Jump to content
NHL'94 Forums

Question: Are Tile Molester video tutorials for the original NHL '94 ROM existent?


Royameadow

Recommended Posts

I think that I might need to explain what I mean by this.

Wishfully, I do get an answer on this, it truly would help out in the long run; not just for me, but for those who are getting into hacking.

So based on what I have viewed on NHL94.com and the forum, there does not appear to be any available video tutorials for using Tile Molester on a graphically unmodified ROM image of NHL '94, particularly NHL 94 (UE) [!], which my hack MIAA Women's Hockey 20I5 is being made from.

The only video tutorials that I have noticed are available are specifically for the Thirty Team ROM, which bears different offsets for most or all objects in the game; given that NHL 94 (UE) [!] does not have the same offsets for sprites that the Thirty Team ROM does, I truly do feel that tutorials for editing certain things in the original ROM via Tile Molester is rather necessary, if it has not been already done, primarily because newcomers and novices that are using the original ROM might not be able to figure this out on their own, and if they view the Thirty Team ROM tutorials instead, then I presume that they might become a bit confused as to what they are supposed to do, in the long run, as they would be looking for offsets that are not there or correct.

With that said, would there happen to be video tutorials for using Tile Molester with the original NHL '94 ROM image; and if there are not any, then would there happen to be a chance that such tutorials will ever be made for those that either are not using or don't have access to the Thirty Team ROM?

I am primarily asking about this because I am currently having trouble working with modifying the Splash Screens, Title Screen, Team Logos, and the Player Cards in the original ROM image; I already have some images that I want to put in to test out before finalizing the Master Copy of MIAA Women's Hockey 20I5: Rise of the North Shore Demo for a release, but without such knowledge about where to put said images without them being put in the wrong section or coming out slightly altered, I sadly cannot do this just yet.

For those of you who are able to help out with this factor, in the event that you've the time to either discuss this or make a tutorial for myself and future members, then I would gladly accept any assistance on this; anything to help make the tutorial section feel more complete, I am more than positive that many will appreciate this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that I might need to explain what I mean by this.

Wishfully, I do get an answer on this, it truly would help out in the long run; not just for me, but for those who are getting into hacking.

So based on what I have viewed on NHL94.com and the forum, there does not appear to be any available video tutorials for using Tile Molester on a graphically unmodified ROM image of NHL '94, particularly NHL 94 (UE) [!], which my hack MIAA Women's Hockey 20I5 is being made from.

The only video tutorials that I have noticed are available are specifically for the Thirty Team ROM, which bears different offsets for most or all objects in the game; given that NHL 94 (UE) [!] does not have the same offsets for sprites that the Thirty Team ROM does, I truly do feel that tutorials for editing certain things in the original ROM via Tile Molester is rather necessary, if it has not been already done, primarily because newcomers and novices that are using the original ROM might not be able to figure this out on their own, and if they view the Thirty Team ROM tutorials instead, then I presume that they might become a bit confused as to what they are supposed to do, in the long run, as they would be looking for offsets that are not there or correct.

With that said, would there happen to be video tutorials for using Tile Molester with the original NHL '94 ROM image; and if there are not any, then would there happen to be a chance that such tutorials will ever be made for those that either are not using or don't have access to the Thirty Team ROM?

I am primarily asking about this because I am currently having trouble working with modifying the Splash Screens, Title Screen, Team Logos, and the Player Cards in the original ROM image; I already have some images that I want to put in to test out before finalizing the Master Copy of MIAA Women's Hockey 20I5: Rise of the North Shore Demo for a release, but without such knowledge about where to put said images without them being put in the wrong section or coming out slightly altered, I sadly cannot do this just yet.

For those of you who are able to help out with this factor, in the event that you've the time to either discuss this or make a tutorial for myself and future members, then I would gladly accept any assistance on this; anything to help make the tutorial section feel more complete, I am more than positive that many will appreciate this.

I don't know if any information on the original rom is available. Why not just use the 30 team rom? You can limit the amount of teams to whatever you want with EARE. You can make a 20 team rom, or a 22 team rom etc. Whatever you want. Any particular reason why it has to be the original rom?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I could not find a proper link for the Thirty Team ROM, so I had decided to use the original instead.

While it appears that the Thirty Team ROM is indeed easier to use, by comparison, I already have five teams and a font change with the original ROM that I am using; moving all of that over to the Thirty Team ROM, given this circumstance, I do not know if it will be labourous, so I am just playing it safe by asking about this to prevent having to redo the eight days of teams, palette, and text sprite changes that I have done already.

There are 027 teams in the MIAA Women's Hockey League that will be used for the first hack (Division 0I has 027 teams, and Division 02 has 039; as this totals up to 066 teams in the league, this hack will be released in three or four Volumes), and 028 in the original NHL '94 ROM image, so I will have enough space to put in all of the teams (plus something I have planned for the Revision 00 release), regardless of which version that I use.

If being able to move things over to the Thirty Team ROM are possible, in the event that I ever get a copy, then I will do that instead; as mentioned above though, if somebody were only to be able to use the original NHL '94 ROM instead, as I currently am, if tutorials did exist for being able to properly use Tile Molester with it, then chances are that more newcomers would have a higher level of accessibility for making a hack, even if it is not with the optimal resources.

Edited by Royameadow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the original 30 team ROM (it's zip file with instructions how to patch a '94 ROM to the 30 team ROM): wboy 30 team ROM

I hope that helps. I 100% agree that a tutorial on graphics editing is severely missing from our community. There are less than a handful of individuals making graphic updates to ROMs, and I think that would easily double with a nice tutorial.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks in advance, Kingraph.

I am more than positive that I will be able to work with the Thirty Team ROM easily, once I figure it all out. (:

Got to admit though, I am honestly surprised that there is not much talk in the NHL scene involving modifying the game's artwork.

Being a person who had grown up watching the evolution of the Sonic Hacking scene over the years (currently, I am a 03+ year trialist at SSRG, and I did have a trial membership at Sonic Retro a long time back), I have viewed a lot primarily done in the art aspect, so coming over to here knowing what I do about changing a game's art, I was kind of surprised that NHL graphics editing is massively underlooked; it truly deserves better than it gets.

Edited by Royameadow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a note: You can't edit many of the graphics in the original game because they are compressed. If you use the 30-team ROM, the graphics are uncompressed, and that's why all the tutorials are for that.

See the Graphics section of the thread guide for a collection of graphics editing threads..:

http://forum.nhl94.com/index.php/topic/8090-gens-editing-the-game-thread-guide-newbs-start-here/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont think graphics are compressed in the original rom, I have found almost all the graphics in the original rom in Tile Molester (except the Stanley Cup graphics from the play-off screen and and the EA intro screen from the beginning of the game and the player cards, maybe Ron Barr face, not sure about this one), the main difference between the original ROM and the wboy's one is in the possibility of easy editing in Tile Molester.

For instance: the intro screen, this one: http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/NHL_Hockey_94_gen_ScreenShot1.jpg including the NHL HOCKEY 94 text and NHLPA and NHL logos are editable in the original ROM but its extremley difficult to replace it like it can be done with wboy rom because in Tile Molester (or Tile Layer Pro) you will never get this screen looking exactly like it is in the game but in wboy's rom its possible because he moved the graphics to empty areas of 2 MB rom in the editable user-friendly format.

Its difficult to explain what i mean I hope you'll get the idea from this:

Original rom, original graphics, the intro screen:

X X X X X X

X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X

X X X X X

Whatever size/format of the editing screen you choose in TM or TLP you will never get the original picture even if you use +/-, so replacing it with your picture is not possible because you dont have it in the same format like it is in the game, this one:

X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X

Pictures in the wboy's rom are ready to be replaced because they are in the 4X8 format too, you just need to +/- the picture, that is all.

(4X8 format is just an example.)

Edited by DominikJagr
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Player faces logos/cards are compressed for sure, so is Ron Barr's face I think. Team logos and banners are not compressed, there are two sets of banners and two sets of logos, one set for menu logos and banners, the other one for ice logos and score board banners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-7442-0-47647300-1426616611_thumb.pn

This is the second title screen (in the original rom its the one with High Score Production and Mark Lesser Present text), notice changes I made in TLP-11 tiles long white line, on the right side you can see the changes in the game after loading the rom in the emulator.

post-7442-0-09240300-1426616625_thumb.pn

This is the main screen (the third one), yellow/orange line on the left is my edit, on the right the game itself.

What you see on the left in Tile Layer Pro (or in Tile Molester if you prefer this one) is what you get in the game with wboy's rom, pretty simple.

Is it that simple with the original rom? Well, not at all, check this:

post-7442-0-40789900-1426616643_thumb.pn

The main screen in the code of the original rom is not coordinated in the same way as it is in game itself (or wboy's rom). Its something like this:

A1 A2 A5 A6 B3 B4 B7 B8

B5 B6 B1 B2 A3 A4 A7 A8

C1 C2 C5 C6 D3 D4 D7 D8

D5 D6 D1 D2 C3 C4 C7 C8

etc etc

For a human eye its a mess in TLP or TM.

wboy figured out how the NHL 94 main screens are tiled/coordinated and with rewriting the coordinates he made editing much easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the main screen in the original rom is replacable but it is extremely difficult.

Just follow the 30 teams rom tutorial and replace the main screen in the wboy's rom. You will get the palette value for your picture which will be needed later.

Now the extremely difficult part. Use the original rom. Edit the main screen coordinates values of the main screen in the hexeditor as wboy did (I have no idea how to do this :lol: ). After opening the rom in Tile Molester or Tile Layer Pro the main screen will look like the normal picture and not a complete mess. Copy and paste your picture (the same you put in the wboy's rom). Now edit the main screen coordinate values to default (without this the main screen will be messy in the game). Edit the palette value (I am clueless here again).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...