NFS: High Stakes finally running on Windows 2000

[pmistry 0]

After many years of frustrated users, I decided to grind down and work on a full proof solution to getting this fine racing game running on Windows 2000. I believe I have come up the ideal solution. If you would like a copy of my patch, simply e-mail me at pmistry_@excite.com and I will send you the patch. It is a modified patch from someone else's Win2K patch, but this one allows you play with modified cars too, and no disk space errors. I have also uninstalled my install of High Stakes and re-installed it with success. Only works with Retail High Stakes as far as I know.

 

Honestly I could use some people to help me test drive this patch. If you try out my patch please post your system specs here in this thread.

 

I've got in running on:

AMD Athlon 750

Asus K7V, BIOS 1008, VIA 4-In-1 v4.28

512 MB PC133 Memory

Radeon 8500 LE 128 MB, Catalyst 2.3, DirectX 8.1

Windows 2000 SP3

80 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM, NTFS formatted.

[Mallard 0]

Just got your patch...I will try it tonight.

 

My hardware configuration is similar to yours:

AMD Duron 800

Asus A7A66

128 (soon to be 512) mb DDR 2100 memory

Radeon 7500 32 MB

Windows 2000 SP2

80 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM, FAT32 formatted

 

I tried the "appcompat" method, but I couldn't get the installer to copy any of the game files (it just built the directory structure and copied the files for network play). I have a legitimate retail copy of the game (that I bought yesterday and was pissed that it didn't work).

 

Much thanks!

[Mallard 0]

Okay...I have SP3 not SP2.

 

I applied the patch, started the game, screen went black, the resolution changed, and I got all excited...and then it just brought me back to my windows desktop as if nothing ever happened.

 

So I read about the performance tweak at the bottom of the readme for the fix. I put the DLLs in the right place and tried again...it worked!

 

Gameplay isn't that great though...I'll be driving down a track, everything's rendering great, and then all of a sudden everything will render choppy for a while (30+ seconds). I'll try messing with the video settings to see what I can do. But yeah, with those provided DLLs, everything works great. Much thanks!

[pmistry 0]

Ok, glad it works then. At least I know it works on SP2 as well.

[Mallard 0]

Acutally, I had upgraded to SP3. But it works on a FAT32 system as well, so that's something.

[LawnGnome2005 0]

I've tried most everything (waiting on your patch). But everytime all i get is a Setup.exe as encountered an Error and the program must be restarted. I can't seem to get past that...

[LawnGnome2005 0]

Finally got it workin

[WiZaRd! 0]

Thanks Guys!! (esp pmistry!!) I got my copy working too..

[JoMo 0]

I don't understand .. I try to bellow the method as it given on this website to make NFS4 running ok on w2k ... but I don't find all ref it give and when I try to launch NFS4 it display an "corrupted file error" and ask me to re-install ... HELP PLEASE ! lol

PS : sorry for my bad english ... i'm french

PS2 : I've got SP4

[JoMo 0]

HUm ... I traffic some parameters of 3D setup and it seams to be ok ... but it display me on error of memory "only 1Mo free memory ..." but I could continue... and the intro video can't be played... else the games is running

 

RE:Re: After some test I observ that the game can't save my graphik options ( and othe like my pilot name... ) so al the time I Start it I must setup the display mode ... someone can help me ? please ...

[pmistry 0]

Just an update for some folks, here are more system specs that have managed to get the game running:

 

AMD Athlon 1.333 GHz

Abit KT7, VIA 4-In-1 v4.45

256 MB DDR266 Memory

GeForce 3 Ti200 64 MB, Detonator 23.11, DirectX 9.0

Windows 2000 Professional SP4

40 GB Hard Disk, NTFS formatted

 

Intel Pentium 4/800 FSB 2.4 GHz

Abit IS7

1 GB Dual DDR400 Memory

Radeon 8500 / 128 MB, Catalyst 3.8, DirectX 9.0

Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4

Western Digital 80 GB 7200RPM Disk, NTFS Formatted

 

Intel Pentium 3 - 667 MHz

Abit ST6

128 MB PC100 Memory

GeForce 4 MX, Detonator 45.28, DirectX 9.0

Windows 2000 Professional SP3

20 GB Disk, FAT32 Formatted

 

AMD K6-2 300MHz

DFI Socket 7 Mainboard

384 MB PC66 Memory

ATI Rage Pro / 8MB, DirectX 7.0

Windows 2000 Server SP2

15 GB Disk, NTFS Formatted

 

Plus a bunch of other configs as well, I just listed these since they cover a wide range of Windows 2000 versions and hardware.

 

The good news is that all these video cards work, since people have told me that they have had success with it:

 

All GeForce 2/3/4 series cards, includes MX and Ti models.

A few GeForce FX cards have been reported to work as well, but both cards reported are the GeForce FX 5200. So I am unsure of the 5600/5800 and 5900 variants.

 

All ATI Radeon cards have actually been reported except the new 9800. But these are good to go 7000/7200/7500/8500/9000/9100/9200/9500/9600 and 9700!

 

ATI Rage Pro and Rage 128 boards work as well.

 

Some cards that have given trouble with the patch include, the 3dfx Voodoo Series, I have only gotten reports on the Voodoo1 and Voodoo3.

 

S3 based cards as well as Kyro based cards have been kinda wonky too. Game will still work under software, as reported.

 

As well the original GeForce card with SDR or DDR has caused 1 problem, and I have no other reports, but I assume it will work since all the other GeForce series cards are good.

 

I am really pleased with all the feedback on this...its great to see, I believe I have sent this patch out to more than a 200 people, so its amazing.

[pmistry 0]

There are a couple of mirrors of this guide to get NFS: High Stakes running under Windows 2000. Thanks to Rory,

 

http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~goaz/nfsw2k.html

 

http://goaz.redbrick.dcu.ie/nfsw2k.html

 

 

 

[pmistry 0]

Due to large volumes of email requests for the patch/guide. I have decided to just stop emailing people the file, and have also uploaded it http://www.filefront.com.

 

Browse the "Old Games" section, its under Need For Speed High Stakes.