PPN Charts / Sterns Charts ?

[Art Dunn]

Thanks! Got the sheet. Unless I (or anyone for that matter) comes up with something else, I'm going to try to randomize a bunch of 26 car, 3 lane, 2 run sets and try and combine them and run them through the Chart Checker and see what I can get. Short of that, I do know of any other way to go with this. All I need to do is get a reasonable way to get the top 7 scouts and then we run a 14 heat CPN to determine trophys.

[Art Dunn]

Cory - just wondering if you've come up with a better way to for us to schedule these races. I've tried many times (and am still trying) to get two sets of randomized PPN's of 26 cars on 3 lanes (2 runs) merged together to get a good enough split for all involved. Any help at this point would be a more than helpful

[Cory]

Cory - just wondering if you've come up with a better way to for us to schedule these races. I've tried many times (and am still trying) to get two sets of randomized PPN's of 26 cars on 3 lanes (2 runs) merged together to get a good enough split for all involved. Any help at this point would be a more than helpful

3-round PPN generators for 3 lanes appear to be plentiful, if you'd be willing to settle for 9 races per boy.

4-round PPN generators are not as easy to find it turns out.

I can add the 3-rounders to the DLL and send you a copy if you like. And I'll keep looking for the 4-rounders. There is always the possibility that they simply don't exist, but I'm semi-optimistic that they do, and can be found.

[gpraceman]

3-round PPN generators for 3 lanes appear to be plentiful, if you'd be willing to settle for 9 races per boy.

4-round PPN generators are not as easy to find it turns out.

I can add the 3-rounders to the DLL and send you a copy if you like. And I'll keep looking for the 4-rounders. There is always the possibility that they simply don't exist, but I'm semi-optimistic that they do, and can be found.

I get quite a few GPRM users asking about charts with more runs per lane, so I'd definitely be interested if you come out with a new DLL.

[Cory]

I get quite a few GPRM users asking about charts with more runs per lane, so I'd be interested if you come out with a new DLL.

Yep, I'll post new DLL versions at the Pack 146 site any time we add new generators or functionality, and we'll let folks know with a post here at DerbyTalk.

Plugging new generators into the DLL or the JavaScript is easy. It's finding the generators to plug in which is the challenge.

So anyone out there who wants to contribute to the search for generators is welcome to do so. Most of the generators are due to Stan, although there have been other contributors, such as MathGuy and myself.

[Cory]

Art, I'm starting to have success finding 4-rounders for 3-lanes.

I should be able to get something out within a day or so.

[Art Dunn]

Great news

Even if we only had the 3 rounds, that'd be better than what I've been able to come up with. 4 rounds would be amazing.

Our derby goes off on the 18th so I'm ready to test anything you have.

[Art Dunn]

I should also mention we are using GPRM (we'll be upgrading to v5.0 in the next few days) which we absolutely love for running the races. We're using a wooden track that was constructed by one of the fathers and we're using a timer that I built from a kit (Son of a cheap kit timer). We run a projector that shows the screen on one of our walls and the kids just LOVE seeing their scale MPH shown!

[Cory]

I should also mention we are using GPRM (we'll be upgrading to v5.0 in the next few days) which we absolutely love for running the races. We're using a wooden track that was constructed by one of the fathers and we're using a timer that I built from a kit (Son of a cheap kit timer). We run a projector that shows the screen on one of our walls and the kids just LOVE seeing their scale MPH shown!

Unless GPRM has specific pre-conceived notions as to what charts are available from the DLL, this should not be a problem.

Most developers that employ the DLL set "loose boundaries" around what the end-user can request. They forward user requests to the DLL and react appropriately to the DLL's responses.

[Cory]

Art, new version of the DLL is contained in the spreadsheet ZIP file located here:

http://pack146.nova.org/pinewood/software.html

Have a look. There are 3-lane 4-rounders from 21 cars to 30 cars, including Stan's 25 car PN chart.

I'd make a backup of PPN.DLL first. After that, you should be able to simply overlay whatever copy of PPN.DLL you're pointed to, and then run your software.

Randy or anybody else, any particular size groups your folks are interested in?

If not, then I guess we'll just start hammering through them, starting with 3 lanes.

[gpraceman]

Unless GPRM has specific pre-conceived notions as to what charts are available from the DLL, this should not be a problem.

Most developers that employ the DLL set "loose boundaries" around what the end-user can request. They forward user requests to the DLL and react appropriately to the DLL's responses.

This is the same with GPRM.

Randy or anybody else, any particular size groups your folks are interested in?

3 and 4 lane tracks are the most common so that is a good place to start. According to the poll on my GrandPrix Software Central website, close to 50% of the tracks are 4 lane and the next closest is 3 lanes at 22%. I don't know which particular groups sizes are most common, since it can vary widely.

http://grandprix-software-central.com/p ... s&pollid=7

[Art Dunn]

Just tried the new PPN.DLL and EUREKA - now all we have to do is update the GPRM software and we're racing!

Thanks again to everyone especially Stan and Cory for saving my job as the derby organizer. This will make me look like a hero.

[Cory]

Just tried the new PPN.DLL and EUREKA - now all we have to do is update the GPRM software and we're racing!

Thanks again to everyone especially Stan and Cory for saving my job as the derby organizer. This will make me look like a hero.

The 3-lane 4-rounders appear to "stabilize" with numCars in the low 30s. I still have to check them all as there are sometimes some exception cases, but it makes encoding them in the DLL easier because of the nifty way Stan implemented it.

The 4-lane 4 rounders will be another matter, I can already tell that we will "hit the wall" when numCars gets high enough.

As I sort of said above, this new DLL should work fine with the version of GPRM you currently have. You just have to figure out the location of the copy of PPN.DLL that Randy's software is using, and replace it with this new copy, if you haven't done that already.

[gpraceman]

As I sort of said above, this new DLL should work fine with the version of GPRM you currently have. You just have to figure out the location of the copy of PPN.DLL that Randy's software is using, and replace it with this new copy, if you haven't done that already.

Art,

The DLL is located in the Windows\system or Windows\system32 folder, depending on which version of Windows you are running. I would make a backup of the existing file before putting the new one in, just as a precautionary fallback.

[Cory]

The DLL is located in the Windows\system or Windows\system32 folder, depending on which version of Windows you are running. I would make a backup of the existing file before putting the new one in, just as a precautionary fallback.

Just another general note...it is probably best to not to have several copies of PPN.DLL on your machine. Depending on where they are, you may not be accessing the version you think you are accessing.

In your case, Art, I would eliminate all copies except the one that GPRM uses. As long as Randy's copy is in the "windows" or "system" directory, any other software will find it just fine.