UNITE Heat

TUTORIAL: https://projectunite.net/tutorial
FAQ: https://projectunite.net/faq

// UPDATE 3.5

- Changed AI names
- Racer AI balance updates
- Updated license plates and frames
- Updated texture formats to help with the memory budget
- New Morning/ Sunset skybox and updated VE
- Updated billboards thanks to Clxbsport
- Added missing tire configs to the RX7, R32, Trans am, 2016 GTI, and E92
- Camaro and Explorer cops now take damage
- Updated strings
- Updated single turbo sound
- Fixed custom RX-7 tails

UNITE BASIC STANCE
- This is the new basic stance mod for UNITE. The previous basic stance mod was based on the extreme stance mod we offer but this time it's been revamped from the ground up to work right from the start, online, and with the story. This mod works with all cars and you don't have to rebuy them to get the changes.

HANDLING OVERHAUL 3.0

- Improved AI : AI has seen some improved handling, they crash less frequently and takes corners better.
- Inertia changes : Inertia values are now taken from the cars actual dimensions, instead of numbers that ghost made up and used on every car in the game, this makes car feel more different from one another.
- Grip loss changes : Grip loss has seen some major improvements, the cars will loose their grip more progressively but an aggressive driving style can make your car easy to spin, this change will make use of greater throttle management skills.
- Suspension changes : Springs and dampeners have been readjusted depending on the cars weight and weight balance which helps in reducing instances where the car bottoms out.
- Price changes : Some upgrades are simply way too cheap when compared to the enormous advantage they give to your car, thus the prices have been adjusted appropriately.

// UPDATE 3.4.1

- Fixed the cop busting issue when you went back to the garage
- Fixed Subaru WRX hood lights from turning into brake lights thanks to NFSLYY
- Added the Revert To Default Damage mod to the OPTIONALS folder
- Added the Revert To Default Garage mod to the OPTIONALS folder

// UPDATE 3.4

NEW OPTION: ONLINE PATCH.
This option allows you to play UNITE fully optimized for the online experience. Put it under the main mod for it to work.
- Cop car health bars and icons have been reverted
- Default damage and wrap quality

CARS AND CUSTOMIZATION
- The Wrap Editor now allows for mirroring on all parts of the car, similar to what has been implemented in UNITE Payback.
- Lucas got a new stock of tirebombs and brake calipers available on all cars. This may affect some of your current builds, so it may be worth scanning through your garage.
- Fixed fonts for 4K wraps. Words shouldn't be too tiny anymore.
- Someone finally figured out how Eddie's kit is molded - it's now available to be equipped on your regular Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34). Does not work while playing online.
- New smaller wheel sizes if you really want that tire tread.
- Legend and Hero Edition cars can now be customized (except for paint and wrap - they do not like you touching that).
- License plates updated. You can now rep Lakeshore in the Palm City streets.
- Prestige Imports double-checked their stock of Nissan GT-R Nismos and McLaren P1 GTRs and they should no longer have missing brake calipers. This is a vanilla bug, surprisingly enough.
- Casa Rivera has contacted Red Bull and got them to fix a few issues with their special edition Nissan 370Z. I guess they were busy spending too much time and money for catering.

GAMEPLAY
- Racer AI tweaked for balance.
- The Palm City street racing scene has evolved so much, some racers had to go, with some new kids taking their place and their cars. You'll see some new names when racing.
- To improve performance and loading, several textures have been reverted. You probably won't spot it unless you're actually playing a game of Spot the Difference.
- Reverted the REP leveling table. This might change your actual REP level, so it may be worth going for a single night run to get that tweaked.

STORY MODE:
- Crashes have been fixed.
- Fixed some lighting issues in cutscenes.

POLICE
- Cop AI tweaked for balance.
- Protocols in PCPD have changed: They now take longer to bust you and Killswitches are lowered.
- Damage has been adjusted further. There still might be quirks here and there, but that's mostly down to how the game itself calculates damage.

SOUND
- Sounds of all Ultimate Forced Induction upgrades have been tweaked and updated.
- The McLaren F1 and Lamborghini Murcielago SV both got sound updates; now these pairs of V12s are screaming! (And the F1's begging you to not do an RB swap)

VISUALS AND UI
- Slight update to the main speedometer.
- New night skybox for that extra Florida night flair. The original skybox can be replaced back as an add-on.
- The skies have cleared and the sun's now shining - a new midday visual preset has been implemented.
- Visuals and lighting in the garage have been tweaked to help with performance.
- You sometimes see that NFS icon that indicates you've saved the game? That's swapped out for the short UNITE logo.
- Honda NSX-Rs have been thoroughly checked by Casa Rivera and they should be properly projecting their headlights at night.
- Several text strings have been fixed.
- Axed that floating lens flare that was particularly noticeable at night. It wasn't really a bug, in fact that is how cameras actually work; but it was a visual nuisance for most.
- The colored lights on the virtual warehouse (the area you see in the start, car select, and dealership screens) have been brought back, much to the approval of Palm City's local neon light makers.
- Removed rain from the midday and sunset presets. Wouldn't make much sense for an extremely sun-soaked area with minimal clouds to have rain pouring all over the place.
- Updated a few billboards, some advertisers' contracts have expired.

// UPDATE 3.3.1

- Reverted altered localization strings causing the game to crash for individuals using the game in other languages than English.
- Fixed the tachometer.
- Fixed the tachometer font when the car is critically damaged.
- Reverted default garage is now included in the Story Mode Compatible for convenience.

- Story Mode Compatible mod updated to 1.1:
- Fixed crashing during the story.

// UPDATE 3.3

NEW OPTIONS
DEFAULT GARAGE: Reverts the UNITE nighttime garage to the default daytime one seen in the base game. This is mainly to aid players with low-end systems, however if you prefer the default garage then you're free to use it as well.

STORY MODE COMPATIBILITY: No more fumbling with two UNITE versions - now you have a single file that reverts all the necessary files to make it compatible with Story Mode.

VISUALS
- Updated visuals across all time-of-day presets, with updated lens flares and particles. You'll definitely love this one
- Fixed tunnel lighting during daytime
- Nighttime race starts have received a visual overhaul, it will make you go "DAMN"
- Tweaked rain mist, it's subtle but makes a huge difference
- Imported new billboard sets, because capitalism
- Updated UNITE Mural in Downtown Palm City, we've had to say goodbye to some people
- Updated garage art

POLICE
- Fixed patrolling Crown Vics sometimes not having a driver. Elon Musk should be done testing Autopilot on older cars and got the data he needed
- Fixed cop wraps not properly showing online and a few typos in cop-related files
- Fixed parked cop cars sometimes being Corvettes, should now be the correct vehicles
- Fixed a bug where a spike strip could sometimes spawn at Heat Level 2 in Downtown Palm City
- Made some adjustments to avoid bloat of cops upon going from Heat Level 2 to 3, because Palm City taxpayers are complaining they're wasting too much money on this situation
- Heat Level escalation time should now be back to normal; this was caused by leftover files causing it to not be the intended result
- Lowered the speed threshold for getting Busted to avoid being caught too often when accelerating out of a pinch
- Cop count finally increased; in higher Heat Levels, cop cars will spawn at the proper amount rather than consistently respawning
- Fixed a spike strip that turned to a roadblock on a bridge in Downtown Palm City
- Removed damage from spike strips - you can finally say "Bono, my tires are gone" without suffering a night-ending penalty

STANCE
- Adjusted track width on stock cars, a lot of them had wheels sticking out the fender
- Cars should no longer raise their ride height when you start driving
- Adjusted camber on muscle cars
- Brought back fake suspension movement, but reduced it significantly
- Small changes for better compatibility with the Handling Overhaul

HANDLING OVERHAUL
- Smoother and more responsive steering.
- Smoother grip loss.
- Rebalanced all the cars to bring them to a more equal level.
- AWD and FWD cars behave more realistically.
- The police has been rebalanced to give the player a more fair experience.
- Rebalanced racer AI.
Added Performance Parts:
- New drift tire.
- Drag Kit (Passive Item): Sacrifices cornering ability for better top speed, increases engine power.

SOUND
- Reverted the sound of the Lamborghini Murcielago SV
- Adjusted volume of the Mazda RX-7 Spirit R and Nissan Skyline GT-R R34

MISCELLANEOUS
- Fixed character hands being broken inside vehicles, they should be properly holding the steering wheel
- Subtle changes to a few UI elements
- Updated opponent AI names. Some people couldn't take the heat of the Task Force
- Fixed Hero/Legend Edition license plates (apart from the M3 GTR; unfixable. But it's the M3 GTR so...)
- Imported brake discs from UNITE Payback
- Tweaked brake caliper logos so it doesn't look like it's floating off the caliper like Ferrari's F1 championship dreams
- Updated Nightriderz logo in the customization menu

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//UNITE Heat 3.2:
- Fix for crashing at the mission "Breaking the Law" (Story Mode Compatible)
- Added EcoBoost engine swap to the Ford Mustang GT (Mainline only)
- Fixed McLaren F1 Black Market Challenge rewards not unlocking
- Reordered the sorting of the Range Rover SVR in the dealership; it should be beside the Defender now
- Fixed the Nissan GT-R Nismo not having additional customization options
- Reduced default tire sizes of the following cars:
- BMW M3 E92
- Nissan 180SX Type X
- Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am
- Mazda RX-7
- Removed part restrictions that are on the Nissan 370Z bumpers
- Updated billboards
- Updated garage banners
- Updated mural

//UNITE Basic Extended Stance Add-on:
After seeing feedback regarding the stance add-on and its usage with some vehicle types (particularly SUVs and pickup trucks), 3.2 brings the Basic Stance Add-on. It is essentially identical how to what it was on 2.2 and prior, and while cars can't go as low and "hotboi" as you can with the Extreme Stance Add-on, you can have lifted trucks and equippable air suspension alongside your stanced cars with this version.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THIS IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR THE EXTREME STANCE ADD-ON; YOU'RE FREE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE TWO

//Handling Overhaul 1.3 (SIMCADE):
- Updated tires
- Improved Traction Control
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//UNITE Heat 3.1.1:
- Fixed sun flare issue in the afternoon VE
- Rhino evades should now work for the McLaren F1 Black Market Challenge
- Story Mode Compatible should now be working properly with no crashes on the mission Follow the Law
- Cop handling tweaked and updated
- Reduced backup spams at Heat Level 5

//Handling Overhaul 1.2
- Embedded AI Fix to the handling overhaul, a separate fbmod for it is no longer needed.
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//UNITE Heat 3.1:
- Polished lens flares, so they're more visible, re-adding/fixing cop light's flares
- Fixed invisible backfires that only light up the car but no texture is shown, and done some slight changes so blue flames appear sometimes now
- Changed the ultimate twin turbo spool sound, so it has a better volume (and fits the bov better)
- Changed light sets so lights can light up the area in front of the car a little better
- Re-aligned lights in some cars; F40, 350Z, RX7
- Fixed a vanilla bug where the F40 on the stock front should show 4 flares, but the flares for the pop-ups didn't show as they had the same ID as the other set of lights.
- Added flares to car's tail lights to aid visibility
- Applied police chase/Rhino fix
- Kakimoto rear fender should now appear for the NSX-R
- Debadged rear bumper should now appear for the RX-7
- The Aventador SVJ Roadster stock wing should now not have an animation
- Fixed Porsche 911 Carrera GTS trunk options
- Fixed fog in tunnels in the afternoon VE
- Fixed Pista front splitter
- Fixed HP not showing in customization UI
- Fixed M3 GTR, and Rachel's 350z stance.
- Changed the name of one height slider to just Body Roll
- Changed customization rating in mainline (from the dealership) from a bunch of cars we added more parts to
- Changed some billboards
- Updated mural

//UNITE Extended Stance Add-on
- Successfully revamped the way rake works, so that xcarmultiplier can be finally nuked without sacrificing the rake itself. Thanks to Ipityi and Rattler for this solution
- Completely removed all fender restrictions, which were still restricted in the first release.

//Handling Overhaul 1.1
- Updated tire physics.
- Updated aero configs.

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VISUALS
After the new Frosty update dropped, extensive modifications to the visuals were done, as well as allow us to do things we were not able to do so before. The main garage has been given an update and street lights are now able to cast dynamic shadows, which is evident when you go at night.

The following changes have also been done to the 3 daytime presets:

Overcast: A lot more moody and dramatic with distant fog and dark skies to resemble an incoming storm.
Midday: Now considered as afternoon, this comes with decreased saturation and long range shadows which helps hide some of the game's unfixable draw distance issues.
Sunset: The purple-induced lighting has been toned down and given a more natural look with warm colors, alongside a new skybox that enhances the visuals by a significant amount.

As with all Unite versions, the horrendous film grain and sharpening effects have been removed.

SOUND
On the sound side of things, a few unnecessary sound imports were reverted, as well as a few new ones for several cars using high-quality samples from GRID, Forza Horizon, and Need for Speed: Edge.

Sound mixing has also been tweaked to avoid artifacting on older samples taken from Black Box era Need for Speed games and uneven audio levels between using cars with vanilla and modded samples.

We highly recommend NOT messing with the tone exhaust tuning slider to ensure the best sound experience.

TUNING AND CUSTOMIZATION
Visual customization has been tweaked to include even more hidden parts on certain cars, as well as address a few issues that were present in 2.2. The stance mod is also now a separate mod thanks to the compatibility with the Frosty Mod Manager. It introduces better fitment on all cars in the game, so you can now scrape your car all you want.

Engine swaps have been extensively reworked and engines that only fit, make sense, or have otherwise been done in real life will be applied to the car (except for pre-existing engine swaps). Most cars also now have a brand-new engine option highly requested by the community: the Toyota 2JZ-GTE.

PURSUIT
The pursuit system has been completely reworked from the ground up and introduces better police mechanics and balancing. Police better adapt to your car level, as well as tweaks to roadblock and spike strip formation and placement. While lower heat levels may deceive you for being somewhat easier than it is in the base game, higher heat levels still crank up the heat and will give you one hell of a challenge - always be careful which car and setup you're going out in!

Check out this video for a showcase of these new cops:
https://youtu.be/Y380s7hVEFQ

HANDLING
James and Simon have pulled through again with an amazing handling overhaul. It provides a new challenge and experience to the game by replacing the standard grip, drift, and off-roading handling models completely, replacing them with more a more "simcade" feel akin to Forza Horizon and Need for Speed: ProStreet. You will also find new options in the Live Tuning menu to better fine tune your setup.

If you have played NFS 2015 with the handling overhaul before you will surely recognize again the way driving feels now. Throttle control, braking zones, drift angles, and general real-world racing mechanics all matter now.

STORY MODE
As with previous versions of Unite, a Story Mode compatible version has been created so you can be able to reexperience hustling by day and risking it all at night, taking down Lt. Mercer and the High Speed Task Force's shady operations. Vehicle unlocks have also been tweaked to better make sense with the car type; you're now no longer unlocking a Mazda RX-7 at REP level 4 and a Volkswagen Beetle at REP level 22.

However, expect this version to have several cars have some additional customization options taken out, as well as incompatibility with the stance mod due to the crashes in certain cutscenes.

MISCELLANEOUS AND QOL
A few quality of life updates have been given to the game to enhance the overall experience. Almost all vehicles have been renamed to give a better description on generations, chassis codes, and variants (particularly with classic cars), and extensive research has also been done to give awareness that a few parts available for some cars are directly ripped off of real-world parts (and to give concept artist Khyzyl Saleem better representation on his work)

Codes for Nightriderz NFS World server have also been scattered around the map. They bring different rewards to your account. See if you can find them all!

Comments

Dom (August 18, 2021 @ 02:12)

Is there a standalone version without the new cops? and when using either Unite or Unite story, the mission "Mountain maneuvers" Will crash the game. Other than that this has been an amazing mod!

andreymd87 (August 17, 2021 @ 12:42)

i have known about this mod since version 3 released and i can say that this is really cool mod. this is how the heat should be. it's like an oficial remaster. everything works just perfect with my licensed copy of game. thank you for keeping nfs games afloat.