EA Games presents Need for Speed Underground 2. This document provides installation instructions, basic keyboard controls, troubleshooting tips, and information about online play for the game. It details system requirements, installation process, in-game controls, graphics settings, driver profiles, saving, and common issues. It also outlines online gameplay, required ports, rankings, creating/joining online races, and using EA Messenger to communicate with other players.

1. EA GAMES(tm) presents
NEED FOR SPEED(tm) UNDERGROUND 2
README
WHAT THIS FILE IS
=================
This file contains information that supplements the Manual. If you are
experiencing problems not covered in this README, please contact EA
Customer Support.
NOTE: Content of Web Links within this document may not be under the
control of Electronic Arts.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
************************************************************
1. INSTALLATION
2. BASIC KEYBOARD CONTROLS
3. MANUAL ADDENDUM
4. TROUBLESHOOTING
5. ONLINE
6. LAN
7. CONTROLLER INFORMATION
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1. INSTALLATION
************************************************************
Thank you for purchasing NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
===========================
Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, ME, 2000 Professional, XP Professional,
or XP Home operating system
Intel Pentium III (or equivalent) CPU running at 933MHz or higher
32MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (Geforce2 or higher) using a
supported chipset (see below)
256 MB RAM
DirectX compatible sound card
2 GB of HD space
8X CD-ROM
To play online a network card is required for broadband connectivity
Installation Instructions:
Exit all applications. It is recommended that you do not run unnecessary
background applications when installing the game.
Insert Disc 1 into your computer's CD drive. The Autorun menu will
appear as soon as your disk drive recognizes the disk. Select to
Install the game. A prompt will appear to enter your install code.

2. Enter the install code and click on the Next button.
You will then get a menu asking to choose either a default install or
the advanced install (which allows you to specify an install
directory). Select Next and the game will begin installing.
************************************************************
2. BASIC KEYBOARD CONTROLS
************************************************************
The basic keyboard controls required to play the game are:
In Game Controls: Primary Secondary
Steer Left Left Arrow A
Steer Right Right Arrow D
Throttle Up Arrow W
Reverse Down Arrow S
Shift Up Left Shift ;
Shift Down Left Ctrl .
E-brake Space End
Nitrous Left Alt Right Alt
Camera C Ins
Look Back B K
Enter Race / Shop Enter F1
World Map M F2
Read SMS Tab F3
Career Statistics T F4
Reset Car R Home
Hydraulics Pressure H Y
Hydraulics Bounce J U
Pause Esc P
Menu Controls
Highlight Menu Items Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows
Cycle Choices / Move sliders Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows, Mouse Wheel
Select / Go to next Screen ENTER or left mouse click on selection
Return to previous screen ESC, or Right mouse click
Pan around the Car Hold middle mouse button down and drag mouse
Take Screenshot F12
(Screenshots are saved to the game directory)
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3. MANUAL ADDENDUM
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VIDEO CARD SUPPORT
==================
Although Direct3D is supported, this support is only officially
extended to certain 3D accelerator devices. The following major D3D
chipsets are supported.
ATI Radeon 7500 or greater
NVIDIA GeForce2 or greater

3. While Direct3D supports a wider variety of 3D accelerator devices, the
behavior of NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 cannot be predicted in these
situations. In extreme cases, running NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 with
a Direct3D device that is not officially supported can lead to an
unstable PC environment.
SOUND CARD SUPPORT
==================
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 supports DirectSound. If your sound card
driver does not support DirectSound you may experience choppy or
stuttering sound or sound that cuts in and out. If your sound card
driver does not support DirectSound, we recommend obtaining updated
drivers from your sound card manufacturer.
CD-ROM DRIVES and DVD DRIVES
====================================
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 requires at minimum an 8x CD-ROM/DVD
drive. Disc 2 must be in the CD-ROM drive when you start the
game. If your system has more than one CD-ROM drive, be sure the game
disk is in the same drive from which you installed the game.
DEFAULT GRAPHICS SETTINGS
==============================
The first time NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 is run, a system check is
performed and default levels are set for the various graphics
settings. These default levels are set to provide the best game play
experience possible based on the hardware detected in your system.
These settings can be adjusted in the Display menu of the Options. In
the Display options, choose Customize Display Settings.
Resolution: Use the arrows to increase or decrease the game
resolution. Increasing the game’s resolution may slow down system
performance.
Level of Detail: Use the arrows beside the Level of Detail bar to
increase or decrease global graphics setting. Increasing the Detail
setting to high will improve the game’s graphics but may slow down system
performance.
Customize Display Settings: Tweak individual graphics settings. (See
below.)
Default Settings: Reset your graphics settings to the default for your
hardware configuration.
Selecting Customize Display Settings in the graphics menu takes you to
the Customize Display Settings menu. The following individual settings
are available to tweak to change the game’s graphics output and game
performance. Turning all the settings to on may slow down system
performance.
Car Reflection Update Rate: Increase or decrease how quickly reflections
are visible on the car update.
Car Reflection Detail: Setting this to High increases the detail of
reflections visible on the car.
Car Shadow: Increase/decrease car shadows. Decreased shadows may improve
system performance.

4. Car Headlight: Turn on or off headlight effects.
Car Geometry Detail: Setting this to High increases geometry details
on the car.
Crowds: Turn on or off animated crowd characters.
World Detail: increase the amount of detail visible in world geometry.
Decreasing world geometry detail may increase overall system performance.
Road Reflection Detail: increase or decrease reflections visible in the road.
Light Trails: Turn on or off light trails created as you drive by
lights in the world.
Light Glow: Turn on or off the glow on light sources.
Particle Systems: Turn on or off particle effects.
Motion Blur: Turn on or off motion blur.
Fog: Turns fog effect on or off.
Depth of Field: During race start/end sequences where certain cameras use depth
of field.
Full Screen Anti-Aliasing: Adjust slider to increase/decrease pixel smoothing.
Tinting: When on the Weather tints changes color of the screen based on
weather.
Horizon Fog: Turn on/off Haze at night on top of buildings and in the sky.
Over Bright: When on it increases brightness of bright areas in the game.
Enhanced Contrast: Makes the dark areas darker and lights brighter.
Rain: Rain splatter effect on/off.
Texture Filtering: Adjust the slider to increase/decrease the Quality of the
textures.
Vsync: Updates the screen based on the refresh rate of your monitor.
Not all graphic details are available for all video cards due to
hardware limitations.
DRIVER PROFILE AND SAVE LOAD
============================
If you are in the Main Menu and you want to create a new Driver
Profile, select Create from the Profile Manager Menu.
When you start a new driver profile, you will not have any of the
progress (unlocked cars, parts, or progress through Career Mode)
that you had in your old profile. (You can always log back in under
your original profile if you want to go back).
Manual Saves: Your game can be manually saved by accessing the Profile
Manager Menu and selecting Save.
NOTE:
Saving your profile saves your game progress. When you make a save game,

5. you are saving your progress in Career Mode, the number of cars,
car upgrades, and tracks you have unlocked, and any modifications you
have made to your cars.
The final game save directory is located at:
Documents and SettingsPC Login IDLocal SettingsApplication DataNFS
Underground 2
Substitute your actual Login ID for the PC Login ID mentioned above.
************************************************************
4. TROUBLESHOOTING
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CD AUTOPLAY FEATURE
===================
Inserting the game CD into your CD-ROM drive and then immediately
running the game either from the Windows Start menu or by
double-clicking the game's Desktop icon may cause a conflict with the
CD-ROM's AutoPlay feature. The easiest way to avoid this potential
conflict is to always wait a few moments after inserting the CD to
allow the AutoPlay feature to run the game.
EJECTING THE GAME CD
====================
Never eject the game CD when the game is running. Failure to do so
can result in serious problems, including being unable to continue the
game.
FAST USER SWITCHING
===================
You will not be able to run two versions of the game using two different
windows accounts via the fast user switching (windows key + L).
DEVICE DRIVERS
==============
It is highly recommended that the latest versions of all device
drivers (i.e. video and sound card drivers) be obtained and installed.
Please consult your card manufacturer for their newest drivers. Also,
keep in mind that video chip manufacturers sometimes provide drivers
in addition to the card manufacturer.
If you are experiencing issues with an unstable PC environment please
make sure your Motherboard drivers (AGP, miniport) are up to date. For
further information please contact your Motherboard manufacturer.
VIDEO & GRAPHICS PROBLEMS
=========================
If you are experiencing performance problems on the default graphics
settings, try lowering some of the settings or the game resolution.
This game requires DirectX 9.0c
It is available for download by going to:
Directx 9.0c www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/

6. Graphic Cards: Graphical settings and features available in-game are
dependant on Graphics Card capabilities. Settings not supported by your
Graphics Card hardware are disabled in the Options Menu to prevent
adverse effects on the game and your computer.
NVIDIA Cards: All supported NVIDIA cards were tested using ForceWare
driver version 61.77 (Win2k/XP) and 61.76 (Win98/ME). It is highly
recommended this driver or a more recent version be used when running
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2.
Known Issues: GeForce 6800 GT: When running the game under Windows
98/ME, it is noted that random graphical issues occur.
ATI Cards: All supported ATI cards were tested using Catalyst driver
version 4.10 (Win2k/XP) and 4.7 (Win98/ME). It is highly recommended
this driver or a more recent version be used when running
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2.
Known Issues: Currently there is a problem with the anti-aliasing
functions in NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 and drivers older
than Catalyst 4.10. It is highly recommended this driver or a more
recent version be used. As the latest Catalyst driver for Win98/ME
was 4.7 when NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 was released,
Anti-Aliasing functions are not available for ATI cards
under these O/S's.
Should the game have problems launching, double click the
SafeMode.bat Icon located in the Need for Speed install Directory.
This will launch NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 with minimum
display settings.
BACKGROUND PROGRAMS
===================
Avoid running other programs in the background.
Programs starting up automatically can cause NEED FOR SPEED
UNDERGROUND 2 to lose control of the screen and keyboard, possibly
causing an unstable PC environment. We strongly recommend that you
shut down or suspend applications that start up automatically or
programs that automatically run other applications at specified times
before running NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2. These include, but are not
limited to:
- Windows System Agent
- Windows Task Scheduler
- Windows "Disk Cleanup" utilities
Similarly, message boxes and dialog boxes from other programs or from
Windows itself can also cause NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 to lose
control of the screen and keyboard, possibly causing an unstable PC
environment. We strongly recommend that you shut down all other
applications before running NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2. These
include, but are not limited to:
- Email programs
- Calendar, appointment, or contact applications
- Network or Internet chat programs
- Automatic Update on Anti Virus software
Also, connections to/from non-dedicated servers can be disrupted when
background programs or screen-savers launch. We recommend that you shut
down other applications (including virus scanners) and run NEED FOR SPEED
UNDERGROUND 2 by itself whenever possible.
POWER MANAGEMENT SUSPEND/SLEEP MODES

7. ============================================
Systems (i.e. laptops or other portables) that automatically power
down into "sleep" or "suspended" modes can cause NEED FOR SPEED
UNDERGROUND 2 to lose control of the screen and keyboard, possibly
causing an unstable PC environment. We strongly recommend that you
disable these features before running NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2.
ALT+TAB FUNCTIONALITY
=========================
ALT+TAB will switch out of NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND, but the game
does not automatically pause. If you are going to do this, pause
manually before swapping windows.
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5. ONLINE PLAY
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To avoid poor performance during Internet play, be sure that you close
any file sharing, streaming audio, or chat programs prior to entering
gameplay. These applications can monopolize your connection s bandwidth,�
causing lag or other undesirable effects.
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 uses the following TCP and UDP port(s) for
Internet play:
TCP ports: 80, 13505, 20920-20929, 20970-20979
UDP port addresses: 3658, 3659
Please consult your router or personal firewall documentation for information
on how to allow game related traffic on these ports. If you are attempting to
play on a corporate Internet connection, contact your network administrator.
NOTE: NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 supports only broadband connections
for online play. When logging in to play Online you are logging into
the EA.com servers. If you already have one, you may use your existing
online EA.com account to play or you can create a new one.
Setting up an account: An EA account is required for online play. At
the account log-in screen choose Create New EA Account. You will be
taken to menus where you enter account information and choose your
online user name.
NOTE: If your existing EA account contains a space, you won t be able�
to use it due to a limitation in the game.
You can have up to four EA Online Personas. Personas can also be
deleted if you would like to change one.
Please Note: Persona's are part of your EA Account and are used
for any EA online product you play. Deleting a persona that has been used in
other EA Products will also delete the persona and all associated
stats/rewards earned with that persona across all EA products.
Starting a game online: After you log in, you have the choice to pick
a car. All the cars/parts and tracks that you have unlocked for single player
career mode are available for play online.
Main Online Menu
================

8. Online Lobby: Join an existing race, create a new online race, or setup
a lobby filter. Every ranked race counts towards your online ranking.
Work your way through ten tiers of rankings per game mode to achieve Elite
status. Unranked online races do not affect your ranking. Any car can
be used in unranked games.
Select Car: Switch cars for the next race.
News: Catch up on the latest NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 news, or read
the membership agreement.
Rankings: Ranking boards are provided to track your online progress, they
are broken down into three specific ranking boards.
Personal Rankings: This is where your personal stats are located, look
here to see your fastest times, longest power slides etc.
Overall Rankings: This is where the points earned in each ranked game
mode are displayed. As you earn points you will work your way up the
Leaderboard. Once you gain a new ranking level you will find yourself at
the bottom of the new Leaderboard. You are only able to view rankings for
players that are within your ranking level per game mode.
Monthly Point Leaders: This is where the top players are located. Visit
this ranking board to see who has the most rank points for the current month,
or last months leaders. The points on this board are reset at the beginning
of each month.
Options: Change gameplay settings.
EA Messenger: Find your friends online - or discover new ones.
To open EA Messenger click the EA Messenger Button. To toggle between friends
lists, friend requests, and blocked players, click the arrow buttons.
Click on a player name in EA Messenger to send them a message, a game invite,
or a friend request. You may also block players from the EA Messenger as well
as offer feedback.
The Online Lobby
================
The Online Lobby is where all created games will be displayed. Select
a game from the list to join that game.
Use the filter options to select which type of game and game options
you're interested in, this will make the lobby only show you the games
that match your filter criteria.
Select Create Game to be the host of your own game and select which track
you wish to use as well as the game options.
The games list will be fluctuating all the time as new games are create
and players join those games. To keep the list of games as recent as
possible click the refresh button.
Some games may be created using the evenly matched cars setting. Those
games will check to see if the current car you have selected is equal
to the cars of the other players in the game. If your car isn't up to the
challenge or is too low to pose a challenge to the other players you will
not be able to join that game.
Note: In ranked games the players car is automatically switched to the
ranked car for the game mode. Players are required to setup a ranked
car for each ranked game mode in the Online Car Select Customize Menu.

9. Default ranked cars will be provided, these car can be traded for other
unlocked cars by selecting Customize when a ranked car is highlighted
then entering the trade car menu.
Game Room Options
=================
Ready/Un-Ready States:
When in a game room each player will have a small red icon to the left of
their name. These icons represent the player's ready state. When you are
ready to start racing select the ready button. This will change the icon
from red to green signaling that you are ready to race. Once in a ready
state the only selectable option you will have is to chat, no host/client
options will be available to use. If you decide you want to access host
client options or leave the game room when already in a ready state, you
need to re-select the Cancel Ready button. This will change your icon back
to red and will signal to the other players you are no longer ready to race.
The hosts do not have to signal their ready state as they are always
displayed as being ready. The Host will instead have a Start Race button
in place of the ready button. Start Race will only be selectable when enough
players are ready to race. Unranked games require 2 ready players, while
ranked games require 3 ready players. Should the host select start race
while some players have not yet selected Ready there will be a ten second
countdown to launch the race. If at the end of the countdown the players
still have not selected Ready they will be removed from the game and the
remaining ready players will enter gameplay.
Client/Host Options:
When in another player's/or your own game room you will have access to
extra options. Select a player name from within the game room to view
the menu of available selections.
View Track Map - This will view the track selected for the current game.
View Car - This will show you the car the selected player will be driving
in the race.
Send Private Message - This will enable you to send a private message to
the selected player.
Feedback - This will submit a complaint against the selected player and will
send the chat log from the game room to EA Customer Support where it will be
reviewed. Abuse of this button will result in the suspension and/or
cancellation of your EA Account, preventing you from playing further online
games in NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 and/or other associated EA online
products.
Hosts will have an additional option called kick player, this will remove
the currently selected player from the game room.
In-Game Cheat Detection/Disqualifications
========================================
During Ranked Games the cheat detection will be operational and will monitor
race progress. Any attempts to tamper with car data, physics or Nitrous
will be detected by the server and those players will be flagged.
Players who are convicted of cheating or acting in a manner other than
racing will receive a disqualification at the end of the race, and or be removed
from the game during the race.

10. NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 features an advanced Post Race Results screen
where all results are validated by the server before becoming official.
Depending on server load when the game is played the results may take anywhere
from 5 seconds to a few minutes to properly authenticate and report the correct
race results. Once the results are final the heading of the race results will
change from Unofficial Race Results to Official Race Results.
If any players received a disqualification or disconnection during the race the
finish order and points won will be adjusted in this screen.
Players who receive too many disqualifications will have their name change color
in the game room screen. This will identify to other player that they have been
disqualified several times and players should be weary of allowing them in the
race.
The disqualification name colors are displayed as follows:
White - no significant disqualifications - Good player to race against.
Yellow - several disqualifications - for the most part this player does not get
disqualified.
Orange - This player has a numerous disqualifications and players should be
weary
about playing against them.
Red - This player has an enormous amount of disqualifications and we recommend
not
playing in the same game as them.
Purple - This player has reached the capacity of disqualifications and we
recommend
avoiding them completely.
EA Online will be monitoring players and server results on a regular basis,
should any significant cheats get detected we will take action accordingly and
ban
any person's accounts that are clearly trying to ruin the online experience for
others.
GENERAL ONLINE INFO
===================
Frame Rate: If your frame rate dips below 12 fps for 10 consecutive
frames or longer, you should receive the message “Frame Rate is
too low for a Ranked Game.“ Lowering your graphic detail settings may
help increase your frame rate so you can play in ranked games.
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6. LAN PLAY
************************************************************
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 contains LAN play, which is setup to emulate
the EA Online Lobby.
To Host a LAN Server (Like the EA Lobby) you need to Select LAN from the
Main Menu, next select Host LAN Server. You will be prompted for a LAN
Server Name, followed by your own personal Player Name.
Next you will be taken to the LAN Main Menu where you can access Select Car
Options, or the Lobby. When Hosting a LAN Server your computer will be the
primary host to any players that join your LAN Server. In essence, your
computer will be linking all other players that join your LAN server together,

11. allowing them to host games, and report back to your server when done.
If you turn off your computer or Exit LAN Mode while there are other players
connected to your server they will be disconnected from LAN mode upon returning
from Gameplay.
To Join a LAN game select LAN from the Main Menu, select the name of the LAN
server you wish to join. Next you will be asked to enter your player name.
Once in the LAN main menu you will be free to select/customize cars, enter the
lobby to join or create a game or adjust your options.
Depending on the speed and available memory on your computer,running a LAN
server may impact game performance. You can adjust the amount of time that
will be spent servicing LAN requests by editing the LAN_THROTTLE setting in
the server.cfg file in the game install directory. Changing the parameter
to a lower number may improve performance for some computers.
************************************************************
7. CONTROLLER INFORMATION
************************************************************
CONTROLLER CONFIGURATIONS
================================
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 can be played with many popular gamepads
and controller devices. If your device is not recognized, or if you'd
like to modify the configuration the game has pre-assigned to your
controller, enter Control Options from Options on the Main Menu.
The re-mapping tools in this menu are useful for tweaking your
controller for optimal play.
JOYSTICK PROBLEMS
=======================
To correct these problems, properly configure and calibrate the device
from the Windows Control Panel. If problems continue to persist,
disconnect the device from your computer before playing NEED FOR SPEED
UNDERGROUND 2 Ensure the latest manufacturer drivers are installed for
your device.
- The mouse pointer automatically scrolls through the buttons on menu
screens.
- Your car makes erratic movements that are not intended (i.e.
continually turning).
- Certain movements do not occur when the proper direction is pressed.
- Sluggish response on slower machines.
FORCE FEEDBACK SETTINGS
=============================
Force Feedback is not enabled on the Customize Controller screen of
the Options menu until proper, device-specific drivers are installed
for that controller. The default generic drivers provided by Windows
do not provide access to Force Feedback features.
KEYBOARD PROBLEMS
=======================
To adjust the feelingsensitivity of the steering in gameplay when
using the keyboard, enter the Keyboard option in the Windows Control
Panel (Start - Settings - Control Panel). By adjusting the Repeat

12. Delay and Repeat Rate the user can adjust the controls to feel more
analog or digital depending on their preference.
Some newer keyboards do not allow certain combinations of more than
two keys to be depressed simultaneously. For example, if you were
pressing both the up arrow key to accelerate and the left arrow key to
turn, and you pressed the <C> key to change your view, the view may not
change. Unfortunately, this problem is due to a limitation of the
hardware.
(C) 2004 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved.
END OF NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 README