2006 ApexSpeed Sim League Starting February 21st

[Keith Carter]

It's finally that time again. Now is your chance to race in the ApexSpeed.com Sim League. Please make note of the general requirements for running in the league. Installation instructions are in the "Installation" sticky thread by RJB99.


GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:
1. Installed and functioning version of Nascar Heat (PC) and the F2000 mod FINAL version.

2. Good Internet connection with a maximum ping rate of 300 or less (some dial-up connections are less than 300).

3. Installed copies of THE LATEST series road racing tracks from Texas Speed Forum web site. (new tracks as added). If you're unsure if you have the latest releases or not, download them again. About 6 or so of the existing tracks have had changes made to them.

4. Nascar Heat NO-CD patch, final official game patch 1.72e then updated to the current game patch 1.80.

5. Game controller is restricted to store purchased steering wheels and pedals that aren't modified in any way nor are able to be programmed to aid driving in any way (aside from text macros).


To be placed on the league roster, send an e-mail to me:
keith AT apexspeed DOT com (Replace AT with @ and DOT with .)
and state/supply ALL the following in the e-mail:

FULL NAME
NICKNAME
E-MAIL ADDRESS TO BE USED FOR THE LEAGUE
LOCATION YOU ARE FROM
STEERING WHEEL/PEDAL MAKE AND BRAND
CONNECTION TYPE (Dial-Up, Cable, DSL)
REQUESTED CAR SKIN (or supply one in the e-mail)
AIM SCREEN NAME
DRIVER IMAGE - TEMPLATE

EDIT: The driver picture template is a file blank for a picture of your face to be placed into. It's the picture that shows up next to your name when the results screen and driver's grid screen appear. It'd be nice to put a face with the people you are racing with. Any kind of program that lets you modify .tga files will let you put an image of yourself in the template. You then need to name the file the same as your name in HEAT and place it into the F2000 folder.


All of the most recent car skins can be downloaded HERE .


Here is the order in which the tracks will be run for the league.
1)Laguna Seca
2)Virginia International Raceway
3)Sebring
4)Watkins Glen
5)Blackhawk Farms
6)Mid-Ohio (regional)
7)Mosport
8)Road America
9)Limerock
10)Road Atlanta
11)Cleveland
12)Montreal
Runoffs: Mid-Ohio (national)

[Dave Hopple]

Keith, I'm in do I have to re-send all that info?


Your missing Long Beach? It's been fixed with a new version called:
Long Beach GP
Description: Long Beach Grand Prix Street Circuit in Long Beach,California
Real 1.574 mile street circuit
- [Bug fix] Rolling starts now fixed. S/F line is reallocated (a bit further) so that all cars started on S/F straight
- Shadow added under the "bridge"
Track has 43 working pitstalls.

Direct download link:
http://themodsquad.uni.cc/modules.ph...p=getit&lid=71

Do we need to run Mid-O twice? -Dave

[Keith Carter]

I was kind of concerned about Long Beach with all the walls. It could mean a lot of carnage in league play. It's up to you guys though. We could nix the regional layout for Mid-O for Long Beach. What do you all think?

[Keith Carter]

[size=2]LEAGUE ROSTER
=========================
Keith Carter
Dave Hopple
Rick Broadhead
Tom Vogel
Bob McColl
Doug Carter
Trace Shadid
Ron Jones
Tony Williams[/size]

[rickb99]

We've run Group C cars and WGTC cars on Long Beach GP without any 'carnage'. Surely "professional" FC" drivers can handle it

Question, will VIR be the Full Course? And, instead of a double run at Mid-O with and without keyhole, how about run-offs at VIR on the Grand East or South Course? You see more variation in track layout with that then the 2 Mid-O's. OR, even a run off on the "Club" version of Riverside?

[Keith Carter]

I didn't want to start doing too many track variations on the schedule. As it is, it should take us to the end of May. By that time, we're well into racing season and the time I have for sims has greatly diminshed. We can sub out Mid-O for Long Beach, but I'd like to keep the number of races the same.

[Keith Carter]

Sorry Rick, I re-read your post and you were asking about where to have the finale' at instead of Mid-O. I just did that cause that's where the real cars run for the big show. We need to get Mega working on Heartland Park for next season!

[oldns_low]

Like the track list with the exception of Cleveland. most anything else please.
How about Portland or a Riverside version or Sears Point (Infineon).

[Keith Carter]

I was kind of looking forward to Cleveland. We've never been able to run on it online before. It will hopefully be fixed by the time we run on it so there will no longer be an online mess. Maybe I'll post a poll once we have the league roster set, but I know I'm not going to be able to make everyone happy.

[Wee Bobby]

Wee's two favorite tracks are Mosport & Mid Ohio. Wee actually won a couple of heats at MO last year (until Hop showed up and took away all the glory ).


Wee's preference would be to leave race #6 as MO, due to the fact that Wee will probably be out of town for the Runoffs, in May, and Wee would really hate to miss racin' at MO.

Does Wee have to resend all the registration info - it is the same as 2003 -04 -05?


Lookin' forward to some racin'

Weeeeeeee!

[scotts216]

I'd be interested in having a peek at the tracks you have listed and cruising around a bit......Not sure I want to enter the Sim League and become a road hazard. Can any of you computer game literate youngsters fill in a not so computer literate type how to go about setting this up and getting it going? I understand it is all based on Nascar Heat? I load that, and then what? How to get the downloads for the car and track sims???? Still a lot of winter left here in the Rockies........ Scott

[dc]

I think I'm in for the series. I need to paint up the new 2006 bodywork, and get a computer to play on, but I should be ready for race 1.


I haven't played in a while... gonna need some TRACK TIME. Who wants to rent Blackhawk with me for a group discount?

[Keith Carter]

I'd be interested in having a peek at the tracks you have listed and cruising around a bit......Not sure I want to enter the Sim League and become a road hazard. Can any of you computer game literate youngsters fill in a not so computer literate type how to go about setting this up and getting it going? I understand it is all based on Nascar Heat? I load that, and then what? How to get the downloads for the car and track sims???? Still a lot of winter left here in the Rockies........ Scott

Scott,
All you need to know and download is in the Sticky post at the top of the sim forum:

http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/show...9084#post29084

A track list is also linked in that post. If you have any questions, search this forum first, and feel free to post them in this forum with a new post if it hasn't already been discussed. Good luck!

[Keith Carter]

We could run some practice laps at Blackhawk if we get some people together. So far the most people we've had online at Blackhawk has been 4 so it would be good to get a big group running. When is your PC rebuild going to be done Doug?

[Wee Bobby]

Wee see that Cleveland is on the list. Where does Wee get a copy of this?
Not listed on Texas Speed site.

Wee Bobbie
Haggis Racing

[Keith Carter]

We're hoping for a final release before the league is supposed to run it. There were some issues with the AI and pits in the prelim release. If it's not ready by the time we are supposed to be running it, we'll be running Sears Point or Riverside.

[rickb99]

Bad news here. Unless something wonderful happens, Cleveland will not be fixed

I sent the package Punko gave me for Cleveland and all the 'track maker' files are missing. It would be a massive task for Chuck to fix and he just doesn't have the time at the moment.

Again the Long Beach thing LOL. I've run WGTC, Group C, Formula Renault, F2000, Honda Mod and the in the works 2002GP F1 mod at Long Beach. Nose-to-tail and side-by-side duels. The track is wide enough for that and plenty of passing opportunity's.

You new guys who may be considering this for the first time. Jump in and enjoy. Everybody racing had to run their first, second and third events some time. There's plenty of support available in terms of help with getting car dialed in.

btw:
On the entry list I don't see Oldnslow? Did he get the word? I'd be surprised if he doesn't run. There should be a couple more on the list. I'll inquire.

[F2sizzzler]

I might have missed it... what time do the races start?

[Keith Carter]

We haven't decided yet, but I'm flexible +/- a couple hours. I can do 7-10PM CST.

[F2sizzzler]

Well, I work until 8cst so if you started then I could still get at least a couple heats in.

[Ron B.]

I scanned the posts above but - which evening are you thinking of racing?

[Shayne]

I would love to join, but I don't have the nascar game, I have te Race car driver 2 wich actualy has the F1800 Ztech from UK.....Maybe I go and buy the Nascar game this week.

would U post the links to all the paches for the game here, so we don't have to search the net for them....

also, can I join the league after U already started the races, mid season?

Thanks

Shayne

[Keith Carter]

Shayne,
Check out these links:

Nascar Heat Essentials - Allows you to play Nascar Heat mods WITHOUT owning Nascar HEAT


Nascar Heat Install Instructions

[rickb99]

Yes, the essentials will allow you to run ALL Heat mods. Just not the basic Winston Cup game. It's a little tricky to get set up and will probably require asking some questions which will be answered.

However, for an investment of about $9.95 you can still get the full game at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

[Keith Carter]

I scanned the posts above but - which evening are you thinking of racing?

Feb 21st. Tuesdays Tuesdays Tuesdays!

[Shayne]

Tx guys...I will try to get the PC set up...do I need coner wights! and let me bleed the breaks on my Logitech Momo force feed back ...

joking aside, I try to find the game at Bestbuy or something this week-end.

Shayne

[rickb99]

The basic game (as in original Nascar Heat) is pretty tough to find in stores. The game is almost meaningless in terms of retail value due to its age. However, in the SIM world, it's still considered just about the BEST all round SIM for on line racing due to its net code, reasonable graphics quality and acceptable car physics. Some games have it beat hands down in some areas. But can't get enough points in all catagories to surpass it.

If you can't find it in stores (unlikely), don't want to deal with Amazon, and can't find any on E-Bay at the moment, try a Google search for other retailers who have it. Then there's the "essentials installer" (works good once you get it running). If all that fails, let us know.

[Ron B.]

I'm out. I'm back in night school on Tuesdays from 6 till 9pm. Have fun, all!

[Keith Carter]

I'd like to get at least 4 more people for the league. It's starting Tuesday!


Tonight we will be doing a warmup test run for the season opener at Laguna on Tuesday. 8PM CST. IP is 67 . 173 . 141 . 50

[F2sizzzler]

I ran some laps last night.. I guess it will take some time getting used to these again. I'm 4 secs off my normal pace at this track... I can't figure it out. I hope to be there.

[oldns_low]

Dsl seems to be going in and out of business today, hope i can make it on Tuesday.

[dc]

I ran some laps last night.. I guess it will take some time getting used to these again. I'm 4 secs off my normal pace at this track... I can't figure it out. I hope to be there.

Keith and I were talking about that this afternoon. We're both running really strong laps and are about 4 seconds off of where we were the last time we raced there.

Donno why.

[Shayne]

I'm sorry to say that due to my sponsorship hunt program (meetings/travel) I'm unable to start the sim season with you guys, I will do my best to be there in a future race event.

too bad, laguna is my fav. track.
cheers

Shayne

[oldns_low]

lap speeds down? could it be that we are running the laguna track with penalties for corner cutting and wide exits? and we were not then? i have a ghost of mark and he makes some very wide exits. i have a bunch of 34.6 to 35.5 as lap records all set in 2003.

Perhaps having the penalties is worse than having the bump.

[dc]

Actually, I think there aren't enough penaltiy traps. In the game it's 2 seconds, in real life you're on your head or in a tire wall. Shouldn't be able to use anything off track for an advantage, on ANY track...