von Ozbourne

Thanks @Ronnie hope you had a good summer too. This is where I say actually... The short summary is that we did put out a "preview" for this 2025-26 season here. But the slightly bad news is that while this is really a beta version and is about 90% of the way there, this is a partnership with @Jkline3 and coincidentally, both of us are kind of dealing with some extracurricular stuff we'll say. Don't worry though because it just means that while you'll have to settle for this version on opening night... today, it will probably only be a couple weeks or so before version 1.0 is ready to go.

Thanks for liking it. Actually I have to admit that I was confused by your question. I had been tweaking things with a "test bed" ROM for so long that I'd forgotten that this one wasn't already wide screen. i also have to admit that I've gotten so used to the look of wide mode that going back the old-fashioned square screen looks weird. I'll probably roll that out with or shortly after version 1.0 is done [basically just waiting for the teams to figure out their final rosters at this point] Although now I'm wondering if a separate non-wide mode is worth it anymore. Maybe that's too drastic a step and a proper survey should be conducted before making any rash decisions. As for the net camera, to be honest, and I've seen a couple interpretations, but I never really liked the look of it. Given how few pixels there are to work with, it's either a choice of making something big, chunky and ugly, or small, obscure and ugly. Either way, there are some trade offs to be made and I just prefer to keep a clean look for some things.

Looks like this ROM was based on a version that used to have different teams? Guessing since Vancouver's description is about the Syracuse Bulldogs vs Toronto's Charleston Chiefs and there is no comment on Anaheim or Arizona. Since Ron Barr's comments are just linked to the offsets and don't care what text is in that section, the only thing to do is just start at offset 0x95D1E and copy/paste the Ron Barr comments into the order the teams appear on the selection screen.

Had to look again because I thought that was weird. The goalies are in the file. But they are listed as Forwards instead of Goalies. Not sure why it does that. Probably something to do with how the games only really differentiate the Forward and Defence divide and Goalie bytes are a separate thing, but it does make reading the rosters a little bit less clear.

Technically? It does depend a bit if you are using the original ROM vs the 30 or 32-team expanded versions. If it's the original, there is a list of player names and offsets used included in the folder for the EARE tool. This is used by the tool to set the photos used by the player with the corresponding name regardless of where they appear in the roster data. Going to these offsets in your sprite editor of choice can also allow you to see the photo that will be linked to that player. The expanded versions are a bit different and easier to look at. If you open the ROM in a hex editor and go to offset 040E, that is the start of the list of player photo links. For example, in the 32-Team expanded ROM, the first entry is "0012 095E 0000". This means that the player photo at offset 0012095E is the photo being pointed at and player 0000 [the first player, ie: starting goaltender] is the player that that photo is linked to. The next photo in line is 00120CC8 and the 00XX number will depend on what the second player on the list will be. Usually this is a forward or d-man on the top line, but it could be anyone and the "XX" will refer to that player's spot on the roster list [0004 for the player in the fifth roster spot 000F for the 16th, etc.] I should also note that there are some versions of ROMs on this site where only the top line has photos, and the remaining 20 roster spots are generic cards. In these cases, the "00120CC8" or whatever offset number you're looking at, might just be 00000000. in these cases, the game just pics the default righty/lefty goalie/player image. Now granted, the offsets could be changed to whatever order you want depending on what photos are already in those offset locations, or, slightly easier, you can change the player order to match the photos in that list with what player you would like them to be linked to. That all said, this is just an overview based on the presumption that you have some familiarity with these tools. There are some good tutorials on this forum, or if you just need some clarification on something, drop me a DM and I can elaborate. I will say though that depending on how much ROM editing you've done already, one method I've done when I was just starting out was to simply open the ROM in NOSE and an emulator at the same time, and when I needed a player to match a certain photo after the roster and new photos were set, I just used "Move Up/Down" buttons to shift a player's roster position until the photos lined up with who I wanted. [did I mention I was just starting out? It just seemed easier than trying to figure out what I did not yet understand enough to do properly]

Huh, I did not know the offset to make the tool work with '93. Although to be honest, I figured it wasn't coded to recognize the way the other games organized roster data. As a time saving workaround I would just import a roster spreadsheet into '94 and then copy/paste the player data into '95 through '98 when applicable and just did the same for '93. Don't notice an issue with the tool linked, but if it helps, here is the spreadsheet. NHLPA93 rosters.csv

I mean... Turnabout is fair play. 😉

If you're looking to make a roster update, I've done some stuff with all of them and would probably say that '98 is your best bet for a starting point. Caveats being that including the All-Star teams, the game only has 31 active slots [plus two hidden teams, but they replace the East/West teams when activated] So you'd need to pick your least favourite team to omit. Season mode has been cracked in that the schedule order can be edited, but not to have the standings include more than the original 26 teams. So you'd have to pick your six least favourite teams to omit from the season. Unlike '94, no one has made an expanded ROM for '96-'98, so you would be at the mercy of the memory space available for graphics. This just means that without being able to relocate the offsets for logos and such, some attention needs to be paid to how some logos are sized and organized. New York Islanders are a specific one that comes to mind in that the season mode thumbnail logo is smaller than every other team. Why? Ask Thomas Fessler? Some shenanigans can be pulled to switch up the alphabetical order of teams to avoid having to rearrange every logo at least. The title and menu screens are also limited in space available, but if you're only thinking of changing the year number and keeping everything else intact, that shouldn't be too hard to manage. All this said, I have clearly thought about seeing how feasible a current season version of '98 would be, but my free time is already taken up with other projects, so I'm not likely to get around to it any time in the foreseeable future.

Huh. Got the socks corrected, must have missed the overlapping in some version control oversight since the code was fixed in my default build. Since this qualifies as one of those aforementioned "glaring glitches" the update is in the original post. @Jkline3 already addressed the null players, but to be fair, this was pointed out from the start.

Version 0.9.13 is now available in the main post. This will probably be the last of the Summer Showcase versions before the pre-season wraps and we have an idea what lineups are going to be looking like. Unless there are some glaring glitches obviously, but we seem okay on that front hopefully. Main updates for this version are the rosters getting some updates as players get traded, signed, assigned new numbers. Still some info in limbo, likely until training camp gets closer, but here we are. Still yet to unveil the official cover athlete, but the menu screen gets some colour.

I'm going back and forth between "I would like to see what help I can offer in testing" and "Am I even capable of conducting any tests where the goal is literally anything other than 'Is there a limit?' and mapping the border between bonkers and broken?"

D21810 Picked this up on a trip through Red Deer a couple years ago when it occurred to me that I only ever borrowed the game. Ironically have only ever played it once. Old logo and complete inserts which I thought was nice.

I remember coming across WHL Seattle Totems' legend Guyle Fielder's wiki page that mentioned that "He is the fourth-leading scorer in professional ice hockey history, behind Wayne Gretzky, Jaromír Jágr, and Gordie Howe" and thinking that what about Tony Hand? He outscored them all. An editor has since amended that line to specify "North American" so the recognition of centric-thinking is nice. A few years ago I did make an IIHF mod based on the 1994 World Championships and Tony was on Great Britain's team that year. Unfortunately his stats didn't line up so well when compared to the "NHL94 accurate" rating calculations, but then even the best teams only had a few players rated higher than a 60 overall. I think Joe Sakic and Luc Robitaille might be the highest rated players in this game at an 84, which is why I switched to a more contained system for the "remaster" where if the highest scorers in the tournament are given around a 95 score and everyone else is graded on a sliding scale, Tony's performance with an admittedly very weak Great Britain side that year came in looking a bit more respectable.

This is going back a ways, but I'm just looking for some validation in my memory. I seem to recall playing one of the Genesis NHL games back in the day and coming across a weird trick where the puck might be shot in the air but if you pause the game, if halved the velocity of the shot. So Al MacInnis could blast it from the point, but after spamming the start button, the puck would just die in mid air by the face off circle and fall straight down. The thing is that this was obviously on original hardware, and between '92 to '96 I don't recall which game this glitch was in, and I haven't been able to replicate it in emulation. In contrast to the friction along the ice, there doesn't seem to be any friction acting on the puck when airborne and I don't remember this trick having any effect when the puck was on the ice anyway. Not sure if there is any way to track down what would cause this, nor does it have much practical application anyway, but it was just a curiosity that I was reminded of with this statement.

Small update for some new players [pictures coming later] and nine new logos, mostly to cover all of the anniversaries being marked this season. NHL 2026 - Summer Showcase 0.91.bin

Oh. Sorry. I just meant that with most current season ROMs, shortly after they are posted, the league will trade some players and immediately make some rosters outdated. In this case, I took a look at it yesterday and noticed that just that morning, the news came out that Kunlun was traded to Shanghai.

Congrats on completing your first ROM. Although I couldn't help but notice that it didn't take long for the age old question to pop up. Update?

Took a bit longer than we were hoping, but it's nice to have this one complete now. NHL '26 - '94 Edition In recognition of the tradition of adapting EA's well deserved cover athletes to the the 16-bit stage, we're honouring that tradition in the best way possible. New this year, a @Drezz background that does recognise the team got their name on the cup. And giving Dave Reid a break, Bruce is lending his charisma as pre-game analyst. Points leader match up proves that the freeze bug fix is applied. Keeping many of the previous graphics changes including the modernized fonts and watermarks. Did decide to update the Cup this year though. Updated several center ice logos for a lot of coinciding anniversaries or just because teams felt like rebranding, including the new Utah Mammoth. V.1 in narrow view. V.2 in wide view. Colour photos for every player. Obligatory under the hood and minor graphical stuff and acknowledgements: New original custom player attribute stats. All 832 players have colour photos. Thanks @slapshot67 Original JKline player sprite mod based on helmet patch for more accurate and varied uniforms. Pucks that also feature original customized sprites. Puck sprites that change with team colours. Thanks @AdamCatalyst The nets that those pucks can go in have also had their sprites redrawn. New Weight bug fix is applied. Thanks @chaos New Checking formula thanks to that new weight bug fix. New Hot/Cold calculations. SmozROM Ratings consistency fix - player ratings will match hot/cold overall. Thanks @smozoma Freeze Bug applied so no player stats and player name on second line. User Records set to "ON" can still cause crashes with Vegas, Washington and Winnipeg so caution is advised. Expanded goalie roaming area. Go out to the edge of the trapezoid or out to the face off dots to cut down the angle. Thanks @smozoma Goalie can also carry the puck out to the blue line before the automatic whistle. [if play isn't blown for holding the puck too long] Yes we know that the goalie can technically go to the red line, but that would mean having to figure out how to assess delay of game penalties and that's not likely to happen. Goalie Y-button control hack applied. Thanks @clockwise CPU will pull goalie if down by 1 or 2 goals with 1 minute remaining. Thanks @McMarkis Edit Lines hack for any player to play at any position applied. Allows for 4-1 Power play lines. Thanks @TheTome Note that Edit Lines hack does interfere with Saving and Loading Team Lines. Also note that this edit line hack was omitted from the V.2 Edition. Benches have been edited with a new animated coach. EA Sports watermarks have been updated to modern logo. Thanks @Drezz Main menu background hack in use for full custom background image. Also thanks @Drezz New Utah Mammoth name and logo August is a bit early to be thinking about hockey ain't it? Well, yeah, but we're testing some new stats and stuff so why wait. So in a loose reference to the recently completed World Junior Summer Showcase, we figured we'll call this one: Just to keep the old versions in here rather than making a new post or revising history. The NHL '26 - Summer Showcase Edition Obviously this is way too early for the upcoming season so we're still in beta-like mode. Some of the new players have been given new numbers on a "historical precedence or best guess" criteria when conflicts arose. Beyond that, we're trying a few things and wouldn't mind getting some feedback. Some notes, due to how early this is and that there are some depth chart guys that haven't really secured a permanent spot yet, and in the interest of saving some effort later, there are some placeholder players in the game. Please just ignore them as they will be filled in as the actual season gets closer. New for version 4.0.33 Just roster updates. And new photos for new players. New for version 3.0.26 Uniform updates. Updated center ice logos. Still didn't include the hack to play any play at any position in this one. Still only in wide screen game play. Now with 100% more fighting. New for version 2.0.20 Roster Updates with trades up to winter holiday roster freeze. New updated player ratings. Updated more center ice logos. Didn't include the hack to play any play at any position in this one. Wide screen game play. New for version 1.0.13 Roster Updates as of the first week of the season. Changed the menu screen to celebrate the NHL's new goal scoring record holder. New for version 0.9.13 Roster Updates. Still a few spots left open, but most are ready for camp. Changed the menu screen to get ready for the new season. Still hyping that cover athlete reveal. No leaks as of yet. New for version 0.9.10 Updated center ice logos for all of the anniversaries happening this year and a couple new [mostly old] looks. A few minor roster updates as summer signings start to wind up. Cover athlete still to be revealed. Much hype to ensue. Newest Version [as of 2026-04-29] Wide Screen version NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v5.1W.bin Original resolution NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v5.0S.bin Older versions NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v4.1W.bin NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v4.0S.bin NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v3.0W.bin NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v3.0S.bin NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v2.22.bin NHL 2026 - 94 Edition v1.13.bin Beta Testing Summer Showcase Versions NHL 2026 - Summer Showcase 0.913.bin NHL 2026 - Summer Showcase 0.91.bin NHL 2026 - Summer Showcase 0.9.bin

Okay, first, this is all very interesting and I look forward to the day we might be fisticuffing and one-timering in the same game. Second, you bring up something that I am curious about now. You mention the ratings scales in '93 [0-F] and '94 [0-6] have their own math, but also that you are making some adjustments to how those maths get mathed. Hypothetically speaking, would this make it possible to copy the ratings equations for all stats from '93 into '94 so the two would be transferable?

Curious what others use. I've used a different weighted system to smoz depending on the context, but usually I have full line changes on so the Team Overall rating is simply just an straight up average of the Overall rating of every player on that team.

If I might add to this. I've already made a spreadsheet template [OpenOffice format but should be importable your program of choice] You don't actually need to stick to the original calendar, [This file has the 1917-18 season in it as an example] but you do need to make sure that the days are all accounted for. This one was based on NHL98, but the calendars for 96-98 all start on a different day, so you would need to add or delete some days at the beginning to make sure that the dates line up. And note that every day is represented with the format of [Number of games on that day], [Game 1 Home Team], [Game 1 Away Team], [Game 2 Home Team], [Game 2 Away Team], etc... So in the example of 1917-18, the first games are on 19 December, so after a bunch of 00s representing every day from 04 October to 18 December, and teams numbers are zero indexed, so the first official day would look like: 02 02 00 01 03 02 = Number of games played on that day. 02 = First Game, Home Team, 3rd Team [Ottawa Senators] 00 = First Game, Away Team, 1st Team [Montreal Canadiens] 01 = Second Game, Home Team, 2nd Team [Montreal Wanderers] 03 = Second Game, Away Team, 4th Team [Toronto Arenas] The day after there are no games so that is followed by another 00, but the 21st has two games as well so the format is carried on. The other thing to note is that every day must be accounted for, [even 29 Feburary] so the full range in the addresses in each game need to be 00'd out [I think NHL'95's season mode used FF's to nullify the extra space, but '96-'98 uses 00's] I also might recommend going in small chunks of dates. I did a few seasons and had a few typos I'd missed and would end up with dates not lining up or some days with 27 games on them or something and it was a pain to track some of those mistakes down. Last bit. The divisional alignments are listed in another post here [somewhere] so you can set which teams play in which conference, and you don't actually need to include every team in the standings if you don't want, but unfortunately the extra All-Star teams seem to cause some glitches if you try to include them in the season standings in '97 or '98 ['96 had no All-Star teams]. This did open things up for some fun possibilities despite the risks though. 96-98 Season Template.ods

I guess you would be into this silly math stuff then huh. Is it thread hijacking when I started the thread?

Hey @AdamCatalyst, regarding @Jlsegafan2001's question, this is reminding me of a thing and I am curious if the knowledge is transferable. For the '96-'98 editions, there is a byte order that you can actually edit to move an entire team in the selection screens without having to modify any player data or logos. This was actually done in '98 with Carolina occupying the "H for Hartford" slot and was almost the case with Phoenix having a second label where a "W" team might have existed previously. The only issue is that the team ratings and simmed season behaviours are separate and will remain with the team that is in slot #N regardless of what team is moved into that spot. I think[?] '95 might have a similar thing in there [don't quote me]. No idea if this is an invitation for sloppy code or just a "in case of ___, break glass" type thing in a this-is-a-one-off-so-I'm-being-lazy type situation, but I wonder if a similar thing could be done in '94. [even if I would recommend against doing this for all of the caveats mentioned above]

Oh, speaking as @Ziggy Stardust just did, of NHL Hockey vs NHLPA '93, I just remembered a thing. This idea is to keep the Fighting and Fighting* penalties intact eh? I was reminded when attempting to make a game with "Blade of Steel" style fighting penalties, [Two minutes for LOSING!] that the rule didn't exist yet in '92. Curious if the game logic is going to support the separation or if that might be a casualty of the conversion. @Drezz You say what we were all thinking.

Alright. How about whatever logic defines the sixth skater and the goaltender, and put them both on the ice at the same time? There is a 1920 Olympics mod already out there that could use some accurate rules. Plus a potential for an old Pacific Coast Hockey Association mod with this addition.