Hi,
Some editors and utilities do not work with CSM, and I want to use them. So, my question is if the following method works to transform a CSM mod into a non-CSM mod that can be started simply with GP4.exe / GPxPatch.exe / GP4Tweaker.exe etc...
My method is quite simple, admittingly too simple...:
**********************************************************************
Start the mod you want to transform with CSM normally by clicking Start.
A few seconds after the game has started fullscreen, ALT-TAB to the Desktop and copy all the content of your GP4 directory into another directory GP4_MOD where 'MOD' is the year of your Season. This can be quite a lot, but later you will rip out what you don't need. Note: While copying, Windows will tell you that some files are in usage and cannot be copied; click ignore and after quitting the game, copy them manually, BUT: it is essential that the GP4.exe which has been modified by CSM by starting the game is correctly copied in your GP4_MOD folder. In my case, this has worked.
Important: Make a BACKUP of this fresh GP4.exe and name it BACKUP_Season_xxxx_GP4.exe, just in case you run in trouble with future changes, you never know...
Quit the game and CSM.
Normally, when launching GPxPatch in GP4_MOD and going in the track section, you should see all tracks of your mod pointed correctly to the track folder, so the game should start correctly with the right tracks, the right additional textures and objects etc. If not, or if the game is screwed up, then you must do the 'Emergency Steps' at the end. Hopefully not necessary for you :) Just go on with the next steps and see if it works, if not do the Emergency Steps.
Purging unnecessary files in GP4_MOD:
Purge the Track folder and the GPSAVES folder by deleting files your mod doesn't need. In the Track folder, these will be all the files not related to your mod (tracks that your mod doesn't use). In the GPSAVES folder, I would keep everything related to my mod and delete all the rest (probably you can rip everything, but the swap process of CSM could point to some files here, so better not do it).
You can also delete all the 2001 .wad files for the tracks in the main GP4_MOD folder (unless you are using the 2001 season mod!), but do NOT delete the other track .wad files and please NOT the cars.wad and the anim.wad !!
Make a new shortcurt for GPxPatch.exe comming from your GP4_MOD folder.
Now you should be able to start your Mod with the new GPxPatch shortcut... ;-)
However, what's important:
Important:
You are ready now to start your mod without CSM, within GPxPatch or within your utility (which all will launch GP4_MOD\GP4.exe), but BEFORE starting the game with GPxPatch, you will have to set the exact performance file for the track you intend to play. It's in the GPxSet section of GPxPatch. Sorry, but CSM does this automatically in the Mod Configurables, but GPxPatch does not support more performance files to be handled automatically when you load a track in the game, that's why you must do it manually each time, provided your mod has multiple performance files for different tracks. Also launching the game without GPxPatch will give unpredictable results, especially any additional mod textures, anims, videos, icons etc. will not show-up in the game, therefore... better launch it with GPxPatch ;-)
Emergency Steps (ignore all this if the above steps work for you):
In GP4_MOD, delete manually the gpxpdata folder and the gpxpatch.exe. Re-install GpxPatch by chosing GP4_MOD for your install location.
Take all the track .wad and .dat files from your mod (in your original folder, usually \...\Grand Prix 4\ GPSAVES\Carsets....), put the dat files in the Circuit folder of GP4_MOD by overwriting everything (you must assure they are all in the right number order for your mod!), put the track .wad files in the main GP4_MOD directory: Here for the game to work, I'm afraid you will have to rename them to the original names of the vanilla game by keeping the right order of the vanilla game but adjusted to your mod: number 1 track of your mod would be named Melbourne even if in your mod number 1 track is Monza etc...,Also: you will have to transfer or create manually the txt files for the Teams and Drivers, put it in the gpxpdata folder and make sure GPxPatch will point to it . Sorry, that's all a pain to do but I think this is necessary if the above doesn't work.
**********************************************************************
In order to prevent any unfortunate game crashes, here my personal notes about installing and setting up GP4 in Windows 7 64-Bit with an older Radeon HD 5750 grafics card. On higher Windows systems these advices will also work, on Windows 10, Windows 8 (brr...you have this, change it!), avoid installing in \Program Files (x86) and chose C:\Games or C:\GP4 instead.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. Make a FULL install of the game. Do not install in \Program Files (x86), e.g. install in a folder C:\Games...
2. Install the Patch 9.6.
3. Replace GP4.exe with the Decrypted GP4.exe 1.02.
4. Install the latest GpxPatch.
5. Set both GPxPatch.exe and GP4.exe in Windows Compatibility Mode for XP SP2 and set 'Run as Admnin'.
6. Start GP4.exe with GPxPatch.
7. The game asks to calibrate grafics and sound. Accept. After the process go in the Options > Advanced Grafics.
8. Set resolution to the highest compatible with your system and set everything to Max value, don't change Bump.
9.
Run 'Test' and check if the FPS bar is at maximum (60 FPS) after the test, if no, then repeat Test. Once the the FPS bar is at max, then set it manually to 30 FPS. Click OK to apply the changes and quit grafic options. Quit GP4 by accepting 'save the changes'.
10.
Open the file f1graphics.cfg in the main GP4 folder and change the following settings:
1 ; f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0) note:- make this 1
1920 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Horizontal Resolution
1080 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Vertical Resolution
You can now play the game with a resolution of 1920x1080 with best grafics at 30 FPS.
After these 10 steps you are ready to simply play the standard game by starting the GP4.exe with no extra mods or changes, or you start it within GPxPatch which will apply all changes and improvements made by GPxPatch.
A last tip: If you do a lot of mod changes and traffic, and out of the blue GP4 starts to crash, then the good medecine is: re-copy the fresh decrytpted GP4.exe file in your dir before getting in hairy recovery attempts ;-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In my case, all the above has worked and I didn't need to run the 'Emergency Steps'.
Has anyone tried this? Does it work for you, or are there more files that need to be transfered in the new GP4_MOD folder?
Thanks for any comments or feedbacks! (H)
XenonS
Some editors and utilities do not work with CSM, and I want to use them. So, my question is if the following method works to transform a CSM mod into a non-CSM mod that can be started simply with GP4.exe / GPxPatch.exe / GP4Tweaker.exe etc...
My method is quite simple, admittingly too simple...:
**********************************************************************
Start the mod you want to transform with CSM normally by clicking Start.
A few seconds after the game has started fullscreen, ALT-TAB to the Desktop and copy all the content of your GP4 directory into another directory GP4_MOD where 'MOD' is the year of your Season. This can be quite a lot, but later you will rip out what you don't need. Note: While copying, Windows will tell you that some files are in usage and cannot be copied; click ignore and after quitting the game, copy them manually, BUT: it is essential that the GP4.exe which has been modified by CSM by starting the game is correctly copied in your GP4_MOD folder. In my case, this has worked.
Important: Make a BACKUP of this fresh GP4.exe and name it BACKUP_Season_xxxx_GP4.exe, just in case you run in trouble with future changes, you never know...
Quit the game and CSM.
Normally, when launching GPxPatch in GP4_MOD and going in the track section, you should see all tracks of your mod pointed correctly to the track folder, so the game should start correctly with the right tracks, the right additional textures and objects etc. If not, or if the game is screwed up, then you must do the 'Emergency Steps' at the end. Hopefully not necessary for you :) Just go on with the next steps and see if it works, if not do the Emergency Steps.
Purging unnecessary files in GP4_MOD:
Purge the Track folder and the GPSAVES folder by deleting files your mod doesn't need. In the Track folder, these will be all the files not related to your mod (tracks that your mod doesn't use). In the GPSAVES folder, I would keep everything related to my mod and delete all the rest (probably you can rip everything, but the swap process of CSM could point to some files here, so better not do it).
You can also delete all the 2001 .wad files for the tracks in the main GP4_MOD folder (unless you are using the 2001 season mod!), but do NOT delete the other track .wad files and please NOT the cars.wad and the anim.wad !!
Make a new shortcurt for GPxPatch.exe comming from your GP4_MOD folder.
Now you should be able to start your Mod with the new GPxPatch shortcut... ;-)
However, what's important:
Important:
You are ready now to start your mod without CSM, within GPxPatch or within your utility (which all will launch GP4_MOD\GP4.exe), but BEFORE starting the game with GPxPatch, you will have to set the exact performance file for the track you intend to play. It's in the GPxSet section of GPxPatch. Sorry, but CSM does this automatically in the Mod Configurables, but GPxPatch does not support more performance files to be handled automatically when you load a track in the game, that's why you must do it manually each time, provided your mod has multiple performance files for different tracks. Also launching the game without GPxPatch will give unpredictable results, especially any additional mod textures, anims, videos, icons etc. will not show-up in the game, therefore... better launch it with GPxPatch ;-)
Emergency Steps (ignore all this if the above steps work for you):
In GP4_MOD, delete manually the gpxpdata folder and the gpxpatch.exe. Re-install GpxPatch by chosing GP4_MOD for your install location.
Take all the track .wad and .dat files from your mod (in your original folder, usually \...\Grand Prix 4\ GPSAVES\Carsets....), put the dat files in the Circuit folder of GP4_MOD by overwriting everything (you must assure they are all in the right number order for your mod!), put the track .wad files in the main GP4_MOD directory: Here for the game to work, I'm afraid you will have to rename them to the original names of the vanilla game by keeping the right order of the vanilla game but adjusted to your mod: number 1 track of your mod would be named Melbourne even if in your mod number 1 track is Monza etc...,Also: you will have to transfer or create manually the txt files for the Teams and Drivers, put it in the gpxpdata folder and make sure GPxPatch will point to it . Sorry, that's all a pain to do but I think this is necessary if the above doesn't work.
**********************************************************************
In order to prevent any unfortunate game crashes, here my personal notes about installing and setting up GP4 in Windows 7 64-Bit with an older Radeon HD 5750 grafics card. On higher Windows systems these advices will also work, on Windows 10, Windows 8 (brr...you have this, change it!), avoid installing in \Program Files (x86) and chose C:\Games or C:\GP4 instead.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. Make a FULL install of the game. Do not install in \Program Files (x86), e.g. install in a folder C:\Games...
2. Install the Patch 9.6.
3. Replace GP4.exe with the Decrypted GP4.exe 1.02.
4. Install the latest GpxPatch.
5. Set both GPxPatch.exe and GP4.exe in Windows Compatibility Mode for XP SP2 and set 'Run as Admnin'.
6. Start GP4.exe with GPxPatch.
7. The game asks to calibrate grafics and sound. Accept. After the process go in the Options > Advanced Grafics.
8. Set resolution to the highest compatible with your system and set everything to Max value, don't change Bump.
9.
Run 'Test' and check if the FPS bar is at maximum (60 FPS) after the test, if no, then repeat Test. Once the the FPS bar is at max, then set it manually to 30 FPS. Click OK to apply the changes and quit grafic options. Quit GP4 by accepting 'save the changes'.
10.
Open the file f1graphics.cfg in the main GP4 folder and change the following settings:
1 ; f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0) note:- make this 1
1920 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Horizontal Resolution
1080 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Vertical Resolution
You can now play the game with a resolution of 1920x1080 with best grafics at 30 FPS.
After these 10 steps you are ready to simply play the standard game by starting the GP4.exe with no extra mods or changes, or you start it within GPxPatch which will apply all changes and improvements made by GPxPatch.
A last tip: If you do a lot of mod changes and traffic, and out of the blue GP4 starts to crash, then the good medecine is: re-copy the fresh decrytpted GP4.exe file in your dir before getting in hairy recovery attempts ;-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In my case, all the above has worked and I didn't need to run the 'Emergency Steps'.
Has anyone tried this? Does it work for you, or are there more files that need to be transfered in the new GP4_MOD folder?
Thanks for any comments or feedbacks! (H)
XenonS