Interstate '76

Interstate '76

Developers
	Activision
Engines
	MechWarrior 2
Release dates
Windows	March 26, 1997
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Racing, Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Automobile
Series	Interstate

Interstate
Interstate '76	1997
Interstate '82	1999
Interstate: Outlaws (unofficial)	2007

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Multiplayer (Anet) source code was made open source in 2002.

interstate76.com - fan site with tips, tricks and mods.

Local Ditch Gaming - source for tips.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GOG.com		Arsenal Edition, fully updated.

Free official demos are available for the base game and the Arsenal edition.

Version differences

The Arsenal edition, also sold as the Gold Edition, included the base game and the Nitro Pack with the official 1.2 patch, 3D acceleration support and force feedback support.

The Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro Edition (v1.06) was bundled with Microsoft's Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro controller line.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Nitro Pack	Standalone expansion, does not require the base game to run. Known as Nitro Riders in Europe.

Essential improvements

Patches

Updates for the original retail version, including the Gold Edition, are available here.

Unofficial patch

The latest unofficial patch for the Nitro Pack is available here. It includes a frame rate limiter set to 24 FPS for preventing issues, and improved A3D and Direct3D support.

An all-in-one patch installer is available in the Files section on PCGW.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\

input.map for keyboard bindings

input.def and gamekey.def for additional bindings (not changeable through game dialogue)

internet.lst for server list

modem.ini for modem configuration

NSCR.DAT and user.mel for multiplayer configuration

reconfig.spc for car loadout

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\save***.cmp

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

Video settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			4:3 resolutions only. Higher 4:3 resolutions can be forced for the Glide or Direct3D mode by using a wrapper such as dgVoodoo 2, but the aspect ratio can not be changed.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		For software rendering, a windowed mode can be activated by using the -gdi parameter. May be broken on modern Windows[citation needed]. D3D and Glide can be forced in certain wrappers.[citation needed]
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

High frame rate

Frame rates higher than 30 FPS (24 FPS in some cases) cause stuttering, physics and enemy AI problems.

Use the unofficial patch for Nitro Pack

Use patches by immi (or legacy patch for base game)

Force the frame rate to 24 FPS in the graphics card control panel or via dgVoodoo 2

Input

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		See also Enabling force feedback on the Gold Edition.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Enabling force feedback on the Gold Edition

Change registry key
Run the Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ACTIVISION\ Rename the Interstate'76FRC folder to Interstate '76.

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		CD Music, SFX and voice
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		A3D 1.0
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio		GOG.com version uses the winmm wrapper.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Brazilian Portuguese				Retail: Interestadual 76.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Versus Uses deprecated IPX protocol; see IPX protocol deprecated for more information.
Online play		8	Versus The official ANet service has been shut down. Use the unofficial patch for Nitro Pack; GOG users should get the version from here instead (no DRM).

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Corrupt graphics on Windows Vista and Windows 7

See DirectDraw troubleshooting

Crashes on Windows XP

Download modified database files for base game and Nitro Pack

Manually modify files
Open the file database.mw2 (.tvf in Nitro Pack) in a hex editor. Find the last two RIFF extensions and change them to something else, such as PIFF.

Disable hardware acceleration for audio devices or disable sound in-game

Installing retail version on 64-bit systems

The official 16-bit installer will not run on 64-bit systems.

A German website has a custom installer here. It also includes and installs the patches, up to the Gold Edition.

winevdm can also be used.

Manual installation

Create a folder where the game files will be located. Copy all files and folders to it, with the exception of the DEMO and DirectX subfolders and the setup.exe file. Create a .reg file, edit it in a text editor to include the data below (note that the path to the game needs two \ characters), and run it as administrator: REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\I76.exe] "(Default)"="{{p|game}}\\I76.exe" "Path"="{{p|game}}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Activision] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Activision\Interstate '76] "EXE"=i76.exe [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Activision\Interstate '76\1.06]

Textures are "flipped" with other textures in Glide mode

This is a bug in some Glide wrappers. Reduce the texture memory to 2 MB to bypass this.

If running a real Voodoo card, add the following to a batch file followed by the game's executable:

SET SST_TMUMEM_SIZE=2
nitro.exe

Game crashes after mission 12

Official response from Activision representative

This problem can be fixed by retrieving the I76shell.dll from the 1.06 or 1.08 patch for the original I76 W95. Do not install the 1.06 patch to the Gold Edition! It will crash. Instead, extract the 1.06 patch to a new folder. Copy the I76shell.dll file to the Gold Edition directory. Only 1 file will be replaced. I tested Gold i76 using the i76shell.dll file from the 1.083 patch. It worked! I was able to get into the 13th level without a page fault crash. Be sure to back up the original .dll file though before doing this. The Gold edition will crash on Instant Melees with 1.08 .dll file installed. I would only use the 1.08 file temporarily for the purpose of gaining access to the 13th level. This can be simplified by renaming the patch .dll to I76shell_1083.dll (GOG.com version already includes it), then using the following batch scripts to enable and disable the fix. Name them as such: Batch file contents EnableM13.bat @echo off if exist I76shell.bak goto error ren I76shell.dll I76shell.bak ren I76shell_1083.dll I76shell.dll goto fix :error echo Mission 13 Fix already enabled! If you are experiencing crashes in echo melee or other single player missions, run RevertM13.bat instead. pause goto end :fix echo Mission 13 Fix enabled. Run RevertM13.bat to disable. pause goto end :end RevertM13.bat @echo off if exist I76shell_1083.dll goto error ren I76shell.dll I76shell_1083.dll ren I76shell.bak I76shell.dll goto fix :error echo Mission 13 Fix NOT enabled! If you are experiencing crashes in echo mission 13, run EnableM13.bat instead. pause goto end :fix echo Mission 13 Fix reverted. Run EnableM13.bat to re-patch. pause goto end :end

Unhandled exception error

Run the game as administrator[citation needed]

Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows 95/98 (retail) or XP SP3 (GOG.com)[citation needed]

Disable display scaling on high DPI settings in compatibility settings[citation needed]

Set core affinity to just one core[citation needed]

Mouse becoming unusable in certain menus while using dgVoodoo in fullscreen mode

Preemptively toggle windowed mode[citation needed]
Toggle into windowed mode before the game enters into the post-/pre-mission menus.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D		Launch the game with the -d3d parameter.
DirectDraw		Only used for main menu. D3D or Glide are used for actual gameplay.
OpenGL		PowerVR only (MiniGL). Launch the game with the -powervr parameter.
Glide	1.0	Requires wrapper, such as nGlide, to work on modern systems. Launch the game with the "-glide" parameter.
Software renderer

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			Setup.exe is 16-bit.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Smacker Video	Cutscenes remain on disc in the retail version.
Multiplayer	ANET

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 90 MHz	Intel Pentium 133 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	75 MB	130 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA 1 MB of VRAM	Voodoo 3DFX or equivalent 2 MB of VRAM