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 challenges we face while trying to capture historical screenshots.

Between the topics I cover in various articles and my retro gaming habits involving classic teams and matchups, I’m often capturing screenshots of historical scenarios. Needless to say, there are some challenges when it comes to trying to snap the ideal shot. Obviously, many of them apply to virtual hardwood photography in general. From technical limitations to the available content to difficulty in staging everything the way you see it in your mind, the final result may not be exactly what you want. Of course, other times the results can be extremely satisfying.

To that end, I really enjoy firing up a game, tinkering with the rosters as necessary, and finding ways to stage historical scenarios for some great screenshots! Indeed, on top of using historical screenshots to illustrate the facts and trivia that I’m writing about, the theme of a number of my features in recent years has basically revolved around virtual pictures speaking their proverbial thousand words. Not only has this allowed me to indulge my nostalgia and love of NBA history, but it’s been fun trying my hand at some more visually creative content. Once again though, these historical screenshots come with several challenges, though tackling them has been rewarding.

Read More »

We’re still seeing some mod releases for NBA 2K16, hinting at its potential to be kept alive with new work. Obviously it helps to have the right tools for the job, and to that end, Nba2kfadeaway has uploaded a utility that aids in converting WAV files to OGG files, facilitating audio mods. Check it out at the link below!

Nba2kfadeaway
NBA 2K16 WAV to OGG Converter

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.

We have a couple of new mod releases for NBA 2K14 today; well, a new mod, and an updated modding tool! Pep has released a 2026 season court update for the Orlando Magic, while Nba2kfadeaway has uploaded a translated version of 3dmgame’s IFF Export & Import utility. Pick up both of today’s NBA 2K14 mod releases at the links below!

Pep
2025 KIA Center (Orlando Magic Court)

3dmgame (Translated by Nba2kfadeaway)
NBA 2K14 IFF Export & Import English Version

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 revisiting the 16-bit version of NBA Live 96 – with a focus on the SNES release – and seeing if it can be updated for 1996.

Thirty years ago, the 1995-96 NBA season was in its early stages. It turned out to be one of the most iconic campaigns in league history, with the Chicago Bulls becoming the first team to win 70 games on route to their fourth championship of the decade. However, months earlier the season had been in jeopardy, owing to the lockout of 1995. That lockout is often overlooked as a new collective bargaining agreement was ultimately reached well in time to avoid losing any games. However, it led to various 1996 season video games launching with outdated rosters.

This includes the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive versions of NBA Live 96. While the PC and PlayStation versions were released later and thus weren’t affected by the lockout, the 16-bit versions had to ship with 1995 season rosters. This also led to that version including the Expansion Draft for the Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors, as well as a bevy of unlockable players. With these features, as well as the addition of roster customisation outside Season mode, is it possible to properly update 16-bit NBA Live 96 for the 1996 season? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 talking about how I enjoy tinkering with rosters.

I know I’ve said it many times before, but it’s been an absolute joy to change up my basketball gaming habits in recent years. Because I’m no longer forcing myself to play the newest game even if I don’t enjoy it, I’ve also broken the habit of grinding away in MyCAREER year after year. I’m also not beholden to any MyTEAM Agendas, and I’m avoiding the online scene. Stepping away from those modes and leaning towards retro gaming has created time for other activities on the virtual hardwood, and that’s made basketball gaming as fun as it’s ever been for me.

Obviously, this includes playing into my seventh year of an NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, and at long last returning to franchise gaming; solo in NBA Live 16, and co-op with Dee in NBA 2K9. I’ve also played through 24/7 mode in NBA 2K6 and NBA 2K7, and hit The Streets in NBA Live 18 and NBA Live 19. Something that I’ve really had fun with however is just playing an assortment of exhibition games in titles that I’ve been drawn to. That in turn has led to me tinkering with the rosters of various games. Although that can lead to more in-depth projects that I’ll release publicly – such as my minimalist 2005 roster for NBA 2K6 – I’ve had a blast just casually editing rosters.

Read More »

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 Michael Jordan in NBA Live 2004.

These days, we think of Visual Concepts as the company to bring Michael Jordan to the virtual hardwood. After all, he’s been available as a Legend since NBA 2K11, we’ve had two iterations of the Jordan Challenge, and he’s graced the cover of four editions of the game. However, long before NBA 2K was celebrating His Airness, he was closely associated with EA Sports. From licensing him for the NBA Playoffs series as he disappeared from other early 90s titles, to games such as Jordan vs. Bird, Michael Jordan in Flight and Chaos in the Windy City, it was EA who brought us MJ.

Of course, the last time that Michael Jordan made an official appearance in an EA Sports game was in NBA Live 2004. Indeed, until NBA 2K11, it marked the last time that he was officially featured in any video games. Needless to say, adding him to the Legends Pool and 90s All-Stars was an annual task for our modding community from NBA Live 2005 through NBA Live 08, so we were still able to play with him on PC. There was something special about official appearances though, especially given MJ’s absence from the virtual hardwood in the late 90s. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 mods that I’ve wanted to make for NBA Live 96 PC over the years.

As I’ve said before, NBA Live 96 PC is one of my all-time favourite basketball video games. Indeed, it’s one of the very first basketball video games that I owned, and the title that led me to discover the NLSC and modding way back in 1997. As such, even though other titles have surpassed NBA Live 96 in my personal rankings, I have great affection and nostalgia for it. Those fond memories come rushing back whenever I fire it up for a retro gaming session, or pick up the tools to tinker with it once again. In short, it’s brought me a great deal of joy over the years, and continues to do so.

Of course, when it comes to making NBA Live 96 mods, I do have a few regrets. That includes criticism of my efforts to update the game for the 1998 season all those years ago, but some of my biggest regrets with NBA Live 96 are the mods that I didn’t get to make. In some cases I made some preliminary preparations for a project, or even managed some early progress on a mod, only for it to fall through. Obviously, I could still probably attempt some of these projects as I’m all for creating fun mods for my own sessions with NBA Live 96, but it’s hard to justify that much work for such an old game. Nevertheless, here are five NBA Live 96 mods I’ve always wanted to make.

Read More »

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 combining past and present by creating some 2026 rosters in NBA Live 19.

Much as I was getting back into NBA Live 18 prior to its server shutdown last year, I’ve been on a bit of an NBA Live 19 kick this year. To that end, you can expect to see it covered in future Wayback Wednesday features, including a new retrospective that reflects my current opinion of the game. It probably isn’t a huge spoiler to reveal that I’m enjoying it far more than I have previously! Indeed, my enjoyment has led to a playthrough of The Streets World Tour, completing a Legends Fantasy Challenge in Ultimate Team, and even customising the game’s rosters.

That brings us to the topic at hand: 2026 rosters, as represented by NBA Live 19! Portraying the present with a game from the past has become an enjoyable staple of my retro basketball gaming. Previously, I revisited NBA Live 10 to see how many players were still active in 2021 and 2024. Creating 2024 lineups in NBA 2K14 led to a couple of games using those makeshift rosters. Earlier this year, I played NBA Live 18 using a minimalist 2025 roster update. And now, with the 2026 season underway, I’m demonstrating how it looks in NBA Live 19! Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 importance of playing with your own roster mods.

There have definitely been people over the years who are more interested in creating mods for basketball video games than hitting the virtual hardwood. Far be it from me to tell anyone else how to enjoy their leisure time, but that has always struck me as a little odd. Obviously there’s tremendous creative satisfaction in modding, but to me, mods are meant to enhance the gameplay experience. There are limitations to what we can achieve through modding of course, which is why I’d ultimately prefer a fun game that we can’t really mod to one that’s modder-friendly, but a poor on-court experience.

With that being said, the best and most popular games in our community throughout the years are the ones that were highly moddable, while also being great out of the box. As such, current roster updates, retro roster mods, and total conversions have all made some fantastic games even better. Because they take time to make however, if you’re creating one of those big projects, you may not always get to enjoy the fruits of your labour. I can certainly attest to this! It is important that we spend some time playing with our own roster mods, though. After all, not only should we be able to have fun with what we created, but it’s essential to becoming a better roster maker.

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #600 of the NLSC Podcast!

It’s the 600th Episode of the NLSC Podcast! A huge shout out to all of our listeners and the NLSC community at large for continuing to support all of our content throughout the years! To mark the milestone, this week we’re simply getting on the mics to chat about basketball gaming. We share our latest thoughts on NBA 2K26, and reflect on some of the other games that we’re currently playing, including our NBA 2K9 Association. We also once again touch on the joy of Virtual Hardwood Legends, discuss how realism can sometimes feel unrealistic in basketball video games, and share some interesting roster trivia about real players and their virtual counterparts alike.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 49:32 — 113.7MB)

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #598 of the NLSC Podcast!

Why do we still play basketball video games after all these years? This week, we discuss the factors that keep us hooked on the virtual hardwood, from a love of competition and shared experiences with friends and family to the way that it allows us to feel connected to and indeed more informed about our favourite sport. In fact, through a combination of modding, new releases, and a library of old favourites to revisit, we’re arguably enjoying basketball gaming as much as ever with the options that we have at our disposal nowadays! We also reflect on the lingering stigma surrounding gaming as an adult, and push back on the notion that it’s a childish hobby that needs to be left behind.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 51:34 — 35.8MB)

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!

One of the biggest challenges with NBA 2K modding since NBA 2K15 has been keeping tools and mods themselves working with games as they’re updated. The latest patch for NBA 2K26 has caused some issues with getting modded IFF files to work, as the game is now stricter about file structures, specifically certain compression formats. To that end, Looyh has created a tool that will get those custom files working once again.

In addition to allowing everyone to use mods as normal, the tool is also useful for modders who want to ensure that their future releases will work in the wake of Patch 1.4. As Looyh notes, it’s unclear if this is just a temporary situation caused by the latest update, as the change appears to have been made for better efficiency when loading files. In any case, we now have the Fixer tool to get modded IFF files working again in NBA 2K26.

You can pick it up here in our Downloads database! A big thanks as always to Looyh for all the work he does for NBA 2K modding. In case you missed it, Looyh’s File Explorer tool for NBA 2K26 was also released a couple of weeks ago, and can be downloaded here.

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 reminiscing about the time that I took an NBA Live 96 PC season on the road.

I don’t need many excuses to nostalgically reminisce about 1998! As tumultuous as our teenage years can be, it was an exciting time for my younger self. In the NBA, there was The Last Dance for the Chicago Bulls. It’s the year that I became a fan of professional wrestling, with the Attitude Era and Monday Night Wars in full swing. The Simpsons was still in its golden age. I also made new friends that would end up impacting my life more than I could’ve ever expected. Oh, and I also became an uncle at 13 when my nephew was born in January (my brother is 16 years older than me).

Indeed, it’s my nephew that inspired this walk down memory lane. More specifically, he got married earlier this month, and he and his wife are expecting a daughter, so I’ll soon be a great uncle. On top of being proud of and happy for him, it’s also a reminder of how time flies, as it seems like only yesterday that we were waiting to meet him! Thinking about how those 27 years sometimes seem like they went by in a blink, I’ve recalled how a trip to attend his christening produced a basketball gaming memory: playing NBA Live 96 PC on the road. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

In excellent news for NBA 2K26 modding, Looyh has released a File Explorer for this year’s game! For those who are unfamiliar with the tool, it allows modders to browse and export assets from NBA 2K’s archives. Pick up the latest version at the link below, and thanks as always to Looyh for helping out the community with essential utilities such as the NBA 2K26 File Explorer!

Looyh
NBA2K26 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.

As you may have noticed, our NBA 2K26 Downloads sections, Forums, and other resources were added while NBA 2K26 was in early access. Now that the game is available for one and all, I figured that an official announcement regarding our various facilities was in order!

For all general discussion, there’s the main NBA 2K26 board. Feel free to share your impressions of the game, as well as discuss any other topics that aren’t related to modding! As usual, there’s a separate section for all modding discussion and mod releases, as well as a section to compile tutorials and FAQs. Modders, please feel free to contribute to both!

You’ll also find a section for NBA 2K26 in our Downloads database, with different subsections for different types of mods. For those who are unaware, we provide free hosting to the community for files up to 150 MB. You can also add your work to the database using external links. All you need is an NLSC Forum account, which of course is free to register. This step-by-step video guide will explain how to use our upload facilities.

As for our Wiki, you’ll find the main article for NBA 2K26 here, and an update history complete with patch notes here. As with our other Wiki resources, we definitely appreciate any help from the community in keeping them updated! You’ll also find our portal for NBA 2K26 here. We’ll be looking to revamp the game portals at some point, but for now they remain a handy index for all of our resources for NBA 2K and NBA Live titles.

Thank you to the folks who have already added mods for NBA 2K26 to our Downloads database, and everyone in the community who continues to contribute in one way or another, including joining in the discussions in our Forum and Discord server. As we prepare for another year of playing, modding, and covering a new release, a reminder that we’re by basketball gamers, for basketball gamers. To that end, if there’s any way that we can improve our facilities and better serve the community, please let us know! Also be sure to tell us what you think of NBA 2K26 so far, and stay tuned to the NLSC Podcast for further impressions.