TheTome

Bottoming out the Defence rating might work. I noticed that maxing it out made teams absurdly good on defence but it didn't seem to effect when they headed back. That actually seems to be triggered by the defensive team gaining control of the puck, even the goalie. Likely I need to find the line of code that triggers the switch and see if I can add a small delay to it. As for the trapezoid, the rink isn't compressed, however the tiles are repeated in such a way that I can't simply redraw them without changing which tiles are used where. This isn't all that complicated, however it is time consuming and I currently don't know how to do it, so I will be saving it for the NHL 98 hack.

Looking good! Maybe Slapshot67 will update all his roms with your graphical update It looks amazing, and I like the modified team logos, neat little touch. My only comment from looking at the screenshots is that the added lines for the faceoff circle look a little thick and sharp compared to the rest of the lines on the ice. Maybe add a little bit of blurring with the lighter red to take the edge off? Otherwise I'm stoked for this.

Yea Maitrefun, I find scoring on All-Star much harder than it used to be. A lot of this has to do with the slower speed as the goalies have a much easier time keeping up with the game play. But I've found that you can get a few in by aiming the puck in the opposite direction your skating in. Also, breakaways still work (though they are indeed hard).

I hear you, I still haven't nailed down scoring in NHL97. Its a bit different than NHL94 to be sure, and much trickier with the slower speed, but its definitely do-able. What difficulty were you playing?

Well the game is already at about half speed, the original was obscenely fast (play as the 97 All-Stars on All-Star and you'll see what I mean). Honestly the easiest way to slow it down even more is simply lower all the player speed stats which is very doable in NOSE (however I do find you get used to the speed fairly quickly). I'm actually hoping to be able to move this entire hack into NHL 98 at some point as it has a selectable game speed setting separate from the difficulty setting. Unfortunately I have yet to disable the 2 line pass, so that's my top priority. As for things like the trapezoid, I do need to teach myself a bit more about tile hacking and reorganizing before that will be possible, but it is definitely a goal for the future. The blue shadow is a tricky one, as its more of a palette issue than anything else, but it is something I plan to tackle at some point. My first goal will actually be to modify the AI a bit more. I don't like how when you touch the puck in your end they immediately run away, I'd love to get them to press the attack a little bit more. I'll keep you posted on my progress with 98 though, because I'll be trying to implement most of those changes once I transition over.

Alright, just so everyone knows I've updated the first post with a new update. There are a number of new features and fixes, and of course updated rosters.

Well I have to admit I don't own a Cart of NHL94 (though I do own 96). But I do have a wonderful mint condition copy of the SegaCD version. I even have that little foam insert that held the CD in place during shipping! Gotta love high quality organ music.

Hmmm, right. I forgot all about the standings. That could also be something simple, but its less likely. Well unless I can get the team select to work it won't matter anyway.

Well it depends on how it reads the data. It could simply be a matter of adding in the additional teams to the schedule (presuming that one single schedule is read by all teams). I've been able to add the additional teams to the season select menu (offset 01:5A28, change 0019 to 001E) however it crashes the second you bring one up in the menu. I may play with this a bit, but I doubt I'll put too much work into it unless I strike some kind of gold fast. I have to sleep sometime

Now if only season mode was that simple...

Hah!!! So you did. I totally missed that

Got it!!!!! Alright, so if you run a trace on the loading of the playoff tree you'll discover everything we already have, but if you look at the first time that we get a graphic loaded: 1D:E014 38 3C MOVE.W #$0002,D4 A0=00C00000 A1=001A9660 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=0000001C D2=000007FF D3=00000000 D4=0000FFFF D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E018 32 3C MOVE.W #$0019,D1 A0=00C00000 A1=001A9660 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=0000001C D2=000007FF D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E01C 42 42 CLR.W D2 A0=00C00000 A1=001A9660 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=000007FF D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E01E 20 7C MOVE.L #$FFFFD058,A0 A0=00C00000 A1=001A9660 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E024 22 7C MOVE.L #$00016BC4,A1 A0=FFFFD058 A1=001A9660 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E02A 4A 78 TST.W ($DEA6) A0=FFFFD058 A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E02E 67 00 BEQ #$0008 [1D:E038] A0=FFFFD058 A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E038 30 C4 MOVE.W D4,(A0)+ A0=FFFFD058 A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E03A 30 02 MOVE.W D2,D0 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E03C E5 40 ASL.W #2,D0 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E03E 24 71 MOVE.L $00(A1,D0),A2 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E042 50 4A ADDQ.W #8,A2 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBEC A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E044 4E B9 JSR ($00020376) A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBF4 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc If you look at 1D:E018 you'll notice the opcode MOVE.W places the number 19 at D1. If you follow the trace all the way down to the Washington graphic you will notice that the number in D1 counts down the entire way. When it reaches zero it switches to the next set of graphics. By raising the operand from 0019 to 001E it now loads in the graphics for all 31 teams!

Alright, so if you go to offset 1D:E04C we may have a solution. The opcode here is DBFa so its setting some kind of a condition. It appears every time a graphic is loaded, however once it gets past Washington it triggers a new set of instructions (starting at 1D:E050). Here is the trace for the Anaheim graphic (it's basically identical for all the team names): 1D:E04A 52 42 ADDQ.W #1,D2 A0=FFFFD08A A1=00016BC4 A2=00181C44 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000060 D1=00000001 D2=00000018 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E04C 51 C9 DBFa D1,#$FFEA [1D:E038] A0=FFFFD08A A1=00016BC4 A2=00181C44 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000060 D1=00000001 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E038 30 C4 MOVE.W D4,(A0)+ A0=FFFFD08A A1=00016BC4 A2=00181C44 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000060 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E03A 30 02 MOVE.W D2,D0 A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00181C44 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000060 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E03C E5 40 ASL.W #2,D0 A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00181C44 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000019 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E03E 24 71 MOVE.L $00(A1,D0),A2 A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00181C44 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E042 50 4A ADDQ.W #8,A2 A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=0018202A A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E044 4E B9 JSR ($00020376) A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00182032 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=00000203 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc And Here is the trace for the first graphic after Washington: 1D:E04A 52 42 ADDQ.W #1,D2 A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00182032 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=00000000 D2=00000019 D3=00000000 D4=0000021C D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E04C 51 C9 DBFa D1,#$FFEA [1D:E038] A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00182032 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=00000000 D2=0000001A D3=00000000 D4=0000021C D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E050 31 C4 MOVE.W D4,($B01C) A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00182032 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=0000FFFF D2=0000001A D3=00000000 D4=0000021C D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E054 24 7C MOVE.L #$001AA33A,A2 A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=00182032 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=0000FFFF D2=0000001A D3=00000000 D4=0000021C D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E05A 4E B9 JSR ($0002036A) A0=FFFFD08C A1=00016BC4 A2=001AA33A A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000064 D1=0000FFFF D2=0000001A D3=00000000 D4=0000021C D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc

A tile map eh? Not sure I know the significance of that statement...

You can get the Genesis Savestate viewer here. It appears there is still room in the VPD, and there are a number of graphics after Washington. All the graphics after Washington are sourced from different sections of the ROM however which likely explains why it jumps back to the start and grabs at the Anaheim and Boston tiles.

Alright, slight progress update. I've managed to isolate to opcodes that appear to be responsible for loading in the graphics exclusively for the playoff tree. They are located at: 1D:E042 and 1D:E044 I found these by finding the first finding the offset of the first tile for one of the loaded graphics: Next I pulled up the trace in Notepad. I didn't search for the entire offset as the actual one loaded may be a few bytes off in either direction. Instead I searched for the middle bit (ie. for 17CBF6 I searched for CBF or 7CBF): NOTE: Do not run this through Trace.Nicefier in this instance as it will remove all relevant graphical data from the file. Since it is the previous expression that writes the information we get to 1D:E042. I have checked and this offset is not used when loading any other screens, thus it is purely for the playoff graphics. I also looked up a number of other graphics and it appears it runs once for each individual graphic (Anaheim text, Toronto text, etc.) Luckily it is 1D:E042 every single time, so this means it is likely possible to change the expression/condition that fires it off to go a little farther and grab the missing names for the Video Ram. Here is the trace Data I have on it so far. I've included a few instructions before and after it to give a sense of what was going on. This is its first occurrence in the trace while it is loading in the Anaheim graphic. 1D:E038 30 C4 MOVE.W D4,(A0)+ A0=FFFFD058 A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E03A 30 02 MOVE.W D2,D0 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000080 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnzvc 1D:E03C E5 40 ASL.W #2,D0 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E03E 24 71 MOVE.L $00(A1,D0),A2 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=001A6B9E A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E042 50 4A ADDQ.W #8,A2 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBEC A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 1D:E044 4E B9 JSR ($00020376) A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBF4 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF6 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 02:0376 42 B8 CLR.L ($D048) A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBF4 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF2 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 02:037A 48 E7 MOVEM.L {d0-a7}[c0 fe],-(SP) A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBF4 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDF2 D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc 02:037E 20 4A MOVE.L A2,A0 A0=FFFFD05A A1=00016BC4 A2=0017CBF4 A3=FFFFBF4D A4=00000000 A5=00000000 A6=00000504 A7=FFFFFDCE D0=00000000 D1=00000019 D2=00000000 D3=00000000 D4=00000002 D5=00000009 D6=00000000 D7=0000001A xnZvc As you can see it loads the data into Address 2 (A2). I'm assuming all the 1D:#### addresses run in sequence, so I'll try and follow them back and see what triggers them off and where they loop. I'll get back when I know more.

Yea, I've found and edited all the team name graphics. The ones being used are at offset 17:CBF6, and there are graphics for all 31 teams (33 if you count the secret teams). I've used Genesis save state editor to look at whats going on in the playoff tree and it appears the game is only loading all the graphics up to Washington into the VPD (video ram). Hypothetically all we need to do is to change the loading opcode to load up to a higher offset and we'll be fine.

All 30 teams working in the playoffs!!! Thats right, got it working... well sort of. In order to get this to work you need to go to 1D:E270 and change 1219 to 6002 The original opcode is MOVE.B (moves bytes around) and is the equation responsible for looking for duplicate teams. 6002 basically bypasses this operation as there is something in the extra teams that are messing it up. I'm still trying to translate the entire process into something I understand so I can modify it. However disabling it works in the short term. This fixes a bug where the game would think there were duplicate teams when there weren't (only with certain extra teams in the playoff tree). It also appears to be the equation that crashes the game when trying to use the extra teams, as they now work perfectly, and can be used for the entire playoffs. There is only one problem, this completely disables the computer looking for duplicates, so while you can now use all 30 teams, there is nothing to check and see if if you used the same team more than once. Thankfully, you can have as many duplicates as you want and it won't affect the game in any negative fashion. So if you don't mind the possibility of being able to set up duplicates then we're basically set! Otherwise, I'm looking to see how to keep the duplication check on without breaking compatibility with the new teams. Finally, there is still a graphic loading glitch in the playoff tree. All new team names fail to load leading to the following graphic error: This is more cosmetic than anything, but is really the only real problem left for perfect playoffs. However I have no idea how graphics are loaded at all, and my searches have not brought anything up. If anyone has any leads or suggestions I'm all ears!

Found It! 02:6EC6 brings in "1C" as as limit to how high you can go. To raise the limit change opcode 741C to 741E To gain proper access to all 31 teams! (or 741D if your going for just the current 30 teams) Unfortunately the playoff tree is still broken. Some of the extra teams cause the game to think there are duplicate teams when there aren't any, and the others cause the game to crash. I'm going to start looking into whats causing the duplicate team bug first. Also, if anyone knows much about how tiles are accessed by the game (or knows where I can find that information), the names of the extra teams are also loading wrong, but thats an area of code I don't currently understand at all.

Well said. You definitely have a better grasp of it than I do so far, and I'm learning a hell of a lot following along. As it stands, I've discovered the following: Playoff Select Screen 01:5A5A - Sets the highest team you can select. Original Value: 001A New Value: 001D (It should be 001E but so far I can't get Europe to work right) 01:59B8 - Sets top team to jump to after Anaheim. Original Value: 0019 New Value: 001D (Same problem) Playoff Tree 1D:E2DE - Sets highest team you can select. Original Value: 001A New Value: 001E 1D:E270 - Set top team to jump to after Anaheim. Original Value: 0019 New Value: 001D I've attached a proof of concept ROM which includes a fully functional team select for the Playoffs, however as you'll notice it's currently impossible to move past the Playoff Tree. Thats going to be my main focus for now, and I'll try to get Europe (Nashville in this ROM) to function properly once the rest is working. I will admit it doesn't look simple however... NHL 12 (97) proof o concept.bin

Well it gets tricky as each select menu (Regular Game, Season, Playoff Select, and Playoff Tree) all have multiple adresses. Some unique, some common. The one I'm working off of right now is: FFD275 Its only used in the playoff bracket screen, and always displays the value of the "selected" team. In all memory adresses for this screen: Anaheim = 0 Washington =25 Upon running a Hook on it I get this: MEMORY ACCESS LOGGING STARTED [[02:6DB4] W16 = 0005 [FFD274] (Happens During Bootup) [02:9844] W08 = 18 [FFD275] (Happens when selecting Playoffs, possibly number of teams in hex) [02:72A6] W16 = 0017 [FFD274] [02:72A6] W16 = 0017 [FFD274] [01:5A56] W16 = 0018 [FFD274] (pressed down) [02:72B6] W16 = 0018 [FFD274] [01:5A56] W16 = 0019 [FFD274] (pressed down) [02:72A6] W16 = 0019 [FFD274] [01:5A56] W16 = 001A [FFD274] (pressed down, went from washington to anaheim) [01:5A64] W16 = 0000 [FFD274] [02:72A6] W16 = 0000 [FFD274] [01:5A56] W16 = 0001 [FFD274] (pressed down) [02:72A6] W16 = 0001 [FFD274] [01:5A56] W16 = 0002 [FFD274] (pressed down) [02:72B6] W16 = 0002 [FFD274] [01:59B0] W16 = 0001 [FFD274] (pressed up) [02:72A6] W16 = 0001 [FFD274] [01:59B0] W16 = 0000 [FFD274] (pressed up) [02:72A6] W16 = 0000 [FFD274] [01:59B0] W16 = FFFF [FFD274] (pressed up, went from Anaheim to Washington) [01:59BA] W16 = 0019 [FFD274] [02:72A6] W16 = 0019 [FFD274] MEMORY ACCESS LOGGING STOPPED Things I know: 1: By changing the seeds in NOSE, you can have the extra teams show up with no problems in the Playoff screen. 2: You cannot select those teams yourself (Washington still goes right to Anaheim) 3: The game sometimes selects the extra teams as part of its random selection when entering the menu. 4: When you enter the playoff tree the names of the extra teams are garbled and the game will crash if you try to continue with them in. NEW DISCOVERY 1D:E2DE - Change 001A to 001E to allow for 30 teams to be selected in the playoff tree (this does not affect the first playoff select screen). Unfortunately the text for the extra teams is garbled and the game crashes if you attempt to use them. Still, getting there...

Sweet, I'll keep an eye out for that. I definitely wasn't sure what I was looking for, so that will help a lot.

Hey Smozoma, I will say its nice getting help from a fellow Leafs Fan. Anyway, I'm in the middle of digging through the ROM at the moment and I'll post detailed findings soon, but I did stumble upon an interesting feature. 01:59AE - This Opcode is activated when people press up on the D-Pad in Playoff Team Select. Disabling it means that you can only scroll through teams going forward in the alphabet. Pressing Up however still triggers a new playoff bracket. This means you can press down to select your team, and then press up to select who they face off against.

Definitely, the current version is NHL 12(97) v1.1 in the downloads forum. However I'll be releasing version 2.0 after the deadline with a number of touchups.

I will most likely be updating after the trade deadline. At the moment all my focus has been on graphics and gameplay. I won't be bothered to change the rosters until the deadline.