Modified Tow Truck Missions

Unapologetic Miscreant · Sep 10, 2024

The single player tow truck missions were the bane of my existance back in my PS3 days.
Try as I might I could not beat them. Looking online I realized that I was not the only
one who felt that way either. So I looked and looked for some kind of a solution and finally
found a successful one in a thread on gamefaqs called 'Tow Truck Mission Single Player Pass
Walkthrough: Warning Long Read' courtesy of TheFitnessGuy.

His solution, while succesful most of the time was still more than a little unacceptable
to me simply because no matter how I tried to I couldn't seem to stop gaining notoriety
and there was always someone trying to blow up my tow truck or the target vehicle.

So I sat down one day in front of my PC and asked myself what I could do about it.
This modification is what I came up with.

This mod removes almost all of the challenge from the towing missions simply because I
hate doing them and want to finish them as soon and as painlessly as possible.

What I Changed

I shortened the distance between the pick up and drop off points. It is the same in
the first few levels but by level 6 it is drastically shortened.

I Reduced the notoriety

I also took the opportunity to change a few of the vehicles that you tow.

I changed the distance that way if your truck does get destroyed then it wont take as
long to get back up to where you were.

I Reduced the notoriety so that I could get the vehicle and get away without getting my
tow truck or the vehicle blown up and without starting a war with either the owners or
the police.

I changed three of the towed vehicles that way I could get vehicles like the Mag that I need
for the chop shop activity more easily.

A Quick Heads Up: In the Easycruiser mod Supernull has made a modification to the Tow truck's
vehicle flle that makes it much more durable. I have not included it in this mod because it's
not my work and I have not asked permission but if you wanted to add it yourself the name of the
file is 'truck_2dr_tow01_veh.xtbl'.

As an added bonus I modified the tow truck so that all the tow trucks in the game have
reinforced frames, tire durability, reinforced bumpers and torque.

-

Adding Options To The Tow Truck Yourself

Open up truck_2dr_tow01.xtbl and find the following text

<Component_Group>
<Name>Performance</Name>
<Component_Chances>
<Component_Chance>
<Name>None</Name>
<Weight>100</Weight>
<Components>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Nitrous</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Kneecappers</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Torque</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Tire Durability</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Reinforced Frame</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Reinforced Bumper</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
</Components>
</Component_Chance>
</Component_Chances>
</Component_Group>

And change it to the following

<Component_Group>
<Name>Performance</Name>
<Component_Chances>
<Component_Chance>
<Name>None</Name>
<Weight>100</Weight>
<Components>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Nitrous</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Kneecappers</Slot>
<Component>None</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Torque</Slot>
<Component>Option 1</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Tire Durability</Slot>
<Component>Option 1</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Reinforced Frame</Slot>
<Component>Option 1</Component>
</Component_Element>
<Component_Element>
<Slot>Reinforced Bumper</Slot>
<Component>Option 1</Component>
</Component_Element>
</Components>
</Component_Chance>
</Component_Chances>

Save the code and crunch the following files.

truck_2dr_tow01.xtbl
truck_2dr_tow01_cust.xtbl

There is a post by Masamaru in Saints Row 2 Tool Releases on using the cvtf cruncher.

Once you have crunchedd the files put the resulting cvtf file 'truck_2dr_tow01.cvtf' in your mods folder along with the tow truck mission mod
'tow_truck.xtbl' if you choose to use it then just recompile.

How To Alter The Tow Truck Missions

For this we need to edit tow_truck.xtbl

This is the coding for the first level, we'll use it as a template.

Unmodded Code

<Level>
<Payout>50</Payout>
<Distance_to_Vehicles>75</Distance_to_Vehicles>
<Time_Bonus>90</Time_Bonus>
<Number_of_Vehicles>1</Number_of_Vehicles>
<Number_of_Owners>1</Number_of_Owners>
<Type_of_Owner>Pedestrian</Type_of_Owner>
<Vehicle_Types>
<Spawn_Types>
<Vehicle_Type_Name>truck_2dr_pickup02</Vehicle_Type_Name>
<Driver>npc_poor_male</Driver>
<Notoriety>0</Notoriety>
<Type_of_Owner>Pedestrian</Type_of_Owner>
<Weapon>butterfly_knife</Weapon>
<Notoriety_Type>police</Notoriety_Type>
<Vehicle_Variant>Beater</Vehicle_Variant>
</Spawn_Types>
</Vehicle_Types>
</Level>

Modded Code
<Level>
<Payout>50</Payout>
<Distance_to_Vehicles>75</Distance_to_Vehicles>
<Time_Bonus>600</Time_Bonus>
<Number_of_Vehicles>1</Number_of_Vehicles>
<Number_of_Owners>1</Number_of_Owners>
<Type_of_Owner>Pedestrian</Type_of_Owner>
<Vehicle_Types>
<Spawn_Types>
<Vehicle_Type_Name>SUV_4DR_LUXURY01</Vehicle_Type_Name>
<Driver>npc_poor_male</Driver>
<Notoriety>0</Notoriety>
<Type_of_Owner>Pedestrian</Type_of_Owner>
<Weapon>butterfly_knife</Weapon>
<Notoriety_Type>police</Notoriety_Type>
<Vehicle_Variant>Beater</Vehicle_Variant>
</Spawn_Types>
</Vehicle_Types>
</Level>

List of changed vehicles

Level 1 is now a Mag
Level 2 is now a Justice
Level 3 is now an Alaskan

I think the restof the vehicles are the same.

Modified Tow Truck Missions

Unapologetic Miscreant

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