FIFA 98: The Expansion Project

[kevinfunk2003]

This could be a whole lot of mess, but I'll try to express my ideas here.

1. Edit DBI directly, settle down the player attributes and team management first.
2. Start from national teams, then club players.
3. There's no way we can know the 13+4 attributes' algorithm and model, so what I've done is simply increase or decrease all the players in a team together. For example when I want to replace Japan with Taiwan, simply decrease all of them by 4 and do some fine-tuning in team management, then it lost to Thailand 1-6 lol.
4. New teams like Montenegro or Gibraltar are replacements in CONCACAF zones, later I'll post my planned list to the replacement.
5. I have no time in modding the graphics. If someone can come to help, please visit my FB page or leave a reply here.
6. Minnow teams should get what they deserved in-game since this can greatly enhanced the difficulty to make it to World Cup.
7. National players first then arrange or duplicate club players right in their position(?)
8. I think there's no software now can render gifs with fading opaque values. The artificial is implemented in many UI graphics of 98 series.

For now, that's all. Later I'll post team replacement list when I come back home.

 

[kevinfunk2003]

NOTE: DO NOT REQUEST A TEAM'S COMEBACK IN MY LIST, THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE INCLUDING A REPLACED TEAM IN THE WORLD LEAGUES INSTEAD OF NATIONAL TEAMS.

Zone-1 CONMEBOL: Just update the rosters and team managements.

Zone-2 OFC:
Source Team <> Replacement
-------------------------------------------------------
Cook Islands <> Bhutan
Tonga <> Laos
Western Samoa <> New Caledonia

The rest will have the rosters and team managements update.

Zone-3 AFC:
Source Team <> Replacement
--------------------------------------------------------
India <> Palestine
Indonesia <> Thailand
Japan <> Chinese Taipei
Kazakhstan <> Korea Republic
Macao <> Guam
Malaysia <> Philippines
Nepal <> Korea DPR
Pakistan <> Afghanistan
Philippines <> Timor-Leste
South Korea <> India
Sri Lanka <> Myanmar
Chinese Taipei <> Japan
Thailand <> Vietnam
Vietnam <> Malaysia

The rest will have the rosters and team managements update.

Zone-4 UEFA: Name changed for Yugoslavia, the rest will have the rosters and team managements update.

Zone-5 CONCACAF:
Source Team <> Replacement
--------------------------------------------------------
Bahamas <> Montenegro
Cayman Islands <> Kazakhstan
Netherlands Antilles <> Gibraltar

The rest will have the rosters and team managements update.

Zone-6 CAF:
Source Team <> Replacement
--------------------------------------------------------
Burundi <> Mali
Gambia <> Cape Verde Islands

The rest will have the rosters and team managements update.

 

[kevinfunk2003]

Interesting foundings:
D_T0817 Valstalas
D_T0818 Elfsborg
D_T0815 United States of America
D_T0816 Yonskor
D_T0813 Olympic Lyon
D_T0814 FC Sion
D_T0811 Olympic Lupiana
D_T0812 AEK Athens
D_T0809 Sparta Praha
D_T0810 Galatasaray
D_T0807 Lokomotiv Moscow
D_T0808 FK Branburg
D_T0805 Red Star Belgrade
D_T0806 Benfica
D_T0803 FC Porto
D_T0804 Rosenborg
D_T0801 Fenerbance
D_T0802 Rapid Vienna
D_T0799 Steaue Bucharest
D_T0800 Vikisov

Under .\AUDIO\INTT

GAMT PBK files are inaudible for WC98, so my idea is to delete them all. The effect might be used when lifting the WC trophy and pronounce the team name.

 

[kevinfunk2003]

./USER/CUSPLAYER.DB uses 10FB algorithm, therefore not editable.
./USER/CUSTOM.DB does not, therefore we can edit all venues and then use hex editor like HxD or UltraEdit to modify the 'jersey bits'.

Anyone can come to help this? You'll be rewarded in our credits also real profits.

 

[cloudstr]

I found this old tool that may help you: Gfxpak version 0.59. Download it here:
http://www.milhaus.unas.cz/Editory.php

Open file utility.txt for Starting parameters:

** decompress 10FB/30FB-compressed files **

GFXPAK -decompress <source file> <destination file>

Tested by myself and seems to work


EA Graphics Editor is a another great tool though, it allow you to view and edit EA Graphics Files (FSH, VIV, SHPI, etc).

 

[kevinfunk2003]

Beta version of Club mode info revealed:
https://www.facebook.com/fifa98expansion/posts/410161145848790

 

[kevinfunk2003]

Starting from scratch again, this time from UEFA club teams first and also a beta 'Xmas' edition has been uploaded.

 

[kevinfunk2003]

https://m.facebook.com/fifa98expansion/posts/434720533392851

It's all done. Cost me ten years to achieve this milestone. I'd like to thank the developers of FIFA 98 Series, Chau Le for the database editor, Galah for the incredible efforts he did to make the game more closer to the reality of football in a simplistic, efficient fashion. Also TASoft and Toni Wilen for EAGraph and gfxtools. Finally, Zeus Software to make it alive again, creating nGlide and also fixing the compatibility issues. Undoubtedly there are still many to thank for, especially my family. Though one day I may lose my ground as I am standing upon, I will still check your feedback if I still have the time to do so. From now on, forget this virtual career as one man must seek what's real in real life. Goodbye, beloved Soccergaming friends, as my hardest times in life is about to come.

Sincerely,
- midmaestro, main database editor for the project