We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with a reminder of the importance of default assets in our modding endeavours.
Since the very beginning, one of the primary goals of our modding community has been to add content to games. When we were founded as the NBA Live Series Center, this usually meant adding players such as Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley to the rosters of NBA Live PC. Once Legends and historical teams became a staple of NBA video games, there were other missing players to add. We’ve also sought to expand the selection of classic teams, as well as create retro season and all-time rosters, NCAA and foreign league total conversions, and many other fantastic projects.
The biggest projects have generally required several new assets to be created, in particular year-specific jerseys and courts, and missing player faces. Needless to say, the workload is much lighter if several assets that we need are in the game by default. At the same time, it’s something that we can take for granted. Not only can the default assets facilitate a range of modding projects – both minimalist and large in scope – but we can use them to quickly assemble fun scenarios on the virtual hardwood. Modding has opened up a world of possibilities with basketball video games, but I can’t stress enough the importance of content being readily available within the default assets.
I say this because over the years, more than a couple of people have said something to the effect of “Who cares if it isn’t in the game? Modders will put it there!” Of course, I understand where they’re coming from, and I don’t entirely disagree. As noted above, we’ve produced some amazing modding projects over the years, and the absence of certain players, teams, and artwork in the default assets hasn’t prevented them from becoming a reality. Once again though, the more content we can reuse and repurpose, the less we need to create from scratch. It must also be acknowledged that the console versions cannot facilitate the same amount of modding that’s feasible in PC releases.
Even if we do just focus on the PC version – as we’re often prone to doing in our community – the notion that “we can just mod it in” is myopic if we’re talking about content we want to see added among the default assets. There are limitations to what we can mod into games, and modded content does still stand out in some way, such as newly added players or retro teams not having accurate audio. It’s why there’s value in more historical players being added to the default rosters, along with any new classic teams with assets that can be reused. It’s admittedly hard to pick a retro Vancouver Grizzlies team to include, but it’d be extremely helpful for retro season roster mods!
After all, as much as modding has been about creating brand new assets, it’s also been about manipulating and reusing what’s in the game by default. Indeed, when NBA Live 95 roster editing established our modding community 25 years ago, reusing the text strings that were already in the game was a vital part of renaming players and teams. Utilising leftover assets such as player faces and audio has greatly enhanced many modding projects, and saved time that can be dedicated to other work that needs to be done. Sure, the absence of certain assets needn’t prevent mods from being made, but those mods are so much better when art, audio, and other content is already there.
It’s not just assets such as art and audio for teams and players, either. The flags and attributes that new content adds to the internal workings of rosters can also be very useful. For example, the addition of All-Decade, FIBA, and other bonus teams has resulted in values in the roster files that make it easier to add new squads in games that don’t have Create-a-Team. Unlockable teams and players introduced values that allow teams and players to be effectively removed from a roster. The addition of retro squads from the year 2000 onwards allows games to recognise years with zeroes (e.g. ’01-’02), which NBA 2K11 didn’t as its most recent classic team was from 1997-1998.
These are the little things that we take for granted, and admittedly aren’t appreciated until we start getting creative with roster mods. Nevertheless, it’s why I’ll always advocate for new content such as retro teams and players to be added, even though we can certainly address their absence ourselves via modding. I know it sounds like I’m stating the obvious, but I do think that we sometimes overlook that there’s so much more we can do – and more easily at that – when the content is there in the default assets to begin with. Compare the workload of creating a retro season roster for NBA 2K11 and one for NBA 2K22, and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about here.
Of course, it’s not just about major modding projects. The amount of fun that can be had creating scenarios and minimalist mods only increases when the default assets expand with more content. Take what Dee4Three and I have been doing with Fantasy Teams mode in NBA Live 10 this year. Thanks to the inclusion of retro jerseys and a number of retired players being left over in the Free Agent Pool, we’ve been able to assemble makeshift classic teams for some historical showdowns. Sure, there are some inaccuracies and notably absent players, but it hasn’t stood in the way of some thrilling games. When we can achieve a level of accuracy, it’s even more exciting.
Now, this may seem strange when there are authentic classic teams in NBA 2K, not to mention wonderful retro season mods with painstaking attention to detail. However, there’s immense fun and satisfaction in crafting those makeshift teams and scenarios with only the default assets on hand. The same can be said of the retro teams in NBA 2K. The 1994 Houston Rockets are in the game by default, but if you want to re-create the 1995 NBA Finals with the Orlando Magic, the assets are there to quickly swap a few players around. Yes, the year that’s displayed will be incorrect, but if it’s just for your own enjoyment and not a roster mod, it needn’t be a huge distraction.
In this way, you can revamp several of the retro teams to represent different years than the ones they have by default, with assets that support quick games in Play Now, or lay the foundation for a larger modding project. In recent games, the 1990-1991 Golden State Warriors can become the 1994 Warriors with rookie Chris Webber. Their roster won’t be complete, but the key players are there, and it’s fun to play with something slightly different. The 1998 Spurs can become their 1997 squad with Dominique Wilkins, or the first championship team of 1999. There are many more possibilities, and I’ve enjoyed mixing things up in some of my gaming sessions.
It wouldn’t be feasible without the addition of new assets to the default rosters over the years, especially in console releases such as the PlayStation 4 version of NBA 2K14, which I was hooked on this year. Whenever new classic teams are added or new players join the All-Time squads, new possibilities are opened up. It’s obviously great for modding, but even if you just want to throw something together to play an exhibition game, it doesn’t take long to get set up. It’s a great way of keeping things fresh, without having to spend hours on customisation. And again, if you do want to put that time into modding, then having that content just means a bigger head start.
When you see me push back on the idea of “we can just mod it in”, this is why; well, that and the inability to mod on consoles to the same extent as on PC, and my belief that everyone should be able to have fun customising games regardless of platform. We’re able to make larger and more accurate mods, and do so efficiently, when we have more assets and hidden roster attributes to take advantage of. The more assets we have to work with, the easier it is to make minimalist modding projects, as well as set up scenarios on a whim. The convenience of default assets cannot be understated, and it’s why I’m always in favour of new content, even if we can add it ourselves.