Modding Madden 09 for original Xbox?

[RetroReviewYT]

I’d like to do the following:
- Update rosters to be more current
- Update soundtrack to Madden 10’s soundtrack, while preserving the original soundtrack as well.

And that’s it. Might use the PSP version of Madden 10 to update the UI as well (branding, mostly), but I don’t know how you’d do that.

It’s a shame that people haven’t modded this game, unlike NFL 2K5.

[vlmoney]

Has anyone even found out how to mod Madden on the original Xbox?

[Harry97]

It's arguably the best Madden ever. The pinnacle of sixth generation Madden, superior to PS2 Madden 09-12 in many ways. For one, coaches appear on the sidelines unlike Madden 07-12 PS2. Graphically it's superior to PS2 Madden and it runs better. M09OX runs pretty well on the XEMU emulator albeit with some minor player shadow issues. (i.e. grey daytime shadows instead of black)

XEMU isn't developed like PCSX2 so the way it emulates is not quite as good as PCSX2, but XEMU as an emulator has come a long way and it's getting closer to being able to run games like PCSX2. The issue with modding M09OX is that unlike PS2, when you delete the .QKL files which is required to get modded .DATs to work in any Madden or NCAA on PS2 or OX, XEMU won't recognize it and it won't start.

You can rebuild M09OX and it will work as long as the .QKL files are in there but for some reason (unlike PS2/PCSX2) it seems to need the .QKL files in order for it to run. So we need to investigate why that is the case, maybe the .xbe file (which appears to be the OX equivalent to PS2 ELF files) needs to be edited somehow in order to make it run without the .QKL files.

Without being able to delete the .QKL files from the disc, modded .DATs won't work in-game. So that's the main issue with modding Madden 09 OX. On PS2, this isn't a problem as (at least in NCAA 06) PCSX2 will run a modded disc even after deleting the .QKL files and rebuilding the disc with modded .DATs. So in order to mod Madden 09 OX we need to figure out how to delete the .QKL files and get it to run.

I think we should also understand what other differences (besides coaches appearing on the sidelines, better graphics, etc) M09OX has with M09PS2. Like from a gameplay perspective, M09OX may have different animations than M09PS2. i.e. File 1 in ANIMDATA.DAT from M09OX is much larger than File 1 in ANIMDATA.DAT from M09PS2. The rest of the files in ANIMDATA.DAT after File 1 (M09 OX vs PS2) have the same file size (not necessarily identical) but that File 1 is definitely bigger on OX. If anyone who has played both the PS2 and OX Madden 09 can pinpoint any gameplay differences that would be helpful.

But in any event, yes modding Madden 09 on Original Xbox would be glorious, especially with it being able to run on the XEMU emulator. However until we can get it to run without the .QKL files, modding it would be useless. The .DATs do appear to be able to be edited with DFR 5 similarly to PS2. Short of being able to successfully edit the disc and get it to run, there are other ways we can try modding M09OX (i.e. editing Save Game files, updating Rosters, searching for Cheat Engine codes) all of which are of interest to me. I would like to at least get updated rosters into M09OX.

I would also like to hack the controls in M09OX via cheat engine if I can, like re-implementing the manual hurdle into Madden which was replaced with the cover-up / protect ball action after Madden 2005, as well as being able to do laterals like Calhoupe was able to do in M08PC. Another thing would be to try getting Madden 08 PC .pbo playbooks / custom formations into M09OX. It does have an in-game playbook / formation creator so without being able to edit GAMEDATA.DAT to edit playbooks that way, we could try converting M08PC .pbos to a M09OX save game file somehow. That should be possible.

I mean even without being able to edit the .DATs successfully, there's still a lot that can be done with M09OX if we can learn how to edit save files and find cheat engine codes with it running on XEMU. I'm definitely interested in modding Madden 09 Original Xbox in any way we can, it's an amazing game with a lot of potential. And unlike NCAA on PS2 for example, despite M09OX not being able to run with modded .DATs / without the .QKL files, it seemingly has less of a need to have modded .DATs in a way since it's such an updated engine as it is.

So unless someone can determine how we can mod .DATs / delete the .QKL files and get it to run that way, in the meantime we can certainly look into Cheat Engine editing and save game editing (updating rosters, etc).