You need to run the game in compatibility mode. This will fool a program into thinking it is running on a different OS. The link at the bottom of this post goes to a page that tells how to use compatibility mode. This should get the game running, but depending on your graphics card you may be limited to low resolutions. Locate the 1.02 update and install it. This will improve sound a great deal (I think it adds EAX support for example) as well as many other fixes. Finally there is a way to fool the game into thinking your Direct3D card is a Voodoo 2 card and allow higher resolutions. It involves swapping a couple of files around and a registry edit. Of course if your card already works well with the game there's no need to worry about any of that. 😀

Good luck

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=279792

It doens't work.... I did exactly how it was told on the page. Could it come cause I already installed the Windows Apllication Compatibility kit 3.0??? I don't have a clou how this prog works? Any suggestions?

False alarm I got the game running but thanks for the help!

If you are only able to run it in software mode, check out my guide over here to get 16bit (hey better than nothing!) Direct3D in NFS3: A LOT of WindowsXP fixes...

Ice

Finaly it work out good. I got the 16-bit graphics and the game runs smooth now. But curious as I am I still question is it posible to get voodoo 2 graphics somehow as earlier mentioned. And how can I do that and most inportant where do I get the files though I did a search for the files on the net for my self I couldn't find them...maybe you know where to seek.

Thanks in advance,

Kicklighter

I have uploaded the official 1.02 update below (3.93mb). All you have to do is unzip it to your main Need For Speed directory and run the update.bat file.

http://www.geocities.com/skyfrog74/NFSUPD.htm

Here is the Voodoo 2 trick as best I can remember. I have used it on both a TNT2 Ultra and Radeon 8500 and it worked fine in both cases. Basically it will allow you to choose higher resolutions in case the game will not let you choose them with your card. Note that the game will still be running in Direct3D afterwards of course (it will be using d3da.dll). It just thinks it's running on a Voodoo 2 card.

1. In your main game directory rename the d3da.dll to Voodoo2a.dll

2. Run regedit and locate the following registry key:

HKLM\Software\Electronic Arts\Need For Speed III\Thrash Driver
Double click it and change d3d to voodoo2

3. Close regedit and run the game. If all works well you are finished.

If there are any problems just undo the above steps. There are many other patches and workarounds that I have not tried; I've read that using the d3da.dll from High Stakes works well. Also I recall finding a modified 3dsetup.ini file that added support for several modern cards. I no longer have this but perhaps someone will know more about it. Just experiment with it until you get things running properly.

VirtuaIceMan, very nice list. 😀

Thanks for the work-a-round but I can't find Thrash Driver in the registery. So now I'm not sure what to edit...

Kicklighter.

Here is the location in the registry:

HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed III

In the right pane look for Thrash Driver, the second entry from the bottom. Double click on it and a box will pop up. Enter voodoo2 in the field that says Value Data.

Thanks for putting so much work in it but it doesn't work on my machine. When I start nfs he flips back to the desktop. But it was worth trying, fortunely I still have the d3d graphics and they don't look that bad!

Kicklighter