# ReNFS: rebuilding The Need for Speed Special Edition

> ReNFS rebuilds the 1996 DOS release of The Need for Speed Special Edition as a native C and SDL2 game for Linux, Windows and macOS. The author studied NFS_DOS.EXE with Ghidra, rewrote routines by hand and compared racing, physics, rendering and replay behavior with the original. The port reads game tables and assets from the user's own Special Edition CD.

- Type: Case study
- Targets: Game
- Category: Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
- Sources reviewed: 2026-11-07
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-09
- Original resource: <https://github.com/ItsDanik/ReNFS>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/ItsDanik/ReNFS/blob/7159bb974ffa1d466174e8edb512e78821cfe70d/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/renfs-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/renfs-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/renfs-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** Provide the Special Edition CD files, including NFS_DOS.EXE; the 1995 standard edition is a different program.
- **Prerequisites:** Building requires SDL2, CMake and a C compiler.
- **Limits:** Network and modem races are omitted.
- **License:** GPL-3.0.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/ItsDanik/ReNFS/blob/7159bb974ffa1d466174e8edb512e78821cfe70d/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/ItsDanik/ReNFS/blob/7159bb974ffa1d466174e8edb512e78821cfe70d/docs/NOTES.md>

## More in Games

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- [reUndr: a PS5 port of Need for Speed: Underground](https://awesomerea.org/resources/reundr-ps5-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Reuromancer: porting Neuromancer to 64-bit Windows](https://awesomerea.org/resources/reuromancer-case/index.md) · Case study
- [ROLLER: reconstructing Whiplash/Fatal Racing for modern PCs](https://awesomerea.org/resources/roller-whiplash-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Rosebed: porting Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 to Zig](https://awesomerea.org/resources/rosebed-minecraft-beta-case/index.md) · Case study
- [rr-pc-port: reconstructing a playable Ridge Racer race on PC](https://awesomerea.org/resources/rr-pc-port-case/index.md) · Case study

## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.