Uniform Updates for PS2 NCAA games

[Harry97]

I learned a lot about STADIUMS.DAT and STADATA and FIELDDATA recently. I'll have to do a long write up about it soon. i.e. how you find the index to each file within the DATs and where there are in the TEAM/STAD databases, etc.

Good to hear, I gotta take a look at FIELDDATA. What you and your team have accomplished through PCSX2's texture replacement feature is inspiring minotauri, I am very impressed and it's fabulous work you have done with uniforms.

That said, I think it would be beneficial if we can figure out how to make your mods work through the .DATs. It may seem like double work since you've already achieved it through PCSX2 texture replacement, but there's just something satisfying about getting it to work through the .DATs. Especially since you did it through texture replacement before we knew how to do it through the .DATs. I did manage to get a decompressed uniform file to work through UNIFORM.DAT, which is encouraging.

For uniforms, perhaps a converter can be developed that takes all the various texture parts from your NCAA 06 Next releases and turns it into a uniform file that can be put into UNIFORM.DAT. What I have is a quickbms script that does the opposite, it takes a decompressed uniform file and extracts all the parts from it. I could probably make it do the opposite. Or perhaps I could just copy and paste each part into a template through hex. But you may not need my help to do that. I also wonder if there are any limitations to importing custom uniforms into the .DAT vs texture replacement through PCSX2. Your custom uniforms (and other textures) look to be very high quality. The default uniforms in NCAA 06 are of lower quality than your custom uniform textures. So we'll have to test to see if your higher quality textures work through the .DAT in a decompressed uniform file.

As for stadium editing, I read that you gave Tulane and Minnesota an outdoor stadium. I would certainly like to know how to do that through the .DATs. If you've figured out that through texture replacement only, then surely we can identify those files in the .DATs and see if that can be replicated through the .DATs. I am very interested in stadium editing, i.e. getting the updated stadiums from later NCAA PS2 games into NCAA 06 (without glitchy crowds), perhaps we can learn how to convert Madden 08 PC stadiums and get those into NCAA 06. I suspect the crowds are gonna be the tricky part. With the recent breakthroughs I have never been more motivated to work at transforming NCAA 06 into the football engine of our dreams.

[Harry97]

There have been some requests asking if we can make teams have names on the back of their jerseys that don't have names on their jerseys in NCAA 06. I finally had a chance to look into this. It just so happens that a good amount of teams in NCAA 06 don't have names on the back of their jersey that do in current-day college football. One example is Purdue, who didn't have names on the back of their jersey until the 2009 season. So when NCAA 06 was released in 2005, Purdue had no names on the back of their jersey and that's how it is in the game.

Some other teams that don't have names on their jersey in NCAA 06 that do in real-life are San Jose State, Nevada, Washington State and Indiana. These teams had names on their jersey back in 2005 but for some reason don't in NCAA 06. On the other hand, UCF has names on its jersey in NCAA 06, but didn't in the 2005 season when the game was released. UCF had names on the back of the jerseys through the 2004 season, but UCF removed names from their jerseys for the 2005 season. EA did not update this change in time for NCAA 06, so in NCAA 06 UCF still has names. However for NCAA 07 PS2, they did remove the names from UCF's jersey for that game. In real-life, UCF didn't have names on their jersey between 2005-2015, but in 2016, UCF decided to put names on their jersey once again, so the names on UCF's jersey in NCAA 06 happen to match their current look. Another team in NCAA 06 that doesn't have names on their jerseys is Michigan State. The Spartans didn't have names on their jersey until the 2007 season. BYU doesn't have names on the back of their jersey in NCAA 06 for some reason, but did in 2005 and do today. I like the classic no names look for BYU in NCAA 06, but I'm not sure there was ever a point in their history where BYU didn't have names.

Further, it seems that all the 1AA teams in NCAA 06 don't have names on the back of their jersey either, even though many of the 1AA teams in NCAA 06 do have names and did back in 2005 when NCAA 06 was released. One example is App State, who had names on their jersey back in 2005 and well before that, but in NCAA 06 they don't have names on the back of their jersey, so I definitely wanted to give App State names on the back of their jersey like they do in real-life, especially after the huge win at Texas A&M so I can re-create that matchup in NCAA 06 with current rosters and names on App State's jersey to re-live that excitement in NCAA 06.

I am happy to report that I have discovered a way to give teams like Purdue or App State names on their jerseys in NCAA 06. I may release some kind of a mod that enables names for teams like Purdue or App State, because I know some people were asking about it. I can explain it to anyone interested who wants to know how to do it themselves. It's great seeing teams like App State with names on their jersey in NCAA 06!

[esayem]

WOW!! So with this newfound freedom of DAT editing I've been doing a lot of testing. I did a test to see if I can get the Uniforms from another PS2 NCAA game into NCAA 06. And to my delight you CAN!! I rebuilt the NCAA 06 disc with the UNIFORM.DAT from NCAA 08 and IT WORKED!! The game loaded without a problem, I could go into games and there didn't appear to be any glaring issues. Now I have NCAA 08 Uniforms in NCAA 06! This is AWESOME!! Not only Uniforms but Helmets too.

Are you playing on the emulator or did you actually burn the ISO back to disk and play it? That's what I'd like to do, and I'm pretty sure it's possible. I just want to get some updated uniforms in 2006, like Kansas, Tulane, and SMU. If you can add slots for alternates that would be even better because I'd like more variety. I'd also probably do some texture swapping for uniform patches since I made custom conferences.

[Harry97]

Are you playing on the emulator or did you actually burn the ISO back to disk and play it? That's what I'd like to do, and I'm pretty sure it's possible. I just want to get some updated uniforms in 2006, like Kansas, Tulane, and SMU. If you can add slots for alternates that would be even better because I'd like more variety. I'd also probably do some texture swapping for uniform patches since I made custom conferences.

Emulator. Been rebuilding the disc and running modded versions of NCAA 06. You can import uniforms from other PS2 NCAA games through UNIFORM.DAT.

[esayem]

Are you playing on the emulator or did you actually burn the ISO back to disk and play it? That's what I'd like to do, and I'm pretty sure it's possible. I just want to get some updated uniforms in 2006, like Kansas, Tulane, and SMU. If you can add slots for alternates that would be even better because I'd like more variety. I'd also probably do some texture swapping for uniform patches since I made custom conferences.

Emulator. Been rebuilding the disc and running modded versions of NCAA 06. You can import uniforms from other PS2 NCAA games through UNIFORM.DAT.

That makes sense seeing as how the uniform template is the same from 2006-2011. 2005 is a different template because the player models were different.

I experimented with texture modding earlier this year, just pulling jerseys from other games and popping them in 2006. Or mixing and matching like giving UMass white pants for home etc. I mainly would like to do more of the same and add alternate uniforms for teams.

[minotauri]

There have been some requests asking if we can make teams have names on the back of their jerseys that don't have names on their jerseys in NCAA 06. I finally had a chance to look into this. It just so happens that a good amount of teams in NCAA 06 don't have names on the back of their jersey that do in current-day college football. One example is Purdue, who didn't have names on the back of their jersey until the 2009 season. So when NCAA 06 was released in 2005, Purdue had no names on the back of their jersey and that's how it is in the game.

Some other teams that don't have names on their jersey in NCAA 06 that do in real-life are San Jose State, Nevada, Washington State and Indiana. These teams had names on their jersey back in 2005 but for some reason don't in NCAA 06. On the other hand, UCF has names on its jersey in NCAA 06, but didn't in the 2005 season when the game was released. UCF had names on the back of the jerseys through the 2004 season, but UCF removed names from their jerseys for the 2005 season. EA did not update this change in time for NCAA 06, so in NCAA 06 UCF still has names. However for NCAA 07 PS2, they did remove the names from UCF's jersey for that game. In real-life, UCF didn't have names on their jersey between 2005-2015, but in 2016, UCF decided to put names on their jersey once again, so the names on UCF's jersey in NCAA 06 happen to match their current look. Another team in NCAA 06 that doesn't have names on their jerseys is Michigan State. The Spartans didn't have names on their jersey until the 2007 season. BYU doesn't have names on the back of their jersey in NCAA 06 for some reason, but did in 2005 and do today. I like the classic no names look for BYU in NCAA 06, but I'm not sure there was ever a point in their history where BYU didn't have names.

Further, it seems that all the 1AA teams in NCAA 06 don't have names on the back of their jersey either, even though many of the 1AA teams in NCAA 06 do have names and did back in 2005 when NCAA 06 was released. One example is App State, who had names on their jersey back in 2005 and well before that, but in NCAA 06 they don't have names on the back of their jersey, so I definitely wanted to give App State names on the back of their jersey like they do in real-life, especially after the huge win at Texas A&M so I can re-create that matchup in NCAA 06 with current rosters and names on App State's jersey to re-live that excitement in NCAA 06.

I am happy to report that I have discovered a way to give teams like Purdue or App State names on their jerseys in NCAA 06. I may release some kind of a mod that enables names for teams like Purdue or App State, because I know some people were asking about it. I can explain it to anyone interested who wants to know how to do it themselves. It's great seeing teams like App State with names on their jersey in NCAA 06!

JDHalfrack and I have been able to make this work actually. It is probably also possible to re-enable this using hex editor as well though on a per uniform basis. JD's method uses a tool he created to modify a decompressed uniform file and then we can re-insert it back into UNIFORM.DAT. He made a software tool to do all the hard work, however he isn't planning on sharing it publicly at this time. I have a version of it though, that we are using for our mods (we used an earlier version of it to create new teams and their associated uniforms, and gears, as well as a version specific for stadium models and other related assets.

[Harry97]

JDHalfrack and I have been able to make this work actually. It is probably also possible to re-enable this using hex editor as well though on a per uniform basis. JD's method uses a tool he created to modify a decompressed uniform file and then we can re-insert it back into UNIFORM.DAT. He made a software tool to do all the hard work, however he isn't planning on sharing it publicly at this time. I have a version of it though, that we are using for our mods (we used an earlier version of it to create new teams and their associated uniforms, and gears, as well as a version specific for stadium models and other related assets.

Good work. I did it a different way. The way I did it is by editing the TUNI table. It seems that once you edit the entry of a team who doesn't have names on their jersey (like Purdue) in the TUNI table, it gives that team/uniform names on the back of their jersey. It would seem that there's a piece of hex data that changes in the STRMDATA.DB per team after making the TUNI table edit that would enable names for any team's uniform that doesn't have names. I haven't actually found that piece of hex data, because I'm not sure it's needed for my purposes of just giving certain teams names that don't have names on their uniform. That's interesting that you were able to give teams uniforms names by hex editing a decompressed uniform file. That's how I would have expected having to do it before I stumbled upon the TUNI table method. Either way, same result.

[minotauri]

JDHalfrack and I have been able to make this work actually. It is probably also possible to re-enable this using hex editor as well though on a per uniform basis. JD's method uses a tool he created to modify a decompressed uniform file and then we can re-insert it back into UNIFORM.DAT. He made a software tool to do all the hard work, however he isn't planning on sharing it publicly at this time. I have a version of it though, that we are using for our mods (we used an earlier version of it to create new teams and their associated uniforms, and gears, as well as a version specific for stadium models and other related assets.

Good work. I did it a different way. The way I did it is by editing the TUNI table. It seems that once you edit the entry of a team who doesn't have names on their jersey (like Purdue) in the TUNI table, it gives that team/uniform names on the back of their jersey. It would seem that there's a piece of hex data that changes in the STRMDATA.DB per team after making the TUNI table edit that would enable names for any team's uniform that doesn't have names. I haven't actually found that piece of hex data, because I'm not sure it's needed for my purposes of just giving certain teams names that don't have names on their uniform. That's interesting that you were able to give teams uniforms names by hex editing a decompressed uniform file. That's how I would have expected having to do it before I stumbled upon the TUNI table method. Either way, same result.

Whoa, its really that simple? Was there any specific field you changed to make it work?

[Harry97]

Whoa, its really that simple? Was there any specific field you changed to make it work?

After some further testing, the TUNI method may not work after all. I thought I had it figured out, but apparently not. I'm glad you have figured it out by editing a decompressed uniform. Perhaps I could hex-compare UCF's decompressed uniform from NCAA 06 and NCAA 07, as NCAA 06's UCF jersey has names, while NCAA 07's UCF jersey doesn't. Maybe I can find the hex address if I compare those two files.

One thing I did figure out through cheat engine is how to "delete" the names from a team's uniform that has them. But I haven't been able to do the reverse. But if it can be done through editing a decompressed uniform, that would be the preferred method.

[Harry97]

I made some progress with adding player names to uniforms. I decompressed some uniforms for teams that had player names in some games but not in some of the others. Teams like Michigan State, UCF and Vanderbilt, for example. With these teams uniforms, you can find the hex data that needs to be changed to add or remove players names by comparing the uniforms from different games with and without names. To give Michigan State player names, you can just import the later NCAA games uniforms which had names into 06. With UCF it's the opposite, they had names in NCAA 06 but didn't in NCAA 07-11. So with UCF, if you wanted to give some of their later uniforms from NCAA 07-11 player names, you can do the hex comparison and put names on their NCAA 07-11 uniforms to get their updated uniforms with player names into 06.

I noticed that Vanderbilt had player names on the back of their Away jerseys in NCAA 06, but not in NCAA 07-11. Their Home jerseys don't have player names in either NCAA 06 or in NCAA 07-11. By decompressing Vanderbilt's away uniform from NCAA 06 that had player names and hex comparing that with their away uniform from NCAA 07 that didn't have player names, I was able to find in hex where to edit so you can add names to their NCAA 07-11 uniforms. And I was able to apply that hex edit to their home uniforms as well to give their Home Jerseys player names.

So through hex editing, I can put player names on all of Vanderbilt's uniforms, home and away from NCAA 06 through NCAA 11. One thing about Vanderbilt's uniforms is that in NCAA 09-11, they removed their traditional black jersey / gold pants combo. The last game to have that uniform is in NCAA 08.In some of the later NCAA PS2 games (NCAA 09-11) not only did they remove the black jersey / gold pants uniform, but they put a Vanderbilt star insignia on the back of their jersey where the names would be. So when you add names to those uniforms, the player names block part of that insignia.

Here is a screenshot of Vanderbilt's NCAA 11 PS2 Home uniform with names added to them.

vandyunis.jpg (102.96 KiB) Viewed 1445 times

Here is a screenshot of Vanderbilt's NCAA 06-08 PS2 Home uniform and then their All-Black uniforms with names added to them.

allblackvandy.jpg (123.39 KiB) Viewed 1438 times

Note I also figured out how to change the color of the player names on the uniforms.