Need For Speed: Most Wanted.

[Mario]

Here is the official Need For Speed: Most Wanted readme file.

EA GAMES(tm) presents
Need for Speed(tm) Most Wanted
README



WHAT THIS FILE IS
=================
This file contains information that supplements the Manual. If you are experiencing problems not covered in this README, please contact EA Customer Support.

NOTE: Content of Web Links within this document may not be under the control of Electronic Arts.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1. INSTALLATION
2. BASIC KEYBOARD CONTROLS
3. MANUAL ADDENDUM
4. TROUBLESHOOTING
5. ONLINE
6. LAN
7. CONTROLLER INFORMATION

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1. INSTALLATION

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Thank you for purchasing Need for Speed Most Wanted.

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
===========================
Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Home operating system
Intel Pentium 4 (or equivalent) CPU running at 1.4GHz or higher
32MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (Geforce2 MX or higher) using a supported chipset (see below)
256 MB RAM
DirectX compatible sound card
3 GB of HD space
8X CD-ROM

To play online a network card is required for broadband connectivity

Installation Instructions:

Exit all applications. It is recommended that you do not run unnecessary background applications when installing the game.

Insert Disc 1 into your computer's CD drive. The Autorun menu will appear as soon as your disk drive recognizes the disk. Select Install to Install the game. A prompt will appear to enter your install code.
Enter the install code and click on the Next button.

You will then get a menu asking to choose either a default install or the advanced install (which allows you to specify an install directory). Select Next and you will be prompted to register the game through Electronic Registration. Select Register Now to register the game, or select Register Later to continue with the installation.

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2. BASIC KEYBOARD CONTROLS

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The basic keyboard controls required to play the game are:

In Game Controls:

Steer Left Left Arrow
Steer Right Right Arrow
Throttle Up Arrow
Reverse Down Arrow
Shift Up Shift
Shift Down Left Ctrl
E-brake Space
Speedbreaker Right Ctrl
Nitrous Alt
Camera C
Look Back L
Enter Race / Shop Enter
World Map M
Read SMS Tab
Blacklist B
Reset Car R
Pause Esc

Menu Controls

Highlight Menu Items Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows
Cycle Choices / Move sliders Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows
Select / Go to next Screen ENTER or left mouse click on selection
Return to previous screen ESC
Take Screenshot F12
(Screenshots are saved to My Pictures in the My Documents directory)

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3. MANUAL ADDENDUM

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VIDEO CARD SUPPORT
==================

Although Direct3D is supported, this support is only officially extended to certain 3D accelerator devices. The following major D3D chipsets are supported.

ATI Radeon 7500
ATI Radeon 8500
ATI Radeon 9xxx series
ATI Radeon Xpress 200
ATI Radeon X300, X600, X700, X800 series
NVIDIA GeForce 2 (GTS, MX, Ultra/Ti)
NVIDIA GeForce 3 (Ti)
NVIDIA GeForce 4 (MX, Ti)
NVIDIA GeForce FX series
NVIDIA GeForce 6200, 6600, 6800, 7800
Intel 950/i915g
S3 GammaChrome S18 Pro

While Direct3D supports a wider variety of 3D accelerator devices, the behavior of Need for Speed Most Wanted cannot be predicted in these situations. In extreme cases, running Need for Speed Most Wanted with a Direct3D device that is not officially supported can lead to an unstable PC environment.

SOUND CARD SUPPORT
==================

Need for Speed Most Wanted supports DirectSound. If your sound card driver does not support DirectSound you may experience choppy or stuttering sound or sound that cuts in and out. If your sound card driver does not support DirectSound, we recommend obtaining updated drivers from your sound card manufacturer.


CD-ROM DRIVES and DVD DRIVES
====================================
Need for Speed Most Wanted requires at minimum an 8x CD-ROM/DVD drive. Disc 1 must be in the CD-ROM/DVD drive when you start the game. If your system has more than one CD-ROM/DVD drive, be sure the game disc is in the same drive from which you installed the game.


DEFAULT GRAPHICS SETTINGS
==============================
The first time Need for Speed Most Wanted is run, a system check is performed and default levels are set for the various graphics settings. These default levels are set to provide the best game play experience possible based on the hardware detected in your system.

These settings can be adjusted in the Video menu of the Options.

Resolution: Use the arrows to increase or decrease the game resolution. Increasing the game’s resolution may slow down system performance.

Level of Detail: Use the arrows beside the Level of Detail bar to increase or decrease global graphics setting. Increasing the Detail setting to high will improve the game’s graphics but may slow down system performance.

Advanced Display Settings: Tweak individual graphics settings. (See below.)

Default Settings: Reset your graphics settings to the default for your hardware configuration.

Selecting Advanced Display Settings in the Video menu takes you to the Advanced Display Settings menu. The following individual settings are available to tweak to change the game’s graphics output and game performance. Turning all the settings to on may slow down system performance.

Full Screen Anti-Aliasing: Adjust slider to increase/decrease pixel smoothing.

Texture Filtering: Adjust the slider to increase/decrease the Quality of the textures.

Vsync: Updates the screen based on the refresh rate of your monitor.

World Level of Detail: Increase the amount of detail visible in world geometry. Decreasing world geometry detail may increase overall system performance.

Road Reflection Detail: Increase or decrease reflections visible in the road.

Shadow Detail: Increase/decrease car shadow detail. Decreased shadow detail may improve system performance.

Car Geometry Detail: Setting this to High increases geometry details on the car.

Car Reflection Detail: Setting this to High increases the detail of reflections visible on the car.

Car Reflection Update Rate: Increase or decrease how quickly reflections are visible on the car update.

Rain Effect: Rain splatter effect on/off.

Over Bright: When on it increases brightness of bright areas in the game.

Visual Treatment: Increase or decrease the effect of the visual treatment in the game.

Not all graphic details are available for all video cards due to hardware limitations.

ALIAS AND SAVE LOAD
============================

If you are in the Main Menu and you want to create a new Alias, select Create from the Alias Manager Menu.

When you start a new Alias, you will not have any of the progress (unlocked cars, parts, or progress through Career Mode) that you had in your old Alias (You can always log back in under your original Alias if you want to go back).

Manual Saves: Your game can be manually saved by accessing the Alias Manager Menu and selecting Save.

NOTE:
Saving your Alias saves your game progress. When you make a save game, you are saving your progress in Career Mode, the number of cars, car upgrades, and tracks you have unlocked, and any modifications you have made to your cars.

The final game save directory is located at: \Documents and Settings\PC Login ID\My Documents\NFS Most Wanted

Substitute your actual Login ID for the PC Login ID mentioned above.


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4. TROUBLESHOOTING

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CD AUTOPLAY FEATURE
===================
Inserting the game CD into your CD-ROM drive and then immediately running the game either from the Windows Start menu or by double-clicking the game's Desktop icon may cause a conflict with the CD-ROM's AutoPlay feature. The easiest way to avoid this potential conflict is to always wait a few moments after inserting the CD to allow the AutoPlay feature to run the game.


EJECTING THE GAME CD
====================
Never eject the game CD when the game is running. Failure to do so can result in serious problems, including being unable to continue the game.


FAST USER SWITCHING
===================
You will not be able to run two versions of the game using two different windows accounts via the fast user switching (windows key + L).


DEVICE DRIVERS
==============
It is highly recommended that the latest versions of all device drivers (i.e. video and sound card drivers) be obtained and installed. Please consult your card manufacturer for their newest drivers. Also, keep in mind that video chip manufacturers sometimes provide drivers in addition to the card manufacturer.

If you are experiencing issues with an unstable PC environment please make sure your Motherboard drivers (AGP, miniport) are up to date. For further information please contact your Motherboard manufacturer.

VIDEO & GRAPHICS PROBLEMS
=========================
If you are experiencing performance problems on the default graphics settings, try lowering some of the settings or the game resolution.

This game requires DirectX 9.0c
It is available for download by going to:

www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/

Graphic Cards: Graphical settings and features available in-game are dependant on Graphics Card capabilities. Settings not supported by your Graphics Card hardware are disabled in the Options Menu to prevent adverse effects on the game and your computer.

NVIDIA Cards: All supported NVIDIA cards were tested using ForceWare driver version 81.84 beta (Win2k/XP). It is highly recommended this driver or a more recent version be used when running Need for Speed Most Wanted.

Known Issues:

ATI Cards: All supported ATI cards were tested using Catalyst driver version 5.10 (Win2k/XP). It is highly recommended this driver or a more recent version be used when running Need for Speed Most Wanted.

Known Issues: Currently there is a problem with the anti-aliasing functions in Need for Speed Most Wanted and drivers older than Catalyst 4.10. It is highly recommended this driver or a more recent version be used.


BACKGROUND PROGRAMS
===================
Avoid running other programs in the background.

Programs starting up automatically can cause Need for Speed Most Wanted to lose control of the screen and keyboard, possibly causing an unstable PC environment. 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 Need for Speed Most Wanted. These include, but are not limited to:
- Windows System Agent
- Windows Task Scheduler
- Windows "Disk Cleanup" utilities

Similarly, message boxes and dialog boxes from other programs or from
Windows itself can also cause Need for Speed Most Wanted to lose
control of the screen and keyboard, possibly causing an unstable PC
environment. We strongly recommend that you shut down all other
applications before running Need for Speed Most Wanted. These
include, but are not limited to:
- Email programs
- Calendar, appointment, or contact applications
- Network or Internet chat programs
- Automatic Update on Anti Virus software

Also, connections to/from non-dedicated servers can be disrupted when
background programs or screen-savers launch. We recommend that you shut
down other applications (including virus scanners) and run Need for Speed
Most Wanted by itself whenever possible.


POWER MANAGEMENT SUSPEND/SLEEP MODES
============================================
Systems (i.e. laptops or other portables) that automatically power
down into "sleep" or "suspended" modes can cause Need for Speed
Most Wanted to lose control of the screen and keyboard, possibly
causing an unstable PC environment. We strongly recommend that you
disable these features before running Need for Speed Most Wanted.


WINDOWS VIRTUAL MEMORY ISSUES WITH 256MB RAM
==================================================
If you experience any Virtual Memory issues while running the game, try increasing
the page file size on your hard drive. Please consult the Microsoft Windows help
pages to determine how to tweak your virtual memory settings.

CHOPPY PLAYBACK DURING VIDEO SEQUENCES
==================================================
If you experience choppy playback during video sequences, try increasing
the page file size on your hard drive. Please consult the Microsoft Windows help
pages to determine how to tweak your virtual memory settings.

SAFE MODE
=========================
The safe mode option can be found under the game directory in the Start Menu. If this
option does not appear, go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and install the .NET Framework.
Then re-install the game.


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5. ONLINE PLAY

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To avoid poor performance during Internet play, be sure that you close
any file sharing, streaming audio, or chat programs prior to entering
gameplay. These applications can monopolize your connection’s bandwidth,
causing lag or other undesirable effects.

Need for Speed Most Wanted uses the following TCP and UDP port(s) for
Internet play:

TCP ports: 80, 13505, 30900-30999
UDP port addresses: 3658-3658

Please consult your router or personal firewall documentation for information
on how to allow game related traffic on these ports. If you are attempting to
play on a corporate Internet connection, contact your network administrator.

NOTE: Need for Speed Most Wanted supports only broadband connections
for online play. When logging in to play Online you are logging into
the EA.com servers. If you already have one, you may use your existing
online EA.com account to play or you can create a new one.

Setting up an account: An EA online account is required for online play. At
the account log-in screen choose Create New EA online account . You will be
taken to menus where you enter account information and choose your
online user name.

NOTE: If your existing EA online account contains a space, you won’t be able
to use it due to a limitation in the game.

Personas: Persona's are part of your EA online account and are used
for any EA online product you play. Deleting a persona that has been used in
other EA Products will also delete the persona and all associated
stats/rewards earned with that persona across all EA products.


Online Main Menu
================

Quick Race: Jump right into an existing ranked or standard match.

Create Game: Customize your game preferences and link up with someone with a similar alias.

Select Car: Switch cars for the next race.

Rankings: View your personal statistics, get the overall stats, or find out who the online leaders are.

News: Catch up on the latest Need for Speed Most Wanted news.

EA Terms & Conditions: View the online terms and conditions.


The Online Lobby

================

The Online Lobby is where all created games will be displayed. Select
a game from the list to join that game.

The games list will be fluctuating all the time as new games are create
and players join those games. To keep the list of games as recent as
possible click the refresh button.

Performance Matching ensures that no matter what car others have selected they will all equal the same performance. This is an option during the game setup and something designated by the host.


Game Room Options
=================

Game Room Countdown:

Once the minimum number of racers has entered the Game Room the countdown timer will begin to ensure the race will be started. The timer can not be stopped and will only pause if a new racer enters the room. The timer will accelerate if no changes are being made by any player for a moment. In the last few seconds the positions are locked and no more changes can be made.

Client/Host Options:

When in another player's/or your own game room you will have access to
extra options. Select a player name from within the game room to view
the menu of available selections.

Send Private Message - This will enable you to send a private message to
the selected player.


In-Game Cheat Detection/Disqualifications
========================================

During Ranked Games the cheat detection will be operational and will monitor
race progress. Any attempts to tamper with car data, physics or Nitrous
will be detected by the server and those players will be flagged.

Players who are convicted of cheating or acting in a manner other than
racing will receive a disqualification at the end of the race, and or be removed
from the game during the race.

Need for Speed Most Wanted features an advanced Post Race Results screen
where all results are validated by the server before becoming official.

If any players received a disqualification or disconnection during the race the
finish order will be adjusted in this screen.

A DNF stands for “Did Not Finish” and is awarded any time a player does not complete a race for any reason whatsoever. The exception is if the host quits a race and ultimately ends the race for all participants. Racers who quit will receive both a loss, and an increase in DNF%.

EA Online will be monitoring players and server results on a regular basis,
should any significant cheats get detected we will take action accordingly and ban
any person's accounts that are clearly trying to ruin the online experience for others.


GENERAL ONLINE INFO
===================
Frame Rate: If your frame rate dips below 12 fps for 10 consecutive
frames or longer, you should receive the message “Frame Rate is
too low for a Ranked Game.” Lowering your graphic detail settings may
help increase your frame rate so you can play in ranked games.


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6. LAN PLAY

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Need for Speed Most Wanted contains LAN play, which is setup to emulate
the EA Online Lobby.

To Host a LAN Server (Like the EA Lobby) you need to Select LAN from the
Main Menu, next select Host LAN Server. You will be prompted for a LAN
Server Name.

Next you will be taken to the LAN Main Menu where you can access Select Car.
When Hosting a LAN Server your computer will be the primary host to any players
that join your LAN Server. In essence, your computer will be linking all other
players that join your LAN server together, allowing them to host games, and report
back to your server when done.

If you turn off your computer or Exit LAN Mode while there are other players
connected to your server they will be disconnected from LAN mode upon returning
from Gameplay.

To Join a LAN game select LAN from the Main Menu, select the name of the LAN
server you wish to join. Next you will be asked to enter your player name.

Once in the LAN main menu you will be free to create a server or join an existing game.

Depending on the speed and available memory on your computer, running a LAN
server may impact game performance. You can adjust the amount of time that
will be spent servicing LAN requests by editing the LAN_THROTTLE setting in
the server.cfg file in the game install directory. Changing the parameter
to a lower number may improve performance for some computers.


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7. CONTROLLER INFORMATION

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CONTROLLER CONFIGURATIONS
================================
Need for Speed Most Wanted can be played with many popular gamepads
and controller devices. If your device is not recognized, or if you'd
like to modify the configuration the game has pre-assigned to your
controller, enter Controls under Options in the Main Menu.
The re-mapping tools in this menu are useful for tweaking your
controller for optimal play.

CONTROLLER PROBLEMS
=======================
To correct these problems, properly configure and calibrate the device
from the Windows Control Panel. If problems continue to persist,
disconnect the device from your computer before playing Need for Speed
Most Wanted. Ensure the latest manufacturer drivers are installed for
your device.

- The mouse pointer automatically scrolls through the buttons on menu
screens.
- Your car makes erratic movements that are not intended (i.e.
continually turning).
- Certain movements do not occur when the proper direction is pressed.
- Sluggish response on slower machines.


FORCE FEEDBACK SETTINGS
=============================
Force Feedback is not enabled on the Customize Controller screen of
the Options menu until proper, device-specific drivers are installed
for that controller. The default generic drivers provided by Windows
do not provide access to Force Feedback features.


KEYBOARD PROBLEMS
=======================
To adjust the feeling\sensitivity of the steering in gameplay when
using the keyboard, enter the Keyboard option in the Windows Control
Panel (Start - Settings - Control Panel). By adjusting the Repeat
Delay and Repeat Rate the user can adjust the controls to feel more
analog or digital depending on their preference.

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 <C> key to change your view, the view may not
change. Unfortunately, this problem is due to a limitation of the
hardware.

While it is possible to bind game controls to the F12, Print Screen and
Windows keys, these keys will also retain their original function and can
interfere with gameplay.

The Windows key is not locked out during gameplay and it will bring
up the start menu during gameplay. This may interfere with gameplay.


(C) 2005 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved.

END OF Need for Speed Most Wanted README