Custom Start Date Patch & Retro Launcher: Questions & Errors

[ElPayaso]

Hi!

I'm new here at TBL but I've been following the progress of this patch and I recently tried it out and can't get it to work for me. I've read this whole thread and i've pretty much tried everything.

I run the i-license version of the game and my OS is Vista. When I try the patch I don't get any errors or anything but when I try starting a new game it still says 2006, I've done everything it says in the readme (downloading the programs and run-as-admin-stuf) but it just won't work. Now I've tried the CSD Checker and it looks like everything is in order but once again, it still says 2006. What should I do?

[archibalduk]

Hi ElPayaso. Welcome to TBL!

It sounds like you have the same problem as Viking. I plan on posting some suggestions tomorrow when I have a spare moment. Check back in about 20 hours time and I should have posted by then.

[batdad]

I got the new patch installed. Game started just fine. DOne nothing with it. But I am proud of my ancient self.

[archibalduk]

Nice to hear! I have to admit that when redesigning the user interface and rewriting the readme file, I was frequently asking myself "is this Batdad-friendly?"!

[archibalduk]

As promised, here are some instructions to help see if we can get to the bottom of the difficulties being encountered by Viking, Smetana and ElPayaso.

I know this looks like a lot of steps, but it's just so that I'm (hopefully) as clear as possible. The instructions shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to carry out.

Viking - You can ignore steps 1 - 5 and 14 - 17 as you have already done these.

1) Download the CSD Checker from here (the file named CSD Checker v1.2b2.zip). Extract the .exe file to your desktop. If using Windows Vista or 7, right-click on the .exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Tick the box titled 'Run this program as an adminstrator'. Click on OK.

2) Load EHM 2007 (without using the CSD Patch). Do not click on any buttons in EHM; just leave it at the opening main menu screen.

3) Load CSD Checker. A screen will load up and it should look exactly like this:



4) Close the CSD Checker window. In EHM, click on New Game and see what the start date appears on the League Select Screen. If it works then you do not need to follow any more of the instructions. If it doesn't work then continue following these instructions below:

5) Exit EHM.

6) Download and install ArtMoney (Freeware).

7) Load EHM 2007 (without using the CSD Patch). Do not click on any buttons in EHM; just leave it at the opening main menu screen.

8) Load ArtMoney. If you are using Windows Vista or 7 then you must run as administrator (right click on the ArtMoney shortcut/exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Tick the box titled 'Run this program as an adminstrator'. Click on OK.)

9) Select the EHM process from the top drop-down menu in ArtMoney:



10) Click on the Search button and search for 3.0.4 text using the following search settings:



11) The search results will be displayed in the left-hand section of the window. Just to the right of the search results is a button with a blue arrow on it. Click on this button to move all of the search results to the right-hand section of the window:



12) At the bottom of the window, click on the Save button. Save the file as 304.amt.

13) At the bottom of the window, click on the Clear button. This will clear the right-hand section.

14) Click on the Search button and search for 2006 integer using the following search settings:



15) This should return approximately 180 results. Click on the blue arrow again to move the results to the right hand section.

16) At the bottom of the window, click on the Save button. Save the file as 2006.amt.

17) At the bottom of the window, click on the Clear button. This will clear the right-hand section.

18) In EHM, click on the New Game button. This will bring you to the League Select Screen.

19) In ArtMoney, click on the Search button and search for 2006 integer within the custom range 00C60000 - 00CFFFFF like so:



20) Click on the blue arrow again to move the results to the right hand section.

21) From the menu at the top of the screen click on Edit -> Select All. This will select all of the values in right-hand section.

22) From the menu at the top of the screen click on Edit -> Set Value. In the Set Value window, enter 2007 with step 1 (ensure you do enter 1 as the step and don't miss it). Then Click on OK.



23) In EHM, click on the Select All button at the top of the League Select Screen. This is the button that selects all of the leagues as Enhanced.

24) At the bottom of the EHM screen, click on the drop down menu entitled Game Start Date. Hopefully it will look something like this:



25) Make a note of the start years listed for Finland, North America, Norway and Germany. For example, in the screenshot above the relevant years are 2010, 2012, 2032 and 2034.

26) Look through the list in ArtMoney (in the right-hand section) and find the years you noted (the four you will have noted down in step 25) within the Value column. Then make a note of the corresponding addresses for each year/value (you'll see the addresses in the Address column just to the left of the Value column). E.g. when I look up my examples, I find that Norway (2032) is 00C6AB30 and Germany (2034) is 00C6AB6E:



27) Email the following details to me:

• Your TBL username
• The 304.amt file
• The 2006.amt file
• The addresses for Finland, North America, Norway and Germany.

As a last-ditch I do have something else you could try, but let's start with the above first.

[Smetana]

I haven't given up on this, Archi, I've just been incredibly busy and it had fallen down the priority list. I'll try to find some time today or tomorrow to give this a go. Thanks again for your efforts on this matter.

[Viking]

Email sent.

[archibalduk]

Hey ElPayaso & Viking. Thanks for the emails. Unfortunately it looks like the 2006.amt for ElPayaso wasn't prepared quite correctly but the other information was enough for me to look at.

The info you both provided shows that the data in the RAM is identical to that of mine (and indeed everybody else using the eLicense version). I'm at a complete loss as to why it's not working for you.

You might be able to try getting around it by doing this:

1) Download this file:

00C6 Start Date Offsets.amt

2) Load EHM 2007.

3) Load the CSD Patch in order to apply the custom start date. An alternative to using the Patch is to use the CSD Checker which can be downloaded HERE (it is the file named CSD Checker v1.2b2.zip)). I recommend using the Patch rather than the Checker if possible.

4) In EHM, click on the New Game button and select a database. This will take you to the League Select screen.

5) Load ArtMoney (using admin privileges again). Click on the Load button and select the file you just downloaded. If you get a message asking whether you want to convert to 64-bit mode, click on No.

6) Ensure that EHM is selected in the process drop-down menu:



7) At the top menu, click on Edit -> Select All.

8) At the top menu, click on Edit -> Set Value. In the Set Value box, enter the value as 2011 and the step as 0 (it is essential this is set to zero). This will set all of the values in the right-hand section as 2011.

9) In EHM, select the leagues you want and click on OK to start a new game. Don't worry if the game start date on the league select screen still says 2006.

10) Try simming until 2nd October of the first season (do not exit EHM before reaching this point). Does it start with the 2011/12 season and does it crash on 1st October?

[Viking]

If I do the above, the game starts 2011 and the game sims beyond October 2:nd without any problems. That must be good news, right?

[archibalduk]

If I do the above, the game starts 2011 and the game sims beyond October 2:nd without any problems. That must be good news, right?

Yes, that's very good news! Ordinarily, the game would crash on 1st October if you just used that .amt file I gave you. Clearly the CSD Patch/Checker is having some effect after all because there are changes within the Patch/Checker that prevent the crashes.

You'll have to experiment, but I don't think you'll need to use ArtMoney unless you want to start a new game. If you're reloading a game, I think you can probably get away with just applying the Patch (i.e. load EHM using the Patch and then click on Load Game / Load Last Game) without having to use ArtMoney.

Here are some things to check to see whether it is all working as it should:

• You can sim until 1 July at the end of season 1 without any problems;
• The Canadian Juniors pre-draft rankings show a full list of players (i.e. not just one or two players);
• The correct teams are selected for the World Championships;
• If you have the Finnish and/or Russian leagues, you don't get any errors or crashes around April/May/June of the first season;
• Post 2005/06 player career histories appear (you won't be able to test this one until we have added player career histories to the database).

Let me know how it goes.

[ElPayaso]

If I do the above, the game starts 2011 and the game sims beyond October 2:nd without any problems. That must be good news, right?

Yes, that's very good news! Ordinarily, the game would crash on 1st October if you just used that .amt file I gave you. Clearly the CSD Patch/Checker is having some effect after all because there are changes within the Patch/Checker that prevent the crashes.

You'll have to experiment, but I don't think you'll need to use ArtMoney unless you want to start a new game. If you're reloading a game, I think you can probably get away with just applying the Patch (i.e. load EHM using the Patch and then click on Load Game / Load Last Game) without having to use ArtMoney.

Here are some things to check to see whether it is all working as it should:

• You can sim until 1 July at the end of season 1 without any problems;
• The Canadian Juniors pre-draft rankings show a full list of players (i.e. not just one or two players);
• The correct teams are selected for the World Championships;
• If you have the Finnish and/or Russian leagues, you don't get any errors or crashes around April/May/June of the first season;
• Post 2005/06 player career histories appear (you won't be able to test this one until we have added player career histories to the database).

Let me know how it goes.

I've tried that first thing and my game starts in 2011 and sims beyond October 2:nd without any problems. As for the checklist:

*Yes, no problem.
*QMJHL right? Looks to be in order.
*Don't really know what you mean but the best teams (Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia, Finland etc.) are joining the tournament.
*Haven't selected those leagues.
*Haven't tried that.

[archibalduk]

Elpayaso - from what you say, it sounds like it's working perfectly.

[Smetana]

This method is also working for me. I'm currently simming ahead to check your bullet points from the above post. Looking good so far

[Smetana]

...and a crash on February 28th...

[archibalduk]

I take it you applied the CSD Patch each time you reloaded your game? I expect you probably did, but it's the first thing to check.

The 28th Feb crash relates to the Finnish league (the Suomi Sarja to be precise). It was a crash I encountered (and later resolved) during development of the Patch. The offending offset is 00920612 and I expect it would be somewhere around there for your game too.

ElPayaso & Viking - do you have this problem too? It might only appear if you have the Finnish league selected.

I'm starting to think that, for whatever reason, some of the offsets are different on your system. All I can do is give you some suggestions on how to try and fix it which will basically involve trying different 2006 offsets and seeing whether that works. In essence you'd need to develop your own version of the patch using ArtMoney (which I could then incorporate into the Patch). It's not as bad as it sounds because it looks like you're already nearly there and, with the information I've built up during Patch development, it might not take that long. However it obviously depends on whether you have the spare time to try things out and whether you have the desire/interest to do so.

[Viking]

I will sim an entire season with all leagues selected tomorrow or Sunday and see what happens.

[Smetana]

I take it you applied the CSD Patch each time you reloaded your game? I expect you probably did, but it's the first thing to check.

The 28th Feb crash relates to the Finnish league (the Suomi Sarja to be precise). It was a crash I encountered (and later resolved) during development of the Patch. The offending offset is 00920612 and I expect it would be somewhere around there for your game too.

ElPayaso & Viking - do you have this problem too? It might only appear if you have the Finnish league selected.

I'm starting to think that, for whatever reason, some of the offsets are different on your system. All I can do is give you some suggestions on how to try and fix it which will basically involve trying different 2006 offsets and seeing whether that works. In essence you'd need to develop your own version of the patch using ArtMoney (which I could then incorporate into the Patch). It's not as bad as it sounds because it looks like you're already nearly there and, with the information I've built up during Patch development, it might not take that long. However it obviously depends on whether you have the spare time to try things out and whether you have the desire/interest to do so.

I'm an idiot. For some reason I was thinking I only had to use the patch when reloading the game until October of the first season. So I did not use the patch, and I saved and reloaded early in the season. And the game crashed exactly where it should have. I need to re-read these threads once again, then give it another go and sim through the season. Everything was looking fantastic.

[archibalduk]

Ah that's a relief then! Hopefully you'll get it working. The readme.pdf should have all the info you need.

[Smetana]

Got it sorted. Simmed through to 2020 with no problems, so it seems to be good to go. Thanks again, Archi!

[archibalduk]

Excellent! I'm glad to hear it!

[Viking]

I have simmed through two seasons without problems now.

[Särås]

I have the OSx (MAC) version of EHM 07, I like to do this to...
Is it possible to find a way to do it for me to?
Thanks!

[batdad]

Unfortunately the guys that are working on this patch do not have mac computers. That means that they cannot make this patch for the mac. This is not to say someone with a mac cannot...someone could...just need them to do it. archi and the gang are not mac users, so are unable to. Sorry.

[archibalduk]

Hi Saras. Basically, what Batdad said.

As I do not own a Mac, I'm afraid I cannot create a patch for you. However, it might be possible for you to create your own version of the patch and I'd be quite happy to give you pointers on what to do. What you need is something on the Mac that reads the data in the memory and modify it. For Windows, we have ArtMoney. I did I very quick Google search and came across this (old) thread which recommends TheCheat. From what it says on TheCheat's website, it looks like it could do what you need. Are you able to install and run this software? I can then explain what you need to do. There's no guarantee we can modify the start date on the Mac but it's well worth a try.

[ehmfans]

Thanks archibulk, it works well!

I found a bug, when I start a fantasy draft, the game bugs when I click on next player(first overal), this might be because I play in french?

EDIT
I restarted and I found the problem, it's each time you click simulate to your team