be cool! I've got the same problem, and now it works perfectly. go to the regedit,hkey_local_machine, software, electronic arts, Need for speed high stakes and verify trash is d3d and group is D3D.

If that doesn't work, the instructions for the NFS4 demo should.
 
To play the game in Direct3D do
the follow:
1. You'll need to have Need for Speed III installed on your
computer (ie.Win98 partition) or your Need for Speed III CD
handy for this to work.
2. Make a backup of the 3DData.dat file in the x:\Program
Files\Electronic Arts\Need For Speed High Stakes Demo\3dsetup
directory.
3. Replace the files in the x:\Program Files\Electronic
Arts\Need For Speed High Stakes Demo\3dsetup directory with the
ones in your NFS3 Installation or your NFS3 CD.
4. Replace the 3DData.dat file with the backup you made in step
2.
5. Run 3D Device Setup, and choose "Direct3D Device
1". You'll get some error message about this being
untested, ignore it.

Hi There, thanks for all your help...after changing the registry that you mentioned above, I was able to launch the game after an error message(Clicked Ok to ignore it), However, I guess may be my video card is not an High-end one...ATI Xpert 98 8mb(kinda bad actually! ), the monitor keeps flicking on every single screens. Is that mean my Video Card does not support D3D or just a driver problem??
 
On the other hand, is it normal that..after applying those patches, it will jump to the Network Gaming Mode by default?(hope you know what I mean!)
 
Thanks for your advices!
 
regards,
Mugen C
 
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Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!

I have noticed with the Xpert 98 cards that Direct3D is not enabled in DirectX (dxdiag). I don't know if it means anything as far as the card goes, I always thought it supported it. I will look into it
 
 
 
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Whistler is or will be better than Windows 2000, if you don't think so, get a reality check and hope it doesn't bounce.

That's ok. you just have to click on BACK until you're in the first page off the game. That's strange the first time, but it works fine! Sorry, but i've got no idea about the xpert.

NFS4 still isn't working. I followed both sets of advice. The registry change did nothing. The suggestion to copy files from the 3DSetup file on the CD got the game running, but only in software mode, not D3D.
 
FYI the graphics card I'm using is a geForce with the Detonator 6.18 drivers.