NASCAR SimRacing (NSR) Windows 10 & 11 Install Guide
By TheBenCrazy
Updated 12/18/23 6:45 PM
This guide will walk you step by step on how to install NASCAR SimRacing on your Windows 10 & 11 computer. Note that AMD graphics card users are having some issues running the game. Some fixes are noted in the guide as well as in the comments.
Creating this guide and making this game reliably work on modern hardware was no small feat. It took weeks of troubleshooting, experimenting, finding updates and additional software to get NASCAR SimRacing not only to work but look as incredibly good as it does, even at a 4:3 screen ratio. I appreciate you taking the time to install the game and I hope in the future that previous and new mods become available to correct issues or add on to the game.
Guide Updates
12/17/2023- Added warnings about issues users have experienced with AMD graphics cards and made changes in the guide to help fix some of the issues.
12/18/2023- Corrected to warn not to change the VIDEOMODE number unless you have an Nvidia graphics card.
Table of Contents
Download
Before we get started, we first need to download the game and dgVoodoo2. The download files are listed below. Clicking NASCAR SimRacing will automatically download the .zip file.
Clicking dgVoodoo2 will redirect you to the page to download the most up to date dgVoodoo2 software. Under "latest stable version," click the link next to "for regular usage" to download.
Installing NASCAR SimRacing
After downloading the .zip file, go to the location you downloaded the file to and extract it to it's own folder. I use 7zip and it can be done by right clicking the .zip file, highlighting 7zip, and clicking extract to.
After Unzipping, you can delete the .zip file. Open the new NSR folder.
Right click NSR Disc 1 and click on mount. File explorer should automatically take you inside the mounted disc.
Double click the AutoRun application.
The NASCAR SimRacing window will open and click install.
Put in the CD key which is 95WE-KNST-FXM8-D295-UFTU and click next.
It will ask what type of user you are and you want to click on advanced user as we do not want to install the game in program files as we will run into compatibility issues.
Click browse and select a folder you want to install the game in. For me, I am installing it in my C drive under the folder Games and NASCAR SimRacing. Click next.
On the select program folder window, click next.
It will then ask you to register the game. Click on register later.
The game will begin to install.
It will then ask to insert disk number 2. Go back to the NSR folder, right click NSR Disc 2 and click on mount.
Go back to the window asking to insert disk number 2 and click ok. The installation will resume.
After the installation is finished, accept the license agreement.
It will ask to install GameSpy Arcade. Click no, install GameSpy Arcade later and click on next.
It will say the install was successful and it will put a shortcut on your desktop. Click QUIT and click finish.
Delete the shortcut it put on your desktop.
Eject disc 1 and 2 by right clicking each and selecting eject.
Installing the patch
Go back to the NSR folder and go to the "Other" folder. Copy and paste the NSR-1000-1029-BETA patch into the folder you installed NASCAR SimRacing.
Double click the NSR-1000-1029-BETA patch and wait for the patch to finish. It will close on its own when it is done.
No-CD and 3DSetup
In the NASCAR SimRacing install folder, rename the 3DSetup and NASCAR SimRacing applications. For me, I just added Orig to the end of each.
Go back to the NSR folder, then open the "Other" folder and copy and paste the 3DSetup application to the NASCAR SimRacing install folder.
Go back to the "Other" folder and then the NoCD folder. Copy and paste the NASCAR SimRacing application to the NASCAR SimRacing install folder (Do not drag and drop the application into the folder as it will only create a link).
Right click the 3DSetup application and select properties.
Go to the compatibility tab and check the box for "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and change it to Windows XP (Service Pack 3).
Check the box next to "Disable fullscreen optimization" and "Run this program as an administrator" and click apply and ok.
Right click the NASCAR SimRacing application and select properties.
Go to the compatibility tab and check the box for "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and change it to Windows XP (Service Pack 3).
Check the box next to "Disable fullscreen optimization" and "Run this program as an administrator" and click apply and ok.
Double click the 3DSetup application (this is where most people are having issues so please make sure you follow the instructions).
Click advanced and uncheck "Run Benchmark." (If you do not have an option to uncheck the benchmark, just click next)
Select your graphics card and click next.
Keep the default video resolution and click next (DO NOT CHANGE the resolution or the game will not work correctly, we will correct the graphics later).
Click finish and it will close.
dgVoodoo2
dgVoodoo2 allows us to emulate an older graphics card to make NSR run smoother as well as upscale the game to a higher resolution. It is not recommended to skip this step as the game will not run well.
Go to your downloads folder and unzip and extract dgVoodoo2 to it's own folder.
Open the dgVoodoo2 folder and double click the dgVoodooCpl application.
Change adapters to your graphics card.
Under scaling mode, change the drop down to stretched, 4:3 Aspect Ratio.
Click apply.
Click on the DirectX tab.
Change the videocard to the GeForce 9800 GT.
Change the resolution to Max (if your computer cannot handle this resolution, lower it to 2x or 4x).
Uncheck the 2 boxes under Behavior.
Change antialiasing to 8x.
Uncheck dgVoodoo Watermark.
Click on Apply and ok.
In the dgVoodoo2 folder, copy and paste the dgVoodoo config file to the NASCAR SimRacing install folder.
Go back to the dgVoodoo2 folder and go to the MS folder, x86, and copy and paste the 4 files into the NASCAR SimRacing install folder.
Run The Game
Double click and run NASCAR SimRacing (Before running the game, make sure your wheel or your controller is plugged in).
The 3Dsetup application window might open again in which case follow the same steps that we did under the 3DSetup instructions above.
The game will open to a intro menu. Enter your profile name, select your difficulty (difficulty can be changed later if you need to) and click done.
Next, choose your favorite driver and click done.
Quit the game.
Correcting the Graphics
Right click the config file and open it with Notepad.
Scroll down to VIDEOMODE and change the number next to it to 219 (if you do not have an Nvidia graphics card, DO NOT change this number and skip this step).
Save and close.
Open the game and click on settings on the bottom right.
Click on the adv. display and change the settings to match the screenshot below and click done.
Go back to the main menu and click on race now.
Click on the rules tab and change the number of computer drivers to 42.
Installing Bonus Packs (Optional)
Inside the "Other" folder, go to the bonus packs folder and there are 5 packs you can install. They all contain extra paint schemes that you can use in the game so it is completely optional if you want to install them.
Bonus pack 1 adds alternate paint schemes for #5 - Terry Labonte and #29 - Kevin Harvick. The alternate paint schemes are an addition to the NEXTEL Cup Series - 2004.
Bonus pack 2 adds alternate paint schemes for #25 - Brian Vickers & #38 - Elliott Sadler. The alternate paint schemes are an addition to the NEXTEL Cup Series - 2004.
Bonus pack 3 adds alternate paint schemes for #21 - Ricky Rudd & #48 - Jimmie Johnson. The alternate paint schemes are an addition to the NEXTEL Cup Series - 2004.
Bonus pack 4 adds alternate paint schemes for #01 - Joe Nemechek & #40 - Sterling Marlin. The alternate paint schemes are an addition to the NEXTEL Cup Series - 2004.
Bonus pack 5 adds an alternate paint scheme for #24 - Jeff Gordon. The alternate paint scheme is an addition to the NEXTEL Cup Series - 2004.
For each of the bonus packs, double click and click on yes to install the bonus pack.
Click next and on the next window under "save files in folder," change it to the location you installed NASCAR SimRacing and click on next.
It will install the pack and click on finish to complete.
Congratulations, you installed NASCAR SimRacing!
If you run into any issues or problems, comment below so the community can help you! Also, that will allow me to correct any mistakes in the future by updating the guide!
I would next recommend checking out the NASCAR SimRacing fixes, settings, and more guide.
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