Skip to main content

The Need for Speed with DOSBox

I recently stumbled upon my beloved old copy of the absolutely fantastic original "The Need for Speed". This fabulous game came out in 1994 and blew me away. My sister, her boyfriend (now husband) and I spend a crazy number of hours playing this game. It rocked!

How to get it to play now though...? Well, I've used the wonderful DOSBox before for playing Doom 2 and Commander Keen and the like. This software runs in Windows (XP for example) and emulates a DOS environment with an old SoundBlaster 16 soundcard. Would it work with TNFS (The Need for Speed)?

After a lot of trial and error I finally got it working after getting a tip from a forum on a site called "alldeaf" (www.alldeaf.com). I hadn't mounted the CDROM drive properly. Here's what you need to do:
  • Create a folder/directory on root of your C: drive called "tnfs" (i.e. c:\tnfs)
  • Run DOSBox
  • Type "mount c c:\tnfs"
  • Type "mount d d:\ -t cdrom"
  • Type d:
  • Type "install"
  • Follow the on-screen instructions
Hopefully this should do the trick for you. What a trip down amnesia lane! It really brought me back! It's still a brilliant game even if the graphics are a bit grainy.
Labels:

Comments

Burby said…
Hello Steve,

funny that I did the same just now! My friends and me spend hours and hours with racing, telling each other the new minimum time.

Did you get the videosequences running? If so, I would be very interested for a "howto". For me its not visible, just jammed pixel with sound.
Thank you!
Martin
1 September 2009 at 20:46
MIke said…
Thanks for that, i still have a bit to learn about using dosbox, now there's a little bit less i need to learn.
Cheers.
Mike
28 August 2010 at 06:42
Unknown said…
When I try to do this it says the following: "getvesainfo - IVALID VESA INFO. VESA driver is installed?" Any ideas?
31 July 2011 at 15:43
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resolve WSUS Server issue that gives "Cannot save configuration because the server is still processing"

This is a pretty infuriating error and can sometimes crop up as a result of running a "wsusutil reset" command. First of all, give the server some time, and then a bit more...  but you've probably already done this. These steps may help to resolve the situation: - Install Microsoft SQL Management Studio (free download) - Run SQL Management Studio and start to connect to the WSUS database - Enter this in the "Server Name" box:  \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query - Expand the "Databases" tree - Right-click on "SUSDB" and choose "New Query" - Paste this query in:     UPDATE tbSingletonData     SET ResetStateMachineNeeded = 0 - You should see a message like "1 row affected", which is good - Quit SQL Management Studio - Open "Services" and restart the "WSUS Service" - Now, open WSUS
Post a Comment
Read more

Re-arm ESXI Evaluation License

Needed to get a little more time out of my ESXI trial so that I could migrate it to Hyper-V. This pair of commands came in very handy and gave another 60 days: rm -f /etc/vmware/vmware.lic /etc/vmware/license.cfg reboot To use them, you need to: Put your ESXI server into Maintenance Mode Enable Secure Shell access (SSH) Enable Console Access Then ssh to the server (in Windows 11 you can just type ssh username@serveripaddress and then enter password) Otherwise, you could use something like PuTTY ( https://www.putty.org/ ) Hope this helps.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Turn off "BitLocker waiting for activation"

This can be a pain when attempting to "sysprep" a PC's storage drive (usually the C: drive) or take an image of it using something like Acronis SnapDeploy.  In such cases, the software will complain about this BitLocker status. I keep forgetting about this every time I go to take an image! It isn't immediately obvious how to get around the issue... do you go for "Turn on BitLocker" and then turn if off when it has finished encrypting the drive?  Well you probably could if you had the time, but there's an easier way. Using the "manage-bde" tool via an administrative command line gives lots more options, and allows this to be turned off. Tip: handy way to open an admin command line is to hit  W  + R, then type "cmd" and then hit CRTL + Shift + Enter. Typing "manage-bde -status" will show you some more detail, but the command you need is: manage-bde -off c: This may take some time, depending on how much of the drive has already...
Post a Comment
Read more