Fix 1 addresses the following crash:

You boot up Ride 3. The little popup comes up, and then it goes fullscreen with the Milestone logo, but it very quickly freezes and crashes. Maybe you get that little audio stinger, maybe it doesn't even get to start at all. Either way, it crashes before you actually get into the game.

Fix 2 addresses the following issue:

You boot up Ride 3 and it starts as normal. However, you are unable to load into the game, instead being stuck indefinitely. The game might crash, it might not. If it doesn't, you likely had to force-quit the game.

If you're having other issues, this guide probably won't fix your problem. Refer to the 'OTHER' section.

Issue 1:

In 2014, the OpenSSL 1.0.2 beta was released. It is incompatible with certain SHA extensions, which are part of your computer's cryptography. These SHA extensions are far more common now. Chances are, if you buy an Intel processor today, it's going to have the extension.

Normally, this isn't a problem, because games being released now aren't using that old OpenSSL beta. But if a game is still using an old version of Unreal Engine, and the developer hasn't updated it, it's going to be running OpenSSL 1.0.2. This causes a fatal error, and therefore, the crash.

Issue 2:

This issue is much more straightforward. The infinite loading is likely caused by a corrupt game file in your save data. Since it can't load the save, you can't enter the game.

Issue 1:

Yes, the fix is safe when done correctly. The fix was created by Intel, specifically for this issue. (link for your reading: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/troubleshooting/openssl-sha-crash-bug-requires-application-update.html ), mainly to be used for testing. It uses an environment variable, so there are no installations and it shouldn't mess with your system. All it does is disable OpenSSL's check for SHA extensions.

The main thing that I can see going wrong would be some online play issues, since anti-cheat systems might get fussy with the variable. It could maybe upset the anti-cheat system for the game, which I can't speak to because I don't play any online modes. The main thing that I could see happening would be crashes, because the anti-cheat might disable the variable. Of course, I don't think anyone is playing in the online at this point.

Issue 2:

In order to get rid of the corrupt file, you'll have to delete your save data. This has the potential to cause issues with the game in the event you delete the wrong thing or make some other error. This risk can be mitigated by backing up the game files through Steam. I have not needed to do this fix for myself, so I cannot personally speak to it.

FIX FOR ISSUE 1 (crash on startup):

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run menu.
This is how we navigate to the location where we will place our environment variable.

2. Type SystemPropertiesAdvanced into the entry space, and click 'Okay' or press Enter.
Don't change anything here.

3. Click 'Environment Variables' at the bottom of the window that opens.
Don't change anything here either.

4. Under 'User Variables', click 'New'.
You could put it under System Variables, if you prefer. If you're the only person who uses the device, it doesn't really matter. Doing so will just mean that this environment variable will always run, no matter which user is using the device.

5. For the variable name, set it to OpenSSL_ia32cap

6. For the variable value, set it to ~0x20000000 (that's seven zeros)

7. Click 'Okay', or press Enter.

8. Restart your device, so that the variable will take effect.



FIX FOR ISSUE 2 (infinite loading):

1. In Steam, right-click on Ride 3 on the left sidebar, or click on the settings icon on the right, and select 'General'.

2. Disable the option to keep files in the Steam cloud.

3. Click on 'Installed files' and select the option to back-up the game files. Make a new folder somewhere you can easily access it and save the backup to it.
This backup can be used to restore the game if new issues appear after trying this fix.

4. In your File Explorer, type '%appdata% into the directory navigation bar (not the search bar, but the bar next to it.) Click on 'AppData' in the navigation bar, then select the 'Local' folder. Find the 'ride3' folder.
This is how we get to the game's save files, which aren't accessed through Steam's 'browse files' option.

5. Open the 'Save' folder. (It is likely the only folder.) Right click on the 'SaveGames' folders and delete it.

6. Launch the game to test if the problem is fixed.
If it's fixed, you may delete the backup and re-enable Steam cloud saving if you want to.

Thank you to Antmerl for contacting Milestone about the infinite loading bug. I was completely off the mark for how to fix it, so it's great to see something that worked. (And surprising to see a response from Milestone! Granted, Issue 1 is still an inexcusable thing to ship a game with.)

If you're still having issues after this fix, make sure that you've spelled everything correctly in your variable, that you have done a fresh install of the game, that you've verified the game files, and that you have restarted your device. If none of those things help, you probably have a different issue. If it's not a hardware problem (like, say, not having enough memory or cpu/gpu available), then I'm afraid I don't have ideas for how to help you.

However, new solutions may come up from people in the community, so please do keep commenting about any issues you have.

It's incredibly frustrating that this broken game is still for sale, without so much as a statement from the developers about the issue. Plus, all of the support sites are dead, and the game's webpage is gone. So, I sincerely hope that this fix worked for you.

Also, I thought this is good to mention: These old programs are vulnerable to backdooring and have bugs that will usually never be fixed--among other things--since they are no longer supported by their creators. So, playing it online is not likely to be safe.

With love, your local FZR Genesis enjoyer