NASCAR® Racing 2002 Season PATCH README
1.1.0.1
04/15/02
[ To read this file, select Edit/Word Wrap from the menu above ]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

[1] WHAT THE PATCH FIXES
[2] HOW TO INSTALL THE PATCH
[3] ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
[4] CONTACTING SIERRA


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NOTE: The 1.1.x.x version of NASCAR® Racing 2002 Season is not multiplayer compatible with previously released versions.  As a client you will only be able to see and join 1.1.x.x servers, and similarly as a host only 1.1.x.x clients will be able to see and join your server.

************************************


[1] WHAT THE PATCH FIXES
====================================

AI:

* It is now much easier to bump draft with the AI.

* The AI will no longer pile up when many cars pit together (for example, during a caution period).

* When qualifying is skipped, each AI driver's parameters will be considered when forming the starting grid, instead of the grid being formed completely randomly.

* In a fixed setup race, the AI will now use the fixed setup during qualifying, instead of the host's default qualifying setup.

* The pace car will no longer dive back onto pit road under caution if the leader passes it and stays ahead of it as it passes the pit entrance.



MULTIPLAYER:

* Servers may now limit Sierra.com races by LPI.

* Open servers may now disable the ability for a boss to eject players using the open_server_disable_boss_eject setting in the [SERVER] section of core.ini.  By default this is set to 1, which prevents open server bosses from ejecting players.  Change this setting to 0 if desired.

* When a client is ejected or banned from a server, the user name of the person doing the ejecting/banning is given.

* The Chatpad Log is now separated for each individual player, and saved in the main NR2002 directory as chatpad_<player_directory>.log

* The sierra.com available races screen will now continue to discard chat from people in your muzzle list when you change chat servers.

* Clients that retire from a multiplayer race will now be listed appropriately in the standings.

* Clients whose connections are dropped before they complete the race, and who do not rejoin the race, will be listed as "Disco" in the standings.

* If you muzzle someone's user name by using the Add button to place them into your muzzle list on the sierra.com screen, they will now also be muzzled by their cdkeyid the next time they try to connect to your server.  This keeps them from sneaking back onto your server by creating a new user name.

* If you wrecked your car during practice and hit Shift-R to return to the pits, other clients would not see that your car was repaired until you started moving.  They will now see that your car is fixed even if you don't move.

* You will no longer receive errant end-of-race messages from a sierra.com registered race server while connecting to it.



RENDERER:

* Texture compression is now supported by the OpenGL renderer.

* Some improvements were made to the way smoke and dust is drawn.



USER INTERFACE:

* The scrollbar for the address book on the main Multiplayer screen will no longer draw over the connection dialog boxes. 

* The 'Server Type' heading now sorts Open and Dedicated servers properly in the Available Races table.

* Clients in a multiplayer race can now see the latency/quality of other players in the Entries tab on the Race Weekend screen.

* The Entries tab on the Race Weekend screen now shows server admins in green, and bosses in gold (disconnected drivers are still shown in red).

* The Entries tab on the Race Weekend screen will now show player ratings while the left shift and left control keys are held down.



SOUND:

* Improved opponent car engine sounds to produce less crackling.

* Improved player car engine sound to reduce popping in mid-RPM range.

* Improved tire sounds to reduce popping with some sound card drivers (e.g. SBLive!).

* Added a new core.ini setting (force_min_readahead) to address occasional win2k/XP sound driver issue that resulted in much popping/crackling.

* Fixed 3D sound issue where some views would have severely muted focus car sounds.

* Did *not* fix 3D sound problem where internal (stereo) cockpit sounds will sometimes fail to play for some sound drivers (e.g. SBLive! on XP systems). Users experiencing this problem should not run with 3d sound enabled.

* Found an issue where if you had disabled sound, when exiting the game or viewing the win screen the game would appear to lock up, but in actuality it is just doing nothing until the music finishes streaming.  The user can work around this by not having sound disabled and intro/exit sequences enabled at the same time.



MISCELLANEOUS:

* Fixed a problem where the game would lock up on the Player Info, Opponent Manager, and Paint Shop screens when using the Direct3D renderer and NVidia Detonator drivers with version 23.11 or later.

* You can now continue a championship season after having saved a race during the season.

* Your spotter should no longer errantly tell you that you are too far to the left or right if your pit stall is near the end of pit road.

* If you have automatic transmission selected and you break a gear, the transmission will now properly skip the broken gear.

* The post-race newspaper screen will now use proper suffixes for positions like 21st, 22nd, etc.

* Some improvements have been made to the graphical car model.

* Fixed a bug in the game's mapping of DirectInput devices which prevented the game from properly identifying some axes when more than one controller was installed.

* Fixed a bug at Darlington where the driver in the 43rd pit stall would erroneously receive a black flag when pitting.

* Fixed a bug at Kansas where the AI would get unsafe pit entry penalties on pit entry.

* Systems with video cards based on the Savage 2000, S3 Savage 4 and ProSavage chipsets should run in D3D with reflections turned off.  Running in OpenGL will result in a crash.


[2] HOW TO INSTALL THE PATCH
====================================

1. Run the saved patch executable.

2. The patch should automatically detect your NASCAR® Racing 2002 Season installation directory and then begin the patching process.

* Note that if you have modified any of the game's files using 3rd party utilities, it may be necessary to reinstall the game before the patch can successfully complete its installation.


[3] ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
====================================

LIMITING SIERRA.COM RACES BY LPI

In addition to the existing 1-10 Sierra.com rating restrictions, you may now limit races on Sierra.com by a driver's Laps Per Incident (LPI).  If this setting is enabled, only clients with an LPI greater than or equal to the limit set on the server will be allowed to connect to the race.  This can be very useful to restrict drivers who may be intentional wreckers, as they will almost always have lower LPI's than do the more clean and safe drivers.  Note that when setting up a user run server this option may be grayed out and disabled if you are using a new Sierra.com  UserID that has an LPI of zero.

There is also now an additional Open Server parameter for LPI restriction in the game's CORE.INI:
- open_server_min_LPI_limit=N

As explained above, this specifies the minimum LPI a client must have to be allowed to connect to the server.  Valid values range from 1 to 255.  Setting this value to -1 disables this feature.


[4] CONTACTING SIERRA
====================================

A) Customer Service, Support, and Sales
B) Technical Support
C) Legal Information


A) Customer Service, Support, and Sales
------------------------------------
United States	

U.S.A. Sales Phone: (800) 757-7707
Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

International Sales:  (310) 649-8008 
Hours: Monday-Friday 8AM to 5PM PST 
	
Sierra Entertainment	
6060 Center Drive
6th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90045

http://www.sierra.com			

United Kingdom

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing UK Ltd.  	
Main: (0118) 920-9111
Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Fax:   (0118) 987-5603
Disk/CD replacements in the U.K. are £6.00,
or £7.00 outside the UK. Add "ATTN.: Returns."

2 Beacontree Plaza,			
Gillette Way,				
Reading, Berkshire			
RG2 0BS United Kingdom		

France

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing France 
Vente par Correspondance 
32, Av de l'Europe 
Bât Energy 1 (2e étage) 
78 941 VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY CEDEX
France

Téléphone : 01 30 67 90 53 
Du lundi au jeudi, de 9h00 à 18h00
Le vendredi, de 9h00 à 17h00
Fax : 01 30 67 90 94


Germany

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing Deutschland GmBH 	
Tel: 018050 / 774353
Montag - Freitag von 8.30 Uhr - 22.00 Uhr
sowie Sa. von 9.30 Uhr - 19.00 Uhr
Fax: 018050 / 32936

Postfach 1111
55253 Budenheim	
Deutschland	


On-Line Sales
CompuServe United Kingdom:GO UKSIERRA
CompuServe France:	  GO FRSIERRA
Internet USA:		  http://www.sierra.com
Internet United Kingdom:  http://www.sierra-online.co.uk
Internet France:  	  http://www.sierra.fr
Internet Germany:	  http://www.sierra.de
	
Disk and or Manual Replacement:		

Product Returns*:
Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing International
Sierra Warrantee Returns
4247 South Minnewawa Ave.
Fresno, CA  93725

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing International
Sierra CD/Doco Replacement
4247 South Minnewawa Ave.
Fresno, CA  93725				
		
NOTE: To replace your CD(s) please send only the damaged CD and a copy of your dated receipt, if less then 90 days.  After 90 days please include a $10.00 handling fee along with the CD(s).  For Documentation replacement, please include a $5.00 handling fee and a photocopy ONLY of either your disk or CD.  Payment should be made at the time of your request.  Sorry, no credit cards.	

* Returns to this address valid in North America only.



B) TECHNICAL SUPPORT
------------------------------------
North America

Sierra On-Line offers a 24-hour automated technical support line with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (310) 649-8033, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or contact us via our Web site.

Sierra Entertainment		
Technical Support
4247 South Minnewawa Avenue
Fresno, CA 93725

Main: (310) 649-8033
Monday-Friday  8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. PST
Fax:  (310) 258-0755
	
http://www.sierra.com
support@sierra.com


United Kingdom

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing UK Ltd. offers a 24-hour Automated Technical Support line with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (0118) 920-9111, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or contact us via the Internet.

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing UK Ltd. 	
2 Beacontree Plaza,			
Gillette Way,				
Reading, Berkshire			
RG2 0BS United Kingdom	

Main: (0118) 920-9111
Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Fax:   (0118) 987-5603

http://www.sierra-online.co.uk


France

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing France
Support Technique
32, Av de l'Europe 
Bât Energy 1 
78 941 VELIZY VILLACOUBLAY CDEX
France

Téléphone : 0 891 670 800 (0,22 euro/mn)
Serveur vocal 24H/24 et 7J/7
Techniciens du Lundi au Vendredi de 8H00 à 21H00 
Samedi, Dimanche et jours fériés de 10H00 à 18H00
Fax : 01 30 67 90 65

Courrier électronique : support@sierra.fr
http://www.sierra.fr


Germany

Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing Deutschland GmBH 
Technischer Kundendienst
Paul-Ehrlich-Straße 1
D-63225 Langen		
Deutschland				

Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-940
Montag bis Freitag von 10 - 19Uhr
Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-188
Mailbox: (0) 6103-99-40-35

http://www.sierra.de


Spain
Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing España  
C/ Nuestra Señora de Valverde, 23 
28034 MADRID
España (Spain)


Teléfono: 91 735 34 37
Lunes a Viernes de 9:30 a 15:00 y de 16:00 a 18:30
Fax: 91 735 32 34
Soporte@vup-interactive.es
www.vup-interactive.es


Italy

Contattare il vostro distribotore.	


C) Sierra Warranty & Legal Information
------------------------------------
You are entitled to use this product for your own use, but may not copy, reproduce, translate, publicly perform, display, or reduce to any electronic medium or machine- readable form, reproductions of the software or manual to other parties in any way, nor sell, rent or lease the product to others without prior written permission of Sierra.  You may use one copy of the product on a single computer.  YOU MAY NOT NETWORK THE PRODUCT OR OTHERWISE INSTALL IT OR USE IT ON MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER AT THE SAME TIME.
UNAUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIONS: SIERRA WARRANTS ONLY THAT THE PROGRAM WILL PERFORM AS DESCRIBED IN THE USER DOCUMENTATION. NO OTHER ADVERTISING, DESCRIPTION, OR REPRESENTATION, WHETHER MADE BY A SIERRA DEALER, DISTRIBUTOR, AGENT, OR EMPLOYEE, SHALL BE BINDING UPON SIERRA OR SHALL CHANGE THE TERMS OF THIS WARRANTY.
IMPLIED WARRANTIES LIMITED: EXCEPT AS STATED ABOVE, SIERRA MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS PRODUCT. SIERRA DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SOFTWARE IS FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE NINETY (90) DAY DURATION OF THIS LIMITED EXPRESS WARRANTY AND IS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
NO CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES: SIERRA SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES, EVEN IF SIERRA IS ADVISED OF OR AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS MEANS THAT SIERRA SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR LOST PROFITS OR REVENUES, OR FOR DAMAGES OR COSTS INCURRED AS A RESULT OF LOSS OF TIME, DATA OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR FROM ANY OTHER CAUSE EXCEPT THE ACTUAL COST OF THE PRODUCT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SIERRA'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THIS PRODUCT. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Copyright (2002 Sierra Entertainment)  