IndyCar Racing
Released: 1993
Published by: Papyrus Publishing
Developed by: Papyrus Design
Author(s): David Kaemmer, Eugene Lin, John Wheeler, Adam Levesque, Doug McCartney, Warren Sze, Joe McDermott, Rob Wallace
System Requirements
System Requirements | System: Intel 80386DX-25 CPU (486 is recommended for good playability), 4 MB RAM, 2x CD-ROM drive (CD-ROM version only). Graphics support: VGA only. A VLB or PCI graphics card is recommended. Audio support: Ad Lib, Sound Blaster/Pro/16, Pro Audio Spectrum, Ad Lib Gold, Roland MT-32/LAPC-I, Roland Sound Canvas and General MIDI. Gravis Ultrasound is supported only through SBOS (SB emulation). PC speaker is *not* supported at all. Other: Keyboard and Mouse supported. |
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Original Media | Three 3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy diskettes or one CD-ROM. |
Installed Size | ? MB |
Introduction
Hot on the heels of Geoff Crammond's excellent Formula One Grand Prix, Papyrus Design got to work on its second racing title, IndyCar Racing, after its foray into the genre 2 years earlier with Indianapolis 500: The Simulation.
IndyCar Racing expanded on the original in every way - more tracks and better graphics and sound, but keeping what made its predecessor great - variable levels of difficulty/complexity. Papyrus also made sure they got a full set of licences for the game, so not only do you race real IndyCar drivers in real teams, but also the advertising billboards are exact placements that exist on the actual circuit (when, they were in the 1993 IndyCar season). There are just one or two drivers missing such as Nigel Mansell, and Al Unser Jr. Oh, and the Indianapolis Speedway didn't make it into the initial release.
In version 1.0, it comprised 8 circuits from the 1993 championship season, but soon after 4 more were added, including the Indy speedway.
A year later, Papyrus released the IndyCar Circuits expansion pack - a disk that added 7 more circuits
From where can it be run?
IndyCar Racing must be installed to a hard disk - it cannot be run directly from floppy disks or CD-ROM. Once installed, go to the game directory and type INDYCAR to run it, or INSTALL to reconfigure your sound and modem settings.
The game requires only Extended Memory (XMS), so be sure you are not loading an expanded memory driver on startup such as EMM386, QEMM or 386Max. If you to do run EMM386, check it has the NOEMS argument in it so your memory above 1 MB is configured as XMS not EMS.
Copy Protection
IndyCar Racing uses manual copy protection. When the game is started you will be prompted for a specific word in the game manual that resides on a given page, line, and word number.
These two images contain all the words that are referred to in the copy protection:
If you bought the track expansion pack it apparently came with a revised INDYCAR.EXE file, whereby you can simply bypass the copy protection by hitting <Enter>. This works for some versions and not for others.
On version 1.01e, you can also use a hex editor on the INDYCAR.EXE file, search for hex string 75 13 BF 01 00 and change it to 90 13 BF 01 00. This will not bypass the copy protection screen entirely, but allows you to simply hit <Enter> on that screen to start the game.
For version 1.04, use this instead:
Search for : E8 EA E1 FD FF and replace with: B8 04 04 00 00
Search for: E8 5C 5F FE FF and replace with: B8 04 04 00 00
How to Setup
To install from a floppy disk, from your DOS prompt go to A:, type INSTALL and hit enter. This will allow you both to install the game and set up your modem or audio configuration.
Note that the install program does work if you copy all the files from all floppy disks into the root directory of your hard disk (it looks for all files in the root directory of the drive you ran INSTALL from). This can be handy if you have the original game's disk files but don't have a floppy disk drive or a Gotek drive. This will *not* work if you copy them into a subdirectory on your hard disk,
On the first floppy disk there is a file called EZI.CFG with 2 options that might work called AskDataDrive and AskDataPath. I played around with these in the hope you could have the install program prompt you for the source directory, but it didn't work for me. Let me know if you have any luck by altering this file.
If you are installing from a CD-ROM into the CD into your CD-ROM drive and follow these instructions:
1. Type the name of that drive (e.g. D:), then press <Enter>.
2. Type CD\INDYCAR <Enter>.
3. Type INSTALL <Enter>.
4. Enter the letter of the drive to install to (e.g. C), press <Enter>.
5. Enter the directory to install to (e.g. \games\indycar), press <Enter>.
6. Select CD-ROM Installation or Hard Disk installation. If you choose CD-ROM installation, only a few necessary files will be copied to your hard disk. If you choose Hard Disk Installation the entire program will be copied to the hard disk.
8. When you see "Installation Successful Press ENTER", press <Enter>.
1) Initial screen when you start INSTALL.EXE:
2) Installation main menu:
3) If you are installing the game to a hard disk, press "I" followed by enter:
You have several options here, which are pretty self-explanatory. I presume the third option was in case you had limited hard disk space available and so only install certain tracks at a time.
4) If you hit Custom Install or Track Install, you are presented with this:
5) If you chose Complete Install or have selected the tracks you wish to install, you will then be prompted for a destination drive followed by a destination directory:
6) If your destination directory already exists, you will be prompted to choose to either overwrite it or not (in which case the installation will be cancelled):
7) The installation will then continue:-
8) If any issues arise with the game's files not being found in the source drive/directory, you will see this screen. This will happen if you are trying to install the game from a hard disk directory other than the root directory:
9) For each of the floppy disks you will be asked:
10) During the installation, the game will uncompress the files ready for use:
11) Once all files have been copied and uncompressed, you are asked to input your name and nickname:
12) And then finally:
To configure your audio settings, run INSTALL from the first floppy disk or the CD-ROM drive.
1) Once at the main menu, hit 'S' followed by enter to get into the "SET-UP OPTIONS":
2) Digital (sound effects) sound card options:
3) Once you select an option you will be prompted to configure the address, IRQ and DMA channel:
3) Music sound card options:
4) And specifying the I/O address for the card:
If you choose to set up a modem from the SET-UP OPTIONS menu:
The COM port is the serial port you will use to connect either a null-modem cable of your modem to. If you change this, the program will automatically change the IRQ to the default for that COM port.
The IRQ is the interrupt request line that will be used to communicate. It should only be used by that COM port, so be sure no other hardware in your system is configured to use that same IRQ.
Playing 2-Player via Modem or Null Modem Cable
IndyCar Racing allows two racers to compete against one another via the Two Player Race menu. They must be connected over a null-modem cable or between two modems running at 9600 baud.
Problems
Symptom: "Insufficient Memory" appears on some tracks.
Cause: You don't have enough memory to play the game.
Resolution: 3 options here: (1) Increase the physical memory installed in your computer, (2) create a boot floppy disk and boot from it (this will run the minimal set of device drivers and load DOS into high memory) to free up more conventional memory. And (3), lower the number of opponents you compete against - this can be found under the Options -> Realism -> Opponents menu.
Symptom: In-game, it runs too slow a frame rate.
Cause: Your PC is not powerful enough to run the game smoothly at default settings.
Resolution: By default the game runs with what is called 'Automatic Detail'. In this mode, it attempts to display as much detail as it can while also providing an adequate frame rate. You can change the minimum frame rate under the Options -> Graphics menu. Also under this setting you can switch from automatic to manual detail level. Just as with the insufficient memory issue further up, another way to improve performance is to reduce the number of opponents in a race.
Symptom: I've started the game after booting my PC using the startup disk, but I get no sound.
Cause: Some of the game's sound drivers need certain startup commands to exist on the startup disk's AUTOEXEC.BAT file or CONFIG.SYS file. Without these, the game doesn't know you have a sound card.
Resolution: For Sound Blaster cards, be sure you have a SET BLASTER= line in your startup disk's AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you are using a Pro Audio Spectrum, make sure you have the line DEVICE=MVSOUND.SYS in your startup disk's CONFIG.SYS file.
To Quit the Game
.
Supporting Documents
Additional Files, Drivers and Utilies
- Gravis AIL 32 Sound Drivers v1.1 for use with IndyCar Racing v1.02 and above.
- Bonus expansion disk fix for corrupted files.
Save Games
The main save game files for IndyCar Racing are as follows:
1) The driver file, DRIVERS.TXT. This is stored in the CARS\CARS93 subdirectory, and contains the names, nicknames and home towns of all the drivers.
2) The results file, RESULTS.TXT. This is stored in the main game directory, and contains all the race results so far.
3) If you enter a championship season, progress is stored in a file called SEASON.TXT in the main game directory.
4) Finally, car settings are all stored in each track's subdirectory under the main game directory. Each track has EASY, FAST and ACE settings that are pre-defined. The most recent settings used are stored in a file called DEFAULT.ST1.
You can save replays when you are viewing a replay by clicking on the "Disk Utilities" icon. This will allow you to save the current replay, recall a previously-saved replay, or delete a saved replay you no longer wish to keep.
Versions of the game known to exist
Version | Date | Comments |
---|---|---|
(Demo) | Early 1993 | IndyCar Racing Demo - a replay of a few laps around Laguna Seca. You can take control of the replay at any time, but you cannot control the car in this demo. |
1.0 | 26th October 1993 | Initial public release. The original game came with 8 tracks. |
1.01e | ? | ? |
1.04 | Patch release | Version 1.04 patch - the contents of this patch are already included in the IndyCar Circuits expansion pack (since it came after this patch). This improves modem play and adds time acceleration. |
1.05 | 24th December 1996 | 4 more tracks added (following Papyrus getting more licenses approved). These are Michigan, Long Beach, ... |
N/A | 1994 | IndyCar Circuits expansion pack consisting of 7 more tracks:
It also came with 2 utilities: Replay Cut which allows you to ..., and Settings Print |
1995? | "Sierra Originals" re-release on CD-ROM. |
Reviews
Original Floppy Disk Contents
The three floppy disks have no specific volume label. Here are each disk's contents:
IndyCar Circuits Expansion Disk:
Disk 1 of 1 (3.5" 1.44 MB DS/HD): 25/12/1996 00:32 351,136 AUSTRAL.EXE |
Installed Directory Contents
Once installed, the following directory structure exists in the game directory.
Floppy disk version 1.0. Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:50 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:50 CARS <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 EFFECTS <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 INSTALL <DIR> 03/09/21 9:50 TRACKS <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 A32ADLIB DLL 19,968 24/09/93 6:00 A32ALGDG DLL 10,752 24/09/93 6:00 A32ALGFM DLL 24,576 24/09/93 6:00 A32MT32 DLL 14,336 24/09/93 6:00 A32PASFM DLL 19,968 24/09/93 6:00 A32PASOP DLL 24,576 24/09/93 6:00 A32PASDG DLL 10,752 24/09/93 6:00 A32SBDG DLL 10,752 29/11/92 6:00 A32SBFM DLL 19,968 24/09/93 6:00 A32SP2FM DLL 24,576 24/09/93 6:00 A32SBPDG DLL 10,752 24/09/93 6:00 A32SP1FM DLL 19,968 24/09/93 6:00 A32TANDY DLL 14,848 24/09/93 6:00 ADLIB ADV 14,775 14/11/92 6:00 ADLIBG ADV 16,257 14/11/92 6:00 ALGDIG ADV 5,770 14/11/92 6:00 CALENDAR 234 28/10/93 11:11 CONTROLS CFG 377 03/09/21 14:56 EZI HST 167 03/09/21 10:52 FAT AD 3,622 11/03/93 16:32 FAT MT 65,026 03/03/93 11:35 FAT OPL 3,622 11/03/93 16:32 INDYCAR EXE 736,957 03/09/21 14:46 INSTALL BAT 39 28/10/93 20:52 INDYCAR 001 893,992 18/11/93 16:54 MAIN DAT 586,029 18/11/93 16:21 MT32MPU ADV 10,707 14/11/92 6:00 PASDIG ADV 4,361 14/11/92 6:00 PASFM ADV 15,242 14/11/92 6:00 PASOPL ADV 16,333 14/11/92 6:00 SBDIG ADV 4,667 14/11/92 6:00 SBPDIG ADV 4,946 14/11/92 6:00 SBFM ADV 14,825 14/11/92 6:00 SBP1FM ADV 15,235 14/11/92 6:00 SBP2FM ADV 16,357 14/11/92 6:00 TANDY ADV 8,746 14/11/92 6:00 42 file(s) 2,664,078 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\CARS . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 CARS93 <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 3 file(s) 0 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\CARS\CARS93 . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 DRIVERS TXT 2,406 06/11/93 12:49 CARS93 DAT 704,400 06/11/93 11:46 4 file(s) 706,806 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\EFFECTS . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 EFFECTS DAT 123,524 05/11/93 19:10 3 file(s) 123,524 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\INSTALL . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:50 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:50 BOOTME FRM 1,520 06/10/93 11:20 DIG MNU 1,513 02/11/93 21:59 EMM_ALRT FRM 1,875 06/10/93 8:24 EZI CFG 634 01/11/93 12:14 EZILOGO PCX 7,958 04/11/93 20:20 INSTALL EXE 70,614 21/07/93 14:27 INSTALL OLB 69,600 05/11/93 13:40 LHA EXE 34,283 20/07/91 2:13 MODEM FRM 2,396 05/11/93 13:35 MUSIC MNU 2,383 04/11/93 10:24 NO_SPACE FRM 664 23/09/93 23:30 OPTIONS MNU 2,553 22/10/93 15:56 PCXVIEW EXE 13,665 15/04/92 21:05 SD EXE 55,639 03/11/93 12:07 SETUP MNU 2,382 27/10/93 13:55 TRACK FRM 4,356 28/10/93 13:19 UCC EXE 33,713 05/11/93 16:12 USERINFO FRM 2,144 25/10/93 16:38 20 file(s) 307,892 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 LAGUNA <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 LONGBCH <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 MICHIGAN <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 MLWAUKEE <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 NAZARETH <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 NWENGLND <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 PORTLAND <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 TORONTO <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 10 file(s) 0 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\LAGUNA . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 FAST STG 116 05/11/93 18:19 LAGUNA TXT 417 05/11/93 11:19 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 18:17 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 18:17 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 18:25 LAGUNA DAT 1,304,467 05/11/93 19:07 8 file(s) 1,305,348 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\LONGBCH . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:54 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 17:41 FAST STG 116 27/10/93 18:09 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 17:51 LONGBCH TXT 425 06/11/93 11:47 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 17:41 LONGBCH DAT 1,254,588 05/11/93 19:07 8 file(s) 1,255,477 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\MICHIGAN . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 MICHIGAN TXT 436 06/11/93 14:04 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 18:35 FAST STG 116 05/11/93 18:31 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 18:35 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 18:30 MICHIGAN DAT 1,299,016 05/11/93 19:07 8 file(s) 1,299,916 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\MLWAUKEE . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 MLWAUKEE TXT 436 04/11/93 13:18 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 17:20 FAST STG 116 05/11/93 16:41 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 16:32 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 16:32 MLWAUKEE DAT 1,116,463 05/11/93 19:08 8 file(s) 1,117,363 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\NAZARETH . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:55 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 17:20 NAZARETH TXT 421 05/11/93 17:14 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 16:32 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 16:32 FAST STG 116 05/11/93 16:41 NAZARETH DAT 972,587 05/11/93 19:08 8 file(s) 973,472 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\NWENGLND . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 NWENGLND TXT 441 05/11/93 18:41 DEFAULT ST1 116 03/09/21 14:56 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 16:32 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 17:20 FAST STG 116 05/11/93 16:41 NWENGLND DAT 1,071,338 05/11/93 19:08 8 file(s) 1,072,243 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\PORTLAND . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 18:25 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 18:17 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 18:17 FAST STG 116 05/11/93 18:19 PORTLAND TXT 437 06/11/93 11:47 PORTLAND DAT 1,156,837 06/11/93 13:21 8 file(s) 1,157,738 bytes Directory of D:\GAMES\INDYCAR\TRACKS\TORONTO . <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 .. <DIR> 03/09/21 9:56 DEFAULT ST1 116 05/11/93 17:41 TORONTO TXT 421 01/11/93 14:45 FAST STG 116 27/10/93 18:09 ACE STG 116 05/11/93 17:51 EASY STG 116 05/11/93 17:41 TORONTO DAT 1,124,149 06/11/93 11:38 8 file(s) 1,125,034 bytes Total files listed: 146 file(s) 13,108,891 bytes |