Star Wars Battlefront Tweak Guide

[Page 4] Patches, Maps & Mods



Official Patch


Star Wars Battlefront has only been out for a short while and already Lucasarts has released several patches for the game. The latest patch brings the game up to Version 1.3 and can be downloaded from the Lucasarts Battlefront Updates Site. The latest patch updates many aspects of the game, and adds several new features to improve the gameplay. The full list of changes can be seen at the site linked above. Note that the 1.3 patch does not contain all the changes from the previous patches - you must install the 1.2 Patch first before installing the 1.3 patch. Currently the 1.3 Patch is a beta release, however I recommend you install it as it improves online gameplay and helps reduce random game crashes.


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No-CD Patch


Star Wars Battlefront requires the Play Disc to be kept in the drive at all times. This is despite the fact that it already has a CD Key copy protection system. Long-time readers of TweakGuides.com would know that I believe the CD check for modern games is just plain silly and annoying, and should be removed by manufacturers. It only punishes legitimate users, since pirated versions already include a No-CD patch. While you can download a No-CD patch to remove this CD check, as with all my recent tweak guides I cannot include any information on where to find, or how to install No-CD patches for games. This is only due to legal concerns, and not any moral considerations on using such software.


I can only stress that if you wish to use a No-CD patch, be very careful where you source it from. Some of these patches and cracks are actually trojans, designed to steal your legitimate CD key. Keeping the CD in the drive while playing does not reduce your performance noticeably, so if in doubt don't install a suspicious No-CD patch. Ignore people who claim that using a No-CD doubled their performance and solved all their problems – this is simply not true. Hopefully Lucasarts will release a patch which has a built-in No-CD, much as Epic has done for UT2004 – this would be the classy thing to do in my opinion.


Maps and Mods


Just like Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam, Star Wars Battlefront is steadily receiving a range of user-made mods and maps to add to those the game comes with out of the box. EA Games realized that their BF1942/BF:V games thrive due to official and user-made maps and mods, so hopefully Lucasarts will do the same and support this game, since it has a great deal of potential.


Lucasarts have recently released an unofficial set of mod tools, which you can read about and download from Fileplanet or Star Wars Battlefront Files. The mod tools weigh in at over 400MB, and are unsupported by Lucasarts, but if you are keen you can use these tools to develop new maps and mods for Star Wars Battlefront.


You can also download the first major Battlefront Map Pack which has several user-made maps to add to your Star Wars Battlefront-playing pleasure.


Rest assured that as other official maps or mods, or major user-made additions to Star Wars Battlefront are released you will read about them right here almost immediately after their release. So far one additional official map - Jabba's Palace - has been provided in patches. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed for more goodies!



The next section of the guide covers all the In-Game Settings for Star Wars Battlefront.