Total Conversion Mods

[Tigers42780]

Hey Jim,

 

You have done a nice job with these mods especially the classics. I do the "Manager Mode" CPU vs. CPU, and finally got it where its very realistic games. I used the sliders from the 1967 season with Trues 1.5 datafile and its amazing. Usually everything was predicatable but now things surprise me and you actually do have to strategize with your roster to get good matchups and stuff, and homeruns are good homeruns, no hitting it out of the park when one gets hit. I am not sure if you take suggestions for those classic mods, but I would love a redo of the 84 season, or even the 68 season. You may ask why, well I am a huge Tiger fan and those were the years the Tigers won the world series. Anyways, good job on everything and its amazing how a game that is five years old is still better then a lot of them that come out now.

 

Peace!

[Yankee4Life]

Next up is the 1927 season mod which was created by Sal, a new user who just joined up here this past April. It's obvious that when he joined he quickly became a Total Classics fan because of all the season mods available here, so he must have decided to create his own TC mod himself. Please bare in mind that what I just said right here is just conjecture on my part since I have never talked to this guy since he's been here.

Nonetheless, after two previous attempts to release this mod, the 1927 mod is now available for download right here.

Checking the download description for this mod, it tells you what is included and not included in this mod. Here is what is included in case you didn't go to the download area:

1. Rosters

2. Portraits

3. LOC files (In-game text)

4. Graphics screens (Splash, License, CTS, Menu, Loading, Stadium Select)

5. Stadiums (the same ones already included in other TC mods)

As you will see during my review of this mod, I have serious questions about #3 and especially #5. I'll show you.

What is not included in this mod is the following:

1. Uniforms

2. Audio (team names, stadium names)

3. Walkup Music

4. Jukebox Music

Unfortunately everything that is said here is true. There are no 1927 uniforms to use in this game unless you count the Yankees 1927 road uniform and that is only because EA Sports included that in the default version of the game. The uniforms in this mod are the same uniforms that are comprised in the original version of Mvp 05.

As for the audio, that was true. Nothing was said here or played here to give it a 1927 mod feel. And again, the jukebox music is the same as the jukebox music you would have on the default version of Mvp 05. Now I understand that finding music from the 1920's would be a chore, but the type of music played around that time was swing and ragtime. At least that is what I heard was popular during that time period. My point is that something could have been added here in this mod to give it more of a time period feel than the lousy tracks that EA originally gave us.

Before I go on, I have to stress and then stress again that I am not criticizing Sal personally. I don't know him at all to criticize him and I have no reason to get personal with him. What I am talking about here is the mod itself and unfortunately it does not measure up at all to the other Total Classics mods.

This is NOT to say this mod did not have its good points. The portraits were sensational. The loading screens were outstanding and the tidbits of information about the 1927 season and the players involved in that season were fun to read.

But I am sorry, that is all there was to like about this mod. Not having the choice to use 1927 uniforms for the teams was a huge drawback. We have been accustomed to this in every single season mod out there. If you play the 1964 mod for example, you will get the 1964 uniforms to use for each team. Not here. In every mod out there, from 1946 to 1994, you get the exact feel of the year of that appropriate mod. The uniforms, the sounds, the music, the ballparks. You do not get this here. And this is why after I played one game in this mod I saved the screenshots for this review and then deleted this mod from my hard drive. As a Total Classics fan from the beginning, I expect more from a season mod.

Screenshots

Loading screen for Total Classics 1927

Here I am picking the Boston Braves at the Brooklyn Dodgers. I'll show you why this is important later on.

Uniform select screen. I had to pick the uniforms closest to 1927 as I could, so I got the 1929 Braves road jerseys and the 1944 Dodgers home jerseys. Both of these uniforms of course are included in every game since they are the default EA jerseys.

As I said in the review, the portraits provided in this mod are excellent. This area of the mod was done quite well.

Look at the overlay for the TC 1927 mod. I could have swore that I picked Boston at Brooklyn. But for some reason I got Atlanta at Los Angeles. These mistakes in team names were all over this mod.

Babe Herman of Brooklyn is hit by a pitch. By the way, this game was played in Navin Field in Detroit, which was home of the Tigers during that time period. Now, does this stadium somehow look familiar?

Boston's Lance Richbourg triples to right center at Navin Field. Well, this was Navin Field only by name. Seems that Sal used the default version of Tiger Stadium as the Tiger's home park and just renamed it Navin Field.

[Yankee4Life]

1927 continued

Babe Herman of the Dodgers. Herman had a career batting average of .324 and was one of the most feared power hitters of the late 20's and early 1930's. Another thing that should have been added to this mod was the name of this Dodger team. While they were still named the Dodgers, the name they went by during this time period was the Robins because they were named after their manager Wilbert Robinson.

Dodger pitcher Dazzy Vance, who had a 16 year Hall of Fame career.

This Braves runner is safe at first as the throw is high and the double play could not be turned.

Pinch hitter Max Carey tries to lay a bunt down in the eighth inning but the ball was hit right back to the pitcher, who in turn made the easy out.

A fine example of the loading screens in TC 1927

Like I stated, the loading screens were one of the strong points about this mod. They gave a lot of information about the players in 1927. I really enjoyed reading them.

[andy82]

Shame to see a TC Mod getting a bad review but from what I see it's deserved.

 

To be honest, I can't see what prevented him from asking guys for help in the form of using their files/producing files; I know everyone that I've asked has been very generous and personally I can't see anyone not wanting to contribute if it means producing a quality mod.

[DylanBradbury]

On 12/7/2009 at 2:25 PM, andy82 said:

Shame to see a TC Mod getting a bad review but from what I see it's deserved.

To be honest, I can't see what prevented him from asking guys for help in the form of using their files/producing files; I know everyone that I've asked has been very generous and personally I can't see anyone not wanting to contribute if it means producing a quality mod.

He actually did, it just seems no one was willing/able to help him:

 

http://www.mvpmods.com/index.php?showtopic=41129&st=0&p=578299&#entry578299

[DylanBradbury]

Shame to see a TC Mod getting a bad review but from what I see it's deserved.

To be honest, I can't see what prevented him from asking guys for help in the form of using their files/producing files; I know everyone that I've asked has been very generous and personally I can't see anyone not wanting to contribute if it means producing a quality mod.

He actually did, it just seems no one was willing/able to help him (at least with uniforms):

http://www.mvpmods.c...99&#entry578299

[Yankee4Life]

He actually did, it just seems no one was willing/able to help him (at least with uniforms):

http://www.mvpmods.c...99&#entry578299

Good find Dylan, good find. But even though he did ask for help for the 1927 uniforms and didn't get it, he still released the mod without the proper uniforms included in it. And when you get into that mod and play a game you will see that this a glaring oversight. Not having the right uniforms for each team for a TC season mod is something you can't overlook. It was because of this and other things that made this mod severely lack in some very important areas.

[andy82]

But surely there must have been some he could have included that were lurking in the download section. I know that was the case for what I'm working on at the moment.

[Yankee4Life]

But surely there must have been some he could have included that were lurking in the download section. I know that was the case for what I'm working on at the moment.

No there is not. I have all the classic throwback uniforms that have been uploaded over the years for Mvp 05 and there were none for that era. The guys that did most of the classic uniforms back then were fizzjob and sandman. Check out their work sometime. Those guys made the best throwback uniforms ever.

[andy82]

No there is not. I have all the classic throwback uniforms that have been uploaded over the years for Mvp 05 and there were none for that era. The guys that did most of the classic uniforms back then were fizzjob and sandman. Check out their work sometime. Those guys made the best throwback uniforms ever.

In that case, I take back my comments.

[Jim825]

On 12/8/2009 at 10:03 AM, Yankee4Life said:

No there is not. I have all the classic throwback uniforms that have been uploaded over the years for Mvp 05 and there were none for that era. The guys that did most of the classic uniforms back then were fizzjob and sandman. Check out their work sometime. Those guys made the best throwback uniforms ever.

There are teams in TC10 with uniforms that could be used:

1909 Pirates

1924 Senators

1927 Yankees

1929 Cubs

1929 A's

1933 Giants

1934 Cardinals

1935 Tigers

1942 Browns

1948 Indians

1949 Dodgers

1950 Phillies

 

EA Sports included a 1929 Braves uniform with MVP2005.

 

Fizzjob created a series of mods that includes every White Sox uniform ever worn and redsox created a similar set of mods for the Red Sox, so accurate 1927 uniforms could be found for these teams.

 

It would take a little work to extract the uniforms and uniform select screens from TC10 or other mods and then import them into the appropriate files for TC1927, but it's just grunt work (i.e. it's not too hard).

 

Would all of these uniforms be exactly historically accurate for TC1927? No, but they would be closer to 1927 than to 2005.

[Sean O]

And, mind, updating the .loc files with loclook wouldn't take all that much time.

How about we open source '27 to completion? Well, everyone except me, since I'll spend most of the next month heavily sedated, but when I wake I want to see '27 done.

[Yankee4Life]

Would all of these uniforms be exactly historically accurate for TC1927? No, but they would be closer to 1927 than to 2005.

Jim, using your uniforms from the 1946 mod would have been closer than using the ones from 2005.

Despite the fact that those uniforms are in TC Phase 10, they are still not the 1927 uniforms except for the '27 Yankees road jersey. Not having the correct uniform for each team here was one of the biggest disappointments of the mod.

How about we open source '27 to completion? Well, everyone except me, since I'll spend most of the next month heavily sedated, but when I wake I want to see '27 done.

How can we? We would need permission to do so. Also, the stadiums in this thing are no where near completion.

[Yankee4Life]

If there was permission to do this, I could gather up some songs for the jukebox. There is a newsgroup that has songs posted from the 1920's and 30's and I can look around for some half way decent sounding songs there. I know how to put them in the proper format with the ditty importer and I am positive I can come up with nine songs that depict the time period. Keep in mind however that the sound quality here would not be as good.

[andy82]

That's a point I've been meaning to raise about song copyright, because I've got a songlist for 98 but I'm not sure whether it's legal to include them in the release.

[DylanBradbury]

That's a point I've been meaning to raise about song copyright, because I've got a songlist for 98 but I'm not sure whether it's legal to include them in the release.

I think Yankee means permission coming from Sal, the creator of the 1927 mod.

[Sean O]

How can we? We would need permission to do so. Also, the stadiums in this thing are no where near completion.

Here are the status of the 1927 stadiums:

AL:

Yankee Stadium: heavily changed

Shibe Park: stock from EA

Griffith Stadium: stock from EA

Navin Field: changed, unavailable

Comiskey Park: changed, unavailable

League Park: done from Sean O

Sportsman's Park: unchanged from '40s/'50s

Fenway Park I: done from EA

NL:

Forbes Field: stock from EA

Sportsman's Park: unchanged from '40s/'50s

Polo Grounds: stock from EA

Wrigley field: heavily changed

Crosley Field: stock from EA

Ebbets Field: done from Sean O

Braves Field: done from Sean O

Baker Bowl: done from Sean O

So, Wrigley, Navin (tiger), Comiskey and Yankee Stadium are way off. Everything else is essentially stock from EA, or otherwise already changed.

[Jim825]

On 12/8/2009 at 12:10 PM, Sean O said:

And, mind, updating the .loc files with loclook wouldn't take all that much time.

How about we open source '27 to completion? Well, everyone except me, since I'll spend most of the next month heavily sedated, but when I wake I want to see '27 done.

I'll tell you what - I will take care of adding the remaining pieces to make the mod complete. I was just starting a new project, but I can shelve it for a short period of time to work on this. Consider it my Christmas / Chanukkah / Kwanza / Festivus gift to the MVPMods community.

 

I was toying with doing this anyway (and surprising everybody), but before anyone else gets too far working on it, I'll just announce my intentions now. I know where all the pieces go (uniforms, faces, audio, in-game text, songs, etc.) and have done enough of these mods that I can do most of these tasks with my eyes closed and one arm tied behind my back, especially when I'm simply dropping in pieces from other TC mods.

 

Y4L - I can take care of the jukebox music as well. Amazon has all kinds of MP3's that you can purchase, so I'll simply google some of the top songs from 1927 and purchase some songs. For the walkup music, I can use the music I created for the 1920's teams in the TC Walk Through History mod.

 

All I ask is for a little patience on my getting this done. It shouldn't take me too long to do this, but my definition of "shouldn't take too long" may be different than the definition that others have. Also, for those who have used my mods, you know that I'm not going to rush a mod out before I think it's ready. I'll state now that uniforms and stadiums won't be perfect (I'm neither a stadium nor a uniform modder), but again, they will be closer than what is there today.

 

I'll talk to Sal about this, but I'm sure that he won't have any problems with me adding the additional content for the mod.

[Yankee4Life]

Y4L - I can take care of the jukebox music as well. Amazon has all kinds of MP3's that you can purchase, so I'll simply google some of the top songs from 1927 and purchase some songs. For the walkup music, I can use the music I created for the 1920's teams in the TC Walk Through History mod.

Jim, how about if I do this for you. I'll grab some songs that I see on the newsgroup and listen to them and then I will zip them up and mail them to you so you can have the final say if they are to go into this mod?

[Jim825]

On 12/8/2009 at 1:30 PM, Yankee4Life said:

Jim, how about if I do this for you. I'll grab some songs that I see on the newsgroup and listen to them and then I will zip them up and mail them to you so you can have the final say if they are to go into this mod?

That works for me. Send me what you have and we'll go from there.

 

Also, I swapped PM's with Sal and he said that I can make whatever changes I want to the mod.

[Sean O]

That works for me. Send me what you have and we'll go from there.

Also, I swapped PM's with Sal and he said that I can make whatever changes I want to the mod.

Any questions about the parks Jim?

[Jim825]

On 12/8/2009 at 3:03 PM, Sean O said:

Any questions about the parks Jim?

I should be all set. I've got all of your parks from my other TC mods as well as 1913 Ebbets Field. I've also got colorized versions of most of the default EA classic stadiums (these were released back in 2005). I will be taking a little artistic license, however, and include some of parks that you and Paul (or just Paul) created.

 

For example, Paul's Crosley Field, Forbes Field and Polo Grounds are extremely close to the EA classics versions of the same parks. I keep going back and forth on which version of Griffith Stadium to use (the EA classic or Paul's). In addition, I'd rather use his 1950's Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field than U.S. Cellular and the 2005 version of Wrigley. For Yankee Stadium, I plan to use the v5.0 Classic Yankee Stadium that the two of you created and for Navin Field, I'll use a modified version of Tiger Stadium.

 

Again, it won't be completely historically accurate and some purists may complain, but somehow, I'll still be able to sleep at night....

[Yankee4Life]

Next up in this thread is the 1998 season mod which was made by andy82. This mod can be downloaded right here. This is the first season mod that andy82 has made and by just taking a quick glance at the feedback in the support thread for this mod you can tell he did a great job.

This mod delivers the look and feel of major league baseball just twelve short years ago. And by just spending some time in this mod you realize how much has changed in baseball over this short time span. For instance, many players have long since retired and one team (the Expos) are not even in existence anymore.

About the only gripe I read about this mod from the support topic thread was from a Red Sox fan who complained about the choice of introduction video chosen for the mod. The Yankees, if you remember, were the best team that year as they won 114 games in the regular season and swept the World Series in four games over San Diego, thus justifying the choice of intro video for this mod.

Ignoring this, you can see that this mod has been very well received. And the real issues with the mod (some cyberface questions and a small overlay mistake) can be easily fixed via a patch.

Screenshots

Welcome screen for Total Classics 1998.

Andy82 did a very nice thing here as he credited the people who have in the past help with their talents in contributing to these season mods. It was a very nice touch to this mod. However he forgot one very, very important person here and that was Fuzzone. It was Fuzzone who created the very first Total Classics mod for Mvp Baseball 2004 and in the early editions of the Total Classics series, he was the one who was a huge part of it. But Fuzzone was very scarce around here by the time Andy showed up and therefore it is understandable that he was not familiar with Fuzzone's contributions. Also, homer813 and Homer are in fact one in the same person. When Homer first joined the site here he did not have the same screen name as he does now. Again, Andy would not know this.

Wade Boggs of the Devil Rays. Boggs was winding up his long big league career with the expansion Tampa Bay team and will retire one year later.

Olympic Stadium in Montreal. No more baseball is being played here these days.

Even though the Expos were chosen for this game, Washington is still shown in the overlay.

Kevin Stocker can not dance out of the way from this pitch and is hit.

Miguel Cairo had a career day for the Devil Rays as he went 5 for 5 in Tampa's 6 - 1 win.

Tampa catcher John Flaherty is caught in a rundown between second and third as he tried to stretch his hit into a triple.

[Yankee4Life]

1998 continued

The Expos break up a double play.

Wade Boggs drives home the Devil Rays' sixth run with this broken bat RBI single.

Any chance of an Expo rally in this inning was thwarted when Fred McGriff made this unassisted double play.

Here's Vladimir Guerrero of the Montreal Expos in his pre-bad back days.

Fittingly, Miguel Cairo makes the last play of the game via this diving catch.

[philthepat]

About the only gripe I read about this mod from the support topic thread was from a Red Sox fan who complained about the choice of introduction video chosen for the mod. The Yankees, if you remember, were the best team that year as they won 114 games in the regular season and swept the World Series in four games over San Diego, thus justifying the choice of intro video for this mod.

Santa didnt get you that sarcasm detector, did he big guy... It was quite clearly intended as a joke, as you can obviously see:

The only thing I didnt like was the intro video...

But nice effort. I look forward to the next time you try and stir trouble.. :rolleyes: