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Need for Speed 2 SE
Info
Need for Speed 2 SE is a racing game that still places importance on racing, without much frills around it. You can't tune your car, you don't have to choose paint, you can focus on race specific details like tire pressure or braking effect. The game can be played in a network or on the same computer with split screen. The fun factor is less high than with Ignition, but in my opinion higher than with all the “almost economic simulations”, ala NFSU 1. & 2.
Installation
In principle, you have two options what you want to install. You can do the so-called “full installation”, where you can play alone, but also in split screen (=Hotseat). But this also means that you don't need the network functionality. The other way around, if you choose the “network installation”, the single player won't work anymore and split screen won't work either.
Since both have different requirements regarding patch and crack, these two patches/cracks are also available separately. A crack is meant for one version, not for the other one. In the network installation there is the additional drawback that the game is only capable of IPX and funnily enough can only join games, not host them. That's what the TCP patch is for. As soon as it is installed, you need another crack. However, cracks and patches from this time are not usable with 16-bit binaries, i. e. not on Windows x64. That's why you can use pre-installed packages. These should also run on x64. The Explorer-Hack may be necessary.
Language
The German installer always creates the German language as used by default. English is also installed. If someone thinks English sounds better, you can also switch to English: Open the install.win file. The first line must then be changed from 4nngerman to 4nnenglish.
Grafics
Under Win 7 I had problems with the graphics, as they occur with many older games, namely false colors, because the palette is dirty. Here the Explorer hack helps again.
Network
There is a separate network installation necessary to play the game via LAN. See Installation for details. Whether the game is also playable over the Internet, I do not know yet. The only sure thing is that some port forwards would have to be set.