NFSU2 Split Screen

Local split screen for 2-6 players in Need for Speed Underground 2 on PC.

Every race mode, Free Run across the whole city, full graphics in every view, and full native controller support: rumble, triggers, lightbars and pad speakers.

This is beta 0.13.0, so expect the odd bug; see Bugs and crashes.

Install

1. You need speed2.exe v1.2 and WidescreenFix (recommended) or at least the Ultimate ASI Loader.
2. Download the latest release and copy NFSU2SplitScreen.asi and NFSU2SplitScreen.ini into the game's scripts folder.

Controllers

Xbox, DualSense and DualShock 4 pads are all supported natively, over USB or Bluetooth. One player can use the keyboard.

Play

1. Main menu → Split-Screen (next to Quick Race).
2. Pick the race type, track, the number of Players, Cars (Pick Each, Pick One: player 1 picks for all, or Random cars of about the same performance), Opponents (AI) and their Difficulty. Free Run (the last mode) drops you in the city with no race; its Start row picks where: a city district, Random, or a closed venue (speedways, drift areas).
3. Each player presses START on their own pad and picks a car (with Pick One or Random, START is all it takes). On the keyboard, press Enter on your Press START screen. Back only undoes your own step.
4. After the race, Next Race (first on Post Race) opens the track select: pick a track (or Back for another race mode) and the race starts right away with the same players, cars (Random deals new ones) and options (laps, traffic, ...). Quit to Main Menu goes through the options and Press START again, to change players or cars.

Every player has their own controls page (Options → Controls) and their own player options. Pausing opens the options of whoever paused.

Handy buttons:

• Mute (DualSense), touchpad click (DualShock 4): moves your car's sound between your pad's speaker and the PC. With more than 2 Bluetooth DualSense players the speakers start off (too much for one adapter); Mute turns yours on.
• Y / Space on player 1's Press START: rematch with the same cars and controllers.
• Y / Space (or the Random button) on the track select: a random track (never the one just raced). On the mode select: a random race mode and track, and from then on Next Race rolls a new one by itself until you quit.
• START on a spare pad: take over a player whose controller turned off.

Features

Split screen

• 2 to 6 players in every race mode
• 2P top / bottom or left / right, quadrants, 3 + 2, 3 × 2
• Each player has their own view, HUD, gauges, minimap, camera, controls, options and last car
• Full graphics in every view: reflections, rain, headlights, blur, light streaks, overbright, anti-aliasing

Racing

• AI opponents with difficulty (up to 6 racers in all), catch-up between players, traffic around every player
• Cars: each player picks, everyone races player 1's car, or random cars of about the same performance (stock, My Cars and career cars); with the last two, joining is all it takes
• Next Race after every race (not Outrun): pick the next track or mode and race on, no menus or car picks in between; or a random series that rolls mode and track for every race
• Session points: after each race a standings screen sums every player's points (10 / 6 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 by place among the players) until you leave split screen or change the number of players
• Outrun for 2-6 players: the car in front leads, a car 300 m away from the leader is out, and each round starts the last round's order in reverse. With a time limit, the most time in the lead wins
• Free Run: drive the whole city together from the district or venue you pick
• Tuned headlight colours work, also in single player: the original PC game turns bright ones white

Controllers

• DualSense natively: rumble, player LEDs, RPM / nitrous lightbar, adaptive triggers
• DualShock 4 natively: rumble, lightbar in the player's colour with the start lights and podium colours
• Xbox One / Series impulse triggers, Forza Horizon style: they buzz with wheelspin and brake slip
• Each player's car sounds on their own pad's speaker, Bluetooth or USB (first-model DualShock 4: Bluetooth only)

Settings

NFSU2SplitScreen.ini explains every option (rumble and trigger strength, lightbar, gauges, ...). The ones you are most likely to change:

Setting	Default
VerticalSplit	0	2P views left / right (0: top / bottom)
PadSpeakers	1	car sounds on each player's DualSense or DualShock 4 speaker (0: all on the PC)
PadSpeakerGain	400	pad speaker volume (%)
RumbleStrength	100	rumble strength (%)
AdaptiveTriggers	1	DualSense and Xbox impulse trigger effects (also per player in the pause options)
GaugeScalePercent	60	gauge size

Troubleshooting

• The game's sound moved to a USB PlayStation pad: Windows may switch its default output when you plug one in. Switch it back in the Windows sound settings.
• PlayStation pad features are missing: native support turns off while DS4Windows exposes its virtual Xbox pad.

Bugs and crashes

Known bugs are in open issues. If you hit a new one, please open an issue: fill in the bug report template and attach scripts\NFSU2SplitScreen.log (set Debug = 1 in the ini to write it). After a crash, also attach scripts\NFSU2SplitScreen_crash.txt and the newest scripts\NFSU2SplitScreen_crash_*.dmp.

Mod compatibility

Mod	Status
WidescreenFix	recommended; works, its free camera per player included
underground2.net 1.0.3	works
NFSU2 Extra Options	works; keep ExperimentalSplitScreenFix = 0
NFSU2 Unlimiter	works
NFSU2 Upscaled HUD	works; the Split-Screen menu icon switches to a matching HD one
NFSU2 Detailed Map	works
XtendedInput	not recommended: replaces the same controller input code, and this mod already handles pads per player

Linux compatibility

Tested up to 4 players with GE-Proton through Lutris. Setup, pad support and optional Bluetooth tweaks are in docs/linux.md.

To do

• Pad speakers (DualSense and DualShock 4) with an adaptive bitrate, so 3-6 pads can stream at once over Bluetooth
• Replays of split-screen races
• Rear-view mirror in the bumper and hood cameras, like single player
• Maybe: everyone picking a car at once; press START to join at any time
• Free Run: game modes like a waypoint race (see Free Run ideas)

For developers

Build with Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools (C++, x86): run build.bat. docs/TECHNICAL.md explains how everything works, for anyone (or any AI agent) continuing the work; tools/ has the testing and reverse-engineering helpers.

Thanks

• ThirteenAG: the Ultimate ASI Loader and WidescreenFix, whose source showed how to give each player its free camera.
• NFSU2 Extra Options and NFSU2 Unlimiter: their public sources name many of the game functions this mod uses.
• DS5Dongle, KytyPS5, PadForge, SDL and Linux hid-playstation: DualSense and DualShock 4 report layouts, including the Bluetooth speaker.

Support

The mod is free. If you enjoy it, you can support it on Ko-fi ☕

License

MIT. Need for Speed Underground 2 is © Electronic Arts; this project contains no game code or data. third_party/opus is libopus 1.5.2 (BSD, see its COPYING), built into the plugin for the DualSense speaker.