[Tutorial] Fix for playing FiFA 2002 on modern hardware

[Sami 1999]

I've finally found a way to run FiFA 2002 on CPUs having more than 2.00 GHz speed.

I can't guarantee if it will work on all PCs, let me know if it doesn't work on your PC and I will check if I can do anything to make it work. Anyway, this is a long tutorial. So read all the instructions carefully.

Before starting the tutorial, you will need the following programs:

1. DgVoodoo2
2. Legacy D3D Resolution hack
3. DxWnd
4. nGlide


STEP 1:

Download the updated exe of FiFA 2002 from here: http://www.zeus-software.com/files/nglide/fifa2002_patch.zip

Once downloaded, paste fifa2002.exe to the installed dir of your FiFA 2002 and replace the orginal exe with it.

^This prevents the game from running at 27-30 FPS with severe stutters.


STEP 2:

Install nGlide. You won't be using Glide API anyway, but for some reason installing nGlide prevented crashing ingame even when using Directx API.


STEP 3:

Open "FiFA 2002\3DSetup\3dsetup.ini" with notepad and add widescreen resolutions like 1280x720, 1280x800, 1280x548 in the in the "# Defaults -- lots of screen resolutions at 16-bit" section. It will look like this:

# Defaults -- lots of screen resolutions at 16-bit
CARD_ALL /C:16 /TB:0 /R:640x480 /R:800x600 /R:1024x768 /R:1152x864 /R:1280x720 /R:1280x768 /R:1280x800 /R:1280x960 /R:1280x1024


And then set the following parameters under the Global options in the ini file:

# Global options.
3Dfx_D3D=1
TB_Button=1
3Dfx_TB=1
D3D_TB=1


Now open 3DSetup.exe and set the resolution you want.

Keep in mind that resolutions must be below 1280x1024 else the game will crash right before kick off.

The aspect ratio of the HUD will depend on the resolution you choose here. But anything other than the HUD will be stretched unless its 4:3 aspect ratio. To fix that you will need to use hex editor to change the FOV of the game [I will explain that later].




STEP 4:

Install DgVoodoo2.

Copy "D3D8.dll, D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll" from the "MS" folder located in DxVoodoo2's installed dir, and then paste those dll files on the root dir of FiFA 2002 [Where the exe file of FiFA 2002 remains].

Take a look at the following settings [You may change the resolution, contrast and Anti aliasing according to your desire but keep everything else as shown in the screenshots]:

STEP 5:

By now you have already downloaded Legacy D3D Resolution hack.

Extract the rar file and copy and paste "d3dim.dll and d3dim700.dll" to root dir of FiFA 2002.



STEP 6 [Most important Step]:


You have downloaded DxWnd as well. Extract DxWnd to any location and open dxwnd.exe as admin. You must open it as admin else it cant run games.

From file menu click on import and then import the following fix for FiFA 2002: http://www.mediafire.com/file/vjsc0twoccvd46r/FiFA 2002.dxw

This is important. You must need this fix to bypass the crashing caused by CPU.

Once you have import the file. It will be listed on DxWnd.

Right click on the icon and click modify:

In the Main tab, set the path and launch to fifa2002.exe [Installed location of your FiFA 2002]:
In my case it was in E drive. Your's may vary.

Then click ok.




Now you can start the game by double clicking on the Fifa 2002 icon on Dxwnd.



Also, you must start the game using DxWnd every time to avoid crash.


From file menu, click on save to keep the settings saved obviously.





Anyway, now you can play the game without crashing. The following fixes mentioned below are not mandatory but it will improve the experience of your game:

Widescreen Fix:

http://www.wsgf.org/dr/fifa-2002/en
Follow step 4 from baseline widescreen solution [You have already completed the previous steps already].


Grass Bug fix:

Make sure to select resolution above 640x480p or 800x600p from 3dsetup.exe

Selecting 1024x768 or 1280x720p fixes the grass bug for clear weathers only.

In rainy weather, the grass bug is still there. It has something to do with the fog texture on the field. Probably fails to blend with the fog.


Image quality and other performance improvements:

Add the game's exe on Nvidia Control Panel's "Manage 3D settings\ Program Settings" and then force 16x Anisotropic filtering. Really makes the grass look good.

The game doesn't go above 55 FPS for some reason and may drop to 52 FPS frequently. This may result in stutters. So Force Vsync off from nvidia driver. This will reduce the stutters.

You may also force Anti aliasing.

Also, you can install Nvidia inspector and open Nvidia Profile inspector and Lock the FPS to 55 using FPS limiter V2 on FiFA 2002's profile. This will improve the frame times and make 55 FPS look smoother.


Brighter grass detail:

Download from here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3hbn4ny0r14bck9/detail.fsh

Import this detail.fsh to "FiFA 2002\data\enviro\purge.big" and replace the original.






This is it. The game runs very well now and I can run it at 4k smoothly. Graphics of this game looks better than FiFA 2003~2008.

Let me know if you face any issues.

 

[Sami 1999]

Here are some screenshots:

^ As you can see on the last screenshot. The grass bug can't be fixed for Rainy weather yet.


Edit: And you can also say that the grass bug is not completely gone. It's just that when you choose 1280x720 or 1024x768, the draw distance of the detailed grass gets higher and thus you dont see the sudden vanishing of the grass on most of the scenes.

On the first screenshot, you can see at the very edge of the field, the detailed grass vanished without any fading.

This is not supposed to happen and its obviously a bug. Don't know exactly what caused it.





Also, the mouse cursor might get stuck on the right bottom corner of the screen. In that case just keep moving the mouse to opposite side until it finally gets unstuck.

If your game stops responding, press ctrl+alt+delete to open task manager and kill it.

 

[cooldude2022]

I've finally found a way to run FiFA 2002 on CPUs having more than 2.00 GHz speed.

I can't guarantee if it will work on all PCs, let me know if it doesn't work on your PC and I will check if I can do anything to make it work. Anyway, this is a long tutorial. So read all the instructions carefully.

Before starting the tutorial, you will need the following programs:

1. DgVoodoo2
2. Legacy D3D Resolution hack
3. DxWnd
4. nGlide


STEP 1:

Download the updated exe of FiFA 2002 from here: http://www.zeus-software.com/files/nglide/fifa2002_patch.zip

Once downloaded, paste fifa2002.exe to the installed dir of your FiFA 2002 and replace the orginal exe with it.

^This prevents the game from running at 27-30 FPS with severe stutters.


STEP 2:

Install nGlide. You won't be using Glide API anyway, but for some reason installing nGlide prevented crashing ingame even when using Directx API.


STEP 3:

Open "FiFA 2002\3DSetup\3dsetup.ini" with notepad and add widescreen resolutions like 1280x720, 1280x800, 1280x548 in the in the "# Defaults -- lots of screen resolutions at 16-bit" section. It will look like this:

# Defaults -- lots of screen resolutions at 16-bit
CARD_ALL /C:16 /TB:0 /R:640x480 /R:800x600 /R:1024x768 /R:1152x864 /R:1280x720 /R:1280x768 /R:1280x800 /R:1280x960 /R:1280x1024


And then set the following parameters under the Global options in the ini file:

# Global options.
3Dfx_D3D=1
TB_Button=1
3Dfx_TB=1
D3D_TB=1


Now open 3DSetup.exe and set the resolution you want.

Keep in mind that resolutions must be below 1280x1024 else the game will crash right before kick off.

The aspect ratio of the HUD will depend on the resolution you choose here. But anything other than the HUD will be stretched unless its 4:3 aspect ratio. To fix that you will need to use hex editor to change the FOV of the game [I will explain that later].




STEP 4:

Install DgVoodoo2.

Copy "D3D8.dll, D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll" from the "MS" folder located in DxVoodoo2's installed dir, and then paste those dll files on the root dir of FiFA 2002 [Where the exe file of FiFA 2002 remains].

Take a look at the following settings [You may change the resolution, contrast and Anti aliasing according to your desire but keep everything else as shown in the screenshots]:

STEP 5:

By now you have already downloaded Legacy D3D Resolution hack.

Extract the rar file and copy and paste "d3dim.dll and d3dim700.dll" to root dir of FiFA 2002.



STEP 6 [Most important Step]:


You have downloaded DxWnd as well. Extract DxWnd to any location and open dxwnd.exe as admin. You must open it as admin else it cant run games.

From file menu click on import and then import the following fix for FiFA 2002: http://www.mediafire.com/file/vjsc0twoccvd46r/FiFA 2002.dxw

This is important. You must need this fix to bypass the crashing caused by CPU.

Once you have import the file. It will be listed on DxWnd.

Right click on the icon and click modify:

In the Main tab, set the path and launch to fifa2002.exe [Installed location of your FiFA 2002]:
In my case it was in E drive. Your's may vary.

Then click ok.




Now you can start the game by double clicking on the Fifa 2002 icon on Dxwnd.



Also, you must start the game using DxWnd every time to avoid crash.


From file menu, click on save to keep the settings saved obviously.





Anyway, now you can play the game without crashing. The following fixes mentioned below are not mandatory but it will improve the experience of your game:

Widescreen Fix:

http://www.wsgf.org/dr/fifa-2002/en
Follow step 4 from baseline widescreen solution [You have already completed the previous steps already].


Grass Bug fix:

Make sure to select resolution above 640x480p or 800x600p from 3dsetup.exe

Selecting 1024x768 or 1280x720p fixes the grass bug for clear weathers only.

In rainy weather, the grass bug is still there. It has something to do with the fog texture on the field. Probably fails to blend with the fog.


Image quality and other performance improvements:

Add the game's exe on Nvidia Control Panel's "Manage 3D settings\ Program Settings" and then force 16x Anisotropic filtering. Really makes the grass look good.

The game doesn't go above 55 FPS for some reason and may drop to 52 FPS frequently. This may result in stutters. So Force Vsync off from nvidia driver. This will reduce the stutters.

You may also force Anti aliasing.

Also, you can install Nvidia inspector and open Nvidia Profile inspector and Lock the FPS to 55 using FPS limiter V2 on FiFA 2002's profile. This will improve the frame times and make 55 FPS look smoother.


Brighter grass detail:

Download from here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3hbn4ny0r14bck9/detail.fsh

Import this detail.fsh to "FiFA 2002\data\enviro\purge.big" and replace the original.






This is it. The game runs very well now and I can run it at 4k smoothly. Graphics of this game looks better than FiFA 2003~2008.

Let me know if you face any issues.

Hi. I executed all the steps but I am unable to run the game. I am using Lenovo Yoga 13 Windows 10 laptop. In dgvoodoo app it does not show me any resolution same as 59 Hz. I have only 48 Hz and 60 Hz. Could this be causing the issue ? I am trying to run this from Dxwnd as an admin just llike you mentioned but still the game does not start. Please help.

 

[gizaha]

It doesn't work on me either. Fifa 2002 greek, windows 10 22H2.
On my previous system with windows 7 with nglide it worked perfectly.
Now in w10, opening it with either dxwnd or opening direct the fifa2002.exe have same results:
It crashes but randomly. Sometimes it doesn't even show the 3dfx logo, sometimes 3dfx logo and crash, sometimes (1 per 30) it goes in menu and crashes later, sometimes in match.
Some other way to play it? I tried virtualbox but no luck.

 

[NairdaNatrih99]

I actually managed to get it to work by following the exact steps above buuut I just open the game in a normal way, using the "fifa2002" exe from the install dir. If I try to open the game through the dxwnd exe it just crashes instantly so yeah, that's that. Thank you for your help!

PS: the game's grahipcs are a bit glitchy and weird (also, the game is on 100 Hz for some reason), especially in the menu where some weird lines appear, but I'm just happy I managed to get the match playing to work, the graphics can be fixed later. Guess I will also take a look at the tips about the graphics at the end of the post.