I was starting to work on a project, my first NHL 94 hack. I was wondering if this sounds like a reasonable workflow plan to get the basic guts/structure of the project up and running:

 

1. Take the INDIO Classic30 v2 30 team ROM (this is a 21 team project)
2. Use smozROM Hack Applicator to apply weight bug fix, 0-15 ratings, Base weight modification (Is it okay to just apply those, and then potentially return to the tool to apply any others I might want?)
3. Use NOSE to change team names, player ratings, lines for the 21 teams I am going to use. (I can come back to NOSE repeatedly to continue to make tweaks, correct?)
4. Use EARE to change team ratings, number of selectable teams to 21
5. Use Image Updater to change team colors, logos, banners. 

 

Thank you for all the help!

Welcome!

I'd say you could also add Step 6. Use chaos' Fighting Patch to add fighting to your ROM, but that's up to you.

I would also note that of all of those tools, I'd say that EARE is the only one that I've only had to go back to once. It's perfectly fine to go back repeatedly. Just make sure that you don't open your ROM in multiple programs at once and lose track of which one is your current build.

You may also want to save different numbered versions, but that's usually something that only comes in handy when you are going into hex editors and don't want to glitch your only copy and lose all your work.

Also, your team colours can be edited in NOSE on the "Strips" window. The home team colours actually list the colour offset [in hex or decimal] that you can use when importing the center ice logos to make sure you get the right colours. There is a thread or two on this site that has a complete rundown of image offsets and colour palettes, but I'll be darned if I can find it right now. Searching the How To section should help at least.

Good Luck!

Thank you so much for that feedback! Yes - I would love to add the fighting patch! Will be very appropriate for this project and great to know that I can add that further down the line. 
 

I love so many of the Roms you’ve posted here, so thank you for that as well!

Also there is a new weight bug fix, very simple in HEX editor.

And advise about backups is very very important. Especially when you'll start work with Tile Molester.

For the weight bug fix, is there a better way than just using smozROM Hack Applicator?

 

Technically. The smozROM tool just reverses the bit where the game engine calculates a successful check using player weights. But the problem was that the rest of the calculation is kind of based on a broken premise. There is a new fix that changes the calculation formula and works a lot better.

The new info is accessible in this thread.

 

A couple of quick questions that hopefully have quick answers:

1. I feel like I have seen a thread somewhere talking about taking logos or palettes or banners or all of the above and copying them either from one rom to another or from one team in a rom onto a different team. I can’t for the life of me find it, however. Does anyone know where that is?
2. What is best practice for building a rom in terms of the order of teams? A lot of the teams in the rom will stay the same in terms of the logos, banners, etc., but others will move, and others will be omitted. For example, if I start with working with player data, is it better to put those players on the team that already has the logos that it’s going to use, then move everything associated with that time into the proper order? Or is it better to put the players on a team that is in the right (alphabetical) spot, then just change the logos, perhaps using the information from my question #1?

Thanks again! I think it’s insanely awesome how much some of you all have figured out about how to hack this game!

1. It wasn't what I remembered, but maybe you saw this one?

It's old and only referenced the 30 team ROM and the screen shots are in a download or on a ad laden image hosting site, but it's a decent start.

I don't have a decent thread to refer you to, but if you're looking at a 32-Team ROM, the banners and logos are located at:

Team Banners
Location:    1DD370
Size:        11x64
Colours:    366884
Colour Size:        32

Menu Select Logos
Location:    1D38B0
Size:        6x6
Colours:    1914022
Size:        512

 

2. Technically the players can be copy/pasted in at any time during your modding process. Sometimes I leave it for last, sometimes I have all the data and photos ready at the beginning and I do that first, right after the teams are set. Because the players can be copied over at any point, it's not that vital to do them right away. Team names and selection order however is a bit more locked in so that is usually something you want to take care of at the beginning. This way your banners, menu logos, on-ice logos, team colours, and of course players, can be changed at any point in your process and you won't have to redo any of them should you find that you need to move some teams around to accommodate different team orders from alphabetizing, division alignment, number of playable vs non-playable teams... whatever.

13 hours ago, von Ozbourne said:

sometimes I have all the data and photos ready at the beginning

By the way, how do you handle player photos? I mean if you assign them correctly one time, what is correct way to not too mess up during transfers and line changes?

On 4/12/2026 at 1:54 PM, Soitanen said:

By the way, how do you handle player photos? I mean if you assign them correctly one time, what is correct way to not too mess up during transfers and line changes?

Yeah... I don't really have a good answer for this.
Technically a player's photo is locked to a position on a team. There is a way to adjust this in the hex code near the beginning of the ROM, but for intents and purposes, a photo of say Alex Ovechkin is not locked to a player named Alex Ovechkin, but is just the photo in slot number 793, which is by default assigned to the 13th player on the 31st team, which just so happens to have player data with the name Alex Ovechkin. The problem is that if the next roster update has a player in one of those previous twelve spots get traded away, or a player is added who slots in ahead of Ovechkin alphabetically, then Ovi is no longer the 13th player and his photo no longer lines up. The good news is that line changes don't matter, so whatever you do there is not going to mess up the photos.

There is a way to realign these photos in the hex code, but that can get a bit faffy if you make any typos. The EARE tool has this function as well, and I even made a cheat sheet at one time, but I don't bother with that anymore either.

There is probably a better way to do it, especially seeing as I will make a photo for all 832 available players, but the way that gives me the most control and allows me to double check that there are no errors, is to have a full roster list open, either in NOSE or a spreadsheet. My default ROM has every player photo initially just a blank square with a big ol' number on it. And my folder of player photos has a full array of 48x48 indexed colour images with the player name as the file name. Then I just alt+tab back and forth from the list and Tile Molester copying the player names and Edit > Paste From and paste the player names into the File Name window. Luckily you don't even have to add the .png or .jpg or whatever file extension to import the file. As long as the name matches, just hit enter and the photo is there. Then just advance a Relative Offset of 36A bits [yes I have all of these numbers memorized] using the F5 button for subsequent photos and Paste From the next guy on the list. Is this a time consuming method? Absolutely! Does my left hand now have the evolutionarily useless muscle memory for all this alt+tabbing copy/pasting? You know it! Is there possibly an easier method but I now do this one to avoid any mistakes and double check things line up and look good during the process rather than having to go back after the fact? Got me there!

Given the workload, I kind of see why some other guys would only do the starting line-up and leave the rest of the team with generic pixelated dudes, but I like the idea of every player having their own photo and have kind of been committed.
As in "to the bit" not the other meaning... never mind.

In theory EARE handles this, but you have to write out a big file with all the picture offsets.

However, I haven't heard of people having a lot of success with the "Set Player Pictures" option, it may be buggy... Worth a try, i guess.

 

I've also been using this Google spreadsheet for many years with success.  It's extremely useful if you have a master list/reference of player photos already in the ROM. 

It's all explained in this link: 

https://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/216-how-to-player-card-tutorial-nhl94-nhl95/#findComment-169968

If you try and want to use that file and have any questions, happy to help answer.  

Thanks everybody so much for the help! I’ve been working on my research, I have my rosters decided on in a spreadsheet and am starting to work on ratings…

I continue to poke around here and saw several references to the “NHL 94 - 32 Team ROM by slapshot67”. Would this be a better ROM for me to start with than the 30 team ROM by INDIO that I referenced in my first post? This project only has 21 teams, but since I’m starting to learn does it make more sense to use the 32 team ROM so I know where things are for any potential future projects that might have 32 teams?

If so, what mods/fixes/hacks have already been applied to this 32 team ROM, just so I know what I’m working with?

Thanks again - looking forward to sharing my progress as it comes along!

(Also working on getting a wired connection squared away so I can maybe play some online. I suck at the game, but who cares, right?)

It should be noted that the offsets for some assets in the 30-Team and 32-Team versions of '94 are different.
Given that it is not hard to simply limit the number of selectable teams, you might find it easier to just use the 32-Team version for every mod you want to make and not have to make any adjustments to notes when you might need to switch.

Can't say I know what mods were applied to both examples though. I've been using a version that started out as a slapshot67 ROM but has acquired a lot of additional mods that have been discovered over the past few years to the point where the only thing I can say for certain is that it still has 32 teams.

Thanks, Von Oz, that’s what I was thinking regarding using the 32 teamer; good to know from someone who has experience that there wasn’t something that I was missing there. 
 

I got NOSE up and running with that Rom last night, so I guess we’re off and running…