Electronic Arts(TM) presents NEED FOR SPEED(TM) III: HOT PURSUIT Final Demo: Sept 1st 1998 Demo Description ================ You're behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Corvette. Try to beat your rivals to the finish line or just make it there without getting pulled over! (If only you could stop to enjoy the crisp mountain air on Rocky Pass, one of NFS III's advanced tracks.) This demo randomly selects between: o Single Race or Hot Pursuit modes (with Pursuit Corvettes only to save space). o Normal or Aggresive AI o Weather effects being on or off. The screen resolution of this demo is: 640x480 (with 3D video hardware support) 320x240 (using the software render) The full game allows choosing from among the different resolution modes supported by the user's video drivers. Features Of Full Version Available Fall 98 ========================================== o 13 Licensed Cars With Realistic Physics o Lamborghini Diablo, Ferrari 550 Maranello, Mercedes CLK GTR, Chevrolet Corvette, & more o 9 Tracks With Road Traffic o Hot Pursuit, Tournament, and More o Be The Cop - Chase or be Chased o Realistic Cop Radio Chatter o Up to 8 Player Network Racing o Dashboards, Night Driving, Headlights, & Weather o Download New Cars from the Internet o TV-Style Replays o Direct 3D, Voodoo, Voodoo 2, & Unaccelerated video o Feel the Road with Force Feedback o For the latest News goto WWW.NeedForSpeed.com OPPONENT CAMERA VIEWS ===================== During a race, left-clicking the mouse on either the opponent list or the opponent dots on the track map display will shift the point of view to that opponent's car. Right-clicking the mouse anywhere will return the game to your point of view. DARK CARS ========= If the cars appear too dark in the game, try turning Car Shading off (from the Pause menu select Options, then Graphics, and then Car Shading). 3D DEVICE SETUP =============== For systems equipped with 3D video accelerators, it is highly recommended that the latest versions of all video drivers be obtained and installed. A software renderer is provided for those without 3D accelerators. A configuration utility called "3D Device Setup" is installed with NFS3. This utility controls how NFS3 will draw to your system's video hardware. When you install NFS3, "3D Device Setup" automatically makes a default selection, and normally users will find this selection satisfactory. It is recommended that this default choice NOT be altered. "3D Device Setup" is provided for the following unusual cases: - You install or remove video devices - You have more than one supported 3D accelerator installed - The default rendering interface fails Whenever you install or remove video devices, do not run NFS3 again without first running "3D Device Setup" from the Start Menu. By default, the "3D Device Setup" shortcut is located in the "Start Menu\Programs\Electronic Arts\Need For Speed III Demo" folder. Immediately, "3D Device Setup" will test your system for the presence of supported video devices (this may be accompanied by a black screen flash on your monitor). When "3D Device Setup" comes up, press the "Use Defaults" button to automatically select the best video device for NFS III. Press the "OK" button to quit the utility. NFS3 should now function correctly. DIRECT3D SUPPORT ================ Although Direct3D is supported, this support is only officially extended to certain 3D accelerator devices. Among these are Riva 128, Intel i740 and ATI Rage Pro. While Direct3D supports a wider variety of 3D accelerator devices, and the "3D Device Setup" utility allows you to force the game to run using these unsupported devices, the behavior of NFS3 cannot be predicted in these situations. In extreme cases, running NFS3 with a Direct3D device that is not officially supported can lead to program crashes and/or system crashes. * If the "3D Device Setup" utility (described above) indicates that your * selected device is "Direct3D Device n" (where n is a number, such as 1), * it means that you are running the game on a device that is not officially * supported. Under Direct3D, the performance of NFS3 (in both graphics AND audio) is influenced greatly by the Direct3D driver versions that are installed. It is highly recommended that the latest versions of all video drivers be obtained and installed. Please consult your card manufacturer for their newest drivers. Also, keep in mind that video chip manufacterers sometimes provide drivers in addition to the card manufacturer. For instance, 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. (www.3dfx.com) provides drivers that can be used effectively with the Diamond Monster 3D card, Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 card, and other cards using the 3Dfx chipset. CONFIGURING PROGRAMMABLE CONTROLLERS ==================================== Some controller devices allow you to program them to produce output that is customized for a particular game. If you use a device with NFS3 that is custom programmed for another game, you may see unexpected results when setting the controller configuration in NFS3. For example, if button "A" on a joystick has been programmed to behave as if it were the "H" key on the keyboard, and you try to assign the Accelerate function to this button in the NFS3 CONTROLLERS screen, the button will be interpreted by NFS3 as "Keyboard H" instead of "Joystick Button A". This would cause a conflict only if you tried to assign some other function to the actual keyboard "H". ARROW KEYS AND THE NUMERIC KEYPAD ================================= The arrow keys and the 2, 4, 6 and 8 keys on the numeric keypad are treated the same by NFS3. This means that for the following pairs of keys, only one key in the pair can be assigned a function: The up arrow and the 8 key. The down arrow and the 2 key. The right arrow and the 6 key. The left arrow and the 4 key. FORCE FEEDBACK SUPPORT ====================== Ensure all cables are properly attached and your Force Feedback device is configured properly under Windows, and run NFS3. From the Pause menu, select OPTIONS, then CONTROLLERS, and then FORCE FEEDBACK. If the FORCE FEEDBACK option is grayed-out, your device was not detected; double-check that your device configuration in Windows is correct, and try again. If your device configuration appears to be correct, your device drivers may need to be updated; contact the manufacturer of your device to obtain the latest drivers. If the device is detected, the Force Feedback sensitivity menu will appear. Use your mouse to select the various force levels you desire; maximum force is exerted when a bar is all the way to the right, and all force is disabled when a bar is all the way to the left (select this level for all forces if you want to use your force feedback controller as a normal device without any forces). NOTE: Some forces are mutually exclusive (i.e., body roll and road grip). CONTROLLER CONFIGURATION ======================== If you attempt to configure your controller (i.e., joystick, wheel, pedals) on the CONTROLLERS screen, it is important that you keep the joystick or wheel centered and not depress the pedals; doing so can cause the controller to perform in a reverse manner. Make sure that you have the pedals in the full up position (off gas) when you select to map a pedal as a control (i.e., ACCELERATE or BRAKE). If you have the pedal depressed when you try to map it as either ACCELERATE or BRAKE and then release the pedal to map it, then the pedal will have a reverse effect in gameplay: releasing the pedal with your foot will act as acceleration, and depressing the pedal will let off the gas. Make sure that you have the steering wheel in the center position when you select STEER LEFT on the CONTROLLERS screen, and then move the steering wheel to the left to map it correctly. If you are holding the steering wheel to the left when you click on the STEER LEFT selection and then release the steering wheel, this will result in your steering wheel being mapped backwards in gameplay: steering left with the steering wheel in gameplay will result in your car steering more to the right. *********************************************************************** TROUBLESHOOTING *********************************************************************** BACKGROUND PROGRAMS =================== Avoid running other programs in the background. Programs starting up automatically can cause NFS3 to lose control of the screen and keyboard, possibly causing a crash. We strongly recommend that you shut down or suspend applications that start up automatically or programs that automatically run other applications at specified times before running NFS3. These include, but are not limited to: - Windows System Agent - Windows Task Scheduler Similarly, message boxes and dialog boxes from other programs or from Windows itself can also cause NFS3 to lose control of the screen and keyboard, possibly causing a crash. We strongly recommend that you shut down all other applications before running NFS3. These include, but are not limited to: - Email programs - Calendar, appointment, or contact applications - Network or Internet chat programs PROPRIETARY KEYBOARDS, MICE, AND OTHER INPUT DEVICES ==================================================== Some systems or peripherals provide additional shortcut keys or hotkeys that automatically launch applications. The launching of other programs can cause NFS3 to lose control of the screen and keyboard and possibly crash. We strongly recommend that you either not use or disable these special keys while running NFS3. These include but are not limited to: - Certain models of Compaq systems and keyboards - Certain models of Logitech mice VIDEO & GRAPHICS PROBLEMS ========================= OpenGL cards and 3Dfx cards may conflict with each other. Please remove the OpenGL card from your computer to play NFS3 with your 3Dfx video card. The default drivers that Windows 98 uses when it detects a 3Dfx Voodoo card (such as the Diamond Monster 3D) will not work with the game. When you click on the NFS3 icon, the mouse pointer momentarily changes to an hourglass, then back to a pointer and nothing happens. The way to fix this is to install the drivers that came with your Voodoo card. AUDIO PROBLEMS ============== If you have a 3D sound card and are experiencing sound problems in the game, first contact your sound card manufacturer to make sure you have the latest drivers for your card. FORCE FEEDBACK PROBLEMS ======================= Microsoft Force Feedback products: SideWinder Force Feedback devices traditionally connect through the game port. Both joystick position information and force commands are transferred through this port. In order to handle the amount of data being transferred across the game port, Microsoft uses MIDI compression. This means your game port must have MIDI support which is usually only found on game ports built into your sound card. If you do not have a MIDI compatible game port, the joystick may work but not the force feedback. If you do have a MIDI compatible game port and the force feedback still does not work, check the MIDI settings in accordance with the documentation that came with your Microsoft Force Feedback device. Immersion Force Feedback products: (including but not limited to the following mfg.: Logitech, SC&T, ThrustMaster, Act Labs, CH Products) Immersion force feedback devices traditionally connect through the serial port and/or the game port or just a USB port. The force commands are transferred through the serial or USB ports, but never through the game port. KEYBOARD PROBLEMS ================= Some newer keyboards do not allow certain combinations of more than two keys to be depressed simultaneously. For example, if you were pressing both the up arrow key to accelerate and the left arrow key to turn, and you pressed the key to honk your horn, your horn would not honk. Unfortunately, this problem is due to a limitation of the hardware. LOW SYSTEM RESOURCES ==================== If a warning appears when you run NFS3 stating that your system resources may be too low to run the game, it means that you may not have enough free memory available. Under Windows 95 and Windows 98, memory is a combination of RAM and hard drive space. The minimum RAM required for NFS III is 16 MB. If you meet the minimum RAM requirement and you receive this warning, make sure that no other applications are running before running NFS3. If you still get the warning, check to see how much free space is available on your hard drive (double-click My Computer, right-click on your hard drive icon, and then click on Properties). There should be at least 10 MB of free space, preferably much more. Free up space if you need to by emptying your Recycle Bin, clearing your web browser's cache, etc. LESS THAN 1 MB HARD DRIVE SPACE =============================== You should try to free up space on your hard drive if you get this warning. VITALSIGNS NET.MEDIC ==================== If you are running VitalSigns Net.Medic at the same time as NFS3, you may encounter a shifted color palette in gameplay. It's a good idea to close all open applications before running NFS3, including TSRs in the System Tray. WINDOWS NT ========== NFS3 was written to operate under Windows 95 and Windows 98 and does not specifically support Windows NT. If you attempt to install the game on a Windows NT system, the installation will fail. LEGAL ===== ELECTRONIC ARTS and NEED FOR SPEED are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts in the United States and/or other countries. MICROSOFT, WINDOWS, WINDOWS 95, WINDOWS 98, WINDOWS NT, DIRECTX and DIRECT3D are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Voodoo Graphics, Voodoo Rush and Voodoo2 are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This document is Copyright 1998 by Electronic Arts Inc. English NFS3 Final Demo README Revision 1