wboy

Off the top of my head... 91 & 92 use a hex scale of 0 to F for most attributes except handed 93 also uses a hex scale of 0 to F for most attributes, but some of the goalie bytes have been re-ordered a little compared to 91/92, though 94 onwards has seemingly kept this format. 94 - 98 use a hex scale of 0 to 6 for most columns. While I need to confirm it more, I think most of the attribute columns are pretty much the same in all these games. Though the in game value of (e.g.) hex 5 in one version compared to another may be sightly different, I'm not taking that into consideration at the moment. Though on that note, I have implemented a basic conversion table when pasting between different roms. At the moment they are as follows: Source: 91/92/93 Destination: 94/95/96/97/98 Hex Conversion: 0 = 0 1 = 1 2 = 1 3 = 1 4 = 2 5 = 2 6 = 3 7 = 3 8 = 3 9 = 4 A = 4 B = 5 C = 5 D = 5 E = 6 F = 6 Source: 94/95/96/97/98 Destination: 91/92/93 Hex Conversion: 0 = 0 1 = 3 2 = 5 3 = 8 4 = A 5 = D 6 = F

Yes, unfortunately these bytes don't seem to have any affect on the team. The 4 bytes bytes before (after the color data) that might have some affect. As I've posted previously in another thread, the last byte e.g. D7 means 13 forward, 7 d's. What exact affects the three bytes before have on the game is unknown to me at the moment. 91/92 has two similar bytes. My guess is that each byte is used to store home/away disadvantage as the All star teams have 0000 where most other teams don't. Quickly testing that theory didn't always work as thought... still to test more before making my final conclusion. 93-95 all have 3 bytes plus the 4 fwds/ds bytes. Looks like all 3 are used to possibly have six team behaviour properties... just a guess. 96 onward also have the 4 bytes, but the are always 0000 0000 implying they are not used.

There is another project aimed to replace (while still remaining compatible with) Kaillera called EmuLinker which is programmed in Java to be platform independant. Its a replacement server offering more security and other bug fixes, and is still compatible with the Kaillera Client DLLs that are distributed with supporting emulators like GENS.

Attached is zip file containing a IPS patch. Using an IPS patcher (I recommend you use StealthPatch 1.4), simply apply the patch over a clean NHL94 rom (GoodGen verified name "NHL Hockey 94 (UE) [!].bin") to transfer the NHL95 roster on to the NHL94 ROM/game engine. What exactly gets updated? Team Attributes, Rosters & Lines So what doesn't change? Player photos - note, this means that even if a player existed in 95 and 94, there is no guarantee the face shown against their name will be correct! This ROM edit has been created within the upcoming NOSE (NHL Old Skool Editor), using a newly developed copy & paste feature which easily allows selected items to be copied between the same/other roms. I'll try to make a post very soon showing off more recent screen and more definate information regarding its soon to be public release date. Now I know a '95 roster might not be the most exciting thing, but it was a quick and easy example to make as both roms have the same teams, and all I was doing is transferring rosters etc., which is a no-brainer. I'll leave the "updated roster" roms to everyone else. Have fun, wboy. NHL95_4.zip

lol, you just beat me to a similar post! Had a look on the HockeyDB site (as I'm not terribly knowledged on every NHL player, past and present, living down under) and no sign of Gattis or Sweep, so yes, it appears fake rosters and possbile even a few more fake logos may be on the cards with its release. Gotta love tho$e NHL and NHLPA copyright restriction$. Its the Devin Pitts I tell you, the Devin Pitts! EDIT: Errrrr.... wtf, Devin Pitts??? Footballers in NHL rosters.... weird! Actually I just downloaded the higher quality vid (as apposed to the cruddy streamed version)... it very much looks like a blue whale curled around the Hartford "H".

While the initial release definately won't support editing player photo's, I do plan to get it into the editor one day. If Swos (and Mahavishna?) can post any info in regards to known offsets, how it is tracked managed, that would be great. Swos did email me some of this info a while back, but I've seemed to misplace the email One thing I have noticed (probably old news to many) is that there seems to be a default photo for left handed and right handed players, used when there is no photo of the individual player.

My guess is HRT would be the new/proper team abbreviation for the Hartford Whalers, as the team jersey colors do match the original 94. Interesting though, the center logo has been updated (maybe for copyright reasons as the team no longer exists) and it looks like a comprimise between the Hartford Civic Center logo, and the original Hartford Whalers logo.... Hmmmm.... wonder if also bothered to put fighting back in?

The following is a quick guide to completely remove the EA checksum routine used within EA Genesis games. I found this method by comparing NHL98 which has no checksum routine, to all the other ROMs in the series. Noting the differences, a little bit of trial and error has allowed me to find a generic way you can disable the checksum routines for Genesis ROMs published by EA. This is the method used within the upcoming NHL editor. The example/screen shots attached are based on the NHL94 ROM. STEP 1: Open the ROM in your Hex Editor of choice. Search for the Hex value 700091C8. You should find 1 instance. If you find more than one, use the last instance found as the checksum routine typically exists at the end of the ROM game data. Take note of the offset it is found at. In this example, it is 000FFAC0 STEP 2: Search for the Hex value 000FFAC0. Again you should find 1 instance, and it should exist towards the very top of the ROM. In this example, the data resides at Hex 302. STEP 3: At Hex 300, you should find the value 4EB9. Change this to 4E71. Also change the referenced address location that follows, 000FFAC0 to 4E714E71. This basically disables the checksum routine, allowing the game to load successfully even if hacked. STEP 4: While not required (though recommended) go back to ROM offset 000FFAC0 by using the search or goto function. Replace the 7000 with 60FE, bytes seemingly used to signify "End of File/Data". Replace all the following bytes up to and including the last 60FE with FFFF. Save the file and you are basically done. NOTE: Depending on the year the rom was published will depend on where you should find the referenced address location to the beginning of the checksum routine. It typically exists at either Hex 302, Hex 692 or Hex 768. The length of the checksum routine in bytes (starting with 700091C8, ending with 60FE) will also depend on the ROM you are editing. NHL91 to 95 appears to use a simpler routine which does allow being moved. NHL96 to 97 have a slightly longer routine which isn't as friendly to being moved to a different address offset. This is why I have chosen to remove the checksum routine all together and disable it being referenced, as learnt from the NHL98 rom. Remember these steps work in any EA game including the Madden NFL game series, and also other EA games like B. O. B. Interestingly, like NHL98, NFL98 also has it checksum rountine diabled and removed for you. Being the last in the series, maybe the developers purposely left it out to allow the games rosters to be more easily hacked one day in the future? As for the NHL editor, I will be posting some progress news in the next week or so. Hold tight, it'll be worth it!

that all depends if there is any programmed player logic based on the selected line... which quite frankly there might not be..... as the each players attributes determines their offensive/defensive awareness etc. and effectively determines how they play as a line... Considering that really the case, there would be nothing too hard about changing existing Scoring 1 text to reflect what you've suggested. EDIT: Errrrr... disregard what I just said! .... I just remembered when under a penalty/power play you are restricted to what lines you can assign on the rink. I think my blunder exposes the fact I don't play the game enough, especially with line changes on!

Well if its a bug, its definately been caused by my hacking.... basically, when you hit "C" to speed up, you go backwards.... fun... in a challenging kind of way.

Good to see you went that next step and used a bit a trial and error to see what it affects in game! Thats pretty much the basis of all hacking finds, so as you've proven, your or anybody shouldn't use the excuse that you're too "stupid" to find things!!!! It just takes a bit of patience and observation to do simple trial and error hacks, followed by a bit of in game play to see the affect. I had a 10 minute play with those offsets myself last night. Re-arranged the order of a few of the offsets, but did give it enough time to see any affect/odd behaviours. I then changed all the offsets to 0000 CD00.... but that didn't even allow the rink to load after you attempt to start a game. I gave up on it at that stage and went back to working on the editor. You could have the start of a nice find there. It may be related to player formations... or behaviours/mindsets??? I've been messing around in 91 and thing I've found the bytes that affect a teams performance/mindsets when playing at home as opposed to playing away. May be related, especially if the changes you made seeming affected a teams backchecking/defensive awareness...? Keep at it.... I won't be spending much time on new finds until the editor is released.

In short, the left hand window is a presentation of file represented in hexidecimal bytes. 00 = 0, 0F = 15, 10 = 15, FF = 255 (base 16 numbering system, decimal is base 10) The right window is the ascii equivalent of the the byte value (see Ascii Tables) When altering a players name, you can use the right side and type in the replacement characters from your standard keyboard characters. When altering player attributes or jersey numbers, it's best you use the left hand window, and type in the appropriate hexidecimal value... 0 thru 9, A B C D E or F, and iIngore the ascii characters/values shown in the right window. Be sure to read all of Evan's well documented notes on this website if you haven't already!!!! Failing that, wait a short while longer and my editor be released to all. I've slightly delayed its release a little, though that is because I've added decided to add more features to the initial release, and not that I haven't had time to work on it.

now if only that slack arse wboy would release his editor to all, everyone would more clearly see what you mean, and actually make use of those potentially available bytes. wboy bytes !

Don't know if you forgot to add 91.. but it may be worth renaming 92 to 92 / 91 / EA Hockey as the game engine is the effectively the same (except for the hyper speed of 91/EA Hockey). On that note, it may be worth combining 96 / 97 / 98... as again, they all use the same engine.. it'll keep similar discussion confined to a less amount of threads. Hope Mr. Mack also agrees? Whatever the case, don't ever forget 91/EA Hockey. Its the actual game from the entire EA hockey/NHL series that inspired me to work on the editor!

I agree, it would be nice to show some support/interest in the whole NHL series witinin theses forums. As the forums also return search results on google, it may even allow more than just 94 fans to stumble across this great site.

Isn't it a bit slow on 94..... 91 & 92 run full speed when you set the faster screen update mode... 94 though does have a lot of lag. Unless of course, the newer PS2s have a bit more processor ooomph it can leverage from? doubt it, though maybe? Interesting thing about all Genesis emulators (including PC ones)... notice they always have problems with the NHL series rom until special fixes to the emulator's code are made.... look at all their change logs... fixed EA NHL roms etc. obviously there is something a little different about the way the NHL roms are programmed?

Yeah the simple feel keeps it retro... which I like! I'll email you soon re minor mods to my currently favorite designs. The mods should be simple, and from that, we should have our final design just about ready I think.

A few new ideas/variations on backcheck would be cool.... as a last ditch effort to see if I like it enough to change my current preference of NOSE. I'll await your uber designs...

I purchased an a Playstation 2 to USB converter for a few dollars, thus allowing me to use my PS2 contoller, and it works a treat! Mind you, there are a few quirks with some of the ones on the market. If you want to know the exact one I purchased, I'll look it up and find a site that still sells them.

The emulator that you refer to is illegal as such because it was written by sega for the sega smash pack vol 1 for dreamcast. A few bright wits released it was a 100% compatible emulator that could play all dumped roms, not just the ones on the disc. If you want to get technical, its illegal to be in possession of any dumped rom, even if you own the original cartridge... so you better delete them off your hard drive asap... and we probably should take down this site, as it possesses information that instructs you on how to edit dumped roms, which is impossible to do legally.

Technically, yes, it still would have been possible, but I can assure all the information obtained prior to my entry into the scene has greatly shortend my learning curve and allowed me to continue on with new findings from existing knowledge. It also brought to my attention that there was still an active community of old skool ea hockey enthusiests who would benefit from not losing have their life in a hex editor in the attempt to keep the scene alive with updated rosters etc. Without those two insentives, I probably never would of started programming an editor as I would of assessed the time commitment for the return/outcome would of just not been worth it. That, together to with the fact I wanted to give back to the emulation scene as a whole for the joy it brought to me reliving old games, finalised my decision. We can't forget those who dumped roms and those who wrote emulators, as without there efforts, none of this would be happening! So the results of all those efforts will one day soon be that fact that even the most hex editor fearing gamer can customise their own NHL rom without the headaches.... ... and everyone lived happily ever after... The End.

While I do like the backcheck logo, I'm actually really liking the logo/concept of NOSE with the slogan "NHL old school editor". Would make a real nice splash screen aswell. I did have the concern that I couldn't get an nice application icon to match, but Mack's personal fav (puck with surrounding ice blue circle) would work well as an icon, and matches NOSE splash screen in colors etc. While I liked the concept of the genesis puck, the retro feel of the circled puck works for me aswell, so a potential bye bye to my genepuck... I also like fact that is some one crashed the application, it can popup a message saying you have Broken NOSE! ummm... okay, enough of the bad humor! Thanks for effort mack... will be in touch soon (as you already know)..... Thanks to Joe as well for posting your icons!

Semi-educated trial and error. In short... Firstly, I open the rom in the GENS editor and go to the game screen I am trying to find the palette for. Pause the game. Go into the CPU > Debug > VDP option. Its basically brings up all the loaded graphics and palettes currently loaded in the graphics memory of the genesis. Take a snapshot of the screen, open it in a graphics editor and get the RGB values from palette. Calculate backs is hex BGR value (0EEA), do the next few colors and then search for those hex bytes in the rom. There can be more than one instance of the same pallete, so from there trial and error find the spots. There is a few more lilttle quirks to know calculating the BGR value from the supposed RGB values, but I won't go into it just now. In short, doing this method it it took me about 15 minutes to find ice offset in 95. I would of done it earlier, but only now am I getting around to adding additional palette ediiting to my editor. So of course, I have to find the common palette offsets within the ROMS! :

That same idea did enter my mind a while back when I was creating the toolbar icons for the editor. The open/save icons I have created already have a mini 94 like cartridge showing over the folder/diskette. Any chance you can attach the other actually .ico files as well. Even though they may not be used as the final application icon, I can include them in the application exe, meaning people can use the change icon button to select their preferred desktop icon.

Well you're lucky that I'm one of the 5 or so aussies that knows what curling is! Actually, its not that *unknown* as it was featured and explained on TV here during the last winter olympics. If I had the right tools, I would of done the logo in a 3d package of somes sorts to make it look at tad more proper with lighting and reflections. For an hour of play in a 2D graphics editing package, I decided to keep it simple (didn't mess with gradient shades etc), and it'll do for now. I like the concept of the idea so maybe the logo will get a update in the near future. I'll concentrate on getting the damn editor released first!