NHL 2001 PC Version Guide
[If anyone has any good ASCII skills and can write something fancy for NHL
2001, please do so, and then submit. You will get full credit. Thanks.]
By: GEToffaMYship (formerly zzx72)
------------
INTRODUCTION
------------
Since I rarely ever see FAQ's for the greatest kind of games for the PC, I
decided to write this FAQ. Also, I want to make this spelling, grammar error
free, since every FAQ I see has so many errors in them. So if you see any
errors, please list them in an email.
Release Date: September 29, 2000.
------------
VERSION INFO
------------
0.1 - Started this FAQ, and it won't be released.
Added - Introduction, Version Info, Table of Contents, and Controls.
Date - Tuesday, September 19, 2000.
Size - 27.0 kb. (.doc)
0.2 - Adding and changing, not released.
Added - Changed FAQ to guide, added Minimum Requirements, Release Date, and
prices.
Date - Wednesday, September 20, 2000.
Size - 32.0 kb. (.doc)
0.3 - Realized that the guide was in a .doc format, so when I changed it to a
txt file, it became much smaller.
Added - Nothing.
Date - Thursday, September 21, 2000.
Size - 6.78 kb. (.txt)
0.4 - Sending this version in! I am going to download that huge 50MB demo
tonight, with a 56k modem!
Added - Demo comments.
Date - Thursday, September 21, 2000.
Size - 15.3 kb. (.txt) ; the last size was incorrect, too. Or maybe this one
is...
0.5 - It appears I have trouble with the size of the guide. I'll keep trying
though.
Added - Empty sections, updated table of contents.
Date - Saturday, September 23, 2000.
Size - 8.83 kb?
0.6 - I think I've finally got the sizes down! Large update hopefully.
Added - Redid the controls with the actuals, added rules and options, empty
cheap tricks section, and a little part of exhibition mode on the game setup
screen.
Date - Wednesday, September 27, 2000
Size - 10.0 kb? This time I'll find out.
0.7 - Fixing paragraphs that are messed up.
Added - 2 cheap tricks, Misc. Websites section, added e-mail address to entro
(oops), and default controls to controls section.
Date - Thursday, September 28, 2000.
Size - 11.5 kb.
0.8 - Got competition now, gonna start updating a bit now. Erasing my email, so
if you didn't get it before, well too bad...(I was sent viruses by anonymous
people).
Added - Got another joystick, added info on that. Season information. Websites
info. Created player info.
Date - Saturday, December 16, 2000.
Size - 20.7 kb.
0.9 - I just found the greatest online league.. I got some inspiration to add
more information to this incomplete guide.. Maybe I'll finish it sometime soon!
Added - Info on Modemsports.
Date - Monday, July 30, 2001
Size - 23.1 kb.
-----------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
001. Controls
002. Minimum Requirements
003. Game Setup Screen
004. Rules and Options
005. Season Mode
006. Strategies
007. Created Players, Teams
008. Online Guide
009. Cheap Tricks (By Bry017, beefcake)
010. Websites for Misc. Stuff
011. Entroduction
The demo has been released (Thursday Sept. 21 2000)! You can get it at:
http://dl.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?sportplanet/nhlwishlist/NHL2001_PC_Demo.exe
Just copy and paste this. There is no resume support though...
File size: 49.5 MB. This is an overnight download on a 56k modem. Don't even
try it on a 14.4. Cable should handle this no problem in about 30-45 minutes
(actually I am only guessing, this is how long it usually takes at my friend's
house to download a 50 MB file.)
This is basically all you can write about a PC game that hasn't been released
yet. Expect the guide to grow majorly once the game has been released. When I
get the game (probably October 1st, I live in Canada), Then I will add lots.
Don't expect too many additions until then.
----------------
001. CONTROLS
----------------
CONTROLLER SELECT
|Pos.|Away |Home |
|----+------+------+
|C |Red |Blue |
|LW |Yellow|Green |
|RW |Pink |L.Blue|
|LD |Peach |Purple|
|RD |Orange|L.Prpl|
|G |Grey |Grey |
Here are the actual controls for the game, without any button set for them,
since that is your choice.
PLAYER WITH PUCK
- Shoot / Call for Shot SPACE
- Pass / Call for Pass C
- Speed Burst X
- Deke Z
PLAYER WITHOUT PUCK
- Hook / Hold SPACE
- Change Player C
- Speed Burst / Body Check X
- Big Hit Z
GOALIE WITH PUCK
- Clear Puck SPACE
- Pass C
GOALIE WITHOUT PUCK
- Save Attempt SPACE
- Goalie Freeskate --
FACEOFFS
- Draw Puck C
- Big Hit Z
FIGHTING
- High Punch SPACE
- Low Punch C
STRATEGY
- Call Line Change --
- Coaching Strategy --
- Pause Game --
- Pull Goalie --
- Coaching Pressure P
ADDITIONAL CONTROLS
- Goalie Control --
- Deflection / Block Shot O
- Dump Shot / Last Man Back --
- Skate Backwards B
- Spin Left --
- Spin Right --
MOVEMENT
- Up Up
- Left Left
- Right Right
- Down Down
---
MY CONTROLS
I use a six-button joypad with a d-pad, analog stick (toggled), and a throttle.
It is positioned sort of like this:
(It isn't really square...)
___ ___
| 6 | | 5 |
------------------
| + -- 6 3 4 |
| -- 5 1 2
| O |-----|______|
|_____|
+ (D-pad) O (analog stick)
I use:
Button 2: shoot
Button 4: pass
Button 5: speed burst
Button 3: deke, big hit
Button 1: call for deflection
Button 6: skate backwards
I just got a Sidewinder Freestyle Pro (awesome joypad!). It has 10 buttons, and
I use them all.
Instead of a diagram, I'll just say what each button does:
A/1: Spin Right
B/2: Deflection/Block Shot
C/3: Shoot/Hook/Poke-Check/Block-Shot/Sweep-Check
X/4: Spin Left
Y/5: Deke/Big-Hit
Z/6: Pass/Switch
L/7: Skate-Backwards
R/8: Speed Burst/Bodycheck
Start/9: Goalie Freeskate (or) Pause Game (or) Line Change Menu
Shift/10: Goalie Control
------------------------
002. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
------------------------
NHL 2001 PC:
Minimum Requirements: (copied from nhl2001.com)
200 MHz or faster Intel Pentium series, or AMD K6/K7 processor; 100 MB
(additional space required for DirectX 7a installation; 32 MB RAM; 4x CD-ROM
drive (600KB/second transfer rate) using 32 bit Windows 95/98 driver; DirectX
7a compatible sound card with DirectSound support; Keyboard, Mouse Graphics:
Supported 4MB or higher PCI or AGP 3D Card with D3D or Glide compatible driver
Required for Multiplayer Network (2-12 players; up to 8 PCs) IPX compliant
network, Network card, 1 CD per computer. Modem (2-10 players; 2 PCs) 100%
Hayes compatible 33.6 kbps or faster modem, high speed serial port (16550 UART)
for external modems. Internet (2-10 players; 2 PCs) 56 kbps or faster Internet
connection via Internet Service Provider (ISP); 1 CD per computer (2-12
players; 4 PCs) Cable modem or faster Internet connection recommended.
Recommended Requirements:
300 MHz or faster Pentium II processor; 64 MB RAM; 8x or faster CD-ROM; Windows
95/98 supported 10-button gamepad; 200 MB hard disk space (additional space
required for DirectX 7a); Supported 3D graphics accelerator Supported 3D
Graphics Chipsets 3dfx Voodoo, 3dfx Voodoo Banshee, 3dfx Voodoo 2, 3dfx Voodoo
3, 3dfx Voodoo 5, Nvidia Riva 128, Nvidia Riva TNT, Nvidia Riva TNT Ultra 2,
Nvidia GeForce, Nvidia GeForce 2, ATI Rage Pro, ATI Rage 128, Rendition Verite
V2200, Intel i740, S3 Savage, Matrox G200, Matrox G400 chipsets, and most newer
Direct3D cards.
My System:
Pentium III 500 MHz processor; 192 MB RAM; 48x CD-ROM; 24x4x2 CR-RW; Windows 98 supported
6-button gamepad, 10-button gamepad; 7+ GB free hard disk space (13.6 GB
capacity); 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 PCI; 56kbps Modem.
Oh, and you'll need at least $50 Canadian. EB World has it on pre-order for $34.99 US.
v0.9 UPDATE: The game is now only $30 CAN from what I last saw.
----------------------
003. SETUP SCREEN
----------------------
EXHIBITION
Each team is rated by their lines. These are the different categories:
OVERALL
Scoring
Defense
Checking
Powerplay
Goaltending
NOTE: To view the team records from the 1999/2000 season, right click on the
team logo.
---------------------
004. RULES AND OPTIONS
---------------------
RULES
Clock Speed - 5 to 20 Minutes
Penalties - Slider (#/5)
Fighting - Slider (#/3)
Offside - Toggle
Icing - Toggle
2 Line Pass - Toggle
Injuries - Toggle
Referee Type - Auto / NHL / International
Rink Type - Auto / NHL / International
Tie-Break - Auto, None, Single OT (5 on 5), Single OT (4 on
4), OT and Shootout, Shootout, Continuous OT.
Minor Penalty - Ends On Goal / Full Length
AI OPTIONS
Game Style - Simulation / Arcade
---SKATING OPTIONS
Game Speed - Slider
Speed Burst Length - Slider
Speed Burst (%) - Slider
Fatigue - Slider
---CHECKING OPTIONS
Aggression - Slider
Injuries - Slider
Hitting Power - Slider
Fall Recovery - Slider
Shot Blocking - Slider
---PASS / SHOOT OPTIONS
Pass Interceptions - Slider
Pass Accuracy - Toggle
Pass Speed - Slider
Shot Accuracy - Slider
---PUCK OPTIONS
Puck Elasticity - Slider
Puck Friction - Slider
Retain Puck - Slider
Goalie Rebounds - Slider
SOUND OPTIONS
Music Volume - Slider
SFX Volume - Slider
Crowd Volume - Slider
Play By Play Volume - Slider
In Game Speech Volume - Slider
Colour Commentary - Toggle
Audio Detail - Low, Medium, High.
Speakers - 2 (default)
Custom Player Taunt - Submenu
In Game Music - Default In Game Music, User Set In Game Music.
Menu Music Selector - Submenu
DISPLAY OPTIONS
On-Play Player Detail - Slider
Off-Play Player Detail - Slider
On-Play Arena Detail - Slider
Off-Play Arena Detail - Slider
Game Resolution - (Depending on Video Card) 640x480, 800x600,
1024x768, 1280x1024, more (depending on card)
Other - Some video cards support other options here.
GAME OPTIONS
Auto Replay - Off, Low, High
Pre-Game - Toggle
Speed Game - Toggle
Toggle Camera - Action, Ice, Classic, Overhead 2, Overhead 1,
Live, Chase, Scoreboard, Press, Broadcast.
AutoZoom - Toggle
Control Indicator - None, Name, Position, User Name.
Clock Display - Toggle
Momentum Meter - Toggle
Shot Meter - Toggle
Puck Shadow - Toggle
--------------
005. SEASON MODE
--------------
The season mode still has the same 10-year maximum (with 30 teams).
When you first create the season, you have the options to fill in:
Name: You can call the season whatever you want!!
Skill Level: Rookie, Pro, and All-Star. Choose All-Star. With a decent team, I
have been able to win games 15 to 2 or 3.
Clock Speed: Sets to anywhere from 5 to 20 minute periods. The clock will
always show 20 minutes, but if you don't already know, it runs the time faster
(depending on the time you set...).
Penalties: You set the default penalty strictness. I usually do 1 notch, but 2
is fair. If you are the soft type, then go for max, but even hooking players
will get you some bad penalties..
Injuries: Hmmm, who wouldn't want to knock a player out for 3 months with a
concussion... But then again, the same could happen to you.. I say go for it!
CPU Trading: Do you want the computer teams offering and making trades with you
and the other teams? This also makes the computer deny some of your offers.
Teams: You can have from 4 to 30 teams in your season. If you set 4 teams, your
season can run longer, I think up to 40 years. This is because there are less
prospects being drafted each year.
Season Length: Short, Medium, or Long. Depending on the amount of teams, you
play more or less games. Eg. Short season, 4 teams, you play 3 games (everyone
once).
OT Loss: Do you want teams getting points when you beat them in OT?
Starting Rosters: Default, Current, Expansion Draft, or Fantasy Draft. Default
takes the original rosters from the CD. Current uses the exhibition rosters
that you have set yourself. Expansion draft uses the original rosters without
Columbus and Minnesota, and lets you choose from the unrestricted free agents.
Fantasy Draft is exactly that, a fantasy. It puts all the players into a pool,
and you set the draft order to however you want. Then you pick the players from
the pool.
Once that is set up, you get to choose the Conferences and Division that each
team is. They are set to their actuals.
Hit next, and you come to the Edit User Control screen. Here, you get to edit
the user (you...)'s control, in other words, the team(s) you choose. You can
set passwords, and other info about the teams.
If you chose a draft, you will have to complete that. After that, you are
finally at the season.
From here, you see your selected team, and the team that you play against
first. Scrolling across the top is the date, and time of the league game.
You have four options on the left. The first is the difficulty level, which is
set to what you chose at the start of the season. The second option, Select
Team, lets you do that (what else?). The third option, Today in EA Sports,
opens a submenu with league information - Scores, Streaks & Injuries, Trades,
Team Standings, and Calendar. The scores menu brings up a nice little calendar
with the dates on it and shows all the games that were played on each day. You
can click on the games to see the summary of each game. The streaks and
injuries menu shows you who might be injured, who is on a hot or cold streak,
players who are suspended or have the flue, or fatigued goalies. The trades
section brings up a menu just like the streaks & injuries menu. It shows who
has been traded, rumours, retirements, waiver activity (free agents), and other
stuff. The standings menu shows the team standings, and the calendar menu shows
the calendar for each team. This is all pretty straightforward stuff.
The last option, the commissioner menu, lets you change season settings. You
can simulate all the games in your league up to a certain date, you can edit
your selected teams (the edit user control menu), and you can change numerous
settings. Those numerous settings are:
Playoff Games: 1,3,5,7 Games.
Sim Difficulty: Changes the amount of goals scored in simmed games.
Abort Games: You can be cheap and quit, or you can make the game not let you
quit by making you save before you quit.
Line Changes: You can play with only one line the whole game. But then you'd be
called a one-line team...
CPU Trading: The same option you set at the beginning of the season.
Player and Goalie Boost: Set the default P/G-boost for each game.
MORE TO COME......
--------------------------
006. CREATED PLAYERS, TEAMS
--------------------------
---CREATE PLAYER---
Well, EA has always added something new each year, this year they've added
Resist Injury, and a Pass-Carry option. They've also added goalie biases in the
goalie section.
When you create a player you can make him (or her) up to 95 overall. This is
odd, since EA's best player in the game, surprisingly not Jagr, is actually
Peter Forsberg at only 90. Although the game shows 98 for Jagr, his actual
average of each stat ends up at 85! I have found out that the best three
players in the game, which can all hit, shoot, and skate, are:
1. Peter Forsberg 90
2. Owen Nolan 88
3. Eric Lindros 88
Other players that are up there are Keith Tkachuk and Vince Lecavalier.
Well anyways, here is the setup:
First Name: Type your player's first name...
Last Name: I wonder?
Play-By-Play: This is what the announcers call you by.
Face: This is your in-game face. The import option has never worked very well
for me anyways, but it can be pretty funny to see!
Team: The team you play for. Waivers are free agents, for you who are blunt.
Position: What position would your player like to be?
Template: You get lots of base setups for your player's attributes.
Jersey: The number that you see on your jersey.
Country: Where are you from?
Height: The opportunity you've always wanted. Now you can be 6 foot 10 and
clobber guys around. Too bad you're prone for big hits too.
Weight: How much does your player weigh? This affects checking a little, but it
also affects your balance from hits.
Year: Set your players birth date. Ranges from 1901 to 2078.
Month: I won't bother explaining.
Day: Same here.
Experience: How many years has your player played ice hockey for?
Visor: Affects your resist injury somehow. Also puts a visor on your helmet.
Shoots: Is your player left, right, or switch handed. Oh wait; there are no
switch shooters.
Shot Preference: Would you rather shoot a wrist shot, slap shot, or backhand
shot? Or maybe just none.
-
Speed: Your player goes faster with each attribute.
Acceleration: Your player can start skating quickly.
Agility: How sharp he can turn on skates.
Balance: How he can shake off hits from others, without falling.
-
Shot Power: How hard the puck flies off of the player's stick.
Shot Accuracy: Determines whether your player can pick corners or not.
Pass-Shoot: A bias on whether you would pass the puck or shoot it.
Pass-Carry: A bias on whether you would pass the puck or carry it.
Passing: How fast, accurate, consistent the player's passing is.
Faceoffs: Determines the ability to win faceoffs.
Deke: A higher deke rating gets around more players while deking.
Hand-Eye: Makes the player's ability to tip or deflect the puck higher.
Resist Injury: The player will rarely be injured with 100: resist injury.
-
Aggressiveness: He will cause penalties more often with a higher rating.
Checking: With an 90+ rating, you get a hammer beside your player.*
Endurance: How long your player can stay on the ice without fatiguing.
Intensity: How hard your player wants to play hockey on the ice.
Fighting: How often you fight: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often.
Toughness: Player's ability in fights. A 90 is usually enough to win.
Potential: How much your player can develop over the seasons.
-
Offensive Awareness: Does your player know where his forwards are?
Defensive Awareness: Does your player know where his defensemen are?
(both awarenesses also affect the player's ability to pick off and recieve
passes, making these stats much more important)
* - If you adjust the hitting power slider to the max, you can get the hammer
with an 80+ checking rating.
---------------
007. STRATEGIES
---------------
This section will cover:
Coaching Strategies
1 vs. PC
2 vs. PC
1 vs. 1
2 vs. 2
1 vs. 2
2 vs. 1
COMING SOON...
-----------------
008. ONLINE GUIDE
-----------------
Rather than writing online season strategies, I will redirect you to the best
online league in the world, which is ran for NHL 2000, and NHL 2001. The
league will carry on into NHL 2002 and hopefully beyond.
The league is called ModemSports. This is a very succesful league with
about 350 people registered. They have had 10 seasons (as of August 21, 2001).
All you need is NHL 2001, and ICQ. You can play with 56k or higher. Most
of the people are very friendly and are good sports. The league is very
organized and I have never seen a problem.
At the moment, the site's URL is:
http://www.modemsports.cjb.net/
The site used to be a part of the Thunderpuck network, but something happened
so now they are on a server that isn't as fast (or so it seems). But to play
in the league, you use an IP connection. There are tournaments every week,
occasionally they have 2 vs. 2 tournaments (but you have to have cable or
DSL or faster).
The co-owner of the site is EAWizard, a great player and a responsible site
owner. To sign up go to the site and click register or join.
CUSTOM CONNECTIONS TUTORIAL
If you are going to play with someone online without using EA's matchup
service, you would use the custom connections option. There are three
options that you can choose from:
Direct Internet Connect
Modem
LAN
First, you type in your name in the box beside Chat Name. Next, you click
the type of connection you would like to use. If you are playing with IP's
then click on Direct Internet Connect. Next you will choose who hosts
(create game) and who joins the host's game (join game). To choose this,
you usually let the computer with the fastest connection host. The person
who hosts can advance to the team select screen, and the person who joins
will put in the host's IP address, and the computers will be connected.
To find your own IP address (changes each time you connect with dial-up),
click Start, Run... Then type in "winipcfg.exe", without the quotes.
At the team select screen, the host can choose some options about the
in-game connection. There are two modes:
Client-Server Connection
Peer-to-Peer Connection
The Client-Server connection makes the host become the server of the game.
The host ends up with no lag, but if both connections are high-speed, there
shouldn't be very much lag for the other person.
The Peer-to-Peer connection causes the lag to be evened out between both
computers. This is often used in games with 56k connections.
There are 4 packet rates that the host can choose from. They range from
15 to 30. They indicate how much information is sent back and forth. The
larger the packet, the longer it takes, but if you have high-speed,
there is no real difference. The 15 packet rate causes less delay, but
twice as many packets are sent across, and there is a good chance that
the connection will be lost. The best way is to find out which is best
for you is to experiment.
With Modem games, it is the same idea. Instead of using IP, you just
call the host's modem phone number.
---------------------------------
009. CHEAP TRICKS (BY Bry017, beefcake)
---------------------------------
DEMO CHEAP TRICKS
- Fake a shot, and then do a one timer quickly. This has about a 33% chance of
scoring. With the later patches installed, you don't need to do a fake shot,
just a one-timer as long as the shooter has the big-shot.
- Take your defender to the offside faceoff circle in your end, and tap the
shoot button without any direction. If the defenseman has good accuracy, the
puck will go over the goalie's head and in the net. This is banned in most
leagues.
- My favourite cheap trick works the best when you have a break. You take the
puck on a straight line towards the goalie, but skate towards the post. Just
past the faceoff circle, hit the deke button and your player will move away
from the goalie, then back in. At the perfect timing, hit shoot and he will
snap the puck in the other side of the net (the goalie should still be at the
post where you deked from). This works far more often when the player has a big
shot.
-This is a cheap trick that doesn't work as often as any of the other moves.
There are two ways of doing it. One way, you get the puck to a player who
has the big shot, and rip one from the point. Aim it on the ground, and if
you get lucky, the goalie will do the splits and the puck will go underneath
him. The other way this is done, is by taking a player with high shot accuracy
straight in at the goalie, and stopping, then shooting the puck along the
ground. The goalie will do the same move as mentioned before, and you get a
goal!
If you know any other ways of scoring surefire goals, contact me on ICQ
#125306265, and you can play me and score on me using your cheap trick. If it
works, I'll add it in here, and you'll get your name on it.
---------------------------
010. WEBSITES FOR MISC. STUFF
---------------------------
Here are some sites to check out:
http://nhl2001.ea.com - Official Site
http://www.cyber-nhl.net - Add-ons, downloads, news, etc.
---
EDITORS (MUST HAVES)
http://nhlinfo.arabuusimiehet.com- Toni Wilen's NHL 97-2001 editor (maybe 96?)
- Dos Based editor, has some options that Blomman's editor doesn't.
http://blomman.cyber-nhl.net - Jonas Blomgren's NHL 2000,2001 Editors
- Windows version editor. Looks better than NHLINFO, but is missing some
features.
---
If you know any great sites that are updated often and look nice, send me the
URL, or contact me on yahoo messenger, "zzx72". When I finally get a DSL line,
I'll be in the EA match-up service, and since someone stole my login, I'm
zzx72001. If I get my hands on that person!!!
Also, when I get my DSL line, Bry017 will be creating, and playing in, a
2-person-team online league, with 16 teams. This means that we will want to
play against people with at least cable, and at least 2 controllers per
terminal. To let some people know, yes it is possible to play with two or more
people from one computer. I have played with 4 people at once before!! We had 1
person on keyboard, 1 on my original joypad, 1 on my USB sidewinder, and
another USB sidewinder. The site will be up as soon as we get a better
connection.
---------------
011. ENTRODUCTION
---------------
This guide is Copyright 2000, Brandon Elmes. It can and will be found only at
www.gamefaqs.com and MegaGames.com. This guide cannot be edited in any way for
use of business. If any other sites have received permission from me, sorry,
but I would like it removed. No if's, but's, or anything else, sorry again.
