NFS Unbound Fix

Fixes the black screen at startup in Need for Speed Unbound on Mac, so the game loads and plays in CrossOver.

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The problem

If you play Need for Speed Unbound on a Mac through CrossOver with D3DMetal, the game can get stuck on a black screen when it starts.

A fix was found: change 7 bytes in one game file to turn off an optional graphics cache that's involved in the crash. Doing that by hand means using a hex editor and checking file fingerprints in Terminal. It's easy to get wrong.

NFS Unbound Fix does it for you. Drag in your game folder, click one button, and it's done, with a backup made first.

Before you start

You need:

• A Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later
• Need for Speed Unbound from Steam, installed in CrossOver, at Steam build 16690907

The app only changes that exact version of the game file. If your game is a different version, it tells you and changes nothing.

How to use it

1. Download the latest NFSUnboundFix.zip from the Releases page.
2. Unzip it and drag NFS Unbound Fix into your Applications folder.
3. Quit the game if it's running.
4. Open NFS Unbound Fix. Read the short notice and click I Understand.
5. Drag in your game folder. On Steam, Unbound's folder is named Excalibur, not "Need for Speed Unbound". You'll find it inside your CrossOver bottle, usually at:

   ~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/Steam/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Excalibur
   

   You don't have to find it exactly. You can drag in your whole CrossOver bottle and the app finds the right file. You can also click Choose Folder….
6. Click Apply Fix.
7. Launch Unbound through Steam in CrossOver as usual.

That's it. The app shows a checklist of everything it checked and changed.

Undoing the fix

Drag the game folder in again and click Undo Fix. Your original file is put back, exactly as it was.

You can also use Verify integrity of game files in Steam, which restores the original file too.

After a game update

A Steam update or file check may replace the game file and remove the fix. Just open the app again and click Check again, or drag the folder in again.

If the update changed the file to a new version, the app says the version isn't supported and doesn't touch it. This fix only applies to build 16690907.

Is it safe?

The app is careful at every step:

• Checks the version first. It compares the file's fingerprint (SHA-256) with the exact version the fix was made for. Any other version is left alone.
• Makes a backup of the original before changing anything, and checks the backup is a perfect copy. Backups are kept in ~/Library/Application Support/NFS Unbound Fix/Backups. The Backups button opens the folder.
• Checks the exact bytes it's about to change are the expected ones.
• Checks the result before saving, saves in a way that can't leave a half-written file, then checks the saved file again. If anything doesn't match, it puts the original back.
• Doesn't run while the game is open.

It never touches anything else, and it contains no game code.

What exactly it changes

For anyone who wants the details:

File	Engine.Render.Core2.PlatformPcDx12.dll
Original SHA-256	ee3a654be58be406eda32aeadad99ad60894403e374a2d3b847a20008cd30c62
Position	0x1AB423
Original bytes	44 38 AB C0 01 00 00
New bytes	80 A3 C0 01 00 00 00
Fixed SHA-256	9dc33b2edebca402c48c53f32cce474aafd5d640e5754275484deaced66134aa

Credits

This app only automates a fix that other people found and shared:

• Ariel O, for the tip in the CodeWeavers Compatibility Database that got Unbound running in CrossOver.
• u/ales_sandr, for the Reddit post that spread the fix.

Thank you both.

Disclaimer

Use at your own risk. NFS Unbound Fix is an independent tool. It isn't made, endorsed or supported by Electronic Arts or Criterion Games, and it's unclear whether EA allows fixes like this. Changing game files may go against EA's user agreement, and playing online with a changed game could put your EA account at risk.

Need for Speed and Need for Speed Unbound are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.

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For developers

Build it yourself

Needs Xcode or the Command Line Tools.

git clone https://github.com/macprotips/NFSUnboundFix.git
cd NFSUnboundFix
swift test                 # runs the safety tests
scripts/build-app.sh       # creates build/NFS Unbound Fix.app

Project layout

Path	What's there
Sources/NFSUnboundFixKit/Patcher.swift	Finding, checking, backing up, patching and undoing
Sources/NFSUnboundFix	The app window
Tests/NFSUnboundFixKitTests	Tests for every step, run against a stand-in file
Tools/make_icon.py	Draws the app icon

Every push builds and tests the app on GitHub Actions.

Signing and notarizing

The build signs the app with a Developer ID certificate and has Apple notarize it once these repository secrets are set (Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions):

Secret	What it is
MACOS_CERTIFICATE	The Developer ID Application certificate and private key, exported as a .p12 and base64-encoded
MACOS_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD	The password chosen when exporting the .p12
APPLE_ID	The Apple ID email of the developer account
APPLE_APP_PASSWORD	An app-specific password from account.apple.com

Without them, the app is signed ad hoc and macOS asks for approval on first launch.