Additional Release Notes
- It's perhaps not a major concern for some but I went back and forth on what to call this version of the roster update since it's technically not a continuation of the previous roster updates I was doing for 2005 but a conversion of the rosters in the NBA Live PC Project, themselves a conversion of the 07 rosters which were originally a conversion of the 08 rosters. Rather than call them 1.0 (in line with NBA Live PC) or v2.8 (in line with the updates for 07 and 08), I've opted to go for 2.0; the next round number up from my last release for 2005 (v1.18). Again, probably not an issue for some people but I hope that clears up any confusion in the lineage.
- Overall ratings tend to grab too much attention at the best of times but I'll certainly admit the overalls in the update might strike a lot of people as being "wrong" or weird-looking as the ratings are taken from the 06-08 updates and 2005 calculates its overalls differently. Team overalls in particular are much higher than you'd expect, with pretty much everyone in the 90s when all injuries are ignored.
The good news is that this is pretty much a cosmetic issue and players and teams do seem to perform as desired in gameplay and simulation; in other words, the individual ratings are working out fine. Therefore it shouldn't pose too many problems except perhaps trades in Dynasty Mode, and even then players whose overalls have dropped still tend to be equal (ie two players rated 75 overall in NBA Live 06's rosters who are now rated 70 overall in NBA Live 2005's rosters still have equal trade value), so it shouldn't cause too many problems.
I will continue to evaluate this based on feedback however and may have to make some adjustments to make sure the ratings are definitely "NBA Live 2005 friendly". Before you provide feedback in this area though, I do ask that you put aside any notions of overall ratings being right or wrong and see how the rosters play for you with the slider settings of your choice. With Marek's help and through my own testing I feel the results should be satisfactory for most people as is but like I said, it's something I will continue to evaluate and consider. - A lot of face files were made for NBA Live 07 and NBA Live 08 and thus do not have headshapes that are 100% compatible with NBA Live 2005. Like the PC Project, until we can replace all these files there will be players who don't have the right hair styles (ie anyone with "unusual" hair that requires a hair shape file) and certain players won't wear headbands even though they've been assigned. I can only work with the art files I have at my disposal, I'm certainly open to submissions so I can replace art files that aren't working 100%.
- Speaking of faces, I'm pretty sure I've included a face for everyone but in just in case I've missed one, please let me know and I'll source one from 07 or 08. If you're missing a lot of faces then the art hasn't been installed properly and you should consult the included help file to fix the problem. But if it's just one or two here and there, then I've probably left someone out. Hopefully that won't be the case.
- I can't make any promises about any of the roster updates as I can't be certain of what the future holds but the current aim is to continue to support the older games in addition to covering the latest releases in the series. Since I've found a way to streamline updates and greatly reduce the time it takes to update multiple games, my aim is to include 2005 in the games I continue to update beyond this season.
- Roster updates are a work in progress and with so many players in the league (and thus the database), there are always changes that can be made. Feedback on ratings, accessories and a range of other corrections and suggestions is most welcome. All I ask is that you please be constructive and read release notes such as these so that you are aware of certain issues (like the one concerning overall ratings) when providing feedbacl.
That's about it. I hope you enjoy the rosters!