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Attempting to mod Hot Pursuit 2 Original Xbox

This is a discussion for the topic Attempting to mod Hot Pursuit 2 Original Xbox on the board General NFS.

Author Topic: Attempting to mod Hot Pursuit 2 Original Xbox  (Read 4540 times)

5 Replies on Attempting to mod Hot Pursuit 2 Original Xbox
on: Jan 29, 2017, 8:26 PM
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Posts: 4 Joined: January 29, 2017

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Hello everybody. So I am new around here, but I am a long time fan of the series. My favorite game is High Stakes, and I am really starting to fall in love with Hot Pursuit 2 since it seems to be the last game using the same engine from High Stakes, just updated significantly.

Anyways, I am wanting to try to mod the Xbox version, as I see a lot of potential for the game to be modded. I peaked around in the files and they appear to be pretty similar to the PC version. Even contains good old .ini files.

I tried to swap cars out for some downloaded here, but the game crashes when selecting the car in the menu. I am really determined to get new cars and track added at least. I was really hoping some people here could help me figure this out. I guess some of them are pretty high poly from here. And then there is the question of is it really even the same format as the PC models, but I tried to look for lower poly cars so as not to crash the engine. Also could anybody suggest any low poly models that could fit great with it?

Even if I can't get car mods working, I would at least like to see about adding extra tracks to it, or just simply patching the game to the same version as the PC. :)

My Xbox is soft modded, so it doesn't have the CPU or Ram upgrade mods, and isn't chipped.

Thanks.

Reply #1
on: Jan 30, 2017, 3:09 AM
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Posts: 502 Joined: April 19, 2006

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    Dark Paladin
It's not the same engine. I think Motor City Online was the last game to use the High Stakes engine. Reason being that the files are completely different... Cars for example use bones to create damage, and the physics files are completely different as well. The game also does not play nearly the same as High Stakes.

Porsche Unleashed was another game that did not use the engine from High Stakes. The physics of Porsche Unleashed on the PC came from the PSX version of High Stakes.

You cannot add tracks to Hot Pursuit 2, even on the PC.

I don't remember anyone who tried doing what you're trying to do and I suspect you won't get far with just replacing files. Xbox files are always a little different from their PC counterparts. People were able to convert the NFS Shift DLC files from the Xbox 360 to the PC, but that required unpacking and decompressing them because they use formats specific to the Xbox 360. If I could hazard a guess, I'd say the situation with the OG Xbox is the same and, since this was never attempted (and probably never will be since, let's be honest, HP2 was the worst game in the series and you're trying to mod it in a 15-years-old platform), it's probably better to leave it aside where it belongs. Even High Stakes on PC barely gets enough interest as it is, only being relevant due to the Modern Patch, and that was a huge game back in the day.

You could try asking on ZenHAX but don't expect quick replies. Perhaps there's a reverse engineer interested in the task, those guys do it for fun. :)
« Last Edit: Jan 30, 2017, 3:11 AM by Zpectre »

Reply #2
on: Jan 31, 2017, 7:16 PM
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Posts: 4 Joined: January 29, 2017

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Ah ok, thanks for all the detailed info. I guess I incorrectly guessed it to be the same engine or similar to High Stakes since it was very similar in the style of the game, the handling physics and the style of the tracks and graphics. Although HP2 was a newer looking engine.

I might add I have been able to do simple traffic car swaps, so you can drive them in the game at least, but the only 1 I got to sit at the right ride height is by swapping the tcoup with the z8 BMW.

Also removed instrumental versions of the music and made the vocal versions play during races, even if some of the songs suck.

Reply #3
on: Feb 02, 2017, 4:50 AM
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Posts: 246 Joined: September 20, 2009

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You cannot add tracks to Hot Pursuit 2, even on the PC.

Another reason why I'll not play this on PC then, Among there only being allowed 7 lights to mod on the vehicles,vehicles being insanely hard to steer, and also me not having the toools to mod that game. I didn't know you can't add tracks to it though..Thanks for the info.  ;)
NFS HighStakes is the best

Reply #4
on: Feb 02, 2017, 4:07 PM
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Posts: 502 Joined: April 19, 2006

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    Dark Paladin
Ah ok, thanks for all the detailed info. I guess I incorrectly guessed it to be the same engine or similar to High Stakes since it was very similar in the style of the game, the handling physics and the style of the tracks and graphics. Although HP2 was a newer looking engine.

I might add I have been able to do simple traffic car swaps, so you can drive them in the game at least, but the only 1 I got to sit at the right ride height is by swapping the tcoup with the z8 BMW.

Also removed instrumental versions of the music and made the vocal versions play during races, even if some of the songs suck.

HP2 is a contrived game. The Xbox version is, I believe, the same as the PC version. Despite the Xbox itself being similar to a PC in architecture, it's possible the files are in different formats and have some sort of encryption in them, which would be different from the PC version. The PS2 version, however, is a completely different game! It's said to be the best, because it has the best physics and more features.

This was not the first time EA favored Sony, since the physics engine of the PSX release of High Stakes is superior to the engine in the PC version, and was indeed the engine used in the PC version of Porsche Unleashed. Well, at least PC players got the better Porsche Unleashed version.

You're able to create replacements like you did because you're replacing the game's files with its own. If you try to replace a car with an addon car made for the PC version, it most probably won't work.

Another reason why I'll not play this on PC then, Among there only being allowed 7 lights to mod on the vehicles,vehicles being insanely hard to steer, and also me not having the toools to mod that game. I didn't know you can't add tracks to it though..Thanks for the info.  ;)

IMO it's not even worth wasting your time... This was the first NFS I quit playing midway through because I was bored to death.

Reply #5
on: Feb 02, 2017, 4:22 PM
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    Die-hard classic NFS Fan
and another poop putting his penny in: I believe HP2 was fun since all driving and also AI behaviour was all editable since put into .ini files that was cool .. ^-^

what as being a car maker/editor was annoying was having those switching file formats and to import/export to this and that again then reimport export again well .. some necessary routine but worked fine in the end ..

You could also define shining/metallic effects by alpha channel what in NFS4 is just transparency .. even the light dummies or 'bones' where definable by RGB values not just red blue white yellow orange .. ok that's history .. I think if there had been a track editor to really make own tracks HP2 had survived even as long as NFS4 did up to now ^-^
« Last Edit: Feb 03, 2017, 2:20 PM by FranknFurter »

 


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