For an automated way of doing this, check out this topic by origamiguy.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could MOD LEGO Racers 2 and Drome Racers without rebuiding the GAMEDATA archives every time we want to see our changes? Surely the developers worked this way, but allas, they hard coded it into the executable to only look for file in the GAMEDATA archives. But what if there was some way we could change that? Some way we could just change that hard-coded variable and put the games file loading module into developer mode rather than release mode? Today, I am pleased to to say this is possible and easy!
NOTE: There is a version of Drome Racers this will not work with. It the the Older, DRM version described here. This is because the code that needs patching is encrypted with Safedisc. Step 1: Download a hex editor. If you already have one, go to step 2, if not, really any hex editor will work, but I often use HxD. Step 2: Go to you LEGO Racers 2 or Drome Racers install directory. Step 3: Make a backup copy of the game executable, then open the executable in your hex editor of choice. Step 4: Open you hex editor's search feature. In HxD, it's under Search > Find. Step 5: Make sure you are set to search hex values. In HxD this is done by setting Datatype to Hex-values. Step 6: In the search box, enter the correct string for the game you are editing below: LEGO Racers 2:
Sources: 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 B8 03 00 00 00 C3
Drome Racers:
Sources: 26 00 B8 03 00 00 00 C3 And search, you should only get 1 result. Step 7: Within the bytes you found, replace the one that is "03" with "00" being careful to overwrite and not change the size of the file. Step 8: Save the file. Step 9: Extract the GAMEDATA archive using UNGTC if you have not yet done so. Step 10: Within the extracted GAMEDATA folder find the folder named "GAME DATA" (mind the spaces), select all of the folders within and copy them. Return to your game installation directory, open the "GAME DATA" in this directory (again, mind the spaces, though the capitalization may be different) and paste the folders you copied, merging the folders if prompted. SUCCESS! If you have successfully completed the steps above, the game will no longer read the GAMEDATA archives, but instead use the extracted files. There is no need to remove the GAMEDATA archives, it will not even try to open them if you patched the game correctly. Additionally, LEGO Racers 2 will no longer require the CD in the drive (presumably it will no longer load the files in the "language" folder on the CD either, but that shouldn't impact the game). If there is enough demand, I may make an automatic patching tool later on. Technical Notes (Feel Free to Ignore) The actual command we are patching is "B8 03 00 00 00 C3", which pushes an unsigned integer and then returns it. The value of 3 is release mode, the value of 0 is developer mode. There are two other intermediary levels in between which are some strange hybrid between the two. This sequence of bytes appears multiple times in the file however, so our search must be made more explicit.