EOS was added to the game on December 18, 2023; two months after release
Intro
In the December 18, 2023 update, as was warned in its patch notes[hotwheelsunleashed.com], Milestone added Epic Online Services (EOS) to the game in order to add functionality for cross-platform friends parties. But what if you have zero need of that (like me, who’s a lone wolf player)? Good news: You can disable EOS from the game, and cross-platform multiplayer will still function without issues as it did during the game’s launch period!
How to disable EOS
As a preamble, if EOS was already installed by the game (or any other game), uninstall it first using your means of choice. (Mine is Revo Uninstaller[www.revouninstaller.com].)
Browse to the game’s local files and:
-in hotwheels2.ini, change the line NoOperation=0 to NoOperation=1
-in the “Installers” folder, rename the following files:
EOSBootstrapper.exe EOSBootstrapperTool.exe EpicOnlineServicesInstaller.exe
to something else, like this for example:
EOSBootstrapper.bak EOSBootstrapperTool.bak EpicOnlineServicesInstaller.bak
That’s it!
NOTE: You will have to do this on every game update, because Steam game updates also verify a game’s files integrity at the same time.
(The character in the guide’s image is Reisa from Blue Archive. Haauh!)
Thanks to Ganba the Nesoberi for their excellent guide; all credit belongs to their effort. If this guide helps you, please support and rate it here. Enjoy the game.