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NBA JAM: On Fire Edition 2023
v1.0
by johnz1
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=== OVERVIEW / TL;DR ===
- NBA JAM: On Fire Edition 2023 is a roster update mod of NBA JAM: On Fire Edition for PlayStation 3.
- 21 teams have been updated for the 2022-23 season.
- New teams, logos, player heads, player bodies, uniforms, arenas, headshots, shoes, loading screen photos, crowd signs, and more.
- This mod is playable on the RPCS3 emulator and jailbroken PlayStation 3.
=== FEATURE LIST ===
- 21 teams updated to the 2022-23 season
- To the fans of the Knicks, Thunder, Raptors, Pacers, and Magic: I'm sorry I didn't have time to add your team yet
- To the fans of the Hornets, Pistons, Rockets, and Spurs: I'm sorry your team currently sucks. Things will get better.
- Rosters are accurate as of April 2023
- 53 new in-game player heads
- Accurate player body accessories
- New arenas
- New uniforms
- All team logos have been recreated in a new visual style
- New crowd signs. For example:
DEN: "Joker"
CLE: "Spyda"
ATL: "Ice Trae"
- New loading screen photos
- More signature shots are used
- Everything is unlocked. No hidden, unlockable players or teams. The only hidden team is the final Road Trip opponent, and they are exclusive to Road Trip mode.
- Some impossible (or silly) achievements are automatically completed by default. For example:
- Sportsman ("Finish any online game")
- Moneybags ("Buy items in the Jam Store")
- Brick ("Miss 3-pointers in Road Trip or Arena")
- Learning Experiences ("Lose games")
- Replaced "Big Head Mode" with "USA Ball" as the default unlocked privilege
=== PLAYER RATINGS ===
- Ratings have been adjusted for 4-player gameplay. 3PT, SPD, STL, and DRB have been lowered to balance the game. With the stock ratings, the game tends to become a 3 point shootout because, with a good shooting release, you can expect nearly every 3 pointer to go in. Exclusively taking 3's is the most viable strategy for winning. Because of this, the 3PT rating has been shifted down so that the maximum rating is 8 instead of 10. Consider an 8 3PT to be a 10, a 7 to be a 8 or 9, a 6 to be a 7, and so on.
- This game isn't a sim, and neither are the player ratings. Ratings weren't directly derived from player stats. Players are generally good at what they are good at in real life. How good their ratings are is usually based on how good they were overall in real life.
- CTH is mostly used as an "overall" rating. Points were given or taken away for players who are especially clutch or not clutch.
=== KNOWN ISSUES / LIMITATIONS ===
- 9 teams are missing. Please don't request that I add these teams. The answer is always the same: player heads and uniforms take a long time to create. I simply haven't been able to make every player or team. There may be more releases of this project with more teams and players, but asking for this won't make it happen any faster.
- Two players (Kristaps Porzingis and Nikola Vucevic) use replacement heads from NBA JAM: On Fire Edition. I just haven't gotten around to making their heads, and the replacement ones are good enough for me.
- The 9 teams that haven't been created exist as Road Trip opponents, using replacement heads.
- Some player body shapes (i.e. skinny, average, or muscular) aren't accurate.
- Some new players use the same "SpeechID" as stock players that have the same last name. For example, you'll hear Anthony Davis referred to as "Baron Davis". However, the announcer usually doesn't say the player's first name, so I think using the substitute "SpeechID" is worth it.
- The New Orleans Pelicans are called the "New Orleans Hornets" and the Charlotte Hornets are called the "Charlotte Bobcats".
- Some arenas don't have the right team logos in the video panel.
- The Beastie Boys images in the menu for the final Road Trip matchup haven't been replaced yet.
=== INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS ===
- Legally (and ethically), you must own the original NBA JAM: On Fire Edition in order to play this game.
- This mod is playable on PS3 emulators and jailbroken PlayStation's.
- I recommend playing on RPCS3. The game runs flawlessly and can look very good when you up the internal resolution ("Resolution Scale").
- This game has a unique PS3 TITLE_ID. It has been changed from "NPUB30558" to "NPUB02023". Because of this, it can be installed without conflicting with the stock NBA JAM OFE or NBA JAM: Legends On Fire Edition. NBA JAM OFE 2023 won't read the save game and roster update files from NBA JAM OFE.
- RPCS3 installation instructions:
1. Install RPCS3 using the quickstart instructions here: https://rpcs3.net/quickstart
2. In RPCS3, click the "File" menu and select "Install Packages/Raps/Edats"
3. Inside the ZIP file that you downloaded ("NBA_JAM_On_Fire_Edition_2023_v1.0_by_johnz1.zip"), go into the "Installation Files" folder and install both of the PKG files ("NBA_JAM_On_Fire_Edition_2023_v1.0_by_johnz1-Part_1.pkg" and "NBA_JAM_On_Fire_Edition_2023_v1.0_by_johnz1-Part_2.pkg").
4. "NBA JAM: On Fire Edition 2023" should show up in the game list now. Start the game.
5. The first time you play a game, it may be slow and some textures may be missing because the emulator needs to build the shader cache. I recommend you start a game, let it run for about one minute, then restart RPCS3.
- RPCS3 optimization instructions:
WARNING: This was written in early 2023 and may not be entirely accurate if you're reading this months or years later.
1. In RPCS3, click the "Pads" button to open the Gamepad Settings menu. Assuming you're playing with a controller, change the "Handler". I recommend "XInput" if you have an Xbox controller. If you want to play multiplayer, you'll need to do this for each player/controller.
2. Start a game against the CPU to determine if it is running at full speed or not. Leave fullscreen mode by double-clicking or hitting Alt+Enter. The title of the game window lists the FPS (frames per second). You want this to be at or very close to 60.
- If the game doesn't run at 60 FPS:
- Stop the game and click the "Config" button again. Under the "CPU" tab, enable "Enable SPU loop detection". Be aware that this will likely cause some audio issues, but it may be the difference between the game running at full speed or not.
- Start another game against the CPU and observe the FPS. If it's still not running at 60 FPS, stop the game and go into "Config" again. Under the "GPU" tab, try changing the "Renderer" to "OpenGL".
3. If the game runs at 60 FPS, I highly recommend changing some settings to make the game look much, much better. After changing each of these, start a game against the CPU and make sure the game is running at 60 FPS.
- Under the "GPU" tab, increase the "Resolution Scale". In general, the higher the resolution, the better the game will look.
- Under the "GPU" tab, increase the "Anisotropic Filter".
- Under the "GPU" tab, enable "VSync". WARNING: Vsync adds latency, but it shouldn't be perceptable. If you are playing competitively, I would recommend leaving this option disabled.
4. In the game settings, I recommend lowering the commentator volume to about 75%. I find that it's much louder than the sound effects and music.
- Jailbroken PS3 installation instructions:
1. Install the first PKG file ("NBA_JAM_On_Fire_Edition_2023_v1.0_by_johnz1-Part_1.pkg")
2. Install the second PKG file ("NBA_JAM_On_Fire_Edition_2023_v1.0_by_johnz1-Part_2.pkg")
=== FAQ's ===
Q: Hold on a second... I love NBA JAM. Is this real?!
A: Yes. It's real, it's free, and it's spectacular. If you like NBA JAM then you're probably going to love this.
Q: Is this a new game created by EA?
A: No, this is not a new game. This is a fan-made conversion mod of NBA JAM: On Fire Edition. You must own the original NBA JAM: On Fire Edition in order to play this game.
Q: How can I pay you or donate to this project?
A: This project is entirely and strictly free. There is no Patreon or GoFundMe or PayPal. You cannot send me money for this project. Please just enjoy it :)
Q: How can I play this online?
A: This game is not playable on PSN. I highly recommend using Parsec to play online.
Q: Why are there only 21 teams?
A: Player heads and uniforms take a long time to create. I simply haven't been able to make every player or team, and I'm not sure if I ever will.
Q: Why are there players with no profile photo and zeroes for all ratings?
A: Blank players were added to teams with only two players. If a team only has two players, then you can't change which player you play as; player 1 will always be the player in the first slot and player 2 will always be the player in the second slot. By adding a blank player, you can change which player you play as.
Q: I found something wrong with the game. How can I report it to you?
A: Before contacting me, PLEASE read this entire document. If it isn't mentioned here, you can report bugs by posting in this project's thread on the NLSC forums (nba-live.com) or emailing nbajamofe@protonmail.com.
Q: Why are the 3PT ratings so low? Steph Curry only has an 8 3PT but he's the best shooter ever!!!
A: Some player ratings have a maximum value that is lower than 10, in an attempt to balance the gameplay. Please read the "Player Ratings" section above for more information.
Q: Why are there courtside banners for other videogames?
A: The 1990's NBA Jam games had courtside banners for a variety of things, including other videogames. For this project, every arena has a banner for one of my favorite videogames.
Q: What's next?
A: Soon I will release a collection of documents, files, and tools that explain how to mod this game.
Q: Will there be updates to this project?
A: I'm not sure. With the amount of roster turnover in the NBA these days, it's a lot of work to keep it updated.
=== HOW TO HELP ===
- Many elements of the game have been figured out, but there are still many more that remain unchanged from the original game. Solving these would really take this game to the next level. I feel like I've taken this game as far as I can with what I've figured out.
- If you think you can help with any of the items below, please reach out to me at nbajamofe@protonmail.com, or post in this project's thread on the NLSC forums (nba-live.com).
- Edit 'attribdb'. I think this is the most important file to work on right now. It controls many parts of every player model, including which uniform they wear, the shape of their body, and whether they wear short shorts or long shorts. Until this file is editable, changing which uniform a player wears is an arduous process.
- Expand the number of teams. I couldn't find a way to add a 68th team and not have the game crash.
- Expand the number of arenas.
- Change the position and size of jersey numbers and names.
- Change the color of the team-controlled player accessories.
- Edit the shooting animations. It would be great to create new signature shots.
- Edit the commentary audio. I have been able to play back these audio files outside of the game, but haven't been able to edit them. Existing audio could be spliced together to create names for new teams and players. For example:
- "Charlotte" and "Hornets"
- "Anthony" and "Davis"
=== THANK YOU'S ===
- Luigi Auriemma, for creating and supporting QuickBMS - and for his "nbajamfire.bms" script.
- Artem Khassanov, for his work on TDB databases. He provided "TDBAccess" libraries and a VB template app that made it easy for me to make the 'bounce.db' editor. He took time to personally help me get off the ground with this, and I thank him profusely.
- The author(s) of DB Master
- The author(s) of DB Converter
=== CHANGELOG ===
- v1.0 (2023-04-23)
- First public release
