Starting Guide for New Players (Madden NFL 08)

tc86gn
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby tc86gn » Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:43 pm

I was here when the first mod was done and enjoyed it very much. A few years later and I am coming back again to enjoy the classic team and/or season experience. I am familiar with most of the stuff here but, much has changed and have done a lot of reading in the past couple days so I guess I am an old newb so I am going to ask a few questions that may sound stupid to some.

All I have done so far is load a disc version of 08pc and run the game and make the necessary folders. I am now on windows 10. the net framework is already 4.7. do I still need to install all the others? I do not plan to play online due to my satellite internet in the boonies. Is the patch 4.0 still need to be installed? Also, what is the order of install from A to Z starting from scratch? Is it the order in which all the the stuff is listed in post#1?

Thank you in advance.

Re: Starting Guide for New Players

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RevanFan
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby RevanFan » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:47 pm

tc86gn wrote:I was here when the first mod was done and enjoyed it very much. A few years later and I am coming back again to enjoy the classic team and/or season experience. I am familiar with most of the stuff here but, much has changed and have done a lot of reading in the past couple days so I guess I am an old newb so I am going to ask a few questions that may sound stupid to some.

All I have done so far is load a disc version of 08pc and run the game and make the necessary folders. I am now on windows 10. the net framework is already 4.7. do I still need to install all the others? I do not plan to play online due to my satellite internet in the boonies. Is the patch 4.0 still need to be installed? Also, what is the order of install from A to Z starting from scratch? Is it the order in which all the the stuff is listed in post#1?

Thank you in advance.

You should still have the other .NETs so as to make sure the utilities work. If you have Windows 10, it has 4.7 and 3.5, but not 1.1 and 2.0.

4.0 patch is not strictly required, but should still be installed just for safety.

Post #1 of this thread should have all the info you need, in order.
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tc86gn
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby tc86gn » Sat Jan 13, 2018 5:04 am

Thank you for the reply. Going to work on it this weekend. You guys do good work.

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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby pagjame » Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:38 pm

RevanFan wrote:Welcome to FootballIdiot, home of Madden modding! If you're reading this, it likely means you are new to the idea of modding Madden NFL 08, and would like a guide and how to get started. Well, I have that for you. Before you do anything, you should first introduce yourself on this forum, if you haven't already. Now, to get Madden NFL 08 up to date, one must first buy a copy of the game. I'm going to assume for the rest of this that you have already done so, but if you haven't, you can buy a downloadable copy on Amazon.com. You also might be able to find disk versions on Amazon, Ebay, or some other place, but they might be rather expensive.

Once you own the game, the next step is to run the game. Run the game, configure any graphics settings, and mess around a bit to see what options and menus there are. When ready, create and save a roster, franchise, or superstar file. This can be deleted after you're done. You're creating this file because the folders you need for modding are not created until this is done.

Before downloading any of the things I will now talk about, be sure you have a method of extraction. Many files come in compressed formats such as .rar, .zip, and .7z. You can extract these files with 7-Zip. Also, make sure you have all Microsoft .NET frameworks. Please install 1.1, 3.5, 3.5 SP1, 4.5, and 4.7. If you already have some of them, only install the ones you are missing.

Before you do the rest of the things listed here, it is recommended to update the game to the 4.0 patch. Since the game's auto update feature no longer works, you'll have to manually download the patch. EA has four versions of the patch on their servers. US and UK physical patches, and US and UK download patches. Get the version you need at this link.

Before installing any mod, make sure you load the game up and test it to be sure it works correctly. Set your system and gameplay settings to what you want. Then, go into roster management, and save a copy of the roster. This will create the folders you need for most mods on this site. You can delete the roster right after you create it, if you wish.

The first step in updating the NFL rosters in Madden is to get the latest community mod, the FF/FI mod. The latest updates can be found by following this link. Download the packages and follow their installation instructions. All future mod updates will also be found at that thread. NOTE: Unless a mod specifically says to place files in Program Files, do not place them there. Instead, place them in the game's Documents folder.

The next thing you'll likely want is MadMod X, which is a collection of extremely useful and powerful tools and utilities for modding, configuring, and giving new life to Madden. To use some of these properly, you'll need to have the versions of Microsoft's .NET Framework listed above. Two of the most important tools in this collection are NZA's Editor (included are both versions 1.3 and 2.0), which allow for extremely large amounts of editing and tweaking to rosters, franchises, and superstars, and the DB Editor and DAT File Replacer, which are key modding tools, and can even allow you to mod and experiment for yourself.

To make the game more realistic and updated, and add features that quite frankly should have been there in the first place, download version 1.58 of Calhoupe's Madden Scripts. To use them, you must run the program in the download, then use that program to launch Madden, by selecting "mainapp.exe" from the installation directory. Then, after the game loads, you can activate them by minimizing the game, and selecting the options you want to be enabled. After enabling any options you want, click "Save" to save them for later, and they'll be loaded every time you start the scripts in the future. To allow you to minimize the game, you must first delete or rename a file in the Madden installation directory. Locate the file named "keyblo" and rename or delete it. That will allow you to ALT+TAB out of the game.

Another editing utility you'll likely want is Madden Amp. This is another powerful editor for rosters and franchises, and even has its own drafting system that can replace the normal Madden draft in franchise mode. Like some of the utilities in MadMod X, it requires .NET Framework version 4.5.

Finally, the last step is finding rosters. For a completely updated roster, the recommended roster is currently Rogerjinx's 2017 Roster. If you want to try other rosters, feel free to go ahead and browse the forum. There are many rosters for past seasons, alternate rosters for more modern seasons, and... I'm going to stop talking. Go and explore. See what you like. When you download a roster, it will be in the form of a .ros file. Move this .ros file to the Documents\Madden NFL 08\Rosters folder. Then, load them in-game by, from the main menu, selecting Menu at the bottom right of the screen, then File, and then selecting the downloaded roster. You can find rosters in the Rosters sub-forum, or at the Files Page.

There are many graphics mods here that use a program called TexMod. What TexMod does is modify the graphics while the game is running. When the game is interacting with TexMod, you can select textures to incorporate into the game.

If you wish to play online, this guide may help you out, but be warned that you may not be able to play online with the FF mod or rogerjinx's roster unless your opponent is also running the same mod/roster.

One more thing. For you college football fans out there, there is an amazing mod called Heisman 14 which, along with its add-on, include many, MANY college football teams, all accurately represented for you to enjoy. And for any Candians or fans of American's northern neighbors, there is a mod for the Canadian Football League! It requires some extra mods and programs to run, so be sure to follow its instructions and read the post carefully. I must mention that the mods linked in this paragraph cannot be used at the same time as the FF/FI XV mod. However, one can follow these instructions to have more than one major mod installed.

If you have any issues with the game, go to the Basic Troubleshooting Checklist and follow it to attempt to fix your issues. If none of the tips there work, ask for help on the forum, but please provide as much detail as you possibly can.

Now go and enjoy Madden NFL 08, modded to full glory! If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts about Madden and its mods, please feel free to post on this forum. We're a great community who'll be glad to help whenever we are able.

If you'd like to attempt modding yourself, or are looking for links to useful information, go to the Useful Links thread.


Does all this work with Windows 7 x64

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madden07eurocat
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby madden07eurocat » Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:22 pm

I was using the new mod and utilities with that OS briefly, until I upgraded to a new PC and it worked fine. I would make sure that when you install your programs, you are doing so with WinXP (sp3) as the default in compatibility mode though. A lot of these programs are designed to work with M08 and it is a decade old now so compatibility mode is a must with this. As long as you do that, they work just fine, in my experience.
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby RevanFan » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:21 pm

madden07eurocat wrote:I was using the new mod and utilities with that OS briefly, until I upgraded to a new PC and it worked fine. I would make sure that when you install your programs, you are doing so with WinXP (sp3) as the default in compatibility mode though. A lot of these programs are designed to work with M08 and it is a decade old now so compatibility mode is a must with this. As long as you do that, they work just fine, in my experience.

XP compatibility isn't even necessary for many of them on Windows 7. Windows 10, sure, but not 7 as much.
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby madden07eurocat » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:24 pm

RevanFan wrote:
madden07eurocat wrote:I was using the new mod and utilities with that OS briefly, until I upgraded to a new PC and it worked fine. I would make sure that when you install your programs, you are doing so with WinXP (sp3) as the default in compatibility mode though. A lot of these programs are designed to work with M08 and it is a decade old now so compatibility mode is a must with this. As long as you do that, they work just fine, in my experience.

XP compatibility isn't even necessary for many of them on Windows 7. Windows 10, sure, but not 7 as much.

Good to know. Thanks!
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby RevanFan » Mon Jan 22, 2018 5:16 pm

Updated the OP to include links to locations to download graphics drivers, as well as to mention that the game is no longer available on Amazon.
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby JSamuel » Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:58 am

I just noticed that your second and fifth paragraphs are repetitive; you might want to have a look at them.
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Re: Starting Guide for New Players

Postby RevanFan » Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:58 am

JSamuel wrote:I just noticed that your second and fifth paragraphs are repetitive; you might want to have a look at them.

Fixed. Thanks.
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