| Introduction |
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Welcome to the GPW Patch Readme Name: GP World GPW Patch Author: Jork Wierdsma Date: 1 February 2003 Version: 1.0 Acknowledgements: Viktor Gars Adam Hatton Gunther Roskams Danilo Schoeneberg Chris Silles Testing Crew GPW Patch is an editing tool for Microprose's Grand Prix World. It allows you to modify many aspects of the game and provides as a powerful tool for developing season updates. Thanks to the functionality and flexibility of spreadsheeting, GPW Patch can work with vast amounts of information required to customise Grand Prix World. A user-friendly interface is complemented with help facilities, all to improve your Grand Prix World experience. |
| Installation |
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If you haven't already, extract the contents of the .zip distribution file to a temporary location and install GPW Patch using the .msi installer file. It is strongly recommended that the program is installed outside of your Grand Prix World installation directory. Once installed, locate and run GpwPatch.exe to start the program. On request, please specify your Grand Prix World installation directory. In the GPW Patch installation directory, you will find a web browser file (readme.html) and a help file (GpwPatch.hlp) to assist you with the program. |
| Instructions |
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GPW Patch uses three phases to update Grand Prix World with new information. The purpose and use of these three phases - Compile, Prepare and Patch - are described below. The Compile Phase With Grand Prix World being a management simulation, it obviously must store a lot of information on objects in the game. GPW Patch is developed to retrieve information from the best tool available for this purpose, a spreadsheet file. This spreadsheet file, of the Microsoft Excel file format .xls, stores this information on neatly arranged worksheets within the workbook. The Compile phase reads information from a workbook and writes it to a Compiled Statistics file, which has the file extension .cst. This .cst file is specially made for GPW Patch, as it allows the information to be separated and distributed away from the workbook. While the .cst file does not allow modifications to the information inside, it allows those without spreadsheet software to be able to make modifications to Grand Prix World, albeit in a limited fashion. Once compiled, a .cst file is used to patch Grand Prix World executables (.exe) and saved games (.sav). How to compile a .cst file: Run GPW Patch and select the Compile Statistics display option Browse for the Excel workbook file (.xls) Browse for the file to save the compilation as (.cst) Click the Compile Statistics button to compile the .cst file The Prepare Phase The Prepare phase reads information from a .cst file and writes some of the information into a Grand Prix World executable file (.exe). The purpose of this process is to configure the .exe file, providing a base to generate new Grand Prix World saved games (.sav) from. The Prepare phase must be used whenever you want to implement changes to the game with a different .cst file (and the information contained within). For instance, after preparing the .exe file, you can generate many saved games from this base. If you modify the .cst file (hence the .xls file), you must re-establish this base if you want all changes to take affect. How to prepare an .exe file: Select the Prepare Game option Browse for the compiled statistics file (.cst) Browse for the Grand Prix World executable file (.exe) Click the Prepare Game button to prepare the .exe file The Patch Phase The Patch phase reads information from a .cst file and writes most of the information into a Grand Prix World saved game file (.sav). Every saved game set to be patched should be generated off a prepared .exe file and saved immediately at the beginning of the player's career. Changes made to the saved game will take effect once the file is reloaded into Grand Prix World. How to patch a .sav file: Select the Patch Game option Browse for the compiled statistics file (.cst) Browse for the Grand Prix World saved game file (.sav) Click the Patch Game button to patch the .sav file For further information, see the GPW Patch help file. |
| Issues |
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The following issues in this version of the program are known: Department morale levels may be improperly altered Adding or removing test drivers may cause the game to malfunction The ninth team (e.g. Stewart) is assigned two uncontracted sponsors Sponsor and Supplier .xls editing not fully operation (inactivated cells coloured red) Please report bugs, errors and other findings which may be of use to improve the program's performance and functionality to the contact specified below. |
| Disclaimer |
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This distribution may not be hosted on any server other than gpworld.f1sims.co.uk without permission. Files contained in this distribution may not be redistributed individually, as a group or part of another distribution without permission. To request permission, please write to Jork Wierdsma, jork@f1sims.co.uk. This distribution is provided "as is" with no warranties expressed or implied. GP World, associated people and entities will not be held responsible for any losses incurred, either directly or indirectly by the use of this distribution. |
| Contact |
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If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please address them to: Jork Wierdsma, jork@f1sims.co.uk. Please visit the GPW Patch website at: GP World, http://gpworld.f1sims.co.uk/. |
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