Like with many other games, what worked under 25H2, stopped working in 26H2, time to have a look at the GOG releases of the Interstate series!
We start with Interstate 76 Nitro-Pack which is the easiest to get run, as the only issue here is the 3 fps throughout the whole game!
The only way to fix this is really, to disable G-Sync system wide in the Nvidia app before starting the game.
Even if I add the nitro.exe and set it up in Nvidia App to disable G-Sync, and frame rate to 162 (as I have a 165 Hz screen) and V-Sync on set to off or App driven, the game ignores that as the G-Sync indicator is displayed still as a watermark on the screen regardless.
Also forcing the game to use glide causes the error “unbound exception” and also using dgVoodoo2 as GOG Support suggested earlier simply makes the game ignoring those, I can verify that by neither the 3DFX (for Glide) or dgVoodooWatermark showing (for DirectX), seems DirectX5 games are especially complex.
Next up is Interstate 76:
Interstate 76 now shows the loading screen and instantly closes without any error message.
So I had a look and https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Interstate_%2776 and ended up having success by applying the Crossgen116 Patch! (I did not install the optional add ons and mods that come with the patch, tho!)
Last but not least – Interstate 82!:
Unfortunately, like so many games since 26H2 , Interstate 82’s situation worsened with the latest Windows build.In fact the game no longer starts even. in task manager I can see it causes 16% CPU load and takes 0,8MB RAM, but apart from that i8stubz.exe just seems to be stuck there.
turns out there is a community patch on https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Interstate_%2782 addressing all issues.
And it indeed works! As a bonus, it does support 1080p aka full HD resolutions now!