Need for Speed: Most Wanted Tweak Guide

[Page 4] Patches and Mods



Patches


Need for Speed: Most Wanted has received its first patch, bringing it up to Version 1.3. The patch contains a range of bug fixes, and you can download it from the Need for Speed: Most Wanted sections of FileShack or FilePlanet among other places. I strongly suggest all NFSMW players apply this patch, however it doesn't appear to have any performance increases as such, it is mainly to fix a range of bugs and glitches in the game.


Note, if you use the 'imagecfg' dual core processor affinity fix (See Conclusion section), you may have to redo the fix each time you patch the game.



The 'Black Edition'


Just a note here that Need for Speed: Most Wanted comes in two versions which have minor differences. There's the regular edition which most people will buy, and a NFS:MW Black Edition. The additional features of the Black Edition are listed here, and include:


  • 2 extra vehicles - '67 Camaro and a BMW M3 GTR.
  • 8 customized cars - Supra, Lotus Elise, Porsche 911 GT2, Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, Corvette C6, Mercedes-Benz SL 500, Porsche 911 Carrera S, and Corvette C6.R.
  • An exclusive additional 'Black Edition' Pursuit Challenge.
  • 3 exclusive races.
  • Additional vinyls.
  • Bonus DVD with additional material like behind-the-scenes movies, vehicle showcases and car art galleries.


    • While the Black Edition is pretty cool for NFSMW fans, it's not any different to the normal NFSMW game in any way aside from the additional features listed above, so all the tweaks and tips in this guide apply equally to both editions, and both look and perform the same. In fact the Black Edition extra in-game features can all be unlocked in the regular edition using a special 'Black Edition Patch' - which for legal reasons I can't provide any more information on, sorry.



    Click to enlarge

    No-CD Patch


    Need for Speed: Most Wanted uses the SafeDisc copy protection system, which means that not only do you have to enter a CD Key to install the game and play it online, you also need to keep your game CD in the drive while playing. If you've read my other guides, you know how I feel about this, so I won't go on about it - it sucks plain and simple. While No-CDs for this game are not available, it is possible to play the game without a CD using a fixed image, however for legal reasons I will not provide any details of this here, nor by email, so don't ask me about this. Just play with the disc in the drive and hopefully EA will release a patch which removes the CD check in the near future.



    Mods


    Given the numerous mods for previous games in the Need for Speed series, NFS modders will quickly come out with a range of mods which can change various game parameters, and I will report on the major ones here as I find them. For example there is this NFS:MW Windowed Mode Mod, and this Mod which unlocks some cars in the demo. For the full version, you can use this NFSMW Camera Hack. For more great mods, check out the Utils Section of NFSUnlimited.net.


    Keep an eye on this section of the guide, as well as the main NFS fan sites, such as NFSCars, NFSUnlimited, and ND4SPDWorld for more mods and custom tweaks, as well as customized cars, cheats and other goodies.



    The next section goes into detail on Need for Speed: Most Wanted's In-Game Settings.