NHL 94: 2025 Edition by Adam Catalyst

[AdamCatalyst]

@Cobalon Thanks for sharing this! It is theoretically possible that playing in wide display mode could cause a memory error, but I'd not seen it yet in months of testing. Furthermore, the base game does itself crash from time to time, albeit very rarely for me. Regardless, I just don't have the skill to debug this. I'd greatly appreciate if everyone could report errors, in case there *is* a pattern, that we can discern and fix.

There is one thing that you could try. I included two different versions of the wide mode patch. If this ever happens to you again, you could try the version B patch, which makes some additional code change. It may, or may not, work better, or worse.

I hope the Caps roster updates are to your liking!

[BigIron]

First of all let me just say thanks for the roster update in 2.1. I know rosters change almost daily so I really appreciate your effort. I fired up a new series against ANA to see Trouba on his new team, went up 3-0 in the series and got the memory error midway thru game 4, restarted the game from my previous save and it crashed again.

Figured it was a corrupt save or something so I started a new series using the same settings against ANA, made it thru to the 2nd round against LA and got the same Memory error again. Can’t remember it ever happening before but I haven’t been able to complete a full series using 2.1.
 

I'm using 7 minute periods with penalties on, offsides on, user records off and line changes auto and goalies are set to manual for a 7 game playoff series. ANA @ VAN has been my starting point each time and every time it has crashed. If I remember correctly it usually happens after goals or stoppages in play after whistles but they have been pretty random and difficult to predict.
 

Hopefully you find this helpful and keep up the amazing work, besides the issues it’s been an absolute blast playing this year’s iteration. Thanks again!

[AdamCatalyst]

@BigIron THANKYOU so much for all those details. Will try to retrace your steps to see what might be happening. Just one question: what hardware / software emulator are you running it on?

[nastynacho]

i think the wide screen mod is causing the memory errors i never seen this in the forums before this feature was added just a suggestion have a wonderful holiday 

[AdamCatalyst]

@nastynacho I'm 99% sure that you're right, but I still want to figure out what specific aspect is doing this, in case it can be isolated, removed, or re-done in a safer way.

[AdamCatalyst]

To anyone who sees the error mentioned above, please let me know if there are any other clues that you can provide. In particularly, I am interested if it always occurs with two full columns of audience members being displayed, as it does in the screen capture below.

p.s. Have a potential fix, if anyone wants to Beta test.

Edited December 15, 2024 by AdamCatalyst

[towlBwan_knalB]

Has anyone gotten the (de)widescreen patch 1a or 1b to work?  I used the website to apply it, but it's still in widescreen mode (not a fan).  

[AdamCatalyst]

OOOOOOHHHH, that's the problems. 1a & 1b are Wide Mode patches. Use the "NHL 94 [h] 2025 AC - Classic Display - v1.0.ips" patch to go old school! 

NHL 94 [h] 2025 AC - Classic Display - v1.0.ips

Edited December 18, 2024 by AdamCatalyst

[towlBwan_knalB]

All good now, thank you! 👍

[Cobalon]

Just to make sure, how are we meant to utilize the wide display? I play through Retroarch on my Switch and I've been using Genesis Plus GX with integer scale off and aspect ratio set to core provided or 16:9. If that's not the intended way, what are the ideal settings for it?

[77]

we're fat lazy americans who live in an instant gratification society... we dont want patches, post the .bin, the game is 30 years old... i dont think the commies are coming for you anymore

Edited December 19, 2024 by 77

[AdamCatalyst]

5 minutes ago, 77 said:

fat lazy americans who live in an instant gratification society... we dont want patches, post the .bin, the game is 30 years old... i dont think the commies are coming for you anymore

The binary is located in the root of the ZIP, so that it autoplays if you just point your emulator to the ZIP file. I don't know how I could possibly make it any easier than that.

Edited December 19, 2024 by AdamCatalyst

[nastynacho]

4 minutes ago, 77 said:

fat lazy americans who live in an instant gratification society... we dont want patches, post the .bin, the game is 30 years old... i dont think the commies are coming for you anymore

wtf you on about mate you sound mad hopefully this is a bad troll joke thanks adam for your work please ignore such madness

[AdamCatalyst]

9 hours ago, Cobalon said:

Just to make sure, how are we meant to utilize the wide display? I play through Retroarch on my Switch and I've been using Genesis Plus GX with integer scale off and aspect ratio set to core provided or 16:9. If that's not the intended way, what are the ideal settings for it?

No intended ideal way, I'm always trying to target original hardware compatibility, without having access to original hardware. As for visuals, I am targeting modern flat screen displays in my anti-aliasing and colours, and not designing for CRTs.

In my opinion Genesis Plus GX is just about the best SMD emulator out there. I don't really use Retroarch, but if I did, I would probably use 16:9 with integer scaling as well. 

One last thing. Genesis Plus GX has an option to disable 68k memory errors. I always leave 68k memory errors on, as I am trying to debug, but as a player, I would shut those off. It might prevent it from crashing if those memory errors are disabled.

 

[AdamCatalyst]

p.s. Roster freeze edition will be out imminently. Contains an extremely minor wide mode improvement, that *may* help some users.

[AdamCatalyst]

v2.2 released on main page. All the rosters up-to-date for the roster freeze. 

[AdamCatalyst]

One last update today on wide display mode. I have played through a best of seven all the way to the cup final, and left my system running for days en between with paused games, to try and coax out any memory errors. Nothing. Not a single glitch. So here is what I need:

Anyone who has these crashes, please let me know your emulator, AND the teams that you are playing with.

I *suspect* that everyone who has this issue is playing with either Vancouver, Vegas, Washington, or Winnipeg. The original ROM was only 28 teams, and I have seen some instabilities when using those four additional teams, particularly as it pertains to tracking statistics, which is something that happens automatically during the playoffs. But that's just a stab in the dark really.

While doing this work, I did nice a few minor oversights in the wide mode display, and thought of a different approach. I'm always trying to get the code down to be as minimal as possible. Will keep whittling away at it. For all I know, I just fixed it in 2.2. That'd be lucky! But I suspect not. You tell me.

 

[BigIron]

Thanks for doing your best to address these issues. Been playing since you released the update yesterday afternoon with the same settings I used before that were giving me issues and so far so good. Haven’t noticed or run into anything out of the ordinary but I’ll definitely do a few more playthroughs and try a few different scenarios over the weekend to see if we’re in the clear. Again thanks for being so responsive and helpful in your posts and updates, I’ll report back should I find anything but fingers crossed!

[specter376]

I'm not exactly sure how to apply the patches for this. I have 50+ hours into the 2024 version on my Miyoo Mini Plus and I want to play the 2025 version, but I think I prefer the original mode (not wide mode). 

Can someone tell me how to apply the patches? 

[AdamCatalyst]

@BigIron No prob! I hope it's ok, but I do suspect it is less stable with the final four teams (VAN, VGK, WSH, WPG). Merry Christmas btw!

[AdamCatalyst]

@specter376 Can you try to follow the included README about patches, and then come back and let me know where you are getting stuck?

[BigIron]

@AdamCatalyst Hey Happy Holidays! Hope you had a great safe and pleasant Holiday. Anyway I managed to get through a single cup run with the same exact setup as before and things ran smoothly. Currently in the 2nd round on another play through using 7 game series and 7 minute periods and everything is going great. 

I forgot to mention I’m using RetroArch for an emulator and also I was wondering myself about the stats as some of my lesser known players were leading my team (My back up goalie actually leads the team in points). Also I was editing/saving and loading my teams line up every couple of games after your most recent 2.0 update and I read how that might cause some errors as well.
 

Not to sure but for now things seem to working just fine but I’ll be sure to report back any irregularities I may encounter. Keep up the great work my friend, always looking forward to your next update and enjoy the rest of your holidays. 

[AdamCatalyst]

@BigIron Thanks man!

Interesting about the stats. I've got to ask again, which team? I had zero stat problems with Toronto, but it was all on one play through, no user records, no saving lines, or anything. To be honest, I don't think I have the technical skills to touch any of the stat issues, but you never know.

Happy New Years to you all!

[AdamCatalyst]

Hey folks, 

Just a quick update about the next release. Revised 5-on-5 lines using 2025 player usage data is almost done. Wide Display Mode Sideboards player position glitch is fixed. Most importantly, I've tweaked the game physics. These were changes I've wanted to make for years, but only figured out how over Christmas. It's subtle, nothing revolutionary, and entirely in-line with the direction of all my other changes for "realism" and balance. And I will provide an optional patch to revert to "Classic" physics.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday!

cheers,

-Adam

[towlBwan_knalB]

I saw this graphic and saved it to see if I could replicate some of the goals by region in the NHL25 rom.

I can do Noesen by one-timer once he gets in the crease, sometimes a tapper on the rebound.

Rantanen IS deadly from the right circle area,

and I love taking slappers from the point with Makar and Hughes.   

I just thought it would be a fun mid-season skills test.

[AdamCatalyst]

Love it! Gotta keep things fresh somehow.

Speaking of which, v3 with physics update is SO close. Just a little bit more testing. Any day now.

 

[BigIron]

@AdamCatalyst Looking forward to the new update! Sorry I forgot to mention in my last post I was using VAN primarily. I know that was a team you mentioned where there might be issues but since the last update it’s been running pretty smoothly. Can I also put in a good word for Lekkerimaki making the roster for VAN in the next roster update? He was a recent call up so I’d love to do a few play throughs with him in the line up. As always though much appreciated the work you do and I’ll be here once the new update drops for sure, take care!

[AdamCatalyst]

On 1/12/2025 at 9:26 PM, BigIron said:

@AdamCatalyst Looking forward to the new update! Sorry I forgot to mention in my last post I was using VAN primarily. I know that was a team you mentioned where there might be issues but since the last update it’s been running pretty smoothly. Can I also put in a good word for Lekkerimaki making the roster for VAN in the next roster update? He was a recent call up so I’d love to do a few play throughs with him in the line up. As always though much appreciated the work you do and I’ll be here once the new update drops for sure, take care!

Thanks for letting me know! I am going to try to debug using AI soon. The fix in 2.2 was extremely minor, but I did notice that every single screen cap I saw of a crash, the screen had displayed either the left most or right most 4 columns of pixels, which were coded as to not be displayed in the original game. I changed it to stop 4 pixel columns shorter in its rendering, hoping that the additional rendered columns were causing a memory error. It's so trivial, it's hard to believe it was causing a crash, but stranger things have happened.

Sorry, no Lekkerimaki… yet. He has to make the top 14 forwards for minutes played, so any time now he might pass Dakota Joshua for that last spot, but not in time for this release. I'll definitely check in on his ice time for the next update.

Let me now what you think of the updated physics. No worries if it's not your cup of tea, impossible to please all the people all of the time. That's why there is a classic physics patch included.

Edited January 20 by AdamCatalyst

[AdamCatalyst]

Hi folks! New version 3.0 is up on the main page. Spent a lot to time play testing these physics model updates, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Please send me any issues etc. ASAP, I'll be on this stuff right away.

[ProtoMaster]

@AdamCatalyst Hi Adam, I just wanted to let you I came across an issue when you patch 3.0 with the classic display it keeps giving me this error after the match up screen (as seen in image below). I did also test to see if the other patches give the same error like the classic puck physics but they are working just fine, it seems to me that 3.0 just does not like the classic display for some reason. Other than that it's working fine for me. I hope this helps!