GET.INTERTATE76.COM - The Interstate '76: Nitro Pack Installation Guide

[Lightfoot]

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The Quicker and Dirtier "Get Started" Guide for Windows ^*
Lightfoot's 50th Birthday Update - December 2019
Last Update - October 26, 2021

^Installation instructions may not apply to other operating systems
*CAVEAT EMPTOR

DOWNLOAD. UNZIP. GO.

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Have you tried installing the game previously and had issues?

Start here:

1) Undo everything you've previously done: Delete any previous installation attempts of the game, DGVoodoo, nGlide, and A3D Fixish installations
1a) Undo any port forwarding for Nitro Pack and make sure UPNP is enabled in the router
2) Make sure your user account has Administrator privileges
3) Make sure User Account Control (UAC) is disabled / lowest setting

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If you think you might need some help, fire up this video to follow along: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/594977951 (10:33)

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If you're a "pro", go ahead and skip to these instructions:

1) Download: https://www.interstate76.com/download/nitro.zip
1a) Extract the contents of the ZIP to the root of your C:\ drive
1b) Copy the shortcut links from C:\I76Nitro folder to your desktop

2) Double click "Nitro - D3D" on your desktop
2a) If "Nitro - D3D" fails double click "Nitro - Software" on your desktop
2b) If "Nitro - Software" fails, double click "Nitro - GDI" on your desktop
2c) If prompted to allow NITRO.EXE through your firewall click "Allow"

3) Post your results

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a) If you are having audio depth issues please install the "Audio Fixish" registry key (A3D.reg) from C:\A3D (included in the ZIP file)

Double click "Nitro - D3D", "Nitro - Software" or "Nitro - GDI" on your desktop

b) If you would like to run the game in Glide mode, please install nGlide, now included in the download (c:\nGlide\nGlide210_setup.exe) or download it from the developer - (Zeus Software). Thanks, Zeus!

Use these settings:

Automatic
By desktop
Aspect correction
By app
Off
1.0
On

Double click the "Nitro - Glide" shortcut on your desktop

c) Post your results

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ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS / ADVANCED STEPS BELOW

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Quick and Dirty "Get Started" Guide for Windows ^*~
20th Anniversary Update - February 2018
Previous Revision - April 4, 2018
Last Revision - September 9, 2019

^Installation instructions may or may not apply to other operating systems
*CAVEAT EMPTOR
~Read the follow-up posts for updated instructions prior to installing

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IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ AND FOLLOW ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS AS OUTLINED IN THIS POST

IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING OR ABLE TO COMMIT 30 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME DO NOT PROCEED

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Run setup.exe from your Interstate '76 Nitro Pack installation disk

*OR*

Download http://www.theunholy.org/old/nitro.zip (The .ACE file is still there for those who need the nostalgia)
Extract to your download folder
Run setup.exe

Choose Jumbo Plate and 3D accelerated, take all other defaults, ignore any installation issues
Cancel game launch after installation

*You must read and follow the instructions in the next POST for Windows 8/8.1/10 before moving to the next STEP if you want the game to run properly*

Download UCyborg's Interstate '76 and Nitro Pack Patch
Follow the instructions to update the game(s) and A3D

*OR*

Download http://www.interstate76.com/download/nitropatchIV.zip
Extract to your I76Nitro installation folder (c:\program files (x86)\activision\i76nitro), overwrite any files if prompted
Follow A3D-Live! installation instructions provided in ZIP

Download http://www.interstate76.com/download/consolidated.zip
Extract to your I76Nitro installation folder (c:\program files (x86)\activision\i76nitro), overwrite any files if prompted

Download http://www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide (Thanks, Zeus!)
Run installation, take defaults
Open nGlide configurator, use these settings:

Automatic
By desktop
Aspect correction
By app
Off
1.0
On

Navigate to your I76Nitro installation folder (c:\program files (x86)\activision\i76nitro)
Right click NITRO.EXE, choose "Send to --> Desktop (create shortcut)"

Navigate to your desktop, right click "Shortcut to Nitro.exe" and click Properties

On the shortcut tab add: -glide to the Target line e.g. - "C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\I76Nitro\nitro.exe" -glide
On the compatibility tab click Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows95
Check Disable visual themes
Check Disable destkop composition
Check Disable scaling on high DPI settings

Check Run this program as administrator

Click apply

Double click the shortcut...

Play in most excellent 3DFX mode at 24fps!

If you get a 3D Hardware initialization error change your Target shortcut to read -d3d instead of -glide e.g. - "C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\I76Nitro\nitro.exe" -d3d

Double click the shortcut...

Play in pretty epic D3D mode at 24fps!

If you get a 3D Hardware initialization error change your Target shortcut and remove -d3d e.g. - "C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\I76Nitro\nitro.exe"

You will then need to download http://www.interstate76.com/download/nitropatchIII.zip

Extract NITRO.EXE *ONLY* to your download directory

Overwrite C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\I76Nitro\nitro.exe with the one you just extracted

Double click the shortcut...

Play in almost tolerable software mode and 60fps!

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If your menus screens are discolored or black out simply hit the ESC key twice

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This is not guaranteed to work for any or all systems

This is not a sponsored project

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These steps have been tested and verified (1) times on (1) operating systems as of 2/6/2018

"Never get out of the car..."

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3/13/2018 - AMD HD 7000 testing in 3D mode were unsuccessful using these steps

[Lightfoot]

These steps are MANDATORY under Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 to update the game properly:

Windows 8/8.1/10 users should disable UAC and give the current user full permissions to the \Program Files (x86)\Activision folder. Do this after installing the game from the disk or ACE file but *BEFORE* installing any of the patches or sound fix.

Please note that you may need to take ownership of the Activison folder before you're able to adjust the permissions:

Change UAC Settings - https://articulate.com/support/article/ ... indows-10/
Change folder owner - https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/take ... e-explorer
Change Folder Permissions - https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take-ow ... indows-10/

Good luck!

[Wayek]

Just tested the *.ACE file install on my Windows 10 machine upstairs and it worked like a charm
hosted a game and NiteRider showed up to verify it...

Tested ONLY in software mode, Windows 96 and Windows XP compatibility both worked

[sirgallium]

Very nice work. Permissions gave me such a headache on Win 10. I will have to try this on a fresh install since I have hardware accel and high resolution working but not 24 fps, I'm at 30.

[Lightfoot]

Hey Gally,

Thanks for the input...and not to dissuade you from trying the installation instructions and make sure they're working for more than myself and the guys I hand installed it for...but you should be able to get away with just using the EXE from Nitro Patch IV and not applying the "full suite"...

...we don't want to go murdering something over 6 frames (and flamers), do we?

[The Wraith]

On my Windows 10 Home, 64-bit - this no worky worky.

[Lightfoot]

Well, how'd you get into the game?

[The Wraith]

I honestly don't know. I had a combination of files for a while...some patched, some not. Come to find out I wasn't actually running 24fps and couldn't see flame throwers. So, re-patched, had to play with some resolution options...then, all was well.

Landed on 1024x786 to see fire penis.

[Lightfoot]

I just followed my own instructions on a bone stock (Intel Q45) Dell 780 USFF with Windows 10 Pro and got Nitro running in 60fps software mode at 1024x786 without issues in under 30 minutes.

Anyone having issues isn't following instructions.

I'll find a 3D capable video card and review those options later...

[Thrasher9294]

Game's looking great and running in 24 fps, as expected! Is there anything I can do to play the Scenarios, though? It keeps telling me "Sugar, Insert the Nitro Disc now". Might be something obvious I'm missing, running the GoG version.

[Lightfoot]

Well, since the Q&D instructions don't have anything to do with the GOG version you're probably out of luck...

However, if you download the ACE file from Unholy, extract it and burn the contents to a CD that may be the piece the game is looking for...

$0.02

[tex [FD]]

i finally got this work on a new to me machine, win7. gotta follow instructions, very slowly.

[Lightfoot]

Yes.

Having to follow the instructions is why I bothered to type them out and why I asked for people to test them before they were published.

If installing a 20 year old Activision game was straightforward we'd all be playing Mercenaries...



Thanks.

[Lightfoot]

So, last night on this PC:

ASUS P7 i3 550, 16GB DDR3 1333, GTX1060 6GB, Toshiba SSD, Windows 10 64-bit 1903

I did the following:

Installed Interstate '76 Nitro Pack from the CD. I sent a shortcut to NITRO.EXE to the desktop and double clicked it. It ran without issues in 2D mode without making any adjustments.
After making the recommended adjustments to UAC and folder permissions from this thread I:

Installed Ucyborg's patch. Once again the game ran without issues but this time at 20fps and it was able to host a game on BATTLEZONE1.COM
After those tests I:

Installed nGlide and configured it to the recommended setting and changed the new setting to to adjust scaling. After adding -glide to the shortcut and making no other changes I was able to run the game with all the previous conditions plus the benefit of being in full 16-bit mode.

Not sure where people are getting hung up but my guess is the whole permissions for the Activision folder so I updated the installation steps and added the alternate methods for patching and the base install.

You can do it.

It's not that hard.

[Wayek]

Hey guys... I got it working on another Win10 build and here is what I did...

First I downloaded all the files that I needed (nitro.zip, UCyborg patch, consolidated map pack, nglide)

Unzipped nitro.zip and installed nitro pack

Turned off UAC with the help of the link - reboot
Changed folder owner with help of the link -reboot
Changed folder permissions with help of the link -reboot

Then I installed the patches ... extract the consolidated map pack

Send nitro.exe from the folder over to the desktop to make the shortcut (right-click, send to, desktop)

Installed nglide and followed the directions posted

Changed the shortcut target, run as admin, compat with Win95

Fired up the game and BANG it works