Tag Archives: Modding

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some reflections on the server shutdowns that have taken place in 2024 – or will soon take place – as it relates to basketball gaming.

As gamers, we all know too well that server shutdowns are inevitable. While it’s unfortunate, it’s also understandable. There comes a point where there simply aren’t enough people still playing a game to justify the cost, time, and energy required to maintain online support. We’re also given a clear heads up in the documentation for games. For example, following a change in policy in the wake of the backlash to the NBA 2K14 server shutdown in 2015, we’ve been able to bank on 27 months of online support for each game in the NBA 2K series thereafter.

Still, even when we know that they’re coming, and can understand the reasons behind them, server shutdowns remain a bummer. Most of us are going to be left with some unfinished business, or just be disappointed that we can’t revisit and continue playing a memorable save in a connected mode. To that end, as of writing, we’ve lost online support for one Triple-A basketball game in 2024, while a second will see its server shutdowns happen very soon. Meanwhile, the closure of another online service was a blow for anyone still playing their Xbox 360. As such, I’m reflecting on those server shutdowns, and how my basketball gaming has been (or will be) impacted by them.

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One of our goals when it comes to offering free file hosting to the community is the preservation of mods and modding tools. To that end, it’s always satisfying when we can track down a lost file or utility, and ensure that it’s readily available once again. While fixing some broken links some months back, I noted that I was unable to find V1.2 of Looyh’s File Export Console for NBA 2K21. In the short term, I uploaded V1.1, but thanks to Skysect, V1.2 has been located and reuploaded to our Downloads database. If you’ve been looking for it, pick it up at the link below!

Looyh
NBA 2K21 File Export Console

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #553 of the NLSC Podcast!

This week’s show is all about the past, present, and future…and some combinations thereof! First of all, we tip things off with a recap of a fun co-op session of NBA 2K13 PC, in which we used a 1996 roster to take on the Hawks with Shaq and Penny’s Magic. Needless to say, it not only reminded us of how well NBA 2K13 holds up, but just how special the 1996 season was. Next, we join the community in naming three all-time greats that we’d want to bring into today’s NBA, and why they’re our picks. Finally, we and the community choose from a list of hypothetical features that we’d like to see added in NBA 2K26.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 58:39 — 40.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

It’s time for another NLSC YouTube roundup! As you may have seen, for Halloween I put together a new Tales from the Virtual Hardwood video, diving into an urban legend involving Jason Collier and NBA Live 06. On top of that, Dee and I have also been uploading highlights from our co-op and individual gaming sessions, featuring NBA 2K25, NBA Live 2000, and other titles.

First of all, there’s a spectacular reel of highlights from Dee and his brother’s ongoing Legends MyNBA in NBA 2K25. The latest reel covers Games 11 through 20, with the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, and Clyde Drexler all doing what they do best.

Dee also put together a reel of the best moments from our game of NBA Live 2000, in which we took on the Indiana Pacers with the Detroit Pistons. It was an unusual game that wasn’t as successful as a majority of our other co-op sessions, but it reminded us of the teams’ interesting lineups, and the brilliance of NBA Live 2000 PC. In case you missed it, we discussed the game in Episode #550 of the NLSC Podcast.

I usually post bulletins whenever I upload a new entry in the NBA 2K14 Retro Series, but I neglected to do so for the latest one. That is of course a 1986 showdown between the rival Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, which ended in dramatic fashion. I’ve already played a few other retro matchups that will be uploaded in the near future.

Finally, Dee and I connected this past week to play NBA 2K13 using the 1996 URB roster. We opted to take on the Atlanta Hawks with the Orlando Magic, and it was a blast playing with young Shaq and Penny! Stay tuned for our discussion of that session in the next NLSC Podcast.

Check out all of those highlights from NBA 2K25, NBA Live 2000, NBA 2K14, and NBA 2K13 below! As always, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel if you haven’t already, and feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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Happy Halloween, everyone! Since the spooky season is here again, it’s time to dive into another basketball video game urban legend with a new Tales from the Virtual Hardwood video. On this occasion, I’m examining an alleged eerie occurrence involving the late Jason Collier and NBA Live 06 PC.

As long-time basketball fans may recall, former Atlanta Hawks big man Jason Collier sadly passed away a couple of weeks before the 2006 season tipped off. He was removed from the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06, but as the PC and sixth gen console versions shipped months earlier, Collier was still included in their rosters. After his untimely passing and removal from the rosters on PC however, he reportedly showed up as a referee on the sideline. Is there any truth to this urban legend? Here’s the actual story!

I hope this was an interesting tale for Halloween! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, including video essays, highlight reels, our podcast, the weekly Top 10 Plays, and more. As always, if you have any suggestions of games that you’d like to see Dee and I play, or topics you’d like us to tackle on the podcast or in a video, please let us know!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #551 of the NLSC Podcast!

Does Gravity Ball belong in NBA 2K25? This week, we join the community in reacting to the new mode for The City that’s not only paid downloadable content, but for our money, frankly has very little to do with basketball! To that point, we discuss 2K’s motivations for adding it to the game, and the bad precedent that it could set for further paid content. The Season 2 patch has also arrived for NBA 2K25, and we have thoughts to share on the gameplay fixes and other updates that it includes. We wrap up the show by touching on an important issue that’s unfortunately been affecting the modding community for some time, and has recently come to a head.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 55:19 — 38.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

The latest mod releases for NBA 2K25 PC include some fantastic player updates, fixed rosters for the Kobe Era, and the latest version of Looyh’s essential File Explorer tool. Pick them all up at the links below!

R4zoR
JJ Redick No Tattoos
Kevin Willis Skintone Fix
Trent Tucker Skintone Fix
Jaylen Brown Current Look
Lonzo Ball Current Look
1997-98 Pacers Shaved Heads Playoffs Look

FurryBeans
Bean’s Kobe Era Roster

Shuajota
Vit Krejci Face

Looyh
NBA2K25 File Explorer (Updated to V1.2)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at creating Michael Jordan in NBA Live 96 PC.

Today, I’m forty. I’ve been alluding to it in articles and on the NLSC Podcast, and finally, the day has come. It’s a confronting realisation that I’m now technically middle-aged, but then again, I’ve been leaning into a few Grumpy Old Man opinions for a while now! Of course, that invites some armchair psychologist to dismiss those views as blind nostalgia, born of a desperate desire to cling to my youth and a time when everything felt simpler. Joke’s on them, though; I was born to be a retro gamer, and I was going wayback before I was even thirty, let alone forty!

Snark aside, it is my birthday and a milestone one to boot, so I’d like to do something fun to mark the occasion. With that in mind, I’ve been mulling the possibilities as the date drew nearer. I could revisit a favourite game. A couple of the features that I’d already planned would also certainly fit with the reflective nostalgia of another trip around the sun. In the end though, I decided that I’d reminisce about something that combines a favourite game, my all-time favourite player, and the hobby of modding: creating Michael Jordan in NBA Live 96 PC. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five players that we’d generally overwrite when making rosters for NBA Live 95 PC.

When I chanced upon a copy of NBA Live 95 PC being sold at a local news agency of all places, I eagerly bought it. Our founders had already introduced me to modding NBA Live 96, so I was keen to tinker with NBA Live 95 as well. I’d soon find out that it wasn’t nearly as easy! Without an in-game create-a-player function, all new players had to overwrite original ones. This meant carefully choosing the right players and text strings to replace. If you were fixing up the rosters for 1995 – as was the natural inclination – there were five players in particular that you were likely to overwrite.

Now, just to be clear, not every single roster for NBA Live 95 PC overwrote these five players with the replacements I’m specifying. Depending on the season the roster was for and the personal choice of the modder making it, sometimes a different player would be used instead. However, when it came to 1995 season updates for NBA Live 95 PC, these are the players that were overwritten most frequently, as they tended to be the ideal candidates to become the missing players we wanted to add. Indeed, when it comes to the first two players, I tend to think of them more for their usefulness to modding than their real life careers! Without any further ado, let’s tip things off with…

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The latest NBA 2K25 mod releases include Manni Live’s court updates for the Orlando Magic and Denver Nuggets, and the initial version of looyh’s Explorer tool for this year’s game. Pick them all up at the links below!

Manni Live
Orlando Magic Court Update
Denver Nuggets Court Update

looyh
NBA2K25 File Explorer

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #549 of the NLSC Podcast!

Despite it never being easier to share highlights and connect with fellow gamers, we’ve noticed a general reluctance to participate in those activities and discussions nowadays. After considering some of the potential causes for this shift, we urge the community to be more proactive in sharing their love of basketball gaming, and to take an interest in what others are doing on the virtual hardwood. We also pay tribute to the late Dikembe Mutombo, and join the community in discussing the players who have been underdone in video games over the years – our Underdone Starting Five if you will – as well as our favourite current and former NBA players.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:00 — 55.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off by envisioning a return to modding.

I’ve said it before, but even though I haven’t been regularly maintaining a roster update for over a decade and my modding output in general has been sporadic, the interest – indeed, the itch and the urge to mod – is still there. Lingering memories of burnout and the more finicky and frustrating aspects of modding don’t exactly help me to get motivated, but I also fondly recall the creative satisfaction of the hobby. It’s why I’ve dabbled here and there, without committing to any larger projects.

To that end, this isn’t some grand announcement of a huge return. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from other attempts at returning to modding over the past decade or so, it’s to avoid jumping the gun and announcing a big project that I can’t guarantee I’ll deliver on! At the same time, my casual dabbling with minimalist modding and other ideas has encouraged me to get more involved again, and even consider tinkering with NBA 2K25. I touched on this when I shared some of my roster mod philosophies, but as I envision a possible return to modding, it’s essential that I choose projects that appeal to my interests, not to mention suit my current habits on the virtual hardwood.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #548 of the NLSC Podcast!

Derrick Rose has officially retired from the NBA, and naturally, we have a few thoughts in the wake of his announcement, from fond memories to whether or not he should have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls. This also leads us to join the community in reminiscing about some other player retirements that had a profound affect on us, as well as undeserved reputations that players have had difficulty shaking. We also discuss some exciting upcoming modding projects that johnz1 has planned for the PlayStation 3 version of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, and provide an update on the modes that both we and the community are currently spending the most time with in NBA 2K25.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:37 — 43.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five ways that roster editing was lacking in the eighth generation NBA Live releases.

For all the insistence that the only reason to prefer or still enjoy old games is blind or wilfully ignorant nostalgia, experience has taught me that the opposite is often true. Sure, I love revisiting old favourites that hold up well, and to a certain point, my nostalgia and affection for them does smooth over some rough edges. At the same time, I’ve discovered that some old favourites haven’t aged as well as I thought upon revisiting them, while games I never played or indeed didn’t care for when they were new have impressed me. It’s a case-by-case matter, rather than an absolute either way.

To that end, going back and playing some eighth gen NBA Live titles with fresh eyes and no (or low) expectations has allowed me to enjoy them more, or at least notice some of their stronger points. Unfortunately, roster editing isn’t one of them! Despite being a staple feature of basketball games and sim titles in general, roster editing was severely lacking in the NBA Live games released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It’s a perfect example of how the series was lagging behind where it needed to be, as well as the vision for the series being out of step with what many long-time NBA Live fans wanted. Let’s take a look at the biggest roster editing shortcomings in those releases.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #547 of the NLSC Podcast!

Although we’re still playing NBA 2K25 and have a few updates on what we’ve been doing in it, we have been talking about the game at length for a number of shows now, so this week we’re putting it on the backburner. To that end, we recap a fun session playing NBA Live 06 PC with a work-in-progress ABA mod, and reflect on the league’s legacy and importance in the history of basketball. We also join the community in reminiscing about fun and weird ideas and approaches that we’ve employed in fantasy drafts, as well as some of the most memorable transactions – good or bad – that our favourite teams have made during all of our years following the NBA.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:14:41 — 51.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!