Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

For the prequel, see Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit. For the 2010 game, see Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

Developers
	EA Canada
Windows	EA Seattle
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Speed
Release dates
Windows	October 21, 2002
Reception
Metacritic	73
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Racing
Vehicles	Automobile, Street racing, Track racing
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Subseries of Need for Speed
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit	1998
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2	2002
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit	2010
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered	2020

Warnings

SafeDisc DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected releases).

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer racing game co-developed by EA Canada and EA Seattle and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sixth entry in the Need for Speed series and a sequel to Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit.

The Windows release was based on the GameCube and Xbox versions of the game (also developed by EA Canada and EA Seattle), rather than the PlayStation 2 version (developed by Black Box).

It was released in North America on October 21, 2002, followed by the Europe release on November 8, 2002.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc 2.80.010 DRM.

SafeDisc DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected releases).

Demo

A demo is available.

Limited to 2 available cars (Ferrari 360 Spider and Porsche 911 Turbo) and 1 track (Calypso Coast).

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 242 is the final patch for the game. Adds multiplayer encryption and improves Force Feedback behavior and compatibility.

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Go to <path-to-game>\movies\. Delete or rename hp2E.mad, logoE.mad, and logoS.mad to anything else. Create three empty files with the above filenames in the folder. Notes This tweak will only work if a No-CD patch is used, as otherwise the game will simply load the movies directly from the game CD. Alternatively, simply starting the game with the -nofrustration argument will skip the title screen and intro videos.

Increase distance in which particles fade out

Increases the distance in which particles are rendered. It will be most noticeable in the water effect not fading from waterfalls as their distance increases.

Instructions[citation needed]
Go to the EAGL folder in the game directory. Open the LOD file with notepad. In the [max] section, increase the values for worldParticle.farFadeIn and worldParticle.farFadeOut. It can go to values as high as 999, but keep "worldParticle.farFadeIn" slightly lower than "worldParticle.farFadeOut".

Crash/lock-up on launch or Low/Choppy frame-rate

Game may crash immediately after entering full-screen/after it creates its application window, or frame-rate may be around 20-30 FPS and lack VSync.

Use DirectInput low frame rate fix
Use the DirectInput FPS Fix.

(Alternative) Unplug or disable incompatible HID devices

If the above doesn't work: Unplug any USB HID devices that are not needed to play the game (Xbox controllers, media remotes, desktop case fan speed controllers etc). For laptops unplug all external USB HID devices such as external mice and keyboards. Go to Device Manager and, under the "Human Interface Devices" section, disable any remaining "HID-compliant vendor-defined device" and "HID-compliant consumer control devices" (they can be reenabled later) Game should now launch and work properly. By reenabling and replugging devices and testing the game after each change the cuplrit HID device could be found. Alienware AlienFX controller seems to be one of them.

See also Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (exception error)

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\EA Games\Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2\

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\EA Games\Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2\

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use HP2WSFix.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			Use HP2WSFix.
4K Ultra HD			Use HP2WSFix.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		For NVIDIA cards, SGSSAA is available, using the same compatibility flag as "Need For Speed: Underground" (as both games use the same engine). Otherwise, see the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Uncapped. Physics and animations are capped at 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Windowed

Enable windowed
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Edit rendercaps.ini. Change Fullscreen=1 to Fullscreen=0.

Input

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Menu can be navigated with mouse or more cumbersome with the tabulator key. The latter should be controller map-able.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Through controller remapping.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Some users have reported that their XInput controllers don't work. See XInput controller not working for a workaround.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)		Generic DirectInput controllers are supported.
Additional button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		Tested with XInput Controller.
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

To enable Force Feedback on XInput controller, see Force feedback driver.

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Menu Music, Race Music, Player Engine, Sound Effects, Voice
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		May need re-toggling after every launch to actually apply
Royalty free audio		The game contains licensed music that were listed under the EA trax in-game.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Choice between metric and imperial measurements.
Czech				Fan translation - #1.
French
Italian
Slovak				Fan translation, download.
Polish				Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		Console versions only.
LAN play		8
Online play		8	Use OpenSpy.
Asynchronous multiplayer

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Limited resolutions in options menu

By default, the resolution options are limited. Any resolution supported by the graphics driver can be added by making the following change to rendercaps.ini.

Edit rendercaps.ini[citation needed]
Go to C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My files\EA Games\Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2\rendercaps.ini. Set LimitResolution=1 to LimitResolution=0.

Game not rendering fog on modern systems

Even after setting "World Detail" at maximum, the game won't render fog on modern systems.^{[citation needed]}

Patch Direct3D8 calls
This fix contradicts any other render wrapper-based fix (HP2WSFix, dgVoodoo 2, etc.) Go here and download the d3d8.dll and place it in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 folder and the d3d8.dll will load d3d8to9 and convert DX8 API calls to Direct3D 9 ones.

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (exception error)

Error is "The thread attempted to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access.".

Screenshot of the exception dialog

Patch game renderer with dgVoodoo
Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2. Follow the installation instructions for D3D8. Configure dgVooDoo using the included configuration applet.

Copy the following directories from the CD to <path-to-game>\[citation needed]
actors AI Audio Cars Movies Particle Tracks

Game crashing with more than 1 hi-poly car

Install HP2WSFix

White screen after installing HP2WSFix

Remove global.ini from the main game directory[citation needed]

DualShock 4 support

To use a DualShock 4 with the gas and brake axis, the .ini needs to be tweaked.

Replace definitions.ini and defaults.ini with the ones from here[citation needed]

Poor performance on high resolutions

Copy the game directory outside "Program Files" folder, so it can be run without administrator rights[citation needed]

Settings not saved on exit

Save the profile manually from the Options menu after configuring settings, else they won't be saved on game exit[citation needed]

XInput controller not working

Use devreorder to force intended device (needs dinputto8)

Download briankendall's devreorder and elishacloud's dinputto8. For devreorder, extract devreorder.ini and x86's dinput8.dll into <path-to-game>. For dinputto8, extract dinput.dll into main game directory as well. Edit devreorder.ini- [order] and [visible] should be set to your controller's name; i.e. "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)". Notes Should work even across restarts as it's forcing enumeration order and hiding other enumerable devices from the process. If the game shows an error message about the controller not being specifically recognized, ignore this message and proceed to manually configure the controller settings in the options menu.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8.1

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	EA MAD	EA's proprietary video codec.
Multiplayer	GameSpy

Modifications

• Better car reflections mod - Better reflections on cars
• Realistic Parkland 3.0 (total overhaul) - Realistic Parkland 3.0 (total overhaul)
• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 - HD Font Pack - Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 - HD Font Pack

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 450 MHz AMD Athlon 500 MHz		Intel Pentium III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1.2 GB
Video card (GPU)	Direct3D compatible 16 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible		32 MB of VRAM