I have tried a few things. I talked w/ a specialist, and was able to install the patch via a 3rd party website (just had to drop the patch exe in the game folder and run it there). The patch has not fixed the issues. I have tried setting CPU affinity (yes, I've seen the game is only using one core at 100%, other cores are hovering below 20%, might just be background apps). That did not fix the stuttering. I tried forcing Vsync on or off, that did not fox it. I tried running the game in compatability mode for windows 7 and xp sp3, that did not work (along with admin rights). I tried the registry "hack", that did not work. The only thing that HAS worked so far is actually lowering some of the graphics settings. Which leads to a point the specialist said. It's possible the current drivers do not enable the GPU to know what to do with the game (as the game is an older title). My assumption for a best solution right now would probably be to play with the Nvidia driver settings using nvInspector, and finding some settings that would allow the game to run at max graphics. The support specialist sent further everything we have done so far, waiting on further replies to see if anyone comes up with either an Nvidia Profile for the game, or some other solutions.
The registry "hack" was mentioned at the old EA forums web site (and other NFS fan forums), and based on what I recall, that "hack" came from EA support. It was a quick fix until patch 1.0.1.17 was released, which fixed some of the graphics slowdown issues.
What happens if you go back to the hard copy version with 1.0.1.18 patch installed? Does that fix the frame rate issue?
Note - assuming you've got 1.0.1.18 installed, then just after initiating a new career, you can do the challenge series which unlocks the 3 tier 1 cars (Battle Machine Mazda RX7, Dominator Corvette Z06, Speed Machine Porsche 911 GT2,) and add those cars to your career garage (for free) and use them from the start of the career mode events.
