Editing School Names - Tutorial with pics

Can I add NEW schools? No.
Can I edit existing schools? Yes.
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Things you MUST HAVE to follow this tutorial:

• A Hex Editor. (I recommend FXEDIT32, mainly because its 100% free, with unlimited uses.
  
• The name of the school you wish to replace
  
• The intellect of a 4-year-old (More would be nice, but this is pretty simple)
  
• A back-up of the file 'locale.eng'(I take NO responsibility for the effects it has on your game, so a backup would be smart.)

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That's all you need! Got it all? Then read on.

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1. Open your Hex Editor.
   For this tutorial, I'll be using FXEDIT32.
   
2. Locate your 'loc' folder.
   Usually, it will be here:
   C:\Program Files\EA SPORTS\NBA LIVE 2005\loc
   
3. Open the file 'locale.eng'
   There is a file called 'locale' without the '.eng' at the end of the name. DO NOT open this one!
   
4. Click Search>Find String...
   (or press F2, or the icon)
   
5. Check BOTH boxes 'Search from Beginning of File' AND 'Ignore Case in Strings'
   This will make the search start at the beginning, and turn the case-sensitive option OFF, incase your capital letters are incorrect
   
   
   
6. In the 'Find String' window, type in part of the school's name.
   Since I'm going to replace The Master's College I'll type in master's
   (Make sure to type in something that is unique to the school. Don't type in boston, or north because there are 2 colleges with boston in the name, and 16 occurences of the word north)
   
7. Once you've found the correct school, use the arrow keys to move the yellow box over the first letter of the school, in the left pane.
   
8. Click Edit>Edit String...The box should now be red.
   (or you can press Ctrl+E, or the logo)
   
9. Starting with the first letter, begin to replace the letters. Spaces can replace letters and periods, and vice versa, but do not put any more periods into the title. If there's still letters left that you don't need, replace each letter with a space. If you run out of space and you begin editing the next phrase, you need to start over. Exit FXEDIT32, and when it asks you if you want to save the changes, click no. This time, use a different replacement college, one with more letters.
   
10. When you're sure you've got it all right, save 'locale.eng' and quit FXEDIT32. Run NBA Live, go t Create A Player, or Edit Player, go to the School section. Your new school name will have replaced the old school's name.
    
    
    
    The new school will have replaced the old one alphabetically as well, so it will not be in the right spot. If you replace Air Force with Z college, the school will be located in the A's NOT the Z's!
    
    Now:
    
    

Any problems? Post 'em.
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Tips on choosing a school to replace:

~First of all, not all schools are available in Create-A-Player, like DeShawn Stevenson's school: Washington U. HS (CA). Most high schools are excluded, as well as unpopular colleges, so before editing a college, make sure that the college is available through create-a-player first.

~Count the number of characters in the new name that you want. Characters are basically the keys you press to type in your college. The
name Rollins College (FL) has 20 characters, which are as follows:
R-O-L-L-I-N-S-space-C-O-L-L-E-G-E-space-(-F-L-)
(without the dashes) So make sure the school you wish to replace has the same amount or MORE characters than the school you wish to put in the game.

~Also, its wise to replace a school that's is not often used. UCLA, Duke, and St. Joseph's would be bad choices, because many NBA players are alumni of the schools, and their schools will change if you edit these colleges.
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Credit: Null17 for file location


Please sticky this, mods.

Last edited by VMS on Sat Mar 19, 2005 3:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

nice Tutorial,and nice pics ...but i don`t see the point of editing schools

Very nice tutorial, this could be stickied !

And sicked it is.

Nice tutorial, very nicely put together and presented. Now if it wasn't for that avatar and signature...

[*]A Hex Editor. (I recommend FXEDIT32, mainly because its 100% free, with unlimited uses.

Does the NBA Locale String Editor work too ?

gosh, editing schools was far easier back in 2000's days

[*]A Hex Editor. (I recommend FXEDIT32, mainly because its 100% free, with unlimited uses.

Does the NBA Locale String Editor work too ?

that's what I thought too. Maybe if someone could just identify the schools with the according number. Then it might be easier to edit the schools that way. But i might be completely wrong too.

I haven't used the NBA Locale String Editor. I think this is easier, but hey, that's just me.

Sweet! My first sticky!

i manage to change the name of the school and save it but when i look at my school at the game it doesnt change. did i do something wrong or something i missed?

also, sometimes it says "string not found." how can it be string not found when i entered the CORRECT name and spelling and followed the instruction?

Doesn't Change:
Well, if the string isn't found, how can you see it in game? Are you sure you're replacing each individual letter? And make sure there isn't 2 occurances of the school. Some are put in twice, so mixups don't occur with active players. Another problem could be that you edited locale, not locale.eng. The .eng should be part of the filename.

String not found:
Did you check both boxes? If both aren't checked, it will most likely overlook the school. Also, try just typing in part of the school name. It may bring multiple results, but it is more likely to find your ideal school.

If this didn't help you, e-mail me with your locale.eng, and I'll change it.

ok man, ill try to change it again when i get home and if still doesnt work ill just give you my locale.eng....

thx man.....

is there way i could change international all star team to somethig else but still leaving it as a all star team ?

try searching for every occurence of "international" using the 'find string' method used in the tutorial. If you find something like this in locale.eng:

International.All-Star.Team.

Then edit it using the tutorial. It should appear more than once, so be sure to change it every time. Than you can edit the rosters from there if you like.

I'm not sure if its in locale.eng though. It should be.