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NHL 94: 2022 Edition by Adam Catalyst


AdamCatalyst

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Re: the regular version. I like that it's harder to score. At the same time it's very difficult to score off a deke now. 95% of my goals are from "across the crease". The AI can still be cheesed that way albiet to a lesser extent. I don't know if it's possible to do anything about that but if not, no worries.

Never mind. I just played some more, it was just me. I got the hang of it now. All good.

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16 hours ago, George said:

Re: the regular version. I like that it's harder to score. At the same time it's very difficult to score off a deke now. 95% of my goals are from "across the crease". The AI can still be cheesed that way albiet to a lesser extent. I don't know if it's possible to do anything about that but if not, no worries.

Never mind. I just played some more, it was just me. I got the hang of it now. All good.

lol - I have gone through the exact same process as you. :) I've tinkered with so many things, that the timing is just off. I would like to think it demands better timing to pull off the same stuff. I'd like to think that.

I am so close to finishing, all I am doing is running simulations to make sure the penalty and body checking rates are appropriate. It seems to vary so much per game, I want at least a hundred simulations before I am comfortable releasing it.

 

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  • AdamCatalyst changed the title to NHL 94: 2022 Edition v6 by Adam Catalyst

Hey folks,

Version 6.0, the final major version of my ROM has been posted, in the first post as usual. Before I get to the details, I just want to thank everyone who has put time in Beta testing and writing me feedback. This more refined gameplay never have been possible without you. Thank-you again!

----------------------------------------------------------------

2022 06 12 - Version 6.0

“The [Gameplay’s] the thing.” This final major version is overwhelmingly focused on rebuilding the gameplay to a more realistic & contemporary feel & balance. This version also introduces two patches, a Rookie Mode to make scoring goals easier, and an Arcade Mode for faster action. And you can finally control the goalie immediately with a 6-button controller. Of course there are other improvements, but the biggest changes are invisible to the eye…

Main Menu
- Settings: Default teams set for the 2022 Stanley Cup finals.
- Graphics: Over one third (>64) of all Player Photos were re-scaled and re-cropped for better visual balance.
- Graphics: A couple of player photos were replaced.

Arena
- Sprites: Zamboni driver wave hand colours adjusted.
- Graphics: Arena glass in corners have seams removed.
- Graphics: Coaches (implied) arms shortened.

In-Play
- Graphics: EDM & OTT Home uniforms and on-ice logos revised.
- Graphics: CHI & MIN Away uniforms revised.
- Sprites: Bench players animation uniforms, shading, & shadows improved.
- Sprites: Face-off pop-over graphics further refined, cosmetic glitches from original removed.

Rosters & Lines, & Ratings
- Rosters & Lines: Minor changes to some teams.
- Ratings: Major changes to everyone. All ratings completely re-done (a third time) to conform to provide a new gameplay balance & feel.

Gameplay & Ratings:
- Speed: Attributes for skating, shooting, passing have been balanced to have a much more realistic ratio between the relative speed of these motions in real-life.
- Skaters: All players, especially the low-end players are now more responsive in their skating & shooting. 
- Penalties: Aggression & Checking distributions have been conformed to (slightly) reduce penalties.
- Defencemen: On average, defencemen are now rated a little higher for contemporary gameplay balance.
- Goaltenders: All attributes re-rated with a new attribute distribution, in order to provide better goaltending throughout.

Gameplay
- Players: Energy Depletion rate slightly decreased, for better gameplay balance. 
- Players: Stopping & Crossover rate quickened, for more realistically responsive skating.
- Controls: Goalie control can now be accessed immediately by pressing the (Y) button with a six-button controller.

Miscellaneous
- Penalties: “Kneeing” penalty for injuring a player restored to its original name, “Roughing.” 
- Graphics: Referee pop-over refined.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoy!

cheers,

-Adam

 

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 10. In-Game Bench Side - Teams - AC v6.0 x2.png

 

 

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On 6/12/2022 at 11:16 PM, AdamCatalyst said:

Hey folks,

Version 6.0, the final major version of my ROM has been posted, in the first post as usual. Before I get to the details, I just want to thank everyone who has put time in Beta testing and writing me feedback. This more refined gameplay never have been possible without you. Thank-you again!

----------------------------------------------------------------

2022 06 12 - Version 6.0

“The [Gameplay’s] the thing.” This final major version is overwhelmingly focused on rebuilding the gameplay to a more realistic & contemporary feel & balance. This version also introduces two patches, a Rookie Mode to make scoring goals easier, and an Arcade Mode for faster action. And you can finally control the goalie immediately with a 6-button controller. Of course there are other improvements, but the biggest changes are invisible to the eye…

Main Menu
- Settings: Default teams set for the 2022 Stanley Cup finals.
- Graphics: Over one third (>64) of all Player Photos were re-scaled and re-cropped for better visual balance.
- Graphics: A couple of player photos were replaced.

Arena
- Sprites: Zamboni driver wave hand colours adjusted.
- Graphics: Arena glass in corners have seams removed.
- Graphics: Coaches (implied) arms shortened.

In-Play
- Graphics: EDM & OTT Home uniforms and on-ice logos revised.
- Graphics: CHI & MIN Away uniforms revised.
- Sprites: Bench players animation uniforms, shading, & shadows improved.
- Sprites: Face-off pop-over graphics further refined, cosmetic glitches from original removed.

Rosters & Lines, & Ratings
- Rosters & Lines: Minor changes to some teams.
- Ratings: Major changes to everyone. All ratings completely re-done (a third time) to conform to provide a new gameplay balance & feel.

Gameplay & Ratings:
- Speed: Attributes for skating, shooting, passing have been balanced to have a much more realistic ratio between the relative speed of these motions in real-life.
- Skaters: All players, especially the low-end players are now more responsive in their skating & shooting. 
- Penalties: Aggression & Checking distributions have been conformed to (slightly) reduce penalties.
- Defencemen: On average, defencemen are now rated a little higher for contemporary gameplay balance.
- Goaltenders: All attributes re-rated with a new attribute distribution, in order to provide better goaltending throughout.

Gameplay
- Players: Energy Depletion rate slightly decreased, for better gameplay balance. 
- Players: Stopping & Crossover rate quickened, for more realistically responsive skating.
- Controls: Goalie control can now be accessed immediately by pressing the (Y) button with a six-button controller.

Miscellaneous
- Penalties: “Kneeing” penalty for injuring a player restored to its original name, “Roughing.” 
- Graphics: Referee pop-over refined.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoy!

cheers,

-Adam

 

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 10. In-Game Bench Side - Teams - AC v6.0 x2.png

 

 

There it is! Thanks a ton! I will get on the ice as soon as i can!! 

I hope you will come back to drop a new version, when the new season arrives! But that's in the future! Time to enjoy the present!! 

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Wanted to say I appreciate all the work you've put into version 6.0 @AdamCatalyst! I hope you continue to add things as time goes on and I hope you continue to make more iterations as well. In a way it's starting to look and feel like a whole new game and I appreciate the work you've put into it. 

Also I'm not sure if you've mentioned this before, and if you have I apologize in advance, but when games go to OT, shouldn't it be 3v3 vs 5v5? I'm not sure you've you could change that and/or if you've mentioned that before. 

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Hi @Jpark,

Thank-you so much. :)

I am honestly done for now, will let it stand as-is unless someone reports a bug, or discover an error I can't live with. I'm not sure if I will back next season, but I hope to. Who knows what life will look like then.

It would be great to have the more authentic 3v3 overtime for regular season games, but I don't know how to do such a thing. I could really use a more tech-savvy collaborator.

Thanks again for playing, and contributing valuable feedback. I hope you're enjoying your summer!

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/26/2021 at 11:38 PM, AdamCatalyst said:

NHL 94: 2022 Edition by Adam Catalyst


v6.0 updated 2022 06 12

image.png

Hello there friendly strangers,

After seven months of work, here is the final major version of my NHL '94 ROM. I set out to try to make the most refined and realistic modern version of NHL '94 that I could muster, and I’m thrilled to be able to share this with you. Here are the top reasons you might want to give it a try…
 

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 7. Centre Ice Face-Off - COL TB.pngGameplay Revisioned

The gameplay has been adjusted for a more realistic modern hockey feel, with harder to score goals, easier to hit crossbars and posts, more realistic speed burst, fewer penalty calls, custom energy depletion and recovery rates balanced for more realistic line rolling and shift length, and player ratings that have been carefully calibrated for more realistic gameplay on the ice. Furthermore, two bonus patches have been included, so you can easily modify the more realistic ROM with a Rookie mode for easier to score goals, or an Arcade mode for those who want faster gameplay and less realism.
 

Roimage.pngsters, Ratings & Lines

Up-to-date custom rosters, ratings, and lines, built on smozoma’s 16-point player rating system (the original game was limited to a 7-point system), all based on extensive 2021-2022 regular season player data.

 

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 8. Face-Off.pngGraphical Refinements

The most obvious change is the move to composite sticks, but there are hundreds of graphical refinements beyond this, including title screens, logos, banners, player photos, scoreboard, audience, face-offs, player sprites, scorekeepers, Zamboni driver, and more. The goal was to bring the most graphically refined version of NHL 94 ever made, while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original art direction.
 

image.pngAnd so much more

Of course there is the weight bug fix, but also a custom weight scale, less variance in Hot/Cold rating randomization, immediate goalie control by pressing the (Y) button with a six-button controller (clockwise), a custom 3-Stars of the Game rating formula, a Vegas / Washington / Winnipeg Menu & Player Cards crash fix *, and more.
 

Every single feature & modification is documented below. I would love it if you would give it a try, and leave me any feedback!

cheers,

-Adam

 

NHL 94 [h] 2022 AC v6.0 - 2022 06 12.zip 751.77 kB · 194 downloads

 


p.s. If you are Clockwise, Kingraph, Naples, The Sauce, Slapshot76, Smozoma, or anyone else who has contributed to making ROMS for nhl94.com, I would be so flattered if you were interested in lifting any of my mods for your own. I would happily send you my source files, including Tile Molester bookmarks and palettes.
 


 

Features & Modifications

Title Screens

  • Graphics: EA logo refined.
  • Graphics: High Score Production screen restored to be closer to the original.
  • Graphics: Splash image replaced with EA NHL 22 Austin Matthews photo.
  • Graphics: Masthead re-drawn to match EA NHL 2022 lettering.
  • Title screen Logos removed.
  • Credits re-coloured & edited.

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 8. Face-Offs - Comp.png

Above Top Row: The original face-off animations had a linesman that was looking in the wrong direction (Top Left & Centre), freakishly long & thin stick blades, seemingly random black pixels on some frames (Top Left, Calgary uniforms), disproportionally dark shadows that sometimes overlapped the image frame (Top Centre), stick shadows that would overlap incorrectly (Top Right), and a frisbee instead of a puck.

Above Bottom Row: I’ve painstakingly gone through the 108 possible sprite combinations that can occur during a face-off, revised every issue I could find, re-drew the sticks to be more realistically shaped & taped, and perhaps most importantly, turned the Linesman’s head to face the right direction. We all need to do our part to improve NHL officiating.
 

Main Menu

  • Settings: Default teams set for the 2022 Stanley Cup finals.
  • Settings: Playoff brackets updated to 2022 seeding.
  • Settings: Line Changes default set to on “On,” because that's how I roll.
  • Graphics: Team Logos updated, with official colours relatively mapped to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive colour space.
  • Graphics: Team Banner colours adjusted to be uniformly consistent with the logos.
  • Graphics: Player Photos all updated with the NHL’s 2022 images, cropped & colour graded.
  • Hack: Bug that would causes crashes upon cycling through the Player Photos for Vegas, Washington, and Winnipeg has been eliminated. Please note, this comes at the cost of preventing saved stats from showing under player names.
  • Typesetting: Player names centred vertically.
  • Main Menu: Re-wording of a couple menu options for greater clarity.

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 1. Menu Logos x2.png

Above Right: All logos were revised or re-drawn by hand, and matched for visual weight. Official team colours were relatively mapped to the Sega MD/Genesis colour space, and banners were matched to key logo colours, with some minor re-wording in the menus.
 

Pre-Game

  • Graphics: Play-off Banner colours modified & dithered to look much closer to the authentic colours used in the menu screens.
  • Graphics: The Pre-Game Announcer's picture frame has been altered to be more consistent with the design of similar elements throughout the game.
  • Graphics: Ron Barr image restored to be closer to original.
  • Arena Names: All up-to-date as of January 2022.
  • Pre-Game: Match-up position names have been simplified for better accuracy to “Forward,” “Defence,” & “Goaltender.”

image.png

Above: The colour palette available for Playoff Banners in the original game (Left) is extremely limited, but with a little trickery (Right) the banners now look much closer to the authentic team colours within these restrictions.
 

Arena

  • Graphics: Audience colours throughout have been slightly adjusted to have more uniform tonal contrast. 
  • Sprites: Audience members throughout have had a myriad of minor errors fixed.
  • Graphics: Ice Colour lightened slightly. The darker colour was giving me eye strain.

Arena - Sideboards view

  • Graphics: Scoreboard Banner colours modified & dithered to look closer to matching the Menu Banner colours..
  • Graphics: Sideboard Scoreboard has re-drawn NHL logo.
  • Graphics: Side-boards Score-Keepers revised.
  • Sprites: Zamboni driver revised to better match the perspective of the side-boards.

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 6. Sideboards x2.png

Above Right: The Scoreboard Banners have been re-coloured using dithering to better approximate the official team colours. Furthermore, Banner lettering and Scores were made brighter, the NHL logo was re-drawn, the audience was tweaked, and the Zamboni driver and Scorekeepers were revised…

Above: The original Zamboni driver (Left) looked like a small ruddy-faced hunchback. This became much more obvious when Clockwise introduced the excellent scorekeepers graphic (Centre), as the the driver (who is closer to our point of view and should therefore be larger) would seem conspicuously tiny when he would pass in front of the larger scorekeepers. I loved slapshot67’s scorekeepers graphic, so I simply gave it a minor revision (Right), and then matched the style and perspective of the Zamboni driver to fit the scorekeepers and the perspective of the scene better.
 

Arena - Ice view

  • Graphics: Centre ice logos updated, adapted from NHL Rewind designs to match the perspective of the ice.
  • Graphics: Goalie crease outline modification. (Author unknown)
  • Graphics: The Creases now have texturing like in the original NHL 94. No self-respecting goalie doesn't chew up their crease with their skates.
  • Graphics: Minor lighting details in the original ROM, but incorrectly coloured so as to be invisible, have been restored to be visible.
  • Graphics: Bench coaches refined.
  • Sprites: Bench players “chirping” animations refined to be less cartoonish.
  • Graphics: Score-keepers revised.
  • Graphics: Horizontal seam in the glass has been erased.
  • Graphics: Bench area modifications. (slapshot67)
  • Graphics: Bench backup goalie hack. (slapshot67)
  • Graphics: Net re-design. (slapshot67)
  • Graphics: Goal light modification. (slapshot67)
  • Graphics: Face-off circles modification. (Author unknown)
  • Graphics: Trapezoid line modification. (Author unknown)

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 7. Centre Ice Face-Off - Comp.png
Above Right: Note the re-designed composite sticks in the Face-Off window. This image all shows an extreme example of how all players were coloured to emphasize a sense of depth, with more realistic shadows and highlights. The excellent Naples & The Sauce ROMs are shown here for relative comparison only, no criticism implied of their superlative work. If you haven’t already, go check them out!

In-Play

  • Sprites: - Sprites: Uniforms have been coloured to have consistent official colour use, and a greater sense of depth with as realistic as possible colour shifts for shadows and highlights. Tests were done with demo play to try and give the most accurate impression of how team’s look in motion, and not necessarily what is the most accurate in still. Lighter shadows under the players complete the look.
  • Sprites: Face-off animations revised.
  • Sprites: Players given grey composite sticks.
  • Graphics: On-Ice Player Numbers changed to white for better legibility against the ice.
  • Graphics: On-Ice Player Star for Player 1 colour was change to have less contrast against the ice, and to be less distractingly conspicuous compared to other visual elements.
  • Graphics: On-Ice Player Star for Player 2 was left the same colour, but because of the adjustments to the ice and player one star, the player two star now appears more distinctly.
  • Sprites: Goaltenders masks tweaked to reveal their faces.
  • Sprites: Puck and its shadow revised.
  • Sprites: Player Helmet colour patch. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Player Stick tape patch. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Improved Checking animations patch. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Player Eye colour patch. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Player Boots & Gloves colour patch. (Clockwise)

image.png

Above Right: The Scorekeepers in-play have been revised to consistently match the art style used for the Scorekeeper in the Sideboards view. Also, they have been modernized with touchscreens!

Above: Note how in the original (Left) the player one indicator is distractingly very high contrast, while the player two indicator is much more difficult to see with low tonal contrast. Brightening the colour of the ice (Centre) helps, but then the already muddy looking player numbers become very difficult to see. I’ve re-balanced the colours (Right) so that the player one indicator is quieter while still being easy to see, the player two indicator is equally easy to see, and the the player numbers are much clearer to see against the ice. There's also a new puck, and revised puck shadow. The excellent Naples ROM is shown for relative comparison only, no criticism implied of their superlative work.
 

Rosters

  • Rosters & Lines: Updated based on aggregate 2022 regular season player usage data.
  • Rosters: Shortened all last names to a maximum of 10 characters, to avoid cosmetic glitches in the game. This affected ~20 players in the game.

image.png

Above. 216 official NHL 2021–2022 headshots (only 192 included in-game), all individually cropped and colour graded for visual balance.
 

Ratings

  • Team Ratings: Team attribute & overall ratings updated as per end of 2022 season data.
  • Player Ratings: Underlying system has been changed from the default 1-6 scale to a 0-15 scale for more accurate differentiation of players. (smozoma)
  • Player Ratings: Custom player ratings based on the characteristics from EA’s NHL 2022, modified using a mix of real-world data and gameplay oriented parameters. The goal was to make gameplay more contemporary, and individual player performance more realistic.
  • Player Ratings: Custom overall rating formula.
  • Player Ratings: Much more parity between the best and the worst of the league, with all players having a minimum 52 rating, ranging to a maximum 94 for McDavid, before Hot/Cold variance.
  • Player Ratings: Weight scale modification patch. (smozoma)
  • Player Ratings: Edit lines bug fix patch. (smozoma)

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 5. Ratings - 16 over 90 x1.png

Above: Here are the top sixteen players rated a 90 or over. If you don’t see your favourite player here, I guarantee I rated them an 89!
 

Gameplay

  • Controls: Goalie control can now be accessed immediately by pressing the (Y) button with a six-button controller. (clockwise)
  • Player Ratings: Attribute rating distributions have been careful set and thoroughly tested to produce a faster more contemporary feel to puck movement & gameplay, with better goaltending throughout.
  • Gameplay: Body Checking and Aggressiveness have been balanced to reduce the penalty rate from the original, and approximate the real body checking and penalty rates of each team in the 2022 season.
  • Gameplay: Hot & Cold range of variance has been reduced by ~25%, from a displayed maximum variance of -9/+8 to -7/+6.
  • Gameplay: The “goal” area of the net has been reduced slightly, making it slightly more difficult to score, and slightly more likely that you will hit the post.
  • Gameplay: Player Speed Burst set to 25% of the original, for a more realistic feel and higher difficulty. No more winning every loose puck race.
  • Gameplay: Custom Stamina Depletion & Recovery rates.
  • Gameplay: Weight / Checking bug fix patch. (smozoma)
  • Gameplay: Second-Assist bug fix patch. (smozoma)
  • Gameplay: Overtime set to 5 minutes.
  • Stars of the Game: New custom formula.

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 10. In-Game Bench Side - Teams - AC v6.0 - Comp x2.png

AboveThe original (Left) benches had floors coloured like the ice, and the players chirped with unhinged jaws, with no supervision from a coach, let alone a backup goaltender. Over time (Centre), utterly fantastic changes were made by slapshot67, adding a more realistic floor, fitting in a coach, and a perfectly matched backup goaltender! I've built on this work (Right) by getting rid of the leftover teal coloured shadow behind players leaning forward, drawing more realistic shadows on the players arms and back as they move, setting consistent mouth colours with a more realistic “chirping”, and refining the coach to match the other sprites a bit better, with a more realistic shadow too.

Above Right: Line change energy bars with inverse quasi-logarithmic gradations, calibrated with the custom energy depletion rate for ideal shift length.
 

In-Game Overlays

  • Graphics: Referee pop-over refined.
  • Graphics: Linesman pop-over revised.
  • Graphics: In-Game Timer logo has been re-drawn to match the old EA Star logo in the style of the original graphic, but wider and smoother like The Sauce’s excellent version, and shorter to fit the allocated space better.
  • Penalty: “Cross Check” renamed to “Cross-check” as per the official NHL rulebook nomenclature.
  • Penalty: “Face-Off” renamed to “Face-off”  as per the official NHL rulebook.
  • Penalty: “Fight Instigator” renamed to “Instigator” as per the official NHL rulebook.
  • Graphics: Line Change Energy bars have been drawn to use an inverse quasi-logarithmic scale, more representative of ideal shift length and degrading player performance.
  • Graphics: The green for the line-change energy bars has been altered to be little bit more… energetic.
  • Graphics: Custom Stars of the Game icon.
  • Stars of the Game: Typesetting & layout refined.

image.png

Above: From Left to Right, four different evolutions…

1. The Goalie’s mask has been revised to now show a bit of their face underneath (Right).

2. When the crease got modernized (Centre) it lost the texture of the original (Left). I’ve restored the original texture into the modern crease (Right).

3. There was originally no Stars of the Game icon, and a simplistic formula for choosing the stars. A couple of excellent patches later, and we have a stars icon (Centre) and a better formula! I've built on this (Right) with a new star icon, revised typesetting, and a new custom Stars of the Game formula.

4. I really liked The Sauce’s wide take on the EA logo (Centre), as well as the bevelled style of the original (Left). I’ve mixed the two styles together, and refined it to better fit the allocated vertical space.
 

In-Game Menus

  • Graphics: NHL & NHLPA Logos re-drawn for greater authenticity.
  • Graphics: “Hockey Night” Banner slightly re-coloured to be more visual appealing to me personally.
  • Hack: Bugs that would causes crashes upon cycling through Player Cards for Washington (and possible also Vegas & Winnipeg) has been eliminated. 
  • Typesetting: The “Change Goalie” option for “no goalie” is now in ALL-CAPS for greater visibility.

image.png

Above: The Player Cards system (Left) developed bugs over time, as the ROM was expanded from 28–32 teams. Looking at a goalie for Vegas or Washington would immediately crash the game (Centre), until now (Right). * 

 


Extras

  • Gameplay: An optional Arcade Mode patch has been included, for those who prefer faster action.
  • Gameplay: An optional Rookie Mode patch has been included, for those who are still learning how to outsmart the CPU.
  • Artwork: Matching box art was made! I did one very faithful to the layout of the original Genesis release, and one with the front slightly re-arranged in order to have an image frame better suited to the official EA photo for this year.

NHL94 2022.png NHL94 2022 [h].png
 


Known Issues

* Vegas / Washington / Winnipeg Player Cards may crash if User Records are turned on, and there are stored goaltending statistics for these teams. A potential fix was being investigated, but is not at a workable state. For this reason, User Records are recommended to be left off.

* User Records may incorrectly store user data if playing with Vegas / Washington / Winnipeg.

 


Future Wish-List

I’ve run out of time to work on this project, but if I did find more time, here is what I would like to focus on next…

  • Gameplay: Reduce the rebound rate of the puck to be way less bouncy.
  • Gameplay: Enable energy Recovery for players sitting in the penalty box.
  • Line-Changes: Enable line changes to be initiated without possession of the puck, preferably with a dedicated button. 
  • Gameplay: Improve logic for how icings and offsides are calculated to use puck position instead of player position.
  • Gameplay: Prevent the goaltenders from skating into the trapezoid areas.
  • Sprites: Redraw Sideboards Referee to better match the art style of everything else (requires “de-compressing” shared tiles.)
  • Gameplay: Program the CPU to pull the goalie when trailing by 1–2 goals (currently only pulls with a two goal deficit).
  • Gameplay: Reduce the energy depletion rate for Speed Bursts.
  • Gameplay: Increase the amount of CPU Body-Checking without increasing the amount of penalties called.
  • Sprites: Improve the comparatively low visual quality of the on-ice officials throughout (requires “de-compressing” shared tiles.)
  • Penalties: Rename “Cross-check” to the proper “Cross-checking.”
  • Penalties: Re-name “Roughing” period that causes an injury to “Illegal Hit.”
  • Player Cards: Eliminate the crash that occurs on player cards for Washington when user records are turned on, and the goaltender has saved stats.
  • User Records: Restore system to be as fully functional as possible.
  • Player Sprites: Restore some player sprite shading details that have been lost from the original.

If you were able to help me implement any of these changes, please let me know!

 


Credits

This project was built decades of work by the NHL94.com community, and never would have been possible without them. I’m sure there are more contributors than I could ever possibly know, let alone acknowledge, but I will do my best…

Contributors

This ROM contains contributions from the following individuals…

Brodeur30

  • Rink & Net collision logic.

chaos

  • Hot/Cold variation logic.

Clockwise

  • Player sprites helmet colour patch.
  • Player sprites hockey tape patch.
  • Player sprites improved checking animations patch.
  • Player sprites eye colour patch.
  • Player sprites boots & gloves colour patch.

Dervin10

  • Roster extractor & importer tool development.

kingraph

  • Scoreboard graphic hack.
  • Stars of the Game graphic hack.

slapshot67

  • 30 to 32 team ROM re-structuring.
  • Scorekeepers graphic hack and original design.
  • Bench area graphic modifications.
  • Bench coaches hack and original design.
  • Bench backup goalie hack and original design.
  • Net graphic re-design.
  • Crease graphic revision.
  • Goal light graphics revision.

smozoma

  • 0–15 Player Rating scale patch.
  • Credits editing logic.
  • Edit Line Ratings bug fix patch.
  • Player Overall rating formula logic.
  • Player weight scale modification patch.
  • Second-Assist bug fix patch.
  • Stars of the Game formula logic.
  • Weight / Checking bug fix patch.
  • EARE tool development.

Tony H.

  • Stopping & Crossover Rate logic.

wboy

  • 28 to 30 team ROM re-structuring.
  • Player photo logic.
  • Player energy depletion & recovery rates logic.
  • Speed burst rate logic.
  • NOSE tool development.

Author unknown

  • Face-off circles graphic modification.
  • Trapezoid line graphic modification.
  • Goalie crease graphic modification.
     

Special Thanks to…

kingraph - tips & resources.
Sauce - resources for rosters, ratings, and lines.
smozoma - utterly invaluable tips, resources, tools, & support.
…and everyone at nhl94.com who tested Betas or provided feedback.
 

Extra Special Thanks to…

Ena - for nothing less than everything.

 


     

    The ZIP contains the ROM, release note, and optional patches.

    NHL 94 [h] 2022 AC v6.0 - 2022 06 12.zip 751.77 kB · 194 downloads

     

     

    Hey Buddy. Amazing mod. Im reaching out to see how you did the goalie crease. Cause in 95, im having trouble adjusting it without causing issues.

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    2 hours ago, UltraMagnus said:

    Hey Buddy. Amazing mod. Im reaching out to see how you did the goalie crease. Cause in 95, im having trouble adjusting it without causing issues.

    Thanks man! Honestly, I don't remember, but I *do* remember screwing it up before I got it right. :)

    Perhaps tell me a bit more, or show me a screen cap of what is happening to you, and maybe it will jog my memory? I can tell you that I used an old version of Tile Molester, and trial and error, but I hardly think that is useful. Tell me and/or show me more, and I will do my best to help you over that hump.

     

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    1 hour ago, AdamCatalyst said:

    Thanks man! Honestly, I don't remember, but I *do* remember screwing it up before I got it right. :)

    Perhaps tell me a bit more, or show me a screen cap of what is happening to you, and maybe it will jog my memory? I can tell you that I used an old version of Tile Molester, and trial and error, but I hardly think that is useful. Tell me and/or show me more, and I will do my best to help you over that hump.

     

    Like this.  

    image.png

    image.png

    Like this. Been trying for months to figure it out how you created the square crease instead of the half circle.

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    42 minutes ago, UltraMagnus said:

    Like this.  

    image.png

    image.png

    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:

    hex tiles - 1 x 16.png 

     

     

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    20 minutes ago, kingraph said:

    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:

    hex tiles - 1 x 16.png 

     

     

    The King being the king. Thanks bud.

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    32 minutes ago, UltraMagnus said:

    The King being the king. Thanks bud.

    He gave me the same worthwhile advice when I had a similar question. :)

    FYI, I did't modify the shape of the crease, only the fill texture. I used the modified shape from The Sauce, who used the modified shape from someone else, etc. You might be able to fast-forward your process, if you open up some ROMs that have the crease you like, and compare tiles between them.

    If you haven't already found the crease in my ROM in TileMol, here are the co-ordinates I used for modifying the crease texture:

    <bookmark offset="357668" columns="9" rows="9" blockwidth="9" blockheight="9" rowinterleaved="false" sizeblocktocanvas="true" mode="1D" palIndex="0" codec="LN04">
      <description>Arena - Crease 1</description>
    </bookmark>
    <bookmark offset="746922" columns="9" rows="8" blockwidth="9" blockheight="8" rowinterleaved="false" sizeblocktocanvas="true" mode="1D" palIndex="0" codec="LN04">
      <description>Arena - Crease 2</description>
    </bookmark>

    The rest of the related tiles should be very close to that point. I've literally never even played '95 for the Sega, but If you're lucky, the structure in '95 will be similar enough to that you will be able to see what bits you want to mod by comparing them.

    All that being said, if you want to draw the crease your own way, creating a map of how those tiles are laid with Kingpin's trick out will seriously save your sanity. Furthermore, you can then use that map to go work in other more intuitive software if like. For me personally, I found that this was much more efficient to work on the whole image in Photoshop, then using the aforementioned map to figure out how it needs to be sliced and diced and exported into TileMol.

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    2 hours ago, UltraMagnus said:

    How did you modify it? In HxD?

    I used Hex Fiend as my main hex editor, along with a bit in Sublime Text. I also used Beyond Compare for diffing files, often used to troubleshoot or verify an edit was made cleanly. Does that answer your question?

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    • 4 weeks later...

    Hi folks,

    I've had a number of people PM me to ask if there will be a '23 version incoming. The short answer: "I don't know."

    The long answer: I really want to, and every day that we inch closer to that opening night face-off, that desire increases, but I've had too much going on in real life to even get started. And I have too much new stuff coming up to know what's going to happen this fall. For these reasons, if I do get started on a '23, I am going to keep it super-minimal to start… just v6 + a roster and lines update. Then could build on it from there throughout the season

    If you are interested in seeing a "Catalyst" version of '23, and are willing to put in some time collaborating, please let me know! One of the most time consuming things for me, is setting the line combinations for each team. If you were interested in taking on this task for your favourite team (or any team), let me know, and I will send you all the details so that you can decide if that's something you really want to do.

    I hope all of you are keeping healthy & happy.

    cheers,

    -Adam

     

    p.s. Did you see that @UltraMagnus has put out a '23 (95) ROM? It looks really slick!

    Edited by AdamCatalyst
    Forgot URL.
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    • 4 months later...
    • 1 month later...
    15 hours ago, elfor said:

    Will there be optional Arcade Mode / Rookie Mode patches like for 2022?

     

    Edit: Oops sorry this was for the 2023 thread

    No worries! I wasn't planning on it, unless folks asked for it. I don't want to put in extra effort that no-one uses, so if it's something you use, please let me know!

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    • AdamCatalyst changed the title to NHL 94: 2022 Edition by Adam Catalyst

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