A little delayed, here's last week's most important news :)

Rasmu89's 2007 DB updated
I don't know why, but French people really like to release "patches". Whenever they release a DB it'll be followed up by a lot of patches. The PackRasmu89 2007 DB has been released in a lot of versions, and throughout last week it made it into its 4th version (not counting the patches, that is). Since then, it has also been followed up by patch 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4.

Looking aside from that it's a great 2007 DB containing a lot of graphical extras, including all the shirts, accesories, mini-shirts, photos, cadres, equipment and more. For the same reason the pack is huge (more than 200 mb), so you'll need an okay connection to download it ;)

Please notice that the files are not hosted at PCM.daily:

The primary pack: http://www.megaupload.com/fr/?d=A1CV2Q7R
Patch V4: http://d01.megashares.com/?d01=861e1c0
Patch V4.4: http://www.partage-facile.com/56196-Patch_V4.4_-_PackRasmu89_-_2007.exe.html

Cyclocross Manager now even more realistic
After having worked for a long time on the 1.1 upgrade of the original Cyclocross Manager pack it was on Sunday the 4th.

The 1.1-version fixes the following:
- World cup bug.
- Riders from Zimbabwe have black faces.
- All national jerseys are workingn now.
- Teambudgets are higher.
- Improved startlists for single player races.
- Good jerseys for national teams during world championship.
- The length of some stages is lower.

For those who are yet to try it out, the Cyclocross Manager-pack is a free "add-on" to PCM which changes your game into a Cyclocross-alike game. It contains a totally new calendar with built-from-the-scatch races, new teams and riders which are true to the Cyclocross-world, etc..
You can read more about the pack and see screenshots from it by reading our news-article about it: http://www.pcmdaily.com/news.php?readmore=14

And you can download the newest version by clicking here: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=105

Another fixes pack for PPDB Europe
As with the Rasmu89 2007 DB the PPDB Europe has also had a uncountable amount of fixes since the release.

The new pack contains the two latest fixes for the PPDB Europe. The first fix is for the neutral championsjerseys that didn't work in the release-version. The 2nd is a fix for the Tour Med which will work in the 2nd season with this fix.

Download it here at PCM.daily: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=129
To install, just unpack it to your main PCM-directory.

Ivan Basso takes the double
For two months ago you guys predicted that Ivan Basso would win the Giro 'd Italia. Last month you also predicted him to win the Tour de France. In our latest poll Ivan Basso managed to get 35 % of the votes ahead of Alexandre Vinokourov (21 %) and Alejandro Valverde (16 %).

It's more interesting, though, that 4 % voted that Jan Ullrich would win the Tour de France. Now that he has ended his career I'm pretty sure we won't see him on a bike at Le Tour ;)
Also, if you look at who voted for Carlos Sastre most of them (if not all) are Danes ;)

The new poll is more PCM-related - which DB is the most popular DB currently? At this point, PPDB Europe 2006 is the most popular, but we're far from over..

World Championship in PCM2?
On Cyanide's Forum a Polish guy has declared the he will host the official World Championship in Pro Cycling Manager 2. However, according to Cyanide themselves, no one has been given the right to organize the championship yet. The CEO of Cyanide, Storm, is currently in USA (probably to promote the PSP version of PCM) and is therefore yet to decide who will be the official organizer of the World Championship.
Storm will return on the 12th of March and no decision is really made before that.

We will of course follow up on the story.

Even though the cycling season has started it doesn't seem like there's much activity on the PCM scene. For the 2nd week in row we don't have much to report about, but we do at least have a little.

Capstar progresses with his 1980 DB
Our sponsored project, the 1980 DB, is progressing. The stats are close to be finished, and the first tests have begun. Also, Capstar has announced that some races will have start lists, meaning that the peloton will be completely like the one in real life.

To read more about the exciting project, click "Project progress" in the right menu :)

New fixes for PPDB Europe 2006
Throughout the week the PPDB Team released a few more updates for their DB, PPDB Europe 2006. I've collected them into one package which contains the missing Swiag-Teka jersey, the missing Selle Italia mini jersey, new versions of Tour Med and Castilla y Léon which could cause the game to crash in the 2nd year, new legwarmers for Miche and Panaria and a updated version of Driedaagse De Panne.

The pack can of course be found in our Downloads section.

PCM Kicker Lite now also available on PCM.daily
The most advanced editor for PCM, PCM Kicker Lite, has now been made available on PCM.daily. Actually, I already thought it was, but when scanning through the Download section I noticed it wasn't. Now, it is, though, and if you want to learn how to use it you  can always read our PCM Kicker Lite Tutorial writting by Dankan.

Read it by clicking here.

New tool by Jape
Jape, who is already known for his save game editor, has now released a new useful tool - the Objectives tool. Basically, it makes editing the team's objectives a lot easier than what we have seen before. It also has a built-in TGA-browser which can be used to track wrongly linked TGA-files - so, basically, this new tool is very useful for DB-makers.

Download it here at PCM.daily!

2007 Shirt Package
A lot of people have requested a pack containing all the 2007 shirts - well, here they are. It contains 41 shirts, and extra material for some teams like accessories, cadres and national champion jerseys. The pack is frequently updated, but the current package is version 4, and it can be downloaded by clicking here.

Danish Championships - now official
In November and December, we reported about the unofficial Danish championships. Now, the same website, PCMGeeks.dk, has been chosen to be the organizer of the official Danish Championships. Currently, not much information has been given, but registration has started. If you want to participate, head over to our Links section and find PCMGeeks ;)

Well, first of all, happy Valentine's day for those who care about that day. As a present for you all, Focus, the official distributor, has made a guide to make the game work on the newly released Windows Vista:

"Install and run PCM2006 on Windows Vista :

1. Please insert the PCM2006 CD and click Install button.
2. Wait while Windows Vista is checking the game installation (SETUP.EXE file).
3. If you cannot install the Game Center, please click Cancel.
4. Do not run PCM2006.
5. Please download and install the 1.0.0.8 update for PCM2006 http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49305
6. Open Computer.
7. Open C:\Program Files\Cyanide\Pro Cycling Manager - Season 2006 folder.
8. Right mouse click on PCM (PCM.EXE) file and click Run as administrator.
9. Restart the computer.
10. Click the following link to download the latest protection drivers update http://www.star-force.com/support/sfdrvup.zip
11. Open SFDRVUP.ZIP and run SFDRVUP.EXE.
12. Click OK to restart the computer.
13. Run PCM2006 by double-clicking the shortcut on the Desktop.

To get the latest Game Center version, click http://gamecenter.cyanide-studio.com/?rub=download&product=0

About the online gaming, if you cannot see the online games, please press ALT+TAB keys to display the Desktop.
If PCM2006 is locked by the Windows Firewall, please unlock it.
Press again ALT+TAB to go back to PCM2006."

As I mentioned in the Weekly News #9, the winner of the stage creation contest have been found. The winner can now call himself 2nd time world champion in stage making, because he also won last year - the winner is I-Chezidek, followed by Thune (who also ended 2nd last year), and newcomer Belokiller.

This is how it ended:
1 I-Chezidek (1st last year)
2 Thune (2nd last year)
3 Belokiller
4 Jaap60
5 Florentlatortue
6 Hopla
7 EdouardG

And here's the official "judgement" on the three first. Translation is (again) made by Aquarius - a huge "thank you" to him again:

"I-Chezidek :
An impressive number of AP (Altitude Points), which were maybe not all well-justified, but overall, the relief rendering looks very nice.
The roads main is almost perfect and there are various and well-realised kinds of curves. Everything is well integrated into the landscape, with even some tunnels and anti-avalanche shield tunnels alongside cliffs (even if the remarks above can apply here). The decorating elements are used on purpose, with, among others, the presence of the station at the second montain, even though some more camping cars or tents close to the top of mountains would have been appreciated.
The summits of the first and third mountains are very good, though, the second one is a tone lower.
Among the negative points, some AP way to big to render the sea (radius of 50 000) need to be mentioned, which begot a sea-flood in my game (only at me it seems, but removing those AP solved the problem). Some towns spread onto the rivers look quite ugly too. The first river is also problematic around its beginning (it begins too high) and in its end (the bridge across doesn't even stand into the water). Eventually, we regret the little lack of forests, even though we must mention that those that are present are well-located.

Thune :
Among the positive aspects, the descent of the second mountain and the general looking of the stage are noticeable. The forests are also well-mastered. The roads main is quite food, but some curves are too tight, that's damageable. The Glandon lakes are good-looking. Though, I regret the lack of the Isère river after the Madeleine as well as the summit of the Croix de Fer which isn't surrounded by AP. The cul-de-sac valleys harm the realism of the stage, and, beware, there lacks flat sections between uphill and downhill parts in the profile.

Belokiller :
Some defaults into Thune's stage are also present here : the flat part of the profile has been forgotten, the cul-de-sac valley, and the famous cliffs are closed. Except for that, the stage reaches a good level, the basic principles of staging
(© binou ) are well-mastered (except for the use of a road-map, but that has been solved now )
and the stage is very pleasant to look at, even though it lacks curves in some of the uphill sections (descents are quite winding though)"