Need For Speed III Modern Patch v1.6.1 [2016/10/28] (HD + Widescreen + Portable)

“Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit” is the first 3D game of my life. When I've seen the game first time, I was extremely amazed because I'd never seen 3D games before. It was in 2000. I can't count hours which I've spent in the Split Screen mode with my cousin. And the music... it's so awesome, so I'd recorded it on an audio cassette, and listened it hundreds of times.

And now, years later, I had tried to play this game. But the game refused to run on modern hardware. So, I had tried to investigate how to fix it. I had a little carried away by this. As the result I've created an impressive patch. 25000+ lines of assembly code, 150+ days of reverse-engineering and coding, 40 sheets of A4 paper were covered with writing during development, a huge list of changes...



Hometown in widescreen resolution

Key Features

  • Full widescreen and HD resolutions support. You can easily use resolutions like 1920×1200. Now the game supports all aspect ratios from the 5:4 to 16:9, inclusive 4:3 and 16:10. HUD will be adopted automatically for every aspect ratio.
  • Improved graphics. No more cars with non-rotating wheels, better textures and models for other's cars (original game reduces size of textures even on maximum graphics settings), better graphics in the rear view, etc.
  • New graphics settings: Rear View Detail (High/Medium/Low), Rear View Camera From (In Car Camera/Active Camera, it decreases the blind spot), Fog (On/Off, like in the NFS4), Wide View Angle setting (useful for the widescreen resolutions).
  • Fog effect and light beams support in DirectX 6/7 (they were exclusive effects for the 3dfx Voodoo).
  • Portability. All system settings are loaded from the ini file. No more registry!
  • Compatibility. Most problems with modern Windows were fixed. Full support of multi-core processors. Original game can work properly only on one core. This change dramatically improves performance of the nGlide and the dgVoodoo.
  • Alt+Tab support. You can safely minimize the game when nGlide or dgVoodoo driver is used.
  • Built-in screenshoter. Just press Print Screen key, and a screenshot will be saved into the screenshots subdirectory in the JPG/PNG/BMP format.
  • Improved keyboard support in the menu. Now it is much more consistent. You can also use the Tab and Shift+Tab to switch between elements.
  • Better modding abilities. The game doesn't crash when high-poly cars are used. Also it possible to use huge textures up to 2048×2048 (original limit was 256×256).
  • Optimizations. 10 times faster gameplay loading on modern systems. To skip loading animation just press any key.
  • Bugfixes. More than 200 changes at all!

Screenshots


Before and after: cars have better textures, side mirrors don't disappear


How to install

  1. Copy FEDATA and GAMEDATA directories from the NFS3 CD to a new empty directory.
  2. Extract contents of the nfs3_modern_patch.7z (1.6MB) into that directory with replacement of files.
  3. Done!

Join our Telegram group chat!

Join this Telegram group chat. You also can find other NFS3 fans for network multiplayer games.

If you are a server, ports 1030 and 9803 have to be accessible from the network, so you have to add the appropriate permit rule in your firewall for the nfs3.exe and configure a port forwarding properly. If you're a client, port forwarding isn't required.

Plans

Donated: $270.
Status: suspended.

Planned features:

  • [Done] Sharp fonts and other elements in menus on D3D renderers, just like when Glide renderers are used.
  • [Done] The problem with visible black polygons (e.g. near the Old Church) on the DX7 renderer will be solved.
  • [Done] Movies support for the DX8 renderer.
  • [Done] 32bpp rendering for movies. Menu will also work in 32bpp video mode and it will look better. Now it works in 16bpp.
  • Simple windowed mode for the DX6/DX7/DX8 renderers. It will be possible to enable it using ini file.
  • Investigation about how to add an ability to restore minimized game when it works in fullscreen mode.
  • Separate “Frame Size” and “Frame Cropping” graphics settings instead of the current combined one.
  • Rewriting of the code which uses the mouse cursor in the exclusive mode. The game will use the default system behavior of the mouse cursor. It will solve many small problems with the mouse cursor in this game. For example, your cursor will be able to leave the window of the game (when it works in a window) without pressing any keys. Also it will solve problems with mouse lagging on some computers.
  • Solving of the problems with loading of ghost and replay files from other players (when the other player has a little bit different set of cars in his game).
  • An optional ability to change structure of the game directories using the ini file. It may be useful for modding. It will be more flexible than the install.win from the original versions. For example, you will be able to move all save files to some separate directory (e.g. "savedata").
  • An optional ability to load a thrash driver from the root directory, as it was in the original version of the game.

These features are planned for the v1.6.1, v1.6.2 and v1.6.3. A beta version is here.

  1. #301
    Keiiko

    Milan: problem with NFS1/SE is that it is DOS/W95 game... it works fine in dosbox, try my portable launcher: https://uloz.to/!q8NQcRZRH/the-need-for-speed-special-edition-1996-portable-launcher-7z (you also need iso - this https://archive.org/details/Need_for_Speed_The_-_Special_Edition_1996_Electronic_Arts or this https://archive.org/details/Need_for_Speed_The_-_Special_Edition_1997_Electronic_Arts_budget_CD-ROM_Classics , next part is extract TNFSSE folder where you want (not in program files) and copy and rename one of iso file into TNFSSE folder as TNFS.iso... run with The Need For Speed Special Edition (fullscreen).bat) :) more info and how i do it at http://xcx.4fan.cz/jak-na-need-for-speed-1-a-2-na-windows-7-x64/ (its in czech, so use google translator or something)

  2. #302
    VEG Author

    Modern Patch v1.6.1 [2016/10/28]

    • Fixed the problem with Texel Alignment in the DX6, DX7 and DX8 renderers, so everything looks sharp, like when Glide3x is used.
    • DX8 supports fog effect. Thanks to Verok for investigation.
    • The DX7 graphical glitches like the black polygon near the Old Church were workarounded.
    • DX7 doesn't output 640×480×16 if this mode isn't supported. Also it returns sorted list of resolutions now.
    • A small optimization of texture loading. The thrash_about isn't called when it is not really needed.
    • More strict checking of validity of a thrash driver (a renderer).
    • New error messages for some problematic situations: too long path to the root directory (it has not to be longer than 210 characters); thrash driver not found.
    • DirectDrawLagFix was renamed to DisableMaxWindowedMode in the thrash.ini files. It is disabled by default now.
    • A new DirectDraw compatibility flag NoDwmOffForPrimaryLock was added to the thrash.ini files.
    • The game asks a renderer if it supports the fog effect. DX5 and SoftTri always report that they do not support the fog effect.
    • Refactoring of the video mode init code. Video mode restore function will not be called twice at exit.

    More useful changes are planned for next versions. Thank you for your donations!

  3. #303
    Milan

    Keiiko, NFS1: SE has two exe files. One is for DOS and other one is for Win95 and uses Direct Draw and Direct Sound. Thank you for your advices but I already know how to run both versions. The problem is that they don't work ideal. This game needs proper patch from VEG.

  5. #305
    jajaja

    Beterhans what are all these files there for, and demos?

  6. #306
    Manticore

    Milan - could you tell me how to run the Windows version of TNFS:SE?

    I suggested MCO because it's based on the same engine as NFS3/4. Anyway, it's up to VEG if he decides to continue the work :)

  7. #307
    Milan

    Manticore, I can tell you how I did it on Win7 64bit. First you need to apply next ACT fixes for the game Win installer(INFSW.EXE on CD):

    EmulateCDFS
    EmulateGetDiskFreeSpace
    GlobalMemoryStatusLie
    MapMemoryB000
    SingleProcAffinity
    IgnoreException

    Now install the game by clicking on INFSW.EXE. I recommend full install. After the installation go to game folder and rename NFS.EXE to some other name like NFS_WIN.EXE because Windows auto apply "IgnoreScheduler" fix and fucks up the game. After that check if you have IFORCE.DLL and DPLAY.DLL in your game folder. If you don't have them IFORCE.DLL is on game CD just copy it to game folder. For DPLAY.DLL go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and form there copy file DPLAYX.DLL to game folder and rename it to DPLAY.DLL. Now you should apply next ACT fixes for NFS_WIN.EXE in your game folder:

    EmulateCDFS
    EmulateSlowCPU
    GlobalMemoryStatusLie
    MapMemoryB000
    SingleProcAffinity
    IgnoreException (with this one ingame videos work but are not properly displayed)
    ForceDirectDrawEmulation (with this one movies works properly but cursor is missing and there is black screen when race starts)

    Now before you run the game with NFS_WIN.EXE close all programs cause for me game won't run when Mozilla or Fraps are running. Hope this helps you.

  8. #308
    Keiiko

    Veg, install for example No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA plugin and activate akismet :)

  9. #309
    Tuurngait

    Milan, thank you very much for the NFS-2-SE cross platform patch! The only problem is that I can't change resolution. In normal Glide mode you just had to set a custom resolution in the nGlide configurator (up to 7680 x 4320 pixels), but now everything is scaled to 4:3 standard resolution and can't be changed. I hope this will get fixed in the future and maybe it's also possible to get the cockpit view in 3Dfx Glide mode.

  10. #310
    Milan

    Tuurngait, almost a year ago I talked to the guy who made NFS2 patch. I asked him about widescreen support, cockpit view and other cool stuff that he could implement. He told me then that he doesn't know how to do that. His main goal was to make Glide version of the game cross platform and to fix multiplayer. It seems to me that he doesn't have the skills like the VEG has.

  11. #311
    Tuurngait

    VEG, why you changed default thrash driver from "nglide" to "dx7" in your current beta 1.6.2?

  12. #312
    VEG Author

    Tuurngait, just because I'm improving and testing it now.

  13. #313
    ace

    I installed the patch but I don't get the option of widescreen resolutions in the menu. Can someone show me how to do it? Thanks in advance.

  15. #315
    Walter

    Maybe if the strings indicate the aspect ratio it could avoid confusion to many people.

  16. #316
    India

    Hey, this looks awesome, but installation instructions are unclear.
    So you want us to make copies of the original FEDATA and GAMEDATA folders from the CD, then extract all the files from your download to the CD? I'm confused. Where do all the other files like "drivers" and "eacsnd.dll" go?

  17. #317
    VEG Author

    India, instructions are for the installing from the original CD. If you have downloaded the Modern Bundle, it already includes Modern Patch (v1.5.3). You can update it to the v1.6.1, but it is optional.

  18. #318
    Ronoath

    Great, great, great!

    Works fine on LinuxMint 17.2 Xfce - and Wine 1.6.2!

    Thank you very much for your work!

  19. #319
    Drew

    Found this today and was pretty excited to try it out. It just works without issue on Windows 10 64-bit with my GeForce GTX 960M.
    This makes me pretty happy to play this game after years of not getting it to work properly on later OSes.

    Thanks!

  20. #320
    beterhans

    HI jajaja
    yes I got many demo for you. I guess I've addcited to this game since I found this patch
    Check out my AI COP difficulty upgrade Patch Demo.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhx62qqLuM

    Now the Pursuit is more exciting!

    @VEG
    Is that possible to make a key to switch camera view on to AI police car? current you can only switch to other racer and human player by click the name or the dot on map.

  21. #321
    Tropixx

    I'm enjoying the hell out of this patch with mods and stuff.

    I can hardly wait for VEG's great talent with the Modern Patch for NFS4!

  22. #322
    beterhans

    Hi VEG
    I Think you should modify you readme file for the Installation part a bit, I had a hard time for it!

    You wrote
    "1. Copy FEDATA and GAMEDATA directories from the NFS3 CD to a new empty directory."
    I have a hard time to understand it! and failed to install the game.
    Where is this empty directory? why copy to a empty directory but not the NFS3 directory?
    what's the point of the empty directory? will you patch smart enough to find this empty directory have NFS3 file without tell it??

    After 1 hour, I realized the Empty directory is the NFS3 directory but you need me to uninstall first.

    You should write like this to
    1. Uninstall your current version of NFS3!
    2. Delete all NFS3 files and directories
    3. Make a new NFS3 Folder
    4. Copy FEDATA and GAMEDATA directories from the NFS3 CD to the fold you made at step 3!
    5. copy Extract contents of this archive into that directory made in step3 with replacement of files.

  23. #323
    beterhans

    And May be this is a bug

    The Replay file will not play correctly a crosse different versions,.

    IF I play a rp3 replay from v1.5.3 it will not play correctly on v1.6.1

  24. #324
    VEG Author

    beterhans, this instruction is about installation, not about reinstallation. So, there is no steps about removing any previous versions of the game because generally it is not required.

    IF I play a rp3 replay from v1.5.3 it will not play correctly on v1.6.1

    All versions have to be compatible. Are you sure that everything else are the same and only patch versions are differ? Maybe list of cars are also different? Different lists of cars may cause incompatibility of replay files. It's a known bug of the original version of the game, and it is still not fixed.

  25. #325
    BeterHans

    HI VEG Thanks for the reply

    Yes I know but you'd better point out create an empty folder FOR the New NFS3.
    Because when I 1st saw your instructions, I thought it's just a temporary folder for the installation process.
    and since you call it a patch, SO I install the game from CD 1st, them apply the patch. but It won't work this way.

    For the Replay
    The Car is same
    1.53 was download from the bundel torrent
    1.61 was installed via CD + patch

    replay will play for 1-2 laps without problem them out-of sync. player hit wall and still press gas.

    This means if different version of modern patch play together can also cause out-of sync problem.

  26. #326
    VEG Author

    BeterHans, it has to be compatible. Maybe game files on your NFS3 cd are not original, I don't know. Please try to update the Modern Bundle v1.5.3 to v1.6.1 and check if the problem still occurs on your PC. Also please provide your replay file where the problem occurs.

  27. #327
    Predatorace

    Hi VEG!

    I don't know if you know this but there are a lot of differences between the PC and the PSX (Playstation 1) version of Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit. For example:

    - In the Playstation version you can choose between "beginner" and "expert" cops and the Diablo SV cop is present on almost every track. The cops are also a lot harder and they don't patrol but instead stand near the side of the road waiting for you and then pursue you.

    - In the Playstation version you can switch cars during the tournament mode, so you can drive different cars.

    - In the Playstation version the cops shout at you (in the PC version you have to use the "bullhorn" cheat).

    Do you think it's possible to make the PC version more like the PSX version? I especially like to know if it's possible to make the cops way more aggressive and difficult to shake, oh and have the Lamborghini Diablo SV cop on EVERY track. Also the Diablo SV cop in the PSX version looks different, it has a gold skin and blue and yellow lights...

    Let me know!

    p.s. One more thing, but this is about Need For Speed High Stakes. Whenever I do a police race in High Stakes there are only like 2 traffic cars on the road, you think it's possible to increase this? Because in Need For Speed III you have A LOT of traffic cars, this makes it way more exciting to race...

  29. #329
    Halligalli

    Thanks ALOT for this GREAT WORK.
    It works fine on netbook (AMD e-450 APU, Win XP SP3 x86-32 [latest] , 1366*768 max details, nglide renderer)

    BUT on this PC (AMD PII X4 955, HD 6950, Win7 x86-amd64) 1-2 fps... Even Main-Menu is unplayable...
    -What else... if it also runs in 98/ME Compatibility Mode...

    Don't forget after overwriting existing (old) files to disable this.

  30. #330
    beterhans

    HI Halligalli
    Just try other renders
    like DX8

  31. #331
    kp klone

    new update: includes new components for Need for Speed 4 High Stakes to Need For Speed III and tested game by new ideia kp klone 2017

  32. #332
    kp klone

    ps: May test game machines and parts includes new maps and better graphics

  33. #333
    Omar V

    Amazing job,
    i really enjoy this game and this new graphics are awesome.
    Thanks a lot.

  35. #335
    iladelf

    Any way to get NFS Manager (also called NFS3 Manager) to work on these files? On XP (and original installs), this program allowed you to swap car and tracks in and out. I have several of each saved on my XP machine; would be awesome to transfer them to my 7 install and your version of the game. Thanks!

    For the record, NFS3 Manager can be found in the download location below.

    http://nfs3expansionpack.webs.com/

  36. #336
    TheKnack

    After some fuss, I got it running on Fedora Linux 25 with Wine 2.0. I'm 18 now and have been playing this game for most of my life across two different machines running Windows XP, Windows 7, VirtualBox Windows XP hosted on Fedora 25, and finally now Wine on Fedora 25. This is truly a monumental undertaking that you accomplished! Now you are distributing it for free to fellow diehard NFS3 players. Our world needs more people like you! Thank you very much!

  37. #337
    MistaMac

    I wonder... There is HUGE advantage using vertex headlights instead of projected, because vertex usually covers more vision in-front of the car instead of projected. Also projected has problem with contrast when lighting the road (near impossible to track the road; escpecially visible in lost canyons in reverse at night). I wonder if it is fixable.

  38. #338
    VEG Author

    Projected headlights are trying to be closer to our real world. I think that it is a feature that the night mode makes the game more complicated :)

  39. #339
    MistaMac

    Yeah... I was thinking more like slightly "nerfing" the vertex lighting if it's possible (probably not because lightning itself was always wonky) and fixing contrast in projected lighting because... well - http://imgur.com/a/lD2L6

    Also - really good job for giving this game second life.

  40. #340
    David J.

    Does this patch have the cars that were available for download or included with the Walmart or Australian releases?

  42. #342
    VEG Author

    David J., it is included in the Modern Bundle. Modern Patch itself doesn't include any cars or other additional content.

  43. #343
    Momo Shiina

    There's a new update in the work? And do you continue NFS 4?

  44. #344
    VEG Author

    Momo Shiina, beta version was updated recently. It still has some regressions, so I'm not releasing a final version.

  45. #345
    Matt_STS

    @Keiiko Do you have a similar patch for NFS4? (all oficial addon cars)

  47. #347
    Momo Shiina

    VEG, what's new in 1.6.2 beta and what regressions do you mean?
    NFS 4 will be continued?

  48. #348
    Momo Shiina

    Ah, I red the changelog. Many great improvements. I assume you meant NFS 4 won't get a final version? That's really sad.

  49. #349
    VEG Author

    Momo Shiina, I'm planning to make some great changes for the NFS4 also. But it takes much time. So it will not be very soon. Currently I'm planning to finish some internal work (refactoring of some code according to rendering initialization) in the NFS3, and then I'm planning to port the best features of the NFS3 Modern Patch to the NFS4.

  50. #350
    Momo Shiina

    This sounds great! Please take all the time you need for both projects. We all can wait. It was just important for me to know that you continue working on the NFS4. This is such a great game and you are the only one who can bring this masterpiece back to life. I'm really looking forward to your work and wish you all the best! When you fixed widescreen and camera on the NFS4, I will sent you a donation :-)

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