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Need for Speed: Underground (PC, 2003) online again: the Server Changer lets the game connect
to any community server instead of the long-gone EA server - no hex editing of the .exe.
It has two parts:
| Part | What it does | Needed? |
|---|---|---|
Plugin (scripts\NFSUServerChanger.asi) |
Makes the game use the server from NFSUServerChanger.ini. Also: a separate saved login per server, hole punching for races, a fix for the Wine crash on Linux and the EA Trax renamer. |
Yes |
Launcher (NFSUServerChanger.exe) |
Lists the online servers, sets the one you click and starts the game. Installs and updates the plugin. Windows and Linux. | Optional |
Most players use kickStart, the community's full NFSU launcher: it records your hot laps and submits them, and has a GUI for all settings. It installs the plugin with one click. If you have it, you don't need this launcher.
The Server Changer launcher is a small, open source alternative for those who only want to pick a server and start the game - and above all the successor of the old LAN tool, see below.
The plugin and the launcher are a complete replacement for nfsuclient ("NFS:U LAN Client configurator"):
| nfsuclient | Server Changer | |
|---|---|---|
| How the game finds the server | Writes 127.0.0.1 ps2nfs04.ea.com into the Windows hosts file and forwards the game's lobby connection through itself (local port 10900) |
The plugin gives the game the server's address directly |
| Admin rights | Needed to write the hosts file |
Not needed |
| While playing | Has to stay open (it forwards the connection) | Nothing runs in the background, the launcher can be closed |
| Afterwards | The hosts entry is only removed when you untick "Use server" or close it normally |
Nothing to clean up |
| EA Nation servers | Its status query waits for an answer these servers never send, so they never show as online and can't be used | Detected and listed |
| Races without port forwarding | - | Hole Punching |
| Linux | - | Native launcher, see Linux |
| Your own servers | servers.dat |
Same file, same format: taken over as they are |
Switching: untick "Use server" in nfsuclient and close it, so it removes its hosts entry.
Then install the plugin and the launcher (Installation). Your own servers come along: if nfsuclient was in
the game folder, the launcher shows them right away; otherwise copy its servers.dat into the game folder.
NFSU v1.4, North American, European or Russian (SoftClub) release. Other versions are refused with a message at game start.
Questions or problems? Ask in #nfs-underground on the Retro Racing Point Discord - the developer and many players who use the Server Changer are there. See also Troubleshooting.
NFSU Server Changer