16 replies to this topic

[David Fletcher]

I am pleased today to formally announce the creation of a new organization in the GPL community, the Grand Prix Legends Preservation Society.

At one time, Grand Prix Legends ruled the simracing universe. Upon the release of NR2003, that exclusiveness was lost. Now, GPL is being assailed on all sides by sims such as rFactor, GTR & GTR2, and GTL. And of course the iRacing product is just over the horizon. All of these are outstanding sims in their own right, but what none of these sims has to offer is the atmosphere that GPL provides, at least in our opinion. We realize, especially considering the rFactor platform, that it is possible to recreate the cars and tracks that we’ve grown to love, but the reality is that it still won’t feel the same. And it’s that feel, the uniqueness of GPL that has made it what it is today. We feel it needs to be preserved, and that’s where the GPLPS comes in.

The GPLPS was formed with the mindset that all aspects of GPL and its community need support from a central group for its continued longevity. This is not a group that is going to ‘force’ anything upon the community; that is not our intent. We are not trying to establish the GPLPS as a governing entity. Our purpose is to act on many fronts to consolidate and protect our GPL resources, and to offer support where possible. Although they will likely evolve over time, these are our initial goals:

1) To acquire and catalog every car, track, utility and file available for GPL. Not the rights to these products, mind you (although we will offer that service if someone so wishes), but rather as a central repository of these files so they will never be lost. We do not intend to be the primary distributor of these files; we just intend to preserve them.

2) To act as a knowledge base for the creation of GPL mods, and to provide assistance if needed.

3) To actively promote GPL both within and outside of our community. Again, we have a unique product, and we don’t want it to be forgotten.

4) To support the online racing community, and to do what is necessary to keep the online community healthy, whether it’s league-based or casual pick-up racing.

So ‘who’ is the GPLPS? For one, the acronym is not entirely original. Long-time community members may remember that the Grand Prix Legends Editors Association was first created with this title, but quickly became known as the GPLEA instead. That fact had escaped us, but I am honored to say that the GPLEA is very much in support of us using this acronym for our purpose. Our idea is borne of a concept first proposed by Bernd Nowak, and continued by Bernd, Arturo Pereira, and myself. We have already enlisted many of the key “movers and shakers” in the community, and they have co-signed below. If you are one who feels you should be part of this, contact us via PM or email. Please do not feel overlooked; it’s likely that it was recommended that I contact you, but I didn’t have a valid email or PM address. I know this to be the case in some situations.

As for our file storage, and eventually our website, those matters will be handled by the Speedgeezers family of Bill Cooper, Paul Jackson, and Bernd. Space will not be a problem.

We admit that we are still very much in the building stage of this project. But with the current atmosphere in the simracing community and its numerous diversions, we felt that it was time to reassure the GPL community that someone was looking out for their interests, and that the GPL ship is still very seaworthy. There is much to do, of course, and we will keep you informed.

The GPLPS Board can be reached at gplps1@gmail.com

Long live GPL!

David Fletcher
Bernd Nowak
Arturo Pereira

Co-signed by:

Bob Berman
John Bradley
Richard Cooke
Phil Flack
Rory Gibson
Martin Granberg
Bill Guillaume
Sergio Loro
Charles Mark
Ian Pinkerton
Martin Pitts
Nils Ruwisch
Paul Skingley
Keith Smith-Gillespie
Paul Thurston
Tore
And a few other loyal supporters


https://gplps.org

[Pedro]

The Grand Prix Legends Preservation Society.

I am glad to hear of this project, and agree that this is wat GPL deserves.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Splendid stuff, Fletch.

Dare I say that it can all be wrapped up tidily by merely saying...

'Long Live GPL!'

[Alan Davies]

This is good news, well done everyone involved.

[ginetto]

Bello

[yDNA]

Do you also plan to preserve the current hardware and software platforms?

The possibility to run GPL.exe is obviously connected to the availability of a GPL-compliant hardware configuration and operative system. It's sad to admit, but the PC industry is often not back-compatible and in the near future incoming systems won't run it anymore.  

Edited by yDNA, Nov 07 2006 - 01:10 PM.

[webfoot]

Good stuff.  The GPL community is fantastic.

My personal opinion is that "Preservation" sounds a bit negative (shame GPL Forever has already been used).

My 13Gb GPL download archive is at your disposal.

[Arturo Pereira]

yDNA, on Nov 7 2006, 07:06 PM, said:

Do you also plan to preserve the current hardware and software platforms?

The possibility to run GPL.exe is obviously connected to the availability of a GPL-compliant hardware configuration and operative system. It's sad to admit, but the PC industry is often not back-compatible and in the near future incoming systems won't run it anymore.  

Hi
Do not worry. The programming gurus have this topic in their schedule  

[Eric Bourgouin]

BIG thumbs up!! errr..where do I sign up??  

[Arturo Pereira]

Eric Bourgouin, on Dec 1 2006, 06:49 PM, said:

BIG thumbs up!! errr..where do I sign up??  

Eric ?!?!?  

WOW !! Glad to know this thread brought you back to the surface Sir    

Let me know if you are ready for active duty again


  

[Eric Bourgouin]

Thanx for the welcome :-)..And of course I'm ready for some action!! But let's keep this thread on it's original intend..
I think it's a fantastic project,and would surely love to have my name associated with it..if just for the fact that you list all contributors alphabetically, wich means that I'd be on top of that Bradley dude..

Seriously..The community won't dissapear that easily, that's certain..And it's not because a newer,more advanced sim gets out that we're history;on the contrary..If this is the case,and we all move to a newer sim, then the community stays the same anyways!!

You mentionned "Feel"..and I agree..But there's so much more to it than that..GPL "breathes" throughout all the artists & programmer/hackers that added something to it, for 8 years now..The teamwork ,camaraderie , respect between the artists, each in their specific field, is what made GPL what it is today..as well as the fights & bickering - just like in any big family..And there are so many stories to tell; from pioneering ideas like Bruce Johnson's see thru motionned spoked wheels - something that no other sim had at the time - ,to the advent of the 65 & 69 mods - basically making GPL a new sim again, GPL has'nt ceased to progress..and I don't see it end..

You do have my full support,cooperation,as well as access to all my files for this project..And that includes countless alphas & betas, as well as unreleased tracks and personal projects..even the ones with X rated graphics if u wish!!..  

[buzard]

One of the items mentioned by the GPLPS was trying to decide on a
file structure to keep track of everything. When this is decided would
someone post the info.

I've got 9+ years of files and even though I've attempted to tidy things
up I still can't figure out how to arrange things. If I'm going to do thins I
might as well follow the "official" method.

buzard

[Bernd Nowak]

Buzard,
same here   I have lots of stuff from GPL but it's so hard to find a 'structure' to arrange it on a file base. Sure you can do it with the help of a database and use an approach like I have seen with the HP downloads but if you see this mess you notice very quick that without DB you can't see what a single file/patch is for.

[FloP]

This is how I do it. Of course, I often have to have a look at the readmes when I'm looking for something specific.

Attached Files

•  picture001.jpg   831.43K   94 downloads

[buzard]

Let's say we have a tracks folder;

Do we sort by country, track name, file name or author?
Track graphic updates; by author, file with track or seprate graphics update folders?

Same for cars and tools.

For the tracks, once I figure out how to arrange the files I was thinking of sucking down the
Alt Track Database and modifying the "get track" button to "install" and the same for the graphic
updates. Once I get that done I'd just have to update as the tracks come out.

For personal use only of course.  

If the GPLPS ever get their file system finalized and posted maybe the Track Databse could set
up a personal version to d/l and use like I hope to do? I would not mind unziping repacking files
for use this way. If this would help the project let me know! Most likely this will be in future
versions of GEM+ or a standalone utility.

I think Excel could be used but I would not have the faintest idea how to make Excel
access files. Besides I like the Track Database's layout and graphics. With so many
different tracks I do get them confused with each other. The track maps and programs help.

buzard

Edited by buzard, Jun 24 2007 - 11:53 PM.