For the 2012 game, see Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012).
Warnings
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- This game is not available digitally.
- A faithful higher resolution desktop icon can be found on the community site.
- A playable demo is available. (its speed.exe can be used in retail 1.2 version of the game; may be incompatible with widescreen mod)
Version differences
- Black Edition content includes:[3]
- '67 Camaro SS and BMW M3 GTR
- Specially tuned rides
- Three exclusive races
- Black Edition challenge
- Bonus DVD
Monetization
| Type |
Notes |
| Sponsored
| Game is sponsored by multiple real life brands |
Essential improvements
Patches
- Patch 1.3 is the last patch for the game. Resolves a number of issues and is strongly recommended.[4]
- Scales the resolution of road, vehicle, and rear view mirror reflections.
- Adds traffic lights, car shadows, shader and particle effects to the rearview mirror.
- Restores geometry such as front-end reflections and world detail.
Skip intro videos
|
Instructions[citation needed]
|
- Go to
<path-to-game>\MOVIES\
- Delete or rename
attract_movie_english_ntsc.vp6, ealogo_english_ntsc.vp6, and psa_english_ntsc.vp6.
Notes
- If the game is not in English, delete/rename the files corresponding to the language used instead, and in the PAL version, the file names will have PAL instead of NTSC at the end.
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
- Need for Speed: Underground 2 savegame grants the player extra in-game cash[5]
Video
- ThirteenAG's fix requires the latest patch. See Patches.
|
Set custom FOV with NFS-VltEd[6]
|
- Download NFS-VltEd.
- Extract the contents and open the application.
- Click on File → Open and select the installation folder.
- On the left side, expand camerainfo and default.
- Select the camera to modify (bumper, close, etc.)
- On the right side, expand FOV and change the value beside [0] to the desired FOV.
- For the hood camera, the value might have to be changed for each car individually.
- Click on File → Save to apply the changes.
|
|
Set custom FOV with RockportEd[6]
|
- Download Ultimate ASI Loader and extract it to the installation folder.
- Download RockportEd and extract it to
scripts\ in the installation folder (create if it doesn't exist).
- Start the game and press Insert to show/hide RockportEd.
- Select the Camera Editor and adjust the FOV slider.
- Click on Save Preset to apply the changes.
Notes
- Other options such as camera height and vertical angle can also be adjusted.
|
|
Set windowed mode[6]
|
- Download ThirteenAG's fix.
- Extract
scripts\ and dinput8.dll to the installation folder.
- Create
wndmode.ini inside the root folder of the game installation.
- For bordered window change the line
Border=0 to Border=1 (or add it if the game has not been launched yet after creating the file) in wndmode.ini.
|
Motion blur
Input
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
|
|
| Surround sound |
|
Mono and Stereo only. HRTF stereo virtualization with DSOAL. |
| Subtitles |
|
|
| Closed captions |
|
|
| Mute on focus lost |
|
|
- By default, the game plays sound in 22.05 kHz. To change into high quality 44.1 kHz, set level of details to 2 or max (sometimes to level 3), and restart the game.[citation needed]
Natural stereo virtualization
|
Use DSOAL
|
- Download DSOAL from here.
- Drop
dsoal.dll, alsoft.ini and dsoal-aldrv.dll near the game's executable (<path-to-game>)
- If you already copied HRTFs to
%APPDATA%\OpenAL\ before, the game will use it. To disable it change line in alsoft.ini: hrtf=false
- For further information check out preconfigured DSOAL to use especially for this game with some tweaks here
|
Localizations
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
|
|
|
Includes UK and US version |
| Traditional Chinese |
|
|
|
|
| Danish |
|
|
|
|
| Dutch |
|
|
|
|
| Finnish |
|
|
|
|
| French |
|
|
|
|
| German |
|
|
|
|
| Italian |
|
|
|
|
| Japanese |
|
|
|
Japanese release. |
| Polish |
|
|
|
|
| Russian |
|
|
|
Available here. Localization with added subtitles is here (requires setting ShowSubs=1 in Extra Options). Also contains faithful to original fonts. |
| Slovak |
|
|
|
Fan translation, download. |
| Spanish |
|
|
|
|
| Swedish |
|
|
|
|
| Thai |
|
|
|
|
Manually change game's language
|
Registry edit to change game language
|
- Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\EA Games\Need For Speed Most Wanted\.
- Find the language key and double click it.
- Change the value to the following list below:
- English UK
- English US
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Danish
- Dutch
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Polish
- Russian
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Thai
Note: Certain languages may not work for cutscene and voices if the installed game doesn't come with it.
|
Network
Multiplayer types
| Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
| Local play |
|
4 |
Use Nucleus-Coop Unofficial mod. |
| LAN play |
| 4 |
All players needs to set the game to same version and language as hoster to find the LAN server. Game must run as administration to be able to join. |
| Online play |
| 4 |
Online play was retired on August 2011.[8] Fan-maintained online client available here |
VR support
Issues unresolved
Game crashes when executed in Asian languages in Windows 10
- Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean and Thai are not working in Windows 10 and there's no fix except to change the language to other than these.
Issues fixed
- TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game.
Poor frame rate and crashes
|
Install DirectPlay
|
- Windows 8/8.1/10 removes important DirectX components, causing game to run poorly, and possibly lead to multiple crashes. These components can be brought back by installing DirectPlay. More about DirectPlay here.
- Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'.
- Select 'Turn Windows features on and off'
- Click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'.
- Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer.
- It is recommended to reinstall the game after installing DirectPlay.
|
Can't install both NFS Underground and NFS Most Wanted (2005) on the same PC
- This problem occurs because both games use the same name for their main executables (
speed.exe). After installing one game and attempting to install the other, its autorun program assumes it's already been installed.
|
Workaround[citation needed]
|
- Install the first game. It doesn't matter whether it's Underground or Most Wanted.
- Go to the installation folder.
- Change the name of
speed.exe to anything else.
- Install the other game.
- Restore the original name of the first game's
speed.exe.
|
Controller deadzone issues
|
Fix left stick deadzone[9]
|
- Install ThirteenAG's fix.
- Deadzone can be adjusted in
NFSMostWanted.WidescreenFix.ini.
|
Stability issues
|
Install MWFixes[10]
|
- Fixes and improves the game's stability.
|
Can't set shadows on Intel GPU
- On a PC with Intel GPU (or with Nvidia Optimus technology), the Shadow detail option is inactive.
|
Change CPU Affinity[citation needed]
|
- Open Windows Task Manager.
- Look for
nfs.exe process.
- Right-click it, then click Set Affinity.
- Leave a checkbox on
1 with the other unchecked.
- Click OK.
|
Game settings keep resetting
|
Run the game in compatibility mode[citation needed]
|
|
Set options: "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" and "Run program as an administrator".
|
Microstutter on modern machines
|
Limit FPS to 64.[citation needed]
|
Missing sun flare
|
Turn off Vsync.[citation needed]
|
Can't join Multiplayer room resulting in crash
|
Run the game as administrator.[citation needed]
|
Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| Direct3D |
9 |
|
| Shader Model support |
2.0 |
[12] |
| Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
| Windows |
|
|
|
Middleware
- No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.
Disable AI catch-up (rubber band effect)
|
Use NFSMWExOpts[citation needed]
|
- Download NFSMW Extra Options.
- Extract
scripts\ and dinput8.dll to the installation folder.
- Open
NFSMWExtraOptionsSettings.ini.
- Change
NoCatchUp = 0 to NoCatchUp = 1.
|
Modifications
This section may require
cleanup to meet basic
quality standards. The specific problem is:
This list needs to be narrowed down to the essentials, not every single 'major' mod out there. You can help by
modifying
the article. The
discussion page may contain useful suggestions.
- Total conversion Mod that contain the best community creations.
- Script mod which improves your gaming experience in many ways.
- A port of the high quality vinyls from the Xbox 360 version to PC.
- Improves texture quality and removes the orange filter.
- Comparisons between various texture mods can be found here
- 4K quality texture pack.
- Improves the world textures, lighting, skyboxes, etc.
- Aims to improve the visuals without ruining the original feel of the game.
- Archived download link
- Graphics enhancement mod.
- Can be used to change the camera, time speed, and HUD visibility.
- This is a custom music player replacement and a BASS library interface for NFS.
- Basic implementation of Xbox rain droplets from SkyGFX for other games.
- Restores Xbox 360 graphics effects.
- HD UI without requiring TexMod, re-scaled most of the icons and other things.
- UHUD is a recreating of NFSMW 2005's UI from scratch using mostly vector materials, with original texture proportions to help keep the same look.
- Upscaled map in menus (not in game map on HUD).
- Restores the effects resembling presented in PS2 demo cinematic/trailer.
- Replaces the in-game 36 kHz music with its 44.1 kHz counterparts.[13][citation needed]
- Adds a desert look to the game.
- Converted HD Xbox 360 movies to .vp6 to work with the PC port.
- English FMVs only. HD Spanish FMVs also available.
System requirements
| Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
2000 |
XP |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 4 1.4 GHz
| Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz |
| System memory (RAM) |
256 MB |
1 GB |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
3 GB | |
| Video card (GPU) |
Nvidia GeForce 2000 MX or GTS Series
ATI Radeon 7500
Intel 950/i915g
S3 GammaChrome S18 Pro
32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0 compatible
| Nvidia GeForce FX 5900
ATI Radeon 9800 series
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible |
| Sound (audio device) |
DirectX 9.0c compatible | |
| Controller |
Keyboard and Mouse |
USB-based DirectInput compatible Gamepad or Racing Wheel |
Notes
- ↑ 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]
- ↑ Applications writing to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.
References
