Need for Speed: Undercover

Need for Speed: Undercover

Developers
	EA Black Box
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	EAGL 4
Release dates
Windows	November 18, 2008
Reception
Metacritic	65
IGDB	57
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Racing
Vehicles	Automobile, Street racing
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Need for Speed

Key points

A port of the PS3/Xbox 360 versions, as the PS2/Wii version differs from these versions.

Many graphical effects (including car shadows) are missing after patching the game. Version 1.0.0.1 works as intended.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 7 DRM, unknown machine limit. A De-Authorization Tool is available.
Origin (unavailable)		Launches without Origin when ran directly from executable, contains SecuROM
Steam (unavailable)

Steam uses v1.0.0.1 of the game; Origin uses v1.1.2.1.

Steam's Origin key is stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Electronic Arts\ea games\need for speed undercover\ergc

DLC was not released for PC, but some of it can be accessed with mods.

The Origin version of the game will not run with dll loaded mods present and will quickly throw and close a "Security Module could not be loaded" message.

Essential improvements

NFS Undercover Generic Fix

Fixes the game's code to automatically detect available resolutions of the selected screen properly.

Improves gamepad support by adding controller icons and fixing the left stick's deadzone.

Patches

Patch 1.0.1.18 is the latest version. A patch for the Steam version is available here. Please note, this will render the Steam copy unable to load mods as it will fail securom security activation.

Skip intro videos

Use NFS Undercover Generic Fix[citation needed]

Instructions[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Movies\ Delete or rename ea_bumper_##.vp6 (where ## is the region name of the game version)

Unlock Collectors Edition content

NFS Undercover Collector's Edition requirement remover Collectors Edition Vinyls Unlocker

Game data

NFS Undercover Generic Fix can optionally save all registry settings to an .ini file as well as store user files in a specified folder

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\EA Games\Need For Speed Undercover\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/17430/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\NFS Undercover\<user-id>\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/17430/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

General settings

World settings

Car settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use NFS Undercover Generic Fix for unlisted resolutions.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			Use NFS Undercover Generic Fix.
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed		Use NFS Undercover Generic Fix.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use NFS Undercover Generic Fix.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Only an 'Anisotropic' mode is available. Force in the graphics card control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 6x FSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		See Run the game at screen refresh rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Field of view (FOV)

Use FOV fix[citation needed]
Download FOV fix by NFS Business. Unzip Update 2-4-18.nfsms. Download and run NFS-VltEd. Import unzipped Update 2-4-18.nfsms. Save. Notes Alternative camera mods: close version and far version.

Bloom

Disable bloom effect[citation needed]
Install NFS Undercover Generic Fix. Open NFSUndercover.GenericFix.ini. Change BloomIntensity = 1.0 to BloomIntensity = 0.0.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Movements interpreted like a directional pad except on world map.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		DirectInput gamepads only. For XInput gamepads use NFS Undercover Generic Fix.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts		Use NFS Undercover Generic Fix.
Impulse Trigger vibration

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		Hotplugging works only with already plugged in controllers. If a new controller gets plugged in during the game session, the game won't recognize it.
Haptic feedback		DirectInput gamepads only.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Speech, Sound Effects and Engine Effects.
Surround sound		Only a 'Surround' option is available.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

In languages with subtitles, they are on by default and cannot be turned off.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
English
Traditional Chinese
Czech				Subtitles only in cutscenes.
Danish				Subtitles only in cutscenes.
Dutch				Subtitles only in cutscenes.
French
German
Hungarian				Subtitles only in cutscenes.
Italian
Japanese
Polish				Subtitles only in cutscenes.
Russian
Slovak				Fan translation, download. Replace Czech language.
Latin American Spanish				Subtitles only in cutscenes.
Spanish
Swedish				Subtitles only in cutscenes.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		Online servers were shut down in August 31, 2021.

Issues unresolved

Game freezes after loading a profile on system with more than 4 physical cores

Use MSCONFIG to reduce the core count
Go to MSCONFIG.exe Go to the Boot tab Go to Advanced Options Check Number of Processors and set the drop down to 8 (If this doesn't work set to 4) Hit OK and Apply and reboot After you play the game set your settings back by following the instructions again except uncheck Number of Processors.

Use Special K to spoof the number of cores. This only seems to be viable on Cracked versions of the securom protected 1.0.1.18 and later executable
Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. When the game starts, press Ctrl+Shift+Backspace to open Special K menu. Go to Frame limiter section and click on Advanced. Tick Spoof CPU Core Count and set the number of cores to 2. Restart the game.

Issues fixed

Controller deadzone issues

Fix left stick deadzone[citation needed]
Download NFS Undercover Generic Fix. Extract the contents to the installation folder. Deadzone can be adjusted in NFSUndercover.GenericFix.ini.

Video settings not saved correctly (Windows 8)

Disable display scaling
Open nfs.exe compatibility settings. Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Set screen refresh rate[citation needed]

Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created. Open <path-to-game>\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\nfs.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0 under [Render.FrameRate].

FPS issues on modern machines

Use specific game version

Install retail 1.0 version. Install 1.0.17 patch Use only original binary (NO-CD binaries cause FPS issues, and also patch 1.0.18, and 1.1.2.1 (Origin). Origin key can be used during activation of retail version. Steam users can obtain a key from the registry after installing the game. Follow this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410985935 Be aware that patch 1.0.18 introduces challenge series. It is possible to have 2 copies of the game at the same time. Here the complete 1.3GB 1.0.17 patch files for Origin version can be found.

Set compatibility mode[citation needed]
Open nfs.exe compatibility settings. Choose "Windows XP SP3" from menu "Run this program in compatibility mode for" Game settings can constantly reset after restart of the game. FPS boost on high details can be even more noticeable than using specific game version.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Anti-cheat	PunkBuster	[citation needed]

Mods

HD textures pack

HD texture packs has been made by An7hraX and Dragozool. Both require texmod in order to work.

Doublepatch

Changes: new responsive controls. Are flip turns necessary - Disabled the effect of yellow with SFX - Disabled the effect of trembling camera. - New texture of the sky. The saved effect of the dome, the sky now looks drawn. Now the reflections look more natural on all surfaces. - Fixed a glitch with the wheels, now tires have no Shine - Fixed the ground clearance on some cars - Changed some of the camera effects - Correctly built light source for daytime - Minor bug fixes.

The mod makes all performance upgrades availible for free from the very beginning. To fix this, use FE_ATTRIB.bin from the original game (<gamedir>\GLOBAL\).

The mod increases difficulty of the game making several missions nearly impossible to complete. There is no easy fix for that.

For visuals only, copy only modded InGameA.bun to <gamedir>\GLOBAL\ then use VltEd to apply this script.

Download: https://www.moddb.com/downloads/start/133567

Graphics Enhancement Mod

Makes changes to the streak effect, contrast, and bloom.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2	Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz	Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB 1 GB (Vista)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	6 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6600 ATI Radeon 9500 Intel G45 Express 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible