Frequently Asked Questions

- check the parallel port address : should be the same as the parallel port address specified in the hardware configuration panel. Ex : LPT1 is usually 0x378.

Configuration panel -> System -> Hardware -> Ports -> Parallel port -> Properties -> Resources

- check the software running mode is XP/2000/NT. Check racer30.exe properties in UR30 installation folder. It must not run in mode W95 or W98.

First start failed : request to install MDAC

UR30 uses MDAC and Jet 4.0 for Windows to access its MS Access database. It must be installed on your system before running UR30.

MDAC stands for Microsoft Data Access Components. It provides miscellaneous data access interface. Jet 4.0 for Windows is the Microsoft data access engine for MS Access databases. You can dowload this package from Microsoft MDAC web site.

MDAC

MDAC 2.8
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8 contains core Data Access components such as the Microsoft SQL Server OLE DB provider and ODBC driver. This redistributable installer for the MDAC 2.8 release installs the same Data Access components as Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

Jet 4.0 for Windows

Jet 4.0 SP8 for Windows 2003
Jet 4.0 SP8 for Windows XP
Jet 4.0 SP8 for Windows 2000
Jet 4.0 SP8 for Windows 95/98/NT 4.0
Jet 4.0 Service Pack 7 for Windows Millennium Edition
Jet 3.51 Service Pack 3

UR30 uses MS Jet 4.0 by default. In case of failure, it attempts MS Jet 3.51.

How to extract UR30 data ?

UR30 uses a MS Access database. This database is available in the installation folder .\racer\database\slotcar30.mdb.

This database is not protected.It can be opened with any office tool like Excel or MS Access.

Caution : manual change of data inside the database may break data consistency and cause program failures.

Thus always backup the database before doing any changes. Check carefully table relations before.

Some database predefined queries such as RaceLapList can be used to easily extract all race lap details.

How to customize racing panes ?

1 - Go into : Configure Hardware & Circuit -> General

2 - select either Header to customize Headers or Race pane to customize race panes

3 - select the pane you want to customize

4 - click twice on the pane to switch to UR30 editor and edit the pane

5 - change the pane at your convenience : click twice on an object pane to change its race mode behavior property.

6 - the list of race object pane properties are fully detailed in UR30 documentation

UR30 hangs at start up with error message : "Visual C++ Library - Runtime Error!!!"

Update your system with the latest version of MDAC (rev 2.7 minimal). You can also download it from Microsoft support web site.

Note : the latest MDAC package needs at least IExplorer rev 6.0 installed on your computer. You can also download IExplorer 6.0 from Microsoft support web site.

Scalex Sport Track library is missing :(

Added in rev 3.0.05b. Dowload the new release if u have an old one!.

UR30 does not count laps correctly. Help!!!

1 - check you're using UR30 3.0.08. Some users experienced troubles with 3.0.07.

2 - open "Setup" View. The parallel port status is displayed on the top right side of the view. Check the pin switch between green and gray when a slot car is detected or not. If it works, go to section 4.

3 - check the parallel port address (usually 0x378 but may change on some other boxes). Enable its use if not done. If the address is correct and the port is enabled... there is a issue with the hardware.

4 - good new : UR30 is able to detect parallel port events. Now check the minimal lap count (near the circuit name). It is in milliseconds. It depends on the average duration of your laps. Ex : if your best last is around 4 secs, then put 3000 in Min. lap. This is an anti-cheater feature. Any laps below minlap are nor counted in order to avoid cheating...

5 - do you use the sensors correctly ? The first lap is never counted. It's used to initialize the lap counter. Only the following laps will be counted. Thus always put the slot car before the sensor before starting a race.

6 - check the pin number corresponds to the right lane. You should from the "Race setup" view the led switching between green and gray when a slot car is detected on the lane. The pin number attached to a lane should correspond to the parallel port pin status.

Is UR30 compliant with Scalextric RMS ?

Yes, it is.

Enable the RMS sensor in the hardware setup.

I experienced crashes in a shared tournament today with Windows ME on my old laptop (P266)

Fix : "I just did a short shared tournament with Bonnie-Sue after installing the latest JET and MDAC. Everything worked perfectly!"

Thx Van ;).

What is the optimum size for UR driver and car avatars ?

Slotcar picture size is 278x175 width x height pixels. Driver picture size is 255x245 width x height pixels.

BUT that's not really critical. UR30 always keeps the original picture width/height ratio and resize the original picture to make it fit as best as possible the available space. U can test ;)

Is it possible to use a serial port or two parallel port to manage 8 lanes ?

Current revision of UR30 can not manage 8 lanes with the serial port but parallel port does.

With rev 3.0.25. Configure the parallel port as Centronix port in the bios, then UR30 handles pins 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Otherwise, use 2 parallel ports. Default managed input pins : 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15.

Parallel port pins 2 to 9 are always handled as output pins (eg : external lane power supply control or external light control).

How can I change the number of configuration bulls/pinions in the slot car view ?

To change the default number of bull values :

1 - open Racer30.ini file in the Windows directory

2 - add following line in the slot car section :

BullTeeth=23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41

3 - the slotcar section will look like this :

[SlotCar]

BullTeeth=23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41

/.../ other key fields of the section

4 - save the file

5 - restart UR30

I was unable to find where the texture section is described in the help file ?

Open the online help, then search for "Texture syntax" in the help index, then select corresponding page. Texture formats are described there.

Windows 2000 : the laps are not stored in database, the lane are white, the default race driver names are not displayed. Huh ?

This is an issue with the MS Jet Engine. UR30 does not access its database correctly.

1 - check your system is up to date, at least the last SP is installed

2 - install MDAC 2.8 (see above)

What's the development tool used to developed UR30 ?

UR30 is developed with Visual Studio.net in MFC/C++/C. C is used to manage all hardware interfaces.

The access database is managed thru the ADO layer and the MS Jet engine.

How to merge several track libraries together ?

You can use Exclusive and Universal libraries by loading them separately then make your changes. If you want to create only one library, you can create a new library file merging these 2 libraries.

The libraries are located in folder "library" in ur30 installation folder (racer). These are text files => you can edit them with the notepad.

The library header contains the library defaults (name, default size, full description). Then each section corresponds to a track definition. So create a copy of one existing library, then add to this file the other library track section definitions with copy & paste, change the file name & library name. Then save.

Next time you'll open the library loading dialogue you'll see your new library.

When I tried to build a same circuit in UR30 editor, I could not get the track to join, with the same sections...

The real life section tracks u use are in plastic, so you can 'force' to join them :

Track layout designers use software track sections... they're not in plastic so you can not force them to have a perfect attach, except in some cases where the track layout are perfectly symetrical (like the "8").

Can I delete cheap laps from the database with MS Access ?

Yes. Proceed as follow :

1) close ur30

2) open its database : SlotCar30.mdb

3) delete cheat laps with access from the lap table

4) close the database

5) make a copy of this file from the explorer and rename it (Ex : SlotCar30_deleted_lap.mdb)

6) restart ur30

SlotCar30_deleted_lap will remain available for future restores, otherwise just save your current database just after having restarted ur30 ;)

So far I did not find a way to display the current fuel level during the race. Is there a way ?

Yes : enable the refuel feature in the race setup view.

The refueling speed and the slot car average number of laps between 2 refuels at the pit stop are configured for each slot car in the main slot car view.

By default the refuel speed is setup to 5 seconds and the lap autonomy to 5 (with an average speed of 3 m/s).

Track lengths are not correctly converted from meters to feet in the race system.

Indeed I sent an official enhancement request to the US and British gouvernements to migrate from the old empire measurement system to the metric system. After a great dinner with Mr G.W Bush and Mr T. Blair at the White House we agreed after several hours of hard negotiations it would be easier first to fix the bug in UR30.

Fixed in rev 3.0.11.

Why can't I copy the track layout into the "picture" screen of the race setup ?

The process is manual.
- Save the track layout from the editor
- switch into the race system
- open setup->picture view
- click on "..." button
- select your saved file as the circuit picture

How to connect LEDs on parallel port ?

Click there!