von Ozbourne

Because that's not what this topic is about. But on the topic of player images, after sleeping on it, I realized that I can address a bit of the colours issue by adjusting the collar of the sweater. By centring the neck in a way where the middle two tiles only have neck and the sides only have sweater, and maybe using some creative greying to blend the two, the middle can be kept at the default colours leaving one more colour available for the shoulders. Probably yellow, although that still means that there are only five universal tones available for all 32 teams. Might as well share this option as well even though it is a bit half baked at the moment. Regarding the Player Cards screen, the colour sharing issue could be addressed by setting some of the tiles behind the photos to overlay the photo layer. This is in the hex code for the background of this screen and can be done by changing the 36 "00E5" tiles that make the background of the photo/logo area [shared by the top row of the coloured team name line] to "A0E5". The "A" meaning both that the tile will adopt the #2000 palette colour used by the team banner as well well be displayed on the top layer. Although you will also want to change the "0E0" part to the numbers of different tiles as well. Probably two that will be commandeered to make a mirrored shoulder shape with a transparent background. The stipulation here though is that those tiles will also overlay the team logo, so unless you are like me and like to have uniform coloured backgrounds behind your team logos, and position the logo in a way that doesn't interfere with the space allocated to the player shoulders, and also don't mind having the same shoulder shape for every single player, [something that I suppose isn't as much of a problem if you are using a more artistic style for the photos] then maybe this is an easier option that also provides more versatility in colour. But only on this screen.

I don't know how useful this will ultimately be as the options are limited, but I figured I might as well add a hypothesis turned discovery on this topic. I found the code that determines the player photos layout and changed the bottom row from 20XX to 60XX. This meant that it would now use the fourth palette option when displayed on a screen. The drawback is that it uses a different palette depending on what screen it is on. Main menu is easy. That palette is open and unused [unless you are using Drezz's menu bg hack, in which case it is also a spare, unless you are like me and set your entire background to use palette 6000 in order to separate it from the overlay assets] The colours are used universally though, so after accounting for white, black, grey and a light skin tone, that only left four colours remaining. I suppose if one when with a comic book style shading and put a shadow or over the neck area, or maybe just gave everyone crew necks, the grey and single minded skin could be removed in favour of six total colours. For this test my only colours were red, orange, green an blue. The wrinkles however show up when you get to other screens, like the pregame, where palette 6000 is subbed in with what the host and overlays are already using. Some rearranging of colours, while staying true to what the windows and text to stay put, meant that the Ron Barr's substitute needed some rearranging, but it can work. I haven't yet fixed the Hot/Cold things, but that could have been made to work well enough in the new confines. The Player Cards screen uses yet another set of background colours, with 6000 normally being reserved for the NHL/PA logos. But the odd part is that the photos actually borrow palette 0000 from the background. I actually added an extra bit of mess here in making the background different so some parts are affected more than others. I was able to have some of the background share palette 6000 with the NHL/PA logos, and I suppose if the whole background were changed to do that, it would make it so the colours can be changed without having the other bits get messed up. The only problem now is that while it is interesting to have some colours, I'm finding it a bit constraining to have so few to work with anyway.

This... This is a thing that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. Basically because technically there are 32 different playoff draws that can be drawn from. And I've actually been annoyed by the lack of variety in first round matches to the point where I've gone in and set the draws up in a way where every one is completely unique. But then when playing a game and scrolling trough the playoff options, it still seems that the teams still favour one or two opponents a disproportionate amount of times. So I don't have an answer to why, but I'm just guessing at this point that there is something in the way the game handles the playoff draws where it's not actually just going down the list every time you pick a team,

A few days late on this one, but better than never right? And with the fairly predicable trend in the current playoffs, I guess this means one can virtually correct reality. Presenting: The reason why this one is getting its own entry is because it is by a new team comprised of @AdamCatalyst, @Jkline3 and myself, and combines hopefully the best contributions of both of our previous games, under the banner of the X-Factor Edition. Also switching it up with some retro art style adapted to the modern logo. And Ron Barr gets called back to call the games. And if the duo-tone Oilers uniform and logo isn't enough of a clue, this edition puts its emphasis on the alternate uniforms when available. Retro and modern styling combinations stretch into the Player Cards. Not in black and white though, but that's kind of just channelling the SNES version. Player benches are imported from Adam's release, with some new animated Coach sprites. Players can play any position. Long names contracted to original 9_10 format. Player sprites adapted with the composite sticks New 3-Star calculator And more... Hope you folks enjoy this one. NHL 2024 - X-Factor 94.bin

https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/9966/winnipeg-jets/2023-2024 Default 2024/25 year does not have all player numbers listed yet, but last year[?] does. I guess maybe you need to check all the tabs? The Roster tab has just the bio info. Number, name, age home town, height, weight, handedness. Stats tab only has the name and stats. There is a Depth Chart tab and an In The System tab for minor leaguers, but you basically have to check each player individually to get any of their info. Lines tab just links to a popup of Daily Faceoff, which I guess is better than nothing.

Jersey numbers? <quick check> Ah. yes, they defaulted to 2024/25 already. I set it to 2023/24 and the player numbers were listed. The thing with that site is that you have to select each team individually and they don't always have complete data on everything. On the data side, they format it weird, so basically I have to copy the table and paste it into a spreadsheet with html formatting, then convert it to default formatting and delete the team icons. And un-merge the joined cells. ...Yeah the site used to be formatted more usefully until a couple years ago. The lack of right or left defence is a drawback though. Supposedly leftwinglock.com is good for getting line combos and game sheet type stuff, but it requires you to register to use the site. No idea if this registration is also a paywall thing though because I just couldn't be asked to do it. I hope this information is good enough to satisfy a plea bargain. Although I am curious if I should be let off with a warning as clearly by whipping out a 20 year old reference, I have illustrated that I am simply out of touch and not a threat to society or myself.

I've been more of an eliteprospects kind of guy, but then they tend to be better than any of those other sites at having non-NHL player data. Although admittedly, they aren't a one-stop-shop as some of their data is not always as complete as one would like. Also, if pardon may be begged, this isn't really my wheelhouse, but this was the first thing that came to my mind today. The Caps bought Cap Friendly and are putting it behind a paywall? Seems those Caps... aren't being very friendly.

Clearly you didn't mean to forget about the last active player to have been featured in the game in one Magnus Eliasson. Who after one season with Huskvarna/Vätterstads IF, who coincidentally was the previous season's champion, went on to a meandering career which ultimately took him to his final team in Lidingö where he hung them up after the 1999/2000 season. Only to take them back off the hook in 2011/12 to play in five games for a newer Lidingö team, in the Swedish 4th Division, netting two and adding a helper and six PIMs before retiring again. Only to unretire again just this past season of 2023/24 at the age of 55 to again lace them up for five games as his Lidingö Islanders were by now, relegated to Div 5, this time getting on a score sheet with one minor penalty. Who knows if his skates will again be called upon next season, or left hanging in the garage for another extended rest, but... just a though, if ol' Magnus doesn't mind dusting them off now and then, and he and Lidingö can work together on this, in just six years, he could lace them up one more time and get into the history books alongside none other than Mr. Gordie Howe as the only players to have played professional hockey in six different decades. Assuming Jagr doesn't do it too.

Oh? I'll be honest. I haven't tried this out yet, but I tend to concentrate on iterating and testing a bunch of things individually. I will say that I have settled on a naming convention of naming photos using the player's name as it appears in the game. That way I can copy the names out of NOSE and paste them in the import option in TM. And if they get traded, I can just copy/paste in the new spot without having to worry about the file needing to be renamed. That said, for the high turnover tournaments like the Olympics and World Championships, I did raid the IIHF website and name the photo files in the format like "CAN16.png". The reference point being that the image is of the player on Team Canada who wore #16. Rather than the player for Canada occupying the 16th or 23rd roster spot. I am kind of curious if the tool can use that as a reference to pull from in these cases. [I am reminded of how I had Sebastian Aho and Sebastian Aho<invisible underscore character> in the game in order to differentiate them because having just names runs into the odd issue like this] I will say that when I was trying out EARE more for the photos, I learned how each photo corresponds to an offset that can be put in anywhere in the order of rosters in the main menu/player cards. In theory, one could just put all of the photos in one big batch in alphabetical order, and then simply rearrange the order of offset link references [or whatever words be good] I did forget about this option eventually because it seemed like it could get fiddly once bubble players start getting called up and sent down. The colour palettes and logos part is intriguing to me though. [even if I had already made a version of a ROM that shifted the teams around to leave the blank space under the "U"]

Ah. Yeah I've actually looked into a couple Game Gear hockey games just out of curiosity. Had more luck with SEGA's NHL All-Star Hockey than EA's '94 or '95 entry since most of EA's graphics appear to be compressed. Only issue with SEGA Sports' NHL game is that, while I figured out that the graphics use the 4bpp planar rather than linear codec, I can't figure out where the colour palette data is. At that point though, it was quickly looking like a project that would take a lot of time to figure out, for something that would be of very limited interest, and I've got enough of those under my belt already.

Unfortunately, I would have to say that the industry knows exactly what they are doing. While your idea would make the most sense for a whole bunch of reasons, The problem is that it relinquishes a bit of that control that the publishers cling to like Gollum to the ring. And similar to the NHL's issue these days, their standard operating procedure is to grab the quick buck now, even at the expense of more money later. [At least the NHL hasn't figured out how to make a terms of service for jerseys so you are not allowed to own the one you bought, but merely pay for a limited term licence. Although, they are switching to Fanatics next year...] The other part of it is that they need the hype. And pre-orders. And embargoes on reviews. And limited run FOMO. That way they get your money before you have any idea whether or not they even deserve it. And keep the buying public in the dark until it is too late to do anything about it. Basically, this is why I'm glad I never really got out of my childhood habit of being very frugal with my allowance and would wait for games to go on sale or at least until the reviews were out and I knew if I would still find a game worth buying. That said, I would totally be okay with your "double dip" model if it meant that physical editions would not just be code-in-a-box, occasionally with a decorative coaster included.

Ah, yeah sorry. I may have leaned in a bit to hard on the world building on this one.

Huh. I never would have thought of it that way. I wonder if that type of process is related to the prevalence of "Live service" these days. Although to be honest, other than DLC and patches for games on my Switch, I tend to prefer to deal with "final versions" to avoid messing with updates. [and I rarely get games when they are new these days anyway] At least with a ROM, it should theoretically be easier as there is no updating to worry about, just a new standalone file.

I found myself getting hung up on this as the idea seemed so foreign. But then I had to remind myself that I grew up in an era when every computer game came on a shiny disc with a hole in the center and the initials "CD-ROM" prominently emblazoned on it somewhere. Now, with physical media being less prominent [with gamers as opposed to collectors] and many game playing experiences beginning simply with "Open Steam account or home screen on device of choice and click an icon", has what used to be considered general knowledge become a barrier to entry?

Hmm. Good point. I mean, my thought process is that the addendums get added to the end...um, but when our esteemed competitor is using a completely opposing methodology, possibly in an attempt to breed confusion and distrust in our efforts, I suppose one can only respond with additional clarity. I guess one could respond with like vitriol and contempt, but there is enough of that in this world as it is, and unlike our esteemed competition, I do not wish to contribute to that narrative or environment, so I mean that one should only respond with additional clarity. I did however add some text to make clearer the chronology of updates in the original post.

Wilkes-Barre This was a tough one. Feel free to improve it anyway you see fit. -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 192 192 160 160 160 128 128 128 064 064 064 032 032 032 160 000 000 064 000 000 224 192 032 160 128 000

San Diego Lots of thin lines and fine detail on this one. Kind of bulked up and shaded the gist of it. Hopefully it still works. -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 192 192 160 160 160 128 128 128 064 064 064 224 096 000 224 128 032 224 160 096 032 064 128 000 128 192

Alright. not exactly pleased with this one, but the compulsiveness is realizing that it's past my bedtime. San Jose -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 128 128 128 128 160 160 160 160 192 128 096 032 224 128 032 064 096 096 000 128 160 064 160 192

Lehigh Valley -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 064 064 064 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 192 128 032 128 064 032 224 160 128 032 032 000

Syracuse -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 000 032 096 032 064 128 064 096 128 064 096 160 096 128 160 128 160 192 160 192 224 192 192 224 192 224 224

Glad you took that one. Looks good. Henderson -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 064 064 064 096 096 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 128 096 032 160 128 032 000 224 000 [unused] Springfield -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 128 128 128 192 192 192 190 032 032 224 192 032 160 128 000 000 000 032 000 032 064 000 064 128 000 096 160

Ontario [not the province, but the city that was named after the province] -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 064 064 064 096 096 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 224 000 000 [unnecessary] 000 224 000 [unnecessary] 000 000 224 [unnecessary] Providence -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 064 064 064 160 160 160 096 064 000 160 128 000 224 192 000 224 192 064 224 224 064 224 224 128

Is that an older or alternate one? I got this directly from the AHL website.

Well now, I was looking at the version of their logo that was just the pig head, but I will say that the detail on the text looks really good here even with the limited resolution.

Couldn't decide on this one so I took a multiple choice page as well. All use the same 11 colours. emulating the gold border on the word mark. no gold border. just grey and white hybrid. gold border on the larger "Eagles" but not on the tiny "Colorado" Colorado -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 192 192 160 160 160 064 064 032 224 192 064 224 224 096 000 032 128 096 128 160 192 000 032 224 128 160