[BETA RELEASE] T-Zone presents January 1997 - The War Rages On

[forlan]

Setting the scene

WCW is storming the ratings and WWF are finding it a real struggle to build new stars so are looking to take on an edgier product to try and attract a different differential. In real life WWF barely hung on as WCW won the ratings for a full year.

 

What is going on now

 

WCW:

 

The NWO are running roughshod led by Hollywood Hulk Hogan and flanked by The Outsiders. The group is becoming a mammoth group now including referee Nick Patrick and Eric Bischoff.

 

Sting is currently in a difficult place and people are not quite sure which side he is on as he has classified himself as a free agent. He has not actually wrestled since Fall Brawl 1996 after being doubted by best friend Lex Luger. This has seen a metamorphosis of the Sting character with him becoming much more dark and broody and carrying a baseball bat when he does appear.

 

The Giant was only in the NWO for a cup of coffee as he has now turned face for his first ever face run. He has his eyes set on Hogan’s World title.

 

Roddy Piper is in the mix, the Four Horsemen are feuding with the Dungeon of Doom and the cruiserweights are tearing it up…

 

WWF:

 

Shawn Michaels is far and away the top babyface in the company and heading into the Royal Rumble set to be at the Alamodome he is number one contender to the World title.

 

Sycho Sid is the man holding that belt but is receiving a very luke warm reception from the fans.

 

Someone who is not receiving that is Steve Austin. After Ted DiBiase left the former Ringmaster went on to win the King of the Ring and is seen as the number 2 heel in the company showing a much edgier attitude. He is feuding with recently returned Bret Hart. With Austin beginning to get cheered and Hart being more heelish this would in real life lead to the WrestleMania double turn from the two.

 

The company is really struggling at building stars but have a solid undercard talent including Goldust, Marc Mero, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Mankind.

 

 

Elsewhere there are a number of promotions that could be great to play as including ECW with their first PPV deal on the horizon, although they are fresh off the Mass Transit incident.

 

Current mod relevant stats V0.5 (credit to burningHamster for the original January 1996 it was based on, also just noticed an intro screen I was messing about with has been left in, credit to Y2Kunal for the template on that)

Alliance Members - 5

Alliances - 2

Alter Egos - 923

Angles - 68 - Credit for the pack to Odobenus

Announcer Experience - 13

Broadcaster Changes - 172 (Asaemon Broadcaster Pack with personal changes and updates from me)

Broadcasters - 746 (Asaemon Broadcaster Pack with personal changes and updates from me)

Broadcasting Deals - 25

Chemistry - 31

Companies 127 (42 Active)

Company Relationships - 21

Contracts - 1178

EOY Awards - 17

Eras - 4

Events - 113

Excursions - 1

Graduates - 590

Injuries - 346 (the default file plus)

Injury Histories - 0 (look to work on this later)

Mask and Hair Histories - 219

Match Types - 177

Media Groups - 129 (Asaemon Broadcaster Pack with personal changes and updates from me)

Move Sets - 2030

Moves - 2048

Narratives - 59 - credit some to genadi

Other Tv Shows - 1137 (Ropacm pack, this is a great pack although if it distorts the game world much I would be inclined to remove it but so far from my testing it does not seem to)

Power 500 - 381

Scandals - 1

Stables - 17

Starting Absences - 2

Starting Injuries - 5

Starting morale - 1

Starting Storylines - 15

Tag Teams - 271

Title Lineages - 3308

Titles - 188

Training Facilities - 72

Tribute shows - 1

TV Shows - 17

Venues and Locations - 1432

Worker relationships - 456

Workers - 2890 (1000 yet to debut)

 

 

Picture credit goes to NGO pictures with some logos and such added myself which I made. I have a number of workers without pictures at the moment, these will be getting cut soon but it seems people are happy to take a look at a beta without them.

 

As always with these things there is an element of personal preference but I am open to any thoughts people may have or errors they may find.

 

BETA VERSION 0.5

 

Data - http://www.mediafire.com/file/d4p0e936mnwa7k4/1997_v0.5.zip/file

 

Pics - https://www.mediafire.com/file/xb7q6slz86nn70h/1997_pics.zip/file

 

Additional pics (368) - http://www.mediafire.com/file/hxr7krajr5zne7i/Additional_pics.zip/file

 

Further Pics (22) - http://www.mediafire.com/file/rcnzmf3bpaw0hq1/Extra_Workers.zip/file

 

More Pics (23) http://www.mediafire.com/file/sr7q4i4incmsclr/Additional_Pics%25282%2529.zip/file

 

This should be fully playable although being a beta there are always chances of errors and improvements that will be made over time.

 

Cheers

[Skummy]

<p>Just a couple of things I've noticed while looking through workers to hire as WWF.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

Bruno Sammartino has a loyalty to the WWF - at the time he was very much critical of their product, and of drug use in the industry, and definitely wasn't on good terms with Vince McMahon.</p><p> </p><p>

Giant Haystacks is set as an active wrestler - he was retired by this point due to illness, and would die the following year.</p><p> </p><p>

Kendo Nagasaki (British) should be bisexual.</p>

[kito333]

Very excited for this! Cant wait to give it a go!

[forlan]

Just a couple of things I've noticed while looking through workers to hire as WWF.

 

 

Bruno Sammartino has a loyalty to the WWF - at the time he was very much critical of their product, and of drug use in the industry, and definitely wasn't on good terms with Vince McMahon.

 

Giant Haystacks is set as an active wrestler - he was retired by this point due to illness, and would die the following year.

 

Kendo Nagasaki (British) should be bisexual.

 

Thanks for that apart from kendo the other two were oversights.. kendo I had no idea haha

[MrRage]

The beta is looking slick, keep going!

 

A couple of suggestions:

- Ric Flair was injured until May, returned at Slamboree;

- Scott Steiner was also injured until late January, returned to the ring in late January, not sure if you add this one though;

- Elizabeth isn't listed as a member of the nWo;

- WCW Pro was on Saturday mornings;

- Not sure if you left WCW Main Event on purpose, but I'll just leave a quick reminder in case you forgot about it;

- WCW Worldwide's pic is using the 1999 WCW logo;

- I think Hollywood Hogan should be WCW's figurehead;

- Sting and Scott Steiner should get a buff on performance skills, imo;

- Saturday Night should be on early evening;

- Also the Center Stage is missing.

 

Thanks for your effort in putting this mod together.

[forlan]

The beta is looking slick, keep going!

 

A couple of suggestions:

- Ric Flair was injured until May, returned at Slamboree;

- Scott Steiner was also injured until late January, returned to the ring in late January, not sure if you add this one though;

- Elizabeth isn't listed as a member of the nWo;

- WCW Pro was on Saturday mornings;

- Not sure if you left WCW Main Event on purpose, but I'll just leave a quick reminder in case you forgot about it;

- WCW Worldwide's pic is using the 1999 WCW logo;

- I think Hollywood Hogan should be WCW's figurehead;

- Sting and Scott Steiner should get a buff on performance skills, imo;

- Saturday Night should be on early evening;

- Also the Center Stage is missing.

 

Thanks for your effort in putting this mod together.

 

Thanks for this

 

On flair I wasn't aware of the injury..i remember him being on screen I think so I'm guessing he only didn't fight?.. what kind of injury was it?

 

I'll add steiner va couple weeks injury what kind was it?

 

I'll fix Elizabeth I was sure I put her in..ill also fix pro to Saturdays

 

I was under the impression by this point that main event was a recap show..if I'm wrong in can add it

 

I'll sort the other couple of tv bits

 

Hogan as figurehead might not work properly due to him being a heel which is why I didn't in the first place

 

Thanks once again for the feedback is appreciated

[Arber]

I personally wouldn't add Main Event. Once Nitro debuted it pretty much became a recap show. If I remember correctly it sometimes had a match filmed for it but not every week.

[Stennick]

WCW Main Event was a recap show in 1997 they were very few if any original matches on the show in 1997.

[Woodsmeister]

<p>Is DDP, Big Show, Eddy Guerrero and Jim Duggan a negative influence?</p><p> </p><p>

Never heard anything negative about them?</p>

[MrRage]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="forlan" data-cite="forlan" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49922" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Thanks for this<p> </p><p> On flair I wasn't aware of the injury..i remember him being on screen I think so I'm guessing he only didn't fight?.. what kind of injury was it?</p><p> </p><p> I'll add steiner va couple weeks injury what kind was it?</p><p> </p><p> I'll fix Elizabeth I was sure I put her in..ill also fix pro to Saturdays</p><p> </p><p> I was under the impression by this point that main event was a recap show..if I'm wrong in can add it</p><p> </p><p> I'll sort the other couple of tv bits</p><p> </p><p> Hogan as figurehead might not work properly due to him being a heel which is why I didn't in the first place</p><p> </p><p> Thanks once again for the feedback is appreciated</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Yeah, Flair was still on-screen. It was a torn cuff rotator. </p><p> </p><p> Not sure about Steiner, the only thing I know is that it was a hip injury. He also appeared on-screen while injured. </p><p> </p><p> Main Event was mostly a recap show, with a couple of bouts here and there, indeed. </p><p> </p><p> I think it still makes sense for Hogan to be the figurehead, despite being heel, since TV mostly revolved around him. Sting would be an obvious choice for this, but during most of 1997 there were small snippets of him on TV with the occasional big angle. </p><p> </p><p> I'll let you know if I see anything else worth adding or correcting.</p>

[kito333]

I’m not sure how the new game works but if you could set Hogan to the figure head since 1996 I would that that’s logical and also give people the ability to switch it to Sting or Goldberg or whoever when the time comes without facing too many penalties.

[Dalton]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Woodsmeister" data-cite="Woodsmeister" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49922" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Is DDP, Big Show, Eddy Guerrero and Jim Duggan a negative influence?<p> </p><p> Never heard anything negative about them?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> First three shouldn't be, but I've heard a a decent amount of negativity about Duggan. OSW Review makes fun of him every time he's on screen because he would never lose clean and would instead end in sports entertainment messy finishes.</p>

[forlan]

Added in Steiner and Flair Injuries

Fixed things mentioned by Skummy

Added Elizabeth to NWO

WCW Pro moved to afternoons on a SAturday (Game can't do mornings)

Worlwide Logo Changed

Hogan added as figurehead

Saturday night time slot changed

Center stage added

 

What sort of buff were you thinking on performance skills for sting/steiner and I will take a look?

 

On the personalities front I am not sure why some are negative influence, here are their attributes

 

DDP

 

Big Show

 

Eddy

 

Duggan

 

I can only guess it is the smoking drinking and drugs maybe?

[tnyrwn]

Added in Steiner and Flair Injuries

Fixed things mentioned by Skummy

Added Elizabeth to NWO

WCW Pro moved to afternoons on a SAturday (Game can't do mornings)

Worlwide Logo Changed

Hogan added as figurehead

Saturday night time slot changed

Center stage added

 

What sort of buff were you thinking on performance skills for sting/steiner and I will take a look?

 

On the personalities front I am not sure why some are negative influence, here are their attributes

 

DDP

 

Big Show

 

Eddy

 

Duggan

 

I can only guess it is the smoking drinking and drugs maybe?

 

yup its the addiction that are making them negative influences

[forlan]

I mean I could take off for all three but Eddy, he needs his addictions even tho they did not make him a negative guy they did shorten his life.

[brat99]

Looking at addictions in the editor and none of the addiction attributes mention an effect on personality (though IMO some of them possibly should). I had the thought that the issue could be related to starting, and or random morale to begin the game. Nothing definitive to say that that is the issue, but just a thought.

[forlan]

Looking at addictions in the editor and none of the addiction attributes mention an effect on personality (though IMO some of them possibly should). I had the thought that the issue could be related to starting, and or random morale to begin the game. Nothing definitive to say that that is the issue, but just a thought.

 

Just did a test save start and noticed the same so not sure, might need to get clarification

[forlan]

So I realise no smoking was turned on for wcw so I turned that off and got a increase.. might beg the question though is it excessive maybe that someone who is spot on otherwise becomes negative because he has to go outside to smoke?

[brat99]

So I realise no smoking was turned on for wcw so I turned that off and got a increase.. might beg the question though is it excessive maybe that someone who is spot on otherwise becomes negative because he has to go outside to smoke?

 

Nice catch. I would imagine that other backstage rules could be having a similar effect (drugs, alcohol, etc).

[forlan]

So adam has confirmed he will be toning it down so that should see an improvement..i mean I can turn no smoking off but did wcw just let people take drugs backstage if so i could turn that off but I'm not sure

[brat99]

So adam has confirmed he will be toning it down so that should see an improvement..i mean I can turn no smoking off but did wcw just let people take drugs backstage if so i could turn that off but I'm not sure

 

As someone who was lucky enough to get backstage at a few WCW events, I would say you should probably leave drugs on. I did see occasional smoking and drinking, but if anyone was doing drugs, they did a good job of disguising it.

[Seanzie]

So I see that most companies do not have women's wrestling enabled. Have you simmed many years out to see if they eventually add women's wrestling? Or is that something that can be edited in the database mid-game?

[forlan]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Seanzie" data-cite="Seanzie" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49922" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>So I see that most companies do not have women's wrestling enabled. Have you simmed many years out to see if they eventually add women's wrestling? Or is that something that can be edited in the database mid-game?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Im not sure on AI but obviously you can change it on your own. As WWF did not have a women's division and WCW had a women's champion but no womens division to speak of (i tried giving them one but they hire like 12 women) its a strange situation.</p><p> </p><p> Just a note:</p><p> </p><p> I discovered when messing around some broadcasters standards are too high and WCW and WWF production are probablies a bit low so they will be altered for next beta.</p><p> </p><p> Also despite me remembering to change it goldust should be face but for some reason he is heel, again something changed for next beta,</p>

[BurningHamster]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="forlan" data-cite="forlan" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="49922" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Im not sure on AI but obviously you can change it on your own. As WWF did not have a women's division and WCW had a women's champion but no womens division to speak of (i tried giving them one but they hire like 12 women) its a strange situation.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> This is one of the biggest annoyances I have had with TEW for a long time. Womens divisions are so absurdly large there is no way to replicate the fact that up until relatively recently, a women's division was 2-4 women in a lot of promotions.</p>

[MrRage]

A couple more suggestions:

 

- Maybe add a narrative for Arn Anderson's retirement? He was done in the ring by end of January and officially retired by August;

- VK Wallstreet was wrestling under the Michael Wallstreet moniker at the time;

- Mark Madden was already working with WCW at the time, not really sure about Scott Hudson;

- A bunch of people that should in WCW's roster: Psychosis, Ciclope, Damien (who was also wrestling under such as Galaxy and Space Cadet) and Vilano IV;

- Maybe change WCW Power Plant to a performance center? There were a couple of wrestlers who were sent there for training, plus according to the handbook, football players are more probable to come for PCs and WCW had Bill Goldberg, Steve McMichael and one could also consider Kevin Greene;

- Billy Silverman should be at WWF.