Why do some tracks crash back to the Desktop when I try to run there?

My car handles terribly - where can I get some setups?

Many sim racing websites have great setup information and how-to's available on them.   There is a load of good info linked from Ricardo Nunnini's GPL Driving & Setups Links page if you're interested in reading up on setups and driving technique.  A link for Brian Beckman's "Physics of Racing" series can be found there, and at The Pits website - select Quickfix & Physics in the left hand column.  Brian's information will give you a physicist's view of what your car is doing in intimate detail!

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How do I watch a replay?

How do I get screenshots from NHeat/DTM? 

The "standard" version for getting screenshots in NHeat/DTM is to go into your previously saved DTM replay, cue up the screenshot that you want to save, and hit the Print Screen button.  Then, get out of the sim, go into your favorite graphics program that opens your saved Print Screen image (MS Paint always works as the old standby) and paste the saved image there.  Save it for future use.  This system works, but you can only save one image at a time - you have to exit the replay to go save your image each time... but it works!!

For the Paint Shop Pro users, here is a neat feature within the program that allows for multiple screen captures with the click(s) of your mouse!  Here's how:

• Start PSP; select Capture on the menu bar, then select Setup.  Within the Capture Setup window, select the following settings: Capture - Full Screen; Activate Capture Using - Right Mouse Click; and under Options, check the Multiple Captures box.   Click the Capture Now button at the bottom of the window, and PSP will automatically minimize itself.

• Fire up NHeat/DTM, do your racing/testing and save your replay(s).  Start your chosen replay and when you get a view you like, right-click on the image with your mouse.  Pick another spot in your saved replay(s), right click again.  Repeat as often as you feel necessary - have fun!!  NOTE - Do not exit out of NHeat/DTM until you are done saving all of your screenshots - once you exit NHeat/DTM, the Capture feature in PSP is disabled.

• When you are done, exit NHeat, and maximize PSP.  Depending on how right-click happy you were, there will be a bunch of minimized images (screenshots) sitting there waiting for your attention!!

It is not known how many screenshots can be saved at one sitting with this method - if anyone finds the max number of images allowed to be saved with PSP's Capture feature, let me know, and we can post it here.

It has been noted that using the PSP-Capture method does tax your computer pretty good, so if you have limitations running NHeat/DTM you may have problems with this process - turning off all of your programs running in the background may help to use this Paint Shop Pro feature.

How do I paint a personalized TPTCC car and then get one into NHeat/DTM? (Another long one!)

• Fire up your graphics program of choice, and open your template of choice - a copy of the original, right?  Using the Layers feature of you graphics program, look at the different the layers of the car you are working with - everything is pretty self-explanatory.  You can optionally turn off/toggle off or delete the layer with the logos on it, or use the Selection Tool to pick and choose the logos you want to delete (or save), or use the Eraser Tool as a method to get rid of any unwanted logos. The unwanted layers can be deleted if you are sure you don't want them, but toggling them off or making them not visible keeps them available should you want any of the details available for any future changes to your car. 

• To change the color of a car with these templates, you need to paint the layer named "Layer13" on the Alfa, the "Shadows Copy" layer on the Mercedes, or the layer named "template" on the Opel.  To save the original layers within the template, right-click the aforementioned layer for the car you are working on, click Duplicate, give a name to the new layer, toggle off the original layer you just made the copy of, and make your car color changes on the new layer.

• Create a new layer for your driver name and/or car number.   The official TPTCC number panel/logo that goes on your car, and that the car numbers then go on is available at the TPTCC Files page, or if you downloaded the 3 templates together from the Files page, it was included in the .zip file with the templates.

• When you finish, save the file as a .psd (Photoshop Document), or as a .psp (Paint Shop Pro Image) so the layers stay where they are supposed to if you decide to come back later and make any changes/updates.  Then, go to File>Save Copy As and save the file copy as a 24-bit, uncompressed .tga file, with a file name of "carXX.tga", using your car number in place of the X's. You'll see why in a bit.   *NOTE* - Saving the .tga file that will be used in NHeat/DTM MUST be saved as a 24-bit, uncompressed file!  If that is not done, car paint job no-workie!  To do so in PSP 6.0, after selecting File>Save Copy As earlier and the Save Copy As window opens, pick the location on your 'puter where your car file will be stored, select "Truevision Targa (*.tga)" from the drop-down list, then click on the Options button in the lower RH corner.  There you can select 24 bits and Uncompressed from the options list shown.  Click on the Save button and go get a drink - you've earned it!!

• Now to get your car into NHeat/DTM:   First, you need to go to the TPTCC Yahoo Groups Files page, specifically to the Heat Tools directory and download these files: "mktex.exe" and "mktex.bat".   Put them in a safe place, make copies of them and place the copies in your NASCAR Heat\DTM folder.  Then grab a copy (hey - not the original!) of the carXX.tga file you were toiling over and put it in the NHeat\DTM folder too.

• Find the mktex.bat file in your NHeat\DTM folder, right-click it and choose "edit" - it will open up in Notepad.  Change (edit) the second line of text to read "mktex carXX.tga carXX.tex", inserting your car number for the XX's, and without the quotation marks (example: mktex car10.tga car10.tex). The "XX" represents the number you want the car to show up as in NHeat/DTM, and it cannot be used by any other driver in the sim - whether the car number was included in the DTM mod or not.  To check what car numbers are available, go back to the NHeat\DTM folder and find the file named "drivers.txt".  First, back up your drivers.txt to another file (such as drivers.old).  This is known as boo-boo insurance.  Double-click the drivers.txt file and it will open up in Notepad.   Scroll down through the list and see what car numbers are already in use - once you decide on a number, close the file.  It better not ask you to save any changes - if it does, say no.  If the number you wanted to use was already taken by one of the cars that came with the DTM mod, you will have to add a "9" to the front of your car number, but you also have to add it to the number on the .tga file you just brought into the DTM folder (i.e. car9XX.tga), along with re-editing the mktex.bat file that you also changed a short bit ago (i.e. mktex car910.tga car910.tex).  Hang in there - just a few more tedious things to do!!  Once you have the mktex.bat file edited correctly to reflect the number of your carXX.tga file, closed it and saved the changes, double-click the mktex.bat file - a little DOS window pops up, some magic happens, and your cars new .tga file, with your car number in it, gets spit out onto the bottom of your DTM folder.  It's magic, I tell ya!!  Good work!!  Don't get a big head yet - remember that drivers.txt file?  You have a date with that one again before you are done... getting real close to finished though!

• Here is where you add your name and car information to the drivers.txt file so your 'purty new paint job will show up in the sim for racing & rubbing off new paint!  Once again, make sure you have backed up your drivers.txt file in NHeat/DTM.  Double-click the drivers.txt file, and it will open up in Notepad.  Like it says at the top - use caution when editing this file!!!   Just take your time and enter your information to the bottom end ("almost" at the bottom) of your drivers.txt file, being careful to keep the same spacing that the other entries have (2 rows between each table of data, the rows starting with "number", "chassis", "rank", "race_image" & "body_style" all lined up on the left edge, same indent spacing as the other entries).  Also be sure to keep the last word - "end" - intact at the very bottom of the drivers.txt file - take note of how it looks before you enter any of your data.  For an example, below is TPTCC "Grand Poobah" Jan Kohl's data from the drivers.txt file currently in use:

  table Driver
  	number 55
  	name Jan Kohl
  	chassis Opel
  	rank 2
  	race_image 100
  	body_style fcar 
  end
  
  

  Of course you will have to change the name, number, and chassis information to reflect your specifics.  Close the file, save the changes, and if you did everything correctly, your name will now show up in the list on the Drivers Menu screen.

• So - go fire up NHeat/DTM, choose your car from the list, go to a track, and check out what should be your kick-butt new paint job!  If you don't like it the way the car looks, its back to your graphics program, open up the .psd (or .psp) file you saved earlier (so you'll still have layers to work with, right?) make the changes that you want done, and save your car as a new .tga file, overwriting the old one.  Then you'll have to make a new .tex file for your car in the NHeat/DTM folder by bringing your new car .tga file (24-bit, uncompressed .tga file, right??) into the NHeat/DTM directory and double-clicking the mktex.bat file again to create a new .tex file with the new paint job in it.  There should be no need to change any data in the mktex.bat file or the drivers.txt file - that does not have to be changed.  Now, if you paint another car that has a different numbered .tga file you want to put in the sim, then the mktex.bat file has to be edited to recognize the new numbers and the data for the new car number would have to be added to the drivers.txt file.  Easy deal huh?  Once you do it a couple of dozen times, you can do it in your sleep!!  Really!!

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How do I get a driver picture of myself to show up in the sim?

This has been relatively easy to do for some, and a pain for others to get to work right.  There have been several different ways people have gotten their driver pics to show up in their sim correctly, so we hope to cover all the different methods used.  The driver picture we are trying to change here are the ones that show up both before the races start (showing the starting grid before the green flag falls) and at the the end of the race, usually showing the race summary information when a race finishes (fastest lap, most laps led, etc).

• First you must come up with an image to use for your driver pic.  When finished, it must be 66 pixels wide and 94 pixels tall.  The finished image must be flipped upside down (or rotated 180 degrees) and mirrored, or flipped over backwards.   It also MUST be saved as a 24-bit, uncompressed .tga image.  Once you have all of this done, make a copy of your finished driver pic/image and place the file copy in your NHeat/DTM directory/folder.

• The naming of the file has been the biggest problem getting a driver pic to work in the sim.  Doing it this way, the driver pic associates itself with your drivers name as you typed it in on the Player Name line/area in the lower RH corner of the main NHeat/DTM screen the first time you fired up DTM - for 99% of us.  Some people have still had problems with their driver picture not showing up in the sim with the .tga driver image and the Player Name being exactly the same.  In this instance, you need to try variations of your Player Name and adjust the name of your driver image .tga file in the NHeat/DTM directory accordingly to see what works for you.  In my personal situation, the first player name I chose was KJurasinski - no more room for any more letters :-).  I got my driver pic done, named it KJurasinski, dropped it in the NHeat/DTM folder, went in to the sim and qualified at the Glen in an AI race - no pic showed up, just the default silhouette.  Renamed both to K Jurasinsk, thinking it needed the space between first and last name - no joy - tried both as kjurasinski - still nothing.   Finally renamed both to Jurasinski, all worked OK - still don't know why!  So if it doesn't work the first time you try it, try the different variations to find a combination that works for you.

• If for some reason, none of the aforementioned possibilities works for you, go to the NASCAR Heat Editing Headquarters website, got to Tutorials>Miscellaneous and try going through the tutorial called "Driver Photos Tutorial".  That is a different method of inserting the drivers pics into the common.res file found in your NHeat/DTM directory, and it involves a bit of work with the files to accomplish the tutorial as shown.

• For those of you that want to see you driver and car pic on the NHeat/DTM Driver Menu, look at the other tutorial at the NASCAR Heat Editing Headquarters website called "Adding Driver Images To Selection Tutorial" - it also involves some file management to insert those images in to the ui.res file, so read the instructions carefully.

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Can the driver & pit crew be painted?

Yes - they are not "standard" items to change in NHeat, so you will need to download a few things, and it does take a bit of file manipulation in NHeat/DTM.  The graphic images for the driver & pit crew are also stored in two different locations in NHeat, so the how-to's will be done separately, as follows:

• Painting Your Driver - a couple of downloads needed here - first you need to got to the Race Day Downloads website, go to Utilities, and get a copy of WinRestools, which is a "more friendly" version of the DOS-based program called Restools.  Then you need to go to the ESimRacing website, the to NHeat > Utilities (page 2) and get a copy of Tyler Bunkhorst's driver template (drivertemp.zip).

• As always, put your originals in a safe place and make a copy of the unzipped detail1.tga file (driver template) to work in while painting your driver.  In your graphics program of choice, open up the detail1.tga file and make the changes you want to the areas identified by Tyler B. as the various parts of the driver figure.  Use layers for the different features - very handy for future changes and/or corrections!!  To play it safe, I blacked out the added text in the upper LH corner of the template.  One other hint - the racing harness to the far right side of the torso does not automatically show up on your driver in the sim once you get all of your driver painting done and the new driver installed in the sim.  I used the Freehand Tool (PSP 6.0 here...) and its Point to Point setting to click/select my way around what I thought was the edge of the existing harness on the template to select it, then make a Copy of the selected harness, and then Paste in (on a new Layer, right?) over your newly-painted torso as a New Selection.  Once you are completely done, save a copy of your finished driver template as a 24-bit, uncompressed .tga file - just like the custom car you painted had to be saved (if you don't remember how to do the 24-bit uncompressed deal again, look here).  Name your new 24-bit uncompressed driver template .tga file "detail1.tga".

• If you have already painted a car to use in NHeat/DTM, you now have go get copies of your mktex.exe and mktex.bat files from your NHeat/DTM directory/folder.  Don't remove them from your DTM directory, make copies and place them in another location to make your driver1.tex file.  I guess you could do this in your NHeat/DTM directory, but I made separate copies to use for everything other than making car .tex files.  Go get a copy of your newly-painted, newly-saved detail1.tga file and bring to the directory where your mktex.bat and mktex.exe file reside.   Right-click the mktex.bat and edit the second line of data to read "mktex detail1.tga detail1.tex".  Close the file, and save the changes.   Double-click the mktex.bat file.  DOS window pops up, magic happens, and your new detail1.tex file appears at the bottom of the directory your mktex.bat & mktex.exe files are in.  If you haven't installed WinRestools yet, do that now.  Time to get "cracking"...

• In a nutshell, WinRestools "cracks" or extracts the other files contained within the .res files found in NHeat, similar to how the .dat files had to be opened up in the Papy sims for modification there.  I recommend making a separate directory to use with WinRestools - when you crack the file, you don't want to put a huge amount of extracted files in a directory that already contains files, because when you go to rebuild, or put the .res file back together, WinRestools looks at all files contained in a target directory you tell it to use, and it grabs ALL of them and repacks them into a .res file again - a lot easier to do with a separate, new directory dedicated to WinRestools usage - trust me here.  Okay, now go to your NHeat/DTM directory and make a backup copy of the file called "common.res" - more boo-boo insurance.   Now start WinRestools and make sure the ResCrack tab at the top is selected.  Use the Browse button to go get your common.res file in your NHeat/DTM directory, or type the complete path in by hand if you are a techie-type.  Tell it to use you newly created directory for the destination directory, and click the Crack button - easy as pie.

• Now go to the new WinRestools dedicated directory (I named mine Crack Temp) and make a backup copy of the detail1.tex file within it.   Then take your new detail1.tex that you just created and put it in with the cracked common.res files, probably overwriting the detail1.tex file already in there (you backed it up first, right??).  Now its back to WinRestools, select the MkRes tab at the top, enter or Browse for the dedicated directory you placed your cracked files in, enter or browse and find a location for your soon-to-be-new common.res file (I would not send it right to your NHeat/DTM directory, my personal choice is all), and then click on the Make ResFile button - voila!  Too easy!  Now you have to take your brandy-new common.res file and put it in your NHeat/DTM directory, overwriting the old one, but you backed up the original one, right?  RIGHT??.  If all went OK, the next time you fire up NHeat/DTM you - will see you - driving your car!!  Contain yourself bunky - some pro's have the same problem seeing themselves on TV...  LOL!! 

• Painting Your Pit Crew - The template for the pit guy (the "crew" is made up of duplicates of this image) can be found at HC Motorsports - go to the Nheat/Templates link.  Use the same processes you used to paint a driver (see above) to paint your pit guy.  Once you are done painting your template copy (still have those originals safe and sound right?), the pit crew is "stored" in the pg.res file in your NHeat\Run directory.  Be sure to back up your pg.res file before cracking it!!  Use the same procedures for using WinRestools above to work with your pg.res file, but you may want to create a separate directory to work with the pg.res file and WinRestools.

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ONLINE RACING ISSUES

How do I get online to race in TPTCC events?

TPTCC online racing in NHeat/DTM utilizes the Multiplayer feature within NHeat - refer to your Instruction Manual for information to connect to online races.  Detailed information pertaining to the TPTCC races will be distributed to the group via the TPTCC Yahoo Groups message board just prior to the events.  All races will be run on a server that TPTCC has been authorized to use.  The IP address of this server will be included in the pre-race information.

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Why do I see cars that are all-red or all-white when racing online?

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Can I host TPTCC online races?

Your drivers.txt file will have to be edited to reflect only 43 entries.  The 12/22/01 version of the TPTCC League drivers.txt file has 43 entries in it.  It is available for download at the TeamSmoke Racing website.

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How to chat while in an online race?

Microsoft Sidewinder Game Voice is another voice recognition program that is used by TPTCC members.  Some steering wheels allow text to be programmed to buttons - check your manuals out to see if you have those features available to you - they sure do come in handy on the track!

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I feel that I was intentionally wrecked during a league race - what can I do the person that caused the wreck?

This comes directly from the TPTCC Rules:

• Take a deep breath and count to 10. Eleven if necessary.
• Get back on track, focus your mind on the task at hand...race driving.
• Finish the race, and do NOT take aggressive intentions out on the driver who you feel may be at fault, including starting an argument, calling them names, intentionally hitting them, etc.
• VERY IMPORTANT!!! Watch the race replay, including THEIRS if possible. Due to the strange and wonderful world of online racing, many times things occur completely differently in one cockpit than they did in another. Remember that.
• Talk to the other driver about the incident, and don't be "blameful" Show them the replay. Ask them what happened.
• Then, and only then, if you did not get the incident solved to your satisfaction, take it to the race administration. From that point on, it is out of your hands. They may ask you questions, and they will certainly respond back to you with their findings. Do not continue to take action on your own...next race it could be YOU who makes the goof, remember that.

The members of the TPTCC Driver Tribunal Committee are:

Adrian Collier  -  J.D. Ellis (aka RacerBoy71 on AOL IM & Yahoo Messenger)  -  Paul Hamilton  -  Michael Hausknecht   -  Jeff Hedges  -  Don Smartt

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