Note: the attached files are for use with Indy Car Racing II from Papyrus.  This 
program was originally designed for use with NASCAR Racing from Papyrus, but has
been altered to work with ICR2.  Since I don't know too much about ICR2 or Indy
Car racing in general you'll find that the documenatation files are still explained
using NASCAR terms and examples.

*********************************************************************************

INTRODUCTION:
Even the most consistent drivers have a bad day now and then, even though they may run up 
front 8 out of 9 races.  NASCAR  Racing from Papyrus allows you to set ranges for power, 
traction and drag, but, these ranges tend to be more random than the drivers are in real
life.

For example, Dale Earnhardt generally runs up front, but once in a while you see him run
20th or so.  If you want Dale to run up front in NASCAR Racing you edit your DRIVERS2.TXT 
file and set a higher range for power and traction and a lower range for drag.  This does 
work to get Dale up front, but then he ALWAYS runs up front.  If you widen the range to 
allow for him to run in the middle of the pack once in a while, he runs in the middle of 
the pack more often than he does in real life.

This same concept applies for those drivers who generally run in the middle of the pack, 
but really get hooked up once in a while and run up front.  Bobby Hamilton and Michael 
Waltrip may be good examples.

It's pretty easy to manually change the settings because Papyrus kindly made it available 
to us in a text file.  So, you could use your editor to change the file to make Dale run 
in mid pack for one race, and then change it back after the race, but if you do that for 
very many drivers it gets pretty time consuming.

So....why not do it automatically?  That's what this program does.  It's a simple BASIC 
program compiled using ASIC.  It simply extracts the low and high power, traction and drag 
settings and adjusts them at random (you set the likelihood that it will happen) by a 
percentage value that you specify for each individual driver (including yourself).  
Agression settings are ignored because I think that reflects the driver's style more than
how their car happens to be performing that day.  I'm sure Earnhardt gives them the fender
in the middle of the pack as much as he does when he's in 2nd place.

INSTALLATION AND DOCUMENTATION:

1)  Extract these files to the directory containing the car set that you want to use.
    (ie C:\NASCAR\CARS\CARS96)

2)  Make a backup of DRIVERS2.TXT.  You might name it something like DRIVERS2.BAK . This 
    probably won't be necessary, but will give you some peace of mind because THIS 
    PROGRAM WILL OVERWRITE DRIVERS2.TXT every time you run it.

3)  Copy DRIVERS2.TXT to file DRIVERS3.TXT.  BOTH files (and DICRSET.TXT discussed below) 
    are NECESSARY for this program to run properly.  Basically, the program will use 
    DRIVERS3.TXT as the source file for the settings, change the settings at random by 
    the % you specify and then save the settings to DRIVERS2.TXT.  So, DRIVERS2.TXT will 
    be overwritten.  If you want to make permanent changes to a driver, make the changes
    to DRIVERS3.TXT because the program will leave this source file in tact.

4)  Run file DICRSET.EXE.  This program is used to update the DICRSET.TXT file that contains 
    the chances of the driver's power, traction and drag being adjusted.  It also contains 
    the percentage figure those values will be adjusted by.

For example, if the chance figure (0,1-9) is 7 that means there is 1 chance in 7 that the 
values will be adjusted.  If the percentage figure is 33 and the performance answer 
(B or W) is W for Worse, that means the high and low values for power and traction will be 
adjusted down by 33% (will not go below 1 for low and 2 for high) and the drag figures will 
be adjusted up by 33% (will not exceed 998 for low and 999 for high).  If the power values 
start out at 100 300, they will end up at _67 200. ( _ represents a space in this example.)

As you run this program you will be prompted with the driver's car number and name and 
will be asked to enter a value 0 - 9 for chance.  1 means there is 1 chance in 1 of being 
adjusted, 9 means there is 1 chance in 9 of being adjusted.  0 means no adjustments will 
be made.  You will also be prompted for a % change (0-99).  1 adjusts the values by 1% and 
99 adjusts the values by 99%.   Then you will be asked how the performance is affected 
'B' for Better and 'W' for Worse.  You will be looped through each driver until the 
program reaches the end of the list of drivers in DRIVERS3.TXT, after which the program 
will end.

You will not need to run this program again for this car set unless you change the order 
of the drivers in DRIVERS3.TXT or you change a car number or you want to change the 
chance, the % or the Performance setting (B or W) for any of the drivers.  (Changing 
chance, % and performance settings for drivers can also be done by using a text editor to 
change DICRSET.TXT).

Note: changes you make to the pace car setup will be ignored in the ICRRND.EXE program.

5)  Now you're ready to run ICRRND.EXE.  This program reads DRIVERS3.TXT and
DICRSET.TXT, performs the calculations and outputs to DRIVERS2.TXT that NASCAR Racing uses.

APPLICATION:

Please keep in mind that we have only adjusted the low and high value settings as they are 
used by NASCAR Racing.   NASCAR Racing does not use these figures in direct ratio to 
speed. If you set the low and high power settings both to one, it does not mean that the 
car will not move, so if you reduce both settings by 33%, it does not mean the car will 
run 2/3 as fast.  I tested this out at Talladega by setting two cars at the faster end of
the scale and two cars at the slower end of the scale for their settings during practice.
The slowest cars ran about 185 and the fastest cars ran about 197.  (I had the opponent 
speed setting at 98%).  This tells me that there's about a 6% speed difference from the 
lowest to the highest settings - at Talladega anyway. 

ICRRND.EXE updates the DRIVERS2.TXT file as it is run.  After that, the values will 
remain the same until you run the program again.  Running the program again, refers back 
to the original values in DRIVERS3.TXT.  So, I like to run it every time I boot up my 
NASCAR game.

To do this I put the following statements in my AUTOEXEC.BAT file just before the NASCAR 
command.  The directory you use will probably vary from my example.

C:
CD C:\NASCAR\CARS\CARS96
NASCRND

By the way, this has nothing to do with this program, but I like to try to match the 
drivers styles in other ways too.  I set up a very high range for power and aggression 
and then give the same car very low traction.  I figured this was the best way to 
simulate Jimmy Spencer's driving style. 

DISCLAIMER:

There is absolutely no support provided with this program.  You're on your own.  If it 
breaks your computer you have even worse luck than I do.  This is free, you can have it. 


OTHER COMMENTS:

I thought about making the 1 chance in X be up to 1 chance in 99 instead of just 9 because 
it would be pretty easy.  But, with only about 31 races on the full schedule I figured 
only 3 or 4 times during the season was pretty good odds.  If you'd like to change it, ask 
me for the code and I'll send it to you for your editing entertainment.

ABOUT THE "PROGRAMMER":

My name is Brad.  I live in Des Moines, IA.  I'm employed as an accountant and have a 
wife and two children.  I almost always race with damage control on because my 1 1/2 year 
old likes to help me drive.  We may have an addition to our family soon as we are in the 
process of becoming licensed foster parents.

I'm only a novice programmer and have put together a few small utilities using BASIC and 
Visual BASIC.  Generally, I can't think of anything someone else hasn't already done...
except this time.

If you'd like the source code so you can make your own alterations you can reach me at: 
BRADBOY336@AOL.COM.  (I may change this in the future.  Upon reflection, I think my 
address name is stupid).  Also, please let me know if you find any bugs.  I'll see what 
I can do to clean it up.

Hope you like it.

"Dependent people don't make independent decisions"