ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

[KingJavo]

I know this subject has been discussed before, but I'm resurrecting it for the peeps who love ESPN football.

We need to, somehow, get a hold of Finn's source code for the ESPN 2k5 editor or get a team together to build our own editor for 2K4. I say this because a majority of people have never played ESPN 2K4 and it seems like a breathe of fresh air in every aspect.

Yes, each version (2K4 & 2K5) have their positives/negatives but both "feel" different from one another and have great things that separate the two titles.

With that said, we need to make this happen for the ESPN community. I can program C#, no problem, just need to sharpen my skills when it comes to hex editing.

From my research of the ESPN 2K5 editor... there was an intense amount of effort spent created such a tool. This effort was not only comprised of coding, but also plenty of research to get all of the hex offsets and values for every attribute in the game.

It would be awesome if Finn could share his code and/or wisdom with us if he's not interested in developing it himself. If not, then maybe a team of us could get together to turn this into a reality.

What do you all think? Feel free to PM me if you would like to contribute or have some comments to add.

Thanks,

King Javo

[Mbalmer]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I think this would be awesome if someone could do this. I asked Finn a couple of years ago, via pm, if he could/would and he said he didn't have time...which I don't blame him because I am sure the amount of time something like this takes is HUGE.

Anyway, I would love this.

[KingJavo]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I wouldn't think it would be much effort if we could reuse the code he had originally built the 2k5 editor with.

That would be a huge head start... then most of the work would be spent researching the difference in values from the hex file.

This can become a reality if the right people make it happen.

Anyone know Finn well enough to get a copy of the 2k5 editor code to be shared?

[avok23]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I can help out if i fin can give use the file structure

[chibears96]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I can help out if i fin can give use the file structure

That would be great and just add to more 2k football games that are still played!

[H4wduk3n]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I tried to look through the 2k4 files once looking for a pattern with a hex editor... I really wish we just had finn's code... that would be an amazing start.

[Culture Rot]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

Dont hold your breath on a response from finn let alone his code

[simeoncam50]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I'm not sure how many people still play 2K4? I know if I had the editor it would make my roster creation that many times better. I will keep hoping it comes out......until then back to roster creating.:wink:

[Culture Rot]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

heres q question from someone who s till plays 2k4. Do the same rating editing rules apply? Is it necessary to adjust aggression, lower db catch ratings, etc in 2k4?

[kzdwfy]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

heres q question from someone who s till plays 2k4. Do the same rating editing rules apply? Is it necessary to adjust aggression, lower db catch ratings, etc in 2k4?

No, the passing is so much better there. The only thing needed to adjust is CPU RB break tackle ability.

Has there been any word on a 2k4 editor?

[GillBoldberg]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

Had to bump an old thread..

I got a bit tired of 2k5 so I decided to fire up 2K4 and fell in love again. Some of the animations in 2K4 are just beautiful and don't know why they took them out for 2k5. Anyways, I looked into hex editing the roster before but I got sidetracked, so today I had some free time and thought I'd share some of my discoveries.

Let me first say I'm a super novice at hex editing but know a few things just by teaching myself sorta. Since we have Finn's editor for 2k5 I decided to see what changes happened to the hex when doing simple changes in the editor, like changing an attribute or position. Compared a few things then went into the 2k4 save and noticed some slight differences, which is probably why 2k4 files aren't compatible with the 2k5 editor. I'll cut this short and just get to what I found.

So looking in the name database (which you can find buried towards the end of the file) Frank Garcia is #1 on that list (on the default roster). (center for the Cardinals). Offset 0001130A and you'll find his data:



Now after some digging I was able to decode some things:



the numbers highlighted in WHITE are his attributes. I know which each one is, so if anyone wants that info let me know but you can just edit them in-game so it's not super important unless we can put together an editor. The one in RED is the players position. 0C in hex is 12 which = Center in this case. I changed this to 00 which is a quarterback and it worked!




So the rest of the hex is a mystery right now. Player photo, height, weight, skin color, etc are all in there or at least I think. Hopefully someone with some more knowledge might want to help out, or take this info and run with it lol. I'll keep everyone posted if I find anymore info.

Oh yeah here's the position numbers if you want to test for yourself.
Positions
--
00 = QB
01 = Kicker
02 = Punter
03 = WR
04 = CB
05 = FS
06 = SS
07 = HB
08 = FB
09 = TE
0A = OLB
0B = ILB
0C = Center
0D = Guard
0E = Tackle
0F = DT
10 = DE

[Mbalmer]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I have basically given up on video game football in the last few years. I love 2K5 and 2K4 and play them every great once in a while....meaning maybe 2 time in the last year. However, I would love to play with an editor for 2K4 if there was one like 2K5. I enjoyed a lot of aspects in 2K4 better then 2K5. The passing/catching is better, screens/passes to running backs out of the backfield work, and the AI QB play seems to be better overall (been a while, but this is what I am remembering.) And kick returns are a lot better.

The bad things about 2k4 are that sacks are damn near impossible to get and the AI QB never throws deep but I still remember the OVERALL AI QB being better then 2K5.

Just what I am remembering.

Keep us posted and I will continue to hope someone can do this. Thanks for your effort!!!

[GillBoldberg]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

This is about as far as I can go. Hopefully someone can take this info and run with it. I realize making an editor for a 10 year old game probably isn't high on anyone's list.



Also the player ID list from 2k5 (in the config files in the 2K5 editor folder) is the same for 2k4, minus the rookies.

The thing that really confuses me is how Finn was able to insert text without increasing the size of the file (longer player names). He must be a wizard lol. I mean it's possible to update everything by hand, but it'll take eons.. but renaming the players is the huge mystery to me.

[H4wduk3n]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

Hmm - I wonder if the game checks crcs - if so maybe finn figured out how to recalculate/hash whats needed. Do you have any ideas as far as the *difference* between 2k4 and 2k5 files? Maybe rather than a full editor we can write a 2k4->2k5->2k4 converter and it 'should just work' :P

[GillBoldberg]

Re: ESPN 2K4 Editor Needed!

I don't think it does. I was able to make changes to the hex and load the save up without any errors. I know making changes in a 2k5 file without re-saving it the editor you'd get errors because the editor re-checked the crc.

For the differences, from what I remember.. I have to recheck but the main difference was that the players hex were in a different order. Using the pic I posted above, the player pic and PBP (ID) weren't next to each other like in 2k4.