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Spotter Swapper Beta



CAR LOW!

If you experience any problems then send me the log file through PM at SRD, Bullring or NR2k3tracks with a detailed description of what happened, "it crashed and it sucks" will not surfice, so I can check everything is working as it should do and I'll try to find out what the problem is and fix it.

If you have a specific request, please make this in the relevant SimRacingDesign.com forum thread, if I consider the feature to be a benefit for the majority of users, I will try to incorporate it in an update.

So what is Spotter Swapper?
Spotter Swapper is a software utility that runs in the background while you are racing in NR2K3, it will periodically, hot-swap specific spotter "calls" with others so that stuff isn't so boring, at present 16 calls are swapped out with 8 different versions of each, there are plans to extend this.

Calls that are changed randomly:
  • One to go (restarts) message.
  • Pits open.
  • Pits closed.
  • Clear Pit (the message played as you exit pitlane).
  • Go Green (message before start/restarts just before pace car blends off).
  • Green (message played when green flag is displayed).
  • Yellow (message played when a caution comes out).
  • No Green (message played if restart is waved off).
  • Pace in (message played as pacecar blends off to pitlane).
  • 1 to win.
  • 2 to go.
  • 5 to go.
  • 10 to go.
  • behx (the message you get to tell you where to line up in the pacing order).
  • undercaut (the message played as you "take" the caution).
  • checkflg (message played as you take the flag)
All of the above have 8 sound samples assigned to each call, the software will switch randomly between them at specific periods, it is random, so sometimes you may get the same call for a while.

The pack also contains many new sound samples sourced from Dave Hoffmans iRacing Spotter Pack (with permission), so although the majority of calls are Earl Barber or Chad Knaus, some calls are still by Chris Osborne, as time goes by, hopefully these will be updated.

What is not changed?
For now, the inside, outside, 3 wide, 2 wide etc. calls are not swapped and remain the same throughout a race, there are plans to include these in the future, but only once I can establish that it will not cause NR2003 to crash, due to the high number of times these sounds files are accessed by the game when running.

Spotter Swapper comes in two flavors, Family Friendly and X-Rated.
The default position is always family friendly to avoid any accidents with kids, but by clicking the button before launching NR2003, you can switch to the adult pack which gives all the x-rated calls Chad and Earl are famous for.



To Install:
Download the zip file and run the contained installer.
The installers default directory is the same as NR2k3, so if you've moved it to a different folder/directory, correct it.

If you have multiple installs of NR2k3, you will need to install the pack to each instance to use it in all variations.

All files in the SPCC folder will be overwritten (with the exception of the spcc.dat) so if you already have a custom spotter installed, move or backup the files so that there is only the spcc.dat file there.



To Run:
After installation, you will get a shortcut on the desktop, called NR2K3_Spotter, to run the program, double click this DO NOT START NR2K3 with the existing Papyrus supplied shortcut., when you start Spotter Swapper, the following screen will appear:

Image

The buttons should be self explanatory:

  • Start NR2003.exe
  • This button launches NR2003, when you click it, it also tells Spotter Swapper to start doing it's business, so you must always use this to launch the game, and NOT the Papyrus shortcuts.

  • Change Path
  • Here you can set the program to launch in another installation, the default launch exe is the default installation path, to change the path, click the button, navigate to NR2003.exe and click OK, Spotter Swapper will save the path and restart to use it. The NR2003 Location & Spotter files location listed above should be in the same installation, as per the example.

  • Check for updates
  • If your machine is connected to the internet, when launched the program will always check to see if a newer version is available, you can disable this autocheck by opening update.ini in the directory and changing $path=1 to $path=0, after doing this the program will no longer check, so this button when clicked will make the same checks and let you know if the software is up to date.

  • Verify files
  • If something goes wrong, click this button to check the installation, it will verify the files that are swapped are all OK, if not it will replace them.

  • About
  • Some earth shattering information about the origins of the universe - or just about the software...

  • Click here to switch to....
  • Use this button to switch between the family friendly and X-Rated spotter.

  • Exit Program
  • Closes the program down.

    You may have to adjust your in game volume controls for the pack, I usually run 100% on spotter with everything else at 12%, but it depends on what engine sound pack you are using.

    While you have the X-Rated spotter files selected, a big red warning will be displayed to remind you, so there's no excuse for not knowing.
    Spotter Swapper will always switch back to the family friendly pack when closed, regardless of which pack was being used at the time. This is a feature included for us old farts with kids in the house that like to jump on the PC and wreck a few AI behind our backs, so we don't have to explain to our wives how the kids obtained a potty mouth overnight.



    While Spotter Swapper is running, it will display some information and a timer (the window is normally hidden behind NR obviously, but if you Alt+Tab out of NR2003 you can restore it to see what is happening):

    Image

    If you close NR2003 and the timer runs out, it will detect that NR2003 has closed and will stop it's processes, if you find that there is 25 seconds left on the counter and you don't want to wait, pressing SHIFT+F1 together will halt it immediately, whichever way the timer is halted, once it's stopped the buttons will become active again and you can either restart NR2003 (maybe it CTD?) or exit Spotter Swapper.



    Known Issues:
    None that I am aware of other than....

    Spotter Swapper has been tested working in both a Vista and XP environment, but not any others, so please test this, send me the log and let me know any issues you may have.

    There are 8 different samples for each of the spotter calls that get swapped, so eventually you'll be used to which "pack" has become loaded by the style of the call, sometimes the software will pick the same "pack" twice in a row resulting in no change, don't worry in 3 minutes time, it'll be different. Some of the calls also sound very similar to each other.



    Contributions
    I would like to extend a huge thank you to Dave Hoffman from www.dwarehouse.com for granting me permission to use the newer spotter samples found in his iRacing Jimmy Johnson Spotter Pack for this project.

    Also thank you to JR Franklin, Sean Bratt (FSE Tracks) and the drivers at V8Thunder for initial beta testing.



    AUTO UPDATES.
    Spotter Swapper has an auto update facility to keep the software updated, if you later decide to uninstall the software, you may find some rouge files not removed that may have been added at a later stage to the pack, just delete these after installing to completely remove the program.



    As with all Smiffsden releases, every effort has been made for the product to run bug free and without errors, however Smiffsden takes no responsibility for any damage to equipment, files or loss/damage of data caused by using this software.

    Downloading this software constitutes agreement with this and the following statements:

    1) You agree not to sell or distribute Spotter Swapper for commercial purposes, or make exchanges of money for this software or any part thereof.

    2) You agree not to convert, rip or otherwise use the sound samples or software included for use in other racing simulators.

    3) You agree not to redistributed or host the software on a server without written consent of Smiffden.

    4) You agree not to modify the software without written consent of the original author.

    5) Although provided free, this software has implied intellectual property and copyright laws, in that it is the property and copyright of the author(s).

    Please respect our wishes as to hosting of the files, both myself and Dave Hoffman have put incredible amounts of time into the sofware and gathering of sound samples to use, don't spoil it by hosting the software on your server, please send your friends to the original source(s) if they are interested in it.




    Version History:

  • 24/4/2014 Beta 0.64

  • NR2K3_Spotter.exe - updated to Beta 0.64:
    FIXED: Fixed various sound sources that refused to play due to incompatibility with the original file (gogreen & nogreen samples)

    ADDED: Spotter Swapper will now play various different samples when the car in front of you is a lapped car, up to 8 different samples.

    NR2K3_Updater.exe - updated to Beta 0.64:
    Updater will now display the compile date of your installed Spotter Swapper instead of the installation date.

    NR2K3_Checker.exe - updated to Beta 0.64 with additional filenames added to checklist.




  • 3/3/2014 Beta 0.63

  • NR2K3_Spotter.exe - updated to Beta 0.63:
    Spotter Swapper will now wait a minute after launching NR2003 before entering the Swapper stage, a countdown timer is provided on the status message, this should allow users of the Logitech Profiler or RaceLM ample time to launch NR2003 from their respective applications - users should continue to point Spotter Swapper to a non-existent exe (as detailed at SRD) in order to avoid NR2003 being launched by SS.

    Added 11 x inside and 11 x clear spotter calls to list of samples changed by the program: Spotter Swapper will now wait between 15 and 23 seconds between checking whether NR2003 is running, when this period is up, assuming NR2003 is running, Spotter Swapper will then swap out the Inside and Clear spotter messages for alternative samples, the program will then go back and wait between another 15 to 23 seconds and repeat. Every 5th time, the main sample changes will take place.

    This is still experimental, hence why only 2 of the regular calls have been added to the list presently.

    NR2K3_Checker.exe - updated to Beta 0.63 with inside/clear filenames added to checklist.
    NR2K3_Updater.exe - remains at Beta 0.62



  • 28/2/2014 Beta 0.62

  • First public Beta release.



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    DOWNLOADS:

    Spotter_Swapper_Setup.7z - 6.84MB