How do I unlock the hidden/secret vehicles?

There are two vehicles which cannot be unlocked just by playing the game:

• Core Drone "Intimidator"

• Knight Cycle

However, if you do some jiggering with the game files, you can enable them both for use in the game, and have them show up in the list of vehicles.

If you'd like to do this yourself, read the next section. If you'd like me to do it for you (and provide thumbnail images for the menu in-game), skip to the third section.

DIY

If you have access to a text editor (and who doesn't), you can manually edit the VehicleData.xml file in your Nitronic Rush install directory to enable each vehicle.

For Windows users, this file should be located inside the folder at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Digipen\Nitronic Rush\VehicleData

Inside the file, you should see a bunch of sections that look like this:

<Vehicle name="Interceptor" >
   <String name="unlocked_description" >A Top of the Line Antivirus Car</String>
   <String name="locked_description" >How did you lock this car?</String>

   <String name="object_file" >Car</String>
   <String name="unlocked_img_file" >Interceptor.png</String>
   <String name="locked_img_file" >Interceptor.png</String>

   <Boolean name="unlocked" value="1" />
</Vehicle>

There should be six similar sections, one for each vehicle

• Interceptor
• Avenger
• Goldenceptor
• Commander
• Intimidator
• Knight Cycle

To unlock an individual vehicle, all you need to do is make sure that the value of "unlocked" for that vehicle's entry is "1". Should look like this:

<Boolean name="unlocked" value="1" />

If you don't want to unlock some of them (maybe you want to unlock the first three bonus cars properly through the game), just leave their values at "0".

DIFM (do it for me)

If you do some Googling, you should be able to find someone offering the modified files, but I've taken it on myself to make a better set which also features in-game vehicle descriptions and thumbnail images.

My unlock files can be downloaded as a .zip directory Right Here.

To use these files, all you need to do is move the files from each folder into the SAME (by name) folder in your Nitronic Rush installation directory. You will have to overwrite the VehicleData.xml, and it has some strange permissions, so you might do well to delete your original one before adding the new one.

Do back it up first, just in case.

NOTE: Using these files will unlock ALL of the vehicles, including the Goldenceptor. If you want to unlock that one properly, use the methods outlined in the DIY section to re-lock it after switching files.

Notes

• The Knight Cycle doesn't appear to work for everyone. Some people have reported the vehicle as being invisible with only its wings visible. There is no known fix for this, and nobody knows why it works for some people and not others.

• When the Knight Cycle is going through the startup animation at the start of play, it will appear like the "Avenger" van. It should change to the bike once the animation is finished though.