Creating New Jerseys for NBA Live 06 Tutorial · 2008-10-09 · NBA Live 06 Editing: Creating New Jerseys Step 1 - Research Have an idea of what you want to do first. Collect pictures

NBA Live 06 Editing: Creating New Jerseys


Introduction

Do you want to learn how to create new uniforms for use in NBA Live 06? This tutorial will help you get started. Of course you can download some great patches or request a patch but many people would like to learn how to do this themselves. This tutorial will show you how to create you own uniforms. You will need a graphic program that supports layers such as Corel’s Paint Shop Pro or Adobe’s Photoshop. For this tutorial I will use PSP9. I have saved the files in PSP7 and PSD format so that most people should be able to use them. You should also have knowledge of the tools and techniques for graphics editing.

There are a variety of methods for creating new uniforms. I will show you the method I use. I learned this method by painting cars in NASCAR Racing 2003 Season by Papyrus. The original templates were created by Brian Simpson. He created 3rd party templates for previous versions of NASCAR Racing that were so good that Papyrus contracted him to create templates for their game. These templates have a base layer for the primary color of the car. Above this you can add designs such as stripes, flames, contingency decals and logos. Each graphic is placed on its’ own layer or grouped into layers for better organization. Above these layers are highlight and shading layers and detail layers. These layers give the illusion of hood and door line, scoops, rivets, rear spoilers, grills and more. These layers are rarely modified. You just change the base color, add some logos and then save the file in the layered format and as a BMP or TGA file. The TGA “flat” is then imported into the game. Since the game was released with 2003 paintjobs, you can create paintjobs for new drivers or updated paintjobs.

Using a template that you can create or download you can make uniforms for your favorite CBA, NBDL, college, high school, International or Olympic teams. You can also make fictional uniforms for NBA teams, practice uniforms, classic NBA teams or even make uniforms based on other sports.

This tutorial is based on my NBA Live 2005 Tutorial. It has additional information for NBA Live

06 and more tips and techniques. Please refer to my “Installing Jersey Patches Tutorial” listed below for information on DBF editors and DBF editing.”

Credits • Cable Guy – proofreading and suggestions – Custom Numbers Tutorial and Photoshop Template • Stalker – uniform texture – neck textures • SAG375 – uniform texture – template • Granados(Big-D) – uniform texture – template • AndyG – uniform texture

• Big Thanks to Andrew for his DBF Guides at NLCS

Programs and Files Needed

1. Paint Shop Pro – http://www.corel.com/ 2. Adobe Photoshop – http://www.adobe.com/ 3. FshX – import/export FSH files 4. BigGUI – extract/import files into VIV and BIG files

Download from - http://www.nba-live.com/ tools section OR http://www.nbalive.org/ resources/tools section

5. Bassman58_base template06.psp - http://www.nba-live.com/ included in download (PSP & PSD) 6. Jersey Raptor - http://downloads.gamingaccess.com/index.php?file_id=4038 NBA Live 06 version 7. DOLFFIN Live - http://nba2kstuff.nbalive.org/


Programs Possibly Needed

• A program to extract downloaded files such as ZIP files or RAR files. • WinZip - http://www.winzip.com/ • IZARC - http://www.izarc.org/ • WinRAR - http://www.rarlabs.com/ • Windows XP has a zip/unzip program built in. • Installing Jersey Patches Tutorial by Bassman58 – http://www.nba-live.com/ 2005 Jersey

Patches section • Jersey Template by SAG375 - http://www.nba-live.com/ 2005 Jersey Patches section • Jersey Template by Granados (Big-D) - http://www.nba-live.com/ 2006 Jersey Patches

section • Jersey Template for Photo Shop by Cable Guy (useful for PSP also) - http://lbm.zapto.org/4th-

quarter/dload.php?action=file&file_id=296 Credits to AndyG for texture • NBA Live 06 Database Resource - http://www.nba-live.com/nba2006/dbf_teamgear.php Print

this page for this tutorial. Print the other database information and save it in a notebook or binder. I find this information very valuable.

Sources For Files NBA Live Series Center (NLCS) - http://www.nba-live.com/ NBA Live.org - http://www.nbalive.org/ 4th Quarter.net - http://lbm.zapto.org/4th-quarter/portal.php Pictures of uniforms – there are hundreds of sources, look at team sites, sporting goods sites, newspaper sites, basketball card sites, Ebay (cards, jerseys), Google image search. http://www.distant-replays.com/index.html http://www.stallanddean.com/index.cfm?page=c1&cid=1 http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/home/home.aspx http://retrohoops.netfirms.com/ http://www.classic-teams.com/ http://hometown.aol.com/bradleyrd/apbr.html http://www.remembertheaba.com/ Logos – there are many sites, here are a few: http://www.sportslogos.net/ http://members.tripod.com/logoman55/ http://www.logoserver.com/ http://www.logoshak.com/ http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/ http://www.classicsportslogos.com/default.asp http://www.hqfl.dk/ http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/ Actual Colors of Uniforms: http://www.ssur.org/research/team_colors/team_colors.htm Font Search: http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/


Step 1 - Research Have an idea of what you want to do first. Collect pictures of the uniforms and logos. I will create a Utah Stars home uniform from 1972-1794. This team was in the ABA for from 1971-1975. They were previously the Anaheim Amigos and Los Angeles Stars. Some star players were Zelmo Beaty, Willie Wise, Donnie Freeman, Ron Boone and a young Moses Malone. This uniform should be easy to create but it will give you the basics. SSUR.org has the correct uniform colors you need to use. Sometimes you can’t find pictures of the shorts, if this happens, use your imagination. If you are creating a fictional or practice uniform you will be creating these from scratch but you can still use photos as a reference. Finding the correct font for the numbers and names may be difficult. Use something as close as possible. I usually use a team with a font and color that I find suitable for my new uniform. To do this you need to run the game and scroll through the jersey selection screens until you find what you want or use DOLLFIN Live to view the VIV or BIG files. The Stars colors are red, white and blue and the font looks similar to College, Varsity and Princeton fonts. After viewing the uniforms on the selection screen I decided to use the 50s All-Stars away uniform as a basis. This uniform has a similar font as the Stars and numbers are red with a white border. The main reason I chose this uniform is because the numbers are what I want to use. There is less work to do if you choose a uniform with the correct numbers. Obviously, you also have to decide what team will use your uniform. I’ll let the Utah Jazz use this uniform. This way I can have ABA uniforms worn by NBA franchises, similar to the Memphis Grizzlies wearing the Memphis Pros uniform this season.


Step 2 – Export using BigGUI You should now have some reference pictures and know which uniform to use as a starting point. Create a folder named “aaa” on your desktop. This is just a temporary folder and can be deleted later or saved to another location. I named it “aaa” because it is easy to browse to while you are editing. Copy the ‘as50away.viv’ from X:\your NBA Live 06 folder\sgsm\uniforms folder to the “aaa” folder. Start BigGUI. Click File/Open and browse to the “aaa” folder and open the “as50away.viv” file. Highlight all five files in the window (SHIFT click). Export these files to the “aaa” folder. This folder is easy to browse to, isn’t it? Next rename the five files and the VIV file. Rename them to utahc72h*. EA uses a four-character abbreviation for each team. Utah = utah; Charlotte = char. EA then uses a four-character code for the individual uniform. In this case ‘c’ is for classic, ‘72’ is for the year, 1974, and ‘h’ is for the home uniform. Remember the meaning of the uniform name because these will be used for DBF editing later. If you are replacing an existing uniform you must use the present name. This will not require any DBF editing. Note: You can use DOLFFIN Live for exporting and importing files if you prefer.

Step 3 – Extract Uniform using FshX Open FshX. Click File/Open. Browse to your utahc72h.fsh file and open it. The uniform layer is “texture0:buni(512x512)” in the left-hand window. Notice that NBA Live 06 uniforms have a new texture; texture2:buninormal. This is for the lighting.

Next click Texture/Export. Browse to the “aaa” folder. Change the file type to BMP. (Note: PS users may be able to use DDS file types) Save the file as utahc72h.bmp. You have now saved a file for use in your paint program. Don’t worry that the uniform is still for the 50s All-Stars.


Step 4 – Create uniform In this next step you will create the uniform using PSP. Start PSP and open the utahc72h.bmp file. The picture below shows the different parts of the uniform.

The Utah Stars jersey has a round neck. The textures that SAG375 and Granados released are for V-neck jerseys. I have modified and included textures originally made by Stalker and an unknown author. Unfortunately both of these textures did not have the crotch sections defined. I added these crotch sections for you. Here are the original textures.

Open the Bassman58_base template06.psp file. (The file name extension may be .pspimage or .psd if you are using another version or Photoshop.) The lowest layer is the base color. This is the main color of the uniform. Above this layer is the overlay and multiply layers. These layers are used to create the wrinkles and shininess of the uniform. Adjust the opacity of these layers to achieve the effect you like. The overlay layer can be turned off if needed. Sometime you may need to create another multiply layer for dark uniforms. Use either the Stalker overlay/multiply layers or the others not both. The crotch sections have their own base, overlay and multiply layers. Adjust the opacity of the overlay and multiply layers as necessary. Fill Base Color: Now it’s time to start making your new uniform. Duplicate the template (this way you can’t screw up the original) and save the image as utahc72h.psp. Fill the base color uniform and base color crotch with white (245,245,245).


Logos: (optional) If you are using a logo paste it as a new layer. Place the logo as the upper-most layer. Resize and position it as necessary. Be aware that too much resizing can cause distortion. Rename this layer ‘front logo’, drag and drop it so that it is just above the base color. See picture below.

Neck Trim: Next you will add the neck trim. You can use trim created by Stalker or Cable Guy (d/l template listed above) that are available by searching at www.nba-live.com or www.nbalive.org. Just search on their names. The other option is to create your own trim. If you use Stalkers texture, it already has a gray line to use as a guide. If you use the other texture, turn on Stalkers texture temporarily while making your trim. Turn off later. You will have to create a series of lines to do this. Use the dropper tool to select the red color (214,28,56) as the stroke color. Select the pen tool and add the vector object above the base uniform color. Turn the fill color off, select draw lines and polylines, check connect segments, line style solid, line width 10, anti-alias checked. Starting at Point A create a series of short line segments around the collar using the dark gray line as a guide and just above the gray line. To make a smooth line create 25 or more segments, the more you make the smoother the line. Continue to Point B.


Repeat for the rest of the neck and arm trim, making the blue trim below. Create each color as a separate vector object. This will make positioning and editing easier. Next move any of the nodes to create smooth lines in the edit mode. You can also change the node type to symmetric to smooth the lines further. If you are making more uniforms you can use the trim layers you just made by copying them to your template and saving the template. Why make stripes every time? You can then easily change colors or the width of the stripes. You can also make third stripes between the red and blue. Keep the middle stripe layer below the other two and make it wide enough so you will not have any gaps in the color. Leg Trim: (optional) Add the horizontal leg trim on the shorts. Use the rectangle tool or line tool to add the trim. The rectangle tool is good if you want a two-color trim. The line tool is good for single colors or multiple colors.

Crotch Section: (optional) Add the trim to the crotch selections. Notice that these sections are upside down. Using the selection tool copy the horizontal line(s). You may have to temporarily flatten your image so you will copy the whole stripe.


Waist: This uniform has red stars positioned on the waist. Most uniforms have a stripe or stripes on the waist. Add stripes the same as you did for the horizontal leg trim. For this uniform use the symmetric shape tool. Select a five-sided star, anti-alias on, width set to 0. Duplicate the star seven times and position the eight stars.


Vertical trim: This uniform has two thin red stripes and one thick blue stripe. Use the line tool or the rectangle tool to add the trim to the shorts. I like to group the different trim colors. I then copy the group two times for the trim on the left and right sides. Notice only half of the trim is visible on each side. You need to think of this image as wrapping around a roll. Many uniforms have the trim extend from the shorts to the armpits. See the sample Spirits of St. Louis uniform.

Team Name: This uniform has a large blue star and two small blue stars. The uniform number will be positioned on top of the big star later. The team name is positioned on the chest. Create an ellipse. Add the STARS text on this curve. Position both in the middle of the jersey. Turn off the ellipse. Now you have curved text.

Add the blue stars now. This uniform is complete. Save this uniform as utahc72h.bmp (overwrite the old file) and save the .psp file, which you should save frequently anyway.


Complete Uniform with mesh For other uniforms there may be more detail. If your uniform has more logos add them just like you added the main logo. A mesh texture can also be used. Place it above the texture and set the blend mode to multiply. Lighting layer: For NBA Live 06 you need to create a lighting layer. For previous versions this was not necessary. Copy the multiply layer. Paste it as a new image (CTRL-V). Paste another layer above this. Set both layers to multiply and the opacity to 100. It should look like the image below. Save the image as utahc72h_lighting.bmp.

Step 5 – Import uniform using FshX Open FshX. Make sure the template0:buni is highlighted. Click on Texture/Import. Select the utahc72h.bmp file. You should now see the new Utah uniform. Click on File/Save. This step is optional. Click on ‘texture0:blet(256x64)’ on the left-hand side of FshX. These are used for the name on the back of the jersey. Verify that the uniform letters are correct. In this case the letters are white. White letters on a white uniform won’t be visible. Let’s assume for now that the letters are the correct color. I’ll show you how to modify the letters later. Highlight the texture2:buninormal layer. Click on Texture/Import. Select the utahc72h_lighting.bmp file. You should now see the new lighting layer. Click on File/Save.


Step 6 – Import uniform using BigGUI Open BigGUI. Open the utahc72h.viv file. You will still see the original 50s All-Stars files here.


Click on Import and browse to the “aaa” folder. Select the following five files: utahc72h_size.fsh, utahc72h_num.fsh, utahc72h_nreg.fsh, utahc72h.fsh and utahc72hr.fsh and OPEN them. You should now see ten files listed.

Highlight the five as50away files and click on Delete (Red X), click on YES. You should now have the five utahc72h files. Click on Rebuild (Blue R) five or six times (until the offset column stops changing).

Your VIV file is now ready to be added to your game. Note: Some guys at the NLSC were having trouble with the file sizes being too big, so you may need to 'Compress' the VIV file.

Step 7 – Copy files for use in game Copy the utahc72h.viv file to X:\your NBA Live 06 folder\sgsm\uniforms folder. Using a DBF editor make the necessary changes to teamgear.dbf. Refer to my Adding New Jerseys Tutorial if needed. For this uniform use: False id+1 28 3 False False c72h 1972-73 3 14031928 14467 16119285 15 0 0 0 1 The uniform is now ready to use in the game. Load NBA Live 06. Load the roster you made the changes for (the one you in which you changed the teamgear.dbf file). Select your team and the new jersey. Start the


game and verify that the uniform looks correct and loads properly. Use the Instant Replay feature to view the uniform. If it looks good, then you are done. If you need to make further changes exit the game and go back to PSP. Repeat steps 4 – 7 until you are content. The uniform numbers may not be displayed in the correct positions. It is possible they are far enough off from their location that you may not even see a number. Use the Jersey Raptor to align/resize the numbers. Use a scrap piece of paper and write down the initial parameters for the uniform locations. Make your changes and write down the new parameters. Check out the results and keep modifying until you are content with the results. Read the forums at GamingAccess, NLCS or Live.org for information on using the Jersey Raptor.

Summary

1. Research – select a uniform you want to make, find pictures and logos. 2. Export files from VIV file using BigGUI. 3. Export BMP file using FshX. 4. Create the new uniform using PSP and save as a BMP file. Create the lighting layer also. 5. Import new BMP file(s) back into FSH file using FshX. 6. Import new FSH files back into VIV file using BigGUI. 7. Copy files to sgsm\uniforms folder. 8. OPTIONAL – create jersey preview file. 9. Modify teamgear.dbf file. 10. Run game. Load roster. Select new jersey. Play game and verify. Use Instant Replay to view

uniforms.

Editing Uniform Name Letters You can change the color of the text used on the back of the uniforms. Using FshX you can view the texture0:blet layer in the utahc72h.fsh file. For this uniform we want to have either a blue or red letters since these are the team colors and we don’t want white. If you have a suitable picture you can determine the correct color. For this example we will change the color to red (214,28,56).

You will need to export the letters in PNG format which has a transparent background. To do this open the utahc72h.fsh file with Dolffin Live. Click on File/Open Volume. Browse to the ‘aaa’ folder and open the file. Click on the texture0!blet layer. Click on File/Export Blob. Select ‘PNG’ and click ‘OK’. Save the file as utahc72h texture0!blet.png.


In PSP open the file you just saved. You will have white letters on a transparent background. This may differ if you have used different source files. Lock the transparency ON for this image. The Blue Lock should be showing. Use your paintbrush tool to change the letters to red.

Only the letters should change color. Save your file using the same name. Open utahc72h.fsh using FshX. Click on the texture0!blet layer. Click on Texture/Import. Start typing the name of the PNG file. Select the file from the drop-down list. Click on Open. You should now see the red letters shown on the right side. Click on File/Save. You now need to import this file back in to the VIV file. Go back to Step 6-7.

Another Option: If you do not want to change the color of the letters you can export the DDS file using FshX from one uniform and import into another uniform. This may save some time if the source colors are the same as you need for your new uniform. It may be possible to change the font of these letters using the information below (Editing Uniform Numbers). You’d have to save this layer as a PNG file and paste new numbers over the old numbers and turn off the original layer. I haven’t tried it myself. You may not get good results since the font would be very small in-game.


Editing Uniform Numbers You can modify the fonts used for the uniform numbers. I used Cable Guy’s tutorial at NLSC. http://www.nbaliveforums.com/ftopic32814.php. According to Cable Guy you only need to modify the numbers on the back of the jersey. Just edit nbk0.png – nbk9.png. nbk10.png is a blank space used for double digit numbers. Be careful when editing that you don’t make your numbers too wide. Leave a few pixels blank around the edges otherwise you may have streaks on your uniform.

Follow Cable Guy’s instructions using Fshline to extract the PNG files. Ignore the DDS files. Open the nine PNG files in PSP. Start with nbk0.png (picture A). Choose a suitable font with the correct colors and adjust the font size so that it is the same size or slightly smaller that the original (picture B). Note: normally the background is transparent, I changed the color to yellow for illustrative purposes. Position the new number over the top of the old number (picture C). Turn off the old layer (picture D). Save the file and repeat for the other numbers. Continue with Cable Guy’s instructions. Take the updated xxxxyyyy_num.fsh file and import it in to the VIV file for the uniform. I usually make changes to the uniform FSH file (utahc72h.fsh) first. I update the uniform, letters and lighting. I then update the numbers (utahc72h_num.fsh). Lastly I use BigGui to update the VIV file (utahc72h.viv).

A B C D

Black or dark uniforms If you want to create black or dark uniforms you will have to create different types of texture layers or add more texture layers. You need to have the wrinkles give the uniform some texture. Try adding a new layer above the multiply layer and change it to Soft Light. Adjust the opacity of the three layers as needed.


Change the multiply layer to Burn. Adjust the opacity of the two layers.

Pure black uniforms may not look good in the game. Instead of 0-0-0 try using 10-10-10 instead.

Optional – Create your own template

The file by SAG375 that you downloaded from NLCS contains four different textures plus a mesh texture. You can use these textures to create your own template. There are other textures that you can download from the various websites. AndyG, Stalker and C0nr4d have made their textures available. You can also create your own template. Creating a template will save you a lot of time and make it much easier to create uniforms, especially if you want to create many uniforms. If you are making simple uniforms or just a few, you may not want to create a template.

Use the simple template I included as a base. You will need to create new layers for your template. Above the base color layer add a new raster layer and name it ‘waist’. Click on this layer and select the selection tool. Carefully drag the cursor over the waist section of the uniform. Fill this section with any color. Lock the transparency of this layer (no red X). You can now easily paint the waistband using the paint tool or the fill tool. You can now make more layers for the waistband. You can create single, double or triple stripes for the waistband. Name these layers so you understand what they are. In PSP you can even group your detail layers. Now it’s easy to turn on/turn off layers and change colors. You can now create layers for the neck trim (single or double stripes) and the arm trim (single or double stripes). To make


stripes, use the pen tool and create point-to-point lines using the original texture as a guide. Create enough points so that you will have smooth rounded stripes around the neck or arms. You will probably need to change the node types to symmetric to achieve smooth shapes. It should now be easy to change the width of these stripes and the color. You can also use the sleeves.psd file that SAG375 included. Add these layers below the texture layers, name them and lock the transparency. Turn on/off these layers when painting. You can change the color easily. If you have a mesh texture, copy it to the top layer, set the blend mode to multiply. You can move this layer as needed. Sometimes I place this layer above the jersey section and below a shorts section when I do not want mesh shorts.

Save your new template and use it to create more uniforms. You can create more templates using the other textures and neck shapes. One warning, don’t try to create one super template with every texture you can find unless you have the system resources to be able to edit a 10Mb file. It is probably better to create a template for the five different neck types used in the game. 0 = round,(Boston), 1 = v-neck1(Indiana), 2 = v-neck2(Dallas), 3 = v-neck3(Houston), 4 = v-neck4(Denver).

Use your imagination and creativity for these templates. A template will save you from having to create similar effects whenever you paint. You can copy layers from one template to another whenever you want. You can create a template as simple as a base/overlay/multiply layers combination or a template with dozens of layers.

Suggestions

1. Practice, Practice, Practice. 2. Learn more about the graphical program you use. Search on the Internet for tutorials. There are

hundreds of sites for PSP and PS. For PSP: search on ‘psp tutorial’ or ‘psp tips’ or ‘psp help’ or ‘paint shop pro’. Do the same for PS.

3. Save tutorials on your hard drive or burn them to a CDROM. For Internet Explorer click File/Save As and save the file in html or mht format. After saving double click on the file and make sure it contains what you wanted to save.

4. Print tutorials and save them in a binder or file cabinet. Use the Print Preview to verify you are printing correctly; check that the edges are not cropped off. You may need to use a screen capture program (PSP has one built in) to save some pages.

Samples Here are some Harlem Globetrotter uniforms that I made. The first uniform has a mesh jersey.

Documents

Creating New Jerseys for NBA Live 06 Tutorial · 2008-10-09 · NBA Live 06 Editing: Creating New Jerseys Step 1 - Research Have an idea of what you want to do first. Collect pictures