mods without overwriting files - research, etc

[TGsoGood]

I wasn't sure if I should start this thread but we sorely need a way to use mods without replacing/ overwriting current files.

We need to be able to add new id's for cyberfaces, jerseys, arenas, shoes, etc.

We should use this thread to brainstorm ideas and/or report any findings. This could allow us to update the game without worrying if a file has been updated in sync.bin. Also this could be useful for adding player faces without using current cf id's.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Marvin00]

I wasn't sure if I should start this thread but we sorely need a way to use mods without replacing/ overwriting current files.

We need to be able to add new id's for cyberfaces, jerseys, arenas, shoes, etc.

We should use this thread to brainstorm ideas and/or report any findings. This could allow us to update the game without worrying if a file has been updated in sync.bin. Also this could be useful for adding player faces without using current cf id's.

Any thoughts or ideas?

I wish someone can figure how to erase created shoe limit

[dedenrone]

JSGME?

[seanbarkley]

I'm working on some shoe modifications at this moment, but once I finish I'll keep searching some stuff I'm trying to find out and prepare some tutorials. I'll let u know if I find something interesting...

[TGsoGood]

JSGME?

I use this already but this is not a solution. We need to be able to add 100% new ids and names for jerseys, faces, shoes, and arenas.
This way we do not have to disable any mods, we just throw everything in the modded folder and load the appropriate roster.
If we find the solution we may be able to get closer to a UBR / URB type of mod.

Thanks for providing feedback

[TGsoGood]

I wish someone can figure how to erase created shoe limit

I'm working on some shoe modifications at this moment, but once I finish I'll keep searching some stuff I'm trying to find out and prepare some tutorials. I'll let u know if I find something interesting...

Not sure if you guys are familiar with my shoe vault mod in NBA 2K14, but I was able to add around 56 new pairs of shoes to the shoe menu without overwriting or replacing any of the original 2K shoe content. That was about 3 years ago.
This past week I have began revisiting that mod and I am currently attempting to add another 25 brand new pair of shoes to the shoe menu.
I want to do the same thing for 2K19.

The shoe global is partially the answer, but I haven't looked into it much for this gen as the shoe menu is more complex now.

[TGsoGood]

Does anyone know what file format the manifest is?
Are we able to add info to the manifest and have the game call that file ?
Or Does anyone no how to add new files to the sync.bin?

[seanbarkley]

I think the easiest way we could add more shoes is if we could access created shoes and change them to ingame shoes. That’s at least how it could be done some years ago. there must be a Vladzola tutorial still over there. The thing is I couldn’t find where the hell are created shoes stored now...

Dealing with what you say about modifying SYNC file...that would be the biggest find out we could get!I still hope that the chinese guy who created waigua folder can find a way for it to overwrite sync files too...

[Marvin00]

I think the easiest way we could add more shoes is if we could access created shoes and change them to ingame shoes. That’s at least how it could be done some years ago. there must be a Vladzola tutorial still over there. The thing is I couldn’t find where the hell are created shoes stored now...

Dealing with what you say about modifying SYNC file...that would be the biggest find out we could get!I still hope that the chinese guy who created waigua folder can find a way for it to overwrite sync files too...

I think ksmiz has figured where shoes are stored, he sent me a lebron 16 texture before

[seanbarkley]

I think the easiest way we could add more shoes is if we could access created shoes and change them to ingame shoes. That’s at least how it could be done some years ago. there must be a Vladzola tutorial still over there. The thing is I couldn’t find where the hell are created shoes stored now...

Dealing with what you say about modifying SYNC file...that would be the biggest find out we could get!I still hope that the chinese guy who created waigua folder can find a way for it to overwrite sync files too...

I think ksmiz has figured where shoes are stored, he sent me a lebron 16 texture before

Yep I know man, those files are all inside SYNC file, I was taking about the files generated when you create a new shoe in the shoe editor.

[ksmiz]

I feel you on this, wish I knew anything about writing programs

I tried playing around with the explorer and importing files and try to basically replace files in an archive then make a copy and change the name of that archive then add what I did to the end of the manifest but no luck

The manifest appears to be just | archive name | file name | offset | file size |

The offset is basically a running total of the size of all the files

add file size to the offset and you will get the next number that you see in the row below it

I did figure out something cool though

instead of editing all the floor files from sync.bin I just made up my own numbers and that works
so f001.iff=f777.iff that would allow you to still make use of the new bucks court as f777 and still let you mod f001
or f022_alt.iff=f777_alt.iff that would allow you to make use of the original toronto alt floor w/ air canada center and use the new toronto alt floor w/ scotiabank arena
so that's not that useful itself but now you can make use of the modded folder and place whatever you want as f022_alt.iff

I would think this could be applied to any files that are originally listed within the manifest
so that would be similar to adding available files in that you now have 2 files instead of 1 file that overwrites an original file

If it is newly introduced and not originally in manifest like f004_alt.iff then I wouldn't bother with it
if you really wanted to you could give it another number but then any roster using that would be messed up so I wouldn't

there is still a lot of potential in naming iff files something different than what they are to begin with
as seen where looyh repurposed logo800.iff to a newscorebug or logo805 as a watermark

I used that idea before with turning non essential files into dornas but the possibilities are much greater than those examples

[TGsoGood]

ksmiz thanks for the info. I did not know you could use the sync.bin in this way

[TGsoGood]

just thinking out loud...

Wonder if we renamed sync.bin to be an archive and place it in the main directory could we then overwrite anything in the sync.bin file.

example:
rename sync.bin to 3K then use the modded folder to test replace a file that was in the sync bin.

I think I will have to test this while offline because steam will automatically redownload sync.bin file when I go to start the game.

[jtc324]

If that were the case i believe everything in sync.bin would have to be renamed first because then any file you are trying to overwrite would be overwritten no matter what archive it is in. I actually tried the method Ksmiz mentioned a while back to no success but i'm sure i did something wrong and can retry again. This option now seems the best because it will give us a few more files to be able to overwrite

[seanbarkley]

Not sure if you guys are familiar with my shoe vault mod in NBA 2K14, but I was able to add around 56 new pairs of shoes to the shoe menu without overwriting or replacing any of the original 2K shoe content. That was about 3 years ago.
This past week I have began revisiting that mod and I am currently attempting to add another 25 brand new pair of shoes to the shoe menu.
I want to do the same thing for 2K19.

What was the method you used for adding those extra shoes? Would that method be possible for 2K19 file structure? because the only way I can thnk of is make the game recognized user created shoes as its own, but I would have to find where user created shoes are stored first.

instead of editing all the floor files from sync.bin I just made up my own numbers and that works
so f001.iff=f777.iff that would allow you to still make use of the new bucks court as f777 and still let you mod f001
or f022_alt.iff=f777_alt.iff that would allow you to make use of the original toronto alt floor w/ air canada center and use the new toronto alt floor w/ scotiabank arena
so that's not that useful itself but now you can make use of the modded folder and place whatever you want as f022_alt.iff

I would think this could be applied to any files that are originally listed within the manifest
so that would be similar to adding available files in that you now have 2 files instead of 1 file that overwrites an original file

If it is newly introduced and not originally in manifest like f004_alt.iff then I wouldn't bother with it
if you really wanted to you could give it another number but then any roster using that would be messed up so I wouldn't

there is still a lot of potential in naming iff files something different than what they are to begin with
as seen where looyh repurposed logo800.iff to a newscorebug or logo805 as a watermark

I used that idea before with turning non essential files into dornas but the possibilities are much greater than those examples

I've been trying to figure out what you did there but I don't get it man... what files are you renaming, the ones inside Sync file?

Could you please put an example? because I still don't get it but for what you say here this method can be really promising...

[seanbarkley]

Not sure if you guys are familiar with my shoe vault mod in NBA 2K14, but I was able to add around 56 new pairs of shoes to the shoe menu without overwriting or replacing any of the original 2K shoe content. That was about 3 years ago.
This past week I have began revisiting that mod and I am currently attempting to add another 25 brand new pair of shoes to the shoe menu.
I want to do the same thing for 2K19.

What was the method you used for adding those extra shoes? Would that method be possible for 2K19 file structure? because the only way I can think of is make the game recognize user created shoes as its own, but I would have to find where user created shoes are stored first...

instead of editing all the floor files from sync.bin I just made up my own numbers and that works
so f001.iff=f777.iff that would allow you to still make use of the new bucks court as f777 and still let you mod f001
or f022_alt.iff=f777_alt.iff that would allow you to make use of the original toronto alt floor w/ air canada center and use the new toronto alt floor w/ scotiabank arena
so that's not that useful itself but now you can make use of the modded folder and place whatever you want as f022_alt.iff

I would think this could be applied to any files that are originally listed within the manifest
so that would be similar to adding available files in that you now have 2 files instead of 1 file that overwrites an original file

If it is newly introduced and not originally in manifest like f004_alt.iff then I wouldn't bother with it
if you really wanted to you could give it another number but then any roster using that would be messed up so I wouldn't

there is still a lot of potential in naming iff files something different than what they are to begin with
as seen where looyh repurposed logo800.iff to a newscorebug or logo805 as a watermark

I used that idea before with turning non essential files into dornas but the possibilities are much greater than those examples

I've been trying to figure out what you did there but I don't get it man... what files are you renaming, the ones inside Sync file?

Could you please put an example? because I still don't get it but for what you say here this method can be really promising...