I don't understand what the purpose of switching from "hard copy" to Origin was. Once the "hard copy" of Undercover is installed (and activated), the media is no longer needed. It's similar to a digital download. As you pointed out, the "hard copy" with patch 1.0.1.18 includes the challenge series along with the 3 bonus cars you can win from the challenge series. Some have reported limitations with vinyls with version 1.0.1.18, but for most players, this isn't an issue, and having the challenge series and 3 bonus cars is more important. Is it possible for EA to switch you back to the "hard copy" version?
As for the graphics slow down, for the original "hard copy" version, there was a registry setting (use regedit) that would fix some lag / bluish screen issues: Run regedit, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ EA Games \ Need for Speed Undercover \ and change g_PerformanceLevel dword value from 00000000 to 00000002. This may help with the Origin version of the game.
Yes, I can swap back to the hard copy, Origin said I can switch between the 2 anytime I wanted. The reason I wanted it as a digital copy, was to be able to have it on the cloud, and be able to install it on any machine that had my Origin account logged into. Undercover was notorious for having limitations on the license and how many times u can install the game (especially in cases where say u wipe a PC and want to reinstall), and u would have to call them, get the license prolonged, etc. etc... I didn't want to have to deal w/ that. I will try the registry "hack" that you pointed out, see if it improves the situation. I get 60FPS every now and then, but most of the time it's just uncontrollable stutters and it's really annoying, especially knowing that my hardware well surpasses the recommended specs of the game (back then, the recommended specs were I think a GTX260, and I have a GTX960SSC, so that's waaaay more than needed).
What annoys me the most is that Origin themselves don't know either what I'm talking about, or what the situation is. I called in and talked to a support representative, and they didn't know what to do either. I'm gonna phone in and talk to a "specialist" see if they're more bright in the mind. They all keep saying that I have the latest patch. That's not true, I have patch 1.0.1.0, and the latest patch is 1.0.1.18.
I have tried a few things. I talked w/ a specialist, and was able to install the patch via a 3rd party website (just had to drop the patch exe in the game folder and run it there). The patch has not fixed the issues. I have tried setting CPU affinity (yes, I've seen the game is only using one core at 100%, other cores are hovering below 20%, might just be background apps). That did not fix the stuttering. I tried forcing Vsync on or off, that did not fox it. I tried running the game in compatability mode for windows 7 and xp sp3, that did not work (along with admin rights). I tried the registry "hack", that did not work. The only thing that HAS worked so far is actually lowering some of the graphics settings. Which leads to a point the specialist said. It's possible the current drivers do not enable the GPU to know what to do with the game (as the game is an older title). My assumption for a best solution right now would probably be to play with the Nvidia driver settings using nvInspector, and finding some settings that would allow the game to run at max graphics. The support specialist sent further everything we have done so far, waiting on further replies to see if anyone comes up with either an Nvidia Profile for the game, or some other solutions.
The registry "hack" was mentioned at the old EA forums web site (and other NFS fan forums), and based on what I recall, that "hack" came from EA support. It was a quick fix until patch 1.0.1.17 was released, which fixed some of the graphics slowdown issues.
What happens if you go back to the hard copy version with 1.0.1.18 patch installed? Does that fix the frame rate issue?
Note - assuming you've got 1.0.1.18 installed, then just after initiating a new career, you can do the challenge series which unlocks the 3 tier 1 cars (Battle Machine Mazda RX7, Dominator Corvette Z06, Speed Machine Porsche 911 GT2,) and add those cars to your career garage (for free) and use them from the start of the career mode events.
