Is this column not there anymore? If so, i would find its a real shame, because I have always changed simulation data, that in flat stages with less than 10 seconds gap (hilly finish), a more Puncheur-like rider would win and not an "normal" sprinter.
It can't be changed anymore. But no matter what the value was, I'm nearly sure it had no effect in the gameplay, only whether time gaps were given or not between groups.
It did have a big effect on races that bordered between a Sprint finish, or a punchers finish if you lowered the value (decreasing the time gap) the race would finish more like a hilly stage with punchers attacking at the end. If set to a high value, the punchers didn't attack, and a normal sprint finish happens.
If you got the value just right though, both things would happen, the punchers attack and the sprint trains race to the finish results could vary wildly, sometimes the punchers would be able to stay out ahead, sometimes getting caught. MSR was awesome if you set it like this, someone always jumped out over Cipressa and Poggio and the sprint trains would try to bring them back. Normally they do, occassionally not.
San Sebastian was probably the race most helped by changing this value since the game considers it a sprint, and while sprinters do sometimes win, it gave the punchers a real chance if adjusted.
Edited by Kentaurus on 23-02-2013 04:34
Well, that's news to me. I'd never tested it, but I'd believe that like most of other DB values, it had no actual effect on AI reactions. But if you say so I'll believe you, it's unfortunately gone out from the game anyway.
Yea, it doesn't really matter anymore, I'm sad to see it gone because adjusting it was useful to correct races to finish properly. The uphill sprint value was also useful as was the hill-mountain ratio for fixing races. Not sure if those are still adjustable.
I find it makes hilly races more exciting in 3D mode because there should be some time gaps and not 100+ riders finishing at same time.
But that wasn't my main concern. It's rather about the simulation. With gap changing you could get more realistic results. Just change the gap of a flat stage with a hilly finish to 7 and the simulation would get completely different results.
As you can see in a flat stage with time gap over 10, mostly SP is important for simulation, but when the gap is under 10, a rider with a good combination out of SP, HIL and ACC would win.
<!-- 10 SP + 3 ACC + 1 PL -1 MO + x END + random (1, 50) -->
<function name="Classification_Sprint_GapMoreThan10" log="2">
<!-- 4 SP + 6 HIL + 6 ACC + x END + 1 RES + random (1, 30) -->
<function name="Classification_Sprint_GapLessThan10" log="2">
So a last question, is there still such a thing like gap and you just can't edit it, or is it completely gone?
Interesting to know about the simulation, didn't know that either but makes more sense since the actual profile as far as I know is not considered there.
ppanther wrote:
So a last question, is there still such a thing like gap and you just can't edit it, or is it completely gone?
It's not completely gone (in fact it's not gone at all), but you just can't edit it anymore. As it has done since PCM10, the game calculates a time gap for the stage, but differently than PCM10-11, the game now takes this value directly from the stage files, instead of taking it from the DB.
lluuiiggii wrote:
Interesting to know about the simulation, didn't know that either but makes more sense since the actual profile as far as I know is not considered there.
Yes. It could be a stage with a lot of hard mountains, but if it would be labeled as flat and the gap value is 20, a sprinter would win it, so stage profile has nothing to do with it.
Good to hear that it's not completely gone, even though i think the game labels every flat stage with 20, so you can't simulate a hilly finish on flat stages anymore.
