This should be considered a bug (maybe the same bug as the replay bug where a replay would sometimes be different from what actually happened).

GPxSet configuration options

• Season set. Specifies the name of the season set file to use. Use the "Edit" button to edit the specified file. A dialog will be shown in which you can configure the season set (see below). Option is only enabled for GP3-2000.
• Player car performance team dependent. If checked, the player's car performance will be the same as the computer car of that team would have (also in hotseat mode). The performance can be affected in different ways:
  • Old behavior. This setting is the same as in GPxPatch 4.30a and earlier. It affects the power, but the grip only partially (only keyboard players will notice it).
  • Power only. This setting only affects the power (BHP).
  • Grip only. This setting only affects the grip (driver ability).
  • Power and grip. This setting affects both power and grip. Recommended for new performance files.
• Performance file. If checked, the game will use the selected performance text file. An override per track can be specified by clicking the "Multi..." button. It can also enable a driver name code .ini file, for use in GPxSAT digital 2010 mode.
• Car shape. If checked, the game will use the selected car shape.
• Physics. If checked, the game will use the selected physics and/or torque file. The physics file should be a 1.03 physics file of 196 bytes or a file with the newer format of 204 bytes.
• Torque. The torque file is an additional physics file to change the engine torque curve. The torque file should be an exported GP4 Torque Editor file.
• Disable progress bar. If checked, the progress bar on the track bitmap in GP3-2000 and GP4 will be disabled.
• Sky bitmap prefix. Specifies the prefix for the skya??.bmp files in the gp3jamsh\techjam directory. Together with the tarmac bitmap option below, this feature is meant for easy swapping between night time and day time tracks.
• Tarmac bitmap. Specifies the tarmacmap.bmp file to use. Should be located under the gp3jamsh\techjam directory. Track specific tarmac bitmaps can be specified in the season set (GP3-2000 only), or directly in gpxset.ini (see below).
• Session settings. Click to edit session related settings. See below.

Session settings

• Quickrace length. Enter the length of the quickrace in percentage.
• Free practice cars. Enter the number of cars for the free practice session. Default is 1. Note that CC behavior is a bit flawed, e.g. they are all leaving their pit box immediately.
• Use qualify menu for Friday practice. Check to show the Saturday qualify menu screen during Friday free practice. This menu is shown after you exited the cockpit, and allows you to use accelerated time. It's not possible to see the difference with the real qualify menu.
• Consecutive CC's. Specifies how many computer cars can be out on the track at the same time in non-race sessions. Default is 13. As a player you can still go out anytime. It's possible to use specific settings for each non-race session. If empty, the value entered as default is used.
• Fuel laps. Specifies the number of fuel laps the cars will use in non-race sessions. Default is 4. Works for the player car(s) too. Note that for qualify the actual number of fuel laps could be lower, mostly due to reduced session duration. It's possible to use specific settings for each non-race session. If empty, the value entered as default is used.
• Laps. Specifies the total number of session laps. For Friday and Saturday practice it only works for the computer cars (default 23). For qualify it works for the player car(s) too (default 12).
• Weather. Specifies if the weather should be set from GPxSet. "Game default" will use the weather settings as specified in the game (f1gstate.sav). In this case GPxSet does not override anything. "Realistic" will use realistic weather settings. The probability of rain is read from the track data (magic data). "Custom" will use custom weather settings. The probability of rain is set by GPxSet using the option below. If the weather is not set to "Game default", or if the random seed is set to "Record", the weather settings (weather and probability of rain) are read back from the game. In other words, when they are edited in-game they end up in gpxset.ini instead of f1gstate.sav. If "Game default" is used they always end up in f1gstate.sav, and also in gpxset.ini when random seed is set to "Record".
• Probability of rain. Only available when using custom weather settings. This overrides the probability of rain specified in the game. It also reflects any changes in-game, but is never saved to f1gstate.sav.
• Random seed. On the left part there's a combobox with three choices: Ignore, Record, and Use. On the right is the edit box where you can copy or enter the random seed value. This value consists of six comma separated numbers between 0 and 65535 (the game has two seeds of three numbers each). Below that is a combobox to select for which session the seed should be used/recorded. The choices are quickrace and unlimited practice.
  • Ignore: Disables the random seed feature.
  • Record: Remembers the random seed that was used in the last session. The right usage is to set the value to "Record", then start GPx and then a quickrace (using the main menu), or an unlimited practice session, depending on which session is selected. As soon as the session starts, the random seed is written to the .ini file. You can restart the session until you're happy with the conditions. When you exit GPx, GPxPatch will show you the last random seed. You can then copy the value and release it to the participants (or anyone else who is interested to drive under the same conditions), who can use this random seed with the "Use" setting.
  • Use: Will make sure each quickrace or unlimited practice session will use the supplied random seed. As long as you are using this setting and you have supplied a valid random seed value, each session will have the same conditions (unless other settings are changed, like physics, performances, etc).

Season configuration options

• Carset
  • Carset for track. Specifies the name of the carset file to use. You can optionally also specify a specific carset for each track. If a track has no specific carset, the one selected for "All" will be used. Use the "Edit" button to edit the specified file. A dialog will be shown in which you can configure the carset (see below).
  • Disable car number copying. If checked, the game won't copy the car numbers of the 2nd driver in the team within the car liveries. Use this if the carset contain different car liveries for each driver with the right car number already painted on the livery.
  • Track set. Specifies a track set to be used for this season. It is used if a carset doesn't specify a track file or if track specific carsets are not enabled.
  • Car shape. The car shape selection is mainly for carset creators who wish to accompany their liveries with a specific car shape. For the format of the car shape see above. It can get overridden by the car shape selected on the GPxSet tab.
  • Physics. The physics file selection is mainly for carset creators who wish to accompany their season set with specific physics. It can get overridden by the physics file selected on the GPxSet tab. The file should be a 1.03 physics file of 196 bytes.
  • Torque. The torque file is an additional physics file to change the engine torque curve. Like the physics file, it can get overridden by the torque file selected on the GPxSet tab once the physics checkbox is enabled there. The torque file should be an exported GP4 Torque Editor file.
  • Menu graphics. Specifies the menu graphics file to use. Default this is bitmaps\gp2000v1.bin. The track loading graphics can be specified too, but only in the .ini file itself. Add a section called [TrackLoadGfx] and under that a key named Enable with value 1, and a key named Dir with the directory where the files 1.bmp to 17.bmp are located (relative to the GP3-2000 directory). Default this is Bitmaps.
  • GPxSAT Mode. Same as on the GPxSAT tab, added here for obvious reasons.
• Tyres
  • Type. Here you can select the software jam file for both types, slow (clear) and fast (blurred). In hardware mode the corresponding .bmp file in gp3jamsh\techjam must be present.
  • Tread. Here you can select the hardware tread files in gp3jamsh\techjam, slow (clear) and fast (blurred).
  • SAT Type. Same as on the GPxSAT tab, added here for obvious reasons. Likewise, upto 11 types can be specified in the season .ini file.
  • Tread??.bin prefix. Specify the prefix of the software tread??.bin files in gp3jamsh\techjam.
  • Tyre type for team. For each team you can select which tyre type they should use. This will be overridden by any tyre types (brands) specified in a performance file.
• Points. Specifies the race points for each finishing position.

Carset configuration options

• Teams/Drivers
  • Performance file. Select the performance file to use. The file should be created with Marc Aarts' GP3-2000 Editor.
  • Pit order. Specifies the order of the pit boxes within the pit lane.
• Track
  • Track file. Select the track file to load for this slot. It overrides the track specified in the season track set. It also overrides the one specified in the GPxTrack track set, unless an option is set in GPxTrack to ignore this track file. This option is disabled if this carset was selected for all tracks in the season tab.
  • Pit box jam. Specify the name of the pitbox jam file.
  • Tarmac bitmap. Optionally specify the name of a tarmac bitmap that overrides the one in the GPxSet tab.
• Cars. This tab lets you select the car livery jam files. The order in which they are specified are not necessarily the same as they will appear in the game. It's because the jam files are sorted on jam id, so you just have to make sure you select the jams with the proper id in the proper location. The needed jam id is listed on the left.
• Cockpits. Like the Cars tab, but this one lets you select the cockpit jam files.

Player master grip

Car specific power and failure probability

Car specific braking range

With GPxSet it's possible to have a braking range individually for each car. It can be specified in the performance text file under section [BrakingRangeMin] and [BrakingRangeMax]. The key names are Team #00 through Team #10. Each value consists of two comma separated numbers, one for each car, though if one value is used, it will affect both cars of that team. The BrakingRangeMin and BrakingRangeMax values work the same as desc51 and desc52 in the magic data, and do not replace them. Rather, they are added to the corresponding magic data value for a specific car. The formula is not exact, but to get an idea, it looks like: braking range value = grip + magic data value + car specific value. If the value becomes too high, it's likely the car will overshoot a corner, especially slow corners. If the values becomes too low, it's likely the car will brake early even for fast corners ahead and becomes a danger to other cars, though very easy to outbrake.

It's possible to exclude this patch even when the values are present in the performance file. This can be done in gpxset.ini, section [PerfManager], key PatchBrakingRange. Use value 0 to disable it. The default value is 1.

Car specific error chance

With GPxSet it's possible to have an error chance individually for each car. It can be specified in the performance text file under section [ErrorChance]. The key names are Team #00 through Team #10. Each value consists of two comma separated numbers, one for each car, though if one value is used, it will affect both cars of that team. The error chance value is added to the corresponding magic data value for a specific car. A higher value means higher chance to make an error. The sum of this value and the magic data value should not exceed 32767.

It's possible to exclude this patch even when the values are present in the performance file. This can be done in gpxset.ini, section [PerfManager], key PatchErrorChance. Use value 0 to disable it. The default value is 1.

Tread and wheel textures (GP4 only)

In GP4, the tread and wheel textures in cars.wad can be different for each tyre brand (Michelin and Bridgestone). The second team (McLaren) can have a different wheel texture by itself. With GPxSet it's possible to have a different tread and/or wheel texture for each car. Unless patching textures is disabled, the exception for McLaren will be removed.

The additional textures have to be put in the cars/tyres directory in cars.wad. For the wheel textures there should be 3 files. For the tread textures there should be T * 3 files, with T being the number of texture tyre types (default is 4). The prefix (e.g. "michelin") is what needs to be specified below.

Make sure each texture name has the following format:

• Tread texture: <P>_tread_<T>_right_<V>
• Wheel texture: wheel_<P>_<V>

The prefixes have to be specified in a separate .ini file, and the path to this file can be specified under [TyreManager] in gpxset.ini. It can be one file for all tracks, specified using the Path key, or track specific files, specified using keys Path01 through Path17. The section to put them under is [TyreTextureNames], and the keys are called Name #00, Name #01 etc. The maximum prefix length is 15 characters. The maximum number of prefixes is 22. The first three are "michelin", "bridgestone" and "mclaren" by default, but they can of course be overridden.

For backward compatibility, the sections can also be put in a performance text file (the one specified under [PerfManager] in gpxset.ini). The tyre brands that are normally in a performance text file in a [Tyres] section, and which is used by GPxSAT to determine the logos, can also be put in the .ini file specified under [TyreManager].

To specify which team or car should have which tread and wheel texture, specify a value under section [TreadTextures] and [WheelTextures] respectively. These sections work similarly but independently. Use keys Team #00 through Team #10. The value is the index of the texture name in the texture name list specified above. If one value is specified, the texture will be used for both cars in the team. To use different textures for each car, specify two comma separated values. Examples are Team #00=0 and Team #01=2,1. If a texture index value is not specified for a team, it will be based on the tyre brand ([Tyres] section).

The [TreadTextures] can have an optional mapping of tyre types onto tread texture sub index. GP4 has 6 tyre types, which are mapped by default onto 4 texture tyre types. Now they can be mapped to a maximum of 6 different ones, or even to a single one. Just make sure the tread textures with the specified indices actually exist in cars.wad. This mapping can be changed according to the following table:

Arm and rim colors (GP4 only)

Advanced options