Odd Find While Hex Editing

[bep713]

Hey everyone, big fan of Head Coach here. I just started playing again when a thought came to mind. What if we were somehow able to edit player names through hex editing? Keep in mind that I have yet to actually hex edit a game, so I have no clue whether this is possible or not.

Anyway, I started a new career with a made up coach of the Cleveland Browns. I started in pre-season and immediately saved the career. (File name: CAREER-1) I then went into rosters and changed the position of Ken Dorsey from QB to WR and made a new save. (File name: CAREER-2)

After extracting the files from Modio, I compared the two files in Hex Workshop. There were numerous changes in the files, but none that I can see that reflected the change from QB to WR. (If anyone knows how to edit rosters in hex, PLEASE tell me!).

HOWEVER, while looking through the hex code, I stumbled upon a VERY interesting part of the code. For some reason, the names of the 2012 draft candidates are in the code...Andrew Luck, Trent Richardson, RG3, Matt Kalil, Alshon Jeffery, etc are all there!

(Names)

My question is: WHY! Why are the names of the incoming rookies in the hex code for a game made in 2008? And furthermore, why were the names mysteriously deleted from my CAREER-2 game save? The names are only present in CAREER-1, which was saved immediately. What is also odd, is that only this draft class is in the code. Cam Newton, Matt Stafford, etc are NOT.

(First save VS Second save)

To test again, I did the same exact thing that I did with CAREER-1. I started a new career, made a coach for Cleveland (even used the same skills/name) and saved at the first moment that I could. I viewed that file in hex workshop...and it was completely different from both CAREER-1 and CAREER-2. The names, again, were NOT in the new file. This is really weird.

If anyone has any ideas/reasons as to why, please tell me!

[DictionaryMan]

Hey Bep. I too am just about to get into hex editing. I recently picked up a used copy of Head coach 06 on a whim and I am now officially obsessed. I am a few games into a season as the NYJ's head coach and I am realizing the game would be a lot more fun if the incoming class of rookies bore a passing resemblance to the real 07 rookie class. At first, I want to just change their names and then see if i want to move onto appearance and ability. (For now I can live with a slender Jamarcus Russell who can't throw very far, but commands the field with a "dink and dunk" pass strategy to possession receivers.)

A friend of mine who recreated all 32 teams on a Super Tecmo Bowl Rom encouraged me to start hex editing, but I don't even know where to start. Do you have any recommendations for software? It seems like there are a lot of free ones, but I don't know if they are any good. Also, I am not sure which file to get into to make edits.

As far as your Andrew Luck draft, maybe it was not in Head Coach, but pre-loaded in your hex editor. A lot of hex editors seem to be open source and new iterations might come with data pre-loaded. Just a thought.

Anyway, any advice you or anyone else can give would be much appreciated.