Re: Please host official Undercover patch 1.0.1.18

>The patch is broken as the vinyls are all mixed up and there are pursuits breakers missing which look like they are there.

For the original 2008 version of NFS Undercover with patch 1.0.1.18, I don't recall an issue with the vinyls, but I don't use them. I'm only aware of one non-functional pursuit breaker located near the south / central part of Palm Harbor. I do recall that almost all the players I knew back in 2009 were using patch 1.0.1.18 once it was released. I don't recall any complaints.

Well they are and can't change stripes in the GT 500 KR,Vinyls are important if you are trying to keep your heat level down.I never patch mine and works fine.

You seemed to have missed the part about "1.0.1.18 adds the challenge series which in turn unlocks 3 special cars: Battle Machine RX7, Speed Machine 911, Dominator Z06". 1.0.1.17 works, but doesn't include the challenge series or the bonus cars you can win.

It doesb't include those cars you are think about the Boss cars Bundle and yes it unlocks that for those.The game plays better unpatched.What it needs is a whole new patch that fixes a lot of issues and balances the cars out and maybe add a few more car like Toby Marshalls 69 Torino.I have got UC installed unpatched..I have dominated it 4 times now.

Here is a link to a description of the Challenge Series and the 3 cars you can unlock from doing the series, which is included as a free update with patch 1.0.1.18:

Need for Speed Undercover - Challenge Series Expansion

This is for the PC DVD version of the game. I did a web search at the common online stores and there are still a few of the PC DVD versions available for less than $10 (USA).

This is different than the boss car bundle, which is for the PS3 and XBOX 360 (I don't know if there is a PC version).

Need for Speed Undercover - Boss Car Bundle

Apparently there is some issue with the steam version of Undercover and the patches meant for the PC DVD version, and it is difficult to find the steam version updates, assuming they ever existed.

I have PC DVD version with patch 1.0.1.18, I am not having any issues with vinyls. Some of the cars vinyls are "stock graphics", which can not be changed, but can be deleted, and then you can add / edit / delete vinyls. I am aware of only one pursuit breaker issue: during a pursuit, the mini-map shows a pursuit breaker at a spot where there is no pursuit breaker, just a "road work" sign and some plastic delineator posts, but nothing else there. This is in south Palm Harbor, a bit east of the tier 3 car shop, where one cobble stone road goes over another. There is a cooldown spot there. My guess is that there should be something like a stack of pipes behind the road work sign and inside the plastic posts, but there's nothing there.

Go and try to change the vinyls in the 08 Shelby GT 500KR as well as some Mustang GT vinyls.Why do you need those cars anyway as the Porches and Mazada are over powered compared to American cars which are under powered especially the the Mustang GT and Gt500.UC needs a new patch which deals with a lot of balance issues.The pursuit break around the court house is important.This game was just to rushed out the door with all the money that went in it to get all those celebrities in it .

> try to change the vinyls in the 08 Shelby GT 500KR

As mentioned in my prior post, the GT 500KR vinyls are part of a "stock graphics" package and can't be changed. You need to delete the "stock package" and then add the vinyls back. I think the chicane vinyls include the stripes which you can move, resize, and color to match the "stock graphics" vinyls. 

> Porches and Mazda are over powered compared to American cars ... balance  issues.

Most racing games have dominant cars overall and/or dominant cars for each class / tier. Which cars are chosen to be dominant don't reflect reality, such as choosing the Toyota Corolla to be the dominant race car in Underground 2. 

For UC, the dominant tier 4 car is the Elise. For tier 3 - Nissan GTR, closely followed by Audi TT, Dodge Challenger, Lotus Elise, and Mazda RX7. The Challenger has more power but less handling, so unless you know the tracks (you need to brake sooner), it's more difficult to drive, but I recall players using the Challenger online in multi-player races. For tier 2 - Lamborghini Gallardo or Porsche GT2. For tier 1 - CCX if you have collector's edition,  otherwise the Zonda. The McLaren F1 is the easiest tier 1 car to drive if using an analog controller, since the steering is so sensitive in the tier 1 cars. For tier 2 and 1, the downforce is a key issue, as many of the cars go airborne over bumps, causing them to crash in turns. Using nitrous unrealistically increases downforce, so it's often used in turns, but it's not enough to keep most of the faster tier 1 cars from going airborne. From the Challenger Series, the Dominator Z06 has great acceleration and top speed, but it's lack of downforce makes it useless for racing.

> The pursuit break around the court house is important.

If that's the one I mentioned in Palm Harbor, it's the only one I'm aware of, and someone at EA just forgot to put the pipes there. Once you know it's not there, it's not that much of an issue as there are other pursuit breakers in the area, and the more difficult pursuits in career mode are in Sunset Hills and Port Crescent. If just trying to evade with the helicopter present, I use the highway that goes through Palm Harbor, use speed breaker and u-turn just before the bridge to lose the helicopter, then head west and take the pair of jumps to the isolated bit of road.

Then you get rid of the Gt 500 stripes

There is no Mazda that can beat an American Performance car and Porches are over powered  a Mustang Gt can kick Porches rear  as it has more torque.It is is one of the most under powered cars in the game.I know how much NFS feels about American cars as they don't know a thing about them unless you live in the US or Canada.Marc really didn't know much about  American or racing for that matter..\

This is why a lot of people use trainers to fix balance issues and my dominate will always be American and the Camaro is good at T1.I never really cared for the tier system doesn't work well.

> how much NFS feels about American cars as they don't know a thing about them unless you live in the US or Canada.

Undercover was made by EA Black Box, based in Canada. They're aware of the relative performance of the cars, but choose to ignore the relative performance of real world cars when deciding how to "tune" the cars in the NFS games. Carbon did have the Z06 as the fastest career car, with the non-career  Audi Lemans (like an R8) being faster at a few tracks. At the extreme, for Underground 2, the Corolla, a starter car, is the dominant race car.

> Marc really didn't know much about  American or racing for that matter

Marc did have a racing background, and was a driver in the Toyota Atlantic series (similar to Indy Lights):

In my opinion, the development team chose which cars to make dominant and not Marc. Marc probably played more of a consultant role in how to tune the cars to handle in the manner that the team wanted. The worst case was NFS World, which kept changing performance and game aspects in order to keep players spending real money on a series of ever dominant cars and gambling (card packs) with real money in an effort to get performance parts.