3.
I'm also experiencing this issue. First, when I try to run NFS Shift after installation, all I see is a black screen and it just sits there. Tried setting the compatibility mode to win98, now its starting to work but after seeing the NFS Shift logo, it wont go any further, it just sits in the "if you want to race, then take it to your local track" thing.
Tried to delete graphicsconfig.xml in my documents but still wont work. Since I already ran out of solution from the internet, I tried to make my own way on how to solve this issue. What I did was I opened graphicsconfig.xml with a notepad and I set most of the values there to '0' and saved it. Tried to run NFS Shift again and boom! it worked...but its very dark because most of the setting is low or zero. Second time around I decided to change the settings one at a time, I changed Vsync from '1' to '0' and saved it. Tried to run NFS Shift again and it a lot better now! I think with vsync on or off is unnoticeable..just a minor difference which is better than you cannot play...Hope this helps....