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Test Drive Unlimited

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Test Drive Unlimited
Test Drive Unlimited cover
Developers
Eden Games
Publishers
Atari
Engines
Twilight 2
Release dates
Windows March 16, 2007
Reception
Metacritic 79
IGDB 81
Taxonomy
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Open world, Racing
Vehicles Automobile, Motorcycle, Street racing
Art styles Realistic
Themes Oceania, Contemporary
Series Test Drive Unlimited
Test Drive Unlimited on HowLongToBeat
Test Drive Unlimited on IGDB
Test Drive Unlimited on MobyGames
Test Drive Unlimited on Wikipedia
Test Drive Unlimited
Subseries of Test Drive
Test Drive Unlimited 2006
Test Drive Unlimited 2 2011
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown 2024

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Test Drive Unlimited is an open world racing game in the Test Drive series, and the first entry in the Test Drive Unlimited sub-series. The game allows players to drive a variety of sports cars and motorcycles around a recreation of the Hawaiian island of Oahu that features around 1,000 miles (1,609 km) of roads.

General information

Official website
TDU Mod Shop - Dedicated modding forum

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
SecuROM DRM v7.30.0015
Windows

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Megapack No longer available for purchase.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

  • 1.66A is the latest official patch (required for 2.00A, along with Megapack)
  • 2.00A (fan-made) is the latest unofficial patch to fix some of the game issues that were not addressed by the last official patch
Compatibility patch for the Polish version available here.

Skip intro videos

Instructions
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Euro\Video.
  2. Delete or rename Atari.bik and Bumper_EDEN_TDU.bik.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Test Drive Unlimited\savegame\<user-id>\

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Test Drive Unlimited\savegame\<user-id>\playersave\

Video

Video settings
Video settings

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Use the -w command line argument.
Disables HDR and AA.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Up to 4x MSAA.
High-fidelity upscaling
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Enabled by default. Syncs to a higher number than specified.[citation needed]
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Exceeding 90 FPS introduces traffic bugs. Set monitor refresh rate to 60 Hz to fix; see Weird traffic behavior.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.
Ray tracing (RT)

Input

Control settings with Xbox 360 controller settings
Control settings with Xbox 360 controller settings

Audio

Default audio settings
Default audio settings

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 5.0.[1]
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Korean
Language file is in the sound folder, but unselectable during installation or in-game.
Polish
Polish retail release only, later re-releases only use Polish subtitles with English voiceovers.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation; download.
Russian
Localization by Akella
Spanish

Adding custom music

MP3 and WAV (44100 Hz 16-bit PCM) formats are supported. M3U files can also be used.
Windows shortcuts can be used for the desired music.
Adding custom Radio Stations[2]
  1. Go to the configuration file location.
  2. Open or create the Radio folder.
  3. Create a new folder within Radio. Its name will be the name of the custom radio station.
  4. Add desired music files to this new folder.

Notes

Up to 4 folders can be created within Radio, with 32 files in each. Each folder appears in-game as a separate radio station.
The game will display the file name when playing the track.
Add to existing radio stations[3]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Euro\Radio.
  2. Add music files to the desired radio station folder.
  3. Go to <path-to-game>\Euro\Bnk\Sound\Radio.
  4. Open <NAME OF RADIO STATION>.station with any text editor.
  5. Add the file name, artist, and track name to the file in the same format as the existing tracks.
  6. Save and close the file.

Notes

The game will display the song artist and track name as defined in the <NAME OF RADIO STATION>.station file.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play
8 The official GameSpy service has been shut down on September 29, 2012 use Project Paradise is required to play online after the shutdown of GameSpy.

Issues unresolved

Game failing to launch on Windows 8 and higher

Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP3 and as administrator.[4]

Issues fixed

Game freezes during free roam

Delete the dynamic advertising database
  1. Go to %PROGRAMDATA%\Test Drive Unlimited.
  2. Delete or rename radial.cdb.

Notes

radial.cdb is hidden by default. To view it, be sure both hidden files and system files are shown.

Crash on Windows 10

Disable display scaling on high DPI settings in <path-to-game>\TestDriveUnlimited.exe[5]

Weird traffic behavior

Exceeding 90 FPS introduces traffic bugs: invisible cars, weird spawning, very fast line changes or stopping when the player's car is near.
Limit the frame rate to 90 FPS with the proper tools[6]
Set monitor refresh rate to 60 Hz[6]

Map event information is not being displayed and is replaced with grey box when using a controller

Unbind the map controls for the controller in the controls settings[7]
  1. Go to Controls Settings, Map section.
  2. Unbind Up, Down, Left and Right controls for the map.

Installer finishes instantly

The installer in a Polish release of the game fails to launch properly on Windows Vista and newer.
Launch the installer with a Transform file attached.[8]
  1. Download Fixed install scripts.
  2. Extract the archive and launch setup.bat.
  3. Insert the game DVD and press any key.
  4. Navigate to and select the Test Drive Unlimited.msi file on the game disc.
  5. Install the game as usual.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D
User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.
Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking
Works with Tobii EyeX tracker or Tobii EyeX 4C and 5 headtracker plugins for FaceTrackNoIR.
TrackIR

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Shader Model support 2.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio Inria Audile [9]
Cutscenes Bink Video 1.8.18.0
Multiplayer GameSpy Shut down in 29 September 2012.
Project Paradise is required to play online after the shutdown of GameSpy.

Mods

Test Drive Unlimited Platinum

New physics, over 880 vehicles, correct color names, dedicated camera for each vehicle, new weather - HDiR compatible, new map textures and new radio stations.
Optional Russian language.
Additional toolkit.
Incompatible with languages other than English, Russian and Polish (for compatibility with the Polish version, download this file).

Test Drive Unlimited PS2 UI Sounds

Meant to be used with the PS2 menu music.

Test Drive Unlimited PS2 menu themes

Meant to be used with the PS2 UI sounds.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 2000
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT
ATI Radeon 9800
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible


References