Need for Speed Rivals

Need for Speed Rivals

Developers
	Ghost Games
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Retail (Russia)	1C-SoftClub
Engines
	Frostbite 3
Release dates
Windows	November 19, 2013
Reception
Metacritic	76
OpenCritic	81
IGDB	80
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	Boost
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Racing, Open world
Vehicles	Automobile, Street racing
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person racing and open world game in the Need for Speed series.

Key points

Frame rate is capped at 30 FPS. See High frame rate for a workaround.

Due to the OverWatch service was shut down in 2018, exclusive cars (Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale for racer, Bentley Continental GT V8 for RCPD) are no longer obtainable. See Unlocking OverWatch Content to unlock these.

By default, the game can not be paused, even in the single-player mode.

General information

PC Report

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Amazon.com		Complete Edition also available.
Microsoft Store		Complete Edition. Included exclusively with Xbox Game Pass for PC as part of its version of EA Play.
Origin		Included with EA Play. Complete Edition also available.
Steam		Complete Edition. Included with EA Play (Steam).
(unavailable)

All versions require Origin DRM.

Version differences

Limited Edition includes the Ultimate Cop Pack.

Origin Digital Deluxe Edition includes the BMW M3 GTS "Digital Revolution" livery, and 100,000 Speed Points for racer faction.

Complete Edition comes with six content packs: Simply Jaguar Complete Pack, Ferrari Edizioni Speciali Complete Pack, Concept Lamborghini Complete Pack, The Koenigsegg One:1, Complete Movie Pack, and Loaded Garage Pack. Does not include the Timesavers Pack.

Monetization

Type	Notes
DLC	The DLC include new cars.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via EA Play.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Complete Movie Pack	Included with EA Play.
Concept Lamborghini Complete Pack	Included with EA Play.
Concept Lamborghini Cops	Included with EA Play.
Concept Lamborghini Racers	Included with EA Play.
Ferrari Edizioni Speciali Complete Pack	Included with EA Play.
Ferrari Edizioni Speciali Cops	Included with EA Play.
Ferrari Edizioni Speciali Racers	Included with EA Play.
Koenigsegg One:1	Free, the car will be available after finishing the campaign.
Loaded Garage Pack	Included with EA Play.
Movie Pack - Cops	Included with EA Play.
Movie Pack - Racers	Included with EA Play.
Simply Jaguar Complete Pack	Included with EA Play.
Simply Jaguar Cops	Included with EA Play.
Simply Jaguar Racers	Included with EA Play.
Timesaver Pack	Fully upgrade cars (racer) and Pursuit Techs (both factions).
Ultimate Cop Pack	Pre-order bonus, made part of the Loaded Garage Pack.
Ultimate Racer Pack	Pre-order bonus, made part of the Loaded Garage Pack.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Ghost Games\Need for Speed(TM) Rivals\settings\
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1262600/pfx/

Configuration files are encrypted.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Ghost Games\Need for Speed(TM) Rivals\settings\<user-id>.sav
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1262600/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Browse to game install location "Need for Speed Rivals\Data\Win32", delete/rename videos.toc and videos.sb.

This breaks the games tutorial, as videos are required to start initial missions.

Unlocking OverWatch Content

Download Overwatch / NFS Network Content (Cars and Liveries) Unlocker and install with Frosty Mod Manager. If the game isn't appearing in the FMM menu, browse to path to game and click on the executable.

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Use Flawless Widescreen to fix Vert- cameras.
Ultra-widescreen			Use Flawless Widescreen to fix Vert- cameras.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use NFS Rivals Cinematic Tools or Flawless Widescreen.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Higher samples can be forced through GPU control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Always enabled. Aliasing can be reduced by increasing the render resolution.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Triple buffered. Disable through GPU control panel to reduce stuttering and input lag as much as possible.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Frame rate and tick rate are capped at 30 FPS. See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Add launch option[citation needed]
Add -noborder command line argument. Launch the game and go to PC Settings. Under PC Settings, set Full Screen to Off. Alternatively, use combination of keys: Alt+↵ Enter. Notes This may cause the game to cover only a fraction of the screen the next time it is launched. Simply toggle the Full Screen setting to On and then Off to restore borderless fullscreen windowed mode.

High frame rate

Add launch option

Add the -GameTime.MaxSimFps # -GameTime.ForceSimRate # command line argument, where # is the exact desired value. Notes Increasing framerate by any amount is not recommended due to making the game very difficult and problematic to play in the following ways: Higher rates can cause impossibility to complete some of events; the event will be abandoned while the player is between checkpoints. This is due to the game using a timer to determine if the player left the event, prompting them if they have less than 20 seconds before the event automatically cancels itself; normally this would only be a problem when the player takes too long to get to each checkpoint. However, increasing the frame rate also speeds up this timer, giving the player a very short amount of time to finish the event. The game will massively reduce the player's vehicle's acceleration regardless of its model, but if it's too fast, like the upgraded high-end cars, the game will also limit its top speed to far lower values while the AI's top speed and acceleration won't be affected; making the game difficult. Driving too fast can cause game assets to not load and soft-lock the game. Engine sounds will be corrupted or non-existent. Going off-road can result in massive stuttering and clipping. If the frame rate is below the specified threshold (either because of FPS drops due underperforming hardware or setting the cap above refresh rate), the game will slow down and cause camera and physics issues. These issues exist even by moving the cap from 30 to 48 and 60 FPS and will only get worse the higher the frame rate cap is set.

Increase render resolution

Add launch option
Add the -Render.ResolutionScale 1.5 command line argument. Notes This doubles the render resolution without affecting the display resolution. Can be further tweaked up to 2.0 Using Nvidia's DSR instead, provides better performance. Causes the starting grid and other GUI elements on 3D environments to be misaligned.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		No mouse support in the game.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput controllers only. Wheel controllers not supported.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		See Haptic feedback.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Haptic feedback

Disable controller vibration
Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand Input Management and Gamepad. Enable Disable ALL Rumble and close the Control Panel.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, SFX and Dynamics.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Brazilian Portuguese
Polish
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		6

Issues unresolved

FPS drops on average machines with high details

Game slows down, works in slow motion, or stutters, drops FPS heavily in some moments.

Notes

Original, recent version of binaries from Origin performs much slower than other ones with latest patch v1.3 (v1.4.0.0). It points to a problems with Origin DRM's implementation.

Issues fixed

Disappearing DLC cars

On rare occasions, the DLC cars may not appear in the menu. There is no known permanent fix for that issue, only a workaround exists.

Workaround[citation needed]
Try one of the following methods: Pick any car, earn some points (even the smallest amount will do) and return to the hideout. Set AllDrive to Public and then switch it back to the previous setting. Quit NFS Rivals, switch Origin to offline mode and relaunch the game.

Ingame objects stuck

Occasionally during game, all objects may stuck. Timer is still working, wheels are spinning, but game stops for a few seconds.

Switch to 64-bit binaries.[citation needed]

Performance issues on low-end machines

Especially on dual core processors, the game is unplayable in some extent due to substantial performance problems.

Force the game to run at lower frame rate.

Add the -GameTime.MaxSimFps 18 -GameTime.ForceSimRate 18+ command line argument to the game's launch option. This will both force the game and its tick rate to run at 18 frames per second, you can adjust it to higher values until the frame rate is stabilised. Like unlocking the frame rate, it is advised not to use this in multiplayer. As this can result in bans. Additionally, lowered simulation tick rate without reducing frame rate will cause issue in the same manner as increasing it. Notes In cooperation with low-end machines also helps Ragno1997 low specs. It is set of configs for various games.

Disable vertical sync
Use D3DOverrider software to force game to disable V-Sync. It is also recommended to turn on triple buffering in Graphic Card Control Panel. After complying to these steps, it is pointed on FPS boost, and change in the graphic output.

Pick "Prefer max performance" in Power management mode in Nvidia Control Panel
Only for Nvidia graphics card.

Pausing the game

Workaround[citation needed]
Use Universal pause button: Download the program [1] and run it. Game can now be "paused" at any time by pressing the pause/break key on the keyboard. Notes Do not use this in online mode, the game will read it as if the connection was lost and will kick the client.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Interface	Qt

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Vista SP2, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz	AMD Six-Core CPU Intel Quad-Core CPU
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	30 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 3870 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT Intel HD 4000 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	AMD Radeon HD 7870 Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 3 GB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible	DirectX 11 compatible