EA GAMES(tm) presents

NEED FOR SPEED(tm) UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO

README

NOTE: Content of Web Links within this document may not be under the
control of Electronic Arts.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1. MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

2. BASIC KEYBOARD CONTROLS
3. TROUBLESHOOTING
4. ONLINE
5. CONTROLLER INFORMATION

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1. MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

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Thank you for playing the NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO.

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
900 MB of HD space
8X CD-ROM

For Online play a Network card is required for broadband connectivity

This game requires DirectX 9.0c

If this is a Demo Disc you can find DirectX 9.0c in the follwing folder:
DirectX\DXSETUP.EXE

Alternatively it is also available for download by going to:

www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/

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2. BASIC KEYBOARD CONTROLS

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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 n/a
Nitrous Left Alt Right Alt
Camera C n/a
Look Back B n/a
Enter Race / Shop Enter F1
World Map M F2
Read SMS Tab F3
Reset Car R Home
Hydraulics Pressure H + Direction n/a
Hydraulics Bounce J + Direction n/a
Pause Esc P

Menu Controls

Highlight Menu Items Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows

Cycle Choices / Move sliders Up, Down, Left and Right Arrows
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. TROUBLESHOOTING

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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
While Direct3D supports a wider variety of 3D accelerator devices, the
behavior of NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO cannot be predicted in
these situations. In extreme cases, running NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2
PC DEMO with a Direct3D device that is not officially supported can lead
to an unstable PC environment.

Under Direct3D, the performance of NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO

(in both graphics AND audio) is influenced greatly by the Direct3D driver
versions that are installed. It is highly recommended that the latest
versions of all video card and sound card drivers be obtained and
installed. Please consult your hardware manufacturer for their newest
drivers. Also, keep in mind that video chip manufacturers sometimes
provide drivers in addition to the card manufacturer.

SOUND CARD SUPPORT

==================

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO 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.

GENERAL SOUND CARD INFORMATION

*During DirectX installation, the DirectX setup program attempts
to install a DirectSound supported driver for your sound card.
If your sound card driver does not support DirectSound, the DirectX
setup program attempts to replace your existing sound card driver.
*Please consult your sound card manufacturer for updated drivers
if DirectSound drivers are not available with the included
DirectX files from Microsoft.

DEFAULT GRAPHICS SETTINGS

==============================
The first time NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND
check is performed and default levels are
settings. These default levels are set to
experience possible based on the hardware
2 PC DEMO is run, a system
set for the various graphics
provide the best game play
detected in your system.

These settings can be adjusted in the Display menu of the Options.

Resolution: Use the arrows to increase or decrease the game

resolution. Increasing the games resolution may slow down system
performance.

Level of Detail: Use the arrows beside the Level of Details bar to
increase or decrease global graphics setting. Increasing the Details
setting to high will improve the games 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 display menu takes you to

the Customize Display Settings menu. The following individual settings
are available to tweak to change the games 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

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.

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 Splatter: 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.
INSTALLING TO THE CORRECT FOLDER
======================================
When installing NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO for the first time,
please make sure that you have selected/created and highlighted the exact
directory folder you want to install to. Different versions of Windows
default to new folders in slightly different ways so please
double-check that you have specified the intended location.

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.

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 PC DEMO.

ATI Cards: All supported ATI cards were tested using Catalyst driver
version 4.9. It is highly recommended this driver or a more recent
version be used when running NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO.

Note: Should the game have problems launching the game, double click
the SafeMode.bat Icon located in the Need for Speed install Directory.
This will launch NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO with minimum
display settings.

AUDIO & SOUND PROBLEMS

======================

INSTALLED SOUND CARD, BUT THERE IS NO SOUND

*Make sure your speakers or headphones are plugged into the
appropriate jack and the volume control is turned up. If this does
not solve the problem make sure your sound card is installed
correctly.

BACKGROUND PROGRAMS
===================
Avoid running other programs in the background.

Programs starting up automatically can cause NEED FOR SPEED

UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO 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 PC DEMO. 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 PC DEMO 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 PC DEMO 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.

POWER MANAGEMENT SUSPEND/SLEEP MODES

============================================
Systems (i.e. laptops or other portables) that automatically power
down into "sleep" or "suspended" modes can cause NEED FOR SPEED
UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO 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 PC DEMO.

ALT+TAB FUNCTIONALITY
=========================
ALT+TAB will switch out of NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO,
but the game does not automatically pause. If you are going to do this,
pause manually before swapping windows.

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4. 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 connections bandwidth,
causing lag or other undesirable effects.

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO 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 PC DEMO 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 wont 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.

Main Online Menu

================

Options available in the Main Online Menu are:

Lobby: Create/Join games in the Online Lobby.

Select Car: Select the car you wish to use for Online Races.

Options: Change gameplay settings.

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.

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 players 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 players/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 PC DEMO 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.

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5. CONTROLLER INFORMATION

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CONTROLLER CONFIGURATIONS
================================
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO 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
=======================
Any joystick supported by Windows will work with NEED FOR SPEED
UNDERGROUND 2.
However, if the device is not properly configured in Windows, then
erratic behavior may occur. Such symptoms include, but are not
limited to:

- 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.

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 PC DEMO Ensure the latest manufacturer drivers are
installed for your device.

KEYBOARD PROBLEMS
=======================
To adjust the feeling\sensitivity 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
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, view may not
change. Unfortunately, this problem is due to a limitation of the
hardware.

Legal Notice Information

=============================
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE WHICH ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT WILL ELECTRONIC ARTS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM POSSESSION,
USE, OR MALFUNCTION OF THIS ELECTRONIC ARTS SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS AS TO HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS
AND/OR EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE
ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND/OR EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS
WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH
VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

ELECTRONIC ARTS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS IN THIS FILE AND TO THE
SOFTWARE AT ANY TIMEAND WITHOUT NOTICE.

THIS FILE AND THE SOFTWARE HEREWITH IS COPYRIGHTED. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. NO
PART OF THIS FILE OR THE SOFTWARE MAY BE COPIED, REPRODUCED, TRANSLATED, OR
REDUCED TO ANY ELECTRONIC MEDIUM OR MACHINEREADABLE FORM WITHOUT THE PRIOR
WRITTEN CONSENT OF ELECTRONIC ARTS, 2000 HILLSWOOD DRIVE, KT16 0EU, ATTN:
CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

(C) 2004 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved.

END OF NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 PC DEMO README