Gp2 TrackEditor

GP2 Trackeditor is an MFC application written and created by Paul Hoad. GP2 TrackEditor first started to Appear around 1997 some time after The Release of GP2, The track editor was developed through experimentation. The Editor started as simple means of changing individual values within the track .dat files whilst maintaining the integrity of the data file (The checksum) of the dat file. As time went on the structure of the track, computer cars ideal line and internally stored 3D objects was discovered.

History

GP2 Track editor started with a small program that extracted the horizon image from the .dat file for F1GP, F1GP was also written for the Amiga and it was an unknown user who submitted the CheckSum algorithm for the .dat file for the Amiga version which first let the track file be modified but its integrity be maintained.

The F1GP editor program never really took off, and development stalled. It was only after Instant Access released a set of modified tracks for GP2 that it became clear that track editing was possible.

Investigation began and it was during this initial phase that it became clear that a regular command structure was being used to describe the tracks layout. A simple dictionary of command grew most of which contained unknowns. The track editor acted as a platform on which the GP2 community could de-unknown the unknowns. The MFC application grew out of a need to be able to edit the values in a meaningful manner rather than just a hexeditor.

A constant release cycle with new versions being made all the time helped users to make small modifications and then by running GP2 with The New track observe the results.

The rest is history, 100's of tracks appeared for nearly every race track around, even those which were no longer or in layouts which didn't exist. The track format was pushed to the absolute limits with attempts made to create tracks which were outside the capabilities of the underlying GP2 engine. Some tracks even consisted of track commands which were never in the released tracks allowing such things as banking. Although there were obvious graphical reasons why there were left out of the original production versions of GP2 their use by the editor allowed a much richer set of tracks to be generated.

For some tracks the author of the TrackEditor was often quoted as asking if the people were really using the track editor and not some other tool such was the quality of the new tracks. The track editor provided the tools which those in the community needed to spend the painstaking hours creating their own master pieces.

The development of the TrackEditor continued through GP2 -> GP3 -> GP4 where it finally stopped. All of the GP versions maintained similar track format until GP4 which moved the visual aspects into another file format whilst keeping the car physics in the .dat format. This then made modifying the physical and visual very difficult and also required near-professional 3D tools to edit...unfortunately just as the game reached the ability for the almost limitless visuals, Microprose has made it much harder to mod. Although others have made modifications to GP4 it never reach the community levels of GP2 and GP3.