NBA Live 98

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NBA Live 98 (also known as NBA 98 or Live 98 and stylised as NBA LIVE 98) is the fourth instalment in the NBA Live series, released in North America on October 10th, 1997 for the PC with the original Playstation version being released on November 11th, the Sega Saturn version on November 30th, the Sega Genesis version on July 1st and the Super Nintendo version on June 17th. Tim Hardaway was featured as its cover player. It is the direct sequel to NBA Live 97 and was followed by NBA Live 99.

NBA Live 98
Nba98box.jpg
NBA Live 98 cover art.
Developer(s) EA Sports
Publisher(s) EA Sports
Series NBA Live
Platform(s) Windows, Super Nintendo, Playstation, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn
Release date(s) Super Nintendo
June 17th, 1997
Sega Genesis
July 1st, 1997
Windows
October 10th, 1997
Playstation
November 11th, 1997
Sega Saturn
November 30th, 1997
System requirements Minimum:
  • Windows 95
  • 100 MHz Intel Pentium/Cyrix 6x86/AMD K6 Processor
  • 16 MB RAM
  • 4x CD-ROM drive
  • 90 MB free HD space
  • 1 MB PCI or AGP SVGA video card with DirectDraw compatible driver

Summary[edit]

NBA Live 98 is EA Sports' NBA release for the 1997/1998 NBA season. As the first game in the series to support 3D acceleration, NBA Live 98 featured far superior graphics to its predecessors and was the first to use actual face textures for all players instead of building player faces through the use of generic facial features. It was also the first to feature play-by-play commentary and in-game saves, the latter of which proving to be a very popular and greatly desired feature having only appeared in three games in the series. Fans who had been disappointed with NBA Live 96 and NBA Live 97 tended to view NBA Live 98 more favourably.

Patchmakers were able to do extensive work with NBA Live 98, primarily using the EA Graphics Editor and NBA Live 98 Toolkit.

Official Features List[edit]

Total Control

  • New Direct Dunking - choose your layup or slam on command.
  • New Direct Passing - pass to any player, any time.
  • Tight player moves - spin, crossover, back down, ball fake and more on command.

Deep Gameplay

  • New GM Mode - choose franchises, draft players and play custom seasons.
  • New 3-Point Shoot-out - full or split screen.
  • New Play-by-Play from TNT/TBS Color Analyst Verne Lundquist.
  • New Player Lock - always control your favourite player.
  • Four levels of play - including new Superstar difficulty level.
  • Improved Game AI - smarter players, better stats.

Live Power

  • New 3D all-polygon, high resolution players.
  • New 3Dfx™ support for unbelievable Virtual Stadium™ graphics.
  • New enhanced Play-by-Play and Color Commentary.
  • New - every NBA player face cyber-modeled.
  • Players play like their real NBA counterparts.
  • Real NBA stats, real NBA players, real NBA moves.

Noteworthy Facts[edit]

  • The first NBA Live to support 3Dfx cards, NBA Live 98 was also the first game to introduce fully 3D stadiums and players, as well as the first game to utilise cyberfaces. It also featured "GM Mode", a predecessor to Franchise Mode mode and saw the debut of the Three Point Shootout and in-game saves.
  • Charles Barkley made his first (official) appearance in NBA Live 98. Michael Jordan however was once again represented by a Roster Player.
  • Dennis Rodman's hair pattern and colour change with each quarter.
  • The final NBA Live to be released for the Sega Saturn, the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.
  • One official patch was released to correct various gameplay issues.

Patching Culture[edit]

With the introduction of 3D players, courts, and jerseys came an opportunity to patch and update these aspects of the game. Programs such as the EA Graphics Editor allowed patchers to update almost every visual aspect of the game with ease.

Running on modern Windows[edit]

Handling the installer[edit]

The game's installer is a 16-bit version of InstallShield 3 and is unable to run on 64-bit systems. Therefore, the contents of the CD must be copied to a temporary folder on the hard drive. Within that folder, in the SETUP\<LANGUAGE> directory (e.g. SETUP\ENGLISH), place the 32-bit version of InstallShield 3 (available from ReactOS forums) and run it as administrator.

Setting up the game[edit]

After installing the game, do the following:

  • Apply the official 1.01 patch
  • Download a modified install.dat file from Matt's Classic PC Gaming which corresponds to the name of the disc drive you will be running the game from, and place it in the main NBA Live 98 directory (overwrite the existing file). This is particularly important if the game was installed with the above bypass method from the hard drive, as the game will not recognize the temporary folder as a valid drive. If your disc drive is not represented, download any of them and edit it with Notepad.
  • To fix audio stuttering, download a modified dsound.dll (courtesy Matt's Classic PC Gaming) and place it in the NBA Live 98 directory.
  • Download and install nGlide.
  • Download the nGlide compatibility fix for nGlide, place it in the NBA Live 98 directory and run it.
  • Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 3 and as administrator.
  • Start a match, pause the game and configure graphics settings.

PC Screenshots[edit]

Links[edit]