von Ozbourne

The first step is admitting your shame. The NHL board of governors is ready to return your "Valuable Fan" card once you have proven that you can rectify your oversight. Ew... now my cynical brain is imagining a meeting somewhere where a bunch of suits are complaining that the developers should totally be able to code a live score feed into the game and use the credit card attached to your Xbox Live account to allows you to buy a "Loot Box" that will unlock an "Ovi Celly" if the Bruins can beat the Red Wings by 3 or more.

Figured I'd see what EA was doing for 2024 and saw this. While I accept no responsibility for any influence taken from this post, I would just like to go on record that while I executed the idea first, I also executed the idea.

I could probably hook you up with something that should be easy to follow at some point this weekend. I'll have to reinterpret my notes away from my particular brand of shorthand, but should have something in the step-by-step style that shouldn't be too hard to follow [as long as the program is working well enough to open correctly I suppose] I guess the other question is: What type of sprite style are you looking for? I have a couple of different stripe styles and helmet patches that I use depending on the look, but if you prefer to have something that just looks like the original game sprites, but with tape, I just checked and it looks like I have a version of that too.

I suppose that would depend on what your intention is for the ROM. There is a patch for it, [don't know offhand, but it's in the forum] but the caveat is that it also updates the ice surface to modern standards. All well and good, but doesn't exactly fit a game that is meant to look like it is from the 1994 era. Another option [and the one that I mainly use for period accurate ROMs] is to open your ROM in your sprite editor of choice and import a copy of the taped sticks from another ROM or from a set of image files. I can hook you up with a set of images if you are interested in going that route.

Have to second what Sean said. Especially interesting when it's about a league that I don't know anything about, So I get to learn about it from someone who obviously has enough passion to have put together a game about it.

Hold up, if this were to work, is it possible that the 6000 palette might help out here? I'm wondering if even if the photos still reference the different palettes in the three different locations, could that just not be changed to the same colours? The menu doesn't have a third palette, so it's referencing a blank one. Might just be a matter of checking which instance of the "default rink colours" that the screen uses. i should really search that out later... But on the pre-game screen, it's just a matter of making your Ron Barr or replacement announcer image use the same colours as the players. As for the Player Cards screen, since the logos use that 3rd palette, and since the first palette has grey shades anyway, they can just share the first or second one with the rest of the background. Just need to remember which one dictates what parts change colours with the switch in teams. Have that in notes somewhere... This is all based on the premise that the photos can be converted to 4bpp of course, but if RAM limitations does pose an issue, wonder if commandeering the 3rd [or possibly even 4th] palette might be a possible workaround.

This could still be interesting actually. Quick math would indicate that even if there is no additional space allocated for player photos, once converting from 3bpp to 4bpp, that would still leave enough space for 17.3333 photos per team as opposed to the full 26. But that just happens to be exactly the same number as the starting lineup when counting the three full strength lines and starting goaltender with one spare for a logo or "generic shadow" to represent the rest of the team. Based on the assumption that this is also not going to be a problem.

Well fine, I suppose if I wanted to get pedantic about it, I could say that I am in fact capable of making a series of statements on the many aspects about the game that profess its superiority. What I would not be capable of however, is credibly refuting these assertions.

Ah yes. I should have clarified that since (6x6)-2 is obviously 34 and not 22, but it either slipped my mind or I've spent so much time counting in base-16 that it's second nature. I'll just edit that in. This was also a concern given that the player photos would end up taking up a lot more space. [guessing rather than a "4 is 25% more than 3" thing its a "2³ vs 2⁴" thing] My initial thought was that instead of increasing the bit depth of each photo to use 16 colours, [which would admittedly make things look a lot nicer and be a lot cooler once all the potential heavy lifting is out of the way] but perhaps relocating only the used palette to another location so as to free up the mandatory white and and black used by the other menu assets or allow for the use of multiple palettes. Which in light of the Doug Weight thing, would be pretty inefficient and take a lot of time and extra effort to set up and work with, which is why I wasn't married to the idea beyond general curiosity... I think I'm talking myself out of pursuing this matter any further.

Okay. After spending some time on this, I appear to be at the end of my capabilities. I don't know if this is even an question that can be answered in the affirmative, but I figured I would purge my notes and see if this might prove helpful to others or just be an interesting story about how to listen to the clues that you may be wasting your time. The quest? Can player photos be adapted in some way to use more than the per-requisite 8 colours. It's already been established that as long as the first white and black photo palette colours aren't changed, the remaining six colours can be changed to anything you want in order to introduce colour to the photos. First player card photo offset is at: 30 & 32 Team = 120294 OG game = C6402 [default unused guy] or = C6838 [default players] or = C75E0 [first starting lineup player photo] Colour palette offset = 120294 [decimal] Uses same #1 white and #2 black as menu screen assets and #3 to #8 are grey-scale colours by default, but can be changed to any colours as they are independent of any other asset. This is part of a larger colour palette that starts at offset C6762 Space is allotted for standard arrangement of 4 x 16 colour palettes Photos actually use colours #6 to #14 of palette #2. If using 120294 [decimal] on 3bpp linear as a basis, Palette #1 is the default colours, #2 is blank, #3 is a copy of #1, #4 is blank, #5 is a copy of #1 & #3. Using these settings, there is actually space for two preceding palettes, starting at colour #6 on palette #1, but it is not known if these can be incorporated. Every player photo, in both the default and 30 team version, is preceded by the hex code: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0024 Not sure why the four groups of 0s are required, but best guess on the "0024" is that each player photo is 6x6=36 tiles in decimal, aka 24 tiles in hex This appears confirmed by the fact that the first default player photo to reuse tiles was Doug Weight [offset CE9F4] whose photo leader code is: 0000 033A 0000 03BA 0022 Not sure about the "0000 033A 0000 03BA" yet, but clearly the "0022" points to the fact that Weight's image only uses 22 hex [34 dec] tiles instead of the normal 24 hex [36 dec]. I am guessing that "033A" and "03BA" are overrides for the new colour palette and tile ordering offsets respectively because... Following Weight's image tiles it appears that the "saved" space is just used threefold by additional colour and tile arrangement data anyway. [wonder why they bothered...] At offset CED24: 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EEE 0000 0CCC 0AAA 0888 0666 0444 0222 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 0EE6 Colour data follows previous pattern of using latter half of 2nd palette, although 3rd and 4th are left blank Immediately followed by: 0006 0006 Photos are six across by six down Immediately followed by: 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 200A 200B 200C 200D 200E 200F 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 201A 201B 201C 201D 201E 201E 201F 2020 2021 201E Normal image tile numbered ordering with colour instruction [2000 meaning 2nd palette as noted above] [Unfortunately my copy of the original unedited game doesn't load up when I make edits, probably something to do with checksum info or something... whatever] Used SmozROM tool to make a new "OG - checksum" version. That was the problem. Yay. Changed top half of Weight's image to use "4000" colour option and it came up with the top half using different colours. It appears that palettes might stick to the 8-colour model though so rather than jump to #6 to #14 of #3 palette, possibly they use the colours directly after the adapted "#2" palette and uses colours #1 to #8 of #3 palette. Although now I think they are referencing a palette in a completely different location. It is possible that "0000" colour will be #14 of palette #1 to #5 of palette #2. Or, in testing Winnipeg's Teppo Numminen, who uses 23 instead of 24 tiles, changing the tiles from colour "2000" to colours "4000" and "6000" appear to shift the colours in the image to instead use the colour palettes attached to the background on which the image is viewed [main menu, pre-game screen, player card screen] Top third is "2000", middle is "4000" bottom is "6000". From previous notes, I know that the main menu has no 3rd [6000] palette, for the Pre-Game screen, its 3rd palette is used for Ron Barr's colour photo and the Player Card screen, has a 3rd palette for the NHL and NHLPA logos Final image, default, Winnipeg's Alexei Zhamnov, offset E62D2 image is followed by hex code: 0000 2B0A 0000 2B8A The fact that the difference between the two offsets being "0080", matching that of the Weight example is not a coincidence On further investigation, jumping ahead an offset of 2B0A from this point arrives at the colour palette and tile arrangement data for the Player Cards screen background. Makes sense. 30 Team not as helpful as immediately after the final player image [offset 1C6622] [32 Team = 1D17AA] is the colour palette data for the main menu team banners Tried changing the "0000 0000" on the last couple players to "0000 033A" but it seems that whatever control override for colours was allowed in the original, is not accommodated when the additional teams and photos were programmed in. Soooo.... that's what I got. [sorry for the junk loads of bold, it just helped as I would skim along] Absolutely no idea if there is even anywhere to go with this idea, but I figured why not put it here and see. And if anything, even a failed experiment can be informative, because that's just science.

Noticed that the version of 94 I was using still had this inverted head to ass relationship issue. Using this '93 code and the sock colour offsets @Jkline3 posted, I found that pattern still held true to '94. Figured I'd post here for anyone still needing this and so it's all together in the one post. Here's the "head up asses" fix for NHL 94: OFFSET A74E0: Change "0132" to "011e" OFFSET A74E8: Change "0142" to "012e" OFFSET A7500: Change "011e" to "0132" OFFSET A7508: Change "012e" to "0142"

Probably not to this one since it was based on fictional teams and those cities didn't have teams in the 1980's anyway. Not to say I haven't thought about revisiting this franchise for a Part 3 at some point. Just might be a ways off on that though.

Hah. Thanks man. Although I have to admit that my typical artistic direction is to try to pretend that it is a real, period correct, official released port and stay in character and see where that goes.

Thanks eh. It was certainly an interesting project to make. Will have to see how the next few months unfold, but it's a possibility.

Thanks eh. But come on, can't do half measures right? Oh, and... Why yes, you are. Or the other way around. IIHF still lists the white uniforms as the home kit.

This is actually why I doubled back and specified the alpha-3 codes, which differ slightly from the 3166-1 codes, 'cause if there's one thing I know about standardization, people love when things are standardized. Just as long as it's standardized to the way they like it. However, you have brought to my attention that I for some inexplicable reason started using outdated information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3#Indeterminate_reservations I also seem to have combined Latvia [LVA] and Lithuania [LTU]. Maybe I was thinking of Lathuvania. II. Simon's Quest. Guess I'll just stealthily update that...

Oh, yeah. I've actually done it like this for a while now, it derives from the ISO Aplha-3 country codes. [Canada:CDN, Germany:DEU, Latvia:LVA] The only one where I deviate is usually Switzerland, using SUI [for the French Suisse] rather than CHE [for the Latin Confoederatio Helvetica, because seriously, Latin?]

Okay, breaking kayfabe for a minute since this one is built on such a high number of community contributions, I figure the "you know who they are" level of thanks isn't good enough in this case. So in no particular order, shout outs to @wboy, @slapshot67 and @smozoma for their great work with ROM cracking and tools. @AdamCatalyst for his more recent breakthroughs like three-star code and seeing the distracted ref. @Drezz for his breakthrough on the menu and watermark backgrounds. @Jkline3 for his masochism in redrawing all of the player sprite striping patterns so I didn't have to. Guys like @Sean & @Sedge for putting out some interesting games to draw inspiration and perspective from. And anyone else I may have forgotten to mention, no slight intended.

Alright, Columbo has finally left the room, so it's time I put this one out before he comes back. As I was literally just informed that Vegas beat Florida four games to one yesterday, I am compelled to think back on some recent playoff games that I was much more interested in and the game that was released to commemorate it. Presenting: While not involved in any current-gen release of the popular franchise, Team 1920 is back at it with another 16-bit, '94-esc retro replay edition. In keeping with the IIHF trend of not highlighting one particular cover athlete, unlike the NHL counterparts, this time around we get this guy? Who appears to be some amalgamation of celebratory player that was used in the promotional art for the World Championships prior to any country naming any player on their roster [which makes sense when you put it that way]. Extending the motif to the opening splash screens, I am curious what EA thinks of the Finnish-blue-to-Latvian-maroon gradient. Team 1920 continues the tradition of adapting their logo to the tournament artwork, this time with the motto to promote the first post-lockdown tournament. Using this year's retro NHL menu screen as a base, the artwork is updated with the country flags and long time main sponsor Skoda's logo at center ice. The jersey logos and banners get a new look as well. If you are slow to pick your team, the main menu logos will make way for the roster names and photos, scrolling through the entire team to remind you who made the team and help you choose what country you'd like to play as. TSN studio presenter Laura Daikin lends her likeness to this one with some fun pre-game commentary. It should be noted that Daikin was TSN's main studio presenter for both the Men's and Women's World Championships. [foreshadowing?] The pre-game menu reminds you that Skoda is the main sponsor and gets in there again, along with EA this time, as you get ready to start playing. TSN gets their name out there too as the presentation continues to add up as we finally get to the first drop of the puck. And we catch our first glimpse of Skoda's giant green center ice logo from Tampere and Riga. Eagle eyed players might notice that the ref got a couple updates to his a puck dropping animation when compared to the original Genesis classic. The nets seemed to get a bit of a tweaking as well. The IIHF logos get carried through to new player cards screens where all something-hundred-and-something players get their own individual player photos and no Skoda logos. I've heard of issues with crashing when using this feature, but I've not seen any problem with this in this game. From the game menu, you can also see scores from other games around the federation, presented by TSN's Sportscentre. While the players are organized in numerical order and divided by traditional forward and defence roles, it should be noted that all players are available to be assigned any position. Use this feature for your 4-1 powerplay, or clog up the ice with four d-men to try to keep the score respectable for your outmatched Kazakhs or Hungarians. Just showing off some more team logos to balance the images out, but this is also a good example of the updated logo on the watermark. The main draw on this game is the Tournament Playoff mode. Every team "should" be able to face off against every other team in the Top Division, although I've noticed some laziness with the RNG that determines the first round match-ups. Regardless of who you play as/against, winners are rewarded with hoisting the World Championship trophy and likely a star of the game or three. Not much else to say about this one. The game play is pretty recognizable if you've played '94 before. You may notice that some of the lower ranked teams are a bit tougher to win with due to the lesser speed and skill to work with, but there is a notable gradient between the higher and lower rated players. 8-bits out of 10. Give it a try IIHF 2023 V1.1.bin Oh yeah. Just one more thing... Should mention the special edition feature. While this may look like the home and away logos show up differently, it's actually a matter of this game really being two in one.

Yeah I have them on my list of ideas. Been thinking for a while now that the 2002 Olympics would be the next one I'll try. Not sure how long it'll be until I get to it however.

There is. Slapshot67 did the mod of wboy's 30 team ROM for 2015, but I don't know where to find it anymore. So I guess I can just drop it here. 93 - NHL HOCKEY 2015 w banners.bin

Thanks man. Let us know if the Philadelphia uniforms look alright eh?

So we decided to make a final edition which is fittingly named the Finals Edition. Not a lot to change in this version obviously. A couple new players, some switches in starting goaltenders and lines. Probably the most obvious change is that the default teams have been switched from last year's Finals teams to reflect this year's Game 1 match up. Also, the jumbotron NHL logo has been changed to the new Stanley Cup Finals logo. [Yes, if this were really the Finals, Minnesota and Buffalo would not also be playing a game, I just didn't feel like taking another screen cap when I realized this] And of course, new title screens to set them apart. NHL 2023 RR94 SC Finals Ed [v4].bin NHL 2023 94 Edition SCF [v4].bin Not going to promise a pre-season edition for next year or anything, but any feedback would of course be appreciated. Added to the original post as well

For the record, in this instance I only had to remove a "NHL'4.com credit blurb" that I normally keep at the bottom of the hex code of my ROMs. Never noticed an issue with this before, but this was also the first time I also had a @Drezz background. So I'm wondering if it was simply a matter of the free space being encroached upon too much for the hack tool's liking. Thanks @AdamCatalyst for figuring it out.

Just sent you a PM. You get a bit of a preview of my next "secret" project, but if you can figure it out, I would be immensely grateful.