AdamCatalyst

Right, I forget about being able to open multiple instances of NOSE! But if I may suggest something, I highly recommend using a duplicate file (preferably locked) for the source ROM, rather than risking a mistake with two open versions of the same file. My skin literally crawls when I think about the risk of accidents otherwise! I *HAVE* to get the lines done this way. Going to go look at it ASAP and start trying to build this out. Ideally, code for all roster moves would just be straight from my spreadsheet, and this should be a good step to getting closer.

Awesome! I'm sure that you *probably* thought of this, but just in case you didn't, you could limit the white to the home skate blades to ensure that you always have white in your palette, and then colour your sticks however. I mean, technically you could have the white colour in the Home palette and not use it for anything, but I think it looks PERFECT for the skates! One tiny little thing I noticed, was that behind the visitors bench, on the boards and glass that lead into the dressing room, there is a seemingly stray pixel or two. Lastly, what did you change with the goaltenders? Something about them just looks really nice. Also, your nets. Hadn't noticed those before. Nice.

I'm going to try and initiate this as soon as I can, which likely means in weeks or months.

I'm literally thinking of checking out ChatGPT once the season is done, to see if it can help me wrangle data, or script some other solutions to make modding easier.

Thanks for your kind words. I struggle enough as it is for the few little changes I make. Implementing a season mode, stats, etc. is orders of magnitude beyond what I could broach. I honestly think it would be easier from someone to develop a platform that did all that on its own, and used an embedded ROM for gameplay, rather than pushing the original to go that far.

OK, off the top of my head… - Updating the lines. Every update I do some re-factoring based on real-world player usage, and the research and setting of lines in my spreadsheet is probably the single most labour intensive thing. Then it feels terribly innefficent to manually enter those lines into NOSE. I should really figure out how to generate code for the lines directly from my spreadsheet to cut out the data entry work I am going in NOSE. - Updating the player photos. Importing images one at a time is quicker than I would have expected, but it certainly feels very inefficient. I've toyed with the idea of trying to re-architect this bit so that a flat contact sheet of all photos could be imported. - Anything to do with player movement. Trades can so quickly add up to a ripple effect of changes, first all my research moving data around in my spreadsheet, then propagating that in NOSE by moving players, re-factoring lines for multiple teams, and then in TileM, moving player photo image data. I'm sure there has to be better ways than I have been doing this. - Data wrangling. I'm not exactly a programmer, and need better ways of bringing in data to my spreadsheet, and automating more of my work. I am still manually researching and updating jersey numbers for instance. I'v figured out some ok tricks and data sources, that I plan to share with people when I have the time. Part if this is self-inflicted pain, I insist on using loads of data sources and calculations to rate things, and I'm constantly having to fight between desired accuracy and maintainability. I could literally describe to an AI what it needs to do for 90% of this, but I lack the skills to automate nearly any of it. Serves me right for not studying computer science in school. I *love* the NHL Roster tool. In an ideal world, a similar tool would exist to accommodate lines, player names, roster order, etc. through an intermediate CSV.

Couldn't agree more. When I stumbled upon this place, I was take aback that modified ROMs were being shared for free! I'm used to only circulating delta patches (or similar), in order to stay on the right side of copyright. But in the case of many of these ROMs, even a delta patch would contain copyright or trademarked materials. The way I see it, I can only do this work because EA, the NHL, the NHLPA, and others haven't bothered to send me a cease and desist. And even if those rights holders never took notice, it wouldn't be ethical for me personally to profit from the IP of others without any kind of licensing agreement in place. Besides, *free* is a magical price. It lowers the barrier to entry. It severely limits any legal damages. And as you pointed out, it incentivizes co-operative spirit.

I'm constantly trying to figure out how to make this work more maintainable for myself, as it so quickly gets out of hand. I've made some minor progress on this, but not nearly enough. I might start a thread to see if folks wanted to share their tips and tricks as to how they keep efficient. I hear your pain, and can only imagine the time and energy you have sunk into this. p.s. after you changed your name and icon, and I literally didn't realize who you were for a bit! Nice to meet you again sir.

If you do see someone selling a cartridge online, note that it is probably an outdated version, and the seller would be profiting from the work of many people here, as well as by re-selling EA's intellectual property. I'm not against people writing themselves a copy on a cartridge for personal use, and I'll even go so far as to make a matching custom label if someone wants to source a low-yield manufacturer to make themselves a cartridge. But I highly recommend following @smozoma's advice to look at an Mega Everdrive X5 instead. There's always another update, another great variation to try, why settle down with just one ROM hack?

It is!?!?! [goes and checks it out] OK, clearly I have never played NHL 92! NHLPA '93 was my first. I've got to go back these to see if there are any other elements that can be adapted. That background looks so much better as the menu background than it did in the pre-game, IMHO.

Oh man, the new menu looks amazing! SO GOOD!

You can still un-notice the refraction thing! It’s not too late! No normal human being will ever see it or care!

Anyone ever noticed that when players sat in the penalty box, their entire lower body appeared to be sliced off!?! Also, the implied light refraction on the top edge of the glass was shaded in reverse to how refraction looks.

Hey Ronnie, Just to be clear the ROM here isn't an update exactly, it is the original ROM, already updated for your convenience. You can grab it, and try it out on any free emulator, right away! No "updating" required. If you are on a Mac, grab OpenEmu, if you are on another OS, I'm sure that there are lots more great options.

Thank-you so much! I really appreciate it. Spent so much time running tests and building formulas to try and arrive at that gameplay balance. Some days it's hard not to see all the flaws in your on work, and think of all the things you wish you can do better, so it's always nice to hear that your efforts to date haven't been in vain.

Welcome aboard! If you can afford it, look for an authentic Mega Everdrive cart. Note that they come in different sizes, as some ROMs require a bigger capacity. This is not the overall storage capacity of how may games you can store on the cartridge, as I believe you supply an SD card for that. It has to do with how big a game it can load. If all you want to do is play NHL, I believe the smallest is fine, but note that some games would require the bigger cartridge. I'm sure there are much cheaper options than the Everdrive, but I've never heard anyone regret getting one. p.s. I should say, I've never actually used one! I would definitely hit up that Discord to chat with people who like, have ACTUALLY bought and used one of those things.

Thanks for letting me know. I will make sure I get him added in the next revision!

Oh man. Do you think Korpisalo will be back there?

You a Kings fan?

It's been 16 hours, I'm hoping you haven't perished! Updated ROM is live now. Will follow up later with notes, etc.

+1 to everything @von Ozbourne said, but if you use a Mac, MultiPatch is highly recommended instead.

There's a reason they're called "Releases." They're never truly finished, we just have to let some things go, and get it out the door eventually.

Thanks! FYI, trade deadline updates are fully ready to go, updated ROM will be released any day now.

That's not enough! We demand more asbestos downloads! Will jump on Twitter and do the same. Folks, consider plugging your favourite ROMs in your circles. There's been so many brilliant releases this season, and these hard working guys are too earnest to ask you for something so self-serving.