Editd playerinfo.dbf, and suddenly I suck ... help.

[busta_cap]

After playing several online games and seeing how poorly my favorite team (Rockets) performed, I decided to get DB Commander and edit the playerinfo.dbf to correct some eggregious errors in the ratings. Eric Piatkowski, for instance, missed 4 of five open three pointers in one game, when he is a career .402 three point shooter. Or Steve Francis being held to a consistent ~25% FGP, even with all the driving to the hoop he was able to do. Or Yao Ming being unable to score anything inside other than a dunk (he's had a nice little hookshot going this past month or so).

So I edited the playerinfo.dbf, added two or three rating points here or there; I wanted to do nothing drastic, being a novice at .dbf editing. I saved, started up Live and played an online game ... I got smoked by thirty. I played another ... a twenty-four point loss. I played the computer and lost by twenty-eight. The computer continued to beat me soundly, even with lower echelon teams like Seattle and the Clippers.

I decided "The hell with this" and restored the .zip backup I'd made of my NBA Live 2004 folder before editing, but when I started Live up again, it asked me my favorite team (like I hadn't had it already set) and then Cleveland proceded to kill me by nineteen in a 3 minute quarter game.

Now I'm no Live novice, having played it since 97. And even on All-Star skill level, I usually have little problem beating the computer. Just five days ago I finished a championship season in which I went 57-25 (most of the losses being simulated) and went 16-5 in the playoffs. But now I can't even beat the bottom-dwellers.

What the hell has happened? What did I do that I shouldn't have done, or what did I not do that I should have?

I suppose that with a fresh install of Live might cure this sudden drought, but I am hesitant to do that for fear that registration issues might hamper online play.

Any suggestions? Any caveats? Any solutions? 'Cause as it stands now, I suck so much that light should be unable to escape me and the game is swiftly losing its appeal.

PS Shortly before this change, I replaced my Eliminator Aftershock with a cordless Wingman Rumblepad. I was able to still be beat the best teams for a day or two with the new pad, but then the events described above occured.

[busta_cap]

Just figured out that I had unzipped my initial NBA Live 2004 folder into the wrong place, so I fixed it and I am back to the level I was at before the whole editing fiasco. Whew!

I'm still curious, though, about how raising a few ratings in the playerinfo.dbf would so negatively effect my team's performance. I didn't play any differently, but suddenly every team was murderin' me.

Still open to any comments and learned wisdom in this area.

thnx