VOGONS


First post, by VirtuaIceMan

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Note: This is for the Win95 version. The DOS version can be made to run using DOSBox or VDMSound (but you have to turn off music or the gameplay will be too slow). The Win95 version lets you use a steering wheel more easily so I'm going for that instead!

Note 2: If you're already familiar with installing databases into Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit and don't like reading, then grab the attached .sdb file (inside the zip file) and install that into Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit and the installer (INFSW.EXE anyway)/game should then work (cross fingers!)

There are several steps to get this game installed and running, please follow each of them carefully.

PREPARATION:

Download and install Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (version 5.0 is now available, it needs .NET 1.1 installed first) from:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeplo … at/toolkit.mspx

INSTALLATION:

The installer will fail with a message saying something like "Sorry, you need 1939312k more to run install program". To fix this do the following:

1. Start > Programs > Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 > Compatibility Administrator

2. Click on "New Database(1) [Untitled_1]" to select it

3. Click Fix in the top bar

4. Change the program name <New Application> to: NFSSE Installer

5. Change the vendor <Unknown> to: EA

6. Click Browse...

7. Browse to find the CD-ROM drive (either user "Look in" drop-down or the My Computer button on the left) and open the CD drive

8. Select the file called INFSW.EXE and click Open

9. Click Next > button to move onto Compatibility Modes

10. Click None then Next > button

11. From the big drop-down list, tick the boxes next to the following:

EmulateCDFS
GlobalMemoryStatusLie
IgnoreException
MapMemoryB0000

12. Click Test Run... and then OK to see if the installer works. If it does click QUIT and then YES to exit the installer. If it locks up see IF ALL ELSE FAILS section at the bottom of this document to close it, then try running it again (usually works second time for me)

13. Click Next > button to move onto Matching Information

14. Click Finish

15. Click Save in the top bar

16. Call the Database Name: My Game Fixes

17. Save the .sdb file somewhere useful (I put it in My Documents) and call it something useful like MyGameFixes.sdb

18. In the Compatibility Administrator window, right-click on the newly names My Game Fixes file and choose Install. The NFSSE installer is now patched and should always work!

19. Close the Compatibility Administrator

20. Open My Computer

21. Right-click your CD-ROM drive and choose Open

22. Double-click INFSW.EXE. The installer should work. If it locks up see IF ALL ELSE FAILS section at the bottom of this document. Install the game as normal.

GETTING THE GAME TO RUN:

1. Start > Programs > Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 > Compatibility Administrator

2. Click Open and find the MyGameFixes.sdb file you made when fixing the Installer and open it (if you didn't fix the installer because your copy of NFSSE wasn't an original CD then ignore this step and apply the fix in a new database instead).

3. Click on the My Game Fixes database icon and then click Fix

4. Change the program name <New Application> to: NFSSE

5. Change the vendor <Unknown> to: EA

6. Click Browse...

7. Browse to find the the folder where you installed NFSSE. This is usually (unless you changed it when installing) C:\NFSSE

8. Select the file called NFS.EXE and click Open

9. Click Next > button to move onto Compatibility Modes

10. Click None then Next > button

11. From the big drop-down list, tick the boxes next to the following:

EmulateCDFS
GlobalMemoryStatusLie
IgnoreException
MapMemoryB0000

12. Click Test Run... and then OK to see if the game works. If it does then exit the game. If it locks up see IF ALL ELSE FAILS section at the bottom of this document.

13. Click Next > button to move onto Matching Information

14. Click Finish

15. Click Save in the top bar (if you are editing the My Game Fixes database it will save over itself, if you are using a new database instead then follow steps 16 and 17 in INSTALLATION above to save the new database).

16. In the Compatibility Administrator window, right-click on the newly names My Game Fixes file and choose Install. The NFSSE game is now patched and should always work!

19. Close the Compatibility Administrator

IF ALL ELSE FAILS:

If either the installer or game lock up, use Ctrl+Tab to get back to Windows then Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager. Then simply End Process the Image Name called INFSW.EXE (installer) or NFS.EXE (game).

If either the game or the installer REFUSE to work claiming there's not enough memory, even with the fixes, then you can reduce your virtual memory to 512MB which will make them work. To do this do the following:

Right-click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance Settings button -> Advanced tab -> Virtual Memory Change button -> choose C: -> set Custom size both Initial and Maximum to 512 -> OK everything.

This shouldn't cause too many problems with Windows as Windows will automatically increase the virtual memory should it run out, but it's not as clean/safe as using the Compatibility methods above.

Reply 1 of 23, by darklocket

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I have observed on my system, that the game plays slow and the sound is scratchy. I disabled sound acceleration to fix this.

Also, go here if you needs a 512meg memory hogger program. Much faster than sliding the virtual memory all the time. It also works for NFS II and NFS III.

http://members.cox.net/jeffareid/nfs.htm

Reply 2 of 23, by VirtuaIceMan

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With the memory fixes in the compatibility fixes the memory error doesn't occur on my PC. Same GlobalMemoryStatusLie fixes NFS2SE!

My PC spec: Win10 64bit, i7-4970K (not overclocked), KFA2 GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, Creative Soundblaster ZXr, 16GB RAM, Asus Z97-A motherboard, NZXT 410 case, ROG Swift GSYNC monitor

Reply 3 of 23, by Devil Master

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Ironically, there is a warez version which does not need to be installed, which works perfectly with Windows XP and dgVoodoo. Just unzip the archive in any directory, configure dgVoodoo as you wish and run the game executable.

Reply 4 of 23, by Athix

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I've tried your guide, but I keep getting throwen a dwwin.exe error in my face. Anyone able to help me out on this?

Reply 5 of 23, by VirtuaIceMan

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Not sure what dwwin.exe is, is it a program like Dr Watson?

Sorry I can't help more 🙁

My PC spec: Win10 64bit, i7-4970K (not overclocked), KFA2 GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, Creative Soundblaster ZXr, 16GB RAM, Asus Z97-A motherboard, NZXT 410 case, ROG Swift GSYNC monitor

Reply 6 of 23, by Corpsegrinder18

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I still have some problems starting NFS in WinXP.
When starting the installer, the screens turns black and stays black. By returning to windows with "Tab" + "Alt", i get the following error

The Instruction at 0041a004 referenced memory at 000b0000
The memory could not be written

Click on OK to terminat the application

does anyone have an idea?

Reply 7 of 23, by rennervision

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Will Force Feedback be supported if I install it like this in XP?

Reply 8 of 23, by HOTPROPHET

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WOOOOW!!! I am seriously impressed. And to say I built a whole old PC just to be able to play this game. Now i can play it on my AMD 3700+ with a 7800gt card!

This worked for me. Although not 100%...
I have 5 operating systems on my PC. windows 2000, xp media, xp pro, vista and linux mandriva...

Strangely enough I kept getting other errors while trying to do this in XP media center and was unsucessful. The same errors the gentleman a few posts above me was having. So then I tried doing the same in XP pro which I use for gaming only and is free of crap and other programs. And it worked!!!

So, in other words, it worked for XP pro, but not for windows Media Center. Also, I was getting choppy sounds and having a few problems running the game after, but the guy who made the second post had it right on. To fix the choppyness, go to your dxdiag and disable your audio acceleration. It runs great at this point.

It runs great, but for some reason it doesn't have the same smoothness as i have while running it on an old 950mhz PC with a voodoo 5500. It's very playable, but it seems the frames/second are a little lower. (As if you're playing a game that's just slightly too hard on your video card) I'll play around with my graphics card and see if i can boot that up a bit.

But hey, thanks to VirtuaIceMan who took the time to make this post, I appreciate it VERY much.

Reply 9 of 23, by filipetolhuizen

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I still couldn't get both versions to work. the DOS version won't install or run under DOS Box and Windows version still displays the same error message that the memory could not be read. 😢

Reply 10 of 23, by MiniMax

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I can't help you with the Windows but, read my 60 Seconds Guide to DOSBox (and don't just read it - follow it too).

If that doesn't help, come back with details on how you mounted your C and D drives, how you did the install, how you configured sound, music etc.

DOSBox 60 seconds guide | How to ask questions
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Reply 11 of 23, by filipetolhuizen

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Thanks, yesterday I got a DOS version to work.
-OT-
But anyway, I've been experiencing that dwwin.exe memory error a lot with older apps (Nfs 2 SE 3D accelerated version shows this when I exit the game). What could it possibly mean? is it possible that one of my memory chips is damaged? I have 2GB total RAM (a pair of 1GB)

Reply 12 of 23, by HOTPROPHET

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Ok, well every single need for speed game works for me. I have an AMD athlon 3700+ with 1 gig memory, 7800gt video card and Asus A8N sli mobo.

Need for speed 1 was the only one I had memory issues with. This was fixed by following the instructions the Original Poster provided.

Need for speed II, III and High stakes work 100%, no probs or puzzles.

Porsche unleashed will have graphic problems if your processor is over 1000mhz. To play this game you must reduce your processor speed under 1000 mhz through your bios (de-clock) and will work perfectly.

All other NFS titles work great. NFS hot pursuit II, underground I and II, most wanted, Carbon, and lastly Pro street (with low settings)

Reply 13 of 23, by filipetolhuizen

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I've found out what is causing the dwwin.exe message when exiting NFS2SE. It's caused due to a resolution override in dgvoodoo. If I let the game choose the resolution, it will exit normally. Anyway, I choose to override as it doesn't affect gameplay at all and, besides, looks so much better (I run it in 1440x900).

Reply 14 of 23, by filipetolhuizen

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Strangely my NFSSE windows version started working...

Reply 15 of 23, by blockheadface

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Hi guys. I found NFS:SE a while ago and I've been trying to find out how to play it ever since 😀

Anyway, I got up to #12 under "Getting the game to run" and got a completely different message to the ones you guys have been getting! Yay me!

So I tried test run a few times, the first couple of times it just froze and i had to use task manager to force it. Then after that I've just been getting this:

WINDOW HEADER: Abort message:

WINDOW BODY: getargb - INVALID COLOUR INDEX
CURRENT WINDOW BPP 8. REQUESTED ARGB FOR COLOUR INDEX -1 ($ffffffff).

Any ideas?

EDIT: Okay, I tried just continuing anyway and installing the patch, and basically when I open the .exe file I get a black screen for a fraction of a second then... nothing. It just goes back as if nothing happened.

Also, if it helps, my machine is an AMD AthlonXP 2200+ with 1 GB DDR RAM, and a Radeon 9000 Pro. And I can provide a screenshot of the error message, but it's all written above anyway.

Reply 16 of 23, by VirtuaIceMan

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blockheadface it sounds like your graphics card may not support the 8bit 256colour mode that NFS is trying to use perhaps. Maybe it might be worth pursuing the DOS version to get that work instead.

I haven't really fiddled with NFSSE much since getting it working, so my guide is still valid for me at least 😒

HOTPROPHET I have 2 questions (if you're still around!):

1. NFS III Hot Pursuit - have you found a simple way to gain access to 32bit colour modes without resorting to Glide wrappers? My Nvidia Gainward 7800GS+ will only do 16bit which looks horrible in night/rain conditions in game.

2. What do you mean about Porsche having graphics problems? If it's the crash in one stage when the sun appears then there is a workaround/fix out there for that that I think edits the skybox graphics for that track. I believe I'm using some sort of megapatch for the game that fixes that anyway. But on my card I think the textures in-car may be a bit low res. I tried the game on my old Voodoo5 5500 AGP (in my old P2 300MHz!) and they didn't seem any better so maybe the dashboards were just low res. It's a shame the cars look *so* good in the pre-race selection screens then less good on track!

My PC spec: Win10 64bit, i7-4970K (not overclocked), KFA2 GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, Creative Soundblaster ZXr, 16GB RAM, Asus Z97-A motherboard, NZXT 410 case, ROG Swift GSYNC monitor

Reply 17 of 23, by blockheadface

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Thanks for responding iceman. My copy actually says it's dual executable with Windows and DOS, so i thought that this guide might help getting the Windows edition to work. You're probably right about the graphics card not supporting the 8-bit - it certainly isn't a selectable option in graphics settings. We've got a few pentium 3 boxes lying around though, maybe i'll set one up and see if i can get it to work 😀

Reply 18 of 23, by SUPERCHARGE

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Hi, my old profile was HOTPROPHET, but I've lost the email i registered this under.

For your first question, for NFS 3, I do not use Glide. The game works perfectly and accepts 32 bit resolutions of 1280 by 1024 i believe with no color problems. It worked great with my 7800GT, and also with my current gx260. I don't know much about wrappers and glides, so perhaps that's causing your issue?

And as for your IN-CAR problem with porsche unleashed where you believe the resolution in the car is bad, yes there is a fix to this. If you haven't noticed, it's not only the resolution IN the car that's bad, but also some parts of the car such as the headlights and wheels. The fix to this is SIMPLE

You must drop your processors total speed below 1000mhz (1.0ghz) before starting the game (underclock it). For some reason going up to 1ghz messes up the interior car's graphics.

You definitely don't seem like an idiot, so i'm assuming you know how do that either in bios or windows software you may have

I don't remember how i found this out, i was fooling around with my software to try and make other games work. Sounds stupid, but it worked for everyone who tried it. and don't worry, 900 mhz is still plenty to run the game at full capacity.

Reply 19 of 23, by VirtuaIceMan

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Wow thanks for that. I'm not using Glide in NFS3 either (tried various things), it's just my graphics card isn't recognised by EA's then-clever system for detecting graphics cards! From most of what I read on the web it's not possible to run 32bit in NFS3, but I'm sure I did, and it sounds like you do!

As for dropping my processor speed... sounds a bit risky to me! I'm not even sure where in my BIOS I'd do that. But I did try Porsche Unleashed (aka 2000 in UK) on my old Pentium2 300MHz with Voodoo5 5500 AGP but the graphics were no better!

My PC spec: Win10 64bit, i7-4970K (not overclocked), KFA2 GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, Creative Soundblaster ZXr, 16GB RAM, Asus Z97-A motherboard, NZXT 410 case, ROG Swift GSYNC monitor