NCAA Hockey 2000 Patch for EA Sports NHL
2000
Version 2.0 - 10/25/00
READ THE INSTALLATION INFO BEFORE DOWNLOADING THE PATCH!
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Prefix: It is recommended that you uninstall NHL 2000 and re-install it from scratch, as a "custom" install (See next paragraph) before installing the NCAA 2000 Patch. If NHL 2000 is currently installed as a "typical" installation, it will not be able to update all the images to NCAA images. You will still get the collegiate team names, rosters, uniforms, and arenas, but many of the front-end images and logos will remain unchanged.
When re-installing NHL 2000 to optimize it for NCAA 2000, select "Custom" at the "Setup Type". When prompted to "Select Components", make sure that "Program Files", "Art", and "Audio" are all checked. Highlight "Art" and make sure that each of the sub-components ("Front-End", "Misc Art", and "Game Art") are all checked as well. If you have extra space, highlight "Audio" and make sure that "FE Audio" and "Rink Speech" are checked, though these are not crucial and can be left unchecked if you are short on disk space.
(Note that if you decide to uninstall and re-install the game, you may want to make a backup copy of the "db" folder in your NHL 2000 directory, if you have any created players, seasons, etc that you want to save.)
Once you have a clean installation of NHL 2000, you are ready to proceed with converting it to NCAA 2000....
1. Create a directory called "NCAA Patch" in your NHL 2000 directory.
2. Download NCAA_Patch_v2_Part_1.zip and NCAA_Patch_v2_Part_2.zip and place them both in the "NCAA Patch" directory.
3. Extract the contents of both .zip files into that same directory. (Generally, this can be done by double-clicking on the .zip file, and selecting "Extract", then checking to make sure the directory under "Extract To:" is set correctly.)
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IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO RETAIN YOUR CURRENT SAVED GAMES/SEASONS/PLAYERS AND BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO PLAY THE GAME AS EITHER NHL 2000 OR NCAA 2000, THEN CONTINUE TO STEP 4. IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT LOSING THE NHL TEAMS OR ANY SAVED SEASONS, PLAYERS, ETC, THEN SKIP TO STEP *8*.
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4. If you do not have an additional 100 MB of disk space after unzipping the NCAA Patch, you will not be able to swap back and forth between NHL 2000 and NCAA 2000 at will. If you continue and install the NCAA 2000 patch, you will need to completely re-install NHL 2000 in order to play it with the original NHL setup, and then will have to re-install the patch again to play as NCAA 2000. If DO you have at least 100 MB of extra disk space, then continue to step 5, otherwise, skip to step *8*, if you choose.
5. To make the game swapable between NHL and NCAA, double click on the file "make_swapable.bat". You will only need to do this ONCE.
6. Copy the file "swap.bat" from the "NCAA Patch" directory up to the "NHL 2000" directory.
7. After installation of the NCAA 2000 patch is complete, you can swap back and forth between NHL and NCAA 2000 by simply double clicking on "swap.bat" in the NHL 2000 directory before running the game. This should also allow you to maintain separate seasons, created players, etc for your NHL games and your NCAA games.
8. Now, to install NCAA 2000, double click on "NCAA_2000_v2.bat" (It is IMPORTANT to make sure that this file is in the "NCAA Patch" directory, and that the "NCAA Patch" is a direct subdirectory of your main NHL 2000 folder, otherwise the patch will not work!)
Now launch NHL 2000 as you would normally. It should load as NCAA 2000. Once you've verified that the patch ran smoothly and works properly, you may delete the contents of "NCAA Patch" to free up space, however it's recommended that you at least keep the two original .zip files stored somewhere, and if you aren't short for space, it's not a bad idea to leave the full "NCAA Patch" directory intact, just in case.
9. HAVE FUN!!
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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER INFORMATION
In no way are we affiliated with the NCAA, or EASports.
We are in no way responsible for anything that may occur when you install this NCAA 2000 Hockey patch.
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CREDITS
Greg Glaser(Glazebal) - Graphic Artist & Rosters
Tristan Pruss(Truferblue) - Graphic Artist
Bill Sexson(Sexsonmnvfan) - Rosters
Additional graphics by:
Chris Pfeffer, Ron Wehner
Photo credits:
Jason Paul, Jason Stuart, Monty Rand Photography
Thanks to those who contributed their thoughts, knowledge, and provided reference information, including: Rudra Choudhury, Rick Comley Jr, Jason Dahl, Ben Flickinger, Josh Gibney, Matt Ulery, Bobby Vanscoder, the rest of the gang at USCHO.
Special Thanks to Artur Sedov (aka Deker) for the templates
and
Very Special Thanks to Toni Wilen, author of nhlinfo/gfxpak for making this whole process possible!
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REPORTING BUGS
Before contacting us about a "bug" or major improvement, please read the entire list of "known bugs" below. These are things we are aware of, and either have been unable to fix, or haven't had time to fix. We will continue to work on these and may release a patch with fixes to these down the road if we can. Please DO NOT contact us reporting any of the problems on this list!
Also, please do not contact us requesting improvements to the AI, game feature changes such as Free Agency, Draft, Recruiting, Schedules, tournaments (GLI/Bean Pot, etc.) or other such things. We did not write the game code and have no way to modify anything other than graphics, sound, and the team info/roster databases. All other features of the game are unchangeable and will be left as they are in NHL 2000.
Thank you.
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KNOWN BUGS
City Names instead of school names in the Loadbox - No way to fix this at this time.
Play-By-Play & PA Announcer audio - No way to change this at this time. We recommend turning PBP off.
Stanley Cup that the team hoists when they win the playoffs - No way to fix this at this time.
Names of Hobey Baker/NCAA Trophy awards on award screen - No way to fix this at this time.
Color of names on jerseys - We may be able to fix this later.
Transparency problems for BU road helmets and UNO home and road helmets - we're working on this, but currently out of ideas.
NHL Banners from ceilings - we're also working on this.
If you do not have a 3dfx video card, your ice surface graphics will not be updated.
If you've found a bug NOT on this list, please contact Tristan Pruss at trUFERblue@hotmail.com, or Greg Glaser at gg3440@sjfc.edu.