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GameStar 1999 January
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NHLINFO5.ZIP
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nhlinfo.txt
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1998-10-06
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------------------------------ NHLINFO 5 ----------------------------------
NHLINFO 5 is freeware editor/statistics viewer for
Electronic Art's NHL Hockey '94, '95, '96, '97, '98 and '99
with Electronic Art's SHPI-format image viewer/replacer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES:
------
- statistics viewer customizations are not saved
- Keep needed NHLINFO*.DLL files in same directory as WNHLINFO.EXE
DO NOT copy them to WINDOWS or WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory!
- Long file name supporting unarchiver required. (Winzip or Info-Zip Unzip)
NHL'98 NOTES:
- All seasons share build-in players' data (names, attributes
etc..) except current statistics
- User created players doesn't have this limitation
- I probably don't try to do player delete that can be delete
original players because then all user created seasons would
need modifying. I think F-key hide is quite good solution for
this problem. It was much easier to delete/create players in
earlier NHL games! (especially '96 and earlier)
Misc:
- national teams (F5) must be selected when viewing tournament databases
- no update-function
- career editing is only possible with build-in NHL players
Delete player/goalie:
Only user created players are deletable. I am not going to do delete
function that can delete build-in players because they are shared with
all seasons. (Also it would require rebuild of all seasons' database
files and small error could destroy all seasons) Use F-key hide function
to 'delete' unneeded players.
Create player/goalie:
This creates players just like create player function in NHL'98 except
there is no limit for maximum number of players. NOTE: I don't know
if there is limit for user created players in NHL'98 or not! (Normally
database file has free space for 90 players, if you create more than
that NHLINFO will expand database file automatically)
* Currently limited to 90 players because NHL'98 have problems
creating new season if exhibition database have too many players *
Free Agent/'Hidden' free agent list
NHL'98 free agent list has space only for 45 players, but NHLINFO has
now hidden free agent list where you can transfer all unneeded players.
(NHL'98 can not see hidden players) Use <F8> to show all free agents
or 'normal' free agents
Additional/farm player support:
Because NHL'98 doesn't have any additional player support, I had
to make 'fake' additional support. Every team has free space for
28 additional players. Additional data is saved in ADDITION.xxx
file (xxx=season number). All additional players are really
hidden free agents, so NHL'98 can not see them. Use line editor
to transfer to/from additionals (just like in NHL'97 NHLINFO)
NOTE: Don't delete ADDITION.xxx file or every additional player
will be automagically transferred to hidden free agent list!
Team replace:
You can replace nhl teams with national teams (NHL season) or
national teams with nhl teams (Tournament mode)
Face numbers:
-1 NHL'98 logo
0 - 951 NHL player faces
1000 - 1076 programmers' faces!
1500 - 1509 create player faces
By clearing PBP and entering -1 to face number you can use unneeded
players as new 'created' players
!!WARNING!!
-----------
Because of possible programming errors backup your league files
before using this program! (especially when using NHL'97 /newmode features)
- NHL'98/'99:
DB\*.*
- NHL'97:
DATA\ *.HDB, *.SET, *.NDX, *.BIX, NHL9596.* and *.0??
- NHL'96:
All *.DB files in HOCKEY\DATA\ and your season files in HOCKEY\SEASON\
- NHL'94/'95
All *.DB files in HOCKEY\ and your season in HOCKEY\<season>.LP\
Bug reporting:
--------------
- Report only if you can make it happen again.
- Remember to include how to reproduce it!
- Also remember to tell your NHL Hockey version and NHLINFO version
- Here is different crash types:
1: Total system crash (everything freezes, maybe graphics corrupts)
Should not happen when running Windows version. (There is
something wrong with your system if it happens, best guess
is buggy display driver)
2: 'program has performed illegal operation'-dialog. Numbers
shown in it are useless, no need to write them down. But include
what did you do before error message appeared.
3: NHLINFO opens console window with 'fatal error' and cryptic
error message. Remember to include that message with your
report!
4: After nhlinfo has loaded database files but before statistics
screen appears comes message in red letters and program stops.
Remember to include that red message and message before it!
NOTE: Don't worry if nhlinfo says corrupt <something>, it
usually means nhlinfo doesn't understand something correctly..
***************************************************************************
I am in no way responsible for possible damage caused by using this program
***************************************************************************
System requirements:
--------------------
CPU: 386 + 387, 486SX + 487, All 486DX's, Pentiums and compatibles
RAM: 8MB or more (preferably 16MB or more if you don't like
continuous swapping...)
DISPLAY CARD: Any Windows compatible display card (256 or more colors,
fullscreen mode needs DirectDraw compatibility)
OS: Windows'95/'98 or Windows NT 4.0/5.0
Starting NHLINFO (GFX Viewer)
-----------------------------
WNHLINFO.EXE (/GFX) (/NOGFX) (/24) <starting directory>
See below for command line parameter information
GFX.DLL views and saves most (all?) Electronic Arts SHPI-image files
(compressed or not). It can also browse C0FB and BIGF packfiles.
GFX.DLL uses grayscale palette If SHPI-file does not contain palette.
Does anybody know how to decode NHL'94 images (They seem to need
some reordering of rows/columns but how? I really don't want to test every
possibility)
Starting NHLINFO (NHL Editor)
-----------------------------
Editing from scratch is not possible, you must have NHL'94-'99 league
files or NHLINFO won't start.
CD to directory where NHL Hockey is.
NHLINFO without parameters opens league selector screen, use cursor keys
or mouse to select league. If NHLINFO detects more than 1 game, game
selector screen is shown before league selector.
If you want to edit league without using selector:
NHL'94/'95: WNHLINFO <name of league directory with or without .lp>
NHL'96: WNHLINFO <name of league>
or
WNHLINFO <prefix of league files> (for example if SEASON
directory has file 01020key.db -> NHLINFO 1020
NHL'97: WNHLINFO <name of league>
or
WNHLINFO <postfix of league files> (for example if DATA
directory has file SEAS1002.SET -> NHLINFO 1002)
NHL'98/'99: WNHLINFO <name of league>
or
WNHLINFO <postfix of league files) (for example NHL98002 ->
WNHLINFO 002, NHL98003 -> WNHLINFO 003 etc..)
"WNHLINFO default" opens default databases and "WNHLINFO exhibition" opens
exhibition databases automatically. Note that if you have more than
one game you must use /nhlxx parameter if you want to skip game selector
screen
NHLINFO command-line parameters
-------------------------------
General parameters
/save save current statistics for later viewing with new statistics.
(Editing only) (see <F4> key for more information)
/font select font name and size (font name is normal Windows-font
name, example: "/font courier 20") NOTE: Use only fixed-width
fonts! (default: "lucida console")
/fullscreen fullscreen mode (DirectX 3 or better required)
/24 opens NHLINFO in truecolor mode instead of 256 color palette
indexed mode. Only useful when viewing truecolor images
and build-in color quantizer does not produce good results.
Requires 2MB display card in full screen mode. In windowed
mode your desktop must be in high or truecolor mode
(>=32768 colors) or /24 does not help.
/newmode enable NHL'97 experimental scanning mode = enables create
and delete players/goalies and deletion of unused seasons
functions, also creates new STATICS.BIX and DYNAMICS.BIX files
during save (Editing only)
/debug enable debug messages (really, it is only for debugging)
/maxplayers maximum number of players supported, default/max 6000 and
minimum 2000 players (Lowering max supported players lowers
memory requirements)
NHLINFO_GFX.DLL (GFX Viewer module)
/gfx go directly to GFX Viewer screen. Skips league selector screen
/nogfx ignore GFX.DLL completely. Nearly same as deleting
NHLINFO_GFX.DLL-file
NHLINFO_NHL_xx.DLL (All NHL Hockey editor modules)
/nhlxx go directly to NHLxx season selector screen. Skips league
selector screen
/nonhlxx skip NHL'xx detection
These two parameters maybe usefull if you have more than one NHL game
installed and detected by NHLINFO. /nonhlxx can be specified multiply
times (for example "/nonhl97 /nonhl98")
Season selector
---------------
Only shown if NHLINFO detected more than one supported game.
Use cursor keys or mouse to select game.
League selector
---------------
Use cursor keys or mouse to select league
NHL'97 only: delete unused seasons, this deletes all 'deleted'/unused
seasons from your database files and renumbers some counters
in ROSTERS.HDB and STATS.HDB. (active seasons are not
deleted) If you have played many seasons and then deleted
them your database files still contain every season
(=files are very big) This function deletes them permanently.
(/newmode switch required)
*** REMEMBER TO BACKUP ROSTER FILES BEFORE USING ***
Statistics viewer/GFX viewer
----------------------------
Editor: shows players, goalies or teams sorted by things like goals,
points etc... selected team is shown in green
GFX Viewer: shows directory listing in left and image in right
Mouse (common for NHL Editor and GFX.DLL)
-----------------------------------------
LMB move editing cursor
LMB DoubleClick move sort cursor
RMB edit/previous list depending on mouse position
LBM+SHIFT select all entries between old and new cursor position
LBM+CTRL select current entry
Mouse Wheel statistics viewer: scroll up/down, some other screens also
(if available) support wheel. More support will be added later...
Keyboard (common for NHL Editor and GFX.DLL)
--------------------------------------------
CTRL+A select/deselect all
F find next
SHIFT+F find
NOTES: Only selected column is searched. It is not necessary
to type full string, couple of characters from beginning is
enough. (Character strings only)
CTRL+0-9 load and change between multiple game modules. CTRL+1-9 asks
for parameters/directory which are passed to game DLL. CTRL+0
automatically adds "gfx" -parameter and loads GFX.DLL using
current directory.
NOTE: Do not load NHL'94-'96 or NHL'97 modules multiple
times, NHLINFO will crash! This will be fixed later
CTRL+INSERT add new statistics entry
CTRL+DELETE delete selected statistics entry
CTRL+SHIFT+INS add new statistics page
[ decrease size of selected statistics entry
] increase size of selected statistics entry
CTRL+X save current statistics viewer configuration
<CURSOR LEFT> move editing cursor left
<CURSOR RIGHT> move editing cursor right
<CURSOR UP> move editing cursor up
<CURSOR DOWN> move editing cursor down
<PAGE UP> move editing cursor up one page
<PAGE DOWN> move editing cursor down one page
<HOME> jump to beginning of list
<END> jump to end of list
<ESC> Quits. If something was changed asks for saving
GFX.DLL keys
------------
F1 viewer 1/viewer 2. Only images in viewer 1 can be replaced
and images in viewer 2 are used for viewing replacement
images
F2 normal/"fullscreen" view
BACKSPACE previous list
RETURN select current directory/file/image
D change directory
T test transparency
S save selected image
SHIFT+S asks directory and saves all images recursively
F save file 'as is'
P load palette files from current/selected directory
and changes between SHPI-images own palette and
external *.PAL files.
SHIFT+P asks palette file directory
M select image fileformat type (BMP/GIF/PCX/PNG)
O no stack/vertical stack/horizontal stack. Use when viewing
images that are divided to three pieces (for example:
NHL'98 CITYSHOT.VIV and NHL'99 BG.VIV)
SHIFT+O change number of stacked images
How to replace images
---------------------
1 select image you want to replace in viewer 1
2 press <F1> (or click top-left button) to select viewer 2
3 select image for replacement. Press 'D'-key if you want to change
current drive or directory
4 press <RETURN>
5 now GFX.DLL asks if you want to "Replace" or "Match" palette. (Only asked
if image selected in viewer 1 is palette-indexed image) Usually "Match"
is better choice. Only use "Replace" if image has wrong colors in game.
(GFXPAK: -rp/-cp = "Replace" and "Match" = -r/-c) See utility.txt's
GFXPAK instructions for more information about palettes
6 all done. Image in viewer 1 is replaced with image in viewer2
Image/file types
----------------
???? = unknown
GIMX = image
FACE = image
WRAP = image
SPIT = image
10FB = compressed file
30FB = compressed file
46FB = compressed file
C0FB = pack-file (contains 1 or more files)
BIGF = pack-file -- :: --
SHPI = image pack-file (may contain 1 or more images)
NHL Editor keys
---------------
<F1> select players/goalies/teams/schedule (see below)
<F2> select page
<F3> season/playoffs
+ previous team
- next team
, increase selected entries/entry value by one (numeric only)
. decrease selected entries/entry value by one (numeric only)
; divide selected entries/entry value by 2 (numeric only)
: multiply selected entries/entry value by 2 (numeric only)
< move sort cursor left
> move sort cursor right
E or <RETURN> edit selected value(s)
L line editor (see below)
R rule editor, NHL'96/'97/'98 only (see below)
there won't be NHL'94/'95 rule editor
(NHL'94/'95 allows to change all rules during season)
S old schedule editor/viewer (see below)
D DB Viewer (see below)
C check teams' lines (see line editor)
M change between meters<->inches and kilos<->pounds
(player/goalie weight and height)
P outputs whole list to file or printer. It is currently
best to 'print' into file first and then use your favorite
text editor to print with smaller font
U update season. Current season's player attributes and teams'
rosters are updated from new database files. Use this if
you don't want to start your season from beginning and
still want to use latest rosters.
NHL'97 ONLY:
NHLINFO shows all seasons in new databases. Normally you
should select exhibition rosters. Answer 'yes' to next
question if you also want to overwrite old statistics.
(for normal season update you should answer 'no')
if you want to play exhibition games with your current
rosters select exhibition databases as your current rosters
and select <NHL'97 directory>/DATA for updated rosters and
finally select your league from list)
Needed update database files:
NHL'94-'96 : KEY.DB, ATT.DB, SEASON.DB, CAREER.DB, TEAMS.DB
and CARTEAMS.DB
NHL'97 : BRAINS.HDB, PLAYERS.HDB, NHL9596.EXH and
ROSTERS.HDB (statistics transfer also
needs STATS.HDB) (/newmode switch required)
X save
WARNING: Because of possible programming errors consider
taking backup of your database files before saving
When viewing teams
------------------
<F4> view current/last saved/difference between current and
last saved statistics. Before playing game(s) run nhlinfo
with following parameters to save current statistics
WNHLINFO <season name> -save (NHL'94-'96 old stats are saved
as teams.old and season.old, NHL'97 as _ROSTERS.xxx and
_STATS.xxx where xxx is season's number and when editing
NHL'98 databases they are saved as NHL98xxx.OLD)
<F5> select conference/division/national teams
<F7> follow mode, selected team is always shown on screen
<F8> show/don't show team if its games played value is zero
<F9> sorting order (ascending/descending)
T select team
When viewing players or goalies
-------------------------------
<F4> view current/last saved/difference between current and
last saved statistics. Before playing game(s) run nhlinfo
with following parameters to save current statistics
NHLINFO <season name> -save (NHL'94-'96 old stats are saved
as teams.old and season.old, NHL'97 as _ROSTERS.xxx and
_STATS.xxx where xxx is season's number and when editing
NHL'98 databases they are saved as NHL98xxx.OLD)
<F5> select conference/division/national teams
<F6> all players/attackers/defenders
<F7> follow mode, selected player/goalie is always shown on screen
<F8> show/don't show player/goalie if its games played value
is zero. NHL'98 NOTE: When free agents list is selected
this hides 'hidden' free agents!
<F9> sorting order (ascending/descending)
<F11> show selected team's players/all players/free agents
T select team
1 decrease all listed players attributes by 5
2 increase all listed players attributes by 5
3 decrease selected player's all attributes by 5
4 increase selected player's all attributes by 5
5 decrease all listed players' selected attribute by 5
6 increase all listed players' selected attribute by 5
NOTE: If players are selected then only selected players'
attributes will be changed
7 asks for new minimum and maximum attribute value
default minimum is 25 and maximum is 100
lowest is 25 and largest is 950 (NHL'98 maximum is 100)
For anyone who asks "why 25 to 100 and not 0 to 15?"
Asnwer: NHL'94/'95 used numeric values in attributes
screen (not those nice looking bars that NHL'96+ use)
and minimum was 25 and maximum was 100
G NHL'97: 'copy' player. Use this if you want to add new
players to All Star or National teams (exhibition database
only)
NHL'98: 'copy' player. This is just for experimenting (works
just like NHL'97 copy) Don't use for copying players to all
star or national teams! NHL'98 and NHL'97 are very different,
for example, if player is assigned to all star and nhl team,
NHL'97 used same player in both teams, but NHL'94-'96/98 have
own unique player with same name and attributes
DELETE delete selected player/goalie (NHL'94-'97 only)
If shift key is pressed NHLINFO deletes without confirmation
NHL'96/'97: Deletion of original players is not allowed
(it causes commentator to say wrong player names), transfer
not wanted players to free agents list
(NHL'97: /newmode switch needed)
INSERT create new player/goalie (NHL'97: /newmode switch required)
SHIFT+INSERT duplicate selected player/goalie (NHL'94-'96/'98 ONLY)
NHL'98 NOTE: Duplicate player only creates new user-created
player with same attributes and name as selected player
was (statistics are zeroed)
When viewing schedule (new schedule editor/viewer)
--------------------------------------------------
<F5> select conference/division
<F6> compare two teams' matches
<F7> view all teams played and total matches
<F11> selected team's matches/all teams
T select team
DELETE delete selected game
INSERT duplicate selected game
SHIFT+INSERT add new game (asks for date)
Line editor
-----------
You can edit all teams' lines just like NHL Hockey's line editor except
this editor have no restrictions (NHL'94-'96: you can't scratch more than
eight players) Remember that NHL Hockey may crash or work incorrectly if
you have same players on same line or something other 'illegal'! This
editor allows you to permanently edit allstar and world cup teams in NHL'97
Red color means player is scratched and blue means player is dressed
but unused
Keys:
<ESC> exit
<TAB> swaps cursor between players and lines
<RETURN>/<LMB> NHL'94-'96: scratches/dresses player or changes
players position depending on cursor position
NHL'97:
cancel operation
scratch or dress player
transfer to additionals/regulars
heal player
hurt player
injure player
NHL'98:
cancel operation
scratch or dress player
transfer to additionals/regulars
heal player
NHL'99:
cancel operation
scratch or dress player
change captaincy
<CURSOR KEYS>/<MOUSE> move cursor
T select team
+ next team
- previous team
D edit default/original lines
P print
C check lines for illegal positions
L copy lines (current lines are copied over original
lines or vice versa, depending which lines you have
selected)
** NHL'97/'98 only **
A view additional players
NHL'97 Note: edit exhibition databases if you want to change national
teams' lines. (default databases have no effect)
** NHL'98 only **
L load saved lines
S save current lines
SHIFT+L load all teams' lines
SHIFT+S save all teams' lines
Old schedule editor/viewer
--------------------------
Shows schedule and played games' results
Selected team is shown in green
Colors on calender display: blue=selected team plays home or red=visitor,
(just like on NHL Hockey's schedule screen) white means no matches for
selected team and brown means no matches for any team
NHL'94-'96 only:
There is table in TEAMS.DB for every match and it has space for 112 games
but real space may be smaller, I don't recommend going over 84 games/team
NHL'97 (NHL'98/'99 also?) :
It isn't possible to edit All Star match date because it isn't in schedule
file (I think it is in HOCKEY.EXE, but unfortunately, I don't know where)
All versions:
Don't try to edit saved leagues' schedule! It can cause problems someday
(like NHL Hockey to crash or work strangely)
Keys:
<ESC> exit
<CRSR KEYS>/<MOUSE> move cursor
< previous day
> next day
T select highlighted team
+/- next/previous team
M select month
<INSERT> add new game
<DEL> delete game
<RET> / <LMB> change selected team / number of goals scored
<SPACE> view all results between two teams during the season
use < and > to change teams
G view all teams' number of played, left, total, home and
away games.
P print schedule
Rule Editor (NHL'96-'98 only)
-----------------------------
With rule editor you can change league's rules
(period length, goalie controls on/off etc..)
Cursor up and down/mouse moves cursor, space/LMB changes settings and
ESC exits
DB Viewer (No NHL'99 support)
-----------------------------
View and edit database files
<<! Advanced users only (and editor creators :) !>>
WARNING: Don't edit if you are not sure what you are doing!
It is very easy to permanently corrupt your database files because
everything is editable, even things that are not really meant to be
edited!
Views selected player's, goalie's or team's values
<ESC> exit
<CURSOR UP/DOWN> one line up/down
<PAGE UP/DOWN> one page up/down
<HOME> jump to start of text
<END> jump to end of text
<RETURN>/E edit selected line (0x-prefix=hexadecimal)
+ next entry
- previous entry
<SPACE> change between current and last saved data
(look for <F4> (-save) for more information)
Use function keys or mouse to select different lists
Corrections and meaning of unknown fields are welcome!
NOTE: If you are going to use this information on your own programs,
please put my name on the credits
Hardware, software etc..
------------------------
NHLINFO was originally written on Amiga 1200 because of lack of
C-compiler for DOS environment. When I finally got old 16-bit
Borland C/C++ development continued on 486 PC.
Software:
Visual C++ 5.0
Windows'98 for programming environment
MS-DOS 7.1 for playing DOS games
lots of utilities
PC 1:
Abit BX6 motherboard
400MHz (100*4) Celeron (overclocked 266MHz model)
128MB PC-100 SDRAM DIMM memory
Matrox Millennium G200
Sound Blaster AWE 64
16-bit NE2000-compatible network adapter
6.5GB IBM DeskStar and 3.2GB Quantum Fireball harddrives
19" Samsung SyncMaster 900p monitor
8x Funai IDE CDROM
Asuscom ISDN adapter
Logitech MouseMan+ mouse
Adapter for joysticks (Atari->PC)
PC 2:
FIC VA-503+ main board
300MHz (100*3) AMD-K6-2
96MB SDRAM DIMM memory
Hercules Stingray 128/3D
Original (non P&P) SB AWE 32
16-bit SMC network adapter
6.5GB Seagate and 2.0GB Western Digital harddrives
Logitech Mouseman mouse
15" Samsung SyncMaster 15GLi monitor
6x/2x Philips CDD3610 CD-R/RW drive
4x GoldStar IDE CDROM
broken floppy drive
Amiga 1:
A1200 68030/50MHz 16MB Fast RAM
213MB Maxtor harddrive
Golden Image Optical Mouse
15" Samsung SyncMaster 15Gli (borrowed from PC-2 when needed)
Amiga 2:
A1200 68020/14MHz 4MB Fast RAM (broken parallel, RF and video port)
120MB Seagate harddrive
Golden Image mouse
External Hardware:
2 Microsoft Sidewinder game pads
Analog and digital PC joystick
ThrustMaster GrandPrix 1 steering wheel
HP ScanJet 5100C flatbed scanner
Canon LBP-8 II laserprinter
Digital joysticks
very old 1081 video monitor
Items/software used for examining NHL Hockey database files:
Hex editor (HIEW)
DOS file compare utility (FC)
Calculator with HEX-DEC-BIN conversion (Sharp 546D)
Pen
Eraser
Lots of paper
Author's address:
-----------------
Toni Wilen
Sudentie 4
13600 HML
Finland
email: twilen@sci.fi
www: www.gameshock.com/nhl/ (NHLINFO) www.sci.fi/~twilen (HOME)
NHLINFO background picture and icon by Jani Wilen <jani@gameshock.com>
Please send bug reports, comments and suggestions for new features!
Even ideas that feel stupid may be good ideas!