[TNFS-SE PC] “Lunar Springs” track discovered from leftovers & now available!

[Argento]

OK as we all remember, "Lunar Springs" is a rendition of the Rusty Springs Raceway track set on the moon (see here and here), and was only featured in the PlayStation (PS1) release of The Need for Speed... until today, after almost 30 years!

That's right, now after some time investigating and putting all the pieces together, a lost-in-time track can be playable again, in both PC-Versions of the Need For Speed 1 (Orignal & SE). But have to say, according to the analized leftovers, apparently this track was intended to be part of the PC "Special Edition", and was cut short time before it's final CD release.

A - Information & Pieces Gathered:
All of the discovered files are original files created by EA back in 1996, and are leftovers present in the retail CD of TNFS-SE, so if you own that disc, you can check them yourself

1) Track existance hint:

"Moon" track is named among the other tracks in the final "NFS.EXE"

2) Control Central leftover track selection image:

Located inside "MOON.QFS" file (1996-06-10). Present -only- among GERMAN files, in "X:\FRONTEND\GART\CONTROL\MOON.QFS". Removed from the ENGLISH part of the disc.

3) Leftover track textures:
Located inside "TR8_R01.FAM" file (1996-05-27). Present in "X:\SIMDATA\NTRACKFM\TR8_R01.FAM". (Note: this file corresponds to a rally track number 8 (TRack8_R), whick does not exist... Original textures for the retail version of Rusty Springs rally are located in "TR5_001.FAM".

5) Leftover audio files:
There are three of them, located X:\FRONTEND\SPEECH\... -and \GSPEECH\ for German version-: a) LUNARWEL.EAS, b) LUNSPRIN.EAS and c) LUNARGOL.EAS, all of them from 1996-05-15, and althow you can't enable them ingame -at least i couldn't-, you can listen to them using GAP (Game Audio Player v1.32). Basically they say: a) "Welcome to Lunar Springs", b) "Lunar Springs selected" and c) "While you are up there, see if you can find that golf ball..." haha obviously a joke!

B - Installation:
If you'd like to try this lost track by yourself, follow this steps:

a) Make a custom-full installation of TNFS:SE (in English).
b) Win two tournaments, to enable "Rally Tracks" mode -there is workaround for this, see "C - Help" -
c) Copy "MOON.QFS" to your game directory, tipically "C:\NFSSE\FRONTEND\ART\CONTROL\" and rename it "SPRINGSR.QFS" (it's recommended to backup the original file first: SPRINGSR.QFS.bak )
d) Copy "TR8_R01.FAM" to "C:\NFSSE\SIMDATA\ETRACKFM\" and rename it "TR5_001.FAM" (again, it's recommended to backup the original file first: TR5_001.FAM.bak ). Now, with this last two steps we have "converted" the standar Rusty Springs rally to Lunar Springs.
e) Run the game, select "Lunar" track from the main menu and hit Race, that's it: WELCOME TO THE MOON!!!




C - Help!:
To "win" two tournaments to have rally mode enabled -and the other unlockables-, you may hexedit the "C:\NFSSE\GAMEDATA\CONFIG\CONFIG.DAT". Go to the very end of the file, and look for: <bh:00>C<bh:00>H<bh:00>M<bh:00><bh:00> and change it to <bh:00>C<bh:00>H<bh:00>M<bh:00><bh:02>. Just change that single "00" to "02" key.

D - Sidenotes:
* This was a nice discovery, collecting all the parts and make them work together correctly was challenging.
* This version of Lunar Springs differs in some textures from the PS1 Version. I think this may be because EA had no time to polish the final file. Therefor you'll find some texture glittches here and there, but the track is more than drivable. I've edited "TR5_001.FAM" correcting those little errors, PM me if you need help
* The only track that word correctly with the TR8_R01.FAM is endeed "TR5.TRI" (Rusty Springs Rally), trust me, i tried all others and the position of the textures and objects were displayed wrong. And it's also understundable because the moon is not made of asfalt haha.
* I'm still in the look for more information regarding "Monterey" track, present but not available, in the PC CD Demo version of the original TNFS, (more info here) so if you know anything more, please let me know!

Thanks for reading!!

[pete9516]

Wow, this is insane. I just notice that Egyptian Rally for nfs4 is basically a retexture of this Lunar track, since it's based on Rusty Springs Raceway, but it has the exact same shape as Lunar Springs but different textures, nice find

[Argento]

Wow, this is insane. I just notice that Egyptian Rally for nfs4 is basically a retexture of this Lunar track, since it's based on Rusty Springs Raceway, but it has the exact same shape as Lunar Springs but different textures, nice find

I've checked and indeed it is the same basetrack. Rusty Rally and Lunar share the same TR5.TRI and therfore have the same shape and objects position, only different textures 😏 i think that Egypcian Track its a convertion of Rusty Rally and nothing more.

[pete9516]

Wow, this is insane. I just notice that Egyptian Rally for nfs4 is basically a retexture of this Lunar track, since it's based on Rusty Springs Raceway, but it has the exact same shape as Lunar Springs but different textures, nice find

I've checked and indeed it is the same basetrack. Rusty Rally and Lunar share the same TR5.TRI and therfore have the same shape and objects position, only different textures 😏 i think that Egypcian Track its a convertion of Rusty Rally and nothing more.

I don't know which track you mean by Rusty Rally, but the nfs4 EP Egyptian Rally has the exact same track shape as Lunar Springs, while Rusty Springs Raceway has a more flat track shape in general

[Argento]

Wow, this is insane. I just notice that Egyptian Rally for nfs4 is basically a retexture of this Lunar track, since it's based on Rusty Springs Raceway, but it has the exact same shape as Lunar Springs but different textures, nice find

I've checked and indeed it is the same basetrack. Rusty Rally and Lunar share the same TR5.TRI and therfore have the same shape and objects position, only different textures 😏 i think that Egypcian Track its a convertion of Rusty Rally and nothing more.

I don't know which track you mean by Rusty Rally, but the nfs4 EP Egyptian Rally has the exact same track shape as Lunar Springs, while Rusty Springs Raceway has a more flat track shape in general

With Rusty Rally i meant Rusty Springs in rally mode. Always speaking of TNFSSE.

And yes, Rusty Springs in rally mode uses a different track shape, with more elevations, in comparison with Rusty Springs regular mode, which is almost entirely flat.

Rusty Springs regular uses TR1.TRI (flat).
Rusty Springs rally mode (and Lunar Springs) uses TR5.TRI (more elevations).

Egypcian Rally for NFS4 is surely a conversion of TR5.TRI that's why it has the same shape as Rusty Springs rally mode and Lunar Springs.

[pete9516]

Wow, this is insane. I just notice that Egyptian Rally for nfs4 is basically a retexture of this Lunar track, since it's based on Rusty Springs Raceway, but it has the exact same shape as Lunar Springs but different textures, nice find

I've checked and indeed it is the same basetrack. Rusty Rally and Lunar share the same TR5.TRI and therfore have the same shape and objects position, only different textures 😏 i think that Egypcian Track its a convertion of Rusty Rally and nothing more.

I don't know which track you mean by Rusty Rally, but the nfs4 EP Egyptian Rally has the exact same track shape as Lunar Springs, while Rusty Springs Raceway has a more flat track shape in general

With Rusty Rally i meant Rusty Springs in rally mode. Always speaking of TNFSSE.

And yes, Rusty Springs in rally mode uses a different track shape, with more elevations, in comparison with Rusty Springs regular mode, which is almost entirely flat.

Rusty Springs regular uses TR1.TRI (flat).
Rusty Springs rally mode (and Lunar Springs) uses TR5.TRI (more elevations).

Egypcian Rally for NFS4 is surely a conversion of TR5.TRI that's why it has the same shape as Rusty Springs rally mode and Lunar Springs.

Ahh now i understand, thanks! I wasn't aware of the rally mode of Rusty Springs Raceway.