TV Networks mod | All 2017 Networks | Auto Switching for Franchise Mode

A collection of all finished mods!
fsh
All-Pro
Posts: 190
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 8:12 am

TV Networks mod | All 2017 Networks | Auto Switching for Franchise Mode

Postby fsh » Fri Mar 03, 2017 3:35 pm

So I made a new TV Networks mod, which includes updated versions of the theme music and logos for all NFL broadcasters. There are some special logos for all playoff rounds and preseason, kickoff and Thanksgiving games as well. The mod includes a utility which allows you to select any network, or to auto-switch to the correct network for the next game in your franchise mode.

The mod was originally based on Timz0207's networks mod from 2014, but I've changed all of the logos and most of the music. Only some music that is still being used by the networks remains.

Download link:
https://bit.ly/madden08-tvnetworks-v12 (v12, 19 January 2018), requires .NET Framework 3.5 (which is probably already installed on your PC)

Features:
  • Features all networks that broadcast the NFL in real life: Sunday Night Football on NBC, Fox, CBS, Thursday Night Football on CBS, Thursday Night Football on NBC, Monday Night Football on ESPN, NFL Network
  • All logos and music are updated to the 2017 season
  • Special logos for playoff games
  • Special logos for preseason, kickoff and Thanksgiving games
  • Special utility that will automatically import the necessary music and logos into your game files
  • Utility has franchise mode: reads the franchise stats and switches to the correct network for your next franchise mode game
  • Works with any mod (unless the mod does something really weird, I guess)
  • Almost no change to menus (only the logo in bottom left of the menu)
  • No changed intro movies or anything like that
  • Relatively small file size (117 MB)

How to use it:
Spoiler:
  1. Download the file
  2. Unpack the zip to a new/empty folder (will will call this new folder <mod folder>)
  3. In explorer (the program with which you can browse your PC's files), go to C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Madden NFL 08
  4. Copy the following files: SOUNDDAT.dat, UIS_LIB_ADPLACEHOLDERS.dat, UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat and UIS_LIB_IN_GAME.dat
  5. Paste those files in the <mod folder>\base folder
  6. If one of those files is not in the C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Madden NFL 08 folder, go to <install folder>\data1 (for UIS_LIB_ADPLACEHOLDERS.dat) or <install folder\data0 (for the other 3) to copy the file from there
  7. Make sure to check the settings.ini file, especially the calhoupe-franchise-year option

To select a network: (use this if you want to select a network yourself)
  1. Make sure the game is closed
  2. Double-click the network.cmd file in the <mod folder>
  3. Type a name of a network and press enter. Example network names are: fox, cbs-sunday, snf, superbowl, sb-fox. To display all valid network names double click listnetworks.cmd in the <mod folder>.
  4. The program will import and copy the files
  5. Press enter to close the switch program when it's done
  6. Start the game and play

Franchise mode: (REPEAT STEPS 1 AND 9-12 BEFORE EVERY FRANCHISE GAME)
(for this to work, franchise logging (in game settings) should be set to unique and text)
  1. Make sure the game is closed
  2. If you have custom teams in your franchise (i.e. teams that are not currently in the NFL), open the teams.ini file and add all custom teams and their conference
  3. Open settings.ini and make sure the settings in there are correct for your situation. The default settings are suited for the 2016 schedule.
  4. Right click the script franchise.cmd
  5. Click edit in the context menu
  6. Change <save-name> to the franchise's save name (NOTE: this should be the name with which you created the franchise. If you later saved it under another name, use the original name) (remove the < and >)
  7. Change <team-name> to the team name (excluding the city/state/region name, e.g. Lions or Packers) (remove the < and >)
  8. Save the file and close the window
  9. Double click franchise.cmd
  10. The program will import and copy the files
  11. Press enter to close the switch program when it's done
  12. Start the game and play your franchise game
  13. If you're playing multiple franchises, or with multiple teams in the same franchise, you can duplicate the franchise.cmd file and replace the save/team name for all combinations that you need. You can also check the instructions below for multiple teams in one franchise save.

Franchise mode (multiple teams): (REPEAT STEPS 1 AND 8-12 BEFORE EVERY FRANCHISE GAME)
(for this to work, franchise logging (in game settings) should be set to unique and text)
  1. Make sure the game is closed
  2. If you have custom teams in your franchise (i.e. teams that are not currently in the NFL), open the teams.ini file and add all custom teams and their conference
  3. Open settings.ini and make sure the settings in there are correct for your situation. The default settings are suited for the 2016 schedule.
  4. Right click the script franchise-chooseteam.cmd
  5. Click edit in the context menu
  6. Change <save-name> to the franchise's save name (NOTE: this should be the name with which you created the franchise. If you later saved it under another name, use the original name) (remove the < and >)
  7. Save the file and close the window
  8. Double click franchise-chooseteam.cmd
  9. Type the name of one of the teams of the game you're going to play and press enter (excluding the city/state/region name, e.g. Lions or Packers)
  10. The program will import and copy the files
  11. Press enter to close the switch program when it's done
  12. Start the game and play your franchise game
  13. If you're playing multiple franchises, you can duplicate the franchise-chooseteam.cmd file and replace the save name for all saves that you need.

Situation mode: (selects the correct network based on the info you provide; useful for exhibition games and if franchise mode does not select the correct network)
  1. Make sure the game is closed
  2. Double-click the situation.cmd file in the <mod folder>
  3. Follow the instructions in the console window
  4. The program will import and copy the files
  5. Press enter to close the switch program when it's done
  6. Start the game and play

For other modes, double click help.cmd to see a list of them. Use interactive.cmd to enter multiple commands. To put the original files back in place, run the backup.cmd script.


What if it doesn't work:
Carefully read the instructions above. If you can't get it to work, very carefully read the instructions again. If you then still can't get it to work, report your problem here and I'll try to help you.

Demo videos:
Spoiler:
Here are some videos which use this mod by madden07eurocat from his thread over here:


Credits:
  • Timz0207 for the original mod (I tried to get permission to use the files, but could not reach the author.)
  • madden07eurocat for his videos which use the mod

Changelog:
Spoiler:
v12:
- Proper playoffs networks for 2017 (current) season
- Some special networks of regular season fixed
- Option to change path of Madden 08 folder in Documents through settings.ini
v11:
- All networks selected correctly for the 2017 NFL season
- Thursday Night Football: network for each week selected based on real schedule, now also with NFL Network (in addition to CBS and NBC)
- Sunday afternoon games: network selection no longer influenced by home team conference, random flex scheduling only in weeks 5-15
- Better handling when franchise game cannot be detected, automatic help to manually select right network
- New 2017 intro music for SNF on NBC
- New 2017 intro music for MNF on ESPN
v10:
- Fix for bug in Thanksgiving detection
v9:
- Downsized some logos, because they would make the game crash in certain stadiums
v8:
- Importing no longer requires DBR4 (there's still an option in settings.ini to use it)
v7:
- Fix Thanksgiving detection
- Music for TNF on NBC
- New music for CBS Sunday
- NFL Network now uses music of TNF on CBS or NBC (randomly)
v6:
- Logos for NFL Network, including logos for preseason
- New situation mode: selects the correct network based on the week/day/time/etc. you fill in; useful for exhibition games and if franchise mode does not select the correct network
- Music for SNF on NBC fixed (plus NBC playoffs music)
- Music for TNF on CBS fixed
v5:
- Logos for SNF on NBC
- Logos for MNF on ESPN
- Logos for Thanksgiving games
- Logos for NFL Kickoff
- Other minor logo changes
v4:
- Logos for TNF on NBC (no music yet)
- Rotation among networks of all playoff games (according to broadcasting schedules of 2014-2016)
- Option to play Sunday afternoon games of chosen weeks as TNF games (week 16 of 2016 season had that), configurable in settings.ini
- Backup script (puts back the original files)
- Script for franchise mode which allows to select a team (useful when playing with multiple teams or when watching CPUvsCPU matches)
- NFL logo in top right of the screen for Sunday afternoon games
v3:
- Logos + music for TNF on CBS
v2:
- More useful error display when something goes wrong, plus some minor changes
v1:
- Initial version

TV Networks mod | All 2017 Networks | Auto Switching for Franchise Mode

Sponsor

Sponsor
 

User avatar
JSamuel
Hall of Fame
Posts: 1770
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:39 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby JSamuel » Fri Mar 03, 2017 4:58 pm

Thank you for this.

Downloading now...
Image


User avatar
JSamuel
Hall of Fame
Posts: 1770
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:39 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby JSamuel » Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:07 pm

fsh wrote:Looking forward to the feedback ;)

I was really pumped about this, but when I typed in "fox" and hit enter, I got this:

Image

Any ideas?
Image

User avatar
rambolz
All-Pro
Posts: 446
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 3:59 am

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby rambolz » Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:33 pm

fsh wrote:Change <team-name> to the team name (excluding the city/state/region name, e.g. Lions or Packers)


This sounds awesome! One question though: Does this work with custom teams? Like if my team name is Bulls?

fsh
All-Pro
Posts: 190
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 8:12 am

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby fsh » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:00 pm

JSamuel wrote:
fsh wrote:Looking forward to the feedback ;)

I was really pumped about this, but when I typed in "fox" and hit enter, I got this:

Image

Any ideas?


Did you copy the 4 dat files to the base folder? And you ran the network.cmd script, right? I got to be honest, the error handling of the utility is poor, I rather ignored that. However, I suspect you did something wrong with the dat files. In the folder where MaddenNetworkSwitch.exe is located, there should be a folder called base (and one called data). The base folder should contain the 4 dat files (SOUNDDAT.dat, UIS_LIB_ADPLACEHOLDERS.dat, UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat and UIS_LIB_IN_GAME.dat). If this is not the problem, I'll create a version of the utility that gives some crash info when something goes wrong, so I can help you better :P

Edit: thought of something else: if you put the utility somewhere in Program Files, the error may occur because it can't write files there (need admin rights for that).

rambolz wrote:
fsh wrote:Change <team-name> to the team name (excluding the city/state/region name, e.g. Lions or Packers)


This sounds awesome! One question though: Does this work with custom teams? Like if my team name is Bulls?


Do you have a franchise with that team? Yes, that should work. You have to add the custom team names to the teams.ini file (with the corresponding conference). This includes all other custom teams, not just your own team. If it somehow does not work then, I'll try to help you fix it.

User avatar
rambolz
All-Pro
Posts: 446
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 3:59 am

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby rambolz » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:47 pm

fsh wrote:
rambolz wrote:
fsh wrote:Change <team-name> to the team name (excluding the city/state/region name, e.g. Lions or Packers)


This sounds awesome! One question though: Does this work with custom teams? Like if my team name is Bulls?


Do you have a franchise with that team? Yes, that should work. You have to add the custom team names to the teams.ini file (with the corresponding conference). This includes all other custom teams, not just your own team. If it somehow does not work then, I'll try to help you fix it.


Yes, I have a franchise. If I replaced Team A with Team B in my custom franchise, should I delete Team A from the teams.ini file and replace it with Team B? Or just add in Team B and have Team A in the file without there being a Team A in the actual franchise? I'll try this mod in the next few days when I have time!

User avatar
JSamuel
Hall of Fame
Posts: 1770
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:39 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby JSamuel » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:34 pm

fsh wrote:
JSamuel wrote:
fsh wrote:Looking forward to the feedback ;)

I was really pumped about this, but when I typed in "fox" and hit enter, I got this:
Spoiler:
Image
Any ideas?

Did you copy the 4 dat files to the base folder? ...I suspect you did something wrong with the dat files. In the folder where MaddenNetworkSwitch.exe is located, there should be a folder called base (and one called data). The base folder should contain the 4 dat files (SOUNDDAT.dat, UIS_LIB_ADPLACEHOLDERS.dat, UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat and UIS_LIB_IN_GAME.dat).

My base folder was empty... because I'm an idiot who never reads instructions. :lol:

But I have a question. Your instructions say this:
fsh wrote:
    3. In explorer (the program with which you can browse your PC's files), go to C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Madden NFL 08
    4. Copy the following files: SOUNDDAT.dat, UIS_LIB_ADPLACEHOLDERS.dat, UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat and UIS_LIB_IN_GAME.dat
    5. Paste those files in the base folder of the unpacked zip (from step 2)

Did you mean for us to go to C:\Program Files (x86)\EA SPORTS\Madden NFL 08\data0 and copy the files from there? Because there's no UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat in the Madden documents folder.
Image

fsh
All-Pro
Posts: 190
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 8:12 am

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby fsh » Fri Mar 03, 2017 8:42 pm

rambolz wrote:
fsh wrote:
rambolz wrote:
This sounds awesome! One question though: Does this work with custom teams? Like if my team name is Bulls?


Do you have a franchise with that team? Yes, that should work. You have to add the custom team names to the teams.ini file (with the corresponding conference). This includes all other custom teams, not just your own team. If it somehow does not work then, I'll try to help you fix it.


Yes, I have a franchise. If I replaced Team A with Team B in my custom franchise, should I delete Team A from the teams.ini file and replace it with Team B? Or just add in Team B and have Team A in the file without there being a Team A in the actual franchise? I'll try this mod in the next few days when I have time!


You can just add them and keep the original teams in there as well, that's no problem.

JSamuel wrote:
fsh wrote:...

My base folder was empty... because I'm an idiot who never reads instructions. :lol:

But I have a question. Your instructions say this:
fsh wrote:
    3. In explorer (the program with which you can browse your PC's files), go to C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Madden NFL 08
    4. Copy the following files: SOUNDDAT.dat, UIS_LIB_ADPLACEHOLDERS.dat, UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat and UIS_LIB_IN_GAME.dat
    5. Paste those files in the base folder of the unpacked zip (from step 2)

Did you mean for us to go to C:\Program Files (x86)\EA SPORTS\Madden NFL 08\data0 and copy the files from there? Because there's no UIS_LIB_COMMON.dat in the Madden documents folder.


Oh, right. I have FF XVI installed, which actually puts those files in the folder in documents. If they aren't there, you indeed should probably get them from the install folder. I'll verify this tomorrow and update the instructions. NOTE: every file that is in the C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\Madden NFL 08 has priority over the one in the install folder. So first check for the files in the Documents folder and only check the install folder for the files that weren't in the Documents folder.

fsh
All-Pro
Posts: 190
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 8:12 am

Re: Updated TV Networks mod | Works with any mod | Auto switching for franchise mode | I can use your help

Postby fsh » Sat Mar 04, 2017 2:45 pm

I posted an updated version, which displays a more useful error message when something goes wrong. (Plus some other minor changes.)

Did you get it to work yet, JSamuel?


Return to “Finished Mods”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests