Following text has "Copyright © 1997 QBall". I find rather funny and appropriate to stick that here. Some infos about game versions are obsolete, but it's kinda obvious :

How do I make a Ghost? (obsolete)

Do you have a Ghost that you would like featured in QBall's Knarly Ghost Gallery? Would you like to be a CHAPION OF IO? If so, follow the following steps.

• 1. Make sure that the ghost was recorded WITH A PATCHED VERSION OF POD (Game Service patch 1.8 or later) Pod Gold or the Graphics/32+ track patches also count as patched POD. If you don't have the patch installed then don't bother going any further. All ghosts RECORDED with unpatched POD are automatically rejected and will NOT SHOW UP IN THE GALLERY!
• 2. All ghosts made with a patched version of POD are accepted. There is NO LIMIT to the number of ghosts per track. The only limit is one ghost per track per driver.
• 3. IMPORTANT Generate a .ght AND a .seq file representing your ghost (See below for how to do this).
• 4. Go to the Post-A-Ghost and follow the instructions there to directly upload the file onto the server.
• 5. You don't have to send me the stats for the ghost anymore. The ghost gallery generation program automatically extracts them out of the file.
• 6. IMPORTANT Zip up the .ght and .seq files into a zip file called trackname-yourname.zip (example ekal-qball.zip) and attach it to the email. If you don't know how to zip files I would recommend downloading winzip and figuring it out. Its really quite easy.

What the heck is a Ghost?

A POD Ghost is a recording of a race session that you can make playing pod. These are not normal races with other cars. Only your car will be on the track so you can concentrate on obtaining the fastest time possible and not have to worry about smucking into other cars along the way. Look on my Ghost Gallery page for a whole wack of excellent ghosts from famous POD players from around the world.

How do I make a Ghost?

It's easy! Just follow the following steps.

• 1. Start up Pod.
• 2. Select One Player on the Main menu.
• 3. Select Time Attack
• 4. Select which track you want to record the ghost on. Reverse track selection may be available if you have reverse mode enabled (See Hints Page)
• 5. Select Ghost Mode (The Ghost Mode button will turn Green)
• 6. Select Top 5 (A list with 5 boxes will appear, currently empty)
• 7. Proceed to the Race by hitting the Race button.
• 8. Select the Car and Settings as per usual.
• 9. Run the race normally. All ghost races consist of 3 laps.
• 10. After you are done return to the Time Attack menu and you will see your Lap time and Race time with your Name along side it.
• 11. If your name says "Player1" then you will have to set it in the Options Menu accessable from the Main Menu.
• 12. To race against your own ghost click the number next to the Ghost. The number will turn green. Then when you race you will see another car on the track except that it will be all translucent and stuff like a ghost. You don't have to worry about running into them, because you will pass right through them. That is why they call these things ghosts (spooky huh?). You can also select all 5 ghosts on the ghost table and you can race against all of them at the same time. A GHOSTY PARTY!!

How do I send a ghost to somebody else?

• 1. Click on the ghost on the selection menu.
• 2. Click the Export button
• 3. A file will appear in your C:\UBISOFT\Pod2_0\Scope\Export directory with the name Trackname.ght (reverse track ghosts will be named TracknameM.ght)
• 4. The actual files that your computer uses are stored in the C:\UBISOFT\Pod2_0\Scope\fantome directory with the name Trackname___#.seq. Seq files are more portable than .ght files. Some people have problems loading other people's ghosts. This might be attributable to people having add on tracks loaded into different "slots" in the track selection menu.
• 5. Get the .ght and .seq files associated with your ghost (the number in the seq file is the same as the slot number in your ghost selection table), zip them up, attach them to an email note and hit send!

How do I load another person's ghost?

• 1. If you obtain a .zip file with another person's ghost you will need to unzip it first. Use WinZip or PKunzip to do this.
• 2. If they have given you a .ght file then copy this to your C:\UBISOFT\Pod2_0\Scope\Load directory.
• 3. Go to the Time Attack Menu.
• 4. Select Ghost mode
• 5. Select Top 5
• 6. Hit Import.
• 7. If the ghost does not appear in the list there could be many reasons why you don't see it. It could not be fast enough if all 5 slots are already full. It could be made on a system with different tracks in different slots. Or some other gods-only-know reason. If this happens your best bet is to obtain a .seq file for the ghost.
• 8. Put the .seq file in your C:\UBISOFT\Pod2_0\Scope\fantome directory but besure you don't overwrite your own ghosts. Typically people send each other their best ghost (Trackname__1.seq). Your best ghost will also be called this. Renumber the ghost to Trackname__5 before putting it in the directory. The underscores in the name are used to "pad out" the filename so that it is exactly 8 characters before the number (e.g. Roc ghosts have 5 underscores following the name, track names that are 8 characters long have no underscores in them.)
• 10. When you fire up Pod the game will automatically renumber the ghosts so the fastest one is number 1, next fastest number 2, etc.

How do people go so fast? ... WAAAA CHEATERS WAAAAA

Pod is not a game in which you can sleep through (except Beltane, that is an exception). There are MANY tricks and tips some of which are not common knowledge. Some of the tricks are mastered only through discipline and practice. Knowing the tricks and tips will help you obtain the best Pod times. Here are a few tricks specifically for Ghost Mode:

• Ghost mode does not start you at the Start Line. This is because designers of the game wanted you to have 3 laps on a course that were roughly the same. Typcially you will start the race in the 8th Pole Position which lets you get up to speed BEFORE you cross the start line and have the clock running. Unfortunatley the 8th position is not FAR ENOUGH BACK to get up to FULL speed before you trip the clock. Therefore in order to squeeze the last few seconds off a ghost time some people back up from the starting position and take a run at the start line. What the designers really should have done is provide a Ghost Starting Position for every track that would elminate having to do this. Oh well. I guess they were just being efficient reusing $Position(Start,8) as $Position(Ghost,0). Backing up from the starting line is NOT A CHEAT! IT IS A TRICK/TIP/HINT. The purpose and goal of ghosting is to have 3 laps as consistent as possible.
• Learn how to drive. Minimize turning the wheel when going around corners. Plan your approach into corners. It is steering around corners that slows you down. Plan your approach, execute, plan your next approach. Use a Manual Transmission. Learn it. Use it. Love it. Automatic gears down prematurely. It also waits too long to gear up. That sucks! If there is a lot of crap on the track like bricks and stuff use the CRASH code to make them transparent. The point of ghosting is to perfect driving the course. Not driving through bricks like the Dukes of Hazard .... YEEEEEEEHAAWWWWWWWWW. Learn all the shortcuts. Know them, Use them, Love them. Recognize which ones actually save you time.
• When you mess up hit Ctrl-Y and it will set you back at the start. Try not to smash your Keyboard and/or Monitor. Computer equipment is expensive and most often quite delicate. Keep your temper in check and take some valium or meditate or something. If I get email from you with several letters of the alphabet missing then I will send the nice men in white lab coats to come get you. They will even give you a free POD tee-shirt with long arms that go all the way around back. Heh heh heh heh.
• Go to the QBall Ghost Gallery and download the ghost that are posted there. Start with the worst one and load it up. Race against it. Don't expect to beat it right away. Just use it to learn. Take note of the car and settings used for the ghost. Experiment with different cars and settings. What works for the Pro's might not work well for you.
• Most of all! HAVE FUN!