January 2019 - last edited January 2019
Assuming your system has a dvd reader (probably reader/writer), and if you are not running Windows 10, I recommend buying the original EA DVD version of Undercover, which is less than $10 at online stores like Amazon, but new copies will be getting scarce soon. With the EA DVD version, the graphical lag issue was fixed with patch 1.0.1.17 or better still patch 1.0.1.18 which also adds the challenge series which includes 3 special tier 1 cars you can use. It appears that EA shutdown their ftp and http sites that had the patches, so you'll need to do a web search to find and download patch 1.0.1.18.
January 2019
I have the exact same issue when running the game.
Ive bought it yesterday on origin and at the first launch it was lagging as hell, even at the lowest settings at 640x480 with everything set to low.
I then set everything to their highest settings with vsync on and ran the game again, it was less lagging, but still I felt a kinda stutter every 2 seconds.
I guess there's something to do with the elusive frame timing ( https://medium.com/@alen.ladavac/the-elusive-frame-timing-168f899aec92 )
But what I find really annoying, is that the game are rendering the user interface at the native aspect ratio of my large (16:10) screen while I have chosen the 1280x1024 (4:3) resolution.
Because I have that lovely 4:3 button on my screen I can squeeze older games at their proper ratio.
So there might be some settings somewhere hidden in the game folder that I can change for the proper aspect ratio of everything including the HUD.
Some google answers for the stuttering said it is because of windows 7 that are not compatible, and shall run on win xp.
I have an old core 2 duo with gefore 9800gt lying in the garage that I might give it a spin very soon to see if the windows theory it is a myth.
My computer are i7-6700k with gtx 980ti, so it should'nt be a problem running it.
Ill keep ya updated
January 2019
1280x1024 is 5:4 aspect ratio. 1280x960 is 4:3 aspect ratio, one of the ones I use with my CRT monitor. 4:3 ratios available on my system: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 1792x1344, 1920x1440, 2048x1536.
January 2019 - last edited February 2019
From what I've gathered, this issue has to do with how SecuROM DRM works on Windows 10 because:
A) micro-stuttering does not happen on Windows 7 and XP
B) micro-stuttering does not happen on Steam version which does not have SecuROM
So I guess your options are either buy the game on Steam or use a crack on DVD/Origin version.
January 2019
not true, I have bought the game on both platforms...
Steam has the exact same issue.
except that fraps shows 60 fps on Origin all the time
and steam shows the exact fps
but it doesn't matter
January 2019
Now that's strange, I've tried DVD, Origin and Steam versions and the former two have stuttering while the last one works smoothly.
January 2019 - last edited January 2019
Perhaps it's because I'm still running Undercover on Windows XP, with the original EA DVD version, patch 1.0.1.18, I'm not getting lag, except in some rare cases when I'm recording a video using fraps. In this video, you can see the blue screen lag at 42 seconds into the video. I go a bit slower on the second lap to avoid this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJfVaU3OPK8
In this video, I run the Audi R8 speed test vehicle up to 453 mph, no lag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sQAayKZcQ
In this video, although the game gets slightly behind in rendering track side objects , there is no lag:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPP-Mh0e_5g
January 2019
could you share your PC specifications? and also your game, where are you playing it?
one more thing is to mention the update you're running too
January 2019
I forgot to mention, I have an old monitor and I'm running at 1600x1200 or 1280x960. For the old youtube videos I made, I ran at 1280x720. As mentioned earlier, I'm running the EA DVD version with patch 1.0.1.18 installed. Either patch 1.0.1.17 or patch 1.0.1.18 are supposed to fix the lag issues, but they only work for the EA DVD version. Patch 1.0.1.18 also adds the challenge series where you can win 3 special tier 1 cars, and use them at the start of career mode if you want.
My system is older - CPU: Intel 3770K 3.5 ghz. Motherboard: Intel DP67BG. Video card: Geforce 780ti enthusiast. Sound card: Creative Fatal1ty X-Fi. Everything is old enough to run Windows XP and new enough to run Windows 10. It's a quad boot system, Win XP Pro (32 bit), Win XP X64 Pro, Win 7 Pro 64 bit, Win 10 Pro 64 bit. I run the older games from Windows XP, and newer games from Windows 7. I rarely use Windows 10.
June 2019
But I run it through origin and it lags so much