Tag Archives: Modding

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #522 of the NLSC Podcast!

Obviously we’re big fans of and advocates for PC gaming, but are the benefits worth the drawbacks and potential expense in 2024? You can probably guess our short answer to that question, but nevertheless, this week we join the community in discussing the pros and cons of PC gaming – basketball and otherwise – while also recommending price ranges for anyone in the market for a new rig. We also share our expectations as far as NBA 2K25 coming out on PC and possibly being a port of the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X version, talk about Steam sales and other bargain hunting, and preview some roster projects for NBA 2K6 on Xbox 360 while once again encouraging minimalist modding on all platforms.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:22:42 — 57.2MB)

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 with a clear message for Take-Two: when it comes to historical players, CTC; cut the cheque!

Browse the classic teams or the lineups in MyNBA Eras, and you’ll be able to compile a lengthy list of players who are missing. Now, getting everyone into the historical rosters in NBA 2K is easier said than done, and it’s unlikely we’ll ever see complete lineups outside of community-made projects. It should also be noted that 2K has made significant strides here, working diligently with Kenny Gattison – former NBA player and now Vice President of membership and Player Programming for the NBRPA – to get more alumni onto the virtual hardwood.

Even with his assistance, it’s not an easy task. Some players are difficult to track down, while others may not be interested in participating. If they’ve passed away, their family may be understandably reluctant to sign over their likeness rights. And of course, other players may simply be unimpressed by the offer Take-Two has made to them. In fact, three of the biggest names who remain absent – Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Rasheed Wallace – have been pretty clear that they’re dissatisfied with 2K’s pitch to be in the games. Indeed, when Sheed was asked about his absence, his response was CTC; cut the cheque! As such, I believe Take-Two should cough up.

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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 my Franchise game with the Minnesota Timberwolves in NBA Live 2003.

I’ve had a number of memorable franchise and career mode games over the years. My Dynasty games with the Chicago Bulls in NBA Live 2004 and NBA Live 06 are among my all-time favourite basketball gaming experiences. Likewise, I had a blast with MyCAREER in NBA 2K13, NBA 2K17, and NBA 2K19, and I’m still playing through the mode in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. At the same time, I’ve had some games where I haven’t achieved completion or closure, such as my 1998 season in NBA Live 96 PC, and my Sacramento Kings Franchise in NBA Live 2002.

My Franchise with the Minnesota Timberwolves in NBA Live 2003 PC is another example of a “failed” game. Of course, labelling such games as “failures” probably isn’t the right way of looking at things. I’d actually like to delve into that topic in more depth sometime, but my Timberwolves Franchise does stand as an example of how completion is what we make it. Or, to put it another way, as long as it was fun while it lasted, it’s ultimately neither a failure nor wasted time. That Franchise was certainly memorable for me even if it wasn’t successful, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #521 of the NLSC Podcast!

Could an unlicensed basketball video game possibly provide a viable alternative to NBA 2K, assuming that it had great gameplay, deep customisation and sharing options, a robust franchise mode, and a price tag of $39.99 USD? This week, we join the community in discussing this very intriguing idea, while drawing comparisons to old titles such as World League Basketball and other unlicensed sports games. It’s safe to say that there’s interest in the concept, but certainly some valid concerns as well. We also take a look back at NBA 2K8 for PlayStation 3 following a co-op Parsec session that sadly ended far too abruptly, and share an encouraging injury update with our listeners.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:46 — 52.4MB)

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!

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 a look at the concept of Video Game Teams.

Dee and I have mentioned “Video Game Teams” and “Virtual Hardwood Legends” on several episodes of the NLSC Podcast. That’s because they’re part of some of our favourite basketball gaming memories, and I know that we’re definitely not alone in that regard. There have been many articles and posts from basketball and other sports gamers who fondly recall players and teams that were dominant in video games – even unstoppable – irrespective of their real life performance. Indeed, video games are undoubtedly responsible for gamers becoming fans of certain teams and players!

At the same time, enthusiasm for the real sport frequently determines our choices in video games. For example, we’re more likely to use our favourite players and teams – if we have them – because there’s already some degree of emotional investment. We’ll also seek out a change of pace though, and if we’re passionate about the sport and its history, we’ll recreate interesting scenarios and historical showdowns. Over the years, we’ve seen many busts that become superstars on the virtual hardwood, and teams that fared much better in games. They’re often a blast to play with, but as the term “Video Game Teams” might be somewhat ambiguous, I figured I’d take a shot at defining it.

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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 my recent interest in college basketball video games, particularly EA’s NCAA series.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles and on our podcast, I didn’t grow up playing college basketball games, as issues with international licensing rights prevented them from being released outside of North America. With no PAL versions of the games, it was usually unfeasible to import them, since they wouldn’t work on the hardware that I own. Of course, college basketball itself isn’t as popular in Australia as the NBA or our own NBL are, so I’ve always had a more casual interest in the NCAA anyway. At the same time, I was intrigued by college basketball video games.

After all, I loved playing with the fictional players in World League Basketball, which of course was originally a college hoops title that was rebranded for PAL regions. I also read previews of NCAA games with a degree of envy, my interest piqued by mechanics such as momentum meters, the ability to shatter the backboard, and the inclusion of classic teams. When a friend gifted me his old PlayStation 3 back in 2019, I was finally able to add a few college basketball games to my collection. It was satisfying to track them down and finally check them out after all this time, as well as write about them. Recently however, they’ve been getting more time in my rotation.

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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 the evolution of roster mods in our community.

As technological improvements have led to the development of bigger and better basketball video games, our expectations have changed. What were once cutting-edge graphics are no longer impressive. What was once a deep and engaging mode now seems shallow compared to what’s available in a newer game…usually! This isn’t to say that old games are bad and not worth playing. I wouldn’t be diving into basketball gaming history, or advocating for retro gaming, if I didn’t see value in older titles! Still, we always want to see the genre make advancements, so the bar does get raised.

The same goes for modding over the years. While we made some fantastic roster mods for the early NBA Live games on PC, there were limitations to what we could change and include. As it became easier to modify textures and models in addition to player and team data, there was an expectation that roster mods would become more comprehensive. This led to a golden age of NBA Live modding that has since been continued with the NBA 2K series, but in some ways, it’s also been detrimental to the hobby. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 advice to not allow imperfection get in the way of having fun on the virtual hardwood.

When it comes to sim basketball games – or sim sports titles in general – accuracy is obviously the name of the game. Inaccuracies, whether aesthetic or gameplay-related, stick out like a sore thumb. We have a similar philosophy when it comes to modding. Missing or incorrectly assigned art updates, inaccurate ratings, or some other mistake, will not go unnoticed. Perfection is a lofty and indeed impossible goal, but developers and modders alike strive to come as close to it as possible. At some point of course, we do need to make peace with some level of imperfection.

In fact, it’s important to not let imperfection stifle or stand in the way of fun. Again, this isn’t to say that accuracy isn’t important or something to aim for. However, by focusing on imperfections or allowing limitations to shoot down an otherwise good idea, you’re robbing yourself of a good time on the virtual hardwood. You can and certainly should point out errors, and constructively criticise aspects of games and mods that could stand to improve. There are undoubtedly times when an imperfection will detract from the experience. With that being said, as the saying goes, perfection is the enemy of good, and the pursuit of it can often stand in the way of our enjoyment.

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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 reasons that NBA Live 06 PC is the best game in the NBA Live series.

I can’t stand manufactured, hot take-driven, performative debate, whether it’s about basketball, basketball video games, or anything really. I prefer nuanced discussion, though when it comes to basketball gaming, I don’t have many controversial opinions to begin with. However, I do have one opinion that you, my fellow virtual hardwood enthusiasts, might vehemently disagree with. Specifically, NBA Live 06 PC – and that’s an important distinction – is my pick for the best game in the NBA Live series. All personal enjoyment and nostalgia aside, I believe that it has a strong case.

Yes, even stronger than NBA Live 10, NBA Live 2000, NBA Live 2005, NBA Live 2004, NBA Live 95…you name it! It’s not that I don’t think those games rank among the best releases in the NBA Live series. They’re also all personal favourites, as I’ve previously discussed. I also won’t pretend that NBA Live 06 PC is perfect, because that’s an impossible expectation of any basketball video game, be it NBA Live, NBA 2K, NBA Jam, or another series. Once again though, I do believe that there are some compelling arguments for NBA Live 06 PC being the best game in the NBA Live series, and to that end, here are the five main reasons why it deserves that distinction.

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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 an essential modding utility in the early days of our community: the NBA Live Toolkit.

In some respects, roster editing in basketball video games has come a long way. We have access to animation packages, salary data, and other attributes that used to be hidden. At the same time, the in-game roster customisation tools still have many of the same drawbacks as they did in much earlier games. There are still attributes and bio data that we can’t edit or add for created players, or even modify for original players. Placeholder players are still difficult to deal with, as they’re not completely customisable. To make truly detailed roster mods, we need external editing tools.

Fortunately, talented people in the community have been able to step up and develop roster editing tools throughout the years. It began with our founders’ editors for the early NBA Live games, Vl@d took on the challenge for the burgeoning NBA 2K modding scene, and Looyh continues to carry the torch today. It hasn’t been easy, with executable and save files needing to be mapped and decoded. However, editing roster files did become easier with the adoption of the DBF format, and the process was further simplified by the NBA Live Toolkit. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 thoughts on the novelty of updating older games for new seasons, and modding retro seasons into newer games.

Although I wish we had more than just NBA 2K coming out every year, the fact that we do still have an annual release means that we can always play with current rosters. If we do feel like revisiting a past season, it’s as easy as dusting off an old favourite, stepping into an interactive almanac as it were. We can have a blast exploring NBA history and keeping up with the current league alike via the virtual hardwood, simply by having an array of games on hand. What I’m getting at here is that we’re not reliant on customising any single game in order to experience different seasons.

Of course, while full season mods aren’t necessary, they’re still fantastic! There’s a real novelty in seeing contemporary players in a game that came out long before they were in the league, or indeed, before they were even born! Likewise, an authentic re-creation of the league from decades ago in a modern video game is a joy to behold. That novelty is why I’ll always advocate for going back and tinkering with an older game, or getting creative with a newer one. In both cases – older rosters in a newer game, or newer rosters in an older one – it’s an interesting combination of nostalgia and appreciation for the contemporary, leading to an enjoyable gaming experience.

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March is here once again, and that means we’re tipping off the seventh annual March Modness! If you’re unfamiliar with the event, throughout the month of March, we make it a point to celebrate our modding community. Modding is always going to be an evergreen activity here at the NLSC, but March Modness is a time to reflect on the hobby, and ideally get even more productive and creative.

As always, this celebration includes a giveaway. If you upload a mod for any basketball video game to our Downloads section during March 2024, and include “March Modness” in the description, you’re automatically in the draw to win a copy of NBA 2K25 PC later this year (full terms and conditions can be found below). Congratulations once again to last year’s winner, Pep!

I’ll also be covering some topics related to modding in my weekly articles, and I’m certain that Dee and I will be discussing mods on the NLSC Podcast as well. Once again, I’ll be looking to spend some time in the “workshop” myself, with an eye to at least releasing a couple of small mods here and there; especially since I’m on such a retro gaming kick these days!

Hopefully, we can all look forward to a fun celebration of modding this March, and some great releases from our talented community. Thanks as always to everyone who contributes to our Downloads section, and supports the modding community here at the NLSC! We really do appreciate people freely sharing their work with their fellow gamers.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #516 of the NLSC Podcast!

Suffice to say, we’ve been on a major NBA Live kick lately! To that point, we’ve got some extremely enjoyable sessions with NBA Live 97, NBA Live 2004, NBA Live 06 (both versions), NBA Live 09, and NBA Live 10 to recap. We also join the community in reflecting on the NBA Live titles that we’ve spent the most time with over the years. On a less positive note, 2K has reached a whole new level of greed with NBA 2K24 MyTEAM. In addition to expressing our disgust, we commend some content creators for (finally) speaking out about these issues. We wrap up this week’s show with a celebration of Michael Jordan’s birthday, as we and our listeners share our fondest memories of MJ on the real and virtual hardwood alike.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 2:00:17 — 83.0MB)

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 with some reflections on the bygone practice of creating ourselves in basketball video games, long before we had MyPLAYERs.

When we think about creating players in basketball video games these days, it’s usually to either add a missing player to the current or historical rosters, or to create our avatar for career mode play. It makes sense, of course. Even though we have official roster updates, community rosters are not outmoded. Indeed, they’re essential as far as adding retro players that can’t be licensed. Career modes have been popular since their introduction, and have only become a bigger part of basketball gaming with the advent of the connected online team play experiences.

Obviously, we’ve been creating rosters and career mode avatars for years now. Although not everyone chooses to give their MyPLAYERs their real name and face – either via a scan or a close-enough approximation with the in-game creation tools – many of us do or previously have created ourselves for use in MyCAREER. Most of my MyPLAYERs have been “me”, aside from the fictional scenario where I’m good enough to play in the NBA! However, long before MyCAREER and its connected modes, many of us created ourselves on the virtual hardwood. It may seem like a quaint notion nowadays, but it was fun thing to do before we had these deep modes.

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Long-time community member Murat (aka Badger) has been working on some fixes for NBA Live PC that will aid with retro gaming. They include a Widescreen Fix and Windowed Mode for NBA Live 2005, NBA Live 06, NBA Live 07, and NBA Live 08. Pick up the Widescreen Fix here, and the Windowed Mode fix here.

In addition to the Widescreen Fix and Windowed Mode Fix for the last four NBA Live games on PC, Murat has been dabbling with some other useful modifications. These include creating custom plugins for games, something that could potentially open up fantastic new retro modding possibilities. They require the FIFA Manager ASI Loader, and accordingly, Murat has uploaded both a DirectDraw and DirectX9 version in anticipation of further releases.

Helping gamers to play these classics on modern operating systems remains a goal of ours, and Murat has helped out by uploading a few more fixed executable files to the Game Fixes section of our Downloads database. If you have any retro gaming tutorials or resources to share, then we’d certainly welcome them!

A big thanks to Murat for providing these resources, and his continued research into developing mods and fixes for some classic NBA Live releases. He’s been sharing some updates in the NLSC Discord, so if you’d like to check them out, feel free to join! Be sure to head to the modding-discussion channel for the latest details.