r/Nr2003 • • Oct 02 '23

READ THIS FIRST READ THIS FIRST! The r/NR2003 Getting Started Guide

142 Upvotes

Welcome! This subreddit is your best place for NASCAR Racing 2003 Season news, updates and resources. We're dedicated to keeping this nearly 21-year-old sim alive and well, and our community is our best way to do this. We ask that you read this thread upon your first visit and reference it in the future if you have any questions.

NOTE: There is a short waiting period for new users to make posts and comment due to an ongoing issue of banned users attempting to circumvent their bans. If you are a new member and your post is automatically removed, please be patient and try again once the waiting period is over.

  1. Read the Rules! There aren't many, but we like to keep things NR2003-focused and civil above all else. Please also pay attention to rule #4 if you're looking for a specific paint scheme or carset. The Paint Scheme Search Thread is a dedicated place for all of those requests so we don't flood the subreddit with posts.
  2. Read the below commonly asked questions before starting a help thread. This post will be continuously updated to provide help with the most common NR2003 problems. If anyone has anything they think should be added, whether it's a recurring question or a good answer, please let us know in the comments.

1. Where can I download the game and how do I install it?

The current best places to find the game are here:

https://drnoisepaints.com/index.php/how-tos/installing-nr2003-in-2022

https://nr2003racingextremes.weebly.com/misc.html

Here is a good video on how to install downloaded mods and tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecm55kzcwmg&t=

2. Where can I download the latest mods?

There are a wealth of mods for lots of different racing series including up to date Cup and Xfinity cars and 2020 paint schemes and rosters. There are plenty of active websites, but as a starting point you're best to start here:

https://nr2k3.weebly.com/mods.html

With that said, Splash n Go, who created the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Cup mods as well as some excellent early 2000s mods, have now shuttered their website. Currently the links on the above site still point to their site, but you can now find all of their work at Stunod Racing:

http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/categories/splash-n-go-mods.297/

3. Where can I download up-to-date tracks?

Again there are lots of websites putting out updated real and fictional tracks, the best starting place would be here:

https://nr2k3.weebly.com/tracks.html

4. Where can I download paint schemes or find a particular paint scheme?

Most of the content being created for the game are paint schemes. It's something a lot of community members are into and the one area you'll see the most productivity in. Once again there are countless websites to find schemes and complete carsets going all the way back to the 1950s. Stunod Racing is one of the most popular places to find paint schemes.

http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/

5. Why do I need to create an account on some websites? All I want to do is download some cars/mods!

There have been some instances in the past of spammers and trolls attacking websites withing the NR2003 community, so for that and other reasons, some sites will require you to create an account before you download anything. It's free to do and if you're concerned about privacy I'd suggest using a burner email address and not using any of your contact information on a site you don't trust. Like Reddit, it's possible to be completely anonymous and still abide by the straightforward rules set out by these sites. On that topic, we've had a few users stating they tried to create a new account on places like Stunod and were banned because they already had an account and had forgotten their username or password. Rather than forcing a site to ban you, I'd encourage you to contact their admin team and see if you can update your password or obtain your previous username.

6. The graphics look fuzzy and with the new mods my FPS is laggy, what can I do?

This is something did an excellent job of addressing in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrqsT4wgqAI&t=

I'd actually encourage everyone to go through these steps, even if you aren't yet having any issues with lag or FPS

7. What do I use to paint or render my own schemes?

There are lots of different ways to go about painting your own schemes, the simplest way is to download some templates, base schemes, sponsor logos and numbers and use free software like GIMP to put it all together in your own creation. You can download GIMP here:

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

The learning curve with GIMP isnt too steep, but here's a good video guide to getting started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RPDKQro7O4&t=

Most creators will create a special high-quality scene, known as a render, to display their schemes when uploading them or just to show them off online. For rendering your own schemes there are a number of good paid softwares, but Blender is an excellent free tool:

https://www.blender.org/

George Austria has put together an excellent tutorial video taking you through the basics for rendering schemes on Blender:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xe3VMiADVY&t=121s

You can download pre-made render scenes for Blender at Stunod:

http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/categories/3d-scenes.1/

8. Where do I find random miscellaneous utilities, updates, templates, base schemes, tweaks, etc.

Here's a big list of sites with NR2003 resources, listing them here is not an endorsement or recommendation, but they pretty much have everything you could ever be seeking for the game:

adracingdesigns.com

apt2k3.weebly.com

bb-mc.co

bigdonlinemotorsports.com

bigevilracing.com

drnoisepaints.com

fsbracing.com with thanks to

hoboracing.com/simracing

kirbyfighter12.wixsite.com/talleydesigns

murraysimdesigns.com

nr2003.jhodgedesign.com The best place to download the NXS20 (NASCAR Xfinity Series 2020) mod + official updates and templates.

n2003replayanalyzer.martingranberg.se/

rollingthundergaming.com

stunodracing.net

tapatalk.com/groups/nascarfunfacts/

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I'd encourage users to suggest additional sites where good NR2003 content can be found.

9. I want to race with actual human beings online. Where can I do this?

Here's a list of currently active online racing leagues that we support.

Independent Sim Racing League Discord

FUEL Racing League Discord

Mondays of Thunder Discord

FAST Renegade Pro Cup Series Facebook

10. I downloaded some cars and they aren't showing up in my game, what am I missing?

You'll need the physics swapper for this. Carfiles will be assigned a physics type (Cup, GNS, CTS or PTA) by their creator and if that doesn't match the one of the mod you've added them to you need to change the carfile. Keep in mind if the carfile wasn't designed for the mod you're using the car will not look right in game anyway. But if you run the MENCS19 mod with CTS physics, you'll need to spend some time swapping your carfiles from Cup each time you download any. As that is by far the most common physics used for the MENCS19 mod. You can download the physics swapper here:

http://rollingthundergaming.com/downloads/nascar/mods_and_addons.htm

The file you want is the second link from the bottom.

11. When I try to use the FCRD NCS22 mod, my game crashes when I click "Drive."

In your in-game graphics options, turn off Shadows: On cars, from structures.

12. I can't figure out setups, or my car is undrivable. What can I do?

This is a sim, so the cars are not easy to drive, nor are they straightforward to setup. All the original tracks have some default setups built in, but even these may not suit your driving style or your input device. As a starting point here's a good tutorial video from that should help you figure things out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOfwZXPldLg

There will absolutely be things I've overlooked or missed here, but this will be a WIP sticky post and again we encourage any users with suggestions to let us know.

Thank you all for being a part of this sub and the wider NR2003 community, you are what keep this 20+ year old racing sim alive!


r/Nr2003 • • Jun 10 '22

Help or Question The NR2003 Paint Scheme Search Thread

97 Upvotes

Trying to find out if a certain paint scheme for a particular mod has been made and where to find it? Post your question here with a link to a photo and another member may have the answer.


r/Nr2003 • • 2h ago

Video God, It's The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen

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68 Upvotes

We have never been so back. At the beginning of the year i thought this game was going to die, and now I don't think I've ever been so excited to play it since the first day i got it.... The NR story is one to remember forever


r/Nr2003 • • 8h ago

Utilities Final demo of all new features in the next AI Enhanced Beta version

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71 Upvotes

r/Nr2003 • • 8h ago

Tracks Auto Club Ruins Track

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61 Upvotes

Now you can race at the partially demolished remains of Fontana, California! https://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/auto-club-ruins-2025.24729/


r/Nr2003 • • 12h ago

Video Wreckmod Update: Flying Tires!

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128 Upvotes

This has taken up most of my day, and my night last night, but I finally got detachable tires in flips! I may add this to extremely hard hits that are not flips. Still some bugs that need working out, like when they get towed to pit road. But overall, very happy with this!
WreckMod still isn't done (AKA Spin Mod) . I probably won't post many more updates until its finished and time for release which may be soon!


r/Nr2003 • • 5h ago

Mod Petty's V8 Update 4 - REALISTIC External Sounds! (Nr2003 Soundpack)

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20 Upvotes

r/Nr2003 • • 1h ago

Utilities Teaser of NRCENTER's Next Project

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• Upvotes

r/Nr2003 • • 21h ago

Mod Wind Tunnel Deluxe for NR2003: Now with Soft Body | Final Trailer

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175 Upvotes

It all comes around next week. Featuring over a dozen new blowover fine-tunings and an entirely overhauled, (moderately unstable,) experimental damage model.

Doesn’t this barely constitute a trailer you might ask? Well, yes. But I really wanted an excuse to make a crash comp.


r/Nr2003 • • 1h ago

Help or Question A manual pit road open/close command

• Upvotes

Has anyone ever figured out a way to manually open and close pit road during cautions?

This has been an issue for a long time, and it may have been discussed here before, but I haven't been able to find a solution. I've also been seeing some interesting updates for the game lately, so I figured I'd bring this up again.

On short tracks like Bristol and Martinsville, especially after a big wreck, the AI tends to pit too early during cautions, sometimes even before the leaders do. Some cars end up passing the pace car on their way to pit road and get black-flagged as a result.

I was wondering if there's a way to make pit road stay closed until the entire field has passed the pace car at least twice under caution and is properly lined up behind it before the pits open. Perhaps manually, using a program like Better Caution or a chat command?

Alternatively, is there any way to work around this issue through the track.ini or other .ini files?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!


r/Nr2003 • • 18h ago

Utilities RaceControl

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60 Upvotes

Preview of the Choose Cone in action.

- edit : looking for tracks with choose cones painted on if anyone can point me


r/Nr2003 • • 7h ago

Mock Season 2011 Samsung Mobile 500

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7 Upvotes

And here's the interview:

Krista Voda: For a 2nd straight weekend, a first time winner in Victory Lane, tonight, it's Kevin Conway! Kevin, did you think your starting position was going to make you an easy target for a crash?

Conway: No doubt. Starting at the back is something that always means trouble. You can try doing anything, and you can get involved in something not of your making, and it's always a pain. I still have no idea how I managed to go from 32nd to contending for the win tonight, but still, to fight a Cup champion like Yeley and beat him is like winning the lottery.

I'm bummed at the season he's having, and I hope he wins again this year, the man deserves it.

I want to thank Joe Nemechek for giving me a shot in this #97 Toyota and to be in the #87 in the Nationwide Series. I know people make fun of me for promoting a brand like ExtenZe, but I don't care. I'm a spokesman for the company, after all. Let's just hope I don't get swept up in the big one next week at Talladega.

Results from Texas.

  1. Kevin Conway (180)
  2. J.J. Yeley (175)
  3. Jeff Burton (165)
  4. Juan Pablo Montoya (160)
  5. Denny Hamlin (155)
  6. Greg Biffle (150)
  7. Ryan Newman (146)
  8. Steven Wallace (147)
  9. Marcos Ambrose (143)
  10. Matt Kenseth (134)
  11. Kevin Harvick (135)
  12. Jimmie Johnson (127)
  13. David Ragan (124)
  14. Joey Logano (121)
  15. Dale Jr (118)
  16. Brian Vickers (115)
  17. Bobby Labonte (112)
  18. Kasey Kahne (109)
  19. Martin Truex Jr (106)
  20. Tony Stewart (103) (-1L)
  21. Bill Elliott (100) (-1L)
  22. Paul Menard (97) (-1L)
  23. Andy Lally (94) (-2L)
  24. Boris Said (91) (-3L)
  25. Casey Mears (88) (DNFs here)
  26. Mark Martin (led most laps, the first 61 laps) (95)
  27. Kyle Busch (82)
  28. Tony Raines (79)
  29. Clint Bowyer (76)
  30. Trevor Bayne (73)
  31. Scott Speed (70)
  32. Carl Edwards (67)
  33. Kurt Busch (64)
  34. Regan Smith (61)
  35. Michael Waltrip (58)
  36. A.J. Allmendinger (55)
  37. Jamie McMurray (52)
  38. Brad Keselowski (49)
  39. David Reutimann (46)
  40. Jeff Gordon (43)
  41. Brian Simo (40)
  42. Brian Keselowski (37)
  43. David Gilliland (34)

After Kurt Busch was involved in that lap 60 big one, Jeff Burton's strong 3rd place finish put him once again in the points lead, leading Kurt Busch by 34 points


r/Nr2003 • • 10h ago

Utilities [NRCENTER] - INSTALLATION WARNING BYPASSER (Play Without Installing!)

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11 Upvotes

DOWNLOAD

PASSWORD = NRCENTER


This simple program will patch any NR2003.exe, allowing the game to run properly without being installed!

It creates a patched copy of the chosen exe, and leaves the original unmodified.

The copy bypasses the following error message upon reaching the main menu that appears on unpatched exes, if the game is not installed...

"Installation appears to be incorrect. Please try re-installing NASCAR Racing 2003 Season"

It should work with basically all NR2003 exe versions


Because it is a simple jump instruction, it changes hardly any code and does not interfere with NR2003 functionality! No bugs!

Scroll through the pictures to see exactly how this program implements this patch. Enjoy!



r/Nr2003 • • 6h ago

Discussion OEM mod idea.

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3 Upvotes

With all of the new mods coming out here of late its pretty cool seeing this game get a new breath of life. I have a suggestion to any of you mod makers that read this, and that is if there is any possible way to expand the max make limit for mods from 4 to 5+. This is something I've always been fascinated to see one day for years like 2003 where there are 2002 body styles and 2003 body styles on the track at the same time. On top of that I think it would also be cool to see manufacturers have strengths and weaknesses that are modifiable.


r/Nr2003 • • 7h ago

Screenshot cursed

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5 Upvotes

r/Nr2003 • • 3h ago

Paint Scheme Superspeedway Mod (request)

2 Upvotes

Hello, I’d like to leave a review about the Superspeedway mod.

I liked the mod, I’m really looking forward to it, and I’d like to express my personal appreciation for the work. But I’d like to write a bit about what I think about when I see the beta version of this mod.

Please tell me, whether there will be (and if you can share with me the schemes that can be seen in this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Nr2003/comments/1jhjwe3/superspeedway_mod_reshaping_progress/

The thing is, I could make good headlights for the main templates. I know the author shared a link to the templates themselves. But I need exactly the patterns I mentioned for my work.
If, for example, there are any difficulties with my request, then I don’t need the entire all carlist.

Four brands are enough. The main thing is that the paintscheme should be - light color (White, Yellow, etc) Not black or dark.

Sorry, my bad english.


r/Nr2003 • • 6h ago

Help or Question PSF / Enhanced Edition not working

3 Upvotes

I’ve tried everything, renaming, DEP OFF, nothing, it says everything is connected but when EE goes to launch on PSF it blips and goes off. Works on my main install though


r/Nr2003 • • 17h ago

Video Big One at Daytona, 15 cars DNF'd:

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20 Upvotes

r/Nr2003 • • 8h ago

Tech Support Workaround for low FPS performance with Mod Studio and upcoming mods.

5 Upvotes

I've had a great FPS improvement with the following:

Note: If you, like me, have exclusive mod folders instead of a single one install for every mod you use, you have to set the Cpu Affinity for each one of your EXEs.

https://bitsum.com/

That does this:

Using Process Lasso for CPU Affinity:

  1. Download and install Process Lasso.
  2. Open the program and launch your target application.
  3. In Process Lasso's process list, right-click the target process.
  4. Go to CPU Affinity > Sustain (or Always > Select CPU(s)).
  5. Select the specific cores you want the program to use and click OK. Process Lasso will automatically re-apply the affinity every time the app runs.

Set to any CPU outside 0, preferably from #2 onwards.

To achieve it always apply the 4GB Patch:

https://ntcore.com/4gb-patch/

Set in NVIDIA or AMD Radeon Control Panel to relay on the GPU for graphics, to relief the CPU.

Also, I'm sharing my DXwrapper/DXVK files, that must placed in the same folder where your NR2003.exe file is:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/78iukrpehw8vhfh/DXWrapper.zip/file

Might it be helpful to everybody!


r/Nr2003 • • 7h ago

Screenshot cursed part 2

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3 Upvotes

r/Nr2003 • • 15h ago

Discussion What are some lesser-known features in NR2003 that many people don't know about?

11 Upvotes

Can be hidden features, unknown mechanics, small details, or whatever you think fits


r/Nr2003 • • 17h ago

Discussion Mod idea! Crowd noise!

13 Upvotes

First of all, let me say, thank you to every last person who has made a mod for this game. You guys all keep this game running and it’s incredible. I doubt people will run out of ideas, but I had an interesting one. What about a crowd noise mod? Where you can set it to say, for example, when Dale Junior or Chase Elliot takes the lead, the crowd goes nuts like they do in real life. Possibly some reactions to crashes and stuff as well. maybe even start Boeing when a driver they don’t like takes the lead. Just an interesting thought I had thought I would share it and maybe somebody can build up on it.


r/Nr2003 • • 1d ago

Video jeff burton escapes the confines of talladega

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43 Upvotes

I've NEVER seen a car go over the catchfence before at a track i honestly did not know that was possible


r/Nr2003 • • 21h ago

Utilities Lack of self control:

18 Upvotes

I suffer from a complete lack of self control and cannot cope

INTRODUCING: RaceControl
- Modern NASCAR Choose Cone - Configurable for tracks with visible choose cones

- Automatic Wave Arounds

-Improved AI behavior when pacing & lining up for green

Coming soon to pair with the new & improved AIMOD - The AI pit strategy tool

​

​


r/Nr2003 • • 9h ago

Utilities Anybody else’s game crashing during pit stops?

1 Upvotes

I’ve tried with 3 different EXE’s (MS, the pit crew 4GB, and the 16 Update version) and every time they put the game crashes. Want to know if anyone else is having performance issues? Thanks!