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[[utp1985]]

Let's talk retro basketball...and mods.

Hi folks, my name is Titus, older modders or NLSC community lovers might know me or remember me as utp1985 & iamLillard. I myself have done many mods for the 2k12, 2k13, and the much loved 2k14. Long Story short, in life many things changes ( we grow up, we move for work, we get married, so on so on), but one thing is consistent, the love for basketball and the good old days.

Retro basketball and the NBA have a special place in the hearts of many fans. The NBA's rich history and the captivating stories of legendary players, iconic moments, and classic rivalries continue to captivate fans around the world. The aesthetics of retro basketball, from the vibrant team uniforms, the unique team court designs to the distinct style of play, evoke a sense of nostalgia and passion among us.

Since Hawk23 closed the Ultimate Base Roster (and 2K kind of fail to deliver a good experience what involves retro teams), I was playing with the idea to assemble a game mod, based on "vanilla" 2k14. This would mean, that this will be a separate game on your PC, Laptop ect... with only files added to facilitate the retro teams and only ONE roster to support the mods implemented in the game. Now for this to even have a chance to happen, I will need some help in form of answers. (once again, this will not overwrite your current games on your device, this will not take away your actual game what you possibly modded to 2025 season and you spent millions of hours downloading mods, this will be separated ONLY listing Retro NBA teams and possibly some nationals, fictionals). This also means that you will not be able to play association mode or season mod, strictly exhibition and blacktop.

After careful consideration, I have decided to open this topic here as I am sure I will find plenty of friends willing to contribute to this mod in any kind of way even with ideas and maybe willing to share some ready made files down the line when we get to the "assembly" process.

▶ Tools: For all the courts, jerseys, global, music file, art, scoreboard, shoes, and CF`s we have the usual well known tools made by other community members and they are free. For the roster we can use the RedMC from Vlad. For portraits we can use the MLB tool form Thingy.

▶ Question Nr0: Do you guys feel the need for something like this? for a completely different game, a different experience what you can fire up when an old friend visits you and you can have fun by choosing 2x random retro team and have fun? or this is totally time wasting...and I should ask the admins to delete this topic?

▶ Question Nr1: Before we ever start anything, I would like to find out (mainly form roster gurus), how many teams we can inject in the game? When I ask this, I am referring on how many players can be created in the roster file? I know the RedMC can add lines to the players tab, to teams, to jerseys, to courts. What I am interested if is a maximum amount of teams we can insert in the game. Is there a cap for this at all? or we can put as many teams as we want?

▶ Question Nr2:If this generates enough interest what platform we should use to get this mod promoted so it can be downloaded by anyone anywhere and the more important thing is going to be free. No hidden link, no captchas, no sending you to another site, no time wasting, just a simple download link for free. So if you willing to take part of this and contribute to this, please feel to do so and I encourage you to step forward, but if you willing to share mods with this project in the future, please keep in mind this will be available for free.

▶ Question Nr3:Now let's give a name for the mod together...Suggestion's are welcomed. (after we have the name, I will change the Subject line of the topic)

If you made it until this line in this new topic, it means you are truly interested and I am happy to welcome you and your ideas, mods you willing to share. If you still not interested or you still think this is a dead topic, than I am terribly sorry for wasting your precious time with this long post.

☛ Fun fact: Meantime I will be creating a spreadsheet with a list of potential teams that we can insert in the game, your wish list is welcomed. (just please detail the name of the team, the year and some players what defined the team)

Let the fun begin, is all about the vibe, kind regards.

phpBB [video]

[MadbaLL]

[utp1985], first of all, great to see you again. who doesn't rember your amazing mods, my first thought about them is your retro courts

about the idea, i can only say (or show) this:

- answer nr0: yes, we need something like this. everything that still keeps my interest about basketball (and football/soccer) are retro mods;
- answer nr2: nlsc (of course) and standard social media sites like youtube, facebook, instagram (althoug i don't use it, young people are on it);
- answer nr3: "utp1985's retro basketball" first comes to my mind or just "let's talk retro"

[RICH72601]

Always good to see you bro and I definitely appreciate your previous works in various projects. I'm retro to my heart and always support projects like this, but I there are two main concerns: 1) Is this just a collection of retro teams mainly for ones that are new to 2K14 modding that may have missed out on the UBR and URB mods? 2) There does not seem to be a lot of modders on this end that would dedicate free time to a project like this. We all have lives, careers, and families, which kinda sets people back. I am one that has some insomnia and create whenever I can. I also have created a full Retro NBA Summer League on a cruise ship in the Bahamas, lol. I'm that bonkers when it comes to this game . I'm just concerned it will be a good/great project without enough creators.

[[utp1985]]

Morning all (at least in England)

Thank you for the responses:

@MadbaLL - Thank you for the confirmation that there is a need for this. The mod itself will be around the 14-18 GB mark, so I am looking to get it shared on Google drive or on a cloud based platform what can facilitate a large file like this and will be possibly packaged in an ISO file so it can be downloaded / uploaded fast with no fuss at all. These days Windows has the basic mount image function so everyone just double clicks and opens the file, that is an easy copy and past. On the other hand is harder for any outside malicious parts to inject any form of viruses in an ISO. Links will be shared all across the platforms of course. Also I had some private social media messages (don't ask me how, I guess modders and community just know me) with some great great suggestions for the name. One thing is for sure, we will give a common name, wont be named after anyone, just something general.

@RICH72601 - Thank you for the appreciations. 1) The plan is to have the teams suggested by the community, basically what teams they would like to play in a retro mod, or their favourite teams, for example if I have an empty Saturday and I visit you and we play 2k, what team would you pick against me (you can choose only retro teams - everything from 2020 back). 2) I know, I myself work and have a life with my wife. I am really just need their contribution with ideas, with finetuning, with mods they have created and willing to share. I am willing to sacrifice from my free time to administrate this project and try to create something very very quality. No disrespect to anyone, but I am looking to make this mod a lot different than what you guys seen before. For example I am looking to bring back the light coloured art version in the basketball video games, I like the dark, but I myself love the way the NBA Live 2003 and 2005 was looking like, ( no flashbang white which burns your retina, but definitely not dark), willing to make the portrait file with just the face so there will be no jerseys on the shoulders, the retro courts will be spot on accurate, the jerseys I have all from the Ultimate Jersey Patch from 2013... these will be refreshed, also the warmups, and many many more small things which will give you the feeling of the quality.

I am working in a spreadsheet with all the tasks and soon will be back with a name for this.
-until now I have received suggestions like:

"Throwback Thrive: The Vintage NBA Experience"
"Old School Swish: Reliving Retro NBA Glory"
"Retro Roundball Rendezvous: A Vintage Basketball Adventure" (this sounds nice)
"Backcourt Blast from the Past: A Retro Hoops Remake"
"Throwback Hoops Mod"
"RetroSwish Mod"
"Old School Hoops"

[MadbaLL]

[utp1985], oh, you are from england? somehow i always thought you were from central/eastern europe

google drive is ok, just try to aviod hosting platforms which use download quota limit, for example mega.nz.
regarding the name, "let's talk retro" is cool in my ears but in any case i suggest some short name for the mod

i like the fact this mod will be focused on details, the way you said in your response to @rich. as for the teams, me personally love to play all teams from mid/late 80s, whole 90s and firs decade of 2000s.

eagerly looking forward to more news about this!

[[utp1985]]

Hi again.

So, we pretty much have the name:

Slammin` Classics

Since a couple of days I have some graphic elements saved on my laptop, I have started designing the general look and feel of the mod. Si here we have 2x images for you guys to show what is the general idea about the colours, the feel of the presentation. Please, feel free to suggest anything, all the opinions will be taken as constructive criticism and will only help me.

[RICH72601]

All sounds good and I have redone many floors with accurate stanchions for many teams, especially because early on, we didn't have REDMC to swap baskets easily. I'm fine with the name and because this mod will not include play in the association mode, we won't have hang-ups on HD files, therefore giving us the ability to use HD faces, jerseys, etc. The only drawback to HD files is I'm not sure how that would affect users with lower end PCs.

[[utp1985]]

Ah, RICH72601 music to my ears, we indeed will have the HD version of many mods, regarding low end PC`s I think as technology gets better we can just assume that less and less people are using very low end systems, I mean everything above dual core and above 4gigs of rams will run pretty much the HD version even with on board graphics. Also I will share my settings files as well which will help a little bit on low end PC users to unlock the full potential of their device and will make a short tutorial about how to tweak settings. I have a YT channel so will possibly upload some video, but firstly I would love to focus on getting the main tasks together and start building up the mods list.

☛ Fun fact: every contributor will be mentioned on the boot screen of the game, you know where it says usually the 2k credentials and the long text. So, there will be a list of contributors names there so if anyone want to be in the list, feel free to contribute and you will be rewarded.

[RICH72601]

Ah, RICH72601 music to my ears, we indeed will have the HD version of many mods, regarding low end PC`s I think as technology gets better we can just assume that less and less people are using very low end systems, I mean everything above dual core and above 4gigs of rams will run pretty much the HD version even with on board graphics. Also I will share my settings files as well which will help a little bit on low end PC users to unlock the full potential of their device and will make a short tutorial about how to tweak settings. I have a YT channel so will possibly upload some video, but firstly I would love to focus on getting the main tasks together and start building up the mods list.

☛ Fun fact: every contributor will be mentioned on the boot screen of the game, you know where it says usually the 2k credentials and the long text. So, there will be a list of contributors names there so if anyone want to be in the list, feel free to contribute and you will be rewarded.

Cool, it all makes sense. Looking forward to this.

[[utp1985]]

Good morning all.

After a long week of searching the internet up and down for the perfect global file, I have slowly decided to one which has all the necessary accessories to cover this very wide range of teams and players. The main problem was that I wanted a clean global which has the new style simple menu, can accommodate slightly tighter jersey and normal plus retro moving shorts, plus is clean enough at the presentation side to be usable (empty from watermarks and a simple full size player edit window). I am telling you is not many out there to fall in all of these categories. The only task I have now is to revert all the Nike striped socks to the normal old style NBA logo socks (as this is a retro mod). I have the good quality accessories pack from gOry and will be easy to do this.

So far this global will give us:

- the D.Rose accessories, the simple Carmelo Anthony, JR Smith style leg accessories
- the Tracy McGrady, Al Jefferson, Kenyon Martin style longer leg sleeves
- Cury, Fox, Billups style ankle wrap on small , medium and mid high socks
- Kobe style knee sleeve
- KD style longer knee sleeve to touch the mid-high socks
- Plus obviously the tripe Jordan calf sleeve
- Also all the arm and upper body accessories

- The only problem is the long striped retro socks (I still need to find a solution for this) If I choose a global with the long retro socks, that means it will be full of 2k14 trademarks, the menu will be old style and half of the other accessories wont be available...So, I guess I need to find to combine a short leg sleeve (edit to double stripe in the global)and a medium high sock possibly

What is your opinion guys?

[RICH72601]

Globals are always tough bro, especially when you have a mix of modern and retro. I've never come across a global that mixed both successfully, therefore causing me to completely separate my retro, from my modern mods. That global looks pretty good, especially if it also incorporates the fat body type for ones like Shaq, Oliver Miller, etc. I've always liked globals that were as close to default as possible, especially when it comes to the body types and cloth files. Slightly tighter jerseys are great, hopefully decreasing a lot of clipping.

[[utp1985]]

Some of the smaller files are getting done slowly.
Here is the englishboot, the title screen and obviously what intro we could use other than the 2k12.

As you can see, this page was originally the NBA copy right page and info, I will list everyone's name who contribute to the project here: (there is some typo in this and some of this need to be rephrased, but I will correct that tomorrow)


This is the part where the small NBA team logos are displayed originally, as we will have many retro teams I have changed this screen with the art update of the project:


This is the intro video obviously:


And the last page which welcomes you before you see the frontend and the gooye is the titlepage: (if you have any other player suggestions to be incorporated in the title page please let me know I am happy to change it.)

[[utp1985]]

RICH72601, regarding the global: I have find the right one which will allow me to equip one of the calf sleeves + medium socks to create a long striped sock (it looks seamless). I still need to change back all of the socks to normal NBA ones so if tomorrow is not busy with life, I will crack on. I also contacted some presentation creators to get some art files done. The whole modding scene changed a lot since I been gone and I start to believe that this will be so much harder than I thought as many of the top modders are hex locking their files making impossible for others to use them or develop their skills, however, I have contacted them and fingers crossed I can get the presentation files done. Not to cry out loud, but back in days when we managed to make a breakthrough about editing we shared out all the files and technics, was a privilege to make it for free, now days only paid links and ads I see . I am aiming for the Legacy format (almost full-size players at team selection) version for team selection page and a simple frontend_sync to represent the mod. Worst case scenario I will start hex editing again, but that will take much more time, I hope others willing to contribute with art files until I get the global modified.

[Jason_Ma]

And what about Retro Players' cyberfaces? A lot of Retro players' faces are really terrible!

[[utp1985]]

And what about Retro Players' cyberfaces? A lot of Retro players' faces are really terrible!

I recommend that is because mainly all other retro rosters and mods were based on SD Cyber faces so you can start association mode. As this mod is mainly only for exhibition or arcade play we will use HD cyberfaces. I doubt that we will find all of them but will combine 2k13 with 2k14 and will jump that fence when we get there What is your favorite Retro team? Want to make sure we include that in the list of teams.

Edit: if you create a list of those players with really bad CF, I make sure we concentrate on them when we get to CF's

[MadbaLL]

[utp1985], few things i wanted to mention:

- earlier you wrote your plans to use jerseys from 2k13 project, but be aware that 2k13 jerseys are not "fully" compatible with 2k14. jerseys in 2k13 original format cause white square on shorts in 2k14. they all must be re-edited to be fully compatible with 2k14. @Pep could give you more insight on regarding this matter;

- about global, please try to keep default shoulders model. many 2k14 globals have, let's say it this way, "cut off" shoulders as an attempt to copy next gen nba 2k games players' models. but it looks wierd and bad in 2k14, because it can't match next gen models. so my advice is to keep default shoulders model for all players.

[[utp1985]]

[utp1985], few things i wanted to mention:

- earlier you wrote your plans to use jerseys from 2k13 project, but be aware that 2k13 jerseys are not "fully" compatible with 2k14. jerseys in 2k13 original format cause white square on shorts in 2k14. they all must be re-edited to be fully compatible with 2k14. @Pep could give you more insight on regarding this matter;

- about global, please try to keep default shoulders model. many 2k14 globals have, let's say it this way, "cut off" shoulders as an attempt to copy next gen nba 2k games players' models. but it looks wierd and bad in 2k14, because it can't match next gen models. so my advice is to keep default shoulders model for all players.

Thank you for your points, I knew the issues with the jerseys, I mainly have all the necessary graphic elements to rebuild them, but I would prefer to get someone assist me with these so I can focus on something else. I will definitely reach out to Pep. (@Pep if you read this post, please reply. I send you a PM as well)

Regarding global, I have great news for you, I have a RealGen style global to be used for thsi project, I have spotted the shoulder issues with the global I posted the screenshots from and contacted the creator and asked for real gen version instead of nextgen.

[MadbaLL]

very pleased to hear (read) this, can't wait to see some previews.

[RICH72601]

RICH72601, regarding the global: I have find the right one which will allow me to equip one of the calf sleeves + medium socks to create a long striped sock (it looks seamless). I still need to change back all of the socks to normal NBA ones so if tomorrow is not busy with life, I will crack on. I also contacted some presentation creators to get some art files done. The whole modding scene changed a lot since I been gone and I start to believe that this will be so much harder than I thought as many of the top modders are hex locking their files making impossible for others to use them or develop their skills, however, I have contacted them and fingers crossed I can get the presentation files done. Not to cry out loud, but back in days when we managed to make a breakthrough about editing we shared out all the files and technics, was a privilege to make it for free, now days only paid links and ads I see . I am aiming for the Legacy format (almost full-size players at team selection) version for team selection page and a simple frontend_sync to represent the mod. Worst case scenario I will start hex editing again, but that will take much more time, I hope others willing to contribute with art files until I get the global modified.

Cool bro. In the case of how the community is now, unfortunately there are guys out there with great presentation mods, etc., who edit, lock their work, sell it w/ads on top....and they aren't even the original creators. Shout out to Ree Twokay who has put out free college mods and presentations that guys ultimately take and sell as their own. As you know, the 2K community is both beautiful and toxic at the same time. I'm sure you'll figure that out though. Be careful though because a lot of people's presentations look pretty, but break or cover up certain details of the game, like I could no longer see if I was calling a full timeout or 20 sec timeout. I have more examples, but can't think of them off top.

[[utp1985]]

very pleased to hear (read) this, can't wait to see some previews.

Tomorrow morning I will show something, I been advised that most of the fancy frontends will actually cause more ham than good, so I was concentrating on cleaning out the global as much as I can. We have plain mid to high socks for retro teams (not striped socks yet). Also cleaning out the global means I might need to turn the whole mod into a dark theme one. I was not expecting this, but I might need to recognise that is more compatible overall. I will work on it and will show some more screenshots in the morning.

[[utp1985]]

RICH72601, regarding the global: I have find the right one which will allow me to equip one of the calf sleeves + medium socks to create a long striped sock (it looks seamless). I still need to change back all of the socks to normal NBA ones so if tomorrow is not busy with life, I will crack on. I also contacted some presentation creators to get some art files done. The whole modding scene changed a lot since I been gone and I start to believe that this will be so much harder than I thought as many of the top modders are hex locking their files making impossible for others to use them or develop their skills, however, I have contacted them and fingers crossed I can get the presentation files done. Not to cry out loud, but back in days when we managed to make a breakthrough about editing we shared out all the files and technics, was a privilege to make it for free, now days only paid links and ads I see . I am aiming for the Legacy format (almost full-size players at team selection) version for team selection page and a simple frontend_sync to represent the mod. Worst case scenario I will start hex editing again, but that will take much more time, I hope others willing to contribute with art files until I get the global modified.

Cool bro. In the case of how the community is now, unfortunately there are guys out there with great presentation mods, etc., who edit, lock their work, sell it w/ads on top....and they aren't even the original creators. Shout out to Ree Twokay who has put out free college mods and presentations that guys ultimately take and sell as their own. As you know, the 2K community is both beautiful and toxic at the same time. I'm sure you'll figure that out though. Be careful though because a lot of people's presentations look pretty, but break or cover up certain details of the game, like I could no longer see if I was calling a full timeout or 20 sec timeout. I have more examples, but can't think of them off top.

Indeed, I can just agree with that. Also I had a pleasant experience with some modders willing to share out frontend and gooey, so I will have a go at it... for compatibility reasons I might remain with the older style team select window. Will post some photos tomorrow and will let the community decide.

[[utp1985]]

Ok, so I had a try on the simple dark version as well and I must say I like it, I am interested what you guys think:

Boot Screen:


Small Team Logos Screen:


Title Screen:


Frontend Sync:


Flat Simple Style Menu:


Clean Resurect Type Team Select:


Clean Roster Window:


Yess, I said I dont want a dark theme, yess I know is very dark, but as simpler it gets , the more elegant it is and is less chance to have issues with the game later. Still need to take out a lot from the textures in the global, maybe will be more simpler. I try to get the roster window and the edit player section cleaned as well.

[MadbaLL]

very pleased to hear (read) this, can't wait to see some previews.

Tomorrow morning I will show something, I been advised that most of the fancy frontends will actually cause more ham than good, so I was concentrating on cleaning out the global as much as I can. We have plain mid to high socks for retro teams (not striped socks yet). Also cleaning out the global means I might need to turn the whole mod into a dark theme one. I was not expecting this, but I might need to recognise that is more compatible overall. I will work on it and will show some more screenshots in the morning.

that's true and i'm glad that you want to keep it clean as much as you can

[MadbaLL]

Ok, so I had a try on the simple dark version as well and I must say I like it, I am interested what you guys think:

Boot Screen:
[ Image ]

Small Team Logos Screen:
[ Image ]

Title Screen:
[ Image ]

Frontend Sync:
[ Image ]

Flat Simple Style Menu:
[ Image ]

Clean Resurect Type Team Select:
[ Image ]

Clean Roster Window:
[ Image ]

Yess, I said I dont want a dark theme, yess I know is very dark, but as simpler it gets , the more elegant it is and is less chance to have issues with the game later. Still need to take out a lot from the textures in the global, maybe will be more simpler. I try to get the roster window and the edit player section cleaned as well.

i think it is fantastic! so clean and modern looking with excellent design at the same time.

if i had to be nitpicky, i would go with titlescreen picture. the truth is, as highschool fan of penny hardaway, he would always be orlando magic for me, never phoenix suns . also, not to make rony feel bad, but he just doesn't fit to that group of players .

[[utp1985]]

i think it is fantastic! so clean and modern looking with excellent design at the same time.

if i had to be nitpicky, i would go with titlescreen picture. the truth is, as highschool fan of penny hardaway, he would always be orlando magic for me, never phoenix suns . also, not to make rony feel bad, but he just doesn't fit to that group of players .

absolute pleasure to make that change