Monaco GP Remake (v1.4.5) is ready and it can be downloaded here:
****EDIT: This version is now obsolete, please see initial post (on page 1) for download links to latest and obsolete versions****
My main intention for this release was to fix a few bugs that were in 1.4.1, and add support for a secondary display.
If you would like to run 2 instances of mgpr.exe, one instance running the game on one screen (the primary screen), and another instance running scoreboard artwork on the other screen (the secondary screen), then this is what I suggest you try first:
1. Run mgpr_launcher.exe and start the configuration named "classic_scoreboard_export_1024x768.cfg". This game configuration exports (shares) its scoreboard information. Note. On some windows variants, mpgr.exe will not start at this point, you'll probably see a message I wrote complaining about problems creating shared memory. If this is the case (You'll be likely to encounter this problem if you are running anything other than XP), then you'll need to give administrator privileges to mgpr.exe, mgpr_launcher.exe, and scoreboard_reader.exe.
2. With the classic_scoreboard_export_1024x768.cfg running, run the mgpr_launcher.exe again and start the configuration named "classic_scoreboard_import_1024x768.cfg"
3. You should now be able to play the game in the first instance you started, and see the scoring for it in the second instance
So now it is just a case of positioning these instances on your 2 screens. Only one instance can be set to fullscreen mode, the other has to be a window. The instance that is set to use fullscreen will use the primary display (I should imagine you will set your game instance to fullscreen). For the other (scoreboard) instance, set the DISPLAY set_window_pos setting to "yes", and experiment with the window_pos_x and window_pos_y settings (Leave game instance running, but keep restarting the scoreboard instance each time you change the settings as these effect the start position of the window). Hopefully, after a bit of trial and error you'll be able to get the scoreboard positioned exactly where you want it.
Please be a little prepared as you visit the mediafire site, you might get adverts for other software appear, trying to fool you to download something else. Just make sure you only click on the big green 'Download' button near to top right of the page, and the file that you download to your computer is called "mgpr_v1_4_5.zip" (Its about 16MB in size).
Once its downloaded, unzip it, copy the original 1979 or 1980 Monaco GP ROMs into the 'roms' directory, then double click on 'mgpr_launcher.exe', choose a configuration and off you go!
Note that you can also run a specific configuration from command line (like in previous versions), running mpgr.exe using the -cfg switch. For example, if you wanted to run the pro_arcade_1360x768.cfg configuration from command line, you would specify
mgpr -cfg pro_arcade_1360x768.cfg
All the default configurations are set up for fullscreen and keyboard control (keys are Z=left, X=right, N=Accelerate, M=Gear, 5 or 6 = Coin, 1=Switch between HiScores and AttractMode).
Press the TAB key during any game's attract mode (When "Deposit coin" is flashing at you) to edit the configuration (Change Controls to Mouse, joystick, choose different artwork etc..). Some options (such as display filter, fullscreen and various audio samples and volumes) will require you to restart the game before your new settings will take effect.
New in v1.4.5:
- Fix opponent join belt glitch
- Sound Master Volume defaults to 70% (was defaulting 100%, which made certain sounds distort).
- More distinct ramp jump/land noise
- Timer added to avoid unfair "only just got off the scenery and then crashed again" problem.
- Braking improved, new GAMEPLAY "brake_immediate" configuration setting added. This setting controls start strength of the brakes immediately after stepping off the accelerator.
- Added new GAMEPLAY configurations settings "vertical_climb" and "vertical_fall" to limit how quickly the player's car is able to move along the y axis of the screen.
- Infinite lives symbol now shows during the first section of the Pursuit track.
- The Start button (defaults to the '1' key) can now be pressed repeatedly to hurry up the end of race statistics screen (Pursuit track only).
- New GAMEPLAY configuration settings for running multiple instances of mpgr.exe, when the game and the scoreboard information are to be displayed on separate screens:
scoreboard_mode - Can be set to "export" [This running instance mgpr.exe will share its scoreboard information for other instances to import], "import" [This running instance of mgpr.exe will display scoreboard information based on what another instance is exporting] or "private" [Default, do not attempt to import/export the scoreboard information].
window_frame - Start the window with or without a frame (Might not work with all variants of windows)
set_window_pos - "No" [Startup position of window will be center of screen] or "Yes" [window_pos_x and window_pos_y are used]
window_pos_x - Startup position of window, X position
window_pos_y - Startup position of window, Y position
- "Scoreboard_reader" executable and source code (Visual Studio 2008 Solution/Project) added for possible integration with arcade scoreboard. When executed, this program prints out any scoreboard information that is being exported by an instance of mgpr.exe. Try running it whilst running the "classic_scoreboard_export_1024x768.cfg" configuration. The idea is that the source provided can (someday) be modified so that rather than printing this information to screen, it can be used to control 7 Segment LEDs displays attached to the actual arcade scoreboard.
- Improved Pursuit track difficulty