Custom Start Date Patch / ArtMoney Development Thread

[archibalduk]

It seems I have been able to change the start date in EHM 2007. Having changed the start year to 2010 I've been able to successfully sim through two seasons of the NHL without any apparent issues. All of this was done without making any alteration to EHM's exe file.


EDIT: The latest developments and patch can be found here: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =88&t=8283
EDIT: An explanation of many of the offsets can be found here: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 02#p127402


Frustratingly this has been a one off. I've tried to start another new game doing exactly the same but it keeps crashing on 1 October 2010. I've also tried setting the year to 2011 and again it crashes on 1 October 2011. It's very frustrating to have gotten so far only for the apparent solution to work only once. However, I feel this is quite a breakthough and hopefully with further experimentation and collaboration we will be able to change the start year without any issues. Hence I'm going to put as much detail in this post as possible should anybody like to try out what I did or even try and fix the issues I've encountered.


What software did I use?

It's actually very simple; I used a game cheating utility named ArtMoney to fool EHM into starting in 2010. ArtMoney has been used in the past to cheat at Football Manager to improve the finances of the user's team. It has also been used to edit the salary cap in an EHM 2007 saved game.

ArtMoney doesn't edit the game exe directly. Instead, it edits the values loaded into the computer's RAM whilst the game is running. Thus it's effects are only temporary and it makes no alterations to the exe - it simply looks at what the exe has loaded into the RAM. This means that you have to run ArtMoney each time you want to create a new game in EHM with the modified start date.


How did I successfully change the start date?

The instructions below describe exactly how I went about editing the start date and successfuly created a fully working game which I simmed fine for over two seasons (I can upload the saved game if anybody wants to take a look). As mentioned above, it's just not working when I've subsequently tried to create further new games in EHM.

I used the Lidas v3.2 Roster Update but changed the years of birth using the Pre Game Editor so that the years of birth reflect the actual real life ones. You can do this by loading the v3.2 Roster in the Pre Game Editor, then click on Tools -> Change all staff ages, enter 5 into the pop-up window, and then save the database.

Anyway, here are the steps I followed:

1) Download and install ArtMoney (you just need the freeware special edition): http://www.artmoney.ru/e_download.htm

2) Run ArtMoney with Admin Privileges. If you right-click on the shortcut you should see the option to "Run as Administrator". ArtMoney won't load EHM if you don't run with Admin Privileges.

3) Load EHM and click on the usual New Game button so that you're presented with the list of leagues to choose.

4) In ArtMoney, click on the drop down menu near the top of the screen entitled "Select Process" (click on the downwards arrow button and not the "..." button) and select EHM from the list (it'll be something like "NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2007 - 3.0.4").

5) Click on the Search button at the top of the screen, enter the following settings and click on OK:

[table][tr][td]Search[/td][td]Exact value[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Value[/td][td]2006[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Type[/td][td]Integer (standard)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Address range[/td][td]Custom[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]From[/td][td]00200000 to: 01600000[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Multiplicity of address[/td][td]All[/td][/tr][/table]

6) All of the results are displayed in the left hand column. Just to the right of this column (near the centre of the screen) there are two right arrow buttons - one red and one blue. Click on the blue arrow to move all of the search results into the right hand column. It is in the right hand column that you can change the values stored in the various addresses. It also provides a live view of the values – you might see some of the values change as you do different things in EHM.

7) Having clicked on the blue arrow to move the results to the right column, next click on Edit -> Select all. This selects all of the values you have moved to the right hand column.

8) Then click on Edit -> Set value. This allows you to edit the values of all of those you selected.

9) In the Set Value window, set the Value as 2010 and the Step as 0. Click on OK.

10) Whilst keeping ArtMoney open, go back to your EHM window and click on the usual OK button to start the new game (do not select any leagues other than the NHL). Note that the "Game Start Date" setting at the bottom of the Start New Game screen might still say 2006 but this doesn’t matter. The “Game Start Date” doesn't update unless you modify your choice of leagues or change the fantasy draft / use real player names / fog of war tick boxes. It doesn't matter whether the setting at the bottom does or does not update - it'll still work either way.

11) I'm not 100% sure, but it seems as though the game loads slightly more slowly than normal. I guess this is because ArtMoney is monitoring the data in the RAM. Just be patient and it’ll get there. Once you have created you game and exited ArtMoney you’ll find that it runs at normal speed.

12) Once the game has been created, you have added new GMs, and have saved your game, exit both ArtMoney and EHM.

13) Open EHM and load your newly created game like normal. You can now play your saved game just like any normal saved game.

Note: Once the game has been saved for the first time, you no longer need ArtMoney. You only need to load ArtMoney if you want to start a new game in EHM.


How does it work?

Through trial and error, I have found that the start year is stored at certain locations (aka addresses) within the RAM. You need to modify the correct addresses in order to modify the start date and for it to run correctly. It seems from my experiments that most/all of the relevant data is stored between addresses 00200000 and 01600000. Thus in step 5 in the above instructions, I advise that you search for 2006 between these addresses and change them all to 2010 (or whatever year you want). Other ranges of addresses I've tried using as an alternative are:

00000000 to 01600000
00000000 to 01C00000
00000000 to 03000000
00000000 to 04000000

You may want to try these ranges as an alternative (or perhaps use 00200000 instead of 00000000).

It's almost certain that not all of the 2006s found within the ranges of addresses actually affect the game start date. They could be anything - data, position of buttons, rosters, etc etc. I think, however, that I may have narrowed it down to 00C00000 to 00CFFFFF. 0018C166, 01301406 and 0130141E may also be relevant. With regards to 00C00000 to 00CFFFFF, I think I've managed to identify which addresses relate to the start years for each league:

[table][tr][td]00C69BFE[/td][td](first 00C with 2006 integer)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A848[/td][td]?[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A854[/td][td]?[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A886[/td][td]Finland[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A892[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A8C4[/td][td]North America[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A8D0[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A902[/td][td]Denmark[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A90E[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A940[/td][td]Czech Republic[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A94C[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A97E[/td][td]Russia[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A98A[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A9BC[/td][td]Sweden[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A9C8[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A9FA[/td][td]Slovenia[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA06[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA38[/td][td]Canada[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA44[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA76[/td][td]Austria[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA82[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAB4[/td][td]Slovakia[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAC0[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAF2[/td][td]Great Britain[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAFE[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB30[/td][td]Norway[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB3C[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB6E[/td][td]Germany[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB7A[/td][td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A8C4 (last 00C with 2006 integer)[/td][td]North America? (sometimes does not appear)[/td][/tr][/table]


Timing of using ArtMoney?

I've tried using ArtMoney to edit the data both before and after clicking on the New Game button (the button on the opening main menu screen of EHM).

If you try searching for all mentions of 2006 in the data before clicking on the New Game button there are between 179-180 results. You can search for this by entering the following into the search box in ArtMoney:

[table][tr][td]Search[/td][td]Exact value[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Value[/td][td]2006[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Type[/td][td]Integer (standard)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Address range[/td][td]All[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Multiplicity of address[/td][td]All[/td][/tr][/table]

By doing this 'all addresses' search you can find every single mention of 2006 (or whatever else you want) in the data currently stored in the RAM for EHM. Having experimented, it seems if you change the 2006 at address 007D11C0 then you can alter the game start year. However, it seems to change the actual date as well as the year (e.g. it moves the NHL start date from 30 Aug to 1 Sept). I tried starting a new game using just this change but, again, it crashes on 1 October.

If you try using ArtMoney to do an 'all addresses' search having clicked on the New Game button then you'll see that there's something like 38,000 results. I think this is because when you click on the New Game button, EHM loads the selected database into the RAM. So when you search, you're searching through a mixture of the EHM game code/process and the database.


What now?

Well, I'm hoping to continue experimenting to see if I can figure out what exactly needs to be changed. If I can get it right once then I don't see why I can't get it right again.I thought by posting all of this information that it might inspire others to have a go with ArtMoney and to see if they can achieve a successful change of the start date.

I think it's best to restrict testing to get the NHL up and running first. Hopefully the other leagues would fall into place after getting the NHL running. However I did notice through testing that I could create a new game with all leagues running on Enhanced other than the ECHL (selecting the ECHL causes a crash). I don't know what's so unique about the ECHL - maybe it's because it has the latest start date of all of the playable leagues.

Additionally, I wonder why the game crashes once it reaches the morning of 1st October. What happens on this date?

[archibalduk]

P.s. here are some screenshots from the successful game I managed to create (click on the thumbnails):

[B. Stinson]

Thanks Archi!

I'm gonna have to take a look at all this; Should be a fun puzzle to play with

[archibalduk]

Good luck! It's so frustrating that one moment I was able to create a working game and the next moment I couldn't create another new working one. It makes me question whether I've accurately noted everything I did. However I'm 99.9% certain I have because the addresses became so familiar to me.

Something I've noticed is that some of the addresses change each time you start EHM. I think this is because of Dynamic Memory Allocation whereby the data is allocated different addresses each time. However, those which I listed in the table in my first post (the addresses beginning 00C) are always the same addresses which makes me think that perhaps only those that remain at a consistent address are relevant. I could of course be wrong.

The way in which I narrowed down those 00C addresses and identified which does which league was by simply doing an all addresses search for "2006". The search results are limited to the first 1000 entries. So I clicked the blue arrow to import the first 1000 entries and then used the Set Value function (I entered 3000 and set the Step to 1). The Step option means that it'll give the first address in your right hand column the number you specify and then the second address will be the number plus the step. So it increments the value by your step for each address. Thus I changed the first 1000 addresses to 3000 going up to 3999. With each having a unique number, I was able to identify from the Game Start Date drop down menu which addresses affected each league's start year. I hope I explained that okay!

Anyway, I'm currently concentrating on the following addresses (i.e. I set the following addresses to 2010): 00302D21, 003A3602, those 00C addresses I listed above, and 1000F002. I think some of those addresses may vary each time you load EHM (I'm not 100% sure) but you can find them if you set some fairly narrow search terms. Although this changes the start year, it crashes on the usual 1 October. More tweaking required!

You can find the aforementioned addresses using the following three searches:

[table][tr][td]Search[/td][td]Exact value[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Value[/td][td]2006[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Type[/td][td]Integer (standard)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Address range[/td][td]Custom[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]From[/td][td]00300000 to: 00400000[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Multiplicity of address[/td][td]All[/td][/tr][/table]

[table][tr][td]Search[/td][td]Exact value[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Value[/td][td]2006[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Type[/td][td]Integer (standard)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Address range[/td][td]Custom[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]From[/td][td]00BFFFFF to: 00D00000[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Multiplicity of address[/td][td]All[/td][/tr][/table]

[table][tr][td]Search[/td][td]Exact value[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Value[/td][td]2006[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Type[/td][td]Integer (standard)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Address range[/td][td]Custom[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]From[/td][td]08F00000 to: FFFFFFFF[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Multiplicity of address[/td][td]All[/td][/tr][/table]

When you get the search results following each search, use the blue or red arrow to move the desired results to the right hand column. The blue arrow moves all of the search results whereas the red arrow moves just single / the selected results (use the shift key to select multiple addresses from the left hand column). You can then build up addresses in the right hand column. Once you'd accumulated all of the addresses you want, use the Select All and Set Value functions to change them all at the same time.

[dabo]

Wow quite an investigation you have going on and a really challenging one indeed. Best of luck to all of you.

We will try our best to make it easier for you in DHM.

[Xalfen]

Probably not the write the starting date directly in the code ?

Just tried it, worked great, until Oct 1st .

[batdad]

Archi--This is amazing work. I understand little if any of it. Just wanted to point out that I swear someone way back when was using art money to change the date, and that then they ran into issues as well. I think it was some dude (wolf something??) on that breakaway.net site. He did not post all his changes, but remember he was trying to do a roster update, complete with the start date change, and everything got all messed up. Then he went away, and noone heard from him again??? Come to think of it, I don't think it was that wolf guy. But it was someone who had been around on the forums here and everywhere. I think he may have even been a tester/researcher at one point. Just cannot recall the guys posting name... It was t-wolf I was thinking of, but that is not who it was.

Am I dreaming, or do I recall reading that way way back when?

[B. Stinson]

I've been analyzing a vanilla game, and I've found that the World Junior Championships schedule is drawn on the 1st of October. It's the only one out of all the international competitions - the rest are either already drawn, or drawn at various later dates.

That's just what I've found so far. I'm gonna keep looking to see if anything else big happens on the 1st.

[Xalfen]

Isn't it the last day where you are able to recall/reasign without waiving ?


EDIT : Seems to be a problem. I tried to add Stamkos career stats (08-09, 09-10, 10-11) into the DB, but when I start the game, after using ArtMoney, etc. the stats doesn't appear.

[archibalduk]

But it was someone who had been around on the forums here and everywhere. I think he may have even been a tester/researcher at one point. Just cannot recall the guys posting name... It was t-wolf I was thinking of, but that is not who it was.

Am I dreaming, or do I recall reading that way way back when?

There's a couple I know of but they've all been trying to change the start date by editing the exe using a hex editor (which is slightly different to using ArtMoney which is similar to using the Saved Game Editor):

- Hobbit13 has been editing the exe on thebreakaway.net. He's been editing the league rules and has been trying to replace the NHL with the Russian KHL. He's produced some useful info about hex editing the exe to change the league rules: http://www.thebreakaway.net/forums/show ... ost1102813

- Alessandro (aka Kidhander) has been hex editing the exe and managed to change the start date. However it crashes on 1st October.

- Darth_Lindros88 was also trying to change the start date in the exe using a hex editor. I think he got to the same sort of point as Alessandro (i.e. couldn't get beyond 1 Oct).

I've been analyzing a vanilla game, and I've found that the World Junior Championships schedule is drawn on the 1st of October. It's the only one out of all the international competitions - the rest are either already drawn, or drawn at various later dates.

That's just what I've found so far. I'm gonna keep looking to see if anything else big happens on the 1st.

I've been wondering about the international and non-playable leagues too. Although I've found what controls the playable leagues, there's no way of telling whether I've caught any other hard coded start dates.

Seems to be a problem. I tried to add Stamkos career stats (08-09, 09-10, 10-11) into the DB, but when I start the game, after using ArtMoney, etc. the stats doesn't appear.

Yeah I also tried adding post 2005/06 career stats and had the same problem. I'm not going to worry about that until I've managed to get the start date working again.

I still can't get over the frustration of successfully getting a fully working game (i.e. that works past 1 October) and then not being able to replicate it. It's infuriating! What it does prove, however, is that 1) it can be done and 2) all that you need to do is change certain 2006 values and nothing more.

If anybody is interested, I've uploaded the saved game from the one time I was successfully able to change the start date without a crash: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=a0fa740e ... C5C5%21280# (it's the zip file entitled EHM2007_Start_Date_Test.zip).

[B. Stinson]

I just had a game work last night.

My first test, I did the 00200000 - 01600000 search, and got a crash on the 1st. The next test I did just your 00C range, and that worked. So I did the 00C range again, this time getting a couple more results in the search, but this one crashed. I didn't change the extra values, so I think I got the same values as the working game, yet opposite results

[archibalduk]

Rather than mix this in with my previous post, I thought I'd put my further thoughts in a separate post:


Taking notes and using the AMT saved tables
It goes without saying that you have to take good notes so you know what does and doesn't work. An additional way in which you can record your changes by saving them as an AMT file.

Once you have selected all of the addresses you want to change and put them into the right hand column (either before or after you have used the Set Values function - it doesn't matter), click on the Table menu and click on Save as a .AMT file. You can then load your addresses at a later date.

The theory behind saving the AMT file is that it will also save your changes and you can use it as a patch file that you can simply load to make your changes. However I've only been able to save the addresses and not the values. This does have it uses, however. If you save your addresses relating to 2006 values to an AMT file, you can load them at a later date when running EHM. If you load it when you're on the New Game Screen, you'll be able to see in ArtMoney (in the right column) what values the addresses are currently at. If they're not at 2006 then it suggests that that is one of the variable/dynamic values which seem to change address location each time EHM loads.


Variable/dynamic addresses
If you use my example of searching for 2006 between addresses 00200000 and 01600000, you'll see you get a different number of results each time you load EHM. Typically the number of results vary between 297 and about 350. Sometimes it even goes as high as 650 or 950. Presumably this is because some of the values have variable/dynamic addresses.

I'm wondering if my one successful game is because I happened by chance to get all of the addresses I needed to change within the 00200000 - 01600000 range. As some of the values are variable, perhaps one/a few values have not fallen within that range again since.


Browsing through addresses?
Has anybody figured out how to simply browse through the addresses? I'm only able to find addresses by searching for a value/keyword. I'd really like to browse through all of the 00Cxxxxx addresses to see what else is there.


Float integers
As you'll see from my instructions, I advise limiting the search type to integers. However, it is possible to search for float values too. These appear to be decimal numbers. I recall changing any float integers when I got the game to work and so I'm guessing we don't need to change these. I guess they might be worth investigating at some point however... If you change the search type to "all (standard)" then you can search both integers and floats at the same time. You can even select both types at the same time and set the same value (e.g. 2010).

More info about hexidecimal
FlexHex's site has a useful introduction about hexidecimal:

The hexadecimal notation is almost universally used in computing - and not without a reason. There are sixteen hex digits - 0 to 9, and A to F (which correspond to decimal values 10 to 15), and each hex digit represents exactly four bits. Exactly two hex digits represent a byte, which can have a value from 00 to FF (that is from 0 to 255 decimal). In order to find a hex value of a multi-byte object, you would concatenate its bytes, for example, bytes 58 A4 1B FE constitute a four-byte value 58A41BFE (or FE1BA458 if the computer uses the reverse byte ordering).

[archibalduk]

I just had a game work last night.

My first test, I did the 00200000 - 01600000 search, and got a crash on the 1st. The next test I did just your 00C range, and that worked. So I did the 00C range again, this time getting a couple more results in the search, but this one crashed. I didn't change the extra values, so I think I got the same values as the working game, yet opposite results

No way!!! Do you know how many 00C values you changed?

Some sort of variable/dynamic value might be present (which is why I wonder whether there is a different number of 2006s present in the 00C range each time).

I think each test you do, you should save the results in the right hand column as an AMT file. Then if it works again, you'll have a complete list of the addresses. I'll do the same. If I get it to work, I'll zip up the AMT file and will attach it to this thread.

[archibalduk]

I'm finding the search range a little unreliable. For example, if I do a search for 2006 for 0100 0000 to 0200 0000 (just for example's sake), it sometimes misses values at the very edge of each range (e.g. 0100 0000, 0100 0001, 0199 9999 and 0200 0000). For this reason, I'm making the searches slightly wider to ensure that I get all values. So to get all of the 00C values, I set the range as 00B0 0000 to 00DF FFFF just to be safe.

P.s. I've just put one space gaps in the middle of each address so that it's a little easier to read.

[B. Stinson]

No way!!! Do you know how many 00C values you changed?

The one that worked I think was 27 or 29 results, with 00C69BFE being the first value, like you said in one of your previous posts. The next search came up with 31 results, but had two 00C entries before 00C69BFE. Based on this, I concluded that the number I saw before was 29, and that these two pre-00C69BFE values were the only new ones. Assuming the remaining 29 values were the same ones that just worked, I edited them, and left the two new ones alone. Unfortunately, this test crashed on the 1st.

So to answer your question, the working test I think had 29 results, all of which I changed. These were found with your 00C00000 to 00CFFFFF range, and the first 00C value was in fact located at 00C69BFE.

[archibalduk]

I always get 29 results when I do the search. They all seem to be fixed values too. As with you, if I change all 29 then I can change the start dates for each league but if I run a test game (I always just select the NHL as the active league) then it crashes on 1st Oct.

The 29 addresses I get are identical to the first 29 I listed in my first post. The 30th and final address in the list I posted (00C6A8C4) doesn't seem to appear when I do my searches. Seems it may have been a one-off.

I wonder if we should try just modifying a few of those 00C addresses to see what happens. For example, what happens if you only modify those which I've identified as corresponding with a nation (as per my list)?

[archibalduk]

Edit - oh wow I just got past 1 October again!

I managed to do this by just changing 25 of the 29 00C addresses. I've put in the table below a list of those which I did and didn't change. A "Y" indicates that I did change the value and an "n" means I didn't.

[table][tr][td]00C69BFE[/td][td]n[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A848[/td][td]n[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A854[/td][td]n[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A886[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A892[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A8C4[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A8D0[/td][td]n[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A902[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A90E[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A940[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A94C[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A97E[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A98A[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A9BC[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A9C8[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6A9FA[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA06[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA38[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA44[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA76[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AA82[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAB4[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAC0[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAF2[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AAFE[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB30[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB3C[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB6E[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]00C6AB7A[/td][td]Y[/td][/tr][/table]

I'm going to try starting another game to see if this works again

I have a theory as to which values that do and do not need changing but I don't have time to post right now. I'll find time tomorrow to post more details.

Edit: I've amended the table to correct a mistake I made.

[archibalduk]

Sorry - I accidentally put an "n" next to an address that should be a "Y". I'll change it in one moment....

[archibalduk]

I've corrected the table I posted a short moment ago. I've just done a further test and it worked again!!!

I don't have the time to try this tonight, but I wonder if all you need to change are the 13 addresses that I linked to a country in the table in my very first post. That might well all that needs to be done to get this to work with every playable league. It may well allow us to get the post 2005/06 player history (added via the Pre Game Editor) to work too.

[Midas]

Congrats. I keep promising Arch I'll post my hex knowledge but I never end up doing it '-.-, but this is really cool. If I remember, I'll post the named directories and areas of where you can make changes to roster rules sometime tonight or tomorrow (it's really easy). The changes never take place for a year though, so you have to wait a bit .

[B. Stinson]

Wow, have you tried changing just 00C69BFE?

I just started a game now, and accidentally searched in ArtMoney at the start screen, rather than after starting a new game. 00C69BFE was the only hit within 00C00000 - 00CFFFFF, and I wondered what if I change just this. It did change the date to 2010, but it I also spit out a 70-game NHL schedule, all crammed into three months. The season runs from August 4th to October 15th

It seems to have also obliterated the rosters, too, as most teams barely have enough for a full line. Many don't have any players at all - just "grays".

[B. Stinson]

Excellent news: I used your table of 25 values, and three consecutive tests were successful in getting through October 1st.

This was with a normal-sized 3.0.4 default database, and only the NHL selected.

[Manimal]

It seems to have also obliterated the rosters, too, as most teams barely have enough for a full line. Many don't have any players at all - just "grays".

This could be because of the contract years set in the editor. Most playercontracts end in 2007 or 2008

[B. Stinson]

It seems to have also obliterated the rosters, too, as most teams barely have enough for a full line. Many don't have any players at all - just "grays".

This could be because of the contract years set in the editor. Most playercontracts end in 2007 or 2008

So I take it that contracts go by actual year, and not length?

'Cause I had wondered about this yesterday, and whether if maybe I shouldn't be using the default database because of the contracts. But I checked the rosters, and they seemed to be fine. In fact, looking at my most recent test, the Flyers are all in place, and have contracts ending in 2011.

[Tyees]

Bravo to everyone who is figuring this out! To complicated for me