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| 1994 Mod v4.0 Preview - French GP action |
I'm glad to announce that coming soon, I will release a new version of the 1994 Mod for GP4, this will be version 4.0 and will feature a whole host of new content from previous iterations. I had big plans for this mod, some lofty ambitions, and it's been years in the making. The disappointment is that it's not finished, far from it actually, but it's progressed enough to share a lot of new things with you, and it should be modular so that I can add updates fairly painlessly in the future.
Firstly, I want to thank the original authors. 1994 cars were some of the first cars ever made for GP4, starting with Duffer, and then McKey415, and some cars from Loren. The input widened, with cars updated by McKey415 and Oggo, Hagi on the helmets, btone on the CSM structure, Aus_Doug on various bits and the mod grew from version 1 through to version 3 released by Turbo Lover.
The legacy of these cars extends beyond GP4, with conversions first to F1C, then to rFactor, GTR2 each version adding new improvements. My thanks goes to David Marques for sharing his source files from him and other contributors.
Indeed I'm not the only one to have thought of v4.0, but MSchumi24, compiler of many mods in GP4 also had aspirations of releasing a new update. I'm grateful for some of his input on the CSM structure, particularly around helmets.
The reason I share all this history is because I've tried to contact as many people as I could and try and compile it all back together, to bring some of the add-ons that are available in the conversions and bring them back to GP4 and add to it's legacy. However, I wanted to protect the legacy, so rather than working to replace what's been done, I wanted to concentrate on what's not been done, keeping as much of the original content intact as possible.
My aim is to write some blog posts of some of the changes that have been made, hopefully not too boring in detail, but enough to appreciate some of the work that's gone into it. I was never meant to have created modern F1 content for GP4, but 2021 saw almost no work go into this mod, and I've got various commitments for 2022 as well. All this means that progress on 1994 has slowed considerably, so it's time to share what I've got and I'll keep chipping away in the background as I find time.
I'm trying to squeeze in some bug fixes and a few final updates, so there's no fixed date for release, only that it is coming soon.
I must add the original trackpack by Plodekk and Cleberpister was again one of the first classic trackpacks to be created for GP4, which helps add to the experience.
CSM structure
The 1994 mod has some of the most complicated coding behind it in previous versions, impressive but buggy as well. This all related to having choices between the choice of 11th team, as well as various options for the Williams drivers, plus all the various driver changes. For this reason, I've chosen to split the mod into two different sets:
Basic Version
The basic version strips out a lot of that complexity mentioned above. Gone are the 'best 2 qualifiers' option, there are no driver changes through the season, and it uses only average performances. It also has a slightly stripped down CSM config menu.
Also this is designed with the lower PC power in mind. So lods are utilised as standard, the original helmet shape is used, 2D rims instead of the detailed 3D rims are just some of the measures that make it lighter for your machine to run.
There are more f1graphics.cfg options to fine tune from the CSM menu, as well as lower resolution textures if your machine is really struggling.
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| 1994 Mod v4.0 - CSM Basic Version |
You still get all the new car specific shapes and textures, so it's basically a minorly updated version 3.0.
Advanced Version
The Advanced Version is designed to be able to try and change every conceivable part of the game possible. With thanks to Oggo and his recent breakthroughs in team-specific 3D rims, to individual helmet shapes and collision editor, I've tried to make use of all of these (or result of these in the case of the collision editor) in this mod.
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| 1994 Mod v4.0 - CSM Advanced Version |
The 'best 2 qualifiers' option is reserved for the Advanced version, which I've recoded from scratch. It's still not 100%, but it's better than it was. There is a note to say if you change the 11th team, you have to change the track to enable all the changes to happen. So if you notice odd things like the wrong car is loaded, or wrong tweaker positions, just change the 11th team, then the track, and it should fix itself.
Also returning is the option to select your 2nd Williams driver, either have it follow the actual 1994 season, or choose from one of the three drivers who occupied the seat.
There's an option to go nostalgic with a GP2 themed menu screens and background music. Thanks to Carl_Gpgames for putting these together.
There's multiple in-cockpit steering wheel options. Either you can go team specific (converted from F1C) - depending on the driver you selected to play as, or you can go for Carl_gpgame's excellent 3D 1993 MOMO steering wheel, the original 1994 mod wheel, or a different Ferrari wheel - as both Berger and Alesi used numerous steering wheels throughout the season.
Oggo's super detailed Arai GP3 is exclusively used in the Advanced version, and it comes with options to choose between transparent visors (where you can see the driver's face), or reflective visors.
As with the basic version, there's lots of f1graphics.cfg options to configure here to optimise the level of detail you want to run GP4 in. There are also some GP4Tweaker options available to edit as well.
There is a third option/sub carset, but I'll reveal that closer to the release.
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