PC version of Hot Wheels Worldrace and PGA-Sockets?

[Old Gamer]

Hello there,

I know that there is a quite similar post on this Forum, but I'm new here and don't have a FTP-Access...

It's about the old (and for me the best) PC game called Hot Wheels World race, which refuses to boot from the cd on modern hardware,
because of this hardware-check.

I have a PC and a HP-Laptop. The Processor of my Gaming PC and/or my Laptop isn't the matter at all: it is the processor!

My Laptop has an Intel Celeron (with CHV-Sockets) while my Gaming-PC has a Intel Xeon E3 1230 v3 3.30 GHz (with LGA-Sockets).

The game is installed in a Windows XP-VM (with SP3, x86). When the VM is copied to my laptop or when it is on my gaming-PC, Worldrace won't boot from the CD/ISO, because both processors wouldn't be supported.

But fortunately my mother has an old Macbook with an Intel Core 2 Duo (with PGA-Sockets):
Put the VM on this Macbook, start the VM, launched Worldrace via my ISO-file and it booted successfully, the hardware-check succeed and I was able to install the game.

Once I looked after the Socket type of the Processor of my own laptop, the one of my mother's old Macbook, the one of my gaming pc and the Sockets of the recommended processors of Worldrace.

The recommended Processors and the Intel Core 2 Duo both have PGA-Sockets, on which the Game (should certainly boot successfully from the cd) booted successfully from the cd. The ones of my laptop/my gaming pc don't don't have PGA-Sockets...

But when I got it ones installed I put the VM back onto my gaming pc and launched the game via the desktop icon; I was able to play it ....

This behaviour seems very very strange to me.

"Does the Failure of the hardware-check has to do something with the wrong socket type (not PGA)?", I then asked myself.

What do you think about that?

Old Gamer

[oscareczek]

Hardware checking is broken and it prevents from installing, all the magic. It has nothing to do with sockets, lol.

[Old Gamer]

But why does it work on the Intel Core 2 Duo?

[oscareczek]

I don't know, I don't have a source code for this checker.

[Old Gamer]

And why has the game this weird hardware-check? What advantages has such a check?

I mean games normally recognize if your hardware doesn't meet the "minimum requirements" and simply refuse to install.
And I'm able to launch this game from the desktop icon on my gaming-PC. So the check doesn't make any sense...

[Old Gamer]

I mean games normally recognize if your hardware doesn't meet the "minimum requirements" and simply refuse to install.
And I'm able to launch this game from the desktop icon on my gaming-PC. So the check doesn't make any sense...

What do you think about this?

I also read on a different thread (which I can't access because I don't have a FTP-Access), that the Hardwarecheck would recorgnize an i7-CPU as a Pentium 3: https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28633.
On which i7-model is the Hardwarecheck working?

[AlphaBeta]

And why has the game this weird hardware-check? What advantages has such a check?

I mean games normally recognize if your hardware doesn't meet the "minimum requirements" and simply refuse to install.
And I'm able to launch this game from the desktop icon on my gaming-PC. So the check doesn't make any sense...

Yes, that's what this game apparently does as well. It believes that your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements, that's it.

[Old Gamer]

By the way I know to what the Hardwarecheck is good for, but this is useless because it says my CPU wouldn't meet the requirements; which is not true, because i got it running inside the vm on my host system with my CPU (which wouldn't be compatable).

I also read on a different thread (which I can't access because I don't have a FTP-Access), that the Hardwarecheck would recorgnize an i7-CPU as a Pentium 3: viewtopic.php?t=28633.
On which i7-model is the Hardwarecheck working?

Anyway, what about changing my Xeon with an i7? Which i7-model should I take, beside if that change is worth it or not?

[Agret]

This game is available on Gamecube. I suggest using Dolphin to play it for best compatibility with modern systems.

[Old Gamer]

This game is available on Gamecube. I suggest using Dolphin to play it for best compatibility with modern systems.

I already read and heared about Dolphin, but I think the PC version is better, because the car sound gets higher, as long as you go faster.

What about changing my Intel Xeon with an Intel I7, and wich I7-model should I take, besides this change is worth or not?

[MrBurgerKing]

There's no way to know specifically which modern cpus would work with your program unless they were tested or the source code for the checker was obtained.
Since you got the game working, I wouldn't worry about changing anything. For the future, you can try spoofing a known compatible CPU in the vm.

[Old Gamer]

I got it working!
I just followed the instructions explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JglsmzsZn1U
The download links don't contain viruses, seriously!

One of the links contains an ingame folder of hot wheels worldrace from a different installed legal copy, but with an additional file called "S.exe" or something like that...
It is just correcting a registry key error of Worldrace.

Run the exe-file as administrator, and then launch the game (I prefer to copy and paste an ingame folder of an already installed Hot Wheels Worldrace game bought by yourself).

So Your requirements are the exe-file and an ingame folder of your legal Worldrace-CD.