LFRS

How-To Guide

Last Updated: September 1, 1999

The following is a guide on how to do some things required for LFRS.
See also How to make a car and helmet for yourself.


LFRS Registration & Results Forms

This section explains how to use the forms located on LFRS.com.

Team Registration

Before any drivers can join a particular team, the team directors have to register their team. To ensure your team has not already been registered look at the team list.

You may want to change the team values if you have to alter your team name, or when your e-mail address or team homepage changes. Before changing your team settings, you have to give the password to ensure that you're the owner of the team. That way nobody else than you could change your team settings.

You can change all team settings, such as home page, team owner , the owner's e-mail, the team key code or the password. You can even change the team name (which should also include an engine name). Every entry that you don't change will remain the same, so e.g if you don't want to change your password leave it unchanged.

The team key code will be used by your authorised drivers. They enter this code into their driver form and when registering with your team, both codes will be compared. Only when both codes match, the driver will be able to join the team he chose. This way only people that you have told the key code to can join your team.

Driver Registration

To ensure your team has already been registered look at the team list. When you find your team listed there you can register as a driver.

Be sure that you have asked the team director before joining an existing team. If you select a team without having permission to do so, you may be excluded from that team and you will find yourself without a drive. Sending results while you are an unauthorised member of a team (ie. you have not entered the correct key code into your driver form) is not permitted and will result in disqualification.

Either each driver registers himself or the team manager may register his/her drivers. If you're a team manager and you register your drivers, be sure to write down the driver passwords and tell them to your drivers. They will need their password to change their driver data or submit race results during the season.

To ensure you haven't already been registered by your team manager, look at the drivers list. If your team manager has not already registered you, you will have to register as new driver yourself.

When changing team, e-mail address or country etc. you use the form update driver data to change your settings. The actual settings will be used for any race results you submit in the future.

It may happen that a driver will stop racing during the season and the team manager wants to hire another driver to replace him. Then just add another driver but don't change the name of the driver who left. There may be 2 drivers in each class who race in the same team but as long as only 2 drivers submit race results for that class it will be no problem.

To ensure your're authorised to submit results for the team you chose, the race results form will check if your driver form has the correct team key code. This code will be compared to the code that has been entered by the team director. If both codes match you will be able to send your race results as a member of the team you chose. If they don't match, you can't send results for that team. Be sure to get the team key code from your team director.

Uploading the race results

Once you're registered as driver you can upload your race results using the Results Form. Driver data like your Name, Team or Class will be entered automatically when uploading the results so you don't have to enter them.

You have to enter the following data:
Driver Number: Enter your LFRS Driver Number here.
Password: Enter your password in the text box.
Zipfile: You must select browse and find your race savegame (NOT your qualifying lap or race fastlap) file, which has to be in zip format. To find out how to name your race savegame and zipfile correctly, read the naming rules here.
Race: You select the race you want to submit your results for from a pulldown list box.
Status: You select how you ended your race from a pulldown list box.
Control Info: Follow the instructions that are displayed on the form.
You can't leave it empty.
If you made any mistake, you get a message that shows you where you made a mistake when you submit. Go back to the results form (using your browser's back button) and correct your mistake. Then retry to submit your results.

Once you've been successful in submitting your race results, you get a positive message displaying the data that has been stored. When you get that message you can be sure your race results have been stored.

Go ahead and start practising the next track. :)

Results Log

If you want to know if your results have really been successfully uploaded you can take a look at all drivers who have already uploaded their results. Your name should appear at the bottom of the log. Of course you could use that log to find out if any of your opponents has already submitted his/her results, but you will not be able to look at his/her lap times or race times.

If you're a team director you could also use that log to find out if all your drivers already submitted their results, or if one of them is still missing.

General Information

Whenever you changed any settings and you load a page you've viewed before you may have to press the reload button of your WWW-Browser to look at the updated data.

Please don't only use capital letters for any name. Whenever you enter a name use the natural 'mixed style'. E.g. "SCUDERIA - FERRARI"would not be welcome, "Scuderia - Ferrari" would be acceptable. The same applies to any other name like driver name or team owner.

Please don't use quotation marks in any form control (all the forms used on LFRS will reject your data if you do). Quotation marks are used as text field delimiters. Your data could not be processed when you use quotation marks in names and that would result in an error. Instead you could use apostrophes.

Never enter the same driver twice. Please change the settings of that driver if you mistyped something. Use the update driver data form to correct any errors. Same applies to errors in teams data.

Also please use your real name when registering. If you use a strange or unrealistic name that is obviously not real, then you will not be given a license to drive.

When you enter your team hompage URL be sure to start with "http://" or else your home page link will not work. It would look like a site that resides on the LFRS web server.

Removing Drivers: If you have registered a driver in error, use the update driver data form and alter the drivers name to "Delete Me" or something equivalent and choose the team name "(no team)" Someone should then remove that entry from the driver database. If you think you have been deleted in error, please contact the LFRS Support Team at support@lfrs.com, and they will sort your problem.



 
 
 
 
 

General Grand Prix 2 How To

This section explains how to do all the things in GP2 that you will need to know for LFRS.

Signing up

First, be sure you've read the rules. It's important that you know the rules so you run legal races. After that, select 'Registration' from the main page, and follow the steps.

Installing the Carsets

Make sure you have downloaded the necessary carset for your division, as well as GP2Edit v1.81 by Steven Young. Run the editor. Choose 'File|Open Car Set', and select the .GP2 file. Next, change 'Your Team Name' to your team name, and 'Your Name' to your name. If you want to, load your car .BMP file. Then choose 'Options|Export to Game', make sure all checkboxes are ticked and then click EXPORT. This will patch your game with the correct LFRS settings. 

What if I am already in the Carset?

If you are already in the carset, you must change the settings. Remember that you may only race using driver #31 called "Your Name"

Assuming you drive for 'McLaren Mercedes,' your name is 'David Coulthard' and the spare team at the bottom of the carset is 'Arrows Yamaha' here's what to do...

Firstly, go to the team called 'Your Team'. Change the team name to McLaren, and the engine name to Mercedes. Then load in your team's car bitmap from your hard drive. Next go to driver #31 and change the driver's name to David Coulthard, and the name of driver #30 to Mika Hakkinen. Then replace the helmet bitmaps of these two drivers with those of you and your teammate. That's your team fixed.

Now, to fix the McLaren team that was already in the carset, go to the spare team (Arrows) and save the car bitmap and helmet bitmaps of the two drivers in that team to your HD. Go to the original McLaren team, change the team name to 'Arrows', and the engine name to 'Yamaha'. Replace the car bitmap with the one you just saved of the spare Arrows team. Change the driver's names to those of the spare Arrows team, and replace the driver bitmaps with the driver bitmaps you just saved to your hard disk.

If you want to change the cockpit and pitcrew colours of the two teams as well (not necessary), the easiest way to do this is to then save the carset under a new name, load up the original carset again in a new GP2edit window (under the load carset options), then just go to the edit pitcrew screen of the new carset and change the colours to match those of the teams in the original carset. You can arrange the windows so that you can see both pictures at the same time, so you just need to change the one you're editing to look like the other one :)

What ever you do, don't use the save team and load team options in GP2edit to move the teams around quickly, as this will also move their HP/Grip values, making the carset illegal and you'll get DSQ'd!
Also, remember to export lap numbers when you patch GP2!

Thanks to John 'Nippie' Bogle for that explanation! :)

Setting up the game to race

First, read over the settings for the event you're going to run (select 'Schedule' from the main page for the settings for the upcoming race). Download any necessary files (eg: Class F setup) specified for that event.

Second, run the game using GP2Lap. This is quite easy. If you use Windows 95/98, simply add a GP2Lap shortcut to the 'Microprose' folder in your Start Menu, by using the 'Taskbar Options'. If you use DOS, simply type 'gp2lap' instead of 'gp2'.

 Then, from the main menu, select 'Choose A Driver/Team.' Select the car/team specified in the race settings. (this should already be selected from the carset). If your name and team are not there you have made a mistake with the carset. Go back and correct your mistakes.
When its all correct select 'OK.'

From the Main Menu, select 'Drive Menu,' then 'Drive Options.' Set the race length (50% for A-B, 30% for C-F) as specified in the race settings. Practice and qualifying lengths are up to you. Then set the 'Level of Difficulty' as specified by the race settings. Then select 'Car Realism' and turn off all failures, then select 'OK.'

After doing that, Class F drivers may load the manditory setup by selecting 'Car Setup' (make sure that you do NOT have 'Separate Setups for Qual and Race' selected), then select the specified track, then select 'Load Setup', find the manditory setup (raceX_F.csx), and hit 'OK.'

Now you're ready to race. See the 'How to Race' section on running the race.

NOTE: The only things that change from race to race is the track and Class F setups. So once you've set up for the first race, you shouldn't have to change anything except setups for the rest of the season.

Installing Tracks

This season, LFRS will be racing on new tracks that are not provided with the original version of GP2. Download the Tracks from here. The Track ZIP files include a 'readme' file which will explain the installation procedure which is simple to understand.

How to Race

First, set the game as specified by the race settings (see Setting up the game to race). Then, from the Main Menu, select 'Drive Menu,' then 'Non-Championship Race.' Choose the specified track, and select 'OK.' Select 'Friday Practice' for any practicing you wish to do. (this is optional) Press ESC when you've finished, and then select 'Leave Practice.' Then choose 'Friday Qualifying' to run your first qualifying session. When you've completed the 12 laps for that session, press ESC, then choose 'Accelerated Time' to complete the session. Do the same for Saturday practice and qualifying. Then do any last minute testing (if you want) in 'Warm Up,' then select 'Race,' and then burn some rubber! NOTE: You may reload your game as often as you want up to the point where you are going to select 'Race'. This means that you are allowed to go to 'Save Game' and then load that game again from the Main Menu. You may NOT reload during the race itself, unless you drive in Class H.

Saving HotLaps

You should save hotlaps as soon as you improve on your times to avoid any timing errors within GP2 which may result in a DQ. After you've driven a hot lap, press ESC from the cockpit. Select 'Save Hot Lap,' highlight the lap, then choose 'OK.' Specify the file name, (eg. C2158R.hlx, (check out how to name files.)) and then select 'OK,' which will return you to the 'Select Hot Lap' menu, choose 'Cancel' and return back to the menu. Be sure to save a hotlap everytime you set a faster time. Note that Hot Laps are deleted after each set, meaning, if you come into the pits, change tyres and/or setup, when you go back onto the track, the laps from the previous run will be deleted. Also, you cannot retrieve a hot lap after loading a saved game.

Saving Your Race

Saving your race immediately after you take the checkered flag is MANDITORY. From the cockpit, press ESC and select 'Save Game.' Specify the file name and choose 'OK.' Then select 'Accelerate' to end the race faster. NOTE: At the end of the race, you should save your game before you save any hotlaps to prevent timing errors, which could give you invalid results.
Now that you have finished your race, note down your Race Time (from the 'Race Results' menu, your fastest race lap from 'Driver Best Laps', and your qualifying time from 'Starting Grid' and then send in your times!

Saving Fastest Race Lap

Saving your fastest race lap is very similar to saving a qualifying hotlap. From the cockpit, press 'ESC'. Choose 'Save Hotlap' from the menu. Highlight the lap you need to save and select 'OK'. Enter the name of the file and select 'OK'. When the game has saved the lap, it will prompt you, where you select 'OK' again. You will return to the lap selection screen, where you need to select 'Cancel'. From here, you can return to your race by selecting 'Return to Cockpit', or if you're finished, select 'Accelerate' to get the final results.

Results Verification

Here are the final rules for verification:
  1. ALL drivers MUST save their qualifying hotlap, fastest race lap and saved race game (which is saved just after you cross the start/finish line).
  2. Any driver who finished in the top 5 (plus 2 other randoms) MUST upload their files to http://www.lfrs.com/hotlaps/submit.html. Drivers who were disqualified should also send their files if they want to undo their disqualification. Check the file requests to see if you have to upload your files.

  3. Saved files MUST be named in the following way:

  4. - First character is class name (A through F)
    - Next 4 characters are your driver number
    - Next character is Q for qualifying or R for race file
    - Use the extension given by GP2. (eg. HLx or RAx)

    So if you were driver #3358 and you were racing in Monaco in Class F, your files would be named F3358Q.HLD for qualifying hotlap, F33158R.HLD for race fastlap and F3358R.RAD for the saved racegame.

  5. All 3 files MUST be sent in ZIP format. The upload form will only accept ZIP files containing the three files in the above format. If you do not have a ZIP compression utility, see the utilities page.
  6. All files MUST be in the Hotlap Archive within 7 days of the deadline. All drivers required to upload their files are shown on the file requests page (and on the LFRS-Admin mailing list), so if you are there, just upload your files. If your files are not in the Hotlap Archive within one week of the deadline, you will be disqualified. So if you want to be sure your files are in the Archive before deadline, don't wait too long to upload them. Also, if some of your files went corrupt, you will have enough time to resend them, a week is a long time. Keep the following in mind: DON'T WAIT TOO LONG! Remember, it's you who wants them to be published.

  7. NOTE: If you have problems with the upload form please contact us and we will help to upload your files. *** Please DO NOT mail us your files unless we ask you to. ***
  8. The Results Verification Director (RVD) is Gunther Otto. The RVD and his team are responsible for the verification process. After having checked all files uploaded to the Archive (about 200 files per race!), he will report to the directors and then the final results will posted. The new results will be published as soon as possible.
  9. Files in the Hotlap Archive are there for public viewing, so feel free to look at any of the files. If you find anything that looks suspicious, e-mail Gunther at LFRS-RVD@gmx.net with your concern. DO NOT mail LFRS-Talk with allegations of cheating!

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