Some random thoughts

[Drezz]

I dunno if this happens to you folks, but have you ever been trying to think of something different to hack into the game and see if it's possible? It happens to me ALL the time... yet I always seem to forget. So as a way to catalogue or debunk some of these wacko ideas, I have decided to start cataloguing them here. I welcome all modding mythbusters to come in and state if these thoughts are confirmed, plausible or just busted and to be sent to the area in my brain where the bad thoughts go (not THOSE bad thoughts... perv!)

Here goes:

IDEA 1: Multi-track music files

So most of you know I managed to stick in a new title theme into HNIC 90-91, complete with 4 instruments. I'm wondering if there's a way where we can isolate and reinsert each individual instrument so that they play their own part of the main track. Right now, I just made a faux harmony thing, where a specific instrument plays a certain pitch range. That's far from perfect though. Using smoz' python script, I had to fake the theme by breaking it. And it was a slow agonizing process. One that I wouldn't inflict on my worst enemy - so I'm loath to explain how I did it to all my good buds here. It's a torture I don't want to inflict on people I like.

If smoz script could be adapted to read more than one instrument off of a midi file, that would be absolutely grand.

 

IDEA 2: Visors

We've done a variety of little hacks here and there. Adding tape, players on the bench, coaches, adjusting stripes on player jerseys, referees and timekeepers, goalie equipment and so on. Here's my random thought... has anyone considered a visor on the player helmet instead of those dead little eyes they have?

 

IDEA 3: Fighting

Okay, before you start throwing tomatoes, hear me out. We always get someone waltzing in here asking if we can put fighting back into NHL 94 - we all know logistically it's not plausible. But have we considered looking at it a bit differently... what if there was a way to figure out how to implement a one-timer in NHLPA93? All of the animations are there for a slap shot and bullet pass... it's now trying to figure out how to trigger it. Just a thought, of course... but I couldn't just let that one evaporate into the ether without asking at least.

 

*SIDE NOTE*

I am still alive and kicking. Just doing some updates to HNIC 90-91 (Colour portraits? Coach's corner theme?) before I unleash the final version of the opening day rosters and the long awaited playoff roster version... before moving on to HNIC 91-92. 

It's good to be back.

[AdamCatalyst]

I can't say I've thought about any of these, but your idea for hacking one-timers into '93 is particularly interesting. I'd love to be able to mess with the shoot logic in general.

[smozoma]

working on the music thing is... on my list somewhere...

if you've got notes on how you'd like it to work, i could try to upgrade it

[Drezz]

4 hours ago, smozoma said:

working on the music thing is... on my list somewhere...

if you've got notes on how you'd like it to work, i could try to upgrade it

I'll try and organize it a bit better. It's been over a year since I messed with the music files, so I'm a bit rusty. Once I get elbow deep, I'll pass along what I've found.

[von Ozbourne]

On 4/3/2024 at 7:26 PM, Drezz said:

IDEA 2: Visors

I will say that I did do a bit of looking into this one, but... I did use the blue of the player shadow for economical reasons. Long story [that I can't really explain very well] made short, the problem I found is that there just simply isn't enough pixels to get the point across in a manner that I liked.

Best I could manage was to just change the dead eyes to the skin tone to match the old SNK NES look.

[AdamCatalyst]

13 hours ago, von Ozbourne said:

I will say that I did do a bit of looking into this one, but... I did use the blue of the player shadow for economical reasons. Long story [that I can't really explain very well] made short, the problem I found is that there just simply isn't enough pixels to get the point across in a manner that I liked.

Best I could manage was to just change the dead eyes to the skin tone to match the old SNK NES look.

One of the difficulties with this, is that it may not look good in still, but once many different frames are updated, the illusion of detail may hold up. But that's a lot of work to invest in a potential dead end. 

I wonder if a solution like this might work. Adjust the colour palette so that the darker skin colour is one step darker in the Red channel. Then re-appropriate that colour for the visor area. Something like the attached.

[Sean]

On 4/3/2024 at 9:26 PM, Drezz said:

IDEA 3: Fighting

Okay, before you start throwing tomatoes, hear me out. We always get someone waltzing in here asking if we can put fighting back into NHL 94 - we all know logistically it's not plausible. But have we considered looking at it a bit differently... what if there was a way to figure out how to implement a one-timer in NHLPA93? All of the animations are there for a slap shot and bullet pass... it's now trying to figure out how to trigger it. Just a thought, of course... but I couldn't just let that one evaporate into the ether without asking at least.

This and goalie control...

[Drezz]

So given what @chaos discovered in the source for checking, it is plausible that you could isolate where the one timer is in NHL94 and shoehorn it into 93. 

Edited April 16 by Drezz

[von Ozbourne]

With the checking source discovered, am I the only one who wants to know how to tweak the values? I'm thinking along the lines of increasing the range of effect, so you can go from half the dudes no-selling like a jabroni to now half the dudes flipping out like Hong Kong kung fu movie minions.

Too much?

[Sedge]

Nah, power checking would definitely add some extra flair to arcade style ROMs, like a 16-bit NHL Hitz.

Back to the main topic, though, lately I've been wondering if there isn't a way to change the bottom third of player cards to use a different palette. It's probably impractical in more than one way but it might also be kinda cool if I could make it look like the players in my ROMs show a hint of wearing their respective uniforms rather than black shirts.

[von Ozbourne]

On 4/18/2024 at 10:19 AM, Sedge said:

I've been wondering if there isn't a way to change the bottom third of player cards to use a different palette.

Oh!.... I did find out something about this one. You can actually change the palette in the player cards. In the original game anyway. I don't think I figured out the 32-team version. The problem however is that the palette numbers reference a different set of colours depending on which screen you are on.

Although, speaking of 32 teams, with the Arizona door supposedly being left open a crack for the next five years, [assuming they don't repeat a New York Americans situation where the franchise was withdrawn in 1942, but not officially cancelled until 1946 when the owner tried to reactivate it] is it time to try to add another two teams to the NHL'94 fold?

[Sedge]

Ah right, I forgot you made a thread about that a while back. It slipped my mind. Thanks.

Also apparently this is how I found out that the 'Yotes have suspended operations. Be interesting to see what Utah decides to call their team at least.