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NR SEASON GENERATOR v1.5
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NR Season Generator is a free utility for creating, editing, and exporting
NR2003 championship schedules using the tracks already installed on your PC.

This also includes Track Manager, which helps organize active and archived track
collections, inspect track data, and activate or deactivate tracks safely.


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REQUIREMENTS
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- Windows
- NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
- .NET Framework 4.8
- Valid NR2003 track folders containing track.ini

NRSG does not include tracks, cars, mods, or other game assets.


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QUICK START
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1. Open NR Season Generator.
2. Select Generate Season.
3. Choose your active NR2003 Tracks folder when prompted.
4. Choose a Track Pool, Schedule Style, and Organization.
5. Configure the remaining season options.
6. Click Generate Season.
7. Review or manually edit the schedule.
8. Click ...Boogity, lets go racing! to export season.ini.

Important:
- NR2003 uses track folder names inside season.ini. Do not damage or rename the
  folder structure after creating a schedule.
- Only use tracks you know work correctly in NR2003. NRSG cannot repair a broken
  track or prevent the game from crashing when a track itself is faulty.
- Keep a backup of your tracks and NRSG Data folder.


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SEASON GENERATOR
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TRACK POOL

Track Pool controls which installed tracks are eligible for the generated
schedule.

Available pools include:

- All Tracks
- Fantasy Tracks
- Short Tracks
- Mile Ovals
- Medium Ovals
- Long Ovals
- Superspeedways
- Road Courses
- Dirt Tracks


SCHEDULE STYLES

Schedule Styles controls how venues are chosen.

Balanced
- Creates a varied schedule from the selected Track Pool while respecting the
  configured minimum track-type race counts.

Random
- Selects races randomly from the eligible Track Pool.

Real Season Mix
- Uses the track-type rhythm of a selected real NASCAR season while filling the
  schedule with eligible tracks from your own installed collection.

Historical Season
- Loads the actual race order for a selected series and year and attempts to
  match each event to tracks installed on your PC.


ORGANIZATION

Organization controls the final venue order.

NASCAR Style
- Arranges the selected races into a NASCAR-inspired flow.

East to West
- Orders recognized U.S. locations from east to west.

West to East
- Orders recognized U.S. locations from west to east.

Random
- Shuffles the final race order.

Tracks with unrecognized, international, or fictional locations remain in the
schedule and are placed after recognized U.S. locations in geographic modes.


MAIN OPTIONS

- Series and Year select the reference or historical season when needed.
- Minimum Track-Type Races applies to Balanced schedules.
- Vary Track Types can help reduce long runs of similar track types when using
  Random Organization.
- Allow Repeat Venues permits selected venues to appear more than once.
- Repeat visits are spaced apart whenever possible.

The generated schedule can be edited before export. Tracks can be replaced,
rows can be selected and reordered, and race names, laps, and dates can be
edited before the finished season.ini is created.

P / F / D tags identify verified Papyrus stock tracks, Fantasy tracks, and Dirt
surface tracks.

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HISTORICAL SEASONS
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The bundled historical database includes:

- NASCAR Cup Series: 1949-2026
- NASCAR Xfinity / Busch Series: 1982-2026
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: 1995-2026

Historical Season:

- Loads the actual race order for the selected series and year.
- Uses the correct series name for that season.
- Highlights missing tracks in red.
- Supports alternate versions and historical names for the same venue.
- Allows missing events to be replaced with installed tracks.
- Auto-fill Best Match attempts to find suitable installed replacements.
- Reset Historical restores the original historical schedule.

Using replacements changes the schedule label from Historical to Modified
Historical.

Selected rows use a grey highlight with white text and a thin red outline.
Dirt tracks are identified with the D tag instead of a full-row dirt color.


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TRACK CLASSIFICATION
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NRSG keeps Track Type, INI Chassis Type, and Surface separate. These values do
not mean the same thing and are not forced to match.

TRACK TYPE

Track Type is read directly from [track] track_type in track.ini:

0 = Short Track
1 = Mile Oval
2 = Medium Oval
3 = Long Oval
4 = Superspeedway
5 = Road Course

A valid track_type is not replaced by a guess based on track length, folder
name, surface, or chassis setting.

INI CHASSIS TYPE

INI Chassis Type is read separately from [track] chassis_type:

1 = Plate Superspeedway
2 = Speedway
3 = Short Track
4 = Road Course
5 = Unrestricted Superspeedway

Creators may intentionally use an unusual chassis type to change power or car
behavior. NRSG preserves that choice and does not try to correct it.

INI Chassis Type is not the same as the Cup, CTS, GNS, or PTA player physics
packages.

SURFACE

Surface is shown separately as:

- Asphalt
- Concrete
- Asphalt / Concrete
- Dirt
- Mixed
- Unknown

NR2003 does not provide one simple global surface value in track.ini. When
possible, NRSG examines the physical material beneath the racing line. Dirt or
grass located only in the infield, runoff, or pit area does not make a paved
track a dirt track.

Dirt remains separate from Track Type. A dirt short track still counts as a
Short Track for Track Type and as Dirt for Surface.

Unknown / INI Error is used when required information is missing, invalid, or
cannot be determined reliably. Track Manager allows manual Type and Surface
overrides, which are saved separately from the original track files.


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TRACK MANAGER
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Track Manager is optional. Season Generator can be used by itself without
setting up or enabling Track Manager.

Track Manager is designed to make it easy to browse a large NR2003 collection,
see which tracks are available to the game, and safely activate, deactivate, or
reactivate working track folders.

FIRST-TIME SETUP AND PREFERENCES

The first time Track Manager is opened, NRSG displays the Track Manager
Preferences window. The user chooses a Track Archive Library, the Active NR2003
Tracks folder to manage, and one of the management modes below.

A Preferences button remains available at the top of Track Manager so these
folders and modes can be reviewed or changed later.

TRACK MANAGEMENT MODES

Managed Safe Mode (Recommended)
- NRSG creates a visible NRSG Deactivated Tracks folder beside the selected
  Active NR2003 Tracks folder.
- Saving Preferences creates only the empty Deactivated Tracks folder when
  needed. No track folders are moved during setup.
- NRSG handles Activate, Deactivate, and Reactivate operations for the user.

Custom Destination
- Works like Managed Safe Mode, but the user chooses where the Deactivated
  Tracks folder is located.
- Active Tracks and Deactivated Tracks must be on the same drive.
- NRSG handles Activate, Deactivate, and Reactivate operations for the user.

External Management
- NRSG never copies, moves, deletes, or overwrites track folders.
- The user manages track folders in Windows Explorer and then clicks Refresh so
  Track Manager can recognize the changes.

Use Season Generator Only
- Track Manager remains unconfigured and no Track Manager folders are required.
- Season Generator continues to work normally using the selected active NR2003
  Tracks folder.

TRACK LOCATIONS AND FILE MOVEMENT

- Track Archive: Library points to the user's stored collection of track folders.

- Active NR2003: Tracks points to the tracks folder currently used by the game.

- Deactivated Tracks stores preserved working copies outside the game's active
  tracks folder when Managed Safe Mode or Custom Destination is used.

- Archive, Active, and Deactivated locations must be separate and cannot overlap
  or be placed inside one another.

- Activate: copies an Archive track into Active Tracks. The Archive copy remains
  unchanged.

- Deactivate: moves the complete active working folder into Deactivated Tracks.
  This preserves track.ini edits, AI and LP changes, cameras, textures, setups,
  and other files changed while the track was active.

- Reactivate: moves that preserved working folder from Deactivated Tracks back
  into Active Tracks instead of copying the original Archive version again.

- Active and Deactivated Tracks to be on the same volume.

- Existing destination folders are never silently overwritten.

- The active-track counter shows usage against NR2003's 128-track limit.

BROWSING AND ORGANIZATION

Track Manager has three primary tabs:

- Archive Library
- Active Tracks
- Deactivated Tracks

The filesystem is authoritative. Tracks added, removed, or moved outside NRSG
are recognized during normal refresh and inventory checking.

Track Manager provides two browser views:

Venue Cards
- Groups layouts, eras, surfaces, and releases from the same racing facility
  under one venue card.
- Multiple venue cards can remain expanded at the same time.
- Expanding a venue shows the track versions available in the current tab.

Venue List
- Shows all track versions matching the current tab and filters in one master
  list.
- Uses the same columns, status controls, editing tools, row styling, and
  right-click actions as an expanded venue card.

Live search and filters are available for Track Type, Dirt Surface, Fantasy,
Papyrus, Creator, Season, Rating, Unknown / INI Error, and other supported
metadata.

Expanded rows and Venue List use these main columns:

- Status
- Track / Version
- Folder
- Year
- Length
- Type
- Surface
- Tag
- Creator
- Notes
- Rating

Right-click a venue card to rename its displayed title or location, merge cards
that represent the same venue, or restore automatic/default presentation.
These venue-card changes affect Track Manager display only. They do not rename
track folders, rewrite track.ini, or change Season Generator matching.

STATUS AND ACTIONS

Track Manager uses one status language everywhere:

Active [Green]
- A matching track is physically available in Active Tracks.

Deactivated [Amber]
- A preserved working copy exists in Deactivated Tracks and is not currently
  available to NR2003.

Archive Only [Red]
- The track exists in Archive Library but is not currently Active or
  Deactivated.

The Status control combines the current state with the available action:

- Active -> Deactivate
- Deactivated -> Reactivate
- Archive Only -> Activate

DUPLICATES AND CONTENT DIFFERENCES

Track Manager is a simplified browser, not a raw file listing.

- No duplicate folder is deleted, moved, renamed, or merged by this display
  behavior.
- Different content versions remain separate.
- The Physical File Index always shows every physical folder, including exact
  duplicates and NRSG-created Archive backups.
- If the same folder name is used by different track contents, NRSG does not
  silently link or overwrite them.

TRACK.INI TOOLS

Track Manager can open a selected track.ini in Windows Notepad.

Before editing, NRSG can create track(O).ini as a backup. Existing backups are
detected, and the original backup can be restored from Track Manager.

These tools modify real NR2003 files. Read each warning and keep an independent
backup of your track collection.


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PHYSICAL FILE INDEX (ADVANCED)
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Open Track Manager > Tools > Physical File Index (Advanced)... when you need to
inspect the real folder-level layout of your collection.

Unlike the normal Track Manager browser, the Physical File Index shows every
physical track folder as its own row. Exact duplicate copies are never hidden
here.

The File Index shows:

- Folder
- Location
- Status
- File Relationship
- Full File Path
- Track
- Type
- Tag
- Rating

File Relationship helps explain how each physical copy relates to the rest of
the collection. Common states include Matched copy, Not archived, Single copy,
Active + deactivated, Different content, and Intentional variants.

The File Index supports File Explorer-style selection:

- Click selects one row.
- Ctrl+click adds or removes individual rows.
- Shift+click selects a range.
- Clicking empty space clears the selection.
- Right-clicking inside an existing multi-selection keeps that selection.

Right-click actions can open folders, copy full paths or folder names, inspect
Properties, and perform supported Archive backup or content-review operations.

BACK UP TO ARCHIVE

Active or Deactivated folders marked Not archived can be copied safely into the
Archive Library from the Physical File Index.

- The source track is copied, never moved.
- NRSG never silently overwrites an existing Archive folder.
- The copied folder is verified before the backup is finalized.
- Bulk backup can process multiple selected tracks.
- The live backup text shows which track is being processed.
- A per-track progress bar shows progress for each folder as it is copied and
  verified.
- Normal NRSG-created backups are stored under Archive Library\NRSG Tracks.

CONTENT MISMATCH

Different content means NRSG found the same folder name attached to different
track contents and will not guess which version should replace the other.

Resolve Content Mismatch provides safe choices:

Keep Both as Intentional Variants
- Confirms that the two different versions are intentional.
- The files remain separate and their identities are not merged.

Open Both Folders
- Opens the compared folders in Windows Explorer so they can be inspected
  manually.

Preserve Active / Deactivated as Separate Archive Version
- Creates a separate archived copy of the working version without replacing the
  original Archive version.
- Preserved variants remain normal Archive releases and are visible in Track
  Manager.

There is no automatic Replace Archive, delete, merge-files, overwrite, or
"mark these identical" command.

The Physical File Index does not Activate, Deactivate, or Reactivate tracks.
Those lifecycle actions remain in the normal Track Manager browser.


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LOADING AND REFRESH PERFORMANCE
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The first complete scan can take longer because NRSG must build its track index
and surface cache.

After that:

- Unchanged tracks are reused from the cache.
- Normal refreshes focus on new, removed, or modified tracks.
- Expensive DAT, PTF, and LP analysis is reserved for tracks that need it.
- Track Manager reuses cached track data and browser information when possible.

Track Manager may continue checking suspected exact duplicates in the
background after the main browser becomes available. A copy is hidden from the
normal Track Manager browser only after NRSG proves that the full folder is
byte-identical to another displayed copy.

Physical File Index always continues to show every physical folder.

When installing an updated NRSG, keep the existing Data folder. Starting every
version in a new empty folder without the old Data folder forces another
first-time scan and loses saved preferences and metadata.

Performance details are written to:

Data\Logs\track_manager_performance.log


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WHAT'S NEW IN v1.5
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- Adds the new Track Manager for browsing Archive, Active, and Deactivated track
  collections.
- Adds Venue Cards and Venue List browsing with live search and filters.
- Adds safe Activate, Deactivate, and Reactivate track management.
- Adds the Physical File Index for advanced physical-folder inspection,
  multi-selection, Archive backups, and content mismatch review.
- Adds Track Pool, Schedule Style, and Organization as separate Season Generator
  controls.
- Adds Balanced, Random, Real Season Mix, and Historical Season schedule styles.
- Adds NASCAR Style, East to West, West to East, and Random organization modes.
- Adds P / F / D track tags for Papyrus, Fantasy, and Dirt tracks.
- Expands historical schedule support through the 2026 season.
- Improves caching and repeat-load performance for large track collections.


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DATA FOLDER
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NRSG must launch beside the Data folder. 

The Data folder contains the persistent track index, caches, preferences,
ratings, notes, tags, and manual overrides.

Do not delete your Data folder just to force a refresh. Use the normal Refresh
controls when track files have changed.

With new versions of NRSG, copy your data folder over to the new launcher folder.


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DATA SOURCES
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Historical schedule data is based on the open-source nascaR.data project by
Kyle Grealis.

Track information is read from your local NR2003 track folders, including
track.ini and, when needed, track geometry data.

NRSG works with content you already own or have installed. No NR2003 game assets
are distributed with this utility.


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SUPPORT
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Bug reports and feature requests:
hello@jacobversus.com

When reporting a problem, include the NRSG version, what you were doing, and any
visible error message.

For Track Manager or file-related problems, open Track Manager > Tools >
Diagnostics... and export a Full Diagnostic Package.

Send the Full Diagnostic Package to:
hello@jacobversus.com

Diagnostic packages are designed for troubleshooting and do not include track
assets or your personal Notes.

If you are seeing odd track-type, surface type, loacations, etc. Always check 
your file structure first as NRSG is reading exactly what is in File Explorer.

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THANK YOU
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This project would not exist without the NR2003 community.

Thank you to everyone who has spent more than 20 years building tracks, creating
mods, painting cars, preserving content, and keeping the simulator alive.

Special thanks to Kyle Grealis for creating nascaR.data and supporting its use
in the Historical Season feature.


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DISCLAIMER
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NR Season Generator is a free, unofficial, fan-made utility.

Share this file wherever with whomever. If you can, try to remember to give me
credit. This software is for the greater NR2003 community, and I intend to keep
it that way.

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is copyright Papyrus Design Group / Sierra
Entertainment.

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Papyrus, Sierra, NASCAR, or
any NR2003 modding group.

Always maintain independent backups of your tracks and other important files.

Boogity, boogity, boogity... let's go racing!

- JacobVersus
