Need for Speed Undercover - Windows XP launch issue

Is there a reason you don't want patch 1.0.1.18 installed? I assume you have the original EA DVD version of the game. The DVD is only used during install. I don't recall if there is a one time online authentication, but I can run the original EA DVD version of Undercover with patch 1.0.1.18 on Windows XP while disconnected from the internet. Patch 1.0.1.18 fixes the lag issue and also adds the challenge series, which includes 3 special tier 1 cars you could use for career mode. Back in the days when Undercover was popular (and before there were Origin or Steam versions), most players were using patch 1.0.1.18.

1.0.1.17 patch made some changes to the game difficulty. I would like to compare the experience between the two versions.

I bought the original EA DVD version Undercover at the time it was released. I'm pretty sure I did career mode with the original version, maybe patch 1.0.1.17, and definitely redid career with patch 1.0.1.18. I don't recall much of a change in difficulty for the career mode events, but early on, players had figured out which cars were the best, and that may have helped. Patch 1.0.1.18 added the challenge series, and some of those events, like highway battle, require retrying the event until by sheer luck, the AI cars mess up in order to win the event. In the first year or so after release, there were a lot of online players, but now when I go online, I see little activity on the leaderboards, and most of what I do see are players doing career mode events while logged in as opposed to players doing multi-player events. Regarding patch 1.0.1.18 and the challenge series, after doing the career intro pursuit with the 370Z, you can then do the challenge series to win the three special edition tier 1 cars, which can then be used at the start of career mode (starting against tier 4 cars), making it much easier, as least for the first half or so of career mode. 

I made a walk through for undercover's career mode:

http://rcgldr.net/nfsuc/nfsucwt.txt

also a list of all the jobs and events:

http://rcgldr.net/nfsuc/nucevent.txt

The game was apparently very easy at launch and, based on what I've read on forums, patch 1.0.1.17 made it significantly more difficult. Here are the patch notes:

v1.0.1.18:

This patch introduces the new Challenge Mode. Compete in 60 new unique events spread across ten game modes including favourites such as Sprint, Outrun, Circuit and some new game modes including Highway Wars and Highway Checkpoint.

Challenge Mode includes the chance to win and race three new Reward Cars particularly the Battle Machine from Pro Street. These Reward Cars can be used online or offline so are great for showing just how good you are at Undercover.

v1.0.1.17:

This update features a series of performance optimizations to address frame rate inconsistencies and enhancements to the adaptive difficulty logic to accelerate the difficulty curve for the expert players.

>v1.0.1.17: - This update features a series of performance optimizations to address frame rate inconsistencies and enhancements to the adaptive difficulty logic to accelerate the difficulty curve for the expert players.

The frame rate stuff fixed the lag issues. I'm not sure about the adaptive difficulty. Apparently this changed the AI to adjust quicker to the players pace, but if they get ahead, they still usually slow down, allowing the player to win. Some events are more difficult than others, such as the Master Events, for example, Pine Creek and Douglas. For the circuit and sprint type events, this doesn't affect dominating the event, since that is based on the players time regardless of how close the AI are. Some events like highway battle are a matter of luck, depending on how soon the AI car gets stuck somewhere. 

> v1.0.1.18: -  This patch introduces the new Challenge Mode. Compete in 60 new unique events spread across ten game modes including favorites such as Sprint, Outrun, Circuit and some new game modes including Highway Wars and Highway Checkpoint. Challenge Mode includes the chance to win and race three new Reward Cars particularly the Battle Machine from Pro Street. These Reward Cars can be used online or offline so are great for showing just how good you are at Undercover.

The fastest car of the 3 reward cars  is the Dominator Z06, but like most of the tier 1 cars, it doesn't have enough downforce, and it's hard to turn when a car is airborne. Still as I mentioned before, you can do the challenge series just after doing the career mode prologue pursuit, so that you start career mode with any of the 3 tier 1 reward cars against tier 4 cars. The reward cars are not competitive for tier 1, but against the lower tier career events, they're more than fast enough.  Due to downforce, the Zonda is the fastest, followed by the McLaren F1 which is easier to drive. The fastest car is the CCX, but I think a save editor is needed to get it in career mode. The CCX is what players used for online tier 1 race events.

> digital (gamepad) versus analog controller (joystick or wheel)

There is also an issue with digital versus analog controllers. With an analog controller, any off track contact slows down a car and reduces control inputs for a second or so, and also reduces the zone multiplier. Contact with other cars doesn't cause this, so it's better to ram cars than hit a wall. With a digital controller, off track contact will reduce the zone multiplier, but it does not slow down a car, and in some cases, causes a car to accelerate faster. With a digital controller, using the handbrake to drift a cars also causes it to recover like it is using nitrous. Link to example video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5e2nEMmsaw