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For those who don't want to watch me ramble for over an hour on my stream (btw stream is here - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2120586640) Using the source code from 92 (Link - NHL Hockey Source Code), we are now able to find out how things work a lot easier than finding a needle in a haystack like we had done in the past. NHL94 has improved upon 92, but much of the code is the same (with some refinements and added things, like bonuses). The most important thing is we have an idea how the RAM is laid out (basically all the variables for the game). How does checking work in 94? Weight is involved. Where you are on the rink is involved (You're getting checked against the boards? You're getting knocked down). Checking rating is involved. Also, impact value is involved (how hard you are hitting depending on your velocity and your opponents velocity, and the distance between the 2 of you). Are you controlling the player checking, or is the AI? Also, the weight bug (lets lighter players check heavier players, regardless of a lot of factors above) - Here's the checking formula for 94: Check if checking player is in checking animation If impact value is more than 20 decimal, the check will initiate. If not, there will only be momentum transferred between the 2. Starting value for calculation (120 decimal or 240 decimal if player controlled) - Subtract (Wgt * 8) of player checking - Add (Wgt * 8) of player being checked - Divide total by 2 - Check if player will hit the wall (see below) - Subtract impact value - If the total is 0 or negative, proceed to knock down. - If total is positive, then check if player will hit wall. If he will, proceed to knock down. - If total was positive, and player is not near a wall, then randomize the result from above (the RNG will choose a number >= 0 and < result from above) - Load the checking attribute (which is Chk rating * 5 + bonuses (Hot/Cold and 3rd Period Bonus). Divide it by 2 (Value will be between 0 and 15) - Next, subtract Checking value from above from the RNG result. If the answer is <= 0, then proceed to knock down. If positive, then check Agression attribute and see if there will be a penalty from the hit. Knock down section also checks for penalty from contact, but there is slightly less of a chance of a penalty compared to them not getting knocked down. After this part of the code, it will check for toddle (related to stickhandling). This checking formula is almost the same as it is in 92, except for the fact that some math is different (there's no bonuses, attributes are on a 0-15 scale instead of 0-6), the starting value for ALL checks is 60 decimal. In 94, the attributes are stored in RAM with a 0-30 scale (which is why you see a divide by 2 in a few places here). What's the weight bug problem? Lighter player can check heavier players with ease, when player controlled. This is because of the large boost given to the starting value. The subtracting and adding of the weight in this formula is done "byte" size, which means that value can never be over 255, it will overflow and 256 = 0 (it will start over at 0). Because of this, the rest of the calculation is pretty much thrown out the window (impact value will play a very small role in a weight bug check). So how to fix the weight bug? Remove the boost to the starting value when player controlled. I believe this may have been left in during testing, since the formula itself is almost the save as in 92. If the starting value was set to 120 decimal for both AI and player controlled checks, we would see much more "realistic" results. Weight difference won't be a huge factor anymore (still a bit of a factor), but impact and checking attribute would play more of a role. What's impact value? This is something I was able to figure out using the source code. The game tracks the velocity of the players (speed + direction). When it senses 2 players are close enough for contact, it will calculate a transfer of momentum between the players (when players hit, they slow down, bump each other back, etc). So it will calculate impact based on the velocity of both players, and the distance between them. The players speed is controlled by their acceleration, which in turn is controlled by Wgt and Agl attributes. So the faster a player is going, the more impact they will cause. If 2 skaters are skating at each other, the impact will be higher. If a player getting checked is skating away from the checker, the impact will be lower. If you hit the player near the end of your speed burst, the impact may be lower (not going as fast as you originally were). Funny thing is even with the weight bug, its actually harder for Theo Fleury (3 wgt) to check Marty McSorley (14 wgt), than it would be for him to check someone like Mats Sundin (7 wgt). He needs some impact to check Marty, where as with Mats, as long as he meets the minimum impact value to initiate the checking calculation, hes knocking him down. Here are some examples with weight and impact: 4 wgt checking (player controlled) a 10 wgt with minimal impact just makes it to the knock down phase (-4). 4 wgt AI player can do it with a ton of impact though (and some RNG luck). Closer weights here. 5 wgt AI checking a 7 wgt player with 50 impact value can definitely have a shot with some RNG luck (RNG result would be between 0 and 18 here), then subtracting the Checking attribute (0-15 scale after divide by 2). Marty McSorley might be able to survive this check from Theo Fleury with the right RNG and minimal impact. AI controlled Mario Lemieux might struggle knocking down Mike Gartner with low impact. Gotta get a good RNG roll (low value here).

An AHL team may be looking for a fun NHL'94 way to introduce their season via social media. In short, I think getting a base ROM with the AHL team logos set up is what would be needed as a start. There's no need for in depth player ratings, or even roster updates at this time. I personally don't have enough time on my plate to knock this out, so I'm seeing if there's anyone interested in collaborating. 32 teams, would be better if 4 people knocked out 8 teams each or even better 8 people did 4! You can PM me if interested or respond here. Abbotsford Canucks Bakersfield Condors Belleville Senators Bridgeport Islanders Calgary Wranglers Charlotte Checkers Chicago Wolves Cleveland Monsters Coachella Valley Firebirds Colorado Eagles Grand Rapids Griffins Hartford Wolf Pack - SMOZ Henderson Silver Knights Hershey Bears - DONE Iowa Wild Laval Rocket Lehigh Valley Phantoms Manitoba Moose Milwaukee Admirals - DONE Ontario Reign Providence Bruins Rochester Americans Rockford IceHogs - DONE San Diego Gulls San Jose Barracuda Springfield Thunderbirds Syracuse Crunch Texas Stars Toronto Marlies Tucson Roadrunners Utica Comets Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

"So you got all the other ones, what about the Pocket?" "What?" "The NEO*GEO Pocket version of Hockey Stars." "Hm... I'll look into it." Okay. So the idea behind this one, for those who need a quick backstory. As per wikipedia, "The Neo Geo Pocket (NGP) is a monochrome handheld game console released by SNK." It was released in Japan only in late 1998 and was essentially discontinued six months later with the release of the Pocket Colour. It launched with six games and saw another three released by the end of the year, before efforts were switched over to making Colour ports. As a side note, the Pocket Colour would meet the same fate as all handhelds that try to compete with the Gameboy and be discontinued two years later, as would the company. Be discontinued that is. Having declared bankruptcy. Correction: They made ten games that year. And like many of the original Pocket games, SNK colourized it the next year. But since most people don't have a NEO*GEO Pocket kicking around, we're going to cover the ports that came in the same re-release collection as Hockey Stars 0. Alright, that preamble was pretty amble-ly, but it seemed important to set the stage for what this is. A SEGA Genesis game that looks like a Gameboy game. So I present a retro-style review of both the original and colour remake of: While titled simply "Hockey Stars", it is known colloquially as Hockey Stars Pocket or Hockey Stars NGP. Or Hockey Stars Colour! And it was developed primarily by Saurus, a subsidiary of SNK that also developed the NGP version of Baseball Stars. Getting into the game, this port doesn't stick to the original resolution of the pocket screen thankfully. but many of the graphics, as well the the monochromatic-ism of an original Pocket release. Maybe at some point we'll see if they ever ported this one to the colour. It's notable that the team names and logos this time were borrowed primarily from the NES version of Baseball Stars II, rather than the Pocket versions of Baseball Stars, as many of those were heavily baseball themed. One change though is that several of the teams have had logo updates when they looked too much like some initials on a ball cap, and changed cities from some smaller baseball towns, to more traditional hockey markets. At least the game is colour blind friendly. And the Colour version is pretty bright. One thing to note, while the 18 playable teams all have colourful fictional names, being restricted to eight total grey tones including black and white, means that a lot of thought had to be put into contrast, and every team looks the same with light grey home and dark grey away uniforms for maximum discernible-ness at full speed. And now individualized colours in the colour version. Even if some of the teams did carry over some weird, un-hockey-like color schemes when directly borrowing from their Baseball Stars II counterparts. I though Denver was a dinosaur, not a dragon... The game does support up to four players, but being that this is half of the grey tones, telling everyone apart might not be the easiest task. Much easier in Colour. I did like the starry "O" from the original NES game's assets. Alright. One of the best parts of the original NES game, was the player profiles. And we revisit those here too, even if the game doesn't have the capacity to allow for hiring, firing, trading and upgrading. We are treated to a nice set of unique photos. Checking out the player abilities. It would appear that the rosters are also borrowing from Baseball Stars II, and are as usual in this series, vastly min-maxed for acute player specialties. Some playing around with rosters may be required to get a starting lineup that you find best suits your playing style. Goalies be crazy. Some even brought their old-school masks to picture day. While the limited grey scale seemed to relegate everyone to a mid-toned skin shade, it is notable that almost every team has one or two co-ed members. Colour makes for three different three different skin tones as well as some nice mixing it up. Finally, there are three game modes, Single Exhibition, or play for the SNK Cup in a 16-Team Tournament with Single Elimination or Best-of-Seven formats. There is also a Shoot-out mode from back before those were played out. And the trophy actually looks like gold now. I don't know if there was a colourized version of this game. Turns out it didn't sell well on the rare system, so SNK made the switch in hopes of having a good launch day selection. Might have to see how the reception to this one went. Hockey Stars NGP.bin And now Hockey Stars NGP Colour.bin

EDIT: ignore, used too many colours I took a stab at a logo, but the AHL logos are so.. busy.. they need a lot of manual touching up. Needs a proper pixel artist But anyway this one is all set up for importing straight into a ROM (pre-darkened for Tile Molester accurate import) Palette: RED GREEN BLUE 224 224 224 :1 128 128 160 :2 64 64 96 :3 96 96 128 :4 128 160 160 :5 192 192 192 :6 160 160 192 :7 192 96 96 :8 192 64 64 :9 160 96 96 :10 32 32 96 :11 192 32 32 :12 224 64 96 :13 192 96 128 :14 160 32 64 :15 (Does one need to be black for it to be valid in Tile Molester?)

Here's how to get NHL 2002(PC) running on a modern PC with Windows 10/11: Extract the attached zip file to your PC Right-click the Setup.exe file in the Setup folder, go to the Compatibility tab and disable the Windows 98 compatibility, then click Apply. Right click the Setup.exe file again and run as administrator. Go through the various setup screens. When prompted, add the registry key found in the attached zip file in this post. Move the patched dx7z.dll from the website below into the main NHL 2002 directory you installed the game onto (i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\EA SPORTS\NHL 2002). Don't try to move it to the zipped file directory. When asked to override the existing file click yes. You may also need to move the NHL 2002 Fixed Executable from the website below into the main NHL 2002 directory and override the existing one. Lastly, right-click on the NHL 2002 application and run as administrator Here's a helpful site that contains some needed patch files to fix graphics glitches/crashes: https://classicgamefixes.wixsite.com/home/nhl-2002#:~:text=First%2C download the official EA SPORTS patch for the game.&text=Then%2C unzip this fixed executable,your NHL 2002 game directory.&text=This combination should allow you,and Run as Administrator modes. If you want to use a gamepad like a snes one you would just need to plug it in before loading the game. Within the game itself you can click on Play Now and at the bottom you'll see a controller icon. Click that and you should see Keyboard and Gamepad. Click Gamepad and you can map the controls to whatever buttons you want. When done click Save Layout/Settings) NHL 2002.zip

Thanks! I appreciate it. Yeah, as for late season signings, my roster mandate is to keep each roster stocked with the 14 forwards, 8 defence, and 3 goalies that have seen the most minutes of ice-time for the club that they are on. I then consider exceptions for players who would have made the cut if they had stayed on one club all season, or players who were otherwise instrumental, even if they technically had less ice time than a teammate. Because the college players usually join the season so late they rarely make that cut, UNLESS they catch on as a regular in the playoffs. Last year I added Matthew Knies for the Leafs, once it became evident that they were playing him as a regular. If there are any new players who suddenly seem to become regulars in the play-offs, please let me know!

Hey everyone, Good news, bad news. Good news. The playoffs edition is almost ready! Still a lot to do, but I am 100% on top of it, and will try to get it out as soon as possible. All rosters and lines have been updated. Will start on end of year ratings tomorrow morning. Bad news. I promised a version 3.0 with all new re-balanced gameplay, and arcade mode patches, etc. Well, version 3.0 (playoffs edition) is coming, and the gameplay will have a minor revision, but the all new re-balanced gameplay and arcade patches etc. aren't coming any time soon. I have spent loads of time on this, but I still need even more time to make sure it is balanced just right. To that end, I will need some beta testers this summer. PM if you are interested in helping out. Good news. I wasn't actually planning on coming back for a '25 version, as there is another. personal projects I wanted to spend time on. But I am not going to abandon my '94 gameplay re-balancing project, so I will have to come back for at least one more season, in order to share my work with you. So, as long as my health holds up, I am planning a '25. Stay tuned for a '24 playoff edition any day now. cheers, -Adam

With the checking source discovered, am I the only one who wants to know how to tweak the values? I'm thinking along the lines of increasing the range of effect, so you can go from half the dudes no-selling like a jabroni to now half the dudes flipping out like Hong Kong kung fu movie minions. Too much?

Had to test this out in the other games of course. The numbers are a little different between games so I had to limit my search for instances of "0002 6600", but found that the sequence that @smozoma laid out above held true in all of the games from '92 to '95 in some form of 6B00 xxxx B07C 0002 6600 xxxx 0C78 003C. Tested them all with a few extreme numbers and they all behave as described above [if my tests did mean chaos ensued] No luck with '96-'98 sadly. For anyone interested, here is the complete list of offsets. NHL'92 offset 7AB2 = 6B00 [change to 6300] offset 7AB8 = 0002 [goals at which CPU team pulls goalie] offset 7ABA = 6600 [change to 6200] offset 7AC0 = 003C [seconds remaining in third period at which CPU team pulls goalie - in hex] EA'92 offset 76A4 = 6B00 [change to 6300] offset 76AA = 0002 [goals at which CPU team pulls goalie] offset 76AC = 6600 [change to 6200] offset 76B2 = 003C [seconds remaining in third period at which CPU team pulls goalie - in hex] NHLPA'93 offset C308 = 6B00 [change to 6300] offset C30E = 0002 [goals at which CPU team pulls goalie] offset C310 = 6600 [change to 6200] offset C316 = 003C [seconds remaining in third period at which CPU team pulls goalie - in hex] NHL'94 offset F758 = 6B00 [change to 6300] offset F75E = 0002 [goals at which CPU team pulls goalie] offset F760 = 6600 [change to 6200] offset F766 = 003C [seconds remaining in third period at which CPU team pulls goalie - in hex] NHL'95 offset 83674 = 6B00 [change to 6300] offset 8367A = 0002 [goals at which CPU team pulls goalie] offset 8367C = 6600 [change to 6200] offset 83682 = 003C [seconds remaining in third period at which CPU team pulls goalie - in hex] Eliteserien'95 offset 80BD4 = 6B00 [change to 6300] offset 80BDA = 0002 [goals at which CPU team pulls goalie] offset 80BDC = 6600 [change to 6200] offset 80BC2 = 003C [seconds remaining in third period at which CPU team pulls goalie - in hex]

Agreed the road to Tampa rom is absolute fav 94 rom the music alone 🙏

That would be awesome. I was hoping you were gonna do a NCAA Road to St. Paul 2024 especially with all the great freshman talent this year. I went back and discovered the college rom you did with power 5 programs that don t have hockey teams. My mind was blown getting to play USC vs UCLA.

Is there interest in a project with alumni rosters for the top 32 or so programs? I was feeling very nostalgic for this mod after playing it during a train ride, and would love to make something again. I have some unused sprite and music updates that I’d love everyone to see!

For team logos - one color will be white and one black. Then you have 10 other colors you can use. 4 are unusable as they are used for the home/visitor banner colors.

Pull CPU Goalie earlier when losing Note: Thanks to @chaos & @smozoma for assisting with some 68K assembly knowledge sharing. Pull CPU Goalie earlier in the 3rd: Want to change how early the CPU pulls its goalie when losing? ROM Offset: (hex)0000F766-0000F767 Change: 00 3C to 00 96 The above change will pull the goalie with 2:30 remaining in the 3rd period. Pull CPU Goalie when losing by 1 goal instead of 2: You can also modify how many goals the CPU is losing by when the goalie gets pulled. **There is currently a bug in GENS where it will only pull the goalie if its equal to this value. See below patch by @smozoma to fix this. ROM Offset: (hex)0000F75F Change: 02 to 01 The above change will pull the goalie when losing by 1 goal instead of 2 goals.

Hey everyone, Another amazing tool a buddy of mine has created. This one is for editing Virtual Pro Wrestling roms such as WWF No Mercy, WCW-NWO Revenge and everything in between. It can be found here at. https://vpw.ajworld.net/vpwstudio/

Yes to this, but I will just add that it only pastes the order of the players. So if you simply copy/pasted the entire rosters from '98 and pasted them into '97, this will work. But if you rearrange the order that the players are listed in the Players window in anyway, you will notice some issues. ie: if your first line consists of the fourth, fifth, seventh, fifteenth and twentieth players in your list, then copy/pasting the line will select the players in those same slots to make your new line, even if you first rearranged the order of the original players for some other organizational purpose.

Run 2 instances of NOSE, and you can copy/paste players between the windows, probably the lines as well

Turns out much like Baseball Stars for the Pocket, the monochrome version of Hockey Stars was adaptable to the colourized remake as well. Updated the full review above, but here it is. Hockey Stars NGP Colour.bin

Thank you! Great work, as always. I/we appreciate it. * Just an FYI - the file reads "2025 4 21" (instead of 2024 4 21, I'm assuming).

Playoffs edition is out! Main page as usual. Hope you're all doing well. -a

Oh!.... I did find out something about this one. You can actually change the palette in the player cards. In the original game anyway. I don't think I figured out the 32-team version. The problem however is that the palette numbers reference a different set of colours depending on which screen you are on. Although, speaking of 32 teams, with the Arizona door supposedly being left open a crack for the next five years, [assuming they don't repeat a New York Americans situation where the franchise was withdrawn in 1942, but not officially cancelled until 1946 when the owner tried to reactivate it] is it time to try to add another two teams to the NHL'94 fold?

Thanks for explaining!

The RNG function needs a value sent to it and returns a result. In the Hot/Cold thread, you are only changing the value being sent to the RNG function for Hot/Cold. The RNG function has 2 different ways it can be used: - Sending it a value, and it will give a result of (- value <= result < value) - Sending it a value and it will give a result of ( 0 <= result < value) Hot/Cold uses the first way, Checking is using it the second way. The RNG function is used all over the place.

Last night was the best night of games all year. What a finish. Sorry about your Wings though, I was rooting for them. That Perron goal sent me through the roof!

Goons is out now on steam, better late then ever.

WOW! Well done

00344 - Located in: Lafitte, Louisiana, United States H07136 - Located in: pictou, NS, Canada H24460 - Located in: Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, United States A17558 - Located in: Mankato, Minnesota, United States A24244 - Located in: South Elgin, Illinois, United States

This is a really interesting concept and the contrast is well done (haven't had a chance to see it in action yet) but I'm also hoping reception was favorable enough for a color version. 😉

Well with the wife away all weekend and into next week Ill get more completed. The schedules is trickiest thing. But they are date accurate.

These are all I've played recently cuz their so well made

Behold! F01048 and L01048!

@halifax I put together a team ranking list to share with everyone. I'm thinking of running a one-off league with this ROM at some point. WHA Rosters.xlsx WHA Rosters - Google Sheets.pdf

This and goalie control...

https://codecpack.co/download/FFInputDriver.html

working on the music thing is... on my list somewhere... if you've got notes on how you'd like it to work, i could try to upgrade it

Here's a list of links containing the ROMs I've created over the years: All-Time Rosters(ATR) ROM - Contains the greatest hockey players from each franchise found in the basic 94 ROM NHL 92-00 ROMs - Contains the rosters from each game from 92-00 in the 94 'shell' game 3v3 Pond Hockey - Custom ROM with 3v3 forwards where any player(F or D) can play F(contains both 2-minute and 1-minute penalty versions) World Cup '96 - Contains the World Cup '96 rosters League-specific ROMs: SNES Salary Cap S1 - Custom league from Summer '21 where coaches picked their own team within a set salary cap SNES Salary Cap S2 - Season 2 of the above ran in Fall '21 ATR Salary Cap - Used in the All-Time Rosters season from Summer '22 ATR Player Draft - Custom league where coaches drafted players from the All-Time Rosters(ATR) ROM in Fall '22

Not sure which way emulator your using. I've used some emulators that it works with as well. It's major issue is the battery that caused most of the errors. The biggest work around was retro arch. Might be an issue I have to look into. Sorry I've haven't been able to respond recently. Been swamped with work.

58 people voted for Bud of the Year. Congrats to @chaos 11-5-6 = 49 points and @angryjay93 8-10-5 = 49 points 2023 Co-buds of the year!

*** This is only compatible with the SNES VERSION of NHL '94 *** The link below will let you download the .exe directly. Double click on the .exe and follow the instructions. When running the program for the first time, a window will pop up saying that certain files and folders are missing. This is normal, just click ok and the program will automatically create the files or folders in the appropriate place. (They are just files and folders that are coded into the .exe to save on program space and size.) Once it is finished you will be the main menu will appear. There is a READ ME.doc with simple instructions and pictures to help you out. Hopefully, I have made the program and the instructions straight-forward enough. But, if there are any questions and feedback, do not hesitate to post them here, or by giving me PM. Also, I have tried to find all the bugs and errors, but that does not mean I have found them all. If at any time the program crashes or you get an error message, please let me know ASAP and I will try to fix the error and put up a newer release. Features: - Game Stats Display (Extract stats from a save state and display them to the screen, then save them to Season or Coach's Stats) - Exhibition Mode (just saves Coaches' Stats) - Season Mode (saves Player, Team, and Coaches' Stats) - Season Stats (Player, Team, Standings, League Leaders, Full Playoffs, All-Time Records) - Coach Stats (Individual Stats for each Coach/User; similar to Team Stats) - used in both Season and Exhibition Games - Webpage Generation (For a classic view of your season/coaches stats, or for running a league) - Season Customization (play a full 82 game season (or 20, or 150)) I hope everyone can and does enjoy this. Even if you dont use it to its full functionality, hopefully people can get some use out of it. ************************************ NHL '94 Record Keeper 3.0 - SNES Version ************************************

AJ...you pretty much wrote the NHL 94 Bible in terms of who to play with using each team. Along with your YouTube videos, these gotta be the greatest resource on NHL 94 for Genesis. I compiled all these team rankings, player lines, etc... into what is now one of my favorite "books." Many thanks @angryjay93 and to @kingraph @smozoma and @CoachMac for the excel sheets on each team. My 11 year old and 8 year old...daughters by the way...want me to make them a copy of their own. Not sure if you're working on an NHL 94 project now, but I do have a suggestion that has been done to various degrees by some of the greats...but maybe not to the full extent like you did with each team and player breakdown. Have you ever considered breaking down each way to score in NHL 94? I've seen some normal one timer videos and pass shot videos on YouTube which are nice, but then I've seen you pull out some barely avoid hitting the post from behind the net one timers on Twitch that I've never even thought of trying before. Then I've always felt a left-handed player on a breakaway doesn't seem to have the same options and a right-handed player. Is breaking down the basic to expert level scoring options a thing you might consider making? (Taking into account the type of shooter and ranking the probability of success for each type) Not trying to steal ur moves...just trying to steal yo moves.

Well this calls for a new mode in smozDither

Hey there - I’ve moved my efforts to working on a mod for NHL Legacy just so I have more surfaces to mod and make something more realistic. It runs on less devices because it has a high CPU overhead, but it’s had great results (see attached). Sadly I only have time for one mod lately, so this mod is not going to be worked on much more (if ever).