World Racing 2: Champions edition is the Steam release of World Racing 2.
It does not feature the many licenced cars from World Racing 2.
This is unfortunate, as World Racing 2 also features some unique German car manufacturers.
This guide shows how to bring back the original content to WR2:CE

The guide is WORK IN PROGRESS and not much more than a draw right now!! Will get back writing later.

THIS GUIDE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE GUIDE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE GUIDE.

THE AUTHORS OF THE GUIDE ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE OWNERS OF "WORLD RACING 2" AND "WORLD RACING 2: CHAMPION EDITION".

A legal and genuine retail copy of World Racing 2
A legal copy of World Racing 2: Champion Edition
A capable plain-text editor to make yourself familiar with files
A real-time hex editor with human-readable output to edit files

Time and patience.

The retail version of WR2 ships with StarForce DRM.
Please note that certain versions of StarForce DRM are known to break disc drives and even operating systems.

Install the game but DO NOT START IT YET!

Get the 1.4.3. patch from a trustworthy source.

Apply the patch.

Optional: Get the official add-ons from a trustworthy source and install them.

Linux users will have to convert the music files to a compatible format.

You might as well enjoy the game from here, but you have to live without the comfort of Steam's features such as cloud saves, automatic workshop updates, playtime tracking and achievements.

Paste the "Autos" of the OG version into CE's root directory.

Go to the OG 3DFelgen directory and rename the files according to their CE counterparts.
Paste the OG 3DFelgen directory with the now renamed files into CE's root directory.
Alternatively, just paste the OG 3DFelgen directory into CE's AddOns directory without any renaming (OG rims have to be manually selected)

Liveries: WIP

Quick and dirty method:

• Replace CE WR2.ds with OG patched one.
  
• Replace CE WR2.exe with OG patched one.

Problem: This doesn't allow for 64-bit mode and may break Steam specific features.


Refined method:

Hex-edit WR2.ds and change the names. It is important that the length of the entire string (the whole file) stays the same, else the game won't load.

Start lines for names in plain text are as follows:

Mission names and texts: Depends on language, go see yourself!

Car names: OG - 1697 ; CE - 1625

Manufacturer names: OG - 1828 ; CE - 1755

Rim names: WIP

Livery names: WIP

Car names seem to start at line 1625 for the Steam version and line 1697 for the retail version. This difference could be the cause for the game to hang when using the retail WR2.ds with the Steam release executable - the game simply can no longer find what it's looking for.
Manufacturer names start at line 1828 with the Steam version and line 1755 with the retail version.

Test if it works and enjoy your hard work.

Make sure to make separate backups of your edited files as well to not lose your hard work in an update.

Future updates may break your edited files, so you'll have to go through this again. :/

Original Developer: Synetic
Original Publisher: Playlogic Entertainment; TDK Mediactive

Steam Release Developer and Publisher: Unique Games

Unique Games Community Representative: Silent

Helpful community members: crabzero