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Need for Speed: High Stakes

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Need for Speed: High Stakes
Need for Speed: High Stakes cover
Developers
EA Seattle
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows September 29, 1999
Need for Speed: High Stakes guide on StrategyWiki
Need for Speed: High Stakes on MobyGames
Need for Speed: High Stakes on Wikipedia

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
The Need for Speed 1994
Need for Speed II 1997
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (series)
Need for Speed: High Stakes 1999
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed 2000
Need for Speed: Underground (series)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (series)
Need for Speed: Carbon 2006
Need for Speed: ProStreet 2007
Need for Speed: Undercover 2008
Need for Speed: Shift (series)
Need for Speed: World 2010
Need for Speed: The Run 2011
Need for Speed Rivals 2013
Need for Speed (2016) 2016
Need for Speed Payback 2017
Need for Speed: Edge 2017
Need for Speed Heat 2019
Need for Speed Unbound 2022

Key points

DirectX (when modified to recognize modern graphics cards, see Issues fixed) and Glide renderers give equal graphical quality.
The game is unplayable without patches on new systems. See Essential improvements.
Released as Need for Speed: Road Challenge in Europe, Need for Speed: Brennender Asphalt in Germany, Over Drivin' IV in Japan and Need for Speed : Conduite en état de liberté in France.

General information

Need for Speed Wiki

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SafeDisc DRM[Note 1].
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Essential improvements

Need For Speed 4 Modern Patch

Change resolution and refresh rate under ./drivers/nglide/thrash.ini

Need for Speed: High Stakes Stock Pack (SP) and Expansion Pack (EP)

The Stock Pack is designed to improve the Single-Player experience in High Stakes, patching the game to the final version, fixing various bugs discovered since the game's support period ended and adding compatibility with modern graphics cards.

The Expansion Pack is designed to improve the Multiplayer experience, with all of the improvements in the Stock Pack as well as adding support for the modern Online Multiplayer service made for the game and more cars and tracks used on that service on a regular basis.

Patches

Patch 4.50 (Internet Beta Test Patch) updates the game to the latest version.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SaveData[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SaveData[Note 2]

Video settings

General video settings
General video settings
Advanced video settings
Advanced video settings

Template:Video settings

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Mouse support is limited only to navigating menus.

Audio settings

Audio settings
Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
2 Versus, Co-op
Co-op is Hot Pursuit mode only.
LAN play
8 Versus, Co-op
Co-op is Hot Pursuit mode only.
Online play
8 Versus, Co-op
Connect as if connecting to a LAN game. Co-op is Hot Pursuit mode only.

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 1030
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

A Standard installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack fixes all of the known bugs in the game. See above. Individual fixes are given below for convenience.

1 MB RAM Bug (XP, Later)

When running the game on Windows XP or later, the game gives a 1MB of RAM error and does not save progress or settings.

Install 1MB Error Patch[citation needed]
  1. Download and start Installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack
  2. Ensure "Mercury / 1Mbyte Error Patch" is selected on the Choose Components screen.
  3. Finish Installation
  4. Run the game.

Crash on Start Issue (Vista, Later)

When running the game on Windows Vista or later, the game refuses to start, giving an Invalid Argument exception.

Install NFS:HS Stock Pack[citation needed]
  1. Download and start Installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack
  2. Ensure "EA's 4.50 Patch", "Vista, Win7 Tweaks" and "NFS HS Starter" are selected on the Choose Components screen.
  3. Finish Installation
  4. Run the game.
Start game with -PatchRestart switch[citation needed]
  1. Create a (or modify an existing) Shortcut to the game EXE and add -PatchRestart to the end of the Target.
  2. Run the game using that Shortcut.
Start game using PatchNFS.exe[citation needed]

Run the game from <path-to-game>\PatchNFS.exe.

Direct3D doesn't appear in the 3DSetup tool

When configuring 3D acceleration using the 3DSetup tool, only Software Renderer appears in the list.

Install New 3DSetup[citation needed]
  1. Download and start Installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack
  2. Ensure "New 3D-Setup" is selected on the Choose Components screen.
  3. Finish Installation
Direct3D should now be in the list of renderers.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 6
Glide
native support
Software renderer
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 9x, NT, 2000
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 200 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 50 MB
Video card (GPU) 2 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.1 compatible
Sound (audio device) 100% DirectX 6.1+ Compatible

Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
  2. 2.0 2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References