Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998 not the remaster)

Compatibility Report

• Name of the game with compatibility issues: Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_Speed_III:_Hot_Pursuit
• Steam AppID of the game: N/A - not on Steam or in SteamDB

System Information

• GPU/Video driver version/Kernel version: SteamDeck
• Link to full system information report as Gist: N/A - not sure how to generate on the SD
• Proton version: I tried Experimental, 8.0-3 and the default on SteamDeck as of the time of writing (not sure how to tell)

I confirm:

• that I haven't found an existing compatibility report for this game.
• that I have checked whether there are updates for my system available.

There are reports for the remaster but not the original. SteamDeck is up to date and I use several versions of Proton to no avail.

Symptoms

With Proton as it ships on the SteamDeck as of the time of writing, the game won't start at all, it crashes right away. When switching compatibility to force Proton Experimental or 8, the game will run and everything in the menu is fine, but in game, only the background and the HUD renders, not the car or the environment.

Reproduction

Download NFS III: Hot Pursuit off Archive.org:
https://archive.org/download/need-for-speed-iii-hot-pursuit-win-preinstalled-en/Need_for_Speed_III_Hot_Pursuit_Win_Preinstalled_EN.zip

• Extract the ZIP and copy the folder over to the SteamDeck on an SD card
• Go to Desktop mode and find the folder, copy it over to the SteamDeck's SSD
• Launch Steam in Desktop mode, click on Games > Add a Non-Steam Game and find nfs3.exe, add it
• Go back to Gaming mode and launch the game - it will crash
• Use the gear menu and go to Properties > Compatibility and turn of Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool
• Select Proton Experimental or Proton 8.x
• Launch the game - it launches!
• Configure WASD+Mouse input mapping
• Go through the menu and start a race
• Notice only the backgrounds and the HUD are rendering, not the actual car or the environment (sound plays)

Start by reproducing the report with nfs3.exe on SteamDeck using the default Proton, Proton Experimental, and Proton 8.x settings. Enable the suggested PROTON_LOG=1 %command% launch option and inspect the resulting steam-$APPID.log alongside the rendering symptoms. Done means the game launches and a race renders the car and environment, not only the background and HUD.