In video game terms, hair is everything. A generic face scan is forgivable; bad hair is a crime.
If you scroll through the modding forums of Evo-Web or PES-Patch in 2022 (and even today), you will find a specific, almost obsessive thread title repeated ad nauseam: “Wanted: PES 2017 Pablo Gavi face + hairstyle 2022.”
Modders don’t have access to modern scans. Instead, they use to rip assets from FIFA 23, extract the texture files, re-map the UVs, and then inject them into the archaic PES 2017 .fpk file structure. The hair is the hardest part.
So, if you ever see a PC gamer booting up a seven-year-old game to play a 2022 Master League, look closely at the midfield. You’ll see a blur of red and blue, topped with a bouncing, disobedient mess of curls.
By late 2022, EA Sports had Gavi locked down with a decent face in FIFA 23. eFootball had a passable version. But the PES 2017 faithful felt left behind. They had the best gameplay on the market, but their virtual Gavi looked like a default “Player_123” with a crew cut.
