Need for Speed Carbon demo!


Recommended Posts

6800gt, amd64 here, similar rez. Runs like crap. EA never has had good game engines.

I just tried this and must have gained a good 10fps from this little tweak..

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\Need for Speed Carbon Demo

Change CacheSize and SwapSize to values of which are more than double there originals and wait for the speed increase. :)

Thank me later, :p

Didn't like the demo one bit. Bear in mind I played it on my laptop at full settings with decent framerates, but it still looked crap. This is a no no for me ;)

Oh no it looked crap. Must be a bad game. Sorry!

Runs well on my AMD2600+ 1GB DDR 256MB 9600XT. In fact it runs maxed out... cept I cant use motion blur :( but I hear thats mince anyways

The way I figure it ... I hated Most Wanted when I first played it, but it grew on me. I suspect this will be the same. Just looking forward to actually having a nice new racing game to play, since Test Drive Unlimited isn't coming out for the PC for a while (well where I say anyway.)

The motion blur for Most Wanted could be turned off with a registry tweak, so this should be the same too. Most Wanted looked better without the blur anyway.

The motion blur for Most Wanted could be turned off with a registry tweak, so this should be the same too. Most Wanted looked better without the blur anyway.

for some reason motion doesnt work for me :( and i have radeon9800 pro. damn thing.

for some reason motion doesnt work for me :( and i have radeon9800 pro. damn thing.

That's a pretty dated card. Whilst still good, it probably doesn't support the pixel shaders that the game uses for it's motion blur effect(s).

For those concerned about the sluggish feeling of the game, check this link out over at EA

http://www.ea.com/nfs/carbon/us/news.jsp?id=23

They supposedly optimized the game for better performance after the demo was released. I just hope that they toned down the motion blur! I like having SOME motion blur, but I don't want it so bad that it makes me sick to have it turned on!

edit: If the link doesn't work, I'm talking about the Q&A Part II on http://www.needforspeed.com

Here's the text from the Q&A that gives us the info we want.

Community Team: In the demo, the frame rate felt slow and the game lacked a sense of speed. Will this change when the game is released?
The framerate issues that some users have commented on have been addressed for the final product. Typically our optimization only takes place once all the content is in place and locked. At that point we target both the code and the environments for optimizations. The tricky part about demos is that we are usually about half way through the optimizations by the time we release them. Early reports from all the review code that has gone out to the press is that there are no framerate concerns to report.

Certainly for sense of speed the same holds true. We tuned the visuals right up until the final moment we could before we stopped.

Edited by Arckon

LMAO in that post the answer to every Q is

SA: The drifting physics and handling have been totally revamped for Carbon. Our number one goal throughout development was to focus on the speed of drift. In the past, drifting in racing games has felt quite sluggish and didn't capture the insane speeds which you see in some of the pro drift competitions. We've focused on speed so much that we've tied point scoring to it. Keeping up a consistently high speed is the key to getting huge drift scores.

In addition to the regular drift tracks which take place on closed circuits, players will also have a chance to try their skill at the challenging Canyon Drifts. These drifts take place on narrow mountain roads and have the added risk of being able to break through the barriers and fall off the track. The handling on these roads is pretty similar to regular drifts but you'll have to really learn how to control your car to avoid hitting the walls or going off the road. These are by far my favorite drifts in the game. It's a very satisfying feeling when you can make it to the bottom of the track without having touched a single wall.

Need for Speed Carbon will have a selection of premium unlockable and exclusively unlockable content available at launch and more content will be made available in the weeks and months following launch.

I don't have the worse of gaming systems (A64 3200+, 2 GB RAM, 7800 GT) and this game doesn't run well at all (FPS-wise) in 1280x1024 and at maximum detail (with no AA)

That makes me a bit worried how well it will run on my system (A64 3200+, 1GB, X1950PRO) :/

I don't get it... X700 Pro is only a little over two years old now and it's too outdated to handle motion blur? HAH! This is ridiculous, unlike everybody else I LOVE motion blur, it looks so cool. EA just stripped one of my favorite effects away from me.

Now i'm seriously debating whether or not to get this... Payday is Wednesday, but I'm unsure if I should spend a large fraction of it on this game...

For those concerned about the sluggish feeling of the game, check this link out over at EA

http://www.ea.com/nfs/carbon/us/news.jsp?id=23

They supposedly optimized the game for better performance after the demo was released. I just hope that they toned down the motion blur! I like having SOME motion blur, but I don't want it so bad that it makes me sick to have it turned on!

edit: If the link doesn't work, I'm talking about the Q&A Part II on http://www.needforspeed.com

Here's the text from the Q&A that gives us the info we want.

Alright. Hopefully it will improve for the final game.

Seriously though, that was some horrible PR crap up there: each sentence starts with "The drifting physics and handling have been totally revamped for Carbon. Our number one goal throughout development was to focus on the speed of drift..." I guess the community team didn't ask enough questions. :whistle:

Here's the thing when you optimize the game after a released demo, RELEASE ANOTHER DEMO!

I'm so sick when companies do that; "The Retail version has improved so much, blabla" and when you buy the game NOTHING has happened.

indeed, but if you tweak the reg settings there is a good 10fps just to be had from that.. also knocking the detail from max down to high yielded a v.nice increase.

Maybe its true, i'll probs be buying this game so i'll report back. :)

Yeah, i don't doubt for a second you can improve the FPS by doing some mild tweaking.

But I'm one of those people who'd like an optimized and working product out of the box :)

But i really hope the performance was improved, then i might actually consider buying the game!

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I'm still on Windows 10 22H2 because I didn't want to deal with all the issues in Windows 11, so I waited almost a week before installing the latest Patch Tuesday update (KB5094127), I went ahead and did it, and it was a huge mistake—ever since then, my File Explorer has seen a performance drop of about 30% when transferring large files... Once again, Microsoft has outdone itself! This update cannot be uninstalled, either through the Control Panel (via Settings) or by accessing Advanced Startup Options. The only possible alternative would be to use system restore points, but I’d have to reinstall all app and driver updates (and there’s no guarantee it would work). Or there’s the “nuclear option” of a in-place repair without losing files or apps, but even then, all my customizations would be lost! Microsoft just can’t help but mess everything up! Way to go, Microsoft! But I still don’t want your c****y Windows 11!
    • Microsoft: Windows 11 could finally solve a major issue across AMD, Nvidia, and Intel GPUs by Sayan Sen While Microsoft has been trying to improve it, Windows 11 is definitely not flawless, as even today some issues are taking a year to publicly acknowledge. However, one area of trouble that may finally see much better results soon is graphics driver crashes. Work on graphics driver timeouts, also called Timeout and Detection Recovery (TDR), is not new as the latest WDDM 3.2 also has specific improvements regarding it. Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version 3.2 is supported on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. However, with the upcoming version 26H2, TDR crash diagnosis could go to the next level as Microsoft is introducing a new DirectX 12 API feature called "DirectX Dump Files". Similar to how system memory dump files work when a system crashes or freezes or encounters any such major issue, DirectX Dump Files (DDF) will essentially record a snapshot of the GPU execution right at the moment a graphics-related crash or hang or freeze occurs, so that developers can better understand and diagnoze these TDR and timeout detection errors. The dump will be available as a .dxdmp file for analysis and it will be a comprehensive dump file generated with detailed insights about the hardware, drivers, Windows, as well as the affected application. This should be another welcome change in this department. Earlier at GDC 2026, when the technology was first debuted, Microsoft had shared more details regarding it. The company had explained how DDF is designed to gather data from every layer of the graphics stack into a single file, eliminating the need for developers to manually correlate logs from multiple tools. As mentioned above, the dump can contain a lot of useful details like GPU hardware state information such as register values, shader program counters, page fault virtual addresses, shader memory data, and command buffers. Alongside that, it also captures DirectX runtime and kernel information, including D3D objects, pipeline state objects, device error data, adapter details, and CPU call stacks. Microsoft says the feature has been built around two primary use cases: retail device removals and local device removals. The former allows developers to collect crash information from end users' systems in the field, while the latter helps QA teams and developers investigate issues on test machines. Developers will also be able to include up to 2 MB of custom application data through new D3D12 APIs, providing additional context for troubleshooting. In addition, Microsoft is introducing three dump collection modes ranging from zero-overhead capture, which has no runtime performance impact on supported hardware, to higher-detail modes that collect more vendor-specific debugging data. On compatible Tier 2 hardware, zero-overhead dumps will be enabled by default, meaning developers may begin receiving useful crash diagnostics without making any code changes. The table below explains the three tiers: Tier Description NO_OVERHEAD Enables crash capture with no runtime cost and is suitable for broad deployment MEDIUM_OVERHEAD Provides a balance, capturing additional diagnostic data with moderate impact HIGH_OVERHEAD Collects the most detailed GPU and driver state available, enabling deeper investigation at the cost of higher runtime overhead In terms of availability, the company expects broader release to be around the fall of 2026, which should be right around the time when Windows 11 version 26H2 lands. Right now, DirectX Dump Files are available as a preview and currently, only AMD has the compatible AgilitySDK Developer Preview driver version 26.10.07.02. You can find the official announcement post here on Microsoft's website.
    • And with SO much better perf than the laggy mess that is Files.
    • BrowserOS 0.46.0 by Razvan Serea BrowserOS is a free, open-source Chromium-based browser that runs AI agents natively, offering a smarter, more productive browsing experience. It supports Chrome extensions and integrates AI agents to automate tasks, fill forms, and streamline workflows. Your data stays on your computer: you can use your own API keys or run local models via Ollama, making it a privacy-first alternative to tools like Perplexity, Comet, or Dia. With built-in productivity tools and app integrations, BrowserOS boosts efficiency while keeping control firmly in your hands. Being Chromium-based, BrowserOS lets you effortlessly import your bookmarks, passwords, and Chrome extensions in just a few clicks. BrowserOS works with OpenAI GPT models, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, and local AI models via Ollama or LMStudio. You can use your own API keys and effortlessly switch between providers. BrowserOS Agent Your AI productivity assistant that organizes and manages your browsing effortlessly Quickly list, group, or close tabs Save and resume browsing sessions Search your history and organize bookmarks Switch instantly to the tab you need BrowserOS Navigator – Automate web tasks with ease Navigate websites and search automatically Interact with pages without manual effort Handle repetitive tasks in seconds What makes BrowserOS special Feels like home - same familiar interface as Google Chrome, works with all your extensions AI agents that run on YOUR browser, not in the cloud Privacy first - bring your own keys or use local models with Ollama. Your browsing history stays on your computer Open source and community driven - see exactly what's happening under the hood MCP store to one-click install popular MCPs and use them directly in the browser bar (coming soon) Built-in AI ad blocker that works across more scenarios! BrowserOS 0.46.0 changelog: Run Claude Code & Codex right in your browser — We've extended the agent harness to bring full coding agents into BrowserOS. Claude Code and Codex now come bundled and plug straight into the assistant, so you can drive your browser with the agent — and the subscription — you already use. A brand new experience — A redesigned new tab, a calmer composer, and a rebuilt command center for switching between agents. The whole assistant is cleaner, faster to reach, and easier to live in. New MCP tools — We rebuilt the browser tool surface from the ground up — a tighter, more reliable set of tools for agents to drive the browser. Plus one-click install of BrowserOS as an MCP server into the agents you already run, with automatic URL sync. Chromium 148 — Updated to the latest Chromium base with all recent upstream fixes and security patches. Streamlined — We've pulled back a few features that weren't getting much use — Skills, Soul, and Memory — so we can focus and ship better versions of them soon. Download: BrowserOS 0.46.0 | 181.0 MB (Open Source) Download: BrowserOS for macOS | 485.0 MB Links: BrowserOS Homepage | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jordan Smith earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      BizSAR earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • First Post
      AndreaB earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      Huge Trailer earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Classifyskilleducation earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      594
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      187
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      79
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      74
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!