DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.19 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. A couple of people have requested that I keep the ZIP file name the same between releases, so we're gonna try that for a while and see how it works out. The filename you'll be downloading will always be D2_HostComponents.zip (case is important). Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - D2 wasn't re-scanning the tracks for setup files if you selected a different track while configuring a race.

Known / reported issues:

• Bug - Problem with max connections settings. At this time, make sure you always select TCP/IP and specify the desired number of connections (within the limits imposed by the program). I'm still trying to figure out the criteria for this myself.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.18 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - D2 wouldn't launch races where a space or hyphen appeared in the track name (night tracks, Las Vegas, etc.).

Known / reported issues:

• Bug - Problem with max connections settings. At this time, make sure you always select TCP/IP and specify the desired number of connections (within the limits imposed by the program). I'm still trying to figure out the criteria for this myself.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.17 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - D2Config now correctly runs N4 in a minimized stated. I want to take this time to apologize to the guys at Papyrus. It wasn't their code that was preventing this from working from DeMONS- it was *my* code in DeMONS.

Known / reported issues:

• Bug - Problem with max connections settings. At this time, make sure you always select TCP/IP and specify the desired number of connections (within the limits imposed by the program). I'm still trying to figure out the criteria for this myself.

• Issue - Jeff Causey reported that he was getting 100% CPU utilization and that his system had slowed to a veritable crawl when running multiple hosts. I think that was because he was running his hosts in high priority mode, but he's out of town until Monday, so I can't verify this suspicion until then. I tested for this with my fake n4server program (which runs in normal priority mode by default) and didn't have a problem, so that's what led me to this conclusion. A fix has been made to the launcher code that overrides the priority mode setting (fix described above), but I'd like everyone to keep an eye out for this problem.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.16 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - D2Config now searches for N4 setup files (*.cup.sim) in both the n4\tracks\track_name folder and in the n4\players\player_name\setups\track_name folder. All files found are available to use as a fixed setup. D2Config will select "" by default (if it exists). See the DeMONS2.RTF document file for details.

• Adjustment - The default race page no longer allows you to specify a default fixed setup file because it doesn't know where to get all of the possible files at that point in the configuration process.

Known / reported issues:

• Bug - Problem with max connections settings. At this time, make sure you always select TCP/IP and specify the desired number of connections (within the limits imposed by the program). I'm still trying to figure out the criteria for this myself.

• Issue - Because of the way Papyrus wrote their code, I can't seem to get N4 to start up in a minimized state, even though I'm running without a 3D renderer. I'm still working on it, so don't lose hope yet. I'm hoping that Papyrus changes the way this is done in an upcoming patch. Until I find a way to work this out, the checkbox that controls this feature will remain disabled.

• Issue - Jeff Causey reported that he was getting 100% CPU utilization and that his system had slowed to a veritable crawl when running multiple hosts. I think that was because he was running his hosts in high priority mode, but he's out of town until Monday, so I can't verify this suspicion until then. I tested for this with my fake n4server program (which runs in normal priority mode by default) and didn't have a problem, so that's what led me to this conclusion. A fix has been made to the launcher code that overrides the priority mode setting (fix described above), but I'd like everyone to keep an eye out for this problem.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.15 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Yes, I skipped v0.0.0.14 because it was a preliminary test version that was released to only one person. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - The D2Config component wasn't saving default race settings for each host (only one default race section was being saved). At this point, I've verified that D2Config is indeed saving data correctly (for all hosts and races).

• Fix! - D2Launcher now appears to load host settings correctly when using multiple hosts.

• Fix! - The "consecutive runs" field is now disabled (on both the default race tab and the race setup tab) if the continuous loop timing style is not selected.

• Fix! - The launcher will now skip races that would have occurred in the past. This only applies to schedules where the specific date/time timing style is used.

• Fix! - The launcher will now override the priority mode setting for each host if there is more than one host displayed in the launcher window. This functionality is implemented regardless of whether or not more than one schedule is currently running.

• Fix! - The launcher still had some testing code in it that stopped the schedule after five races had been run. I don't know if this was kicking in (nobody ever complained about it), but I removed the code anyway.

• Fix! - The launcher was trying to change the CORE.INI file without knowing where (what section) to change it. I moved those settings to the commandline.

• New! - D2Launcher will now try to locate and run the D2RemonteAdmin component. This component opens up a TCP/IP port for administering the *DeMONS client*. This means that a remote admin will be able to make changes to the entire DeMONS configuration. The remote admin component isn't ready yet, so ignore any error messages you might see regarding it for now. A similar setup will be provided to enable public race setup capability.

• Adjustment - Changed the list control in the D2Launcher dialog to show what date/time the host's next race will (should) launch, and whether or not the host allows public race setups. This display will be initially updated once a given schedule is started.

• Adjustment - Added some static text to the Timing tab which explains esoteric aspects of using the specific date/time timing style.

Known / reported issues:

• Bug - Problem with max connections settings. At this time, make sure you always select TCP/IP and specify the desired number of connections (within the limits imposed by the program). I'm still trying to figure out the criteria for this myself.

• Issue - Because of the way Papyrus wrote their code, I can't seem to get N4 to start up in a minimized state, even though I'm running without a 3D renderer. I'm still working on it, so don't lose hope yet. I'm hoping that Papyrus changes the way this is done in an upcoming patch. Until I find a way to work this out, the checkbox that controls this feature will remain disabled.

• Issue - Jeff Causey reported that he was getting 100% CPU utilization and that his system had slowed to a veritable crawl when running multiple hosts. I think that was because he was running his hosts in high priority mode, but he's out of town until Monday, so I can't verify this suspicion until then. I tested for this with my fake n4server program (which runs in normal priority mode by default) and didn't have a problem, so that's what led me to this conclusion. A fix has been made to the launcher code that overrides the priority mode setting (fix described above), but I'd like everyone to keep an eye out for this problem.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.13 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - The priority mode commandline parameter was hosing up the execution of n4server.exe.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.12 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - Remember the automatic file deleting feature added to .09? Well, it was broken, but it should be okay now.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.11 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix! - I was getting the fixed setup file names from the wrong directory. They are now correctly retrieved from the player\setups\track_name folder.

DeMONS/2 version 0.0.0.10 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• New! - Implemented the "additional command line parameters" feature. As of this version, DeMONS supports all commandline options, even the priority parameter (see next item), so there's no current need for this feature.

DeMONS/2 version 0.09 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Fix - If you selected the specific timing style, the launcher would immediately launch the first race, as well as each subsquent race. This has been fixed. (Bill Cregger/Jeff Causey)

DeMONS/2 version 0.08 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• Improved error trapping on Host Config/Default Race tab for min/max ranking fields. (Matt/HardCore)

• Fixed realistic weather toggle on Host Config/Default Race tab. (Jeff Causey)

• Fixed data validation error that occurred when you elected to use AI in a race on both the default race tab and the race configuration tab. (Matt/HardCore)

  I ended up moving the AI settings to the Host/Connections tab because the number of AI cars has a direct effect on the maximum number of allowed connections. If anyone thinks this doesn't make sense, it's up to you to make a good case for putting it back where it was. In other words, convince me that this was a bad change.

• Enabled the ability to select fixed setups. (Jeff Causey)

• You can now delete races one at a time, or all at once. (Jeff Causey)

• Added the ability to change the roster file to the Host/Connections tab.

Known/reported issues:

• Problem with max connections settings. At this time, make sure you always select TCP/IP and specify the desired number of connections (within the limits imposed by the program). I'm still trying to figure out the criteria for this myself.

DeMONS/2 version 0.07 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• In order to fix the problems Win9x users are having with the track list, I had to write a new component called D2Scrub. This utility reads each of the track-related INI files and filters out the offending space characters in the INI file section names and around the "=" character in the key value assignments. The only OS I'm sure you DON'T need to use this component on is Win2K. There's info on this utility in the documentation.

Known/reported issues:

• Deleting tracks from the schedule doesn't appear to have any effect.

• Allowing fixed setups is not yet implemented.

• Problem with max connections settings.

• Default race settings - realistic weather toggle is backwards.

DeMONS/2 version 0.06 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• None of the components will run unless N4 has been installed (at least once) from the retail CD. I don't pirate software, and I won't support those that do.

• THIS IS TRULY STRANGE - I found out that because of the way Papyrus saved the ALL.INI and TRACK.INI files, the program was refusing to work on Win9x/WinME systems, but worked fine on WinNT/2K systems. I'm using Visual C++ 6.0 to write DeMONS, and to read the files, I'm using a standard (and well established) Windows API function called GetPrivateProfileString to read the INI file values. This function does not work correctly on the N4 INI files I specified above, so I had to This API function does not work as expected on the N4 INI files I specified above under Win9x/ME, so I had to find a low-impact workaround. Settling on an acceptable method took a few days, but I think I finally got it.

DeMONS/2 version 0.05 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• I think I finally fixed Bill's problem.

DeMONS/2 version 0.04 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• I introduced a bug when I put in the code that kept you from using the same player folder in two different hosts. I got in a hurry. Sorry about that.

DeMONS/2 version 0.03 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. Changes and notices are listed below:

• The program does not allow you to select the same player folder for multiple hosts (each host MUST have its own player folder).

• At this time, it is unwise to run D2Config while D2Launcher is running. If you want to reconfigure your host, shut the launcher down completely, reconfigure, and re-run D2Launcher.

• I included a small RTF document that describes how to use the n4server.exe file that is included with this zip file.

DeMONS/2 version 0.02 (TEST TEST) is now available for download. This version should be able to launch servers. If you played with the old version, please DELETE ALL EXISTING D2 FILES before using this new version.

There is a new document file in the ZIP file, and you need a RTF-compatible word processor (MS Word, or Windows WordPad) or text viewer to be able to read it.

This past weekend, I've spent a number of hours working on the launcher, and progress has been pretty good.

It looks like the next release will be real close to this Friday (05/25), and with that release, server admins should be able to start testing the scheduling and launching componet. This means that D2 will be pretty much at the same point D1 in terms of functionality, with the exception that it supports *multiple* N4 sessions.

Additional Info

I wanted to be able to test the launcher without screwing up my working N4 installation (you never know when something really bizarre is gonna happen while your developing a program - grin), so I did the following to protect my "gold" N4 folder.

• I recreated the n4 directory structure in my development directory. This "fake n4 folder" contains all of the required INI files and sub-folders that can possibly be altered every time you run a race.

• I wrote a program called n4server.exe that merely displays the contents of the INI files that were changed, as well as the command line parameters that were passed to the program. The contents of each file (and the contents of the command line) are contained on individual tabs on a dialog box so I can make sure the correct changes were made to the desired files.

I will make this "fake n4 folder" and the n4server.exe test program available along with the upcoming release of the software so that you guys can verify for yourselves that all my (your) ducks are in a row before committing to trying it with the real n4 as it is installed on your systems.

You will have to change some of the folders to match your server player folders, but it should be fairly obvious how to do that. As usual, you can use the mailing list to get help if necessary.

At first, I only want N4 server admins (and Papyrus folks and raceserver.net owners) to subscribe since that's the part of DeMONS/2 I'm currently working on.

I simply was too antsy to keep it from you guys any longer, and wanted to show you that I really am working on the program. Besides, I felt I was at a point that I could gather some thoughts from everyone about anything I may have missed, and I'm especially interested in hearing from any of the Papyrus guys that might like to comment.

The component included in the ZIP file is comprised of a single executable file (only 260k in size, and fully self-contained!), as well as some text files that explain what you see in the dialog boxes. The "scheduling" part isn't complete yet, but it's there to give you an idea of what to expect.

I am very open to ideas that are within the scope of the intended use of the program, and contact information is contained in the "Miscellaneous" file.

I'll strive to keep the web page updated as things happen/take shape. I don't anticipate this project taking very long because I have a base of code from which to work (DeMONS/1), although a lot of things are different from the previous version of the program.