GPM2, May the best manager win!

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 17 Feb 2012, 10:36

DanielPT wrote:
Klon wrote:Now it's gonna be rough to get my favourites for that first seat. No Fernando Alonso or Kimi Räikkönen for me...

Tell me about it. I was interested in some great pay-drivers and people will just snatch them from under my nose... hmmmppfffff....

Ah yes. Of course, because I'm so high on the first driver list I probably won't get my desired second driver

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 Feb 2012, 10:49

kostas22 wrote:
DanielPT wrote:
Klon wrote:Now it's gonna be rough to get my favourites for that first seat. No Fernando Alonso or Kimi Räikkönen for me...

Tell me about it. I was interested in some great pay-drivers and people will just snatch them from under my nose... hmmmppfffff....

Ah yes. Of course, because I'm so high on the first driver list I probably won't get my desired second driver

What are you complaining about? Your position beats ours in an heart beat! I won't even switch position for the second driver... The season hasn't even begun and I am already mired in the midfield...

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 17 Feb 2012, 11:12

I'm just looking to hire my favourite drivers, which aren't exactly the best...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 Feb 2012, 11:56

AdrianSutil wrote:I'm just looking to hire my favourite drivers, which aren't exactly the best...

And Adrian Sutil is available, although he isn't considered a pay-driver...

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 17 Feb 2012, 15:42

I will be following this. I, like Nuppiz, have played this game a lot and I feel I could be able to provide some useful information.

A bit further down the road you will probably come across the issue of overtaking in the game (it is extremely hard to overtake, specially at some tracks, and it's a bit of a pain to spend half the race behind a backmarker). There are ways to modify the overtaking behaviour -there is a track editor- which certainly improves the problem. There are some new tracks as well (I understand you are going to play with the original 16 circuits that came with the game, aren't you?). But I think these are things that can be tampered with further down the road (ie. at the end of the first season).

You may hit trouble with the signing of drivers for the next season as well... the AI loves changing the contracts of the teams it manages. You can fix it but it may trigger some unintended consecuences if you are not careful. It isn't a problem right now either.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 17 Feb 2012, 15:52

Ferrim wrote:There are some new tracks as well (I understand you are going to play with the original 16 circuits that came with the game, aren't you?).

Well, this is the latest version of my 2003 Mod, so Sepang, Indianapolis and the new version of Hockenheim are included in place of the original tracks.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 17 Feb 2012, 15:57

Ferrim wrote:I will be following this. I, like Nuppiz, have played this game a lot and I feel I could be able to provide some useful information.

A bit further down the road you will probably come across the issue of overtaking in the game (it is extremely hard to overtake, specially at some tracks, and it's a bit of a pain to spend half the race behind a backmarker). There are ways to modify the overtaking behaviour -there is a track editor- which certainly improves the problem. There are some new tracks as well (I understand you are going to play with the original 16 circuits that came with the game, aren't you?). But I think these are things that can be tampered with further down the road (ie. at the end of the first season).

You may hit trouble with the signing of drivers for the next season as well... the AI loves changing the contracts of the teams it manages. You can fix it but it may trigger some unintended consecuences if you are not careful. It isn't a problem right now either.

Overtaking is a big issue, not all the circuits are from the original, the New Hockenheim Sepang and Indy circuits have been lovingly created for that game but even so, I can't promise masses of overtaking come race day. (Nuppiz beat me to it!)

As for driver signing, hopefully with the new customisble exe. files, this should be manageable, the iamacheat code should mean nobody loses greatly from ai shenanigans (though I can't gurantee accountability to the $, but hopefully nobody will gain or lose too many zeroes unfairly!

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 Feb 2012, 16:07

Shadaza wrote:
Ferrim wrote:I will be following this. I, like Nuppiz, have played this game a lot and I feel I could be able to provide some useful information.

A bit further down the road you will probably come across the issue of overtaking in the game (it is extremely hard to overtake, specially at some tracks, and it's a bit of a pain to spend half the race behind a backmarker). There are ways to modify the overtaking behaviour -there is a track editor- which certainly improves the problem. There are some new tracks as well (I understand you are going to play with the original 16 circuits that came with the game, aren't you?). But I think these are things that can be tampered with further down the road (ie. at the end of the first season).

You may hit trouble with the signing of drivers for the next season as well... the AI loves changing the contracts of the teams it manages. You can fix it but it may trigger some unintended consecuences if you are not careful. It isn't a problem right now either.

Overtaking is a big issue, not all the circuits are from the original, the New Hockenheim Sepang and Indy circuits have been lovingly created for that game but even so, I can't promise masses of overtaking come race day. (Nuppiz beat me to it!)

As for driver signing, hopefully with the new customisble exe. files, this should be manageable, the iamacheat code should mean nobody loses greatly from ai shenanigans (though I can't gurantee accountability to the $, but hopefully nobody will gain or lose too many zeroes unfairly!

I played this game long ago and can't remember well, but I've got a dumb question: Why can't you chose all teams human?

Post by **Nuppiz** » 17 Feb 2012, 16:10

DanielPT wrote:I played this game long ago and can't remember well, but I've got a dumb question: Why can't you chose all teams human?

There's a hard-coded limit of 4 human teams. Wait, scratch that, I do remember that Backmarker on the GPM2World found a way to hex-edit the config to change the status of the teams without limitations. Give me a while and I'll test it.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 17 Feb 2012, 16:32

By HWNSNBM, it worked! This image is not Photoshopped!

E: Well, except Ferrari is using Toyota engines. But I managed to fix it already. Also, the customize option is no longer available after the startup. But if the only thing we need to edit during the course of the savegame is team and manager names, I think I can do it by hex-editing if necessary.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 Feb 2012, 17:35

Supposing that no more bugs appear, then we can control better what is happening! It seems that there are no Dumb questions!

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 17 Feb 2012, 19:15

I take Kimi Raikkonen as my number one pick!

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 17 Feb 2012, 19:43

tristan1117 wrote:I take Kimi Raikkonen as my number one pick!

The season starts here! Raikkonen returns to his 2001 Sauber stomping grounds. Toyota to pick next.

As for using all team controlled by a human manager, in theory this can work well. However the game isn't without it's bugs and exploits, plus I would like to be able to edit the game once we finally get under way. The only real loss you guys will have with Ai controled teams is picking a race strategy, because I will be able to "control" teams at all other points of the season.

The Drivers chosen will be added to the "Draft Order Post."

A reminder of prices

Michael Schumacher 8 Million, Phoenix, McLaren
Rubens Barrichello 5 Million, Klon, Ferrari
David Coulthard 4.5 Million
Kimi Raikkonen 4 Million, tristan117, Sauber
Juan P Montoya 3.5 Million
Ralf Schumacher 3 Million, Klon, Ferrari
Jaques Villeneuve 3 Million
Fernando Alonso 2 Million eurobrun, Renault
Jenson Button 2 Million Wizzie, Williams
Giancarlo Fisichella 2 Million
Jarno Trulli 1.75 Million, Phoenix, McLaren
Felipe Massa 1.5 Million
Mark Webber 1.5 Million East Londoner, BAR
Olivier Panis 1.25 Million Fmecha, Toyota
Heinz Harold Frentzen 1.2 Million
Takuma Sato 1 Million
Nick Heidfeld 1 Million
Cristiano Matta `1 Million
Marc Gene 0.95 Million
Alex Wurz 0.95 Million
Antonio Pizzonia 0.9 Million
Jos Verstappen 0.9 Million
Neel Jani 0.8 Million
Ralph Firman 0.75 Million
Allan McNish 0.7 Million
Ricardo Zonta 0.65 Million
Andre Lotterer 0.6 Million
Justin WIlson 0.55 Million
Nicolas Kiesa 0.5 Million
Enrique Bernoldi +2 Million
HWNSNBM +2 Million

Mika Hakkinen 2.2 Million (Kostas, Minardi)
Luca Badoer 0.46 Million (The Masked Lapwing, Jaguar)
Pedro de la Rosa 0.45 Million (The Lukas, Phoenix)
Adrian Sutil 0.14 Million (Adrian Sutil, Arrows)

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 17 Feb 2012, 20:53

I'd just like to say right now that, from my experience of GPM2, anyone who signs Michael Schumacher is the world's biggest muppet :lol:

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 17 Feb 2012, 21:09

Wizzie wrote:I'd just like to say right now that, from my experience of GPM2, anyone who signs Michael Schumacher is the world's biggest muppet

I once saw Forti sign Schumacher, it didn't end well for them...

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 17 Feb 2012, 21:11

Shadaza wrote:
Wizzie wrote:I'd just like to say right now that, from my experience of GPM2, anyone who signs Michael Schumacher is the world's biggest muppet

I once saw Forti sign Schumacher, it didn't end well for them...

Even the GPM2 manual thinks one would be a tool for signing him citing the example of Footwork once signing Schumi and Berger. Predictably, they failed to score a point between them and closed up shop at the end of the year :lol:

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 17 Feb 2012, 21:15

Before I forget, as soon as the game starts, Williams F1 wants a CAD network, CAM network and testing rig built in time for the beginning of 2004 as well as the staff numbers to be as follows:

Design: 50 excellent personnel
Engineers: 50 excellent personnel
Mechanics: 50 excellent personnel
Commercial: 50 excellent personnel

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 18 Feb 2012, 01:00

Wizzie wrote:
Shadaza wrote:
Wizzie wrote:I'd just like to say right now that, from my experience of GPM2, anyone who signs Michael Schumacher is the world's biggest muppet

I once saw Forti sign Schumacher, it didn't end well for them...

Even the GPM2 manual thinks one would be a tool for signing him citing the example of Footwork once signing Schumi and Berger. Predictably, they failed to score a point between them and closed up shop at the end of the year

Hilarious stories of Michael Schumacher in GPM2? In the 2008 mod he joined Toro Rosso for 2009, got his rear handed to him by Vettel, scored two points all over the season. Meanwhile, I did with Ferrari what I am planning on doing with it here.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 18 Feb 2012, 10:34

Shadaza wrote:
As for driver signing, hopefully with the new customisble exe. files, this should be manageable, the iamacheat code should mean nobody loses greatly from ai shenanigans (though I can't gurantee accountability to the $, but hopefully nobody will gain or lose too many zeroes unfairly!

The thing is that the AI always sorts its drivers contracts after races 8, 14 and 16. It will respect most of the signings you have in place, but it will make some changes. Unless you are managing all the teams as Nuppiz suggested -then you'll find the problem of the 2* rookies, but also could manage the teams strategies during the race weekend... If the exe can be further modified to allow access to the customize screen when more than one of the teams is human-controlled, I believe this would be the best balance.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 18 Feb 2012, 10:58

Ferrim wrote:
Shadaza wrote:
As for driver signing, hopefully with the new customisble exe. files, this should be manageable, the iamacheat code should mean nobody loses greatly from ai shenanigans (though I can't gurantee accountability to the $, but hopefully nobody will gain or lose too many zeroes unfairly!

If the exe can be further modified to allow access to the customize screen when more than one of the teams is human-controlled, I believe this would be the best balance.

This would be an okay balance i guess, but my plan to rotate through all the teams one at a time, whilst trying to keep the ai from ruining the team budgjet seems to be okay enough.

Oh I have decided on a new rule, or more a claffication, once a team owns the driver it is up to the team manager to decide whether or not to sell him ect. In GPM2 all you have to do to get a driver is normally just out do their current salary but im sure you guys would like more negotiation then that! The same will apply to staff department heads too.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 18 Feb 2012, 11:09

Whilst I'm more than happy to pootle about near the back with Arrows, how does the financial side work? What can I do sitting here at my laptop to change Arrows about?

Plus, how much is Adrian Sutil?

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 18 Feb 2012, 11:43

AdrianSutil wrote:Whilst I'm more than happy to pootle about near the back with Arrows, how does the financial side work? What can I do sitting here at my laptop to change Arrows about?

Plus, how much is Adrian Sutil?

You can decide to invest in better staff and facilities, you can decide to buy better engines tires ect, you can try and get good drivers in, you can develope driver aids including illegal ones you hope will be avalible in the future (or even risk running them in the hope you won't be caught!) or you can shamelessly steal from other teams.

Of course most of that costs money, so you have to decide what is cost effective. The higher you are up the grid the easier it is to get good sponsers ect.

I will tell you how much things cost, but it is best to introduce you all in 1 stage at a time rather then bombard you with information.

A few of the users competing have played GMP2 before, as well as Nuppiz and Ferrim so I'm sure if you ask them for general advice they would be glad to help.

And yes, because you are playing as Arrows don't expect to win races right away (you might even fall foul of the 107% rule)

*Edit* Adrian Sutil is $140,000

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 18 Feb 2012, 11:55

So, do Williams get all the changes I listed above straight away or not?

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 18 Feb 2012, 11:57

Wizzie wrote:So, do Williams get all the changes I listed above straight away or not?

Oh yes of course, apologies for not responding. Yeah, when this starts you will get those things. Rather an aggressive expansion you have planned there!

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 18 Feb 2012, 12:00

Also FMecha, could you please chose a driver for Toyota.

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 18 Feb 2012, 12:19

I choose either Panis and/or Verstappen.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 18 Feb 2012, 12:20

Shadaza wrote:
Wizzie wrote:So, do Williams get all the changes I listed above straight away or not?

Oh yes of course, apologies for not responding. Yeah, when this starts you will get those things. Rather an aggressive expansion you have planned there!

Dude, it's like the first thing I do every time I start a GPM2 game. :lol:

Strangely enough, with a bevy of 3, 4 and 5 star sponsors and 3-4 star head employees, it works fairly well too.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 18 Feb 2012, 15:46

Well, seeing as I'm not interested in Panis or Verstappen, while that situation is sorted out, Minardi is going to make its first driver choice. And that choice is, Mika Hakkinen. :mrgreen:

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 18 Feb 2012, 16:10

FMecha wrote:I choose either Panis and/or Verstappen.

You can only pick 1 at this stage, so I have you down as Panis.

, just ask if you want Verstappen instead.

kostas22 wrote:Well, seeing as I'm not interested in Panis or Verstappen, while that situation is sorted out, Minardi is going to make its first driver choice. And that choice is, Mika Hakkinen.

Hakkinen it is, in a shock F1 return at Minardi!

Phoenix (the team not the manager) to pick next, so whenever you are ready TheLukas

The Lukas · Post by **The Lukas** » 18 Feb 2012, 16:13

Phoenix to pick Pedro De la Rosa

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 18 Feb 2012, 17:46

The Lukas wrote:Phoenix to pick Pedro De la Rosa

A sensible choice I feel, he cost $450 000 for the season.

Eurobrun to pick for Renault.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 18 Feb 2012, 22:57

Renault to pick Fernando Alonso for 2 Million

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 19 Feb 2012, 11:22

eurobrun wrote:Renault to pick Fernando Alonso for 2 Million

The second driver to be placed with their historicly accurate team!

Next up it is DanielPT's Jordan, unless you want to swap places with Ferrari because as it stands Ferrari would have the second pick before Jordan anyway.

Then after that it is East London's BAR and Klon's Ferrari.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 19 Feb 2012, 22:10

Shadaza wrote:
eurobrun wrote:Renault to pick Fernando Alonso for 2 Million

The second driver to be placed with their historicly accurate team!

Next up it is DanielPT's Jordan, unless you want to swap places with Ferrari because as it stands Ferrari would have the second pick before Jordan anyway.

Then after that it is East London's BAR and Klon's Ferrari.

All right Klon, take the pick for the first driver instead of the second.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 20 Feb 2012, 02:00

So you want me to choose now? If so, Ferrari will take a Schumacher ... Ralf Schumacher, that is.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 20 Feb 2012, 10:25

Klon wrote:So you want me to choose now? If so, Ferrari will take a Schumacher ... Ralf Schumacher, that is.

I can imagine the look on Michael's face!

East London, your turn, with BAR!

Post by **Londoner** » 20 Feb 2012, 11:21

BAR shall pick Mark Webber as their first driver.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 20 Feb 2012, 11:52

East Londoner wrote:BAR shall pick Mark Webber as their first driver.

Done.

Jordan
Arrows
Williams
Jaguar
McLaren

The next teams to pick.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 20 Feb 2012, 12:09

Klon, take your second pick (I gave you 1 pick, remember?)...

What I do for Ferrari engines

!

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 20 Feb 2012, 14:04

With their second first round pick, Ferrari chooses Rubens Barrichello.

I'd also like to change a few things at my staff:
For each of the departments except the commercial one, add "Good" staff until it has 39 employees. The commerical one should be off well enough by having 15 Excellent and 5 Trainees.
Furthermore, set the new chassis developement at a ratio of 95:5. And - to give some controversy - I'd like to begin work at an in-house gearbox.