Even though the cycling season has started it doesn't seem like there's much activity on the PCM scene. For the 2nd week in row we don't have much to report about, but we do at least have a little.
Capstar progresses with his 1980 DB Our sponsored project, the 1980 DB, is progressing. The stats are close to be finished, and the first tests have begun. Also, Capstar has announced that some races will have start lists, meaning that the peloton will be completely like the one in real life.
To read more about the exciting project, click "Project progress" in the right menu :)
New fixes for PPDB Europe 2006 Throughout the week the PPDB Team released a few more updates for their DB, PPDB Europe 2006. I've collected them into one package which contains the missing Swiag-Teka jersey, the missing Selle Italia mini jersey, new versions of Tour Med and Castilla y Léon which could cause the game to crash in the 2nd year, new legwarmers for Miche and Panaria and a updated version of Driedaagse De Panne.
The pack can of course be found in our Downloads section.
PCM Kicker Lite now also available on PCM.daily The most advanced editor for PCM, PCM Kicker Lite, has now been made available on PCM.daily. Actually, I already thought it was, but when scanning through the Download section I noticed it wasn't. Now, it is, though, and if you want to learn how to use it you can always read our PCM Kicker Lite Tutorial writting by Dankan.
New tool by Jape Jape, who is already known for his save game editor, has now released a new useful tool - the Objectives tool. Basically, it makes editing the team's objectives a lot easier than what we have seen before. It also has a built-in TGA-browser which can be used to track wrongly linked TGA-files - so, basically, this new tool is very useful for DB-makers.
2007 Shirt Package A lot of people have requested a pack containing all the 2007 shirts - well, here they are. It contains 41 shirts, and extra material for some teams like accessories, cadres and national champion jerseys. The pack is frequently updated, but the current package is version 4, and it can be downloaded by clicking here.
Danish Championships - now official In November and December, we reported about the unofficial Danish championships. Now, the same website, PCMGeeks.dk, has been chosen to be the organizer of the official Danish Championships. Currently, not much information has been given, but registration has started. If you want to participate, head over to our Links section and find PCMGeeks ;)
The first milestone of PCM.daily has been reached - the 10th edition of the Weekly News! It's not worth celebrating before we reach #100, though, but when we do that we will definately invite you to a party ;) This week has not really been a week of news. I've desperately tried to find anything to write about, but it hasn't been easy.
Activate your game more than three times - new article Now when others don't make the news I guess I have to create them myself. Therefore, I wrote an article today, explaining how to activate the downloaded version of Pro Cycling Manager more than the three allowed times. It's a very easy thing to do, and if you want to read more, click here: http://www.pcmdaily.com/readarticle.php?article_id=12
Get your photo in the game - another new article Yep - the same concept as before. If there are no news, make them yourself ;) I've uploaded a guide which explains how to get your own photo in the game instead of the boring, anonymous one. To read the guide, click here: http://www.pcmdaily.com/readarticle.php?article_id=13
123 people have voted - did you vote yet? Our most popular poll until now, the TDF-poll, has currently made 123 people give their opinion. Did you vote yet?
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Honestly, I don't have anything to say. Have a nice week, friends, and lets hope for a more interesting week.
Well, first of all, happy Valentine's day for those who care about that day. As a present for you all, Focus, the official distributor, has made a guide to make the game work on the newly released Windows Vista:
"Install and run PCM2006 on Windows Vista :
1. Please insert the PCM2006 CD and click Install button. 2. Wait while Windows Vista is checking the game installation (SETUP.EXE file). 3. If you cannot install the Game Center, please click Cancel. 4. Do not run PCM2006. 5. Please download and install the 1.0.0.8 update for PCM2006 http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49305 6. Open Computer. 7. Open C:\Program Files\Cyanide\Pro Cycling Manager - Season 2006 folder. 8. Right mouse click on PCM (PCM.EXE) file and click Run as administrator. 9. Restart the computer. 10. Click the following link to download the latest protection drivers update http://www.star-force.com/support/sfdrvup.zip 11. Open SFDRVUP.ZIP and run SFDRVUP.EXE. 12. Click OK to restart the computer. 13. Run PCM2006 by double-clicking the shortcut on the Desktop.
About the online gaming, if you cannot see the online games, please press ALT+TAB keys to display the Desktop. If PCM2006 is locked by the Windows Firewall, please unlock it. Press again ALT+TAB to go back to PCM2006."
As I mentioned in the Weekly News #9, the winner of the stage creation contest have been found. The winner can now call himself 2nd time world champion in stage making, because he also won last year - the winner is I-Chezidek, followed by Thune (who also ended 2nd last year), and newcomer Belokiller.
This is how it ended: 1 I-Chezidek (1st last year) 2 Thune (2nd last year) 3 Belokiller 4 Jaap60 5 Florentlatortue 6 Hopla 7 EdouardG
And here's the official "judgement" on the three first. Translation is (again) made by Aquarius - a huge "thank you" to him again:
"I-Chezidek : An impressive number of AP (Altitude Points), which were maybe not all well-justified, but overall, the relief rendering looks very nice. The roads main is almost perfect and there are various and well-realised kinds of curves. Everything is well integrated into the landscape, with even some tunnels and anti-avalanche shield tunnels alongside cliffs (even if the remarks above can apply here). The decorating elements are used on purpose, with, among others, the presence of the station at the second montain, even though some more camping cars or tents close to the top of mountains would have been appreciated. The summits of the first and third mountains are very good, though, the second one is a tone lower. Among the negative points, some AP way to big to render the sea (radius of 50 000) need to be mentioned, which begot a sea-flood in my game (only at me it seems, but removing those AP solved the problem). Some towns spread onto the rivers look quite ugly too. The first river is also problematic around its beginning (it begins too high) and in its end (the bridge across doesn't even stand into the water). Eventually, we regret the little lack of forests, even though we must mention that those that are present are well-located.
Thune : Among the positive aspects, the descent of the second mountain and the general looking of the stage are noticeable. The forests are also well-mastered. The roads main is quite food, but some curves are too tight, that's damageable. The Glandon lakes are good-looking. Though, I regret the lack of the Isère river after the Madeleine as well as the summit of the Croix de Fer which isn't surrounded by AP. The cul-de-sac valleys harm the realism of the stage, and, beware, there lacks flat sections between uphill and downhill parts in the profile.
We might have started a new week, but that doesn't mean you won't have any Weekly News ;) The tradition continues upon a very interesting week.
Compatibility problems with Vista A lot have reported that Pro Cycling Manager 06 and Windows Vista simply don't work with each other, mainly because of the Starforce drivers. However, on Starforce's website you'll see that they advertise with their product being "Vista Certified". Therefore, it seems like that the Starforce program included with PCM 06 is outdated and will have to be updated. Currently, there's no solution, though.
Explanation of case between PCM.daily and PPDB Some of you might have noticed that PPDB and I had a misunderstanding during the release of PPDB Europe - this is how I experienced it: The day before the release, it's announced on the public forum of PPDB that there's going to be released a database. And since it's announced in public I suppose the DB will be public too. The following day, the database is released. Savoldelli, a forum member of PPDB, says in the topic that he's going to mirror it which makes me think that it's a public release - so I announce it at a few other sites, including PCM.daily, of course. However, it then later turns out that the DB isn't a public release, and I decide to remove links and files from the places I've posted it.
I'm of course deeply sorry of what has happened. My action does, however, in no way legimitate the things which have been said afterwards.
Updates for the PPDB Europe 2006 When the PPDB Europe was released some bugs were already known. After the release, the PPDB-team has worked on solving those bugs, and that has now resulted in three updates.
The first update was released to the public Saturday, fixing some race names which for some reason didn't work with the Spanish and Italian versions of the game. It also solved the trainer problem which was known when the database was released. Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=121
Last, but not least, is an update of the Rundum den Elm-race which - because of a typo - crashed. To install the update, simply extract the file to the CM_Stages-directory and overwrite the existing file. Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=123
Also, there's a problem with the 2007-edition of Tour Mediteaneen: "There seems to be a problem with the 2007 stages for the Tour Méditeranéen, in the second year of your career they make the game crash. Untill we found a solution, please remove the following files from your CM_Stages\variant folder: Tour Méditerranéen.rules.xml Tour Méditerranéen_01.descr.xml
by simply removing them the problem is solved and the game will use the 2006-stages for this race. "
Winners of the Stage Creation Contest have been found As we reported on the 5th of December 2006, Cyanide had initiated a competition to find out who the best stage maker really is - and now, the winner has been found. The winner is - for the 2nd time in row - I-Chezidek. He also won last year, and this year he followed up on the triumph by winning again.
On 2nd place came Thune, and third was Belokiller. Noticeable is it that Thune also was 2nd last year.
We will have much more information on the results when the offical statement has been translated to English ;)
RSM News DB 1.3 released The most popular 2007 DB is currently the RSM News DB. It has now been updated to 1.3 which means that it now has even more transfers and is even more realistic. In the new DB you'll also see a new team, Amore e Vita, and you will notice that all transfers up until the 6th of February are included.
RSM Profiler updated The stage creation tool, RSM Profiler, has been "dead" for long, but its author, Arkon, suddenly aroused it. The program is used to create profiles of the stages which can be done with only very few clicks on the mouse. With the update, the program is now fully compatible with the latest patch.
I-Chezidek (1st last year)
) are well-mastered (except for the use of a road-map, but that has been solved now 
) 
