------------------------------ 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 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\.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 , 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) 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 NHL'96: WNHLINFO or WNHLINFO (for example if SEASON directory has file 01020key.db -> NHLINFO 1020 NHL'97: WNHLINFO or WNHLINFO (for example if DATA directory has file SEAS1002.SET -> NHLINFO 1002) NHL'98/'99: WNHLINFO or WNHLINFO 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 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 move editing cursor left move editing cursor right move editing cursor up move editing cursor down move editing cursor up one page move editing cursor down one page jump to beginning of list jump to end of list 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 (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 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 --------------- select players/goalies/teams/schedule (see below) select page 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 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 /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 ------------------ 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 -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) select conference/division/national teams follow mode, selected team is always shown on screen show/don't show team if its games played value is zero sorting order (ascending/descending) T select team When viewing players or goalies ------------------------------- 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 -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) select conference/division/national teams all players/attackers/defenders follow mode, selected player/goalie is always shown on screen 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! sorting order (ascending/descending) 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) -------------------------------------------------- select conference/division compare two teams' matches view all teams played and total matches 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: exit swaps cursor between players and lines / 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 / 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: exit / move cursor < previous day > next day T select highlighted team +/- next/previous team M select month add new game delete game / change selected team / number of goals scored 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 <> 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 exit one line up/down one page up/down jump to start of text jump to end of text /E edit selected line (0x-prefix=hexadecimal) + next entry - previous entry change between current and last saved data (look for (-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 Please send bug reports, comments and suggestions for new features! Even ideas that feel stupid may be good ideas!