kingraph
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Posts posted by kingraph
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I remember trying to the the reverse of what you said -- bring in the transparent '95 into '94, but that wasn't as straightforward as I had hoped. If I dig up any notes I'll share, but if I remember correctly something about that transparency was making it a bit trickier than "change the background to black" if that makes sense. Definitely think it's possible though.
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I wrote down all the 32 team ROM offsets. This question gets asks so frequently, I'll post it when I get home or possibly weekend
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11 hours ago, AdamCatalyst said:
Thanks for this! Will try out the ditherer tonight, as I'm trying to wrap up my Splash image.
Thanks for sharing your post as well. I did actually work through your post awhile back, but I was never able to get it to work for anything that I was trying to target. In particular, I recall trying to decompress the linesman & referees, and their various gestures. I suspect that those might have been too complex for me to start with. Will try again on something more basic when I find time.
Yeah, sprites/animations are a different animal. My tutorial was on static images like splash pages/logos.
The animations will be trickier. I remember doing that for the "spinning cup" in '95 on the playoff bracket page. Thought it's been so long I don't recall. I'll have to check my notes and happy to share any relevant information.
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2 hours ago, AdamCatalyst said:
What ditherer program is that?
Try as I might, I've not been able to figure out how to "decompress" graphics and then update the ROM accordingly. I would love to be able to wrap my head around that.
Here's is Smoz's program: https://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/14421-tool-genesis-image-ditherer-to-16-colours/
It takes some time if the file size is big. In my experience, once the first set of 16 images appears, I close the program and don't wait for the rest. The variances are too small to sort through. It'll make sense once you try the tool once.
As far as decompressing graphics, I wrote up this piece to explain how it works in '94 and most EA Sega games I've seen: https://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/19978-how-to-decompress-graphics-in-sega-genesis/
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First of all, I really love and appreciate you guys sharing your methods on this topic. In particular, I'm a big fan of both of your ROM work and your graphics.
Here's my quick notes on my graphic editing approaches:
- I export any graphics from TM (v0.16) to png
- I use MS Paint instead of Photoshop. I don't know if there are advantages to Photoshop for bitmap editing, but Paint seems to work well.
- Similarly to you all, I manually rearrange tiles to the full picture in Paint, and keep a reference map of the original picture.
- I make any changes in Paint. If I use new/custom colors, I then use @smozoma's Ditherer program to convert it to '94 colors. I have tried other various methods, but that program saves me a lot of time and I am generally happy with the results. Especially with the knowledge/expectations of my color limits to begin with.
- Once satisfied, I re-cut the tiles back into the original layout and paste back in using TM.
FYI, I think TileLayer Pro is a TM alternative that has this arrangement functionality built in, but I was never good with using that program. At the same time I rarely need to do this kind of editing as much of the graphics work I do has been rearranged already (or I rearrange in the ROM layout).
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@eltoro666, it's on my list of projects. I haven't been active in a few months, but hoping to get re-energized on a bunch of '94 items around the December holidays. The blood hack is on my list. See here as well:
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23 hours ago, kidswasted said:
Any chance of bringing this back for '23? Couldn't make it to Ko94 in Toronto this year. Would be awesome if there was another East Coast tourney.
This is 100% in my thought process so definitely a "chance", but nothing confirmed at the moment. Likely planning will happen in the late December/early January timeframe.
The key item last time was we had a great connection with the location (separate floor in a bar in the heart of NYC) thanks to @MikeGartner22, which will be hard to replicate. If we can secure that again, great, but if not I'll be asking around. I'm fairly confident we can make something work.
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8 hours ago, DeterminedApathy said:
Would you mind adding my fantasy ROM the next time you update?
done!
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7 hours ago, kidswasted said:
Not sure if you wanted to add my All-Time Rosters ROMs(wgt bug and wgt bug fix) or not. I never got around to updating logos/player portraits/jerseys and realistically probably never will due to lack of time and the knowledge gap. However, the rosters, lines, and teams are all there and it's 100% playable. Looks like there have been 100+ downloads of each ROM. Up to you @kingraph. If anyone in the community wanted to update those feel free to do so.
Added!
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13 hours ago, paskina said:
Is the 95 online vs friends thing still happening?
Yes! @UltraMagnusis running a dynasty league that is in it's 5th season and there is a pretty active '95 community! Check out the '95 discord here: https://discord.gg/KYUs8zd3Qn
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And here's the Sega Genesis Font in case anyone else comes across this thread: NHL'94.ttf
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I also made an SNES '94 font for those interested:NHL94SNES.ttf
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3 hours ago, Chindogu said:
Hey everybody!
After 28 years I think I maybe ready to play another person.Haha, awesome man! We have a live tournament in Toronto coming up Oct 15th! I expect we'll have another in Minnesota sometime around February and maybe NYC area in the later spring/summer.
Aside from live in-person events, we play '94 all year round in leagues. Best to join our Discord server for immediate chat/help.
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Amazing work @smozoma!
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18 hours ago, smozoma said:
What did you do???
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For '96, '97 and '98, the game should pretty much play identical on the emulator and console as the ROMs are unchanged. Not sure what would possibly be causing the CPU to act differently unless something has changed in the code.
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This is pretty cool and useful. It was posted before I had my elementary understanding of assembly language (which I learned from Markey Jester's site!). Makes a lot more sense, I like the way the subroutines are identified into pieces. Yes, there is a TON of work to do, but this organization helps a lot.
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This was fun to read 5 years later. I could have definitely done a better job explaining as I found it hard to follow some items...and I'm the one who friggin' wrote it!
Perhaps @UltraMagnus, you can continue to post updates and other items related to anything you find in season mode and data. I'll also have to re-check my last local notes. You never know who can see this and get inspired!
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1 hour ago, von Ozbourme said:
You don't say eh. I'm a bit too busy at the moment, but this game is definitely on my radar. Going to have to stick a pin in this one for later and se what's possible.
Definitely give me a PM when you're ready. Not sure if all my notes are typed up here but I'm pretty sure everything that was needed to hack has been done.
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On 8/6/2022 at 12:53 AM, KDornhecker said:
I have to know, by chance any updates. Just happened to come across this forum, and really got interested how it's coming along and Bones Jackson fan to the bone. New to modifying ROMs and was just happened to be playing MLH on RetroArch.
Hey! I had found the palettes, team graphics, team and player data structure. So basically if anyone wanted to make an update the information exists now to make it happen.
I haven't touched it since then, but if anyone is interested in making new names, teams graphics and such, I'd be happy to collaborate on a '23 MLH!
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42 minutes ago, UltraMagnus said:
Like this.
Like this. Been trying for months to figure it out how you created the square crease instead of the half circle.
Just have to redraw the tiles. If you're not sure which ones, the best thing to do is to overwrite the tiles with a 1,2,3,4 and map it out. I usually do something like this:
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Yet again, bumping this amazing post!
On 12/5/2007 at 5:54 PM, EZE said:I've never posted on these forums before, but this subject made me feel compelled to reply.
To really understand why NHL '94 is so special to many of us, you would have to have lived during the era when it was released. If you are a teenager who was born just before, when, or just after this game was released you will never really understand. It is us old timers (and I use the term loosely as I am only 23) who played this game when it was originally released that will appreciate it the most.
Let me elaborate:
Growing up, I played two hockey games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Ice Hockey and later, Blades of Steel. When Blades of Steel was released I was completely floored as it looked amazing and had the most realistic hockey action I had played up to that point.
When I was 7 years old in the fall of 1991, NHL Hockey was released for the SEGA Genesis. A friend of mine got the game immediately. To say that I was in awe would be an understatement. Not only did the game feature real NHL teams with real logos and team colors, but players were also featured. Later I would find that it was only player NUMBERS that were included in the game and not actual player names as EA did not have the license from the NHLPA, but that is besides the point. The fact that numbers, team colors, logos, cities, etc were included and were accurate was amazing. On top of this, real penalties and rules were enforced. Penalties were given based on true to life infractions rather than given to players for losing a fight, and off sides could be enforced. And to add icing to the cake, the player could use a password system to guide a team through the playoffs to the Stanley Cup. Gameplay was also amazing as the graphics combined with a new perspective (north and south rather than east and west) making this game a totally new experience. This game was truely leaps and bounds ahead of anything I had seen before.
I tried to purchase the game for months but it was continually sold out where I lived (St. Louis) and I never did get it. But the rumors at school began to circulate in the fall of 1992 that a newer version of the game was coming out... this one had extra letters added for some reason... NHLXWYZ or something, but it was essentially the same game. In early 1993 I finally found and purchased NHLPA Hockey '93. This game featured real player names and numbers among other gameplay refinements and improvements (such as organ music and player injuries). I was puzzled as to why EASN was at center ice rather than team logos but this was only a minor flaw. I would later realize it was because EA had the NHLPA license but not an NHL license to team names, logos, and the Stanley Cup could not appear in the game. Despite this, the gameplay and features still improved and it was really a quality experience.
That brings us to NHL '94. This game finally tied everything together with NHL and NHLPA licenses. Team names and logos appeared in the game along with player names and numbers and even photos. The gameplay and animations also reached their pinnacle. This truely was the crowning achievement of three years of work on the same game engine. Small things like real team themed organ music (such as "When the Blues go Marching In" for St. Louis and Chicago's theme), improved crowd animations, breaking glass, hats on the ice for hat tricks, players getting checked into the bench, and of course the one timer made this game stand tall above the previous releases. That is why this game is still so revered. It is the game where the NHL and NHLPA licenses finally met and the gameplay and graphics were refined for three years to reach the top of the mountain.
NHL '95 also awed me with the addition of full season play, player awards, trades, and the ability to create players but the gameplay itself was lacking as they completely changed the game engine. The graphics were worse, the sound effects were worse, the crowd noise was annoying.... I even disliked the organ music. Had they simply taken NHL '94, updated the rosters and added all of those other features, we would be at an NHL '95 website right now. Unfortunately that is not the case and NHL '94 turned out to be the best game in the series.
Lastly, I think it is important to note the standards that were held at that time. I remember being amazed by the Big Boo in Super Mario World, and a group of us kids sitting around with our mouths dropped in stunned silence over watching a friend play Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time. With each new generation of video games our expectations rise higher and higher and we are not as easily impressed. When these games were released it was a huge jump from what we had before. Games now are only a small hop above what was previously released. Therefore nostalgia is another reason there is such a fanbase for this game. We remember playing it when our expectations were different and we had a blast. Fond memories were formed, and in my case at least, life was much simpler at that time.
Anyway, I'm done with the long winded post but I thought I'd add my two cents and reasons for loving this game.
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21 hours ago, DeterminedApathy said:
It's doable. I got it to work on a test ROM some years ago but I don't have that file anymore.
I remember that for some reason the copied version of the title music doesn't loop like in the original game but maybe I forgot to copy a loop-point byte or something. Like I said, this was some years ago.
I recently did this with intro, menu AND organ music from '93. I had the same issue on looping and/or stopping (in the case of organ music) when a goal was scored. Swapping the pure music is easy, but there MUST be some other reference bytes regarding looping/stopping.
What I CAN say is that when copying the organ music from '93 (there are only 5 unique instances) into '94, the data for the songs/sounds is back to back. Meaning, immediately after the first organ song, the header of the 2nd song started. And it wasn't just songs, each sound is stored in a giant block.
For example, the goal horn is the first sound, followed immediately by "lower ding", "higher ding", etc. until we start getting to longer data sets for organ songs and it finishes with the opening game music/menu/matchups.
The data for the sounds/songs is all a large block of data, if that makes sense.
So I thought if I copy one organ sound from '93 to replace another, this would be easy. However, I was surprised that the new organ sounds wouldn't "stop" at a goal, OR that the menu music during intermission wouldn't loop (or stop). Even if it's in the same location!
Having said all of that, my current theory is that the information containing the start/stop/loop was stored somewhere else, perhaps tied to a particular data size.
I haven't spend more time yet on this, but this triggered my memory and wanted to share as this IS a current hack I would like to spend more time working on. I'll post a separate/more cohesive thread on my findings.
Editing the Main Menu Background - a WIP
in General Discussion
Posted
This looks sweet man! I'm not sure what the differences of the the two images? They look the same.
Does the issue arise when the player cards are scrolling through, or is the actual image messed up (so it's there the entire time)?