TrackMania Nations Forever, now over 16 years old, is still one of my favourite arcade racing games, and one that I have fond memories of playing local multiplayer head-to-head with friends.

The game has gotten a modern remake that is available on the Epic Store, but for those of you who prefer the classic TrackMania, I have written this guide that lets you play the game on Windows 10, and with friends over the internet.

1. Download TrackMania Nations Forever

Download TrackMania Nations Forever from the official Trackmania Forever website by clicking the button that says “TrackMania 1 Demo“, or use the direct link.

Alternatively, you can get TrackMania Nations Forever on Steam, but I find that the Steam version is buggy, and requires patching to get it to work properly on Windows 10.

2. (Optional) Patch TrackMania Nations Forever

This step is only needed if you are having trouble launching and running TrackMania Nations Forever on Windows 10.

The following instructions come from this Reddit post, and is needed if you are using the Steam version of TrackMania Nations Forever.

1. Edit the Nadeo.ini file (This is the default installation path, your game files might be elsewhere.) C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TrackMania Nations Forever\Nadeo.ini
2. Find a row with “Distro=XXXXX”. Delete contents after “Distro=” and change it to “Distro=MILIN”. Save and close the file.
3. Download the update file (It says “United Forever” but don’t worry, it works great with TM Nations too.) TmUnitedForever_Update_2010-03-15_Setup.exe
4. Install the patch and point it to your Trackmania Nations Forever folder, for example: C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TrackMania Nations Forever
5. That’s it! When the installation is finished, the game is ready to play. Depending on what the problem was, the game should work well now.

3. Play TrackMania Nations Forever Multiplayer

The following method will allow you to create a local network tunnel over the internet that allows you to play TrackMania Nations Forever multiplayer with a friend.

1. Download and install Radmin VPN. (Your friend needs to do the same).
2. Create a new network in Radmin VPN, and let your friend connect to it. Verify that both your connections are “green” in the Radmin VPN client.
3. Launch TrackMania Nations Forever
4. Click on Party Play, and choose “On a local network”. (You should see your friend under “Players” if the VPN was setup correctly).
5. You (the Host) can now click “Create” and configure the race parameters. When you are ready, click Launch to start the game.
6. Your friend should see the server you created under “Servers” and can click it to join.