MLB 06 Schedule Mod: Full Conversion?

[PolishJoe]

Hello,

I'm positive I already wrote this post, but I think I hit "Preview" instead of "Submit." I guess I'm living up to my username. :wink:

Anyway, here's the deal, I have read in several threads that Kraw could apparently modify MVP's application file, (.exe) so that statistics would accumulate starting in 2006 and that the modded schedule by Hory, (included in the MLB 06 Mod), would read as 2006 instead of 2005.

Me being bored and ambitious, (or stupid - your call), I opened the mod's file - Schedule.Big - using BigGUI and exported all of the included DAT files. I then noticed that only one file of the 9 was modded. That being the file called: mlb162_1.Dat. This file contained all up-to-date information regarding this upcoming season's schedule. However, curious if the remaining files needed to be updated to reflect the year as well, I changed the following default/ unmodded files from the exported Schedule.big that came with the game:

mlb162_2.dat > mlb162_1.dat

aaa144_2.dat > aaa144_1.dat

aa140_2.dat > aa140_1.dat

In theory, this should tell the game to open the same files as before, but the files would now contain different data - 2006 schedules and dates.

But, I got stock when referring to two files. Primarily the mlbspr_1.dat file and the a140_1.dat file. Both contained 2005 dates and neither had a 2006 counterpart like the other files mentioned above. I then changed 2005 to 2006 in the A file but stopped at the end of April so that I could fire the game up and see if there was any difference.

Well, there was....

After importing, compressing, and rebuilding the Schedule.Big file, I started the game and chose a new Dynasty. Even though the game crashed :roll: after I chose to "play today's game," I thought this was interesting - The dates changed! Granted, I apparently went back in time. 8O Still, I'm wondering if I'm on to something.....

Check out the overall date and the date of my next game:

I have no idea how I did that, but is there someting worth pursuing here? If so, does someone with more knowledge than me ,(that's not much , I know), know what I may try next?

[/Novel Over]

[Viceman2004]

Hey great discovery. Keep trying! Hopefully you or any of the other modders can 'crack the code'!

[PolishJoe]

On it!

Question for all the modders, would it be possible to change a player's statistics retroactive?

I ask because it's possible to sim 2005 and insert a modded uptodate 2006 schedule. From then on, stats would accumulate starting in 2006. But, would it be possible to then go back and edit each player's stats as well as team's win/loss records?

[Hory]

Yea, I've had that happen when there is two different years within the same league schedule, say you could have a full 1948 schedule or 2004 or whatever then at the 'end' of the season it will go through however many years till the games listed for the other year need to be played,

I'm not sure what happens with player aging/progression and the like...

but it could be an interesting area to work with, or not...

[PolishJoe]

A little update...

I changed the month of April for the A schedule to 2006. Then, I just deleted the remaining months/ games. I imported, compress, & rebuilt again and threw it in the game.

This time, everything read 2004 and I could play no problem.

:?

Since when does 2006 = 2004?

[cobbbbbb]

maybe try changing the date to 2008 and see if it goes to 2006?

Just spitballing ideas here :)

[Go Tribe]

just so you know, the guy i was talking to from the mvp team said that the exe overwrites the data files

here is his PM to me - he asked another former EA employee that was a programmer on mvp

"Hey, Scott, I've been told that you do have to edit the .exe file (dates are stored in the .dat files, but are overridden by the .exe). "

[PolishJoe]

Crap.

Thanks for the update though! He wouldn't have maybe mentioned something about how to "address" this problem, would he? :wink:

Also, I realize this has kind of been address before but why isn't we can't modify the game's exe file? I'm not talking so much about the ability to do it, but rather the legal issues involved. I believe Kraw had mentioned that he could modify it but EA would take him man-parts. 8O

And, just to clarify, when I'm talking about messing with the EXE file, I'm in no way referring to a no-cd crack or anything suspect like that.

[SwinginSoriano]

I wish there was a way to just have MVP go on without my CD, I'm so frickin' paranoid that my CD will get scratched up thus forcing me to buy a DiscDoctor in order to keep playing MVP.

Anyway, if this sorta thing was easy it would have been done a long time ago.

[bigbully]

I wish there was a way to just have MVP go on without my CD, I'm so frickin' paranoid that my CD will get scratched up thus forcing me to buy a DiscDoctor in order to keep playing MVP.

Anyway, if this sorta thing was easy it would have been done a long time ago.

you can use DAEMON Tools (free) to accomplish this (providing you have about 770 mb free space on your computer). All you need to do is make a .mdf backup of disk 2 and point DAEMON Tools to this file. Just do a Google search on how to make a .mdf file from your purchased MVP disk - it's totally legal.

[gcurrier2004]

I wish there was a way to just have MVP go on without my CD, I'm so frickin' paranoid that my CD will get scratched up thus forcing me to buy a DiscDoctor in order to keep playing MVP.

Anyway, if this sorta thing was easy it would have been done a long time ago.

I hear you. I have lost my disc a number of times, and when I get the itch to play I have to scramble to find the disc. Its a pain.

[PolishJoe]

Actually, I have a little image, (2MB), that allows me to mount the CD image to my virtual drive from Alcohol 120%(worth it's weight in kb). I use it all the time. I'm not as much paranoid as I am extremely lazy. Don't even get me started.....

In regards to a modded EXE file, if someone, in theory, could mess with the application file and convert it so that the season began play in 2006 and also accumulated stats beginning in 2006, would that be illegal? To take it a step further, would that be okay but illegal if one were to distribute it?

[deadmatt]

just so you know, the guy i was talking to from the mvp team said that the exe overwrites the data files

here is his PM to me - he asked another former EA employee that was a programmer on mvp

"Hey, Scott, I've been told that you do have to edit the .exe file (dates are stored in the .dat files, but are overridden by the .exe). "

Are we able to get an idea of what we are looking for?

[PolishJoe]

"Progress" update for today....

Earlier, I was fiddling with the FEENG.LOC file as well as the schedule.big file and it's contents. I don't know what I did to the schedule, but the date read 2004. No big deal, right?

Well, I simmed a portion of the season - a month roughly - and looked at Melvin Mora. He had 2 HR's thus far on the season. When I went to Career Statistics, Mora's 2004 read 29 HRs. Well, in real-life, Mora only hit 27 in 2004 (and 2005 for that matter). Eureka! I have no idea what I did, but somehow the stats added to the 2004 total. Somehow, I just need to make them add to a 2006 total.

But, me being me, I further messed with the shedule file and now can't even replicate what it was I did to get 2004 to be "active." :oops:

I will be harping on this for a while....I'm probably more determined than ever!

Also, I just want to add that I had some "help." I don't want to say anything else about that for the moment. :wink:

[RedSoxFox7]

Actually, I have a little image, (2MB), that allows me to mount the CD image to my virtual drive from Alcohol 120%(worth it's weight in kb). I use it all the time. I'm not as much paranoid as I am extremely lazy. Don't even get me started.....

In regards to a modded EXE file, if someone, in theory, could mess with the application file and convert it so that the season began play in 2006 and also accumulated stats beginning in 2006, would that be illegal? To take it a step further, would that be okay but illegal if one were to distribute it?

It would probably be illegal to distribute the EXE file, especially if it had "crack" qualities to it, like not requiring the original game disc to run MVP.

That said, there are a number of patching utilities out there that could possibly be used instead. Basic use would have the original modder making a patch file from his original EXE and his modded EXE, and then uploading this patch file to MVPmods. Everyone else would then need to download the patching program and his patch file, and apply the patch.

It's a bit round about, but I believe it would be a little more legal that distributing the actual EXE.

[PolishJoe]

I hear you RSF7 - it's just I don't think I'd have the ability to regularly mess with it much less create a patcher. I suck. :cry:

But, on another front, I'v recreated my 2004 scenario. This time, I've taken some screens.

First, here's my regular "main menu" in Dynasty Mode. Note the top date that read 2004 and on the lower right, the date reads 2006. Unfortunately, the 2006 appears to be there for aesthetics.

Now, after simming about a series or two, Brian Roberts got a dinger. This is the current year's stats: 2004

And, for the culmination of what's happened now to B-Rob's career, take a look at his HR total for 2004.

Now, to add to all this, the in-game schedule stills reads "2005."

And, for anyone who may be able to help, I've attached the "Schedule.Big" file in Zip format. Please feel free to tweak the heck out of it. I just wanted to get it out as a snapshot of where I'm at now before I save over it and have to recreate this scenario all over again. :oops:

[PolishJoe]

Okay, now that I'm back from a little trip, I've picked up where I left off with this little project.

Since 2006 start dates equated to 2004, I naturally changed start dates to 2007. I launched the game and everything read 2005. I'm not sure if this was my influence or because of the games application file.

Crossing my fingers, I changed the start dates to 2008. But, alas, the game read as 2005. :cry:

I'm thinking that aside from the game's application file, which pulls strings from the datafiles and .Loc files, there's got to be some sort of manipulation we can do that would alter statistical accumulations to begin in 2006.

In other words, start the game, create a dynasty, play, and watch game 1's totals go towards a player's 2006 totals.

Anyone have any idea? :?:

[PirateFan13]

Has anything been resolved of this issue?

[RedSoxFox7]

I hear you RSF7 - it's just I don't think I'd have the ability to regularly mess with it much less create a patcher. I suck. :cry:

But, on another front, I'v recreated my 2004 scenario. This time, I've taken some screens.

First, here's my regular "main menu" in Dynasty Mode. Note the top date that read 2004 and on the lower right, the date reads 2006. Unfortunately, the 2006 appears to be there for aesthetics.

Now, after simming about a series or two, Brian Roberts got a dinger. This is the current year's stats: 2004

And, for the culmination of what's happened now to B-Rob's career, take a look at his HR total for 2004.

Now, to add to all this, the in-game schedule stills reads "2005."

And, for anyone who may be able to help, I've attached the "Schedule.Big" file in Zip format. Please feel free to tweak the heck out of it. I just wanted to get it out as a snapshot of where I'm at now before I save over it and have to recreate this scenario all over again. :oops:

There are already patching utilities out there and they're pretty simple to use. I'm just not sure if they'd work with an EXE.

Take a look a Zophar's Domain (www.zophar.net), it's an emulation site. There are a fair amount of patching utilities so people can patch foreign language ROM files with English translations. Since distributing game ROM images is just as illegal (maybe even moreso) than distributing something like the MVP EXE file, this allows the people making the translation to distribute their work without breaking any laws.

Like I said, I know it works with NES, SNES, etc. ROMs, I'm not sure if it will work with EXEs, but it's worth a shot.