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bep713 · 03-24-2019, 01:58 PM

Hey guys,

I started looking into editing the franchise save files for M19. I couldn't find much on here or FootballIdiot so if anyone else has made progress on this, please feel free to share what you've found! I'm going to use this thread as a how to/notes page.

Update - Editor Download
I've released a beta version of the editor. Please make a copy of your franchise save before using it.
Editor: https://github.com/bep713/madden-fra...ditor/releases
Source: https://github.com/bep713/madden-franchise-editor

Release notes and info on post #24!

To download editor:

Click link above for Editor
Scroll down all the way and click 'Assets'
Click the first item
Unzip contents and run madden-schedule.exe
Read instructions on the download page for how to use

It may take some time to unzip all the files.

How to start hex editing the franchise file
The game saves each file to [My Documents]/Madden NFL 19/settings. Each franchise file will be named like: CAREER-[filename].

If you open one of those up in a hex editor you'll get a lot of jumbled data - because it's compressed (well most of it). You can use Offzip to extract the data into a readable format. The good news is that we can reimport the modified data back into the franchise save...well, sometimes.

Make a new folder in your Madden 19 save folder named 'output'
Extract offzip.zip anywhere you want
Open a new command prompt in the folder you extracted offzip (Open the folder in Windows Explorer and type 'cmd' in the address bar without the quotes.)
Type offzip -a [path to your franchise file here] output

You might get some warnings but that's okay. If you open up the output folder you made in step 1, you should see a file named 00000052.frt. This file contains the uncompressed franchise data for your save.

Download Offzip here Scroll down or search for Offzip! It's not the first one.

Download HxD Hex Editor here Make sure to select the English version :P

Reimporting the data to the franchise file
Once you made your changes, you can re-import the data back into the franchise file and load it up in game.

Re-open a command prompt window in offzip's directory if you closed it before.
Type offzip -r -a [path to your franchise file here] output
Offzip will try re-importing the data back. This usually takes awhile
You might see some warnings like before, but it should say 1 files reimported when done.

I've noticed that Offzip will tell me that the compressed data is bigger than the original in some cases. If you get this error, the changes will not be made to the franchise file and you'll have to either figure out why or edit something else for now. I don't know much about compression algorithms but I do know that Madden edits other values in the save when you make a small change which would probably keep the compressed data the same size.

Generic Strategy
My plan is to find as much as I can and hope other people join in too because I probably don't have the time to do this myself. Once we figure enough info out I could make a program that would make this much easier.

Determine what to find
Make a copy of the uncompressed data and set it aside as a control
Make a small change in the game - maybe change the first letter of Baker Mayfield's name...or re-order just him and one other player on the depth chart, or sim one game. You want to change as little as possible so that you have a better idea of what changed in the file when comparing.
Save the franchise file in game
Use Offzip to extract the compressed data
Use a comparison tool like Beyond Compare to analyze what changed from the control and the new file
Repeat until we figure it out!

Goals

Editable schedules - my primary focus here
Editable teams/divisions
Figuring out where stats are located and how they are stored in the hex file
Custom rosters/salaries
Anything else! You name it, we want it.

bep713 · 03-24-2019, 01:59 PM

Progress
I'll keep progress info updated here so it's easier to find.

Player names
This one's easy because you can search for the player name as text. Note that this is ONLY the player's name, ID, and hometown. Other data like height, weight, and attributes are located somewhere else.

Data starts around 0x38B360 and will start with legends and misc players. The data will depend on which roster you used when you started your franchise. I'm not sure if all of them have legends but I used Sabo's roster to start and I don't think he made legends in there. The NFL players will be listed in alphabetical order by last name. The names will always be in the following order: FIRST, LAST, ID, Hometown.

Teams
Again, easy because you can search for the team name. Located around 0x932DC0 for me.

Starts with the 49ers and goes in alphabetical order by team last name. Data will be in the following order: Team last name, team last name again, city name, team last name again, unknown (D), team abbreviation, team db name, alternate abbreviation, team last name, alternate abbreviation. I was able to change the Browns to the Crowns by changing each team last name entry.

bakersville123 · 03-24-2019, 04:32 PM

Excellent write-up!

Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

bep713 · 03-25-2019, 05:26 PM

Quick update: I was able to change the super bowl matchup to any teams that I wanted - including the AFC pro bowl team (the game crashed when i tried to play). However, it is definitely possible to edit schedules.

I was also able to change the score of past games, but it did not reflect the stats or standings of each team or player, bummer.

On a note about stats, I was able to change a player's career stats but not season stats. Even then, the change only showed on the career stats page (Stats -> Career stats). The change did not show when i viewed player stats from the player edit screen. I think this is because the season stats are calculated from each week's stats on the fly...so if we find those we can probably edit the season stats too.

Note about the franchise file: I'm pretty sure Madden uses a zlib encoder.

If you open the compressed file from the game, there is definitely a header that always starts with FBCHUNKS. Offset 4A has three hex numbers that mark the end of the compressed data. If you go to that address, there will be 51 hex characters after it, which could be a trailer? I have no clue.

Willchillz · 03-25-2019, 08:03 PM

This is huge man, I was trying to dabble with this last night
and I'm going to dabble more and keep updated on this post also when I can start crunching with things.

I'll be trying to figure out MUT to Franchise conversion things
once I get the hang of what you've uncovered.
I feel like I might have to find a different hex program though I'm not sure.
Since its all server MUT based. Anything I figure out or make I'll post here credited.

Massive post.

bep713 · 03-25-2019, 10:35 PM

Alright, made some progress on the schedule. I was able to note all team hex values and I was able to figure out the game time (sort of)

Team hex values for the schedule

Spoiler

You can find the schedule by searching for 'SeasonGame' in the uncompressed data. I was able to find it in the compressed file sometimes, but changing values inside the compressed file didn't do anything in game.

Here's a snippet of one game in hex:

Spoiler

Common game times (there's more than 1 way to make the same time)

Spoiler

*EDIT*: The 33 11 at the end of the week was actually part of the last game's score. The 11 indicates the day of week.

Day of week values

Spoiler

As far as the '33' number - I'm not sure what is, but TNF games always have 31, normal games always have 30, SNF has 32, and MNF has 33. Could be presentation packages?

trey31 · 03-26-2019, 03:32 PM

This is fantastic work!!

bep713 · 03-26-2019, 11:15 PM

End of day update:

I was able to swap home/away teams just by swapping their team IDs in the hex.
Found the day of week indicator
Found the game week indicator BUT it's UI only. If you move your game from week 3 to week 5, Madden will still want you to play that game on week 3. I'm not sure why.
I've been using packzip to repackage the compressed data and it won't give any errors BUT the CRC data is not correct in the franchise file and I think that will lead to game freezes/errors later on down the line. But for now, this is great for testing. We'll want to figure out how to calculate the CRC eventually.

03-24-2019, 01:58 PM	#1
bep713 Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Nov 2009	Franchise Hex Editing Progress Hey guys, I started looking into editing the franchise save files for M19. I couldn't find much on here or FootballIdiot so if anyone else has made progress on this, please feel free to share what you've found! I'm going to use this thread as a how to/notes page. Update - Editor Download I've released a beta version of the editor. Please make a copy of your franchise save before using it. Editor: https://github.com/bep713/madden-fra...ditor/releases Source: https://github.com/bep713/madden-franchise-editor Release notes and info on post #24! To download editor: Click link above for Editor Scroll down all the way and click 'Assets' Click the first item Unzip contents and run madden-schedule.exe Read instructions on the download page for how to use It may take some time to unzip all the files. How to start hex editing the franchise file The game saves each file to [My Documents]/Madden NFL 19/settings. Each franchise file will be named like: CAREER-[filename]. If you open one of those up in a hex editor you'll get a lot of jumbled data - because it's compressed (well most of it). You can use Offzip to extract the data into a readable format. The good news is that we can reimport the modified data back into the franchise save...well, sometimes. Make a new folder in your Madden 19 save folder named 'output' Extract offzip.zip anywhere you want Open a new command prompt in the folder you extracted offzip (Open the folder in Windows Explorer and type 'cmd' in the address bar without the quotes.) Type offzip -a [path to your franchise file here] output You might get some warnings but that's okay. If you open up the output folder you made in step 1, you should see a file named 00000052.frt. This file contains the uncompressed franchise data for your save. Download Offzip here Scroll down or search for Offzip! It's not the first one. Download HxD Hex Editor here Make sure to select the English version :P Reimporting the data to the franchise file Once you made your changes, you can re-import the data back into the franchise file and load it up in game. Re-open a command prompt window in offzip's directory if you closed it before. Type offzip -r -a [path to your franchise file here] output Offzip will try re-importing the data back. This usually takes awhile You might see some warnings like before, but it should say 1 files reimported when done. I've noticed that Offzip will tell me that the compressed data is bigger than the original in some cases. If you get this error, the changes will not be made to the franchise file and you'll have to either figure out why or edit something else for now. I don't know much about compression algorithms but I do know that Madden edits other values in the save when you make a small change which would probably keep the compressed data the same size. Generic Strategy My plan is to find as much as I can and hope other people join in too because I probably don't have the time to do this myself. Once we figure enough info out I could make a program that would make this much easier. Determine what to find Make a copy of the uncompressed data and set it aside as a control Make a small change in the game - maybe change the first letter of Baker Mayfield's name...or re-order just him and one other player on the depth chart, or sim one game. You want to change as little as possible so that you have a better idea of what changed in the file when comparing. Save the franchise file in game Use Offzip to extract the compressed data Use a comparison tool like Beyond Compare to analyze what changed from the control and the new file Repeat until we figure it out! Goals Editable schedules - my primary focus here Editable teams/divisions Figuring out where stats are located and how they are stored in the hex file Custom rosters/salaries Anything else! You name it, we want it. VCVortex, Loophole, trey31 and 5 others like this. Last edited by bep713; 07-28-2019 at 02:23 AM.

03-24-2019, 04:32 PM	#3
bakersville123 Rookie OVR: 1 Join Date: Aug 2007	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress Excellent write-up! Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports bep713 likes this.

03-25-2019, 05:26 PM	#4
bep713 Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Nov 2009	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress Quick update: I was able to change the super bowl matchup to any teams that I wanted - including the AFC pro bowl team (the game crashed when i tried to play). However, it is definitely possible to edit schedules. I was also able to change the score of past games, but it did not reflect the stats or standings of each team or player, bummer. On a note about stats, I was able to change a player's career stats but not season stats. Even then, the change only showed on the career stats page (Stats -> Career stats). The change did not show when i viewed player stats from the player edit screen. I think this is because the season stats are calculated from each week's stats on the fly...so if we find those we can probably edit the season stats too. Note about the franchise file: I'm pretty sure Madden uses a zlib encoder. If you open the compressed file from the game, there is definitely a header that always starts with FBCHUNKS. Offset 4A has three hex numbers that mark the end of the compressed data. If you go to that address, there will be 51 hex characters after it, which could be a trailer? I have no clue. xSABOx, Willchillz and tracequigler like this. Last edited by bep713; 03-25-2019 at 05:59 PM.

03-25-2019, 08:03 PM	#5
Willchillz Banned OVR: 0 Join Date: Feb 2012	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress This is huge man, I was trying to dabble with this last night and I'm going to dabble more and keep updated on this post also when I can start crunching with things. I'll be trying to figure out MUT to Franchise conversion things once I get the hang of what you've uncovered. I feel like I might have to find a different hex program though I'm not sure. Since its all server MUT based. Anything I figure out or make I'll post here credited. Massive post. bep713 likes this.

03-25-2019, 10:35 PM	#6
bep713 Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Nov 2009	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress Alright, made some progress on the schedule. I was able to note all team hex values and I was able to figure out the game time (sort of) Team hex values for the schedule Spoiler Code: 00 = SF 01 = AFC (pro bowl) - game will freeze 02 = CHI 03 = CIN 04 = BUF 05 = DEN 06 = CLE 07 = TB 08 = ARI 09 = LAC 0A = KC 0B = IND 0C = DAL 0D = MIA 0E = PHI 0F = ATL 10 = FA (free agents) - game will freeze 11 = NYG 12 = Hall of fame - game will freeze 13 = JAC 14 = NYJ 15 = DET 16 = NFC (pro bowl) - game will freeze 17 = HOF Unlocked NFL Greats - game will freeze 18 = GB 19 = CAR 1A = NE 1B = OAK 1C = LAR 1D = BAL 1E = WAS 1F = NO 20 = SEA 21 = PIT 22 = HOU 23 = TEN 24 = MIN You can find the schedule by searching for 'SeasonGame' in the uncompressed data. I was able to find it in the compressed file sometimes, but changing values inside the compressed file didn't do anything in game. Here's a snippet of one game in hex: Spoiler Rams 35 @ Raiders 65, Monday 6:05 PM, Week 1 Code: 00 00 00 00 2E 60 00 1C 20 A8 01 5D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 2E 60 00 1B 20 A8 01 5C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 00 02 83 00 01 13 00 00 01 12 00 00 01 11 00 80 00 00 00 80 00 02 82 00 02 74 3D 81 00 41 23 E0 00 07 15 21 81 C7 00 00 F0 00 00 01 04 33 11 Red = team hex value. Away first, then home Blue = game time (not day) Green = game score. Home first, then away Orange = game progress indicator? E0 = done, 50 = pending, 00 = not started? Pink = show score on schedule. 00 = dont show, 04 = show (only works for current or past week) Gray = day of week Total length: 5C (92 bytes) Away team indicator offset: 0x7 (7) [len: 1] Home team indicator offset: 0x1B (27) [len: 1] Game time offset: 0x46 (70) [len: 2] Away score offset: 0x4A (74) [len: 1] Home score offset: 0x4B (75) [len: 1] Progress offset: 0x4C (76) [len: 1] Game week number (on schedule) offset: 0x53 (83) [len: 1] <- goes up in increments of 02 Game order in week (effect unknown) offset: 0x54 (84) [len: 1] <- goes up in increments of 10 Schedule score visibility: 0x59 (89) [len: 1] Unknown (game type?) offset: 0x5A (90) [len: 1] Day of week offset: 0x5B (91) [len: 1] Common game times (there's more than 1 way to make the same time) Spoiler Code: 03 0C = 1:00 PM 03 C5 = 4:05 PM 03 D9 = 4:25 PM 7C BF = 8:15 PM CC C4 = 8:20 PM Incrementing the last number by 1 will increase the game time by 1 minute. Ex: D9 - C5 = 14 in hex, or 20 in decimal. 4:25 is 20 mins after 4:05. I'm not sure why the two night games are so different from the other times. EDIT: The 33 11 at the end of the week was actually part of the last game's score. The 11 indicates the day of week. Day of week values Spoiler Code: 01 = Sunday 11 = Monday 21 = Tuesday 31 = Wednesday 41 = Thursday 51 = Friday 61 = Saturday Note: I've only tested Sunday, Monday, Thursday. I'm not sure how the game reacts to the other days. As far as the '33' number - I'm not sure what is, but TNF games always have 31, normal games always have 30, SNF has 32, and MNF has 33. Could be presentation packages? DaReal Milticket, trey31, sinthros and 2 others like this. Last edited by bep713; 03-26-2019 at 10:31 PM.

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03-24-2019, 01:59 PM	#2
bep713 Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Nov 2009	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress Progress I'll keep progress info updated here so it's easier to find. Player names This one's easy because you can search for the player name as text. Note that this is ONLY the player's name, ID, and hometown. Other data like height, weight, and attributes are located somewhere else. Data starts around 0x38B360 and will start with legends and misc players. The data will depend on which roster you used when you started your franchise. I'm not sure if all of them have legends but I used Sabo's roster to start and I don't think he made legends in there. The NFL players will be listed in alphabetical order by last name. The names will always be in the following order: FIRST, LAST, ID, Hometown. Teams Again, easy because you can search for the team name. Located around 0x932DC0 for me. Starts with the 49ers and goes in alphabetical order by team last name. Data will be in the following order: Team last name, team last name again, city name, team last name again, unknown (D), team abbreviation, team db name, alternate abbreviation, team last name, alternate abbreviation. I was able to change the Browns to the Crowns by changing each team last name entry. xSABOx, michdb8, bakersville123 and 1 others like this.

03-26-2019, 03:32 PM	#7
trey31 Pro OVR: 2 Join Date: May 2012 Location: kcmo Blog Entries: 2	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress This is fantastic work!! bep713 likes this.

03-26-2019, 11:15 PM	#8
bep713 Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Nov 2009	Re: Franchise Hex Editing Progress End of day update: I was able to swap home/away teams just by swapping their team IDs in the hex. Found the day of week indicator Found the game week indicator BUT it's UI only. If you move your game from week 3 to week 5, Madden will still want you to play that game on week 3. I'm not sure why. I've been using packzip to repackage the compressed data and it won't give any errors BUT the CRC data is not correct in the franchise file and I think that will lead to game freezes/errors later on down the line. But for now, this is great for testing. We'll want to figure out how to calculate the CRC eventually. trey31 likes this.

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Franchise Hex Editing Progress