Okay, so I'm enthusiastically trying to get myself to a knowledgeable state where I can make my own edits and such so please bear with me.

I'm trying to make a mod using NHL98 as a base. It has the most available teams, a season and playoff mode and other graphic improvements. I realize that the speed is ridiculous and a few other things, but I'm hoping to work on that. I don't know if its worth pursuing, but I'm going to give it a shot. I have a few questions I'm hoping the gang can enlighten me on.

1) I realize the battery backup that is created when you use the series from 96-98 possibly prevents you from adding or modifying the available teams in season mode. I searched around, but I'm not sure if wboy was able to make any breakthroughs on that. (if so, please point me in the right direction) If there's no hope in adding the teams to a season or playoffs, is there a way to "unlock" the two hidden teams for use within the regular exhibition games? (the Legion and the Blades)

- The reason I'm wondering is that I'd like to have all 30 teams available, plus 2 all star teams for kicks.

2) I had a bit of a problem when I was dabbling with TM and the NHL96 sprites. I changed a few things around to the goalies (mask colour) and when I restarted the ROM (after deleting the SRM, of course) the players disappeared. Can someone tell me what I may have forgot to do in order for the players to show up? I followed wboys tute on importing the pallette and resizing the blocks etc so that wasnt a problem - it appears fine in TM, but there's nothing on the ice.

3) Has anyone tried using the sprites from the later versions of the series (98) and imported them in the place of the same ones in 94? Just curious - the sprites in 94 are bigger and less detailed, so I don't know if it would work exactly...

Thanks for any help you can provide.

I've wanted to do 98 for a long time for the exact same reasons.

As for the 2 hidden teams. I believe their is a code (button sequence) to make them available.

I know wboy hasn't spent much time on 96-98 as his heart falls more onto 94 I believe but don't quote me.

Perhaps Tony H. could figure out how to have those 2 hidden teams available at all times with a game genie hack or something. A lot of what you ask is out of my knowledge. As for the guys disappearing, I have no idea. I also don't think anyone has tried moving player sprites from one game to another. That would be cool.

A B C and start at the start-up screen will get you EA and Renegade teams. As far as using 98, the game speed selection is a great feature but may I suggest 97 based solely on the two line pass aggravation factor.

I'm downloading the ROM right now. I'll see if I can figure out how to have the 2 hidden teams at all times.

Can't seem to get the controller cheat to work. Could someone give me detailed instructions (keep in mind that I've never played the game before). I tried A+B+C+Start at the EA Sports screen, and at the main menu, but didn't seem to work. Also, at the main menu, do I select: Regular Game, New Playoffs, New Season, or something else? I tried all 3 of those and didn't have any luck.

Thanks for any help.

I'd imagine the only way to see these teams would be in regular game. That's just a guess though.

I can't get the code to work either.

I couldn't get the cheat code to work either. Thanks for looking into it, guys.

Just hit ABC start at every screen, it will work...

My first job was operations at Indiana/World Skating Academy which included ice making responsibilities. No shitters. Paid 6.50 an hour.

Just hit ABC start at every screen, it will work...

All at the same time or A then B then C then Start?

Drezz, I figured out the ROM hack to permanently unlock the 2 hidden teams (EA Sports and THQ)...

Make sure your NHL 98 ROM is in BIN format.

Open up the NHL 98 ROM with a hex editor and go to this ROM address: $1DB622. At that address you should see this number: 0803. Change that to: 6016. Save your changes and you're all set.

It doesn't look like the game uses a checksum routine, so you probably won't need to hack a master code into the ROM.

After you've hacked the ROM, start the game, go to the "Main Menu", select "Regular Game", set your options, then when you get to "Team Select", press Up or Down on the controller until you see the hidden teams.

Here's the Game Genie code (in case you don't want to hack your ROM):

C45B-4A3C

Unlock the 2 hidden teams (EA Sports and THQ).

What that ROM hack does is causes the game to jump over a bunch of conditional branches. It jumps right to the part that turns the cheat on. The cheat is turned on by setting the value at RAM address FFDEA8 to 0001 (this is done in the ROM at this address: $1DB63A).

Hope that helps.

Tony.

Great work Tony! Is there any way that you could look to disable that two line pass annoyance? It is the game in the series that has it.

Awesome work Tony. Very cool.

Great work Tony. Works like a charm. Thanks for figuring it out.

And now - its time to get to work.

I wonder if theres any hope of getting these teams into a season mode. We'd have to alter the schedule to include them... so I don't know if its totally possible.

Great work Tony. Works like a charm. Thanks for figuring it out.

And now - its time to get to work.

I wonder if theres any hope of getting these teams into a season mode. We'd have to alter the schedule to include them... so I don't know if its totally possible.

Your status with me would go even higher (if that's possible) if you figured that one out Drezz.

Your status with me would go even higher (if that's possible) if you figured that one out Drezz.

Yeah. I'm not that smart. Save the false god worship...

Tony, I noticed that the All Star teams get replaced by the EA Sports and THQ teams, rather than appending them to the list. Bummer. I was getting greedy and hoping they would all be there. No matter though - this still serves my purpose, as the AS teams share one rink if I'm not mistaken.

As for season stuff, I tried looking into the RAM tracing and ROM reading and no luck. I can't seem to figure out where the set number of teams values reside mainly because I can't decipher it since my 68000 knowledge is virtually nil. I do have another idea I wouldn't mind passing by some of the brains around here.

In the 3d series, there was a way of bypassing the intro screens and hopping into the main menu right off the bat. Is there anyway of doing that with the ROMS, or is it a necessary evil in order to load things into RAM? Just wondering.

Dammit. My sprites don't work everytime I make edits to them using Tile Molester. I don't get it. I was trying to see if an additional stripe would work on the player jerseys, and now none of the sprites show. It goes to the game startup screen then locks up.

Sabre Dance, I don't know what a "two line pass" is.

Drezz, as far as I know, it is probably possible to bypass some or all of the intro screens without any RAM loading problems. I don't have much experience in that area, so I can't help much.

Sabre Dance, I don't know what a "two line pass" is.

Drezz, as far as I know, it is probably possible to bypass some or all of the intro screens without any RAM loading problems. I don't have much experience in that area, so I can't help much.

Tony, a 2 line pass is a pass that goes from inside your end (your end is from behind the net to the first blue line) and crosses the blue line and the center ice line to a teammate. The NHL has since eliminated this rule so passes can go from anywhere in your end all the wa up to the frthest blue line.

This is how the rule is now. Eliminates the center ice line as being an offside line.

Sabre Dance, I don't know what a "two line pass" is.

Drezz, as far as I know, it is probably possible to bypass some or all of the intro screens without any RAM loading problems. I don't have much experience in that area, so I can't help much.

Tony, a two line pass is the most annoying thing in gaming and it doesn't even exist in the NHL anymore. It is a feature that was put in 98 that no other game in the series had. It is defined as an offside pass where a player passes the puck and it crosses two lines before being accepted by another player resulting in a whistle and a faceoff. All you have to do is attempt a long pass in 98 and you will see how it slows the game with unnecessary whistles. I would give just about anything to have this disabled. Here is a screenshot of this atrocity taking place...

Thanks Mack, you beat me to it.

Well SD, you're right. The two line pass is pretty annoying. I know Tony had created a hack for 94 that eliminated all ref calls, but that wont help. If you check out NOSE and the rules window, there's a ROM address there but I think its primarily for the name only and not when the penalty is actually called.

I havent started anything other than dabbling here and there, so I may just switch down a year and go with 97. From what I remember that had hidden teams as well I think. So long as the end result gives us at least 30 teams in exhbition/regular game thats fine with me. The major annoyance I have is the sprite editing. If I alter any of the sprites using Tile Molester, it effectively "runs to Children's Aid" and craps out on me. I've tried editing one or two pixels on one frame of animation and as soon as that particular sprite is used the game locks - I've also tried pasting and that doesn't work either. I think there's something that needs to be hex edited before you can make tile edits in 96-98. I haven't seen anyone else with any sprite hacks for those games post anything on these forums, so I'm SOL.

I'll just stick to color swaps and logo imports and stuff.

Well SD, you're right. The two line pass is pretty annoying. I know Tony had created a hack for 94 that eliminated all ref calls, but that wont help. If you check out NOSE and the rules window, there's a ROM address there but I think its primarily for the name only and not when the penalty is actually called.

I havent started anything other than dabbling here and there, so I may just switch down a year and go with 97. From what I remember that had hidden teams as well I think. So long as the end result gives us at least 30 teams in exhbition/regular game thats fine with me. The major annoyance I have is the sprite editing. If I alter any of the sprites using Tile Molester, it effectively "runs to Children's Aid" and craps out on me. I've tried editing one or two pixels on one frame of animation and as soon as that particular sprite is used the game locks - I've also tried pasting and that doesn't work either. I think there's something that needs to be hex edited before you can make tile edits in 96-98. I haven't seen anyone else with any sprite hacks for those games post anything on these forums, so I'm SOL.

I'll just stick to color swaps and logo imports and stuff.

i never had nhl98 for genesis, because i'd moved to PC by that time... i did however have 97... and i can attest to the fact that there are 2 hidden teams in 97 as well.

if i'm not mistaken, one is a red white and blue EA Sports team, and one is a purple and green "renegades" or something similar.

like i said, i don't think i've played 98 for genesis, so i'm not sure how many features it added/subtracted, so if 98 has these too, then ignore me... but in 97, there was a team canada, a team usa, and green and gold team europe. those should give you more teams to dick around with.

i never had nhl98 for genesis, because i'd moved to PC by that time... i did however have 97... and i can attest to the fact that there are 2 hidden teams in 97 as well.

if i'm not mistaken, one is a red white and blue EA Sports team, and one is a purple and green "renegades" or something similar.

like i said, i don't think i've played 98 for genesis, so i'm not sure how many features it added/subtracted, so if 98 has these too, then ignore me... but in 97, there was a team canada, a team usa, and green and gold team europe. those should give you more teams to dick around with.

Yep, same teams as in 98 and no two line pass annoyance.

Ok - then off to work I go.

I spent some time in NHL 94 trying to disable one of the ref calls (don't recall which one off hand), and the best I could do was to disable most (or all?) of the ref calls. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to disable the two line pass in NHL 98.

I spent some time in NHL 94 trying to disable one of the ref calls (don't recall which one off hand), and the best I could do was to disable most (or all?) of the ref calls. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to disable the two line pass in NHL 98.

Thanks for trying Tony but there is $1,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 in it for you if you can somehow figure it out!