Just installed the game after a long time, can anyone help me solve a couple of things?

[tetsuro1]

Hi, everyone!

 

I recently found my old CD case for MVP Baseball 2005 while cleaning my house, and got the urge to reinstall the game to reexperience the nostalgia I had when I played it back in my childhood. It actually surprised me to see the CDs were still in good shape and installed the game normally as they did back in the day, which made me very happy.

 

I was looking at a couple of guides online on how to play the game properly, and have stumbled upon this website, which took me by surprise, as I never thought that this game had such a big community, especially a modding community that is still alive and well, so kudos to everyone here for doing this and keeping the community alive still to this day, especially members from the 2000's who are still browsing the forums these days

 

Anyway, what I wanted was to ask help from you guys in setting up this game on some minor things, and questions about modding and game itself.

 

I divided questions into multiple sections so feel free to answer whichever one you know the answer to.

 

======
MAIN
======
#1 - How can I setup proper widescreen in this game? So far, all I've done was follow this guide from WSGF which includes hex-editing the game's executable, but the problem is, this only stretches the game screen, it's not a proper widescreen solution.

 

Is there a tool or a way to make the game run in proper widescreen, or is this the best method we have?

 

#2 - Is there a way to use my controller to navigate through the menus instead of mouse and keyboard? 

 

The only thing that I found about this was a thread posted here way back from 2005/6 which had a link to a mod that enabled users to use their controller instead of the mouse to navigate through the menus, but the links are dead now

 

Not that it surprises me, as it's been over 15 years since that thread has been posted, I would've been surprised if the file was somehow still available on this website, but nonetheless, is there another mod that allows you to do this?

========
MODDING
========
I would really like to create some of the mods for this game myself, and share them with the community here, but unfortunately, I never modded this game before so I have no idea where to start from or what to do. So any help in this area would be appreciated.

 

#1 - First, I would like to fix the default roster's missing / renamed players to where they were during that years season (e.g. Barry Barnes instead of Jon Dowd, etc.).

 

Is there a proper guide / list that includes all the missing players and how you can edit them to look like their real life counterparts (this includes, which face number to use, their batting stance, apparel, etc.)?

 

All I found for this was this IGN guide that tells you which players are missing and how to edit them. Is this guide missing any players? So far it looks good, the only thing missing is what those player's wore for their apparel and what batting stances did they use.

 

Additionally, I see some of the players don't have portraits, or have 3D portraits from their in-game model, is there a mod that updates these missing portraits, especially a mod that has portraits that look like they were taken back in 2004/5, and not with modern high quality pictures?

 

So is it possible for me to edit the default roster with these "actual" players, and edit their portrait if necessary, instead of having to save my roster separately, and load it each time I open the game as I do right now?

 

I found a tool called MVPEdit, which seems to be able to do something like this. Is it recommended to use this tool, or should I use something else?

#2 -  The second mod I would like to create is to change the default controller key icons (1,2,3,4,5...) to actual PS icons, so that instead of it looking like this, it looks like this.

 

I've never done image editing before so I think I'll need a little bit of help with this.

 

What I've done is download tools called FinalBIG, EAGraphicsEditor and nfshTool, then I searched through the .BIG files, and extracted any .FSH files to find which the ones which have these numerical buttons, and am hoping I can replace them without any issues with the PS buttons.

 

So far, I managed to find the icons I need to replace, but there are two problems that I'm facing:

1 - Like I said, I've never done image editing before, so I don't know how exactly would I be able to replace these icons with PS ones
2 - After extracting the FSH files, all of these images come with another file that's a copy of it, but it ends with a "-a.BMP" suffix, which are nothing but white / blank version of each of those files.

 

For example, here are some of the files I found:
1, 2, 3

 

And here are their duplicates:
1, 2, 3

 

So now I have two questions, first, how exactly can I replace these numerical button icons within those images with the PS ones, that is, what tools would I need to use? And secondly, what exactly are those duplicate files, and will they need to be edited as well?

 

My first thought was to avoid editing the images since I've never done that sort of thing before, and instead use the files from the PS2 version of the game, because they would be the same images already edited and done, and all I needed to do was to replace these files from the PC version with the ones from the PS2, simple right?

 

Unfortunately, there's a problem here as well, when I extract the BIG files from the PS2 version, I end up not with .FSH files with instead with some .SSH files which I have no idea how to unpack or view.

 

I tried loading those files up in EAGE, and this is what it looks like, same files, different platforms:

PC version --- PS2 Version

 

As you can see, the PC version one looks totally normal, as I've shown before, whereas the PS2 SSH file looks all "pixelated". This is for all files within those SSH packages so I'm not sure why this happens, but would anyone know what the problem here is, and how to resolve it?

 

This would be the easiest way for me to create this mod, if I can't find a solution for these SSH files, then I guess all that I'm left with is to manually edit those images.

#3 - What are .fel files and how to open them? While browsing through some of the .BIG files, I've noticed that some of them have files with the .fel extension. Googling the file extension gives me no results, and trying to find something on forums like this one and other EA games modding forums I can't find a mention of these file types anywhere.

 

=========
GAMEPLAY
=========
#1 - My controller can't vibrate. Within the options, the controller vibration is set to on, but the option is greyed out. When I start begin to play a game (whether in "Play Now" or "Exhibition" or any other way),  and go into the game's "Pause" menu, then go into "Game Options" > "Vibration", I see that the vibration is now set to off, again being greyed out, meaning you can't change it.

 

I play the game on a DualShock 3 controller and the vibration on my controller does work normally in other games that support vibration (like 2K games)

 

#2 - Is preloading a throw possible in this game. I know it was possible to do it in the other games, but when I try doing the preload with the fielder who's about to catch the ball, it never loads up. I press the throw button way in advance and still it never preloads, it starts from the beginning the moment the fielder catches the ball.

According to IGN you can do this, but for me it does not work, and I'm not sure why.

 

#3 - Is there a shortcut to do a mound visit without having to do it by going through the menus? Also, I'm not entirely familiar with the mound visit mechanic. What does it actually do, and what does pitcher's reaction mean when you do a mound visit, and is there any difference between negative and a positive pitcher reaction?

 

#4 - I've read that you're able to send in your manager to argue with the umpire on a call he made, like for example, if a pitch hits a bit further from the edge of the strike zone and umpire calls it a strike, then you can call up your manager and argue that it was a ball. I believe I've seen this somewhere especially with a button which you can tap repeatedly to increase the argument the manager makes (which could result in him getting ejected).

 

If this is possible, how do you do this, and are there specific requirements to which situations you can do it? Also, will arguing have any effect, that is, will it make the umpire overturn the call he made, or is just for show?

 

And that's all of the questions I wanted to ask. One more thing that I should add is that I play on PC using Windows 7 x64.

 

Thanks for reading this far, and I apologize for such a long post.

[Yankee4Life]

Welcome! You have asked some very good and intelligent questions here and I hope I can answer some of them. Not now unfortunately because I have what is called neuropathy in my hands and it makes the hands feel like they are being squeezed by someone as big as The Rock. It takes some time for the pain to go away but eventually it does.

 

Never mind that. I will return in here to try to clear up some things but what I can do right now is direct you to the download area, especially the Mvp '05 Tutorials area. Take a look around there to see if that answers some questions.

 

Welcome to the website!

[tetsuro1]

On 4/29/2022 at 2:15 AM, Yankee4Life said:

Welcome! You have asked some very good and intelligent questions here and I hope I can answer some of them. Not now unfortunately because I have what is called neuropathy in my hands and it makes the hands feel like they are being squeezed by someone as big as The Rock. It takes some time for the pain to go away but eventually it does.

 

Never mind that. I will return in here to try to clear up some things but what I can do right now is direct you to the download area, especially the Mvp '05 Tutorials area. Take a look around there to see if that answers some questions.

 

Welcome to the website!

Hi, @Yankee4Life!

 

Thank you for replying, and for the welcome!

 

Also, sorry to hear about that neuropathy problem, I hope it's nothing serious, and I hope that you get well.

 

Anyway, I did look around the website for any resources that solve some of the questions I asked, and so far I had no luck.

 

I didn't manage to find any proper widescreen tools and controller menu navigation mods, or a workaround on how to do it.

 

For rosters, most of the mods come with updated rosters mostly from year 2006 or afterwards, I couldn't find anything that just adds in missing players, but I don't mind doing this myself, I just hope I can find a complete list of all missing players, and add them in myself with all the proper face options, apparel, stance, etc. so all I'm looking for now is how to edit in / replace those missing players into the default roster, I don't mind the roster not being up to date.

 

As for editing the PS buttons, I stumbled upon this tutorial which may or may not help (I don't own Photoshop, so I'm wondering if GIMP or any other program will do the trick here), but for now I'll try to edit the PS2 files onto the PC version if I can to avoid the hassle of doing complicated graphics editing.

 

Right now, I'm asking for help about the SSH files from other modding forums to see if anyone knows if there is a way to convert them to PC compatible textures, but if I can't find a solution for this, I'll look into contacting some member who still browses this forum for help.

 

Looking forward to your next reply.

 

Cheers!

[Yankee4Life]

2 hours ago, tetsuro1 said:

 

For rosters, most of the mods come with updated rosters mostly from year 2006 or afterwards, I couldn't find anything that just adds in missing players, but I don't mind doing this myself, I just hope I can find a complete list of all missing players, and add them in myself with all the proper face options, apparel, stance, etc. so all I'm looking for now is how to edit in / replace those missing players into the default roster, I don't mind the roster not being up to date.

 

 

 

Please do not update the rosters on the Total Classics mods (for example TC 1951, 1955, 1958, etc) or Total Conversion mods (2008, 2012, 2013, etc) because those rosters were made strictly for that season and that season alone.

2 hours ago, tetsuro1 said:

As for editing the PS buttons, I stumbled upon this tutorial which may or may not help (I don't own Photoshop, so I'm wondering if GIMP or any other program will do the trick here), but for now I'll try to edit the PS2 files onto the PC version if I can to avoid the hassle of doing complicated graphics editing.

 

I do not own Photoshop or Gimp so I could not help here.

 

On 4/28/2022 at 7:37 PM, tetsuro1 said:

 

 

 

=========
GAMEPLAY
=========
#1 - My controller can't vibrate. Within the options, the controller vibration is set to on, but the option is greyed out. When I start begin to play a game (whether in "Play Now" or "Exhibition" or any other way),  and go into the game's "Pause" menu, then go into "Game Options" > "Vibration", I see that the vibration is now set to off, again being greyed out, meaning you can't change it.

 

I play the game on a DualShock 3 controller and the vibration on my controller does work normally in other games that support vibration (like 2K games)

 

#2 - Is preloading a throw possible in this game. I know it was possible to do it in the other games, but when I try doing the preload with the fielder who's about to catch the ball, it never loads up. I press the throw button way in advance and still it never preloads, it starts from the beginning the moment the fielder catches the ball.

According to IGN you can do this, but for me it does not work, and I'm not sure why.

 

#3 - Is there a shortcut to do a mound visit without having to do it by going through the menus? Also, I'm not entirely familiar with the mound visit mechanic. What does it actually do, and what does pitcher's reaction mean when you do a mound visit, and is there any difference between negative and a positive pitcher reaction?

 

#4 - I've read that you're able to send in your manager to argue with the umpire on a call he made, like for example, if a pitch hits a bit further from the edge of the strike zone and umpire calls it a strike, then you can call up your manager and argue that it was a ball. I believe I've seen this somewhere especially with a button which you can tap repeatedly to increase the argument the manager makes (which could result in him getting ejected).

 

If this is possible, how do you do this, and are there specific requirements to which situations you can do it? Also, will arguing have any effect, that is, will it make the umpire overturn the call he made, or is just for show?

 

And that's all of the questions I wanted to ask. One more thing that I should add is that I play on PC using Windows 7 x64.

 

Thanks for reading this far, and I apologize for such a long post.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but it seems to me you do not have the manual for the game so I found a website that has downloadable manuals and damned if when I was reading it I did not see where you can argue with the umpire. It can be done but when your manager is thrown out of the game the computer takes over the decision making for you for the rest of the game. The reason why I do not know where this is is a very simple explanation.: I have not used this feature in over fourteen years. I don't argue calls anymore.

 

Here is the manual in case you do not have it.

MVP Baseball 2005 PC Manual.pdf

[Jim825]

Regarding your widescreen issue, look for the “Resolution Changer” mod in the downloads section. It allows you to change the game resolution to your monitor size. For example, after running the mod, I was able to change the game resolution to 1600x960 to display properly on my monitor. 

[Yankee4Life]

2 minutes ago, Jim825 said:

Regarding your widescreen issue, look for the “Resolution Changer” mod in the downloads section. It allows you to change the game resolution to your monitor size. For example, after running the mod, I was able to change the game resolution to 1600x960 to display properly on my monitor. 

 

I'm sorry Jim, I forgot the name of this little utility. 🙁

[Gordo]

13 hours ago, Jim825 said:

Regarding your widescreen issue, look for the “Resolution Changer” mod in the downloads section. It allows you to change the game resolution to your monitor size. For example, after running the mod, I was able to change the game resolution to 1600x960 to display properly on my monitor. 

 

 

I've used the resolution changer, but I believe it only still stretches the image.  My understanding is that for some odd reason, true wide screen was only available on the original Xbox version (which I had for a time and did notice a true widescreen).

[Dirtdog]

I play MVP on a 32" curved monitor.

 

Decent video card and i do have everything maxed out (whatever that means for a 17yr old game)

 

I never used this program, possibly it was done automatically?

 

I don't believe it true widescreen, but it looks just fine as it always has to me

[tetsuro1]

 

18 hours ago, Yankee4Life said:

Correct me if I am wrong but it seems to me you do not have the manual for the game so I found a website that has downloadable manuals and damned if when I was reading it I did not see where you can argue with the umpire. It can be done but when your manager is thrown out of the game the computer takes over the decision making for you for the rest of the game. The reason why I do not know where this is is a very simple explanation.: I have not used this feature in over fourteen years. I don't argue calls anymore.

 

Here is the manual in case you do not have it.

MVP Baseball 2005 PC Manual.pdf 1.99 MB · 1 download

 

That's correct,  I do not have the manual for the game (who knows where it ended up all those years ago), but I did download a digital version like the one you provided before asking any gameplay questions.

 

I re-checked the manual again to see if I missed something, but it's the same. The manual did not mention any way how to do a mound visit or how to argue the call an umpire has made.

 

Ironically I found both now after messing messing around and clicking all the buttons in the game. I found out both a shortcut for the mound visit, AND how to call up your manager, and that's simply by holding R2 + Left/Right to your Dugout section, and there are both options for "Mound visit" and "Argue call".

 

I still don't know what the mound visit does and if arguing with an umpire can overturn the call he made as none of these things are mentioned within the game's manual, same goes for preloading a throw, since it's not mentioned and it obviously does not work when I try it, I guess they did not implement such a thing in this game (or at least on the PC port).

 

So, I'll scratch of all those three questions from the OP, but if somebody knows a bit more about these things, feel free to comment up on it.

 

18 hours ago, Jim825 said:

Regarding your widescreen issue, look for the “Resolution Changer” mod in the downloads section. It allows you to change the game resolution to your monitor size. For example, after running the mod, I was able to change the game resolution to 1600x960 to display properly on my monitor. 

 

Thank you, Jim for the reply and the suggestion for the Resolution Changer.

 

I downloaded the Resolution Changer and after setting it up, I can say that the game looks pretty much the same as with the hex-editing method, that is, everything still looked stretched just like @Gordo mentioned. So I can't say that I noticed much of a difference between those two methods, other than that the Resolution Changer adds your specified resolution to the game's video options, whereas the hex-edit method simply overwrites an existing one.

 

Naturally, I did revert my .exe back to it's default state before trying to set it up with Resolution Changer, so that the previous hex-editing would not interfere with the RC's method.

 

I'm going to assume there is no way to make this game have proper widescreen, so I'm going to scratch it off as well, until someone who knows the proper solutions posts it.

 

 

All that's left now are the questions from the modding section, the vibration not working, and how to find a way to use my controller to navigate through the menus instead of mouse and keyboard?

 

Thanks for all the help so far guys!

[Jim825]

A mound visit can increase the stamina of your pitcher if “positive” appears on the screen, however, it can also reduce it if “negative” appears. I mainly use it to give a pitcher who is warming up a little more time to get ready. 

[tetsuro1]

30 minutes ago, Jim825 said:

A mound visit can increase the stamina of your pitcher if “positive” appears on the screen, however, it can also reduce it if “negative” appears. I mainly use it to give a pitcher who is warming up a little more time to get ready. 

 

Yep, just tested it, and it seems that negative reaction reduces the stamina of the pitches by around 10%. I couldn't get the positive reaction, but I assume it has the opposite effect like you said.

 

Also, you don't happen to know how to enable vibration in this game, or setup the controller to work for main menus and everywhere else (like on console ports of the game) instead of mouse & kb?

[Gordo]

It's not programmed for the controller to directly work on the menus like a lot of game ... hard to say why they didn't.  You can fake it, sort of, by using Joy2Key. I may have put that in the downloads (misc.?) a while ago.  Basically you can do the mouse movements with your controller.

[tetsuro1]

1 hour ago, Gordo said:

It's not programmed for the controller to directly work on the menus like a lot of game ... hard to say why they didn't.  You can fake it, sort of, by using Joy2Key. I may have put that in the downloads (misc.?) a while ago.  Basically you can do the mouse movements with your controller.

Yeah, I figured the game wouldn't let you use controller to navigate the menus natively.

 

I tried using the Joy2Key to map the analog sticks as mouse movement, and it's just doesn't feel right, I was hoping I could use the DPAD to navigate through the menus with button X to confirm and ∆ to go back just like in the PS2 version of the game, but unfortunately, I couldn't manage to find a workaround to set it up like that.

 

Anyway, I'll scratch off the using controller to navigate the menus question as well, so I hope now somebody will be able to help me with how to setup vibration on PC to work (if it can), and where can I find a full list of missing/renamed players to edit with MVPEdit with all their proper names, apparel, batting stances and profile pictures.

 

If anyone knows where I can find that list, let me know.

 

Thanks!

[Gordo]

It has to be programmed into to "snap" to the command you want and it just doesn't function that way.  This is the next best thing for people who might have it hooked up to their TV and a wireless controller.

[tetsuro1]

Does anyone know what are .fel files and how to open them? While browsing through some of the .BIG files, I've noticed that some of them have files with the .fel extension. Googling the file extension gives me no results, and trying to find something on forums like this one and other EA games modding forums I can't find a mention of these file types anywhere.