VERSION 1 HAD INHERENT FLAWS IN THE FRAMEWORK, WHICH WERE IRONED OUT IN VERSION 2, WHICH NOW HAS ITS OWN THREAD AND WHICH I CALL FieldBuilder. THERE'S ALSO A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF FieldBuilder ON PAGE 3 OF THIS THREAD HERE.
HOWEVER, I AM LEAVING THE ORIGINAL TEXT AS-IS SO THAT OTHERS CAN FOLLOW THE THOUGHT PROCESS, BUT DON'T GET TOO CAUGHT UP IN THE EXPLANATION.
This project is designed to show how great Madden looks with correct wide NCAA hash placement and without those awful "ghost lines", and allows for a full game to be played. It also features brand-new artwork for LSU's Tiger Stadium, which includes a field with lots of stuff going on, plus higher-resolution midfield, endzones, and goalpost padding than usual.
First, I'd like to give a ton of credit to the following people:
* isten, for coming up with the idea of painting one endzone directly onto the TrueTurf field,
* slydways, for coming up with the idea of obscuring the "ghost lines" by inserting the field texture into a midfield or endzone slot,
* elguapo, for creating the eXpanded .dat files and the AWESOME spreadsheet that goes with it, as well as for his really useful "TMdl for idiots" tutorial, AND for coming up with the idea of inserting an endzone into the ST35 slot!
* StingRay68, for his awesome efforts in deciphering the TMdl and explaining what the hex means to everyone, allowing for perfect real-life dimensions to be implemented for the first time,
* the Heisman mod team (BelieverInTeal, lionsfan, and littleGiant89) for allowing me to modify their roster for this project, and for creating the truly stunning Heisman 14 mod in the first place!
* and to calhoupe for creating the AWESOME Cheat Engine hack that allows wide-spotting in-game, which makes it truly game-changing!!
While the new artwork in this project has been created by myself, I could not have put the whole thing together without the knowledge and skills of all the guys mentioned above. I therefore feel it truly has been a group collaboration, so many thanks guys! Much much respect to all of you.
Also, please note that this project is NOT part of the Heisman mod. It is the end result of my plea for help in removing the "ghost lines", and is meant as a visual demonstration only.
So without further ado, here are some screenshots:
- wide LSU 3.jpg (312.38 KiB) Viewed 704 times
Above: This formation started off as 4 WR (with 2 receivers to each side), but since the ball was spotted wide left, I had to send the left slot receiver in motion to the right side of the formation. (The defense didn't adjust because I used "rookie" level for screenshot)
- wide LSU 4.jpg (317.54 KiB) Viewed 704 times
Above: This should have been a "chip-shot" field goal, but because I had to angle it inwards more, I actually missed it!
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Download and install the Heisman 14 mod (from HERE).
2) Download the "wide hash demo game" from HERE, and unzip the 5 files.
3) Put the FIELDART.dat and UIS_LIB_TEAM_LOGOS.dat files in your "Documents\Madden NFL 08" folder.
4) Put the "wide hash demo.ros" roster file in your "Documents\Madden NFL 08\Rosters" folder.
5) Put the "wide hash LSU.tpf" in with your other .tpf's.
6) Put the "NCAA Hash Marks.exe" on your desktop. (This is a Cheat Engine hack by calhoupe, which your antivirus software may flag as a threat. Just tell your antivirus to "always allow" this program.)
NEWBIES: This project needs the program TexMod to work, which you can download from HERE. You will also need to read the start of the tutorial HERE that explains how to load a .tpf in TexMod and run Madden from it.
7) Start TexMod, and load the "wide hash LSU.tpf" first (at the top of the list).
8) Load the following Heisman 14 .tpf's below it: "LSU.tpf", "SEC West.tpf", and "base.tpf".
N.B. The Heisman 14 "LSU.tpf" is needed too, as it contains all the stadium transformation textures.
9) NEXT, click on the "NCAA Hash Marks.exe" to launch it. (A small window will appear)
10) NOW run Madden from TexMod.
11) When Madden has fully loaded, press CTRL and H to turn the Cheat Engine hack on (you will hear a high beep when it has been enabled, or a lower beep when it is disabled).
12) In Madden, load the "wide hash demo" roster.
13) This modified roster only has 6 teams visible: you MUST set LSU as the home team, but you can select any other team as the away team. You can choose to play as either LSU or the other team.
14) That's all you need to know for now! Go play the game, have some fun, and be sure to check everything out. When you're done, you can continue reading for more info on the changes I made, and how I made the artwork.
KNOWN LIMITATIONS:
* when a play ends OUTSIDE the old NFL hashes but INSIDE the wider NCAA hashes, the ball will be re-spotted slightly wider at the nearest NCAA hash mark. This means slightly more wide-spotting than in real-life, but that's not an issue in my book. (To fix this would require far more complex coding according to calhoupe, but in my opinion it's not necessary.)
* fan clothing is invisible (likely beyond the scope of this project to fix)
* practice mode causes Madden to crash (practice mode needs a team present at TGID 10 to work properly. More info HERE).
Other minor limitations:
* slight warping of field (5 yard lines are no longer totally straight). Present with and without TexMod, so probably side-effect of inserting field into endzone slot. Possible to work around it, and not noticeable in-game, except goal-line paint is no longer reliable on left-hand side (facing endzone).
* another side-effect was you were no longer able to select any other uniform for LSU than the "home" one, which by default was set at purple. Since LSU wear white at home, I had to swap the order of their home and away uniforms in the roster (TUCO), and also do the same for the other teams, to force those to wear their "home" colors instead. Please note this is supposed to only be a workaround for this demo, as I think it's likely beyond the scope of this project to fix correctly.
* no "sparkle" texture is overlayed (giving slightly duller field, but REALLY not important. Only mentioning in case anyone was wondering!)
WHY WIDE-SPOTTING IS GAME-CHANGING:
Thanks to calhoupe's wide-spotting, it means we now need to be far more "hash-conscious" when calling plays. Some plays simply will not work as good when lined up so close to the sideline. I just LOVE this idea, as anything that forces me to think more like a real coach is a good thing I reckon! Throwing a quick "out" route to the wide side of the field now is now a longer (and riskier) throw, while running to that side gives you a lot more open space before you hit the sideline. I've also found that field goals are slightly harder now as you have to angle them inwards, and even punting feels different tactically!
THE EXACT CHANGES I'VE MADE:
As slydways discovered, in order to hide the "ghost lines", the field texture needs to be inserted into an endzone slot, as textures in the endzone slots appear above the "ghost lines" in-game. This also means that the framework needs to be .dat-based (instead of CustomArt-based).
I inserted "placeholders" into the .dat's as I found it easier to keep track of what was going where, and because I always planned to use .tpf overlays at the end anyway. If you run the demo without the .tpf's, you will see better what goes where.
Using elguapo's eXpanded FIELDART.dat:
* inserted red/blue turf placeholder into endzone2 slot, file 1025 (TEZ2 940)
* inserted endzone1 placeholder into file 816 (TEZ1 815)
* inserted midfield placeholder into file 1109 (TMFL 791)
Using elguapo's eXpanded UIS_LIB_TEAM_LOGOS.dat:
* inserted main logo placeholder into files 512 & 806 (TLGL 510)
Roster changes:
TEAM table, line 54 (LSU Tigers):
* changed endzone1 (TEZ1) to 815 (column B), endzone2 (TEZ2) to 940 (column D), midfield (TMFL) to 791 (column AK)
* changed main logo (TLGL) to 510 (column AL)
* changed CART (column BH) to [blank]
* changed TTYP (column AX) to 0 (changes team type from CustomArt-based to .dat-based)
also changed TTYP for other teams to 1 to hide them (except for Aggies, Crimson Tide, Razorbacks, Rebels, Auburn Tigers, which were left at 5.)
also changed LSU primary background color to 70, 29, 124 (purple) & 2nd background color to 253, 208, 35 (gold)
(primary: TBCR, TBCG, TBCB; secondary: TB2R, TB2G,TB2B)
(I've included an .xls file that color-highlights all the changes I made for ease-of-reading.)
CTMU table:
changed uniform order (TUCO) for home/away for all 6 teams, and order of alt1/alt2 for 4 of them.
N.B. I also tested using endzone1 for the field texture, but found that a field in the endzone1 slot covers endzone2. Therefore the endzone2 slot MUST be used for the field texture if there are 2 different endzones.
I also attempted to see if I could get a basefield field by inserting 2 different field textures into the endzone1 and endzone2 slots, in the hope that I would end up with 2 different field halves in-game. Unfortunately, the field in the endzone1 slot completely covers whatever is in the endzone2 slot, so no joy there.
ARTWORK INFO:
FIELD:
* Re-measured placement of hashes and found that the wide hashes in TrueTurf template had not been placed wide enough!
Each should have been 2 feet wider out, meaning 4 feet wider in total.* Also re-measured and slightly adjusted placement of numbers and conference logo. All extremely accurate in-game now.
* Font used for yard numbers was "League Gothic". Made sure that the join between white number and purple shadow was sharp and full pixels (not blurred white/purple).
ENDZONES:
* Due to slight warping of field, painted-on endzone crept out under endzone1 texture and became visible. Had to make goal-line paint go further back to mask it, which therefore means that dimensions of painted-on endzone and endzone1 texture are no longer identical (same width but different heights). Both were created from same template though (1441x263).
* Added white lines 1 pixel high along very top and bottom of endzone1 texture which helps smooth transition from endzone1 texture to field in-game. Virtually no join now.
* In purple endzone, made OUTER border of letters sharp and full pixels (from purple to white). In gold endzone, made INNER border sharp (white to purple). Found that making gold to white sharp didn't have same effect.
MIDFIELD:
* inverted midfield logo for correct sideline and tunnel placement.
* doubled size for greater detail (default Madden is 256x256, now 512x512)
* wiggle-effect: in Paint.NET go to Effects, Distort, Dents (25, 30, 0, 3, 5)
* had moderate success with trying to re-create outer blur, but in the end decided to leave it out. For more arty creative modders, in Paint.NET go to Effects, Blurs, Zoom blur (27)
PADDING:
* default Madden uses canvas size of 128x128 which is then stretched out vertically in-game. I used 404x512 for greater detail (4 times the vertical resolution and correct rectangular shape so no in-game stretching). Template can be found HERE.
MAIN LOGO & CROWD:
Initially I wanted to re-release a whole bunch of textures from the Heisman mod in one .tpf package, as I thought it would make it easier for newbies. To be honest, I didn't give that proposal way enough consideration and really didn't appreciate how much it could blur the lines.
But since the memory address used for LSU's main logo was now different, I either needed to re-use their logo, or make my own. I should point out that the Heisman mod team have been awesome with their help and support, and did indeed give me permission to re-use some textures, but I still felt that as this project was only supposed to be a visual "demo", I was slightly uncomfortable including stuff that wasn't mine. I therefore made my LSU main logo to the same specs as I've done for my Logo Mod (dimensions twice as big at 256x256, and with a drop shadow) to try to keep it looking visually different from the Heisman mod's LSU logo. The memory addresses for the awesome Heisman crowd texture had also changed so I felt it best to just include my own crowd texture instead. I used the excellent crowd template by Bulldwg34 found on the wiki HERE, and colored it in LSU colors. I highly recommend folks try this template out!Other textures included:
* new net, chains (SEC) and down marker
* coin toss by "footballidiot.com" (400x128, therefore not stretched in-game)
TO SUM UP:
* If you want to have wide college hashes, you need to hide the "ghost lines".
* To do that you have to put the field texture in an endzone slot (i.e. above the "ghost lines").
* If you want to have 2 different endzones, then it needs to be .dat-based (the CustomArt method doesn't allow for 2 endzone slots).
* However, the art-limitations with .dat-based fields become more pronounced with this usage, and I therefore feel that .tpf field overlays are still necessary. See HERE for more info (halfway down).
* Most crucially, none of this gives a TRUE college feel without Cheat Engine spotting the ball wide.
So what I'm saying (and it's only my own opinion!) is that I feel that the best college experience can come from using a .dat-based mod, with .tpf overlays, AND Cheat Engine at the same time. It is most definitely not the simplest way, and definitely not user-friendly, but it WOULD look great. I'm not calling on anyone to make such a mod, and have absolutely no plans to do so myself. I hope the Heisman mod continues as it is as I love it so much, and I wish slydways well with his .dat-based mod too.
Any new fields I happen to make for my own use would be in this form though, as to me it is absolutely worth the few extra clicks. I will also release a new "wide" TrueTurf template soon so that others can have a go too. But since most folks are unhappy just running TexMod, I really can't see those same folks enjoying TexMod AND Cheat Engine! (It's worth pointing out though that a completely .dat-based mod would still offer something new when used with Cheat Engine, but would also make it a cinch for .tpf fans to add their own wide TrueTurf fields.)
Unfortunately, I happened to see a youtube clip just a few nights ago of the console-version NCAA game from 2011, and couldn't help thinking that I'm jumping through hoops trying to get what console users have had even 3 years ago!
I think for the first time ever I'm now seriously thinking of buying one at Christmas, and NCAA would be the very first game I buy (even if it's not currently being made).Again, I would encourage newbies here to "have a go" at whatever they wish to do, and to aim as high as they can. As before, when I started this I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do the .dat-editing at all, or even get the project into a finished playable game! There's that "surpassing your own expectations" thing again that I'm on about, and the sole reason why it's worth doing at all.
It's been fun, I've learnt a whole lot more along the way, but my feelings are it is simply too much work for it to ever continue in this "ultimate" format, and won't be what most folks want anyway.
Unfortunately, the most pressing question I have at the moment about college football is "XBox or Playstation?", and I do find that a bit sad too. I only wish I got into modding when Madden 08 first came out...
For now anyway, I hope you enjoy the demo.
EDIT: After playing around with calhoupe's "NCAA Hash Marks" a while, I REALLY hope that at the very least this aspect will continue. Forget about the graphics; that Cheat Engine hack is the most important bit!
