About
Need for Speed: Underground 2 is the eighth entry in the Need for Speed series and the direct sequel to Underground. It traded the first game's menu-based events for a free-roaming open world, the night-time city of Bayview, and dramatically expanded the tuner-culture car customization that defined the era. Critically well received and still regarded by many as one of the best games in the series, it is no longer sold digitally after being delisted by EA. The full single-player career remains playable offline; only the online multiplayer servers are gone.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- speed2.exe
- Needs files
- none beyond the binary
Proton
- Version
- GE-Proton
- Winetricks
- —
- ProtonDB
- ProtonDB Silver runs with minor issues
⚙ Setup notes
Game: 2004 EA Black Box racer (delisted — bring your own copy).
Binary: Launch speed2.exe from the install dir (note the 2 — the original Underground uses speed.exe, this sequel does not).
Proton: Use GE-Proton (GE-Proton11-1 or newer; Wine-GE 8-26 is also confirmed working by community guides).
Disc check: The retail/disc release ships with SafeDisc, which does not run on modern Windows or under Proton. The ThirteenAG Widescreen Fix includes a No Optical Drive option that lets the game start without the disc present — install that fix (below) and the disc check is satisfied.
Display: Runs great on Deck — holds a locked 60/90 fps with no frame drops, settings can be maxed.
Controller: The game has NO native pad support. Either (a) install the ImproveGamepadSupport mod (native XInput; DualSense/DualShock should use Steam's controller support as an XInput wrapper) — note this mod has been reported to crash the game in some setups — or (b) just bind a Steam Input layout — the SteamDeckHQ Layout is available under the Community Layouts tab in SteamOS controller settings, which is the most reliable option.
Fix: Recommended fixes: ThirteenAG Widescreen Fix (extract its contents — dinput8.dll + the scripts folder — directly into the same folder as speed2.exe, then edit scripts/NFSUnderground2.WidescreenFix.ini for resolution), plus ExOpts Extra Options, HD Reflections, and the Unlimiter.
The one thing to know
Supply your own copy: Delisted EA title — configuration only, no links. Never sold on Steam (no appid).
Binary: Launch speed2.exe (not speed.exe — that's the first Underground).
Disc check: Retail/disc copies use SafeDisc, which fails on modern systems and under Proton. ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix has a built-in "No Optical Drive" option that satisfies the check.
Controller: No native controller support — use the SteamDeckHQ Community Layout in Steam Input (most reliable) OR the ImproveGamepadSupport XInput mod (can crash in some setups). DualSense/DualShock owners need Steam's controller support acting as an XInput wrapper.
Display: Apply ThirteenAG Widescreen Fix + Extra Options for a modern display.
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options, Proton version)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.