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NBA 2K12 Keep My Mod Readme

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Dec 26th, 2011
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  1. NBA 2K12 Keep My Mod
  2. by Lefteris "Leftos" Aslanoglou
  3.  
  4.  
  5. Starting with NBA 2K12, 2K implemented a way to update game art and text
  6. (actually, any game file) silently, without the need for a patch. However, the
  7. files 2K updates this way override any mods the user has installed, and there's
  8. no easy way for the user to make sure his mods override 2K's updates.
  9.  
  10. This tool tries to solve this problem, by letting the user select which mods to
  11. keep, and also gives modders a semi-automatic way of making sure their mods
  12. won't get overridden/replaced by 2K's updates.
  13.  
  14. ===================================================
  15. DISCLAIMER
  16. The tool is still in beta, so use it at your own risk. Make sure to keep
  17. a full backup of your NBA 2K12 folder inside %appdata%\2K Sports, in
  18. case something goes wrong.
  19.  
  20. When you edit the Roster.ROS file, ALWAYS save the edited Roster in a
  21. file WITH A DIFFERENT NAME! The Roster.ROS gets updated by 2K whenever
  22. there's an official update, and this tool FORCES the update.
  23.  
  24. So, two tips:
  25. 1. Always keep a backup of %appdata%\2K Sports\NBA 2K12. Always, always, ALWAYS.
  26. 2. When you want to edit the official Roster, always create a copy of it
  27. first with a different name, and always save to that file. Saving to the
  28. Roster.ROS file is unreliable even without my tool, but you're
  29. guaranteed to lose your changes with it, if you don't save to another
  30. file!
  31. ===================================================
  32.  
  33. Instructions
  34. For users (short version):
  35. Just run the tool, and click on Start Game. You should be all set. The
  36. tool is fully-automatic in what it does, and shouldn't require further
  37. assistance from you. Just keep it running while you're playing the game.
  38. Make sure you read the rest of the readme though, for more things you
  39. can do.
  40.  
  41. If you want to temporarily disable the tool and keep 2K's updates,
  42. for example to synchronize NBA Today or to go Online, click on Restore
  43. Online Data Backup. After you do that, the tool won't watch for re-syncs
  44. and won't force your mods, until you use the "Force Keep My Mods"
  45. option, which will re-enable the automatic features of the tool.
  46.  
  47. For users (detailed version):
  48. When the tool starts, it makes sure to hide any rosters currently
  49. available. This way it forces the game to download the latest roster and
  50. updates. After the game downloads the updates and saves the latest
  51. roster, the tool forces the mods over 2K's conflicting updates. It then
  52. unhides any custom rosters you may have, and you can load them via
  53. Options > Load/Save > Load. As long as the tool is running, it keeps
  54. watching for the game's silent re-syncs and updates from the 2K servers,
  55. and forces the mods again over 2K's updates whenever it needs to,
  56. keeping your game both fresh and modded all the time.
  57.  
  58. NOTE 1: This hack is the only way this tool will know when the
  59. update's over, and when it can replace 2K's updates with the mods
  60. you've selected to keep. If you don't allow it to hide the rosters,
  61. you'll have to tell it when to replace 2K's updates yourself. Read
  62. below.
  63.  
  64. NOTE 2: The game won't let you override any of 2K's updates with mods
  65. if you try to play against others Online by using the Online option.
  66. It will resync all updates from the server, and again override any
  67. mods it has updated. However, once you're done playing online, you
  68. can restore your mods by going to the Home screen in-game, and using
  69. the "Force Keep My Mods" option, described below.
  70.  
  71. NOTE 3: Make sure you always run the tool BEFORE you start the game.
  72. The tool goes through some preparations when it starts to make sure
  73. the game updates and that everything goes well; its behaviour if
  74. started while NBA 2K12 is running hasn't been tested and may cause
  75. the game to crash.
  76.  
  77. NOTE 3.1: Since v0.1.5, the tool will start even while the game's
  78. running, and will not hide the rosters or restore 2K's online data,
  79. but will force your mods. It will automatically start checking for
  80. re-syncs and forcing your mods when needed, as always.
  81.  
  82. NOTE 4: If you're trying to use NBA Today or Online and the game
  83. complains about the synchronization having failed, use the Restore
  84. Online Data Backup feature; it's explained in detail below. See also
  85. notes 6 and 6.1.
  86.  
  87. NOTE 5: You can keep the tool open between closing and restarting
  88. the game, but it's recommended if you restart the tool each time
  89. you exit the game and want to start it again. You can still get the
  90. same effect by using
  91. 1. Restore Online Data Backup
  92. 2. Hide Rosters (Forces Update)
  93. the one after the other in that order, and then starting the game.
  94.  
  95. NOTE 6: If you want to temporarily disable the tool and keep 2K's
  96. updates, for example to synchronize NBA Today or to go Online, click
  97. on Restore Online Data Backup. After you do that, the tool won't
  98. watch for re-syncs and won't force your mods, until you use the
  99. "Force Keep My Mods" option, which will re-enable the automatic
  100. features of the tool.
  101.  
  102. NOTE 6.1: To be able to enter NBA Today or Online without any
  103. delays, wait until the "Re-syncing..." prompt has disappeared from
  104. below the "Online Data Browser" button, and then use "Restore Online
  105. Data Backup".
  106.  
  107. From the main screen, you can do the following:
  108. - Start Game
  109. Starts the game, and watches for any updates. Once the bootup
  110. sequence is complete, the game should have created a new roster with
  111. the latest updates. That's when the tool replaces any of 2K's
  112. updates that conflict with your mods, with the actual mods. Also, it
  113. unhides any custom rosters you had, other than 2K's official one, so
  114. that you can load them using Options > Load/Save.
  115. - Restore Custom Rosters
  116. If for some reason you can't find your custom rosters in the
  117. Load/Save screen, use this button. Normally you shouldn't have to
  118. use this button at all. Note that this feature will temporarily
  119. disable the tool's automatic capabilities, if used before the game
  120. starts.
  121. - Restore Original Roster Backup
  122. If you don't want the game to update its roster, or if the roster
  123. the game created has older data than the one you last had (this
  124. could happen if an error occurs while the game downloads the latest
  125. roster), you can restore the backup this tool keeps of your original
  126. roster and replace the current one. Note that this feature will
  127. temporarily disable the tool's automatic capabilities, if used
  128. before the game starts.
  129. - Hide Rosters (Forces Update)
  130. Use this button to hide the rosters manually. Only useful if you
  131. restored the original and/or the custom rosters using one of the
  132. options above. This is run automatically when the tool starts, so
  133. usually you don't have to do this yourself. This will re-enable
  134. the tool's automatic capabilities if disabled.
  135. - Force Keep My Mods
  136. If for some reason you feel your mods were replaced by 2K's updates,
  137. you can force-replace 2K's updates with your mods using this
  138. option. Only use this if the automatic replacement didn't work, or
  139. if you didn't allow the tool to automatically replace 2K's updates
  140. (e.g. if you restored the original and/or custom rosters before
  141. starting the game). Also useful after being done playing online, and
  142. wanting to get your mods back. This will re-enable the tool's
  143. automatic capabilities if disabled.
  144. - Restore Online Data Backup
  145. Use this option to restore the Online Data backup the tool keeps
  146. whenever it replaces 2K's updates with your mods (either automa-
  147. tically or manually using the "Force Keep My Mods" option). This
  148. feature exists because if the game finds any mods during an NBA
  149. Today update (which is essentially an Online Data sync) inside the
  150. Online Data folder, it freaks out and deletes the whole folder,
  151. and forces you to wait while it downloads everything again. Using
  152. this option will make sure that the game finds everything exactly
  153. the way it expects it to be, and keep calm. You'll have to use
  154. Force Keep My Mods however if you want to get your mods back, or
  155. restart the tool, as its automatic capabilities will be disabled.
  156.  
  157. NOTE: This feature is useful if you want to use NBA Today or
  158. Online, since those features require the Online Data to be
  159. pure 2K updates, without any mods. When you use this feature,
  160. the tool's automatic features are temporarily disabled, until
  161. you re-enable them using "Force Keep My Mods". You can still
  162. combine NBA Today and your mods, by first restoring the
  163. Online Data backup, letting the game synchronize (you'll know
  164. this has happened if the NBA Today game in the Home screen has
  165. the words "Featured Game" in the middle), and then using the
  166. "Force Keep My Mods" feature. This way you can play an NBA
  167. Today game, and still keep your mods.
  168.  
  169. - Online Data Browser (Select Mods To Keep)
  170. This tool allows mod developers to automatically have their mods
  171. recognized by it and kept over 2K's updates. However, if you've
  172. installed a mod from a developer who is unaware of "Keep My Mod",
  173. and doesn't give you such an option, you can manually select which
  174. files that 2K has updated you want to keep modded by using this
  175. screen.
  176.  
  177. NOTE: Not all files included in modlists will be shown in this
  178. window. Only those that 2K has updated can be switched on and
  179. off. If 2K hasn't updated the files, there's no reason for the
  180. tool to try to "protect" them. You shouldn't delete the
  181. modlists containing extra files though, as you never know when
  182. 2K will decide to update them; then those modlists will be
  183. used again.
  184.  
  185. - Create Modlist
  186. This feature is for modders only
  187. - Save Logs
  188. If you're asked to provide the tool's logs for troubleshooting,
  189. click on this button. You'll find 2 text files waiting on your
  190. desktop, named "KeepMyMods_log.txt" and "KeepMyMods_mods.txt".
  191. You'll be told what to do with the contents. No information that can
  192. personally identify you is kept, other than maybe your Windows
  193. username (which you can blank out by Search/Replacing for it in
  194. "KeepMyMods_log.txt") and the mods you have told the tool to keep.
  195.  
  196. For modders:
  197. To make sure the tool automatically keeps your mod over 2K's updates on
  198. files you have modded, include a "YourModNameHere.modlist" file in a
  199. "KeepMyMods" subdirectory. Inside it, include all files your mod
  200. replaces, separating each one with a new line. You can do this in a
  201. more automatic way using the "Create Modlist" feature inside the tool,
  202. which creates the modlist file for you after you select the files,
  203. instead of having you type them one-by-one.
  204.  
  205. Example:
  206. Filename: Pistons Court Update by The Greatest Modder.modlist
  207.  
  208. Contents:
  209. f021.iff
  210. s021.iff
  211. team_021.iff
  212.  
  213. Each time the tool starts and whenever the Online Data Browser is
  214. opened, the tool looks for any files with a .modlist extension in the
  215. KeepMyMods subfolder, inside the game's installation folder.
  216.  
  217. So a proper way to pack your mod would be...
  218. Example:
  219. Filename: Pistons Court Update.zip
  220.  
  221. Contents:
  222. KeepMyMods\Pistons Court Update by The Greatest Modder.modlist
  223. f021.iff
  224. s021.iff
  225. team_021.iff
  226. This way, when the user extracts all the files from the archive into the
  227. game's installation folder, the modlist file goes inside the KeepMyMods
  228. subfolder, inside the game's installation folder.
  229.  
  230. You can verify this by going into the Online Data Browser after having
  231. created the proper modlist file inside the KeepMyMods subfolder. If your
  232. mod's files are in the Keep My Mods column, you've done it correctly.
  233.  
  234. Version History
  235. v0.2 - Jan 9
  236. - Now Online Data Browser shows all files in modlists but not yet
  237. updated
  238. - Whenever the game completes a re-sync, the log should show if new
  239. files have been updated by 2K, or if an already existing update has
  240. been updated again; in that case the program uses the Windows "Beep"
  241. sound to inform the user
  242. - Fixed various scenarios that would cause the tool to crash
  243.  
  244. v0.1.6.1 - Jan 5
  245. - Tool will now ignore any files that are in modlists but have not yet
  246. been updated by 2K, thus accelerating the program's use when a lot of
  247. files have been added in modlists, and minimizing copy operations
  248.  
  249. v0.1.5.5 - Jan 2
  250. - Tool will now start even if the game's running, but won't hide the
  251. rosters, thus avoiding causing any problems to the game; note that
  252. this is still an experimental feature
  253. - Manual features "Restore Online Data Backup" and "Force Keep My Mods"
  254. will now work at all times; previously the tool would crash as it
  255. wouldn't handle some scenarios
  256. - "Restore Online Data Backup" now temporarily disables the tool's
  257. automatic features, namely watching for re-syncs and forcing your
  258. mods again; read note 6 for more information
  259. - "Force Keep My Mods" now re-enables the tool's automatic features
  260. if they were disabled by "Restore Online Data Backup"; read NOTE 6
  261. for more information
  262. - Added a small "Re-syncing..." prompt below the Online Data Browser
  263. button that informs users that a re-sync is taking place; this can be
  264. used along with "Restore Online Data Backup" to let the user know
  265. when they can access NBA Today, Online, and the rest of the features
  266. that can't be used during a re-sync; see notes 6 and 6.1 for more
  267. information
  268. - The tool now reports whether its automatic capabilities are enabled
  269. or disabled, right above the log
  270.  
  271. v0.1.4 beta12 - Dec 30
  272. - Tool now checks for the game's constants re-syncs of Online Data and
  273. overwrites 2K's conflicting updates with the user's mods after every
  274. re-sync
  275. - Tool will try to keep mods even during the re-sync
  276. - Added checks so that no more than one instance of the tool will run
  277. at the same time
  278. - Added check so that the tool can't be started if the game's already
  279. running
  280. - Fixed bug that made the tool incompatible with non-Steam installations
  281. of NBA 2K12, causing the tool to crash on startup with a
  282. NullReferenceException error.
  283.  
  284. v0.1.3 beta - Dec 27
  285. - Tool now keeps backup of Online Data when replacing 2K's updates with
  286. mods
  287. - Added option to restore backup of Online Data, in order to avoid having
  288. to wait while the game re-syncs the whole Online Data folder; that's
  289. because whenever the game can't verify a download in the Online Data
  290. folder (e.g. if it's been corrupted or replaced with a mod), it will
  291. freak out, delete the whole Online Data folder and download everything
  292. from scratch, instead of re-downloading only the offending file
  293. - The Online Data backup, if available, is automatically restored when the
  294. tool starts for the reasons explained above
  295. - Improved error checking around the application; should now avoid some
  296. crashes
  297. - Improved error logging; crash logs now contain much more useful
  298. information for me to try to find the bug that's causing them
  299. - Fixed other minor bugs
  300.  
  301. v0.1.2 beta - Dec 27
  302. - Added "Create Modlist" option, which allows you to select your mod's
  303. files and let the tool create and load the modlist for you.
  304. - Fixed UI elements' positioning in Online Data Browser
  305. - Fixed bug that made the program parse the whitelist
  306. (AllowUpdates.modlist) twice
  307. - Fixed Log auto-scrolling downwards even though new entries are
  308. inserted at the top
  309. - Added Readme window that displays this file
  310.  
  311. v0.1.1 beta - Dec 27
  312. - Fixed major startup bug
  313. - Improved error checking throughout the application
  314.  
  315. v0.1 beta - Dec 26
  316. - Initial release
  317.  
  318. Troubleshooting
  319. You can ask me for help whether you're a user or a modder on the tool's
  320. thread in the NBA Live Series Center forums.
  321.  
  322. URL: http://forums.nba-live.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=83896
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