Need for Speed: High Stakes

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Need for Speed: High Stakes
Need for Speed: High Stakes cover
Developers
EA Canada
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows September 29, 1999
 
 
 
Need for Speed
The Need for Speed 1994
Need for Speed II 1997
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit 1998
Need for Speed: High Stakes 1999
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed 2000
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 2002
Need for Speed: Underground 2003
Need for Speed: Underground 2 2004
Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2005
Need for Speed: Carbon 2006
Need for Speed: ProStreet 2007
Need for Speed: Undercover 2008
Need for Speed: Shift 2009
Need for Speed: World 2010
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010
Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed 2011
Need for Speed: The Run 2011
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012) 2012
Need for Speed Rivals 2013
Need for Speed (2016) 2016
Need for Speed Edge 2016

Key points

DirectX (when modified to recognize modern graphics cards, see Issues fixed) and Glide renderers give equal graphical quality.
The game is unplayable without patches on new systems. See Essential improvements.
Released as Need for Speed: Road Challenge in Europe.

General information

Need for Speed Wiki

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
 
 DRM: SafeDisc disc check.
 
Amazon.com
 
 Not available as a digital download
 

Essential improvements[edit]

Need For Speed 4 Modern Patch[edit]

Change resolution and refresh rate under ./drivers/nglide/thrash.ini

Need for Speed: High Stakes Stock Pack (SP) and Expansion Pack (EP)[edit]

The Stock Pack is designed to improve the Single-Player experience in High Stakes, patching the game to the final version, fixing various bugs discovered since the game's support period ended and adding compatibility with modern graphics cards.

The Expansion Pack is designed to improve the Multiplayer experience, with all of the improvements in the Stock Pack as well as adding support for the modern Online Multiplayer service made for the game and more cars and tracks used on that service on a regular basis.

Patches[edit]

Patch 4.50 (Internet Beta Test Patch) updates the game to the latest version.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SaveData

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SaveData

Video settings[edit]

General video settings
General video settings
Advanced video settings
Advanced video settings
Graphics option Option Notes
Widescreen resolution
4:3 resolutions only. Main Menus are locked at 640x480.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
"Narrow" and "Wide" options available in the 'View Angle' setting in the Basic Graphics menu. Widescreen option in the same menu can widen the horizontal FOV further, though narrows the vertical FOV.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Game will accept settings forced in graphics card configuration panel.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Triple Buffering only.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
64 fps cap

Input settings[edit]

Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping
Most keys for both players are rebindable, however some (Such as Pause and Screenshot) are locked and cannot be rebound.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
The game supports all functionality of DirectInput compatible controllers, however it assumes a Racing Wheel with digital pedals will be used.
Full controller support
Controllers cannot be used to navigate menus.
Controller remapping
Gamepads require their buttons to be rebound to functions manually for the best effect. Controller key bindings overwrite Keyboard ones and are lost if the game is started without a controller connected.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
To enable Force Feedback on an XInput controller (Like the Xbox 360 Controller), see XInput force feedback vibration in DirectInput games.
Mouse support is limited only to navigating menus.

Audio settings[edit]

Audio settings
Audio settings
Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls
Menu Music, Race Music, Effects, Engine and Speech sliders available.
Surround sound
Stereo, Mono and DS3D/EAX.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX.[1]

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
2 Versus, Co-op
Co-op is Hot Pursuit mode only.
LAN play
8 Versus, Co-op
Co-op is Hot Pursuit mode only.
Online play
8 Versus, Co-op
Connect as if connecting to a LAN game. Co-op is Hot Pursuit mode only.

Connection types

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

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP (outbound) 1030

Issues fixed[edit]

A Standard installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack fixes all of the known bugs in the game. See above. Individual fixes are given below for convenience.

1 MB RAM Bug (XP, Later)[edit]

When running the game on Windows XP or later, the game gives a 1MB of RAM error and does not save progress or settings.

Install 1MB Error Patch[citation needed]
  1. Download and start Installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack
  2. Ensure "Mercury / 1Mbyte Error Patch" is selected on the Choose Components screen.
  3. Finish Installation
  4. Run the game.

Crash on Start Issue (Vista, Later)[edit]

When running the game on Windows Vista or later, the game refuses to start, giving an Invalid Argument exception.

Install NFS:HS Stock Pack[citation needed]
  1. Download and start Installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack
  2. Ensure "EA's 4.50 Patch", "Vista, Win7 Tweaks" and "NFS HS Starter" are selected on the Choose Components screen.
  3. Finish Installation
  4. Run the game.
Start game with -PatchRestart switch[citation needed]
  1. Create a (or modify an existing) Shortcut to the game EXE and add -PatchRestart to the end of the Target.
  2. Run the game using that Shortcut.
Start game using PatchNFS.exe[citation needed]

Run the game from <path-to-game>\PatchNFS.exe.

Direct3D doesn't appear in the 3DSetup tool[edit]

When configuring 3D acceleration using the 3DSetup tool, only Software Renderer appears in the list.

Install New 3DSetup[citation needed]
  1. Download and start Installation of the High Stakes Stock Pack
  2. Ensure "New 3D-Setup" is selected on the Choose Components screen.
  3. Finish Installation
Direct3D should now be in the list of renderers.

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 9x, NT, 2000 9x, NT, 2000
Processor (CPU) Pentium 200 MHz Pentium 266 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 50 MB 350 MB
Video card (GPU) 2 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.1 compatible 		8 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.1 compatible
Sound (audio device) 100% DirectX 6.1+ Compatible 100% DirectX 6.1+ Compatible

References

  1. ↑ Recommendations for Gamers -- Soundblaster.com