To the artists of NCAA Mod:

First off, I'd like to say I very much appreciate the time you guys take to create addons for games such as NBA Live. I've been a part of many different mod groups for games such as Half-Life (Helped with the original Day of Defeat), and NASCAR Heat (www.hcmotorsports.com). That being said, I understand the limits of what you can and can't do with a game and the engine. I also understand you are only allowed to share so much information with the public, as most mod groups want to keep things under the radar until the final release. I've been there.

However, I do have a pet peeve. I, for one, hate seeing major inaccuracies on things (or teams) that are constantly in the spotlight. As an example, let's use Madden '05 and say they figured out how to actually edit the uniforms and fonts outside of the game to create much more accurate and realistic uniforms (much like in NBA Live). A team of artists would complete a set of 120 NCAA teams, complete with "accurate" logos, stadiums, uniforms, etc. However, after downloading the mod, I would realize that in fact there are a lot of things wrong with many of the teams. I'm not just talking about those small schools that only win 1 game a season, but schools like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Miami, even USC. Things such as the basic uniform colors (jersey color, pants color) would be so wrong that I could've mistaken them for completely different teams.

This gets frustrating and the only way to fix it is to fix it yourself. Because chances of getting a patch to fix one teams uniform are pretty slim. However, I have a proposal. In my honest opinion, it would be nice to see the development team of the NCAA mod seek out certain people who attend certain schools or attend some of thier games, or maybe are just big fans of the well known teams (Duke, Kansas, NC, OSU). They would then refer to these people about things such as jerseys, number fonts, court logos, players, etc. For example; I'll be attending Oklahoma State University in the fall. I've been to several of thier home basketball games and have even travelled to see them in the Final Four last year. But it's rather disappointing as a fan (and soon to be student) to see so much hard work put into a mod and still not feel pleased because they simply didn't do a little research.

I'm not saying you guys don't already do this, or don't research each team yourselves. Because I've never actually downloaded any mods for NBA Live (2005 is the first time I've purchased it). I've just seen some of the crap kicked out for Madden 02/03/04/05 over the years and hope that the people here are known for doing things the right way...afterall, first lesson I was taught when I joined a mod team was "Quality over quanity".

Give me some feedback or constructive criticism on my first post. I'm all ears. I apologize in advance if I've made myself look like an ass or have somehow offended anyone. After all, it IS the internet and people can misunderstand things very easily.

Thanks.

This is actually a good post, but trust me if I say the uniforms will be fine...
I agree more than 100% on 'quality over quantity', so we won't add 120 NCAA schools, but 25 instead. This will of course lead to many questions like: is my school in it? My answer: just wait.
Although you can imagine which teams have a chance of being with those 25 and Oklahoma State is definately in there.

Its best if u make the more well known teams b4 u get to the unknown ones......120 is unneccesary 25-30 would be the ideal amount

Understood. I wasn't actually saying there will / should be 120 teams, I just kinda blurted out a number

25-30 would be good. Also nice to hear OSU is going to be in there. If you need pictures of Gallagher-Iba Arena (OSU's home court), or some logos, lemme know. I'm only the biggest State fan there is

If you need pictures of Gallagher-Iba Arena (OSU's home court), or some logos, lemme know.

The court is already done, by KD. I must admit I had never seen it before, but he watches every detail and it looks great!

Oh yeah, quick question. I'm still fairly new to this game and the modding abilities. I was wondering, when you guys talk about making the home courts, do you mean just the hardwood floor & logos? Or are you actually recreating the indoor setting such as the seating and roof height etc (a lot of schools have very unique seating and railings on double deck stands such as OSU and OU).

I haven't seen anything about doing anything other than graphics, but I could be wrong.