Another week goes by for this WCW ROM hack project.
I didn’t really have a goal this week, just continue through the roster. I managed fifteen new attire slots and a few custom models needed for the wrestlers. To offer a quick preview of the progress, I uploaded a YouTube Short highlighting several of the new designs.
Graphic Updates
The next character on my revision list was Diamond Studd, whose attire is simple and easy to translate to the game’s style. His design stays consistent even at low resolution, so the update moved along quickly.
Vinnie Vegas required more detailed work. His rolled-sleeve shirt is not available in the base assets, so I created a hybrid model. The torso comes from a tucked long-sleeve shirt in WrestleMania 2000, and the sleeves come from Mankind’s model, which provided the right shape for the folded fabric. This combination produced a look that reflects his WCW presentation and fits the overall visual language of the hack.
His second attire in black and pink may need another pass. The shirt lettering is restricted to a space only four pixels wide, so the difference between a “U” and a “V” is extremely small. A single misplaced pixel changes the entire shape of the character, so even tiny adjustments matter more than expected when viewed in-game.
While doing research, I did find another attire idea for Marcus Bagwell. Cutting “Stars and Stripes” (Patriot – late 93/94), he needs an extra attire.
I managed to fit Oz into the build and may even have room for a Master Blaster.
Diamond Dallas Page wasn’t difficult, but his design uses a lot of resources. Split tights, shirt, boots, and tattoos all require unique textures. By the time I finished the arms, the color limit was reached, so the back circle pattern had to be left out. Even so, his look feels true to the character and works well in-game. I wanted to add his “Dice” attire, but couldn’t find good enough references, yet.
A website visitor suggested adding Big Josh to the project. I had skipped him in the initial roster runs, not intentionally, but I was focused on the wrestling-heavy part of the project and had overloaded the Japan stars and NWA legends. I removed a few characters to make room for him.
Big Josh also required a custom model for his rolled-up jeans and flannel top. I’ll admit that sometimes I try to shortcut by copying textures from the internet, and the flannel was one of those cases. After a few failed attempts, I decided to hand-draw the pattern. Surprisingly, it was easier than I expected, just a few squares.
Big Josh was my favorite this week, even slowly drawing his old raggedy T-shirt he wore to the ring. Like any custom model, I test out different in game angles to make sure nothing slips by. Here’s Big Josh.
The other progress was just some more old school guys. Greg Valentine, Junkyard Dog, and Stan Hansen. They all got two attire slots that can be color changed into multiple styles. After adding Hansen’s attire to the rom, I noticed a small error in the default “Fat” model’s lower leg which needed a quick fix.
Wrap Up
With this update, I have passed 2,000 total files in the ROM hack’s folder. Models, attire graphics, palettes, and some animations. Thanksgiving also slowed down the progress this week. I might focus on New Japan guys next week. I need a change of pace and they would be fun to work on. Once I hit the game’s 147 max, I will start working on heads/faces. Looking forward to that.