First of all, I have started this topic in this section, because I have used Windows XP for testing GP500. But, this topic may concern people using Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 as well. If administrators believe that this topic should be moved to "The Guide –> Windows", it would be fine by me.

Introduction

Recently, I decided to go back to GP500 after many years. I have both European releases of the simulator: retail big box release and savapoint.com budget release. About 15 years ago, I had stored the patches I had found, but my archive did not contain an official patch. It seems that I had never installed one during the early years.

This topic is about finding information on the mysterious GP500 version 1.0.1185a, which can be installed from Update 1. But where this Update 1 can be found today?

* * *

The 1.0.1185a patch (Update 1)

One WineHQ's test report states that the 1.0.1185a patch is supplied on the disc.

nGlide compatibility list mentions that the patch (Update 1) is needed to be installed alongside using the "Windows 95 compatibility mode" to get the simulator to run properly with nGlide, but no link to the patch has been given.

The last available Wayback Machine's snapshot on 17th August 2001 15:41:47 states that there has not been a downloadable patch available for the simulator. But, there are no snapshots available between 2002–2012.

The unofficial info page does not mention the patch download either.

I have searched many other resources as well, and found nothing. It is hard to find a file with the name that is not mentioned on any of the still available web pages.

For those who are interested, I made a comparison between the two European releases. Those two discs do not supply the patch. The following part can be skipped if it is not interesting.

* * *

Disc info (European releases)

Both retail & budget version info on "About" page states:

GP500 SRevision: 1185 S SDate 3/09/99 4:56p S RTL
Build Date: Sep 1 1999 @ 21:40:05
MSVC++: 1200 Target: 500
GP Physics SRevision: 139 S

Retail:

Installed: Gp500.exe 273 KB (280 311 bytes) 6. September 1999, 3:14:20
On CD root: Gp500.exe 273 KB (280 311 bytes) 6. September 1999, 5:14:20

Product version info page states for both files: 1, 0, 0, 1185
Lower left hand corner on the main menu states: 1.0.1185

Notepad++'s Compare-plugin says: The files are identical.

Budget: Gp500.exe 1.72 MB (1 806 336 bytes) 3. September 1999 16:57:14

Product version info page states: 1, 0, 0, 1185
Lower left hand corner on the main menu states: 1.0.1185

Differences between CD's:

Comparing budget to retail:

Does not have:

.\00000001.TMP
.\00000809.016
.\00000809.256
.\clcd16.dll
.\clcd32.dll
.\clokspl.exe
dplayerx.dll
drvmgt.dll
.\Gp500.exe
.\GP500.ICD (On retail, along Gp500.exe, this file is installed to the HDD.)
.\secdrv.sys

Has:

.\Manual\ar40eng.exe
.\Manual\GP500 MANUAL.pdf

Differences between other files:

Retail: .\GP500\ReadMe.txt 8,60 KB (8 815 bytes) 1. September 1999, 21:16:40
Budget: .\GP500\ReadMe.txt 8,90 KB (9 120 bytes) 12. June 1998, 16:55:36

Note: The file on budget release has added information about manual on the disc.

ImgBurn reports shows that retail CD has artificially created unreadable sectors, while budget CD does not have them. Comparison between the contents shows that the copy protection has been handled differently on both CD's.

* * *

Windows 2000/XP(+) patch

On Windows 2000 and above, "Windows 95 compatibility mode" is needed to be used, but the simulator still suffers of random speed jumps between every two minutes. It can be partially fixed by using a slowdown program, but it does not cure the problem entirely.

So, later, an unofficial Windows 2000/XP patch was released:

Gp500 Windows Xp Full Patch Knobby.exe

Including:

GP500.exe 592 KB (606 208 bytes) 13. March 2003, 6:16:38

Product version info page states: 1, 0, 0, 1185
Lower left hand corner on the main menu states: 1.0.1185a

But the version info on "About" page states:

GP500 SRevision: 1185 S SDate 3/09/99 4:56p S RTL
Build Date: Sep 1 1999 @ 21:40:05
MSVC++: 1200 Target: 500
GP Physics SRevision: 139 S

(Same as aforementioned exe files.)

+

.\Gp-data.dkz
.\gp-languageEnglish.dkz
.\gp-languageFrench.dkz
.\gp-languageGerman.dkz
.\GP500.ICD
.\secdrv.sys
.\Data\GPEnglishstrings.txt

This patch does not cure the speed jumps. From my experience, even using a slowdown program effects better, even though not perfectly. I have also experienced one crash with the patch. Without the patch, I have never experienced any crashes.

* * *

Conclusion

My question is: What happened to the original 1.0.1185a patch (Update 1)?

According to MobyGames, an alternate release was released in UK. Does it include the patch? Or, is the patch released on CD's outside Europe? (I believe that MobyGames website does not cover every release of the simulator, the European budget release is not mentioned either.)

I believe that the original patch exists, but I wonder, why it is not available anywhere. Sure, it might have disappeared from many old websites, but it still must exist somewhere as, at least, the two European releases do not include the patch on the disc.

What comes to the Windows 2000/XP(+) patch, tw more questions comes to my mind:
- Does the unofficial patch include all of the resources that are included in the original patch? The remaining speed jumps and the crash I have had, indicates that the patch does not include all of the resources from the original patch, although I can not confirm this.
- If it has all the resources from the original patch, is it safe to be used under Windows 9x and Wine environments without side effects?

Anyway, it would be great to have the original patch available for everyone. GP500 is still great simulator for those who prefer driving on Win9x/2000/XP and those who prefer using newer operating systems or Wine.

Thanks.

EDIT (20th January 2021): Minor vocabulary checks.
EDIT (4th February 2021): Download link for Windows 2000/XP(+) patch provided.