It's been nearly twenty years since the original release of Need for Speed Underground 2. Despite the decades, the arcade racing game made by EA Black Box (eventually renamed Quicklime Games and shut down in 2013) still has a special place in the hearts of Need for Speed fans.
Need for Speed Underground 2 is widely considered one of the best entries in the whole franchise, having built upon Underground to further refine most elements, from the driving to the longevity and the excellent car customization. Additionally, it was the first NFS to add an open world design, allowing players to roam freely around the fictional city of Bayview (after they unlocked the various areas by winning specific races).
Playing the original version of Need for Speed Underground 2 in 2023 might be considered tantamount to retrogaming. However, with the NVIDIA RTX Remix software, user UncleBurrito has shown the game can still look good.
NVIDIA RTX Remix allows modders to remaster classic PC games made with DX8/DX9 and fixed function rendering pipelines. It works by intercepting the game's original draw calls, converting x86 to x64 and DX8/9 to Vulkan, capturing a scene in USD format, and adding cutting edge technologies like path tracing, RTX Direct Illumination, DLSS 2/3, Reflex, and more.
NVIDIA recently released the runtime as open source software. It's not the full creator toolkit yet, which will enable modders to upscale the original assets with AI technology, among other features. Still, the results are fairly impressive, as you can see from the comparison below between the modded Need for Speed Underground 2 and the original game. The much more accurate lighting alone makes a significant difference.
Need for Speed Underground 2 is just one of several RTX Remix projects the modding community is attempting. Others include The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Max Payne, and Freedom Fighters, just to name a few.
They're all still in the early stages of dealing with various bugs and problems. It'll take time before a relatively polished remaster comes out, but we'll be here monitoring their progress.
