Old Need For Speed Games

[Zero]

Hey Matt,

I saw in one of the other threads how the original NFS game can work in DOSBox, but have you encountered any of these?

NFS II
NFS III: Hot Pursuit
NFS High Stakes
NFS Hot Pursuit 2

These were all games that I was able to run in XP (I seem to remember using a Glide wrapper for the oldest), but I can’t even get them to open in 10.

[Matt]

Hi Zero, I have NFS3 and High Stakes.

Here's a guide someone put together for NFS3; looks like something I would make lol

fdossena.com/?p=nfs3/index.frag

Someone had made a 64-bit installer for High Stakes at one point, but supposedly it doesn't work on Windows 10. All I can find now is this patch; give it a shot and see if it works. Says copy the Data and Savedata directories from the game CD to the hard drive, then unzip the patch files.

Need for Speed 4 Modern Patch

I'll check out NFSII and NFSHPII next. I know there was a Special Edition put out for NFSII as well.

[Zero]

That's awesome, Matt... both NFS3 and 4 are both working now. Thank you for sharing those links. And you're right about 2 - I actually have the special edition, and it did require the Glide wrapper to run in XP.

[Matt]

Here's a really good guide for NFS2SE

www.play-old-pc-games.com/2013/02/08/need-for-speed-2-special-edition/

Cliff's note version:

(1) Copy FEDATA and GAMEDATA folders from the CD to the hard drive
(2) Copy all files from the CD's root directory (should be 16 in all)
(3) Download and install the compatibility patch from the nGlide site.
(4) Ensure you have either nGlide or dgVoodoo set up
(5) Try the game (NFS2SEA.exe)

If it doesn't run, you might have to re-name INSTALL.NFS to INSTALL.WIN

What does Hot Pursuit II do when you try to run it? I can't find a download link I exactly trust, but being that it's a newer game, it might be the SafeDisc copyright protection issue rearing its head again. If so, it might be as easy as unzipping a no-cd crack to the game directory. I'm not positive but you probably want the crack for version 1.0, unless you've installed a patch somewhere along the way.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 No CD patches

[Matt]

Also, hey, I haven't forgotten about High Heat '02. I'm not sure if you have a Dropbox or other file sharing account, but if you could find a way to get the ISO to me I'd definitely take a look at that.

[Zero]

Sure enough, NFS2SE is working now. Thank you again for all of this.

I just went back to try and install HP2 again, and while I found the disc easily enough, I have no idea where the case went, so I’m stuck at the “enter the magic code to install” part. I still have an installed copy on our really old laptop... is there a way to find it through there?

Also, don’t worry about HH2002. I just got completely hooked on OOTP17, so I doubt I’d even go back to it if I could. And for the arcade baseball experience, you’ve already solved Triple Play!

Related question: how did you figure out how to make some of these fixes? My eyes glaze over at the words “registry edit” (I don’t even know what that really does).

[Matt]

Hmm, there probably is a way, but there are some keys posted on the web for Pursuit II. Give one of these a try.

XKCP-JT4P-SKCP-TUNE
58VQ-H3JW-QCVW-LJEN
6TEF-TPJK-T4EK-UVHB
WUQ3-4ALW-BM23-DU6B
J6ZP-VUPA-5ANK-WEWQ
WWUG-RKV4-MHU4-XAP5
B5LY-ZKWE-X7VO-SSFH

As for how I do what I do...haha thanks for the kind words, but everything I do here is way easier than it seems!

Like, to give you an example, one of the most common guides I post are for games that don't install on 64-bit Windows because the setup program is 16-bit. To make them work you basically need to know 2 things -- which files need to be copied from the CD, and which registry keys need to be added.

So, all I really need to do in these cases is install the game on another computer so I can see what is done. I don't know if you know about virtual machines, but they make that process so easy. You can have, say, Windows XP running in a window on your laptop. You install the game inside it, and you can even drag the folder with all the files to the desktop of your main (Windows 10) machine.

Then I look inside the registry editor to see what keys were added. On a 32-bit Windows, they almost always go inside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE. As long as I know who the game's publisher was (EA SPORTS for example) they're pretty easy to locate, and once I find them, there's a function where I just export the keys into a text file with all the information I need.

This might sound like a lot, but it really isn't. I'm not a computer genius by any means -- just a regular guy who has had too much time on his hands at different points in life. =)

[Zero]

Got one of those codes to work for NFSHP2 and was able to install the game. I went to that link to look at the patches, but the "fixes" end up being links to install some kinds of adware (unless I'm missing something).

It's funny that you mention virtual machines, because I do have Oracle VirtualBox on here, running Windows XP. It's the only way I could get Civ2 - Test Of Time, Age of Empires Collector's Edition (basically just 1 & 2 with expansions), SimCity 2000, Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga, and Monster Truck Madness 2 to work*. Some of the other games would install, but ran horribly in that environment (HH2002 and NFS2&3 come to mind). Then there are the games like Moto Racer that refuse to cooperate under any circumstances.

I do think it's interesting that Windows 10 is good with modern games, and with really old DOS games (through DOSBox), but it's that late '90s/early '00s time in the middle that causes so many problems.

*I haven't actually tested all of these yet, but they installed and at least ran to the main menu screen, so I'm calling them victories for now.

[Matt]

That site is definitely a pain in the ass with popups .. it usually brings up the file after a few seconds, but it does suck. Here's the file off of my Box account:

Hot Pursuit II no CD

Monster Truck Madness 2 can work on 10. Without checking, I think you have to set the setup.exe to Windows 95 mode to install it. Then you need to install nGlide and set the game to run in 3dfx mode in the graphics options. If I get a little free time coming up I'll look at the others -- I actually have a copy of Moto Racer sitting here that I've never even tried to install. lol

[Zero]

Okay, so that MTM2 fix is probably the easiest solution you've ever come up with, and thank you for passing it along. I also can't believe anyone else on this planet actually still has a copy of Moto Racer.

As for NFSHP2, I downloaded the link and copied the exe file to the directory (had to force it with copy and paste instead of extracting because of some Administrator thing), but when I try to load the game, I get this error:

---------------------------
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (exception error)
---------------------------
(Hit Cntrl-C to copy this info to the clipboard)

The thread attempted to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access.

Version: 240
EIP = 0x005C167F
ESP = 0x0019F690 EBP = 0x0019F9C0
EAX = 0x00000000
EBX = 0x000001F4
ECX = 0x0000001F
EDX = 0x00000000
ESI = 0x00000000 EDI = 0xFFFFFFFF
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Obviously, I know exactly what that means and what to do about it. Have you seen something like that come up before with any other game?

[Matt]

LOL .. okay, it might have been helpful if I had read the little readme file that came with the .exe.

It says you need to copy the following directories from the CD into your game directory:

\actors
\AI
\Audio
\Cars
\Movies
\Particle
\Tracks

[Zero]

Works like a charm. Honestly, Matt, thank you for all of this help.

[Matt]

No problem at all, thanks for stopping by and being patient with me. Lol. You've been good about asking questions I actually have answers to. 

[Zero]

Trust me, I’ll be checking back, especially if you think that there are possibly fixes for some of those other ones. Keep up the great work; you’ve been making a lot of people happy with your site.

[ErfanEFS]

I get this error too, what's the fix?


---------------------------
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (exception error)
---------------------------
(Hit Cntrl-C to copy this info to the clipboard)

The thread attempted to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access.

Version: 242
EIP = 0x6D4358F3
ESP = 0x0019F594 EBP = 0x0019F700
EAX = 0x00000000
EBX = 0x0019F70C
ECX = 0x2A1D9748
EDX = 0x2A1D9A90
ESI = 0x2A1D9738 EDI = 0x2A1D87B8
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------