This FAQ is for the PC version, but I imagine most of it will apply to
the PS2 version.
At the time of writing, the Game Boy version isn't out yet, but I bet
it'll be a rather different affair.
None of this FAQ is copyright. You can do anything you like to it.
I don't like these little girls who cry about people reusing bits of
their text files for games they didn't write. I'll only be posting
this to www.gamefaqs.com but feel free to post it anywhere you like.
If you want to contribute or ask stupid questions, send me and email
on kodabar@hotmail.com and put "NFS Underground FAQ" in the subject
or something so I don't bin it or hate you.
First install the vinyl that you want and then highlight the vinyl
slot with the mouse, but DON'T click on it. Now, move the mouse
down below and across to the bit marked "Vinyl colour". Click on
this and you can choose the colour. This is a bit odd as the rest
of the interface is intuitive and can be operated with the
keyboard. Be careful that you don't highlight the wrong vinyl slot.
b. Can I edit the cars?
No. Not yet. With all the other Need For Speed games, people took
a good look at the car format and created editing tools. And I'm
quite sure that some nice people will do the same with this. But
I would imagine that the various car parts would cause some
problems with this. You might like to look at a site like
http://www.nfscars.net/
c. What version of DirectX do I need?
Version 9, which is on the install discs. You need a DirectX 9
compatible soundcard and video card. The game is very well
written in this respect and works out what each card is capable
of pretty well.
d. The graphics are a little blocky. What can I do?
Select "Options" from the first menu and follow the choices for
video cards into the advanced section. The game defaults to safe
detail levels and you can ramp it up on pretty much any machine.
You might like to install the latest drivers for your cards, but
this might not be possible. Personally, I do a lot of video
editing on my system and have a very fragile graphics setup. If
I update my drivers then the game doesn't run.
e. Is there a way to play it without the disc in the drive?
These things annoy the hell out of me. I bought the blimmin'
thing, so why should I have to fish the disc out every time I
want to play it? Visit http://www.gamecopyworld.com/ for a
solution.
This is not a piracy issue. If I wanted to copy the game, I'd
use a nice CD burning package like Nero Burning ROM or similar
to make an exact duplicate of the disc, warts and all. Gah!
f. That crash camera is pretty annoying. Can I turn it off?
or That crash camera is great, can I make it come on more?
In the options, click on "Camera" and adjust the slider,
making it more or less sensitive. It annoys the hell out of me
when I'm trying to jump down humped sections and avoid traffic.
You can get some training in here. Or just go for a quick spin.
As you progress through the Underground section, you'll unlock
more tracks for Quick Races.
Underground mode is the main part of the game. You'll get to take part
in various different races and unlock and gain parts for your car. You
also unlock tracks for the Quick Race mode.
At some points in Underground mode, you'll have a choice of races.
But you don't really. It doesn't matter which one you choose as you'll
have to play all of them anyway.
There are quite a few cars to choose from once you start unlocking
them. However, there aren't that many in Underground mode. And it's
not too obvious which ones to choose. As you add parts, their
performance will change considerably.
Quick runthrough.
I bought the Dodge Neon at the start. It's quite fast, but the
acceleration is a bit duff. However, it's easy to drive. Once I'd
got all the first engine upgrades, I switched to the Mazda MX-5
which barely cost anything to trade up to. It's faster, with
better acceleration, but the handling is a bit tricky. When you
accelerate off the line, it skids around like a... uh, well it
slides about a bit. Very easy to use in drift races. Then later
on, once I had all the second engine stuff, I bought a Ford Focus.
It doesn't accelerate as well as the Mazda at this level, but it's
easier to drive and it has a higher top speed. Then I switched to
an Acura NSX for maximum speed. I was at about race 66 by now and
I changed back to a Mazda MX-5 for the better acceleration. And
I only had that until I won a Nissan Skyline in race 79. Higher
acceleration and higher top speed with the same handling. Yeah.
To make this table compatible with Gamefaqs submission guildines,
I've had to split it over two sections. Sorry.
You may have some difficulty viewing this without fixed width
(mono-spaced) fonts and things like Word wrap switched off. Sorry.
I noticed when I got about halfway through and tried to reverse
upgrade the cars that I can't remove a couple of "invisible"
special parts. So a couple of figures are off by one point or so.
But the vast majority are accurate. Oh and obviously some of the
cars aren't available at earlier upgrade levels, even although
I've been able to put in figures for them.
Legend:
A-Acceleration, S-Top Speed, H-Handling, X-Unmodified
a (as in 2a) stands for the first set of upgrades (Engine/Exhaust,
Drivetrain, Tires)
b stands for all of a plus the second set of upgrades (ECU, Turbo,
Brakes)
c stands for all of a and b plus the third set of upgrades (Weight
Reduction, Suspension, Nitrous)
The various parts are what makes all the difference. They're split
into two sections: visual and performance.
Visual parts add to your reputation which multiplies the number of
style points you get. And not all of them do. See the section on
reputation to see which parts benefit your rep.
Performance parts add power to your car and don't alter your
reputation in any way. Performance parts become available as you
win races. The thing is that you'll just add them all as soon as
you can, so I don't know why the game even bothers to offer you
the choice to do so.
Now, I have to refer to the performance parts in other sections
of this FAQ and I've got a system to stop me having to repeat
myself endlessly. It's in this kind of format:
1 - level one upgrades
2 - level two
3 - level three
a - engine/exhaust, drivetrain, tires
b - a + chip, turbo, brakes
c - a + b + weight reduction, nitrous, suspension
So, for example, 2c refers to level two upgrades of everything.
Oh, there is a special category of parts that the game labels "U".
These are bits that you win in certain races like TJ's Time Trial.
You can't buy these bits.
One complaint that some people have is that the tracks aren't
exactly varied. They just seem to be made up of standard building
blocks (except Drag and Drift).
Now, this is perhaps a good idea, as when you get onto later races
with insanely fast cars, you'd never be able to make it through the
various sections if you didn't know them already.
Drift racing is a bit odd. For starters, it's not a race. It really
doesn't matter how long it takes you to get to the line. What you want
to do is take corners sideways. If you hit a wall at any point, you
lose your current points. You don't get your points until a drift
ends.
So what is important?
Speed. Do not underestimate speed. The faster you go, the more points
you get. You can take a corner side on and only get 2,000 points. But
if you go round it in the same way with a bit more speed, you can get
8,000 or more. If you go too slow, you don't score at all.
Angle. You want to be as sideways as possible. There is an angle
indicator on the HUD, but you'll never have time to look at it.
Closeness. Get close to the inside wall and you'll probably drift
through a binus zone, picking up even more points. Of course, there's
quite a chance of hitting the wall and losing points.
Chaining. Link one drift to another by swinging about between turns.
Again, you're increasing your chance of hitting a wall.
The first drift track is a square with four corners. You'll be able
to just power round it, skidding all the time. The next track has more
corners, giving more drift opportunities. The later tracks actually
get harder and you really have to look for the right corners to use.
You can use the handbrake to help you start a drift. Use it and then
steer hard into a corner, letting go of the handbrake as soon as you
start to slide.
Pump the accelerator to force the back end out.
Practice. Use the Quick Race mode to practice your drifting. You'll
soon get the hang of starting a corner early, so you drift round
sideways, just inches from the wall.
1,000 points is Good Drift
3,000 points is Great Drift!
7,000 points is Superb!
15,000 points is Collosal!
20,000 points is Outrageous!
And gaining these will give you style points. A lot of style points.
As I mentioned somewhere else, to buld style points quickly, just
repeat a few drift races. You'll soon reach the maximum.
My personal best for a drift is 33,000 and something and I'm quite
sure I can do better.
You also get style points for managing a complete lap without
smacking yourself off the wall.
You can't use your nitrous in a drift race. Shame.
At the sides of every track is a stripy line. Get two or more
wheels onto or beyond these for extra points.
If you're using repeated drift racing to up your style points,
then you'll notice that there are style points bonuses for
each of the good, great, superb, etc drifts. You'll probably
find you can get a Superb (7,000 drift points) quite easily
from two or three corners (or one if you're good). There's a
bit of a gap to Collosal (15,000 drift points), so you're
usually better off going for a superb and then just getting
a great on the next corner. You'll get more style points than
if you just gained 10,000 drift points for the set.
The loading screen for drift races sometimes suggests you should
watch the videos to pick up tips. These are rather well hidden.
Select Quickrace and notice when you highlight Drift that it says
something about a drift tutorial and there's a T beside it. Click
on the T with the mouse to play a terrible video that tells you
almost nothing.
Oh yes. I love the drag racing. First up, there's a bit of a change
of controls. You need to use the gear changing controls (A and Z) on
the PC. And suddenly, the directions don't change direction. They
just change lanes.
On the start line, you can sit and rev your engine. Notice on the
rev counter that there is a point where the needle turns green. This
is the ideal rev point when the countdown hits zero. I haven't found
a magic formula that will get you there every time. You can either
lay off the accelerator until the last second and then floor it so
it reaches the green at zero point. Or you can feather the throttle,
trying to hold the revs around that point. I find the first method
to be better.
As you tear away from the line, chances are that your wheels will
spin and send the revs through the roof. You might think this is a
good time to change gear, but it isn't. You want to wait until the
wheels have traction and the rev counter shows real revs.
Okay. You're racing away from the line and the revs are real and
building. As you get up to the red end of the rev counter, the
needle will turn green. This is the time to change gear. If you
get it right, you'll get a "Perfect Shift". If you're close, you'll
get a "Good Shift", too high and it's "Over Rev" and too low and
it's "Short Shift". Don't miss.
If you do over- or under-rev the engine, once you're in the next
gear, your revs will be low, leaving you further down the track.
If you wait for the needle to turn green you will almost always
over-rev. So the best technique is to wait for the needle to just
touch the red section and then shift. Nine times out of ten, you'll
get a "Perfect Shift".
Just for extra fun, there is traffic on the road. And there are
obstacles. And there are side roads. You'll be too busy watching
the rev counter to see these half the time. Be very careful with
side roads; just because you've pressed the button to change lane,
it doesn't mean you'll make it. Sometimes you really need to hold
down the direction key to make sure you go where you want.
Tips:
Nudge and push the other cars. If you can't beat them, hurt them.
Use your nitrous. But save it for fifth gear. Otherwise you'll
tend to redline a gear and fail to gain any advantage and you'll
over-rev. The other cars will use nitro if they have it.
Watch out for traffic.
Get a good start. Practice your start line takeoff.
Sometimes the other cars are just plain faster. Get in front and
keep looking behind you so you can move to block them.
Watch out for jumps. They are great fun and sometimes you really
have to take them just to jump some obstacle like a train. But
if you're not the first one there, the train might already be
triggered and you'll just pile into the side of it.
*Later on you'll be able to upgrade to a six speed gearbox. And
you'll forget you have it. But you'll need to remember that
you've got six gears in a drag race.
*You can blow your engine. It's pretty hard to do, but I have
managed it a few times. Don't over-rev too much.
I particularly enjoy the massive amounts of camera shake at higher
speeds. It does make it kind of hard to see though.
Access the "tutorial" video in the same way as the drift one.
These are races from one point to another. Or in effect, like a
single lap race. Sometimes you're on your own against the clock
and sometimes you're racing other cars.
There's really nothing much to be said about these.
Save your nitrous for near the end where you might need it.
Tournament races are just collections (usually 3) of normal races.
You get 8 points for winning a race. So in the normal three race
tournaments, there is a maximum of 24 points to be had.
The thing to note is that it isn't necessary to win all the races
in a tournament. For instance, you could manage two first and a
second. That'll still win, guaranteed. You shouldn't necessarily
restart a race just because you didn't win it. In fact, you could
get a little tactical and cause the winner of the last race to
crash so he comes last and doesn't get the points to threaten you.
These are three lap races with the added sting of the last man
across the line after each lap is eliminated. So you've got to
stay up near the front. Now, you're probably aiming to be first
across the line on each lap of a race anyway, so this won't really
affect you.
Dr Pepper is the oldest carbonated soft drink in the world, being
invented by Charles Alderton in 1885. Coca-cola wasn't created until
1886 by John Pemberton. 7-Up, originally known as Bib-Label
Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda", was first sold in 1929. Pepsi was created
in 1898.
It is not made using prune juice. There is some arguement as to what
actually is in it. The Dr Pepper company claimed in the 1960's that:
"Its unique flavor results from the blending of pure fruit flavors
(gathered from throughout the world) with mystic spices, from
far-off Madagascar, and clean, clear distilled sparkling water."
Nowadays they say that the flavour is a blend of 23 fruits none
of which are prunes.
I have seen a claim (detailed in the alt.fan.dr-pepper FAQ that
says it is made from vanillin, extract of almond, denatured rum,
oil of orange and lactic acid.
After 9/11 (orr 11/9 as I would have it), Dr Pepper foolishly
overestimated the intelligence of Americans and issued a can with
a picture of the Statue of Liberty on it and the quotation
"One nation... indivisible". Certain yankees (the kind that send
money to TV preachers no doubt) noticed that they hadn't printed
"under God" in the middle and started calling TV stations.
They failed to realise that this abbreviation of the Pledge of
Allegiance missed out an awful lot of other words. And they
showed their ignorance as the Pledge was written in 1892 and it
wasn't until 1954 that Congress added the "under God" bit to show
that the Yoo-nighted Staytes was better than the irrilegious
communists.
Style points are picked up in a number of ways and they unlock
things like decals, vinyls and bonus cars.
a. Powerslide. Somewhat like drifting. It's just a case of sliding
the car round a corner. You end up doing it by accident when you
smash of a wall or two.
b. Head start. If you get half a car length on the others at the
start line, you'll get 100 style points.
c. Near miss. Just get very close to some traffic and you'll get
100 points. And if you manage to keep doing it, you'll get double,
triple, etc. If you hit traffic, then you lose your multiplier and
have to start at 100 again. I'm not sure if you get the bonus when
jumping over traffic.
d. Hang time. If you're in the air for long enough, you start
getting hang time points until you land or hit something in mid-air.
e. Lead lap. If the race involves multiple laps, you get 100 points
for being in the lead when you finish a lap. If you manage to be
in the lead on the next lap, you'll get double and so on. As usual,
the multiplier resets if you're not in the lead at the finish of a
lap. In a six lap race, this can really add up.
f. Shortcut. Take a shortcut and you get 100 points. But only the
first time you take it.
g. Winning. You get 500 points for a win.
h. Drift races. There are lots of extra opportunities in drift
races to get extra style points: chaining drifts (ie managing to
slide from one corner into the next in one continuous drift),
bonus zones (areas of corners that you get points for drifting
through), long drifts (there are points for good, great, superb,
outrageous, etc drifts).
i. Drafting. Get in behind another racer and you'll not only pick
up extra speed, you'll get a style bonus that counts up for as
long as you stay close behind them.
j. Anonymous bonus. Roar off the start line with nitrous blazing
and you get 150 points for it, but no name pops up on the screen.
k. Clean Section. 50 points. There are regular time splits during
each race. Just get from one to another without hitting anything
(although street signs, etc are okay to hit). The usual
multiplying thing applies to successive bonuses.
You have a style bar, which you'll see at the end of a race. When
you get enough points to fill the bar, you get a bonus item like
a vinyl or something. As you progress, it takes more style points
to fill the bar. Once you get to 3 million points, the bar no
longer fills up.
Even if you lose a race, so long as you complete it, you still
get your style points.
As your reputation grows, you can multiply your style points.
When you have two reputation stars, you get double the style
points and so on.
Style points earned in Quick races do count.
The easiest way to get style points is to do drift races. Play it
to win the first time. Then hit "Restart" at the menu and you can
play it again and again just for style points. You should be able
to pick up at least 10 thousand points per race; much more than an
ordinary race.
You start with 10 thousand. Buying that first car will take most of
that and the few upgrades you can afford will take the rest.
When you win a race, you earn more cash. Each race comes in three
flavours: easy, medium and hard. Each one is worth a different
amount of money. The best option is to try to win the hard race. If
you can't manage it, exit the race and go back in, choosing the next
difficulty down. You really ought to be able to win most of the
early races on hard, or at least medium. Tournaments pay big bucks
if you win, much more than the individual races they're composed of
would.
Pretty soon, you'll have plenty of money and then you never have to
worry about it again.
You start off as a loser with no reputation at all. As you add parts
to your car, you gain stars (up to 5). These stars are multiplied
with your style points.
The odd thing is that because the reputation stars act as a style
points multiplier, they don't matter until you have at least two.
So you start off with zero and your multiplier is one. Then you
work your way up to one and the multiplier is still one. And then
you work your way up to two stars, but until you've actually got
them, your multiplier is still one. Odd.
You gain reputation points by adding visual parts. Things that
count include front bumpers, side strips, hoods, etc. But certain
visual parts like decals and vinyl don't count.
When you are about to buy a part, select it, but don't buy it and
it'll flash up the reputation points that you would get if you did
buy it. You have to watch out with custom parts that you've won (they
have a "U" in the corner on the parts screens), as they are always
worth more to your reputation than the parts you can buy.
As you get the chance to buy better parts, so your reputation will
increase. It might mean that you have to buy parts you don't like
the look of, but you'll soon have to swap them for better ones
anyway.
a. Don't hit the walls. Sounds kind of obvious, but hitting the walls
loses a lot of speed. It sure doesn't look like it, but it does.
It's much better to slow down before a corner and take it properly.
Accelerate out of the corner. Some corners have things sticking out
which you can slide into when you hit the wall and these will stop
you dead.
b. Always brake when going straight. If you're turning when you hit
the brakes, the wheels will lock and start to slide, pushing you
towards the outside of the corner. If you brake whilst going in a
straight line, then at the very worst, you'll keep going forwards
in a straight line.
c. If you do hit the side, get your finger off the accelerator. If
you leave the gas down, then chances are the car will leap to the
other side of the road and hit the opposite wall.
d. Don't use the handbrake. It's just not necessary outside of the
drift races.
e. Not all shortcuts are shortcuts. You might want to pick up the
100 style points for taking one, but you only get the points the
first time that you do. The underground railway shortcut on later
tracks is the worst. It slows you right down, due to the amount
of debris, or trying to plow through the water. Try out the
shortcuts by all means, but don't smash yourself off the walls to
get into one, just to discover that it's not all that short.
f. Hitting the traffic isn't always the worst thing that can happen
to you. It's sometimes just not possible to avoid some truck that
you couldn't see, but a lot of the time, you are left facing in
the right direction. And the camera usually cuts to the slow 3rd,
uh... person view letting you steer the car through the accident
maybe.
g. Hit your opponents. If someone is coming up alongside you, at
the very least push him into the wall and he'll slow down. Once
you get better, you'll be able to nudge him into obstacles.
h. Opponents screw up. Sometimes you'll think you're too far behind
to win. But there's always a good chance that the computer cars
will screw up at some point.
