von Ozbourne

I think it could work. In the 30 team 94 ROM, I added it to the tail end of the code and there was still quite a bit of room left over in the 2MB version. I believe you could essentially do the same thing in 95 unless there is some weird issue with available RAM. I had to slightly increase the amount of tiles to accommodate the player cards coming through, so I suspect this would be the case for 95. I'm not familiar with trying Drezz's method in '95, but I did notice that there are 727 unique tiles in the ROM data. while the menu background is 40x28=1120 tiles. I was able to use the less intrusive method of reordering them to get some different looks, but I was playing around with the 34-team ROM though and encountering a lot of glitches similar to @kingraph's playoff screen issue any time I tried to get too fancy with that and other assets. Haven't tried using the much-more-stable original 26-team ROM. Might yield better results. [assuming that RAM concern doesn't prove prophetic]

Very interesting. Reminded me of how much I miss the longer individualized team descriptions when they were omitted from '94. I'm curious though, I had intended on taking a look into this version of '93 at some point, mainly for the same reasons as you, and party because I like the spinning EASN logos on the opening splash screen. The disconnect of the All-Star teams is a little bit of a draw back though. Makes me wonder if there is an easy way around that or if it's just how it is if you want to modify the teams in any way. [read: more trouble than it's worth]

This is pretty cool. Sign me up for guys that would be interested if you're up for sharing notes. I've played around with that background for a few mods, but always gone with just editing and reordering the existing background tiles. Totally up for a less fiddly and time consuming option.

Think we might need more information to go on to figure out where you are, but something comes to mind that we should get out of the way first. I'm curious, are you using the 30 or the 32-team ROM? The problem with the 32-team mod is that, like the original game, only the starting lineup gets a picture and every other player is stuck with default left/right-handed player/goalie image. Now if you're using the 30-team mod, you should already have an image in the ROM data for every player, so it should just be a matter of tracking that down and replacing it. [Once you've been able to determine where that player's data references are of course]

Black seems a tad dark on the stark white ice, but it's interestng to see how it comes together. I'll PM you the resulting ROM.

I think the issue with that is the fonts. There are, if I recall correctly, three "basic" fonts and four large that are visually identical to each other, but functionally are used in different contexts. One of which, in both cases, includes the transparent “mesh” or “checkerboard” or whatever you want to call it. It might[?] be as easy as also making the text background black as well. <pause for quick testing> Well, it's a start. Just used the original grey, but swapping the grey for black, and probably changing the fonts to the clearer older style since that drop shadow wouldn't show up anyway, would likely yeild the result you are looking for.

Hey thanks eh!

After a long hiatus, it's finally time to revisit the World Championships. ...with a twist. The story behind this entry is that as the new millennium approaches, it is now the time of the PlayStation and EA games have fully embraced the era of low-poly 3D models, janky animation and really learning what the word "clipping" means. As for the IIHF series, it is also reaching a milestone in releasing its tenth game. I do not have this game. However, as a bonus Tenth Birthday surprise, the Anniversary Edition of this game has an Easter egg in the menu where you can load up an retro version of the game based on the NHL'94 ROM. So, presenting the retro review of: First thing one will notice is that the game art is more of a reference to NHL'94 rather than IIHF'94. This is mostly due to the game being built on the architecture of the PlayStation version of the game and some limitations imposed with that. There are a few differences that will show up between this version and the original, starting with how Team 1920 got the call to adapt it to the IIHF, but the rest of the old credit scroll was disabled. When the main menu comes up, the Play Mode is the second difference, [third counting the missing second splash screen] You start with a "Play Now" option and the User Records were disabled. Likely due to not having a way to save them on the PlayStation. Another big change is that there is no Ron Barr introducing the game [for obvious licensing reasons] and while, unlike the retro NHL'94 version with fake random player names, this game does have the real player names, but the connection to the photos had been severed and only these staticy silhouettes remained. [which meant that the researcher didn't have to spend any time trying to find photos of all of the players, so hey, that's fine] An interesting difference for the playoffs, the updated IIHF World Championship trophy makes an appearance [in it's final form before being retired in favour of a new trophy unveiled at next year's tournament] Player cards get some nice updated logos, but of course no photos. Another interesting difference with the PlayStation version is that the code for the player stats is wholly dependant on a "blank defenceman" being listed in the code for the players or else the stat screen completely breaks. No idea why this is, just that it takes up bytes. Also in the "no idea" file, the "Press A to Switch teams" text on the bottom of this screen was removed. Trying to put it back just breaks things, but the text not being there doesn't mean that you can't still press A to view your opponent's player stats anyway. One on-ice improvement over the original IIHF'94 is that the full licensing agreement by this time means that ice logos are based on team uniform logos as opposed to each country's flag or coat of arms. It's tiny, and not quite the right colour, but the World Champs trophy makes an on-ice appearance once you win the playoffs as well. A final note. Since the game is not being emulated within a PlayStation game, this End Game menu item doesn't actually do anything. Apparently an interview with a Team 1920 spokesperson at the time revealed that while this game was "an interesting challenge to work with, it is unlikely that we will be revisiting it for any future releases." So there you have it. IIHF 2000 [10AE].bin

Have to say, I like the look of that rink. I've been sketching ideas for my own outdor rink, but in leaning for a much older style without glass means I can't borrow that awesome transparent look.

This is the kind of interesting thing that you don't think about as a kid. Design iteration? Supply chain changes? Why wouldn't they just make them all the same? Seems I have a model 2 [grey and SEGA branded cord], which sounds like the better model? but admittedly I don't use it much as I prefer my 6-button.

Looks like Jkline beat me by 5 minutes. If you're interested, I have tinkered with it for my IIHF Roms, sadly I have not found how to change the colour palette so you're kind of stuck with silver But the only thing I can add is that save states and two player head-to-head are your friends. Unless of course you want to play four games in a row every time you make a tweak...

If I may offer some more info I've acquired on the refs, I was chatting with Jkline3 about them and how every ref/linesman image other than the faceoff popup seems to have some really crazy compression going on there. To the point where the animation, arrangement and image data even looks like it's all smashed into a single tile. Even simple recolouring [him, dasherboards; me, zebra suit] seems to be verboten and guarantees a glitch. Luckily I got to do some of that giant-shoulder standing thing and didn't waste as much time on it as I could have. Definitely more big-brain stuff than I can pull off, but if one of the real big-brains around here is able to dissect those guys, that would be awesome. I just suspect that it was not a big enough priority to look into thus far. Annoyingly, this seems to also be the reason why there doesn't appear to be any graphics tiles for the EA Sports "watermarks" in the background of all of the stats/pregame screens. As someone who likes to rebrand the games, necessitating a different watermark, it would be nice to, likely, redirect these backgrounds to a different section of the rom where one could put any watermark one pleases. So far the only solution I've found is just setting all of the background colours to the same shade.

Or, you know... multiple backups. Admittedly, I've accidentally glitched something and, because I was editing/testing for something else, it went unnoticed for a while and required going back a few versions to find out what the clean working code looked like. At least that way you can just copy/paste over the offending part and start over fresh.

You know, I was still using v0.15a for just this reason. Downloaded v0.16, but for some reason, never got around to switching my shortcut and promptly forgot about it. The real kicker is that the "Press F5 to Go To Again" function doesn't function in 15a, if you are using it to navigate Relative that is. It just defaults back to Absolute mode and that's not helpful when you are say, putting in logos. I see that 16 fixed that... kind of annoyed at myself on that one. Although speaking of forgetting, when I was starting out, I originally would just use game screen captures to mock up certain assets and only ever used the Import function. I've since graduated to working on individual assets, [although sometimes seeing everything all together helps with design choices] but for 90% of the cases, I already have base photoshop files that I just make a copy of for say, splash and title screens or the tile overlay or team banners. Definitely going to have to try exporting for that other 10%. To be honest, that's why I use the scrap file. I've done stuff like set up Actions for arranging player photos and a few other things, but for anything that isn't a straightforward import image and move on, I always return to the scrap file. Especially when I'm changing the trophy. Being that it's arranged in 1x4 chunks, I find it easier to just make my working file one tile wide and then paste over the sections. I haven't either, but I will note that for a couple of projects where I've found myself getting very particular with the look of logos, I've Indexed them using a Local palette and then gone into the colour table to change the RGB values to something in the Genesis "Everything is in multiples of 32" range. Very time consuming this way, but I found it was the only way that I get the amount of control I want, especially when I want to fudge some anti-aliasing or make something resembling a gradient. And since old-school consoles didn't rely on dithering the way computers did, I find it the best way to get that look and the separation, when say the source is a gradient of blue between 0-0-180 and 0-0-200, I'll just expand it to 0-0-160 and 0-0-224, and dither the middle just a little bit so that 0-0-192 band in between isn't so sharp. Like I said, time consuming and slightly obsessive. Can not recommend.

My workflow is very similar [especially the full screen mock ups] but I have a couple questions and/or I suppose a suggestion regarding this. First the question: When you say "export" what do you mean by that? Only ask because my version of "export" is just to set magnification at 100% and then print screen and paste it into photoshop, cropping out what I don't need. While quick and dirty, the gamut handling between TM->PC->PS always seems a bit off. Especially when I index an image to 16 colours for the purpose of having better control over how it looks when I import them. As long as I change the colour table to match the RGB values available in the Genesis palette, it works just fine, but if there is a more 1:1 information transferring method, that would probably be worth adopting. My question/suggestion re: tile reordering: Do you do that in Photoshop as well? I actually did that for one project until the tedium got to me. Now I just import the full image into a scrap file, [usually just a previous version of the game I'm making, sometimes just a blank file] make sure my active colour palettes match, then either rearrange the tiles in the scrap file, or just go straight to cut/pasting into the file I'm working on. [Much better than my original method of using a hidden layer with a grid of 8x8 pixel squares and alternating between wand tool, layer select and cutting and pasting.

Ah ha found it. I had some notes copied on this, but even better than that, this is the thread regarding puck collision. This edit more noticeably affects how close the puck gets to the boards, but a few replies later, Brodeur30 goes into how it also changes the puck's collision with the net. Heh, come to think of it, make it even harder by expanding the goalie free movement area. Makes it really easy to get way out of position if you like to turn on manual goalie control.

There's a hex code edit that can adjust the hit box of the nets as well. This can be used to make them effectively smaller, [even though the sprites will look the same] forcing you to take more precise shots. As for the cut in front move, I've found that using smozoma's suggestion of decreased speed boost and lower endurance, in addition to increased opponent Defensive Awareness can result in the AI defencemen clogging up those easy lanes and your forwards not having the ability to overcome them. Overdone, this can turn your games into a slogfest, so use with caution.

Hey, thanks eh!

This was a dumb idea. But as it is my habit for doing weird and/or esoteric stuff, the question started off innocently enough. "What if there was a game where you play in a beer league, that is sponsored by actual beer companies? I mean... Breweries used to have teams back in the day... granted then so did factories, offices and banks." "Except instead of real company teams, you make it play like a typical beer league." "Yeah this is already sounding silly." "No, it's sounding funny and awesome and you have to do it." "I *have* to eh? Ah what the hell..." So with that mindset, we dive into: The backstory on this one was that, while developing IIHF Hockey [1991] for the Genesis, a small section of Team 1920 was unwinding with a few brews after hours and thought it would be funny to use the game engine to make a beer league game. This breakaway group called themselves the "Twist Cap Division" and did the work in their free time, which they had some of since crunching wasn't as prevalent back in those days. They took 22 of their favourite beers and named teams after them, subbing them in for the international teams. Bottle caps made for great logo references and a Beer League Hockey logo displaced the EA Hockey League logo because never mind them. The idea was that these guys would never play in a big arena, so the smaller community centre look was used for the pre-game team preview screen. Playoffs were divided up and Easter eggs were thrown around willy-nilly. Just assume that everything is an Easter egg. Such as the black and white Elsinore brewery teams. If you've seen Strange Brew, you know exactly how well these guys play hockey. The kids today might be tempted to call this team the "Dark Souls of Hockey", but they aren't *that* bad. Broadcast sponsorship was "provided" by local channel C-BRU - Channel 13. Fittingly, the beer leaguers are playing for glory and a golden trophy. Based on a real trophy, which is just a regular keg painted glorious metallic yellow. The actual golden trophy was the stuff inside it. This was a dumb idea. Please enjoy responsibly. UPDATE: Version 1.1 features corrected the bench players, so they wear the same uniforms as the guys on the ice. Beer League Hockey 91[1.3].bin Beer League Hockey - 40oz Edition[1.3].bin Disclaimer: This game was based on the PAL port of EA Hockey [1991] as I am apparently obsessed with the extra speed and arcadey physics that it provides. For best results, set your device to 60hz NTSC.

Ooooh.... uh. He was slumping? Actually thanks for pointing that out. [It always bothered me when I see the wiki page that says WHL legend, Guyle Fielder is the " fourth-leading scorer in professional ice hockey history, behind only Gretzky, Jagr and Howe". Completely ignoring that Hand outscored and the citation is just North American biased] As the Olympic pre-qualifying teams were basically 90% the same as their World Championships rosters, I might have just borrowed the stats I already made. But as my IIHF '94 mod was intended to be in line with the default NHL '94 ratings, [where tournament leader Paul Kariya was only rated a 70 overall] this ended up meaning that most players were average to weak by comparison. [Something I departed from in subsequent years] I decided to give the field a speed/agility bump to make the game more fun, but.... kind of forgot to do that with the four non-qualifiers. Patched version added to the original post.

...grumble. Even if we win, shootouts are a dumb way to end a hockey game. I know why the IIHF did it. Same reason they used to switch ends halfway through the 3rd period. Ice and environmental conditions on outdoor rinks meant that they needed to be fair and the ice wouldn't be able to hold up to endless overtimes. But hey, indoor rinks and artificial ice meant we don't have to worry about that! And other than needing to make sure that the game ends on time so the area can be clear for the next game that was already scheduled for later that day... Well that's not exactly going to be a problem in the Final now is it? ah...Sorry. </rant> Oh cool! Need to see if I can find one of those old magazine articles!

Thanks eh! Actually the "ambitious project" is supposed to be NHL '95 based thing, but I've been running into a lot of glitches and instability linked to the nature of the 34-team mod. The annoying thing is that I could probably just drop the eight additional teams and go with the original 26-team version, but my head canon has already determined that I must have 34 teams. [even if eight are unavailable to use in season mode] I'm curious about the medium goal. I.... think [?] I used the mod were the puck-to-boards collision is closer, [I usually use a 2 instead of a 5 setting] but to be honest I used one of my default "a bunch of mods already applied to this one" ROMs and I kind of forget if that one was in there. If i recall correctly, the puck-to-boards collision distance also affects the puck-to-net collision, so I guess I'm wondering if that's what you are referring to, or is there a way to reduce the net size, while not having the pucks bounce off an invisible wall a foot off the boards.

Been too long since completing something, so I figured I'd put the more ambitious projects on the back burner and bang this one out. After getting the most and least recent [as of 2022] versions of the Olympic hockey tournaments, figure there is no harm in bouncing around a bit. So, for the next retro review... Presenting: Released in late January 1994, and with the Olympics no longer doubling as the World Championships, this was one of two international tournament ports for the '94 season, and third game overall in this incarnation of the game engine including the original NHL game. 3rd party developer Team 1920 is continuing to partner with the IIHF and featured 1994 Olympic mascots Kristin and Håkon on the splash screen. Prior to the banning of official National Team iconography by the IOC, team logos are allowed to be featured. The IOC did make sure however that there was no shortage of ensuring that you know that this is an Olympic game by making sure their Rings emblem got in there too. The official broadcast sponsor for this year's games was CTV in Canada, with lead presenter Rod Black getting the nod to present the games here as well. While the Lillehammer logo's "snow drift" was copied over to the team banners, the Olympic Rings logo got copied over to everywhere else. Just in case you might have forgotten what game you were playing. All teams play out of the same two arenas in Lillehammer and Gjovik, and the 1994 Olmpics "hockey player" logo that was featured at center ice is adapted well here. More Rings for the Stars. Obviously a tournament mode for the Gold Medal is featured in the game. With only 12 teams taking part, some teams are given a bye in the first round. A cleaner look with blank bye rounds would have been nicer for this, but it is clear that the limitations of the game engine influenced the presentation. Each team gets full player cards, plus a bonus. In addition to the twelve teams that competed at the Olympics, teams from Great Britain, Japan, Latvia and Poland, [that competed against eventual winner and final qualifier Slovakia in the pre-qualification tournament in Sheffield] are available for exhibition and a "Re-write the Road to the Championship" style mode. While not originally featured in Playoff mode in the demo copy sent for evaluation, it seems the sneaky devs went ahead and unlocked them for the the final release. Final score: 3/5 Rings - A bit of a lazy art asset swap, but still has the same solid game play of a main EA release of those days. Olympic Hockey - 1994 Lillehammer.bin EDIT: Upgraded the non-qualifier's attributes to match the more "arcadey" [faster] feel intended for this game. Olympic Hockey - 1994 Lillehammer 1.1.bin

Heh. Same here. As someone who ran a GM-mode pool a while back, [draft teams and play a season on demo mode] the 50-80 shots, 200-250 pass attempts and 60-100 face offs made for some bizarro stat collecting. Plus it was a bit predictable in the end. The last finals was a modest team, with Patrick Roy in net, winning 4-2 over a slightly less modest team with Dominick Hasek in net. The President's Trophy winner was swept in the second round due to only having Mike Richter between the pipes.

Not off hand, although the banners and logos are all listed together. I suppose the follow up would be if you have knowledge of a drawing program and sprite editing tool.