Custom Start Date Patch / ArtMoney Development Thread

[archibalduk]

This probably isn't of interest to many people, but I've uploaded a tool that allows you to adjust all of the contract expiry years for all players and staff. This will mostly be of interest to those looking to make a date-adjusted database (such as Lidas/Manimal v1.0 - v3.2) compatible with the CSD patch. It's also useful for those wanting to use a retro start date with retro rosters and possibly also those that are working on fantasy databases.

Here's a little more of a summary:

This tool allows you to do the following to all, or just a range of, contracts within the database:

1) Increase/decrease the expiries by any number of years.
2) Randomise each contract expiry (by setting it to 1900 which makes EHM generate a random date each time you start a new game).
3) Set contracts to a particular year.

Here's the download link: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =88&t=8337

I'm going to work on a similar tool for adjusting the player draft years as well. Basically, I want to create a set of tools that will allow users to easily convert any database to be compatible with the CSD Patch.

I'm also considering trying to create a tool that will adjust player CAs and will also allow some randomisation.

[Manimal]

I'm going to work on a similar tool for adjusting the player draft years as well. Basically, I want to create a set of tools that will allow users to easily convert any database to be compatible with the CSD Patch.

Could it be made possible to start adjusting from a specififc round of a year? The first seven rounds of the 2006 NHL draft in-game are real but from then on needs adjusting

[archibalduk]

I'm going to work on a similar tool for adjusting the player draft years as well. Basically, I want to create a set of tools that will allow users to easily convert any database to be compatible with the CSD Patch.

Could it be made possible to start adjusting from a specififc round of a year? The first seven rounds of the 2006 NHL draft in-game are real but from then on needs adjusting

Yes I'm fairly sure that's possible. So what have you done for the post 2006 NHL drafts? Does round 8 represent round 1 of the 2007 draft, round 9 represents round 2 of 2007, etc? Or is it simply that all post 2006 drafts have been put into just round 8? Did you do this just with the NHL or have other drafts been done like this?

Btw, I've completed my first attempt at a draft year editor and it works perfectly. I've used it with the 1974 DB along with my contract tool - I'm so close to getting the 1974 DB to work with a 1974 start date!

[Manimal]

I'm going to work on a similar tool for adjusting the player draft years as well. Basically, I want to create a set of tools that will allow users to easily convert any database to be compatible with the CSD Patch.

Could it be made possible to start adjusting from a specififc round of a year? The first seven rounds of the 2006 NHL draft in-game are real but from then on needs adjusting

Yes I'm fairly sure that's possible. So what have you done for the post 2006 NHL drafts? Does round 8 represent round 1 of the 2007 draft, round 9 represents round 2 of 2007, etc? Or is it simply that all post 2006 drafts have been put into just round 8? Did you do this just with the NHL or have other drafts been done like this?

Btw, I've completed my first attempt at a draft year editor and it works perfectly. I've used it with the 1974 DB along with my contract tool - I'm so close to getting the 1974 DB to work with a 1974 start date!

What we've done is to have all first rounds end with a 1 and so on. 2007 draft starts with round 11 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was drafted in round 51. Overall position is correct.

[archibalduk]

Okay, I see. So for example:

11 = 2007, round 1
12 = 2007, round 2
21 = 2008, round 1
22 = 2008, round 2 etc etc

I should be able to fix that. I'll just need to have a think about how to go about doing this. Will let you know.

[archibalduk]

What we've done is to have all first rounds end with a 1 and so on. 2007 draft starts with round 11 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was drafted in round 51. Overall position is correct.

I've had a try and yes, I can do this for you using the tool. I haven't tested it in EHM yet, but I can see from looking within the dat file itself that it should work. I'll try and finish it off over the course of this week and will upload the tool as soon as it is ready.

[Manimal]

Okay, I see. So for example:

11 = 2007, round 1
12 = 2007, round 2
21 = 2008, round 1
22 = 2008, round 2 etc etc

I should be able to fix that. I'll just need to have a think about how to go about doing this. Will let you know.

Yes, that is correct.

After running this program(and the contract tool), will the changes show up in the editor? I mean for future work.
Can I after I've run this add future drafts and contracts as they are IRL?

[archibalduk]

After running this program(and the contract tool), will the changes show up in the editor? I mean for future work.
Can I after I've run this add future drafts and contracts as they are IRL?

Yes, that's right. The tool does exactly the same thing as the Editor. It's exactly the same as using the date of birth adjustment tool within the Editor.

So once you have used the tool, you just continue to make changes in the Editor like you normally would. Once you have done this, you can add future drafts and contracts IRL.

[Manimal]

So once you have used the tool, you just continue to make changes in the Editor like you normally would. Once you have done this, you can add future drafts and contracts IRL.

Great!

[archibalduk]

So once you have used the tool, you just continue to make changes in the Editor like you normally would. Once you have done this, you can add future drafts and contracts IRL.

Great!

I've finished writing the tool and it works. All of the relevant players have their draft years correctly moved to the correct 2007/08/09/10/11 year. Also, their draft round is corrected as we discussed above (i.e. round 11 -> round 1 of 2007 etc). I've quickly skimmed through the draft history in EHM for the 2007-2011 drafts and it all looks okay apart from Petteri Simila doesn't have any draft data in the database (IRL he was drafted in 2009, round 9, pick #211 by Montreal but this was then traded to Pittsburgh). Is this because his draft rights have since been lost?

I'm just doing a two season sim in order to double-check there aren't any issues with the database. However, I don't expect that there will be - all I did was to automate exactly the same thing the Pre Editor does.

However, I did notice that the number of players drafted for each season doesn't tally with the numbers quoted by Wikipedia. As with Simila, perhaps it's because some draft rights have been lost???

This screenshot below shows how many players for each draft there are in the database:



These totals don't quite match what HockeyDB and Wikipedia say:

211 players drafted in 2007
211 players drafted in 2008
211 players drafted in 2009
210 players drafted in 2010
211 players drafted in 2011

1054 players drafted since 2006

I doubt this is an issue but thought I'd mention it in case it was significant.

[Manimal]

I guess it is misses from me (or Lidas)
The only way to check would be to look up the drafts in-game and see if anyone's missing (by going with the overall numbers)

[archibalduk]

I've tested the contracts tool and the draft years fix on the version of v4.0 you emailed me - it all works flawlessly!

P.s. will try and get the Draft Editing Tool uploaded tomorrow.

[archibalduk]

I've uploaded the Draft Editor here: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =88&t=8348

Use option number three in the exe and it'll convert the NHL draft dates automatically.

[Konstantinov16]

Hi, sorry but I think I might've posted a thread in the wrong forum earlier. I'm trying to get help with the custom start date patch... My NHL EHM 2007 program stops working when I apply the patch, essentially it crashes. I have tried both apply patch, start standard and windowed. Not sure what is causing this to happen. I have the required updates (.net 4.0 and C++ 2010), and the game works without applying the custom start date patch... When I try to apply the custom start date patch, it tells me that NHL EHM 2007 has stopped working... the generic Windows 7 error. Can anyone help please?

[archibalduk]

Hi, sorry but I think I might've posted a thread in the wrong forum earlier. I'm trying to get help with the custom start date patch... My NHL EHM 2007 program stops working when I apply the patch, essentially it crashes. I have tried both apply patch, start standard and windowed. Not sure what is causing this to happen. I have the required updates (.net 4.0 and C++ 2010), and the game works without applying the custom start date patch... When I try to apply the custom start date patch, it tells me that NHL EHM 2007 has stopped working... the generic Windows 7 error. Can anyone help please?

This is the wrong thread for questions like this. I've posted a reply for you in the Questions Thread: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 05#p129805

[archibalduk]

I've been looking into modifying the CSD Patch for use with the CD-ROM version of the game. I thought it would be reasonably straightforward and that the relevant offsets for the CD and eLicense versions would be relative to each other. I would have thought that the CD exe would be the same as the eLicense version except it wouldn't have the eLicense bits. It seems in reality that it's more complex than that.

I've found the main offset that affects the start date quite easily (it's 00C6 456E) but it doesn't behave in quite the same way as the eLicense version. When I change the offset to a new start year, it changes back to 2006 as soon as I click on the New Game button. I can get around this by using the "Freeze Offset" option in ArtMoney (it prevents anything further changing the offset). It would be useful to find what is causing this offset to be changed when clicking on the New Game button but I haven't found this yet. I'm not sure how I can freeze an offset from within my C++ CSD Patch...

I also have the problem of the 1st October crash. IIRC this relates to one of the junior international competitions. I solved this in the eLicense version by finding the correct offset and changing its value to the new start year (i.e. by changing it from 2006 to 2011 etc). However there are only roughly 20 offsets set to 2006 in the CD-ROM version (there are roughly 170 in the eLicense version). I've tried changing all of the offsets to the start year but it doesn't solve the October crash. I'm wondering if perhaps I ought to be fishing for offsets at the League Select screen rather than the Opening Main Menu screen.

This is a lot tougher than developing the eLicense version of the patch. This is also going to have significant implications for the League Structure Patch in terms of being compatible with the CD-ROM version.

[Konstantinov16]

I've been looking into modifying the CSD Patch for use with the CD-ROM version of the game. I thought it would be reasonably straightforward and that the relevant offsets for the CD and eLicense versions would be relative to each other. I would have thought that the CD exe would be the same as the eLicense version except it wouldn't have the eLicense bits. It seems in reality that it's more complex than that.

I've found the main offset that affects the start date quite easily (it's 00C6 456E) but it doesn't behave in quite the same way as the eLicense version. When I change the offset to a new start year, it changes back to 2006 as soon as I click on the New Game button. I can get around this by using the "Freeze Offset" option in ArtMoney (it prevents anything further changing the offset). It would be useful to find what is causing this offset to be changed when clicking on the New Game button but I haven't found this yet. I'm not sure how I can freeze an offset from within my C++ CSD Patch...

I also have the problem of the 1st October crash. IIRC this relates to one of the junior international competitions. I solved this in the eLicense version by finding the correct offset and changing its value to the new start year (i.e. by changing it from 2006 to 2011 etc). However there are only roughly 20 offsets set to 2006 in the CD-ROM version (there are roughly 170 in the eLicense version). I've tried changing all of the offsets to the start year but it doesn't solve the October crash. I'm wondering if perhaps I ought to be fishing for offsets at the League Select screen rather than the Opening Main Menu screen.

This is a lot tougher than developing the eLicense version of the patch. This is also going to have significant implications for the League Structure Patch in terms of being compatible with the CD-ROM version.

Sorry to hear you have run into some snags. I hope you can still make it happen, but at the same time I am sure there are a lot of happy GMs out there thankful for your work already.

[archibalduk]

all the milestone of the leagues are gone for some reasons. Every day there's a new OHL record for the team with the most goal over a season, etc.

I noticed this a couple of times in early testing too but I thought it had resolved itself. Perhaps not. I'll add it to my list of things to investigate. Thanks!

I've been taking a look at the NHL and team records using just the normal 2006 start date. I always thought there were more records listed, but apparently not. Is it normally this blank?

[nino33]

That's what it llooks like for me too in the "1974 db" (a modified default db)...so even without the patch there's a lot "missing" at start-up it seems (which actually pleases me LOL less I need to edit!)

[batdad]

If I recall...it has been fairly empty in records right from the start, and the game ends up recording what you do when you manage as alot of the records. There are alot of faulty ones as well, and in some cases (REGINA-WHL) when you break a record for most wins in a season or most points...it does not update. Seen it several places actaully outside the NHL>

[archibalduk]

Thanks both. I wonder if it is because the records data moved from a .cfg file to being part of the .dat database.

[archibalduk]

Sorry to hear you have run into some snags. I hope you can still make it happen, but at the same time I am sure there are a lot of happy GMs out there thankful for your work already.

A CD version of the Patch is looking very doubtful. I'm going to keep trying but I don't have much optimism. It's a bit of a shame as it'll likely drive CD users to seek out the cracked eLicense exe...

It's looking possible that the League Structure Update will be compatible with the CD Rom version. However I suppose that's little comfort if the start date can't be changed.

I'll keep on experimenting...

[ElQuapo]

A CD version of the Patch is looking very doubtful. I'm going to keep trying but I don't have much optimism

That's sad news

Hope you somehow get it to work.

I remember I actually searched for, and bought, the cd-version, as I thought it would be more secure for the future - should e-license go out of business or so. Seems it might turn out quite the opposite

[archibalduk]

Work on the next version of the patch is going very well. The main difference people will notice is that it looks a little tidier and it fixes the CHL Draft issue. However, there are a lot more checks, etc that run in the background which will help me troubleshoot when people run into difficulty. I still need to do a bit more work on it and I want to rewrite the readme, but I'm on track to release it within possibly a week or two.

[CeeBee]

Archi, that looks great. Very professional looking and even I can understand it.