Swapping Minor League Teams In For Major League Teams

[ChuckkieB]

I was wondering if there was a way to swap minor league teams in for teams at the major league level and move the major league team back to the minors. I found a few mods that did this for specific teams but I was wondering if there's a mod or tool out there that allows you to choose whatever teams you want to swap? If there isn't, can someone please explain the process in which this can be done? It would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,

Charlie

[ChuckkieB]

I would really appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction with this? Thanks.

[Gordo]

Are you talking about unis, logos and all? I'm assuming so. BTW, why would one want to do this?

[ChuckkieB]

Are you talking about unis, logos and all? I'm assuming so. BTW, why would one want to do this?

Yes, I'm talking about everything. This has been done since MVP 05 came out. All of the classics mods employ this type of thing, except they're using custom teams from the past instead of minor league teams. In any case, I just want to create a fictional league using a combinataion of minor and major league teams. Can you help point me in the right direction?

[philthepat]

Ive just done this today. Just involves a lot of switching of files in the models.big, logos.big, uniforms.big, tnamedat files and then changing all the tstats, team and org files. Then using Loclook to change all the text. You can even change the textures and things inside the stadium to make them fit the team you're switching.

In case you're wondering, I switched the Toronto Blue Jays with the Salt Lake Bees. Just because I wanted to :-)

[ChuckkieB]

Ive just done this today. Just involves a lot of switching of files in the models.big, logos.big, uniforms.big, tnamedat files and then changing all the tstats, team and org files. Then using Loclook to change all the text. You can even change the textures and things inside the stadium to make them fit the team you're switching.

In case you're wondering, I switched the Toronto Blue Jays with the Salt Lake Bees. Just because I wanted to :-)

How do you do all of that? What tools do you use? I'm not a modder and have never attempted this stuff before.

[ChuckkieB]

I'm making progress here but i've run into an issue. I cannot correctly swap the uniform select screen files. I'm using the EA Graphics editor and and extracting the .fsh files from the data/frontend/uniform.big folder, I then change the file numbers for the teams i'm swapping, and finally I import the files back into the uniform.big file with the EA Garphics editor. The end result is the uniform select screens for all of the teams I've swapped are blank. I can filter through the different uniform types but each screen is blank. What have I done wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ChuckkieB]

Can someone please help me with this? It would be greatly appreciated. I'm at a loss as to what to do.

thanks,

Charlie

[Yankee4Life]

If someone can help you then they gladly will, but please stop bumping your threads.

[Jim825]

Here's what you need to do (and there is no renumbering required).

First of all, you need two tools, EAGraph and nfshtool.

1. Extract the .fsh file (e.g. 0001.fsh, 0004.fsh, etc.) from uniforms.big with EAGraph

2. Go into Windows Explorer, find the .fsh you just extracted and right click on it. In the popup window, click on "Open with...." and select nfshtool. If nfshtool does not appear in the list, click on "Choose program..." and then select nfshtool.

3. Nfshtool will create a new folder with the same name as the .fsh file (e.g. 0001, 0004, etc.) and it will contain a .bmp file for all the uniform images that are inside the .fsh file and also an index.fsh file.

4. Find the .bmp files for the uniform portraits you want to replace and overwrite them with the uniform portraits you want to add.

5. Right click on the index.fsh file, select "Open with..." and select nfshtool.

6. Nfshtool will now update the .fsh file that you originally extracted from uniforms.big and it will now contain that uniform portraits that you just added.

7. Using EAGraph, import the new .fsh file into uniforms.big

8. Startup your game and your new uniform portraits should now appear in the uniform select screen.

[ChuckkieB]

Thanks a lot Jim! I'll try this and let you know how it goes. Thanks a lot for taking the time to help. I appreciate it.

cheers,

Charlie

[Jim825]

No problem. I've done this plenty of times working on the Total Classics mods, so let me know if you still have problems and we'll get it straightened out.

[ChuckkieB]

I followed the steps you listed Jim but the uniforms are still not showing up in the select screens. This time though the screens are not blank but they're still showing the old uniforms. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[Jim825]

Are you sure you overwrote the right .bmp file? Did you scroll through all the possible uniforms on the team's uniform select page to see if they show up anywhere?

[ChuckkieB]

Im pretty sure I overwrote the correct BMP files. I'm trying to swap the Buffalo Bisons (036.fsh) with the Marlins (026.fsh). I extract their respective files from the data/frontend/uniforms.big file. There are three for each (ie - 026.fsh, 026a.fsh, and 026b.fsh). I open each of the files with nfshtool and three new files are created. the .026.fsh file is the one that has the two .BMP files in it. I overwrite or the different team files as instructed. I then open the index.fsh file in the folder that has the two .bmp files with nfshtool. From here I've done two different things becasue I wasnt sure.....I run nfshtool only for the index.fsh file in the two folders that have the .BMP files in them and then import them back into the game. In another instance I've also run the index.fsh files in the other a and b folders which do not have BMP files in them but only .BIN files. In both cases, it didn't work. What have I done wrong?

Edit: I did scroll through all of the uniform slots for each team and none of the swapped unis were there.

[Jim825]

I found that I didn't need to do anything with the "a" and "b" files. In your case, run nfshtool on 036.fsh and 026.fsh to extract all of the .bmp files. I can't tell if you want to want to put the Bisons uniforms in the Marlins slots or vice versa. Whichever it is, first swap the bmp files (don't swap the index.fsh files). Next, run nfshtool on each index.fsh file. You will now have new versions 0f 036.fsh and 026.fsh. Import these to uniforms.big and you should be good to go. This is the way that I always swap uniforms.

One thing to be aware of is that while most teams use the "a" slot for the home uniform and the "b" slot for the road uniform, I have seen it reversed, so look at the bmp files to make sure that you copy them the right way.

[Homer]

jim's right about the "a" and "b" files. those files in the uniforms.big are merely just placeholder files. meaning that they tell the game to use the slot. without them, the portraits don't show up in game. so you should see what you've described seeing in them. in your case, since the two teams you're swapping are using the same two slots, all you need to do is to run the index files in the 036 and 026 folders. here's something to look out for when overwriting those bmps: how are you doing this? are you simply swapping the bmp files by moving them into their respective folder? if so, i've found that this does not work. for some dang reason, when you do that, the computer recognizes the file name and replaces it with the original bmp picture anyhow. to avoid that, you need to simply open them up in photoshop, copy and paste them over and save them in the right folder. then run that index file again.

in all honestly, if you use Tit, it saves you all the trouble of these steps. you can simply take your bmp's and save them by their respective names: 036a.bmp, 036b.bmp, 026a.bmp, and 026b.bmp. just make sure those bmp extensions are in lower case. if you zip them up and install them with Tit, it automatically inserts them. and if there wasn't the a and b placeholder files already in there, it would make one for you.

[ChuckkieB]

Thanks guys. I'll try it again when I get home from work tonight and let you know how it goes.

[Jim825]

I took 5 minutes and swapped around the .bmp files for you. I've attached a file that includes a new 026.fsh and 036.fsh. Import them to your uniforms.big file and you'll be all set. I did this and verified that they work properly.

You should be aware that the modifed Florida file contains the Bisons uniforms for the home and away slot, however, the other 6 Florida uniforms still show up. If you really want to get rid of them, you can simply delete the 026c.fsh, 026d.fsh, etc. entries from uniforms.big.

Swapped_Florida_Buffalo.rar

[ChuckkieB]

WOW. Thanks a lot Jim! That was really unexpected and greatly appreciated! Cheers! I'm going to try to get it right on my own as well becasue I have a few more teams that I would like to swap. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again!

[Jim825]

Glad to help. When you try swapping those other teams, remember what I said and pay close attention to which .bmp files go with which uniform. For example, for the Bisons uniforms, the "a" uniform uses 0001.bmp and the "b" uniform uses 0000.bmp. For the Marlins uniforms, the "a" uniform uses 0002.bmp and the "b" uniform uses 0003.bmp. You can also see which bmp file goes with which uniform by opening up the index.fsh file with any text editor (notepad, textpad, etc.). It will give you the mappings in there.

As I said earlier (and as Homer confirmed), you just need to modify the xxxx.fsh file. You don't need to do anything with the placeholder files (xxxxa.fsh, xxxxb.fsh, xxxxc.fsh, etc.).

[ChuckkieB]

Jim, your files worked like a charm and I was also finally able to swap a few other teams myself. Thanks for all of your help. Thank you too, Homer.