GPL Quick Launch:

Welcome to the my small contribution to Grand Prix Legends.

This program is a simple alternative GPL manager / launcher for those of us who are easily confused. The goal is to provide a clean, streamlined interface that requires absolutely no thinking whatsoever. Because that's me. Absolutely no thinking whatsoever.

The easiest (free!) way to install GPL from scratch:

• Download and install the (free!) GPL 2004 demo from here.
• Download GPL Quick Launch, extract it somewhere handy and run it.

You should now have a "demo driver" and the Watkins Glen track. All the 1967 mods should work right out of the box (I recommend 1967 FD or 1967 FG to start).

The easiest way to install GPL from scratch if you own the CD:

• Download and run the GPL Preservation Society Installer.
• Run GPL once to create at least one new player. 
• Download GPL Quick Launch, extract it somewhere handy and run it.
  

Quick Launch is designed to work with any other GPL installation too, so long as you have created at least one driver in the game. It will also work just fine if you install a new mod without running GEM+2, despite all the warnings. Just run the mod installer, restart Quick Launch and it should appear in the mod list.

Then what:

• Join LoPeN. They will solve all of your life's problems as well as giving you helpful driving pointers.
  
• Go to the track database and download some of the 500+ tracks people have made. I recommend Lime Rock Park in the very least.
• Get WinVROC to race online with minimal effort.

GPL Quick Launch advantages:

• Not complicated. Gets you on the right track in the right car ASAP.
  
• Track manager allows you to enable/disable tracks, rename them, and change the number of laps in GP, long, short, and novice races.
• Slider lets you to set the engine frequency for each mod. 
• Easy addition of custom carsets. Just create/copy a carset folder in ...\gpl\cars with a 6-character name and you're good to go.
• It is open source under the GPL license (no pun), and thereby open for improvements using the free / open source environment wxDev-C++. Please do tinker with it!

GPL Quick Launch disadvantages:

• Not complicated. Some people prefer a lot of options, and for these people I recommend GEM+2.
  
• I have no idea how to patch the physics in the gpl executables (the guys that figured this stuff out are AMAZING), so I have to distribute a full set of specifically patched executables with the program. They are generated by GEM+2 from the latest GPL 2004 Demo patched with carsound, bandwidth, pribluda, and digital display. Let me know if there's another patch that is an absolute must! GPLShift? The openGL bug fix?
  

I wrote this program for me because it fixed some issues I was having, but if it's useful for you, let me know! (Also let me know if something goes wonky. And save the debug.log file if it does!)

Jack

(jack dot sankey at gmail dot com)

Troubleshooting:

"My tracks don't appear in the track manager."

• Try deleting the file "...\gpl\seasons\disabled.ini" and run GPL Quick Launch again. It will search for tracks and add them to the disabled list.

"Some of my tracks still do not appear."

• Reinstall the tracks (they will surely appear if you do this). 
• Contact me at jack dot sankey at gmail dot com and I will add this track to the master list.
  

"My mods don't show up."

• This can happen in some situations because Quick Launch will not copy in the full set of modded executables unless the only gpl executable in the folder is "gpl.exe" (and in that case it makes a backup). The reason for this is I don't want to mess with a nice, custom-tailored GPL install. It is therefore possible to install a new mod and not have the corresponding "gpl***.exe".
• The solution is to copy the contents (or just the desired executables) of Quick Launch's "gpl_demo_exes" folder into the GPL directory.
  

Network reference:

To host a race in GPL from behind a firewall, you will need to open/forward these ports:

• Grand Prix Legends: UDP 6970, 6971, 32766-3278
• WinVROC: UDP 6969
• Igor: TCP 30196, 30197