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NHL 94: 2023 Edition by Adam Catalyst


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NHL 94: 2023 Edition by Adam Catalyst


v4.4 updated 2023 05 14

image.png

Hello there friendly strangers,

Here is the latest version of my 2023 ROM. The goal is to try to provide the most refined and realistic up-to-date versions of this all-time classic game. 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 - 4. Face-Off - Centre Ice - 2023 04 16 - 4x.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 rating distribution curves that have been carefully calibrated for more realistic gameplay on the ice.

image.pngNew in '23

800 players obsessively rated, up-to-date rosters, and realistic lines, based on extensive 2020-2023 regular season player data and analytics. Team colours, banners, uniforms, and logos all improved to be as realistic as possible, along with numerous other graphical refinements throughout the arena.

image.pngGraphical Refinements

Hundreds of other refinements have been made including title screens, banners, player photos, scoreboard, audience, face-offs, player sprites, nets, ice markings, coaches, scorekeepers, Zamboni driver, and more. The goal is to bring the most graphically refined version of NHL 94 ever made, while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original art direction.

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 11. Crease, Goalie, Timer, & Stars of the Game - 2023 04 16 - 4x.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, a custom 3-Stars of the Game rating formula, a Vegas / Washington / Winnipeg Menu & Player Cards crash fix, and…

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


-Adam


p.s. I'd be flattered if you wanted to lift any of my mods for your own ROM. Anyone who contributes to making hacks or ROMs for nhl94.com is welcome to PM me, and I will happily send you source files, including Tile Molester bookmarks and palettes.

 


 

Current Version 

NHL 94 [h] 2023 AC v4.4 - 2023 05 14.zip


Previous Versions 

NHL 94 [h] 2023 AC v3.0 - 2023 03 13.zip

NHL 94 [h] 2023 AC v2.0 - 2023 02 10.zip

NHL 94 [h] 2023 AC v1.1 - 2023 01 17.zip

 

Box Art

image.png

 


 

Features & Modifications

Title Screens & Under the Hood

  • ROM Header: Updated to indicate support for Japan region, 6-Button Controller, both domestic & foreign ROM names, and updated checksum.
  • Title Screen: Opening Logo screens display time reduced by 30%.
  • Graphics: EA logo screen heavily modified.
  • Graphics: High Score Production screen slightly modified.
  • Graphics: Splash image updated with my personal 2022 MVP vote.
  • Graphics: Masthead re-drawn to match EA’s current NHL23 lettering.
  • Graphics: Title screen Logos removed.
  • Text: Credits re-coloured & edited.

NHL 94 - Screenshots - Uniforms - NOSE - 2023 - Processed - Wide - 2x.png

Above: The player sprites design was revised to more accurately accommodate the wide range of colourations for all 32 NHL teams. Taped taped composite sticks complete the more realistic contemporary look.

Above & Beyond: A global colour palette for the entire ROM was built, with all key colour decisions made in this relative context. Teams have been systemically coloured to have as accurate a representation as possible, with a consistent sense of depth, and realistic colour shifts for shadows and highlights. Tests were done with demo play, and final colour decisions were made to give the most accurate impression in motion, and not necessarily what looked the best in stills.
 

Main Menu

  • Settings: Default teams set for the 2022 Stanley Cup finals.
  • Settings: Playoff brackets updated to the 2023 seedings.
  • Settings: 7-minute period length option added.
  • Settings: Line Changes & Penalties defaults set to on "On," because that's how I roll.
  • Graphics: Team Banners & Logos updated, with consistent up-to-date official colours relatively mapped to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive colour space.
  • Graphics: Team Banner names removed, and replaced with "VISITORS" and "HOME" for clarity.
  • Graphics: Player Photos all updated with official NHL headshot images, custom cropped & colour graded.
  • Graphics: Error removed from the selection box.
  • Hack: Player Photo carousel cycling order modified.
  • 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.
  • Text: Re-wording of a couple menu options for greater clarity.
  • Typesetting: Player names centred vertically.
  • Settings: Default teams set for the 2022 Stanley Cup finals.

image.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: Banners have been refined to have better typesetting, and colours modified & dithered to look closer to the 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 2023. Arizona State welcomes you to Mullet Arena.
  • Pre-Game: Match-up position names have been simplified to “Forward,” “Defence,” & “Goaltender.”

NHL 94 - Screenshots - 6. Play-Off Banners - 2x - 2023 04 19.png

Above: When EA released Rewind (left), they kept the same very limited colour palette as the original for team banners, despite decades of new teams and new team colours. I've optimized this restrictive colour palette (right) so that all teams now look much closer to their authentic colours. Furthermore, typesetting has been improved in all banners to also be better than Rewind, with improved, kerning, alignment, and some custom letterforms.
 

Rink

  • Graphics: Colour Palette has been altered to improve the audience affect with more uniform tonal contrast, to improve the accuracy of the team banner colours, and to give the nets more realistic colouring.
  • Sprites: Audience members design and animations have been refined.
  • Graphics: Goal light & animation revised.
  • Graphics: Instant Replay Reverse view inconsistencies fixed.
  • Graphics: Minor refinements throughout the arena.

Rink - On the Ice

  • Graphics: Ice Colour lightened slightly. The darker colour was giving me eye strain.
  • Graphics: Centre ice logos updated, adapted from NHL Rewind designs.
  • Graphics: Face-off circles modification. (author unknown)
  • Graphics: Net re-drawn to the most recent (2013) NHL proportions, with an updated goalie crease.
  • Graphics: Trapezoid area lines drawn to NHL scale.
  • Graphics: Glass & stanchions behind bottom net revised to be symmetrical and parallel to glass & stanchions at the top, horizontal seam in top glass has been erased, and on-ice reflections of stanchions have been fixed throughout.

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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 the state of NHL officiating.

 

Rink - On the Sidelines

  • Graphics: Bench area modifications, including the addition of coaches.
  • Graphics: Bench backup goalie hack. (slapshot67)
  • Sprites: Bench players "chirping" animations refined to be less cartoonish.
  • Graphics: Time-keepers added in, and time-keeper area Stanchion misalignment fixed.
    Graphics: Bench, Penalty Box, & Time-keepers area Stanchions modified to be consistent with the Sideboards view.

image.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 (Botton Left): 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. The Sauce’s excellent ROM is shown here for relative comparison only, no criticism implied of his inspiring work.
 

Rink - Sideboards view

  • Graphics: Sideboards Bench, Boards, Glass, Ice, Stanchions, etc. revised. 
  • Graphics: Scoreboard Banners refined to have better typesetting, and colours modified & dithered to look closer to the Menu Banner colours.
  • Graphics: Sideboard Scoreboard has custom drawn NHL logo.
  • Graphics: Side-boards Score-Keepers added. (Based on the SNES version)
  • Sprites: Zamboni driver revised to better match the perspective of the side-boards.
  • Sprites: Player in Penalty box refined.

image.png

Above Top: Beyond the improved banner, the scoreboard features brighter lettering and scores along with custom drawn a modern NHL logo.

Above Below: The original Zamboni driver (Left) looked like a small ruddy-faced hunchback. I re-designed him to fit the style and perspective of the scene better, adapted the design of the scorekeepers from the SNES version to match, improved the design of the player in the penalty box (who disturbingly had no lower body in the original), and have made hundreds of minor refinements to the audience, animation, bench, stanchions, the light refraction on the edge of the glass, etc.
 

In-Play

  • Sprites: Player design was revised to more accurately accommodate the wide range of colourations for all 32 NHL teams. Tests were done with demo play, and final colour decisions were made to give the most accurate impression in motion, and not necessarily what looked the best in stills.
  • Sprites: Face-off animations revised.
  • Sprites: Players given grey composite sticks, because grey pixels have better puck feel, more flex, and are lighter weight.
  • Sprites: Goaltenders masks revised to reveal their faces.
  • Sprites: Player Helmet colour patch. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Player Eye, Boots & Gloves, and Stick Tape patches. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Improved Checking animations patch. (Clockwise)
  • Sprites: Puck and its shadow revised.
  • Graphics: On-Ice Player Numbers changed to white for better legibility against the ice.
  • Graphics: On-Ice Player indicator (star) for Player 1 lightened to be less conspicuous and increase relative on-ice contrast for the Player 2 indicator.
  • Graphics: Penalty box player colour error fixed. (Slapshot67

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 extensive 2021–2023 regular season player usage data.
  • Rosters & Lines: 800 total players have been included, covering the 25 players (14F, 8D, & 3G) with the most ice-time in 2022-2023 on each team.

image.png

Above. 192 official NHL headshots used in-game), all individually cropped and colour graded for visual balance.
 

Ratings

  • Team Ratings: Team attribute & overall ratings updated as per the end of March 13, 2023 regular 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: ustom player ratings based on a mix of real-world data and gameplay oriented parameters. The goal is 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 95 for McDavid, before Hot/Cold variance.
  • Player Ratings: Weight scale modification patch. (smozoma)
  • Player Ratings: Edit lines bug fix patch. (smozoma)

image.png

Above: Here are the top fourteen 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)
  • 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 2022–2023 season.
  • Gameplay: Hot & Cold range of variance has been reduced by ~25%, and the frequency of variance has been reduced by ~50%.
  • Gameplay: The "goal" area of the net has been reduced slightly, making it more difficult to score, and more likely that you will hit the post.
  • 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, Penalty Shots set to 15 seconds.
  • 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.
  • Stars of the Game: New custom formula.

image.png

Behind the Scenes: Rosters, ratings, and lines are based on extensive real-world data and advanced analytics. All of this is conformed to custom ratings distribution curves, which give the gameplay its unique feel. This single most important feature can't be shown in stills. You have to play it to feel it.
 

In-Game Overlays

  • Graphics: Linesman & Referee pop-overs refined.
  • Graphics: In-Game Timer logo has been re-drawn. (based on Sauce's design)
  • Graphics: Line Change Energy bars have been re-drawn to have an inverse quasi-logarithmic gradation.
  • Graphics: Instant Replay controls graphic revised.
  • Graphics: Custom Stars of the Game icon and revised typesetting.
  • Text: "Cross Check," "Face-Off," and "Fight Instigator" renamed to "Cross-check," "Face-off," and "Instigator" as per the official NHL rulebook.

image.png

Above: Various evolutions…

  1. The Net has been re-drawn to closely match the current NHL proportions, an to slightly reduce the scoring area.
  2. The crease has been re-drawn to match, along with trapezoid lines and other updated ice markings.
  3. The Goalie’s mask has been revised to now show a bit of their face underneath (Right).
  4. A custom Stars of the Game icon and typesetting, to go along with a custom underlying selection formula.
     

In-Game Menus

  • Graphics: NHL & NHLPA Logos re-drawn.
  • Graphics: "Hockey Night" Banner slightly re-coloured.
  • Hack: Player Cards bugs that would causes crashes upon cycling through Cards for WSH (and possibly also VGK & WPG) have been eliminated.
  • Hack: Player Stats now showing Checks instead of Penalty Minutes. (smozoma)
  • Text: The “Change Goalie” option for “no goalie” is now in ALL-CAPS for greater visibility.

Extras

  • Artwork: Matching box art was made! The artwork is high resolution, print quality, and stays very close to the original North American box design. It is available near the top of this post.

 
 


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.

Builds are tested with Genesis Plus 1.7.4.15 and Genesis Plus GX 1.7.5-RC1 r24-10-2021. If you are having any technical issues, you may want to try one of these emulators. If you are reporting a technical issue, please note the exact console or emulator version that you are using for me.
 


Future Wish-List

I'm not sure how much time I will have to work on this in the future, 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: Reduce effectiveness of B-checks.
  • Line-Changes: Enable line changes to be initiated without possession of the puck, preferably with a dedicated button.
  • Gameplay: Prevent the goaltenders from skating into the trapezoid areas.
  • Gameplay: Enable energy Recovery for players sitting in the penalty box.
  • Gameplay: Improve logic for how icings and offsides are calculated to use puck position instead of player position.
  • Gameplay: Program the CPU to pull the goalie when trailing by 1 - 2 goals (currently only pulls with a two goal deficit).
  • Gameplay: Increase the amount of CPU Checking without increasing the amount of penalties called.
  • Sprites: Redraw Sideboards Referee to better match the art style of everything else (requires "de-compressing" shared tiles.)
  • 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.

If you were able to help me research or  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

  • Goalie Control with a six-button controller.
  • 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.

Drezz

  • Team uniforms Yoke colour isolated.

kingraph

  • Sideboards modification logic.
  • Stars of the Game graphic hack.

slapshot67

  • 30 to 32 team ROM re-structuring.
  • Scorekeepers graphic hack and original design.
  • Bench backup goalie hack and original design.
  • Penalty Box player sprite colouring fix.

smozoma

  • 0–15 Player Rating scale patch.
  • Player Stats Checking 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.
  • Rink modification logic.
  • NOSE tool development.

Author unknown

  • Face-off circles graphic modification.
  • Instant Replay controls graphic revision.
  • Team uniforms colour restructuring.
     

Special Thanks to…

Drezz - original work and resources.
kingraph - tips & resources.
Sauce - resources for rosters, ratings, and lines.
Seamor - tips, encouragement, and inspiration. 
smozoma - utterly invaluable tips, resources, tools, & support.
von Ozbourme - resources and lessons.

…and everyone at nhl94.com who tested Betas or provided feedback.
 

Extra Special Thanks to…

Ena - for nothing less than everything.

 


     

    I hope you enjoy!

     

    Edited by AdamCatalyst
    Updated for version 4.4
    • Love 3
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    Change-Log


    2023 05 14 - Version 4.4

    “Final” Edition.

    Should be the last planned update of this (post) season.

    Rosters
    - Player Names: Some long names (less than 1%) of players contracted to be shorter. This fixes some cosmetic glitches that were occurring.

    Lines & Ratings, etc
    - TOR: Minor updates. Major grieving.

     


    2023 04 30 - Version 4.3

    “Be-Leaf” Edition…

    Rosters, Ratings, Lines, etc
    - TOR: Matthew Knies added, TOR Lines & Ratings updated.

    In-Play
    - Sprites: Goalies had minor graphics error fixed.

    Rink
    Graphics: Audience design & animation refined.
    Graphics: Instant Replay Controller graphic revised.

     


    2023 04 19 - Version 4.2

    There's Something about New York…

    Miscellaneous
    - Pre-Game: NYR was accidentally given home ice-advantage over NJD in v4.0 & v4.1. This has been fixed.

    Rosters, Ratings, Lines, etc
    - Lines: Non-playoff bound teams lines finalized.

    image.png
     


    2023 04 17 - Version 4.1

    Apologies to Carolina…

    NYI was accidentally given home ice-advantage over CAR in v4.0. This has been fixed.
     


    2023 04 16 - Version 4.0

    Opening Night of the Playoffs Edition…

    The roster, lineups and matchups are ready for the play-offs, and the remastering of the rink graphics are almost done now, with an updated colour palette, a new net design, refined audience animations, and more.
     

    Under the Hood

    • ROM Header: Updated to indicate support for Japan region, 6-Button Controller, and both domestic & foreign ROM names.
       

    Title Screens, Menus, & Pre-Game

    • Title Screen: Opening Logo screens display time reduced by 30%.
    • Graphics: EA logo screen refined.
    • Graphics: Banners typesetting refined.
    • Graphics: Banners for MIN & SEA colouring revised.
    • Graphics: Main Menu selection frame minor tweak.
    • Pre-Game: Playoff matchups updated for the 2023 seeding.
       

    Rosters, Ratings, Lines, etc

    • Rosters: Every team has had their rosters finalized.
    • Ratings: Final ratings for team attributes, and minor ratings changes to some players.
    • Graphics: Player Photos updated to support roster moves, with additional improvements to MTL.
    • Lines: Play-off bound teams had their lines finalized (non-playoff teams lines to be finalized in next update).

    Rink

    • Graphics: Colour Palette has been altered to improve the audience affect with more uniform tonal contrast, to improve the accuracy of the team banner colours, and to give the nets more realistic colouring.
    • Graphics: Numerous refinements to the sideboard view.
    • Graphics: Audience & animation further refined.
    • Graphics: Net re-drawn to the most recent (2013) NHL proportions.
    • Graphics: Crease revised.
    • Sprites: Players Snow Spray animation restored to original.

    NHL 94 - Screenshots - 7. Sideboards - 2023.png

     


    2023 03 13 - Version 3.0

    Trade Deadline Day is now a Week Long Edition…

    Beyond the requisite trade deadline updates, the work on refinements to the area has continue with hundreds of minor little refinements, with particular focus on the sideboards and the audience.
     

    Title Screens

    • Graphics: Custom EA logo screen, combining a revised version of the EA logo from the original, and iconography from “Rewind.”
       

    Playoffs, Sideboards, & On-Ice Teams

    • Graphics: DET & MTL banner text centred.
    • Graphics: SJS banner reversion to include the black stripe.
    • Graphics: WPG banner colours changed to Blue on Blue.
    • Graphics: DAL uniform and centre ice logo colours adjusted slightly. 
       

    Rosters, Ratings, Lines, etc

    • Rosters, Lines, & Ratings: Every team has had their rosters, ratings, and lines updated for the trade deadline (March 3, 2023.)
    • Graphics: Player Photos updated to support roster moves, with some minor improvements.
       

    Rink

    • Graphics: Sideboards Bench, Boards, Glass, Ice, Logo, Stanchions, etc. revised. 
    • Graphics: Sideboards missing audience animation frame restored.
    • Graphics: Sideboards Player in Penalty Box revised.
    • Graphics: Rink & Sideboards Audience and animation revised.
    • Graphics: Rink & Sideboards Time-Keepers revised.
    • Graphics: Trapezoid area lines re-drawn to NHL scale.
    • Graphics: Nets revised.
    • Graphics: Glass behind bottom net revised.
    • Graphics: Glass & stanchions behind bottom net revised to be parallel to glass & stanchions behind top net.
    • Graphics: Coach slightly revised.
    • Graphics: Goal light animation revised.
       

    Gameplay

    • Gameplay: Goalie lateral movement range without the puck reverted to default.
    • Misc: Stars of the Game formula revised to increase value of Assists by 10%.

    image.png
     


    2023 02 10 - Version 2.0

    Remastered Colours Edition

    Team uniform colouring has been restructured (thank-you @Drezz!) and all team banners, logos, and uniforms have been reviewed and adjusted for greater consistency & authenticity. This was a major undertaking, building a global colour palette for the game, that holistically considers each real-world colour being depicted. Furthermore, lots of little rink revisions…
     

    Rosters, Lines, & Ratings

    • Rosters, Lines, & Ratings: Up-to-date as of Feb 10, 2023.
       

    Teams

    • Pre-Game: Playoffs & Sideboards Banner colours adjusted.
    • Sprites: Almost all team uniforms updated for greater accuracy.
    • Graphics: Many centre ice logos have been adjusted to accommodate the revised uniforms.
    • Graphics: Player in Penalty Box revised.
    • Miscellaneous: VGK Home Uniforms changed to Gold.

     

    Rink

    • Graphics: Bench has new custom Coach sprite. If it looks like Sheldon Keefe, well, that’s because it was based on Sheldon Keefe.
    • Graphics: Bench & Penalty Box area Stanchions modified to be consistent with the Sideboards view. 
    • Graphics: Timekeepers centre Stanchion misalignment fixed.
    • Graphics: On-ice reflections of Stanchions fixed.
    • Graphics: Goal Light & animation revised.
    • Graphics: Instant Replay Reverse view inconsistencies fixed.
       

    Miscellaneous

    • Title Screen: Original Credits tweaked for clarity.

    image.png
     


    2023 01 17 - Version 1.1

    Weight Watchers Edition

    Player weights and catching/shooting hand are now using an automated database lookup (NHL.com with EliteProspects as a fallback) to significantly reduce human error and more easily keep up-to-date. Hundreds of other minor updates were made, mainly to player ratings.
     

    Title Screen

    • Graphics: Splash image minor refinement.
    • Graphics: Masthead refined for better visual balance.
    • Credits: Credits copyright year updated.
       

    Rosters & Lines, & Ratings

    • Rosters: BUF, CGY & EDM updated.
    • Lines: COL & DET updated.
    • Lines: COL line order fixed.
    • Rosters: Names updated for Chris Tanev & Nicholas Paul as per NHL media guide.
    • Rosters: Jersey Numbers corrected for 12 players.
    • Ratings: Catching/Shooting hand corrected for 2 players.
    • Ratings: Weight updated for ~250 players.
    • Ratings: Miscellaneous minor updates to hundreds of players.

    image.gif

     


    2023 01 10 - Version 1.0

    Initial Public Release

    This first version for 2023 is built on top of the final released 2022 ROM (2022 06 12 - Version 6.0). All changes in that version are intact, with the following updates:
     

    Title Screens

    • Graphics: New Splash Image.
    • Graphics: Masthead updated.
    • Credit sequence updated.
       

    Main Menu

    • Graphic: EDM & SJS banner & logos updated.
    • Graphics: Player Photos added for new players, and some old photos have had minor improvements.
       

    Pre-Game

    • Graphics: Playoff banner colours adjusted for SJS.
    • Arena Names: Arizona has been updated.
       

    In-Play

    • Graphics: CAR Home uniforms, and on-ice logo updated.
    • Graphics: EDM Home & Away uniforms, and on-ice logo updated.
    • Graphics: SJS Home & Away uniforms, and on-ice logo updated.
    • Gameplay: Goalies given very slightly more lateral room to move without the puck.
       

    Rosters & Lines, & Rating

    • Team Ratings: Team attribute & overall ratings updated as per January 1 2023 season data.
    • Rosters & Lines: Every team is up-to-date as of January 8, 2023.
    • Ratings: All skater ratings reviewed, and most, if not all players have been revised.
    • Rating: New statistical model for goaltender ratings.
    • Ratings: New statistical model to set CPU behaviour for shot attempts, body checks, and penalized infractions.


    Extras

    • Matching box art was made.

     

    Edited by AdamCatalyst
    Updated for version 4.4
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    2 hours ago, profit90 said:

    Your center ice logos are fantastic..... Nice and wide (big). Very nice!

    Thanks! In truth, they were adapted from NHL Rewind, which was a suggestion from @kingraph. Some were just retouched, some were heavily modified, some were re-drawn form scratch, etc.

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    19 minutes ago, Jpark said:

    Yes dude! I'm very happy to see you come back @AdamCatalyst! Seamor took the words out of my mouth. I love all the work and effort you put into your roms. 

    Thanks man! I trust that you'll keep a watchful eye on Seattle, and let me know if you see room for improvement, just like before. :)

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    Great hack! Its awesome well done!

    I'm sorry but I just came across a weird bug. I was watching a demo game and after a while all the players just sort of stopped playing and were just standing there occasionally moving a couple of steps back and forth. The crowd animations and clock timer continued to tick down. After the period, the next period began normally and the game continued.

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    If he made any tweaks to the cpu defensive awareness, that may happen. EA has this thing called "step-up logic" that they've used in their AI parameters for decades.

    Basically, if a player moves within a certain range of another player they will engage, but if you alter those values to affect the distance between them, it creates dead spots. Offensive players won't move forward, defensive players won't attack. It's a tricky little piece of code to get the balance right.

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    7 hours ago, Superegz said:

    Great hack! Its awesome well done!

    I'm sorry but I just came across a weird bug. I was watching a demo game and after a while all the players just sort of stopped playing and were just standing there occasionally moving a couple of steps back and forth. The crowd animations and clock timer continued to tick down. After the period, the next period began normally and the game continued.

    Thanks for letting me know! I've run hundreds of simulation games, and I've seen emulators bug out and ROM crashes, but never anything like that. (The known list of bugs for this game is epic and hilarious: https://www.nhl94.com/html/bugs.php ) It makes me think something unintended is happening. Can you give me any other details at all, such as the teams you used, and literally everything you can remember about the settings used for the demo? I want to try and see if I can load up a whole mess of identical demo games, and get it to happen myself. Will probably be the most informative to get to the bottom of it.

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    2 hours ago, Drezz said:

    If he made any tweaks to the cpu defensive awareness, that may happen. EA has this thing called "step-up logic" that they've used in their AI parameters for decades.

    Basically, if a player moves within a certain range of another player they will engage, but if you alter those values to affect the distance between them, it creates dead spots. Offensive players won't move forward, defensive players won't attack. It's a tricky little piece of code to get the balance right.

    OH! Yes, that sounds perfectly logical, the exact combination of players on the ice, their awarenesses, the puck position etc. could all lead to an AI stalemate. Thanks for the insight! I assume this is caused by everyone's awareness being too low to see eachother, is that right? In any case, can you tell me any more, or point me to a relevant forum thread?

    EDIT

    Just reviewed the original ROM ratings distributions for Offence & Defence, and compared them to my distributions of the same. My distributions were done purposely very similar, with one major exception: the median and mode of my Forwards Defensive Awareness is significantly lower. If my understanding of what you are saying is correct, nudging this curve back to conform to the original should reduce the problem. Assuming of course this issue better, not worse, in the original.

    Edited by AdamCatalyst
    Brainstorm.
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    3 hours ago, AdamCatalyst said:

    Thanks for letting me know! I've run hundreds of simulation games, and I've seen emulators bug out and ROM crashes, but never anything like that. (The known list of bugs for this game is epic and hilarious: https://www.nhl94.com/html/bugs.php ) It makes me think something unintended is happening. Can you give me any other details at all, such as the teams you used, and literally everything you can remember about the settings used for the demo? I want to try and see if I can load up a whole mess of identical demo games, and get it to happen myself. Will probably be the most informative to get to the bottom of it.

    New Jersey and Pittsburgh. 

    I just ran another demo of the two teams (20 minute periods, penalties and line changes on) and it happened again. Here is a screenshot of the situation when they stopped playing. It's different from the 1st time.

    Screenshot_20230115-065525_MDemu.jpg

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    1 hour ago, Superegz said:

    New Jersey and Pittsburgh. 

    I just ran another demo of the two teams (20 minute periods, penalties and line changes on) and it happened again. Here is a screenshot of the situation when they stopped playing. It's different from the 1st time.

    Thanks for this!

    Was the previous game also with line changes on?

    And in your screen-cap… where is the puck?

    I'm keen to get on this tonight, but it will likely take days to fix, as I will need to adjust ratings for all skaters.

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    5 hours ago, AdamCatalyst said:

    OH! Yes, that sounds perfectly logical, the exact combination of players on the ice, their awarenesses, the puck position etc. could all lead to an AI stalemate. Thanks for the insight! I assume this is caused by everyone's awareness being too low to see eachother, is that right? In any case, can you tell me any more, or point me to a relevant forum thread?

    EDIT

    Just reviewed the original ROM ratings distributions for Offence & Defence, and compared them to my distributions of the same. My distributions were done purposely very similar, with one major exception: the median and mode of my Forwards Defensive Awareness is significantly lower. If my understanding of what you are saying is correct, nudging this curve back to conform to the original should reduce the problem. Assuming of course this issue better, not worse, in the original.

    In the 2nd gen of 3D NHL games on PC (2000-2005) when we broke open the AI, there were a bunch of label to some of the functions (stepuptimer, stepupdefault? I think) which were also found in earlier iterations of the series 95-99. The code wasn't commented but fragments of the text were still there.

    Since NHL Hockey and NHL95 on PC were similar in structure to the Genesis version, Ì wouldn't be surprised if that code made its way through every iteration... even up to now.

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    42 minutes ago, AdamCatalyst said:

    Thanks for this!

    Was the previous game also with line changes on?

    And in your screen-cap… where is the puck?

    I'm keen to get on this tonight, but it will likely take days to fix, as I will need to adjust ratings for all skaters.

    Yes. I've never actually turned line changes off.

    I think the puck is in possession of the highlighted player. I think the puck was also in possession of a player the other time but he was facing towards the camera so it was more obvious. He just stood there doing nothing.

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    55 minutes ago, Superegz said:

    Yes. I've never actually turned line changes off.

    I think the puck is in possession of the highlighted player. I think the puck was also in possession of a player the other time but he was facing towards the camera so it was more obvious. He just stood there doing nothing.

    Thanks again for all this! Very helpful. I’ll get digging ASAP. If you would be interested in testing a beta as soon as it is ready, please send me a PM. 

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    I had an idea. It's kind of ridiculous but as an added feature maybe add support for CD audio, whatever the equivalent is on genesis for MSU-1 support (MSU-MD?) so the CD audio tracks from NHL 94 on Sega CD can be used.

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    1 hour ago, George said:

    I had an idea. It's kind of ridiculous but as an added feature maybe add support for CD audio, whatever the equivalent is on genesis for MSU-1 support (MSU-MD?) so the CD audio tracks from NHL 94 on Sega CD can be used.

    Hah! Must be something in the air. Someone on Twitter suggested this to me, and sent me a bunch of resources on the matter. I just don't have time right now, and I question my technical ability to do this, but I'm not saying no. Will give it a look when I find time. In truth, I would love to port my mod to the Sega CD version, but I don't know how to do that either.

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    13 hours ago, Bobr9988 said:

    Кстати русский вратарь из нешвила аскаров провша

    Sorry, I'm not sure what you are saying about Askarov, BUT, I do know that I accidentally got his catching / shooting hand wrong. Will be fixed in the next release. After I release 1.0, I did some major refactoring of my bloated spreadsheet, and finally introduced a method to get player Hands & Weight from NHL.com, and then EliteProspects as a backup. When I did that, it corrected about a hundred players weights, and two players hands, including Askaraov.

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