On the bottom of the first post is a link to the Start It Old files. It opens a media fire folder. Search for what download you'd like and download from there. I would recommend just downloading the new link v2.300 as it fixes many bugs that the mod had.

Hi MJ--

I redownloaded 2.30, reinstalled the mods, and then opened the _courses.dat files with a text editor -- changed nothing -- and was able to play through to the end of the season!

Unfortunately the game crashes after the awards without an error message, but it doesn't seem to be course-related.

Thanks for all your work with these mods. They make the game for me.

--Juli

Juli,
I've had that problem before as well. I contacted Mark and he was able to fix it. I would recommend contacting him for help.

Maybe one of these days I'll get back to doing my horse skin edits. I was toying around with mane/tail colors the other day so now have the default black, brown/chestnut, grey, and white mane/tail options. Mark would have to alter the game to read all of them, though. Otherwise, you'd have to pick 1 color, and black horses with the non-black mane look strange. Was going to dabble with the horse skins after ... but then I got drawn back into World of Warcraft. Got a million and one things going on in that game so between that and real life, haven't really gotten back to my edits. New patch hit for World of Warcraft today so I won't be getting to my horse skins any time soon unless Blizzard really ticks me off ... again. I'd bet someone else beats me to it, though. Lot of talented people here, I'm sure.

If the tack and saddle cloths were a separate file from the horses, I'd be happy since those would be super easy to edit. Because they're attached to the horse, the large issue is figuring out what combinations to release with each horse. Suppose I could just do a rainbow. The darkest color (black) gets a red cloth while white gets purple with the greys, browns, bays, and chestnuts get the colors in between. I'd also be happier if the horse eyes weren't part of the bridle texture. Really unsettling to try to make a white bridle only for the horse to look blind. Even if I make the spot where the eye gets its texture from brown or black, the bridle looks strange because it now has dark spots every few inches. Then the chest piece strap (honestly not sure on the name since it's not really used in American flat racing) takes its texture from two spots on opposite sides of the texture and blends them for some reason.

The horse skins are a bit of an annoying puzzle. I downloaded the k3d program hoping I could open the horse model to see how the texture laid out without loading up the game every edit, but I can't open the file. Either it's encrypted or an older version of the program was used to make the horses. I was also hoping perhaps I could remap it so I could make horses with odd white feet or something, but that's not happening. Maybe someone else can figure that out. This is partly why I gave up the last time. Editing the texture, loading up the game, hoping the race I run has the horse color I edited, and then run the race to see how the texture looks only to find something else was wrong got daunting. I'd rather load the horse up in a modelviewer so I can rotate it and see all the angles, then edit and reload the model as needed. I'd be happy if the horses had 3D models in the game we could click and view rather than loading up a race.

Even if I do get back to my horse skins, I'll probably just do generic horses with no markings. Way too many combinations and variations. And with the horses being mirrored from one side to the other (meaning 1 or 3 white feet is not possible), unmarked horses would be easiest. So that would mean my original intention of taking requests won't be possible. But if I (or someone else) do generic horse colors, people can edit them themselves to have whatever markings they like. Just takes some photo editing knowledge to do it. The horses aren't HD so you don't have to be perfect with the editing. This is a good game to get into learning how to edit textures because mistakes aren't as obvious.

To put it simply: I dabbled with the horse skins but got frustrated with them. Whoever gives it a try next, best of luck. I might go back to them later on, but I'm a bit busy at the moment.

I get where you are coming from. If I did skins, all of the horses would look really cartoonish. I don't have the ability to do fur and make them look decently good. I was able to get saddle cloths down, and I really like the burgundy ones. I did make another one where each horse color is assigned a saddle cloth color based on the US cloth colors, but got weird when there were like 10 red saddle cloths... At least the numbers now reflect the US colors, which makes it so much easier to find a horse if I don't remember the silks since I have the saddle cloth colors memorized (or at least the first 12). I'm sure Mark will add more in SO7 which would be nice... I wish he didn't have them mirrored tho... same with silks... Wish you could do front and back and not have it mirrored instead of just half the front and half the back.

Sorry that it has been taking so long for this course pack to come out. I haven't been home much this past week so I haven't had the time. I promise I'll get them out soon tho!

Hey MJ, would you know what it means when the game crashes when its trying to load up the next season, like when it is trying to load up the retired and new 2yr olds the whole game closes with no error message. Is there a file that I need to check for or that I'm missing?

Contact Mark with your game save. I had this problem before. It started up right after coming out of beta. He was able to fix it for me. Some graphics problem. And don't worry, your save will be fine. The file does not require a new save nor is that save corrupt.

Ok Thanks

Hi Davi, how did it go with Mike?

Harness Tracks (Pack 1) are almost done. Probably out by end of the week. Then comes Pack 2 as well as the Harness Schedule Files. After that will be a few international courses that get fancied up for their biggest meet or most prestigious race.
That is the final set of courses that is planned. I added a poll asking what country/region should be done after that. I know some countries aren't truly in the region specified, but it was the best way to organize them.

Start It 2.31 Update is Now Up!
Includes the first pack of harness tracks, Kranji, Happy Valley, Ascot, Epsom, Newmarket, and Longchamp (for their big meets), as well as a new Keeneland for the Breeders Cup. Just a fair warning about the Breeders Cup Keeneland, there is not way to make it not host races during the year besides the Breeders Cup. However, none of the Keeneland stakes races are at the new Keeneland (entitled Breeders Cup @ Keeneland). If you don't want to use it, just remove it from your courses file and chance the course of each Breeders Cup race back to just Keeneland.
Also included is the sales schedule. It use, just put in your Starters Orders 6>exports>schedules>2 folder in documents to use. There are a few sales meetings throughout the year, which gives you the chance to by Grade 1 caliber horses during the season (they just need to win the race to be up for auction). In order to by them, go to the races on the day of the sale, simulate to the end of the day (or watch the races if you want to get the full sales feel), and then bid for them at the auction. It is the only way to have sales during the season that will get you better horses than just sellers.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any problems with this update, just comment here.

Hey MJ how does the harness schedule work. Is it a seperate schedule than the thurobred? Or is it combined like UK does? I'd like to check it up but don't want to mess up my Thurobred Save.

Thanks

The harness schedule is not released yet. It will be a separate folder to the thoroughbred. All you do is renamed the thoroughbred 2 folder and name the harness 2 folder as 2, make a save, and there you go. Then you can switch the folder names back and not worry about the saves. Mark made SO6 with the ability for saves to remember the files they used, allowing you to edit them (or delete them) without hurting your save. The harness schedule will be released with the rest of the harness courses. I've been testing it right now and so far it is amazing!

Thanks MJ. When you release this can you give me a little help on getting it to work. I tried the quarterhorse schedule when it came out and couldn't get it to work. Ended up messing up my thurobred and had to reinstall the game. So i don't want to have that issue again with the harness.

Thanks