EA Sport "NFL HEAD COACH"

[Ragone]

yaya for cwill :)

[Icy]

Thanks a lot cwill. If this tool really works i'll buy the game, waiting for the ones that have it to confirm it.

[GrantDawg]

cwill:

"This application has failed to start because MFC71.DLL was not found. Re-installing may fix the problem"

Any help?

[GrantDawg]

Never mind. Found it on-line.

[GrantDawg]

For the record, the minute adjustment works. I don't know about the sliders yet, but at least that part can be adjusted with Cwill's work. Thanks man. You are a hero.

[GrantDawg]

As a side note, I turned auto-save off and simmed ahead (I was at the begining of training camp) to see if the minute change works. Goodness the injuries! I had about 8 starters out for significant time by the time it got to the first pre-season game. What sucked was that I couldn't change my depth chart except for two players pre-game! Once in the game, I had to make all of my adjustments as the game was playing behind me. That's just stupid. They really did make some stupid design desicion in this game.

BTW, I had no idea how long anyone predicted to be injured since the sim info flew by, and I can't find anywhere that tells you that information. There is so much that is missing or hard to get to in this game. I like the ideas behind much of it, but so much of it is not executed very well (and the fact that it is really a console port is mostly to blame).

[Raiders Army]

The minutes work great. I had decent stats for 8 minute quarters. I turned down the interceptions, but I think it was inconclusive since I was playing Vince Young against the Ravens in week 2. He had two interceptions with the second in the third quarter. He got injured on the second interception when he tried to make the tackle. Andrew Walter came in and on his first pass threw an interception. That's probably pretty realistic, but I'm not sure if the slider worked. :)

On a side note, I really like the fact that if my QB can't practice during the week it makes a huge difference. I also like the fact that I have to determine how much the 2nd string practices and how that affects their improvement/decline.

During practices, I've found that some will give you a 6-7% boost on the play (mostly just the pass skeleton and running contact practices) and the full offense/defense contact practices give you a 20% boost. I've been trying to get my plays to a 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80% level before the full offense/defense contact practices to maximize my money plays.

[Raiders Army]

BTW, I had no idea how long anyone predicted to be injured since the sim info flew by, and I can't find anywhere that tells you that information. There is so much that is missing or hard to get to in this game. I like the ideas behind much of it, but so much of it is not executed very well (and the fact that it is really a console port is mostly to blame).
You can find out how long they'll be out in the injury report. It's by their name when you pull them up. I have Vince Young pinched nerve-1 week

[MizzouRah]

Excellent! I just bought the game!!

[Emiliano]

I don't have the game, but thanks for doing this cwill. Awesome job. Now I'm tempted again...

[Eaglesfan27]

Allright...

Enough with the fake rumors :P.

Here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip) is the first version of the setting application. Unzip the file and run the executable. Click Load and find your career file. Then edit to your delight. When done click Save. The program automatically creates a backup of the original when you save, it can be found as Career[#].bak in the appropriate career folder. As this is a 3rd party program that modifies your career files, use it at your own risk. While it is still in its infancy, I recomend keeping your own backups of everything before you let this little guy have his way with it.

At this point, you can set the quarter length, and sliders which affect the exhibition and career games for the career you edit. I didn't get a chance to test the sliders enough to know if there is a difference or not. If these sliders don't seem to work, there is at least one more set that I can try within the data file (go EA storing multiple copies of the same data in the save file).

Along the same lines, I couldn't get accelerated clock to work yet. It seems that either: A) EA has hardcoded this as disabled, which would make sense with all of the coach in between play crap, or B) I'm changing it in the wrong place (same possibility as the sliders above).

It would be nice if a few of you could test different slider settings to see if you notice a difference. Some of you have played the game far more than me, and would probably notice a difference. In the mean time, I'll continue testing and trying to track down the true location of the sliders (if currently wrong), and the possibility of making the accelerated clock work.

Enjoy!
Chris W.


Excellent! Thanks for your work on this. I'm trying it now. :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Off to play my first game now. I'm going with 9 minute quarters and I turned interceptions for both sides all the way down. I also bumped QB accuracy and WR catching a bit. I'll let you know if it seems to have made a change in the stats in a bit. :)

[Capital]

Off to play my first game now. I'm going with 9 minute quarters and I turned interceptions for both sides all the way down. I also bumped QB accuracy and WR catching a bit. I'll let you know if it seems to have made a change in the stats in a bit. :)
Thanks for the update as I am curious of the results. Also, how long does it take to play a game? Either with 5 minute quarters or the 9 minute quarters?

[hawk4669]

Never mind. Found it on-line.

Getting the same message...the .dll error message.

I found the file online, but am unsure where to put it. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

[MizzouRah]

Press [ from the playcalling screen to see a replay, challenge a play, or call a timeout.

Someone asked this a bit ago.

Let us know how the new settings work EF!

[hawk4669]

Nevermind...answered my own question.

Cheers!

[cwilloughby]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Unfortunately, as I suspected it looks like the set of sliders that I am modifying within the career are the wrong ones. I'll look into it a little more tonight, and hopefully I can map it up to the right set.

I'll keep you posted.
Chris W.

[Raiders Army]

Awesome man. Regardless of the sliders, just modifying the quarters is a giant leap towards accurate stats.

[dbd1963]

I'm still seeing a few interceptions in practice after bumping the sliders down 30 notches on each side. I see that CWil didn't think these were the right sliders. I can't say that the INTs were excessive though, they looked legit. But I had never noticed the INT problem in practice anyway. Haven't been able to play long enough to get to the next game.

I wonder if 8 minutes is too long, conisdering that 5 minutes very nearly gets you to NFL average. It looks about 10% off at 5 minutes. Maybe 6 minutes is enough. I'm trying 7 minute quarters, but don't think I can get back to this game today. Lots of things to do.

[jbmagic]

Awesome man. Regardless of the sliders, just modifying the quarters is a giant leap towards accurate stats.


That awesome news.

How is the sim stats looking? Pretty realistic?

[Raiders Army]

8 minutes appeared to be too long. I only played one game and there were about 200 yds passing and 140 yds rushing for both the Raiders and Ravens. I'll see what happens in week four with 7 minute quarters.

[MizzouRah]

I can't even get the game to install, shit. Works fine when I try on my kids pc. The splash screen comes up, then I click install.. cd spins up and nothing after that. Weird.

[duckman]

Gremlins.

[dbd1963]

I had that problem too, and it turned out to be related to my CD/DVD drive drivers. See if you've got the latest drivers instaled.

If I got it working on this Dell laptop, which gawd only knows what is wrong with it but everything that can go wrong does.. then most people can probably get it running.

[Eaglesfan27]

Ok, I just finished my first game. I think it took about an hour and 20 minutes to play with 9 minute quarters. I had to do a few practices before I started the game.

First the good:

- I loved how the Ravens worked the run and the play action.

- I told McNabb to not force it in, and to scramble if he didn't see anyone open after 3 progressions, he did that well.

- Jamal Lewis was a beast to stop. If I didn't have at least 2 men around him, I was likely screwed.

- The CPU will sub guys in if the starter is dead tired without you doing it. Westbrook was subbed out and Addai in during the 1st half for me without me doing it.


- I loved the flow of the game. Despite unrealistic pancakes, the O-Line D-Line interaction felt good.

- Both Carter and Detmer looked very bad on some deep throws where they underthrew the guy, overthrew the guy, or just threw it way wide.

- Based upon the stats, Carter only threw 2 interceptions all game, and McNabb and Detmer each only threw one in a half, I think the sliders ARE the right sliders. However, I'll play another game (or 5 ;)) over the next few hours and will post further stats to see if it is really working.


The bad: Lito Sheppard muffed 2 punts. Hopefully, it was just an aberation. Both were he just dropped it before even being hit.

McNabb threw it into his O-lineman's back on one play.

My receivers dropped a lot of balls, but we did have a bad week of practice according to my receivers coach, so this could actually be a good thing. I just hope if I get a very good possession receiver, he isn't dropping this many balls.


Onto the stats:

135 total plays from scrimmage with 9 minute quarters. This is despite the Ravens having a 10 point lead and working the clock down to 3 seconds left with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. By the way, I'd hate to see the CPU do this with 5 minute quarters!

Ravens beat us 27-17.


Eagles Stats:

In a half, McNabb 9 of 22 for 100 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. I counted 6 dropped balls, including 3 by Peerless Price (why did I sign him to a relatively big deal? :(). McNabb was sacked twice as well.

Koy Detmer 5 of 15 for 69 yards, 0 TD, INT, 2 sacks. (I counted 3 dropped balls.)


Westbrook: 10 carries for 38 yards, long of 9. In a half.

Addai: 10 carries for 53 yards, long of 32, 1 TD. Oh yeah, the CPU does sub guys in if the starter is tired. Addai got the 32 yard TD in the 1st half when he was subbed in for Westbrook for a play or two.

McNabb 7 carries for 52 yards (I told him not to force it in and to scramble if he got through his 3rd read without seeing anyone open.) Long of 18.


L.J. Smith led the team with 4 catches for 42 yards, 1 drop.

R. Brown had 3 catches for 34 yards with 1 drop.

C. Jackson, the rookie, had 1 catch for 24 yards. 2 drops.

Westbrook 1 catch for 23 yards, 0 drops.

Peerless Price, 2 catches for 22 yards, 3 drops.

Ritchie, 2 catches for 20 yards, 0 drops.

Addai 1 catch for 4 yards, 0 drops.


Dawkins led the team with 11 tackles. Trotter had 10 tackles.

Kearse had 3 sacks. Walker had 1 sack.

Dawkins and Sheppard each had 1 interception.


Akers made 1 of 2 FG (made 27, missed 55)

R. Plackeimer, my rookie punter, had 7 punts for 36.1 avg with a shank of 19 on one play.

L. Sheppard had 5 KR for 90 yards, long of 28.

He had 1 PR for a return of 11 yards.



Ravens Stats:

Quincy Carter: 15 of 30 for 213 yards with 2 TD 2 INT, 4 sacks. Long of 54.

Jamal Lewis had 24 carries for 126 yards, 1 TD, long of 57.

Chester Taylor 13 carries for 28 yards.

Quincy Carter 4 carries for 12 yards.


D. Mason had 5 catches for 82 yards, 1 TD, 0 Drops, long of 54.

C. Moore had 2 catches for 44 yards, 1 TD, 2 drops.

T. Heap had 3 catches for 37 yards, 1 drop.

Clayton had 2 catches for 27 yards. 1 drop. He burnt me on one play and was wide open deep, but Quincy overthrew him on that play.

Ray Lewis led the team with 12 tackles. E. Reed had 10 tackles.

A. Weaver lead the team with 3 sacks.

C. Mcalister and E. Reed each had a pick.

S. Rolle led the team with 2 passes defended.

D. Zastuvil had 6 punts for 34.3 avg.

D. Mason had 1 KR for 14 yards.



I'm debating on dropping down to 8 minute quarters as the play total is a bit high. However, I'm MUCH happier with these stats post sliders.

[Eaglesfan27]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Unfortunately, as I suspected it looks like the set of sliders that I am modifying within the career are the wrong ones. I'll look into it a little more tonight, and hopefully I can map it up to the right set.

I'll keep you posted.
Chris W.

If it isn't the right slider sets, I'm amazed that I didn't have more interceptions against Carter in a long game.

[Eaglesfan27]

I can't even get the game to install, shit. Works fine when I try on my kids pc. The splash screen comes up, then I click install.. cd spins up and nothing after that. Weird.

Sorry to hear that you and others are having problems. It installed on both my main computer and my laptop with no issues.

[astrosfan64]

Thank you for your thoughtful insight....

More details.

Interface is terrible.

The fact that you can only do two depth chart movements per coach time is terrible.

The slowness between phases is terrible.

Hiring coaches is terrible, the interview is garbage.

For daily Practice, the fact I have to run each play is terrible.

I don't even really like the gameplay mode. Playcalling is terrible.

Good concept, terrible implementation. I wasted my money.

[GrantDawg]

Alright, played my first preseaon game with 8 minute quarters. CW is right that the sliders are not working. After turning interceptons all the way down, and bumping accuracy up, Tom Brady threw 4 intereceptions and Vick threw 3. I won 41-16, and with the Pats only TD coming from an interception. Vick went 11-24, and Brady went 23-46. Completetions were way too low, and open field tackling horrible. Of course, both of those things might be flukes considering it was one game. The interceptions are a flaw that is carried over from Madden coach-mode.

There were some positives. Punt returners didn't fumble every third punt like in Maddem coch-mode, and they will call for a fair catch. There was also regular subbing for fatigue. I wish the whole team subbed out in the Pre-season like in Madden (btw, if you change the roster in game does it stay that way once it is over?).

There were no injuries, so that is a concern. There probably were too many plays as well. What is the average plays-per-game?

[Eaglesfan27]

Ok, I guess my game with Quincy Carter was an aberation if Brady threw 4 picks. If you make depth chart changes in game, they don't carry over after the game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

I believe average plays per game is about 120. Despite that bad game you had with picks, I'm going to go ahead and play another pre-season game, this time with 8 minute quarters. I don't care too much if I end up with a high number of picks in pre-season. I'll post results after the game again.

[jbmagic]

Alright, played my first preseaon game with 8 minute quarters. CW is right that the sliders are not working. After turning interceptons all the way down, and bumping accuracy up, Tom Brady threw 4 intereceptions and Vick threw 3. I won 41-16, and with the Pats only TD coming from an interception. Vick went 11-24, and Brady went 23-46. Completetions were way too low, and open field tackling horrible. Of course, both of those things might be flukes considering it was one game. The interceptions are a flaw that is carried over from Madden coach-mode.

There were some positives. Punt returners didn't fumble every third punt like in Maddem coch-mode, and they will call for a fair catch. There was also regular subbing for fatigue. I wish the whole team subbed out in the Pre-season like in Madden (btw, if you change the roster in game does it stay that way once it is over?).

There were no injuries, so that is a concern. There probably were too many plays as well. What is the average plays-per-game?

NFL averages about 120-125 plays per game. Probably 6 or 7 mins quaters, non accerlation will get close to that.

Also read to lower interceptions is to talk to the QB and Practice some plays with your QB. I don't know if that will help.

[MizzouRah]

135 total plays from scrimmage with 9 minute quarters. This is despite the Ravens having a 10 point lead and working the clock down to 3 seconds left with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. By the way, I'd hate to see the CPU do this with 5 minute quarters!



Encouraging, thanks!

[GrantDawg]

NFL averages about 120-125 plays per game. Probably 6 or 7 mins quaters, non accerlation will get close to that.

Also read to lower interceptions is to talk to the QB and Practice some plays with your QB. I don't know if that will help.


But how does that help cut down on opponents int's? That's the problem. Vick throwing three (especially this game's Vick) is no biggy. But Brady throwing 4 with a 50% completion rate? Definite problem.

[Neuqua]

I wasted my money.

So give it to a poor college student (me) and you'll have the sound mind of knowing your money was put to good use


:):D

[jbmagic]

But how does that help cut down on opponents int's? That's the problem. Vick throwing three (especially this game's Vick) is no biggy. But Brady throwing 4 with a 50% completion rate? Definite problem.


Good point.

I hope the sliders when fix will help with that.

[GrantDawg]

Does that 120-125 include xp and kick-offs?

[Eaglesfan27]

About to start my 8 minute quarter against the Steelers now. After a rough start to the week, I have McNabb looking good in practice, while my scouts think Big Ben looks relatively bad at the moment. I'll post stats after the game.

[jbmagic]

Does that 120-125 include xp and kick-offs?


In 2005 the NFL average 125 plays per game total between both teams.

It includes runs, passing,fg attempts, punts and kickoffs.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/OFF-TOTAL/2005/regular?sort_col_1=4

There was 32,021 total plays between the 32 teams in the NFL in 2005

32,021/32 teams=1000.66

1000.66/16 games=62.54

62.54 x 2 teams=125 total plays per game

[Raiders Army]

Quick question on talking to your players. When you choose strategy instead of motivation, how do you finalize it? I pick all of the options, but I'm unable to continue. The only thing I see is to cancel out.

[jbmagic]

I read this at operation Sports forum


NO IN-GAME or IN-PRACTICE INURIES in the game at all. The only way to get injury in this game is to sim a practice or a game

Is this true for those who have the game?

[kcchief19]

But how does that help cut down on opponents int's? That's the problem. Vick throwing three (especially this game's Vick) is no biggy. But Brady throwing 4 with a 50% completion rate? Definite problem.
From Tom Brady's real-life game log:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="cnnSmall cnnNoBold cnnHeader"><td>Date</td> <td>Opp</td> <td>Cmp</td> <td>Att</td> <td>Pct</td> <td>Yds</td> <td>Yds/Att</td> <td>TD</td> <td>Int</td> <td>1st</td> <td>Sck</td> <td>Rtg</td></tr></tbody> </table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="cnnData1"><td>Nov. 27</td> <td>KC</td> <td>22</td> <td>40</td> <td>55.0</td> <td>248</td> <td>6.2</td> <td>1</td> <td>4</td> <td>14</td> <td>3</td> <td>42.5
</td></tr></tbody> </table>
It's a problem if it happens 5 times out of 16 -- it's not if it happens 1 out of 16 times.

[Moss84]

I have the Xbox version.

The only time I have seen injuries is when you do sim through your practice time or games. I have not seen a player go down with an injury in practice or during a game at all.

I have also read that the game engine is from Madden 2006. In my experiments in the past using Madden 2006 in coach mode, it was difficult to decrease the amount of interceptions even with the adjusted sliders. (increasing QB awareness and WR catch)

The only real bug/glitch that I have seen during a game (besides the Madden come back code) is when your QB play actions with a RB, turns around and throws it in thte wrong direction for a fumble that the defense always returns for a TD. I have seen this happen twice now.

I enjoy the game very much. I think it is a step in the right direction for EA.

[Raiders Army]

I read this at operation Sports forum



Is this true for those who have the game?
Not true. I had Vince Young get injured in my last game.

[bselig]

I've been running Vince Young 30+ times a game and he hasn't been hurt so far.

[Eaglesfan27]

I haven't seen any injuries during practice or games yet. Maybe that can be changed via sliders at some point, since RA has had it happen at least once.

I think these sliders might be the real sliders. I maxed out WR catching this game, and each WR corp only had 1 dropped ball. Big Ben did throw 3 picks, but two of them were late in the game when he was forcing it in since his side was down.

Overall, another very fun game.

We beat the Steelers 28-14. We ran 66 plays. They ran 44. However, I strategized much more in this game and therefore ate more clock. Also, I ran the ball over 40 times counting McNabb's scrambles. That eats clock and leads to less plays. Therefore, I think 8 minutes is going to be the sweet spot for me. It took me an hour and 20 minutes to play 8 minute quarters.

Stats:

McNabb 16 of 24 for 197 yards with 3 TD's 1 INT and 2 sacks.

Addai 18 carries for 76 yards with a long of 12.

Westbrook 18 carries for 42 yards with 1 TD. Long of 7.

McNabb 5 carries for 51 yards long of 22.

Ritchie 1 carry for 4 yards.

Price 4 catches for 70 yards. He had my only drop.

L.J. Smith 5 catches for 53 yards, 3 TD's. McNabb was looking for him everytime we entered the red zone.

C. Jackson 3 catches for 42 yards.

Westbrook 1 catch for 20 yards.

Ritchie 3 catches for 12 yards.


Sheppard led the team with 6 tackles. Dawkins and Trotter each had 5 more.

Kearse led the team with 2 sacks. 4 other guys had 1.

S. Brown led the team with 2 INT's. Dawkins had 1 too.


R. Plackmeier had 5 punts with an average of 36.1

Sheppard had 2 KR with a 14.0 avg.

Sheppard had 3 PR with a 9.0 avg. Long of 12.


Big Ben was 9 of 16 for 86 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT. It was raining. I'm not sure if that mattered. He was also sacked 6 times, and we got constant pressure on him.

Bettis (he didn't retire after the SB in this game) had 18 carries for 56 yards. Willie Parker was out injured.

Staley had 3 carries for 8 yards.

Krieder had 1 carry for 4 yards.


Hines Ward had 4 catches for 50 yards and a TD. They had 5 other receivers with 1 catch. Only 1 drop among them.

T. Polamalu led the team with 12 tackles. J. Farrior had 9 tackles.

Farrior lead the team with 2 sacks.

D. Townsend had their only pick which he returned 71 yards for a TD (it was a pass into the flat that he jumped.)

C. Gardocki had 7 punts for a 36.5 avg.

A. Randel-El had 4 KR avg of 21.0.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Oh yeah. As if there was any doubt that this was based on Madden, Pittsburgh had a chance to stop us on 3rd and 1 with about 4 minutes to go in a pivotal play. The camera switched from my pressbox to the dramatic camera that first started appearing in either Madden 05 or 06 and the heartbeat sound could be heard.

[jbmagic]

Going to pick this game up today at Best Buy for 29.99.

Seems like you guys are having fun with it.

How the end of game decisions by the AI teams? Is the AI being smart when they have a lead and when they are behind at end of games?

[Oilers9911]

Great job by CWill with the utility but how pathetic is it that people like CWill have to create such a utility at all? The great EA can't even produce a realistic game without the help of one of their customers. And ONE person is reporting ONE in-game injury? That is a total joke.

[MizzouRah]

Anyone have a Liteon cd rom or dvd player? Both my dvd and cd rom are Liteon players and I still can't get this friggin game to install.

Shit!

[jbmagic]

I can't even get the game to install, shit. Works fine when I try on my kids pc. The splash screen comes up, then I click install.. cd spins up and nothing after that. Weird.


Try this Todd.


Give this a try. Goto to your cd rom folder on my computer and right click and click on explore to open it.

Then click on the setup exe file in there to install it.

[dbd1963]

Is anyone else having a problem with being able to cancel the instructions to the QB? This may somehow be related to my crazy computer.

I have had an injury -- they are hard to see and I just happened to notice Fred Thomas writhing on the ground. Then I saw a small drop down menu, in the same spot as the place you click to hike the ball. It listed Fred Thomas' name and then said he had a rib injury for 7P. I took that to mean 7 periods, but maybe it's 7 days probable or something because he was right back in the game.

[Barkeep49]

Is anyone else having a problem with being able to cancel the instructions to the QB? This may somehow be related to my crazy computer.

I have had an injury -- they are hard to see and I just happened to notice Fred Thomas writhing on the ground. Then I saw that a small drop down menu, in the same spot as the place you click to hike the ball. It listed Fred Thomas' name and then said he had a rib injury for 7P. I took that to mean 7 periods, but maybe it's 7 days probable or something because he was right back in the game.
7p means seven plays?

[dbd1963]

That would make sense, but I remember seeing #22 back on the field two plays later -- however, this was very late last night. I might have hit a zone and lost track of all time and space..

[Surtt]

I know this is trivial in the big picture, but it is just bugging the hell out of me.
Couldn't they match the quote with the picture of the right coach?
GAH!

[MizzouRah]

Woo Hoo!! After messing around for a bit, I went into task manager and then saw NFLHeadCoach was running like 5 times, killed all of them and retried. Worked like a charm. :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Woo Hoo!! After messing around for a bit, I went into task manager and then saw NFLHeadCoach was running like 5 times, killed all of them and retried. Worked like a charm. :)

Glad you got it working. :)

[Raiders Army]

I've been running Vince Young 30+ times a game and he hasn't been hurt so far.
Vince Young didn't get hurt running. :) He got hurt trying to tackle a DB after he threw an interception. :D

[Raiders Army]

I know this is trivial in the big picture, but it is just bugging the hell out of me.
Couldn't they match the quote with the picture of the right coach?
GAH!
I believe all of the pix are of current coaches while the quotes are from the "HOF" coaches. I truly dislike the Dennis Green pic of him in those shades.

[MizzouRah]

Glad you got it working. :)

Me too.

I know there are issues as many have said, but so far I'm addicted. I think I'll be up late tonight.

I was nervous when my owner interviewed me for the job. :) I really like it when you fire a coach, he gets up and leaves the room.. makes the room feel like there's a lot of tension.

I would love to see a sequel out of this game.

Back to the game....

[GrantDawg]

From Tom Brady's real-life game log:

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class="cnnSmall cnnNoBold cnnHeader"><TD>Date</TD><TD>Opp</TD><TD>Cmp</TD><TD>Att</TD><TD>Pct</TD><TD>Yds</TD><TD>Yds/Att</TD><TD>TD</TD><TD>Int</TD><TD>1st</TD><TD>Sck</TD><TD>Rtg</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=cnnData1><TD>Nov. 27</TD><TD>KC</TD><TD>22</TD><TD>40</TD><TD>55.0</TD><TD>248</TD><TD>6.2</TD><TD>1</TD><TD>4</TD><TD>14</TD><TD>3</TD><TD>42.5

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
It's a problem if it happens 5 times out of 16 -- it's not if it happens 1 out of 16 times.


It is problem when it happens every game. I'm averaging 7-8 interceptions a game. That is way high. One game can be a fluke, but this is a known problem.

[GrantDawg]

I haven't seen any injuries during practice or games yet. Maybe that can be changed via sliders at some point, since RA has had it happen at least once.

I think these sliders might be the real sliders. I maxed out WR catching this game, and each WR corp only had 1 dropped ball. Big Ben did throw 3 picks, but two of them were late in the game when he was forcing it in since his side was down.

I haven't had an in-game injury yet, either. It is possible that the sliders work, and this game just has the same problem Madden had in 2005 with too many interceptions and low completion rates whatever you do. I hope not because that really does kill the fun. 35-45% completion rates are boring.

You must be killing a lot of time to get those play numbers at 9 minutes. I've played two games at 8 minutes (170+ plays) and one at 7 (145+). I'm thinking 6, or even quite possibily the default *gasp*. I do wait until the linemen sets the blocking scheme before I snap the ball, but that still means snapping at 25 seconds on the play clock.

[hawk4669]

Ugh.

Just experienced the bug where I hit a key (unknown which one) and my User Interface, ability to call plays, etc went *poof* good bye.

Unable to figure out what I did wrong, I had to exit the game.....and during a tight contest with the Eagles where I had the lead.

That sucked. :( Oh well....heading to kick off the game for a second time.

[Eaglesfan27]

I haven't had an in-game injury yet, either. It is possible that the sliders work, and this game just has the same problem Madden had in 2005 with too many interceptions and low completion rates whatever you do. I hope not because that really does kill the fun. 35-45% completion rates are boring.

You must be killing a lot of time to get those play numbers at 9 minutes. I've played two games at 8 minutes (170+ plays) and one at 7 (145+). I'm thinking 6, or even quite possibily the default *gasp*. I do wait until the linemen sets the blocking scheme before I snap the ball, but that still means snapping at 25 seconds on the play clock.

Wow. I'm not killing that much time. I sometimes change my QB's progression or strategy at the line, but I'm generally snapping the ball between 20-25 seconds. I am running the ball quite a bit which of course keeps the clock running. I'm sticking with 8 minutes for now, but I might drop down to 7 minutes if I get quicker at setting the strategies.

[wade moore]

More details.

Interface is terrible.

The fact that you can only do two depth chart movements per coach time is terrible.

The slowness between phases is terrible.

Hiring coaches is terrible, the interview is garbage.

For daily Practice, the fact I have to run each play is terrible.

I don't even really like the gameplay mode. Playcalling is terrible.

Good concept, terrible implementation. I wasted my money.

Keep in mind I don't have the game yet... but...

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?

[jbmagic]

I just got the game tonight at Best Buy. Going to installed and give it a go.


People are saying in other forums, winning games is very easy.

I hope that not true and hopefully a slider can change the difficult on it too.

[TroyF]

Keep in mind I don't have the game yet... but...

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?


From what I've read, yes and no.

I don't have an issue with only being able to add a couple of plays. I don't think you recreate a playbook in an afternoon.

On the other hand, being able to set two spots in the depth chart up? Good lord.

[Raiders Army]

From what I've read, yes and no.

I don't have an issue with only being able to add a couple of plays. I don't think you recreate a playbook in an afternoon.

On the other hand, being able to set two spots in the depth chart up? Good lord.
Agreed with both of your points.

Also, I find that it's ridiculously easy to win games. There is no difficulty level, so I'm at a loss as to how to make the game harder other than house rules.

[astrosfan64]

Keep in mind I don't have the game yet... but...

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?

Wade,

I agreed with the theory untill I tried how they implemented it. You will see what I mean once you try the game yourself.

[Logan]

Keep in mind I don't have the game yet... but...

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?

Also don't have the game, and agree with a lot of your points (and others), but the one part that I really can't understand is the whole only shifting 2 guys around the depth chart during one "session." I don't see how that makes sense at all.

[dbd1963]

Those sessions are blocked as 30 minutes of your day, so perhaps that's a part of it. Maybe to get the decisions worked out you have to call.. or whatever, it was a game balancing decision I guess.

I just did a 6 minute quarter game against the Falcons and it was just about perfect. 117 plays plus all the special teams plays puts it about the average range.

I did see five INTs, but they started Matt Schaub. And Leinart threw two of them (which I expect from a rookie).

I also discovered the "reset" button in the talk to QB menu, so my problem from before wasn't a bug. If anyone else has this problem, scroll all the way to the end and there is a reset, red so you can't miss it.. unless you never scrolled that far before.

[Eaglesfan27]

Keep in mind I don't have the game yet... but...

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?

I do, even though I was annoyed at times that I could only add 2 plays per office session.

[MizzouRah]

Agreed with both of your points.

Also, I find that it's ridiculously easy to win games. There is no difficulty level, so I'm at a loss as to how to make the game harder other than house rules.

That's really weird that it's easy to win games. I guess the playcalling AI is bad. Considering they talk about coaching so much in this game, you would think they would program each team after their respective coaches tendencies??

I haven't made it to a game yet though...

[dbd1963]

I have won all three games in the regular season, but I lost two in the preseason. The two I lost, I never had a chance. It had to do with not having had enough time to prepare the team.

Since preseason, my defense is always prepared (I chose former defensive coordinator) but my offense has some problems. If the INT problem is ironed out for the other side, I'd probably not have won one of my regular season games. I think all three opponents were weak, too. So I'm not sure it's totally easy yet. I'll give it 8 games and see. If my Saints are 8-0, or even 6-2, then maybe there is a problem here..

[SirFozzie]

I do, even though I was annoyed at times that I could only add 2 plays per office session.

look for your pregame meeting, apparently you can add all plays that you want at that time

[Eaglesfan27]

look for your pregame meeting, apparently you can add all plays that you want at that time


I know, but that doesn't help with the training camp which is before any games start.

[Eaglesfan27]

That's really weird that it's easy to win games. I guess the playcalling AI is bad. Considering they talk about coaching so much in this game, you would think they would program each team after their respective coaches tendencies??

I haven't made it to a game yet though...

I didn't find it too easy to win when the Ravens were pounding the rock down my throat..

[Raiders Army]

I didn't find it too easy to win when the Ravens were pounding the rock down my throat..
Just like in Madden I find that if you blitz a lot, it nullifies the run as well as the pass. Try doing the base 4-3 defense (or under or over 4-3) using LB Dogs or Edge Sting. The Under Smoke play in Nickle or Quarter Defense works well against the run since most DBs are faster than LBs.

[MizzouRah]

I didn't find it too easy to win when the Ravens were pounding the rock down my throat..

Yeah, I'll find out for myself.

I did get a trade offer from the Seahawks which I'm going to accept as soon as I can. It was one of their decent (not Trufant) CB's for my tackle Rex Tucker who was going to backup Barron this coming year for me anyway.

Some things are kind of tedious, but I'm still liking this game a lot. I really like how your coaches give input and you decide on what to do from there.

[AgustusM]

WOW - I have been away from my computer all weekend doing things with my family and I get on tonight and see this utility which fixes the biggest problem - woo hoo!!!

the game still has warts, but this is a nice fix for now.

[cwilloughby]

New version posted!

Download it here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip).

The sliders in this version do update the "correct" spot in the data file. I also added options to enable windowed mode (may have to start and exit game before this takes effect), and exporting of game logs (saved in My Documents/NFL Head Coach/Stats/Career#/). There is also now a Defaults button in the bottom right to restore any wrong doings on your part :P.

If you enable the logs you can see that the sliders are indeed updating. Even with interceptions at 0, however, I just had a game with five of them using 5 minute quarters. I think part of this was a fluke, and there were at least 4 or 5 more that would have been pics before the slider change.

Here is the log from the game:

NFL HEAD COACH PC v5.0.2.1 Game Log - BILLS at PANTHERS
Game Time: Mon Jun 26 01:57:56 2006
Skill Level: Pro
Quarter Length: 5 minute(s)

Slider Human CPU
QB Accuracy 50 50
Pass Blocking 50 50
Receiver Catching 50 50
Running Ability 50 50
Offensive line Run Blocking 50 50
Defensive Awareness 50 50
Defensive line Knockdowns 50 50
Interceptions 0 0
Defensive Break Blocks 50 50
Tackling 50 50
Fieldgoal Length 50 50
Fieldgoal Accuracy 50 50
Punt Length 50 50
Punt Accuracy 50 50
Kickoff Length 50 50

Weather
Forecast: Fair
Wind: 4 mph
Temp: 61 degrees

Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT FINAL
BILLS 21 7 14 0 0 42
PANTHERS 0 0 0 0 0 0

Game Statistics: BILLS PANTHERS
First Downs 6 6
Third Down Conversions 2 1
Third Downs 8 14
Third Down Percentage 25.0% 7.1%
Forth Down Conversions 0 0
Fourth Downs 0 0
Fourth Down Percentage 0.0% 0.0%
Two Pt Conversions Made 0 0
Two Pt Conversions Attempted 0 0
Two Pt Conversion Percentage 0.0% 0.0%
Offense Redzone Num 1 0
Offense Redzone TDs 1 0
Offense Redzone FGs 0 0
Offense Redzone Percentage 100.0% 0.0%
Rushing Attempts 21 25
Rushing Yards 77 89
Rushing Average 3.7 3.6
Rushing TDs 1 0
Passing Yards 220 46
Passing Completions 8 6
Passing Attempts 20 27
Completion Percentage 40.0% 22.2%
Passing Average 11.0 1.7
Passing TDs 3 0
Offensive Pass Interceptions 2 3
TOTAL OFFENSE 297 135
Defensive Pass Interceptions 3 2
Punt Return Yards 0 0
Kick Return Yards 33 137
Punts 5 10
Punt Avg 45.6 38.3
Fumbles 0 0
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Penalties 2 3
Penalty Yds 17 32
Turnovers 2 3
TIME OF POSSESSION 09:59 10:01

Individual Stats: PANTHERS
PASSING CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK TD INT LONG RATING
Jake Delhomme 6 27 52 22 1.9 2 0 3 25 0.0

RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Stephen Davis 19 73 3.8 9 0 0
DeShaun Foster 6 16 2.6 6 0 0

RECEIVING REC YDS AVG LONG TD DROP YAC
Sinorice Moss 1 25 25.0 25 0 1 0
Steve Smith 2 8 4.0 6 0 1 0
Nick Goings 1 8 8.0 8 0 0 7
Michael Gaines 1 7 7.0 7 0 0 0
Keary Colbert 1 4 4.0 4 0 0 1

KICKING FGM FGA PCT FGSBLOCKED XPA XPM PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
John Kasay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

PUNTING ATT YDS AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Tom Tupa 10 383 38.2 45 0 0 2

KICK RETURNS ATT YDS AVG TD LONG
Steve Smith 7 137 19.5 0 26

PUNT RETURNS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD
Steve Smith 0 0 0.0 0 0

DEFENSE TOT LOSS SACK FF FREC YDS TD INT RET AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES
Will Witherspoon 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Dan Morgan 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Ken Lucas 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Kris Jenkins 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Chris Gamble 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Brentson Buckner 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Thomas Davis 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 11 11.0 0 0
Julius Peppers 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Minter 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 16 16.0 0 0
Sean Tufts 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Wahle 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Rucker 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Jeremy Bloom 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Chris Draft 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Idrees Bashir 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 2 0
Al Wallace 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0

BLOCKING PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Jeff Mitchell 12 0
Jordan Gross 9 0
Travelle Wharton 6 0
Mike Wahle 4 0
Tutan Reyes 4 0
Nick Goings 3 1
Michael Gaines 1 0
Kris Mangum 1 0


Individual Stats: BILLS
PASSING CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK TD INT LONG RATING
Kelly Holcomb 8 20 220 40 11.0 0 3 2 63 81.2

RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Willis McGahee 15 58 3.8 27 1 0
Shaud Williams 5 12 2.3 8 0 0
Kelly Holcomb 1 7 7.0 7 0 0

RECEIVING REC YDS AVG LONG TD DROP YAC
Lee Evans 3 64 21.3 43 2 0 6
Robert Holcombe 1 63 63.0 63 1 0 42
Eric Moulds 1 31 31.0 31 0 0 20
Mark Campbell 1 26 26.0 26 0 0 11
Sam Aiken 1 25 25.0 25 0 0 7
Willis McGahee 1 11 11.0 11 0 0 0

KICKING FGM FGA PCT FGSBLOCKED XPA XPM PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Rian Lindell 0 0 0 0 6 6 100 0 7 0

PUNTING ATT YDS AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Brian Moorman 5 228 45.5 59 0 3 1

KICK RETURNS ATT YDS AVG TD LONG
Terrence McGee 1 33 33.0 0 33
Nate Clements 0 0 0.0 0 0

PUNT RETURNS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD
Terrence McGee 0 0 0.0 0 0
Nate Clements 1 0 0.0 0 0

DEFENSE TOT LOSS SACK FF FREC YDS TD INT RET AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES
London Fletcher 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 4.0 0 0
Takeo Spikes 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 69 69.0 1 0
DeMario Minter 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
Nate Clements 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0
Terrence McGee 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Lawyer Milloy 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Liam Ezekiel 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Josh Reed 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Haloti Ngata 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Rashad Baker 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Jeff Posey 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Eric Moulds 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Coy Wire 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Aaron Schobel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Troy Vincent 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 70 70.0 0 0
Chris Villarrial 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Donte Whitner 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Angelo Crowell 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mario Haggan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Jabari Greer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Chris Kelsay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0

BLOCKING PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Bennie Anderson 5 0
Mike Gandy 4 0
Chris Villarrial 4 0
Jason Peters 2 0
Trey Teague 2 0
Robert Holcombe 2 0
Mark Campbell 1 0
Tim Euhus 1 0


Game Log Ends
------------------------------------------------------------


Also, it should be noted that for some reason, the extremes of the kicking sliders are only from 25-75. I'll have to look into this more tomorrow.

Anyway, as with before. Make sure you backup your stuff before even looking at this bad boy!

Let me know how it works for you!
Chris W.

[KJDelaney]

Thanks for you work on this. As soon as I come home next week from my bsuiness trip, I will have to give it a go.

[Raiders Army]

Holy moley! Thanks Chris! This is awesome! I'll check it out this morning.

[GrantDawg]

Skill level: Pro


There's the problem. Can that be changed? If it can, will it through the balance the other way? Were did you get the log, btw?

[Bee]

I don't have the game, but I think cwill deserves a freaking award for that mod. :D Very impressive.

[Raiders Army]

Just played my first game. It seemed as if the sliders worked. (Vince Young vs. Charlie Frye) There were only two interceptions in the whole game, one by each QB. Very very nice! Thanks!

[Yossarian]

has anyone developed any insight into how to use 'motivation'?

It seems a bit random to me. Choosing option 1 will sometimes cause a + and sometimes a - even on the same player.

I tried being agressive after a player screwed up and being nice when they played well but the outcome was still fairly random.

[Darkiller]

Just played my first game. It seemed as if the sliders worked. (Vince Young vs. Charlie Frye) There were only two interceptions in the whole game, one by each QB. Very very nice! Thanks!

Shouldn't it be more like three interceptions..each, for these two inexperienced QBs ?
;)

[Raiders Army]

has anyone developed any insight into how to use 'motivation'?

It seems a bit random to me. Choosing option 1 will sometimes cause a + and sometimes a - even on the same player.

I tried being agressive after a player screwed up and being nice when they played well but the outcome was still fairly random.
This one guy posted at MaddenMania that if the player says something like "Yes sir" then you should go passive. The "sup?" response indicates that you should go aggressive. I have found this not to be true, but it works about 75% of the time.

[jbmagic]

wow

Great job on the utility.

I am disappointed there one skill level and its on Pro. No wonder the games played out is so easy. A lot of people in other forums are saying there winning a lot of games regardless what team they pick.

Did'nt Pro and Rookie level on Madden give the edge to the human team. I think the next level after pro gives both side even.

I sure hope there a way to change the difficult level too.

[Bee]

I'd think it would be possible to adjust the difficulty to some degree using the sliders and giving the computer AI an advantage (or the human a disadvantage). At some point you should be able to get to where the stats are somewhat reasonable and there's a balance between the human and computer controlled teams since you don't actually control the action on the field. Probably not going to be great, but I'd think you could get something reasonable with some work and experimenting.

[cwilloughby]

I noticed the Skill Level just sitting in the config file next to everything else. I see no reason why it can't be changed. I'll look into this next.

Chris W.

[jefflackey]

Dumb question - I can't find what the indicators in the boxes to the upper right of a player profile mean, for example, in checking out players coming into the draft some will have a red "WS", some will have a PS, etc. I assume it has something to do with scouting, but I don't see any correlations. What really frustrates me is not being able to find anything about it in the manual.

Thanks

[jefflackey]

Replying to my own message - the light bulb just went off, I assume these mean Scouted, Poorly Scouted, Well Scouted.

[Marc Vaughan]

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?

I think its an interesting idea, one which SAAP has used in the past I believe with their player talks etc. (only so many allowed during one time slot).

Personally I'm against that sort of thing simply because its hard to justify the time taken for each of activities as 'right' for each person when if you give two people irl the same set of tasks each will spend different proportions of time on each of the sub-tasks.

As such I'm happy to leave such things 'open' and unrestricted - if people themselves want to set a house rule that they can only do 'x' transfers per day or whatever then thats fine with me, but it'll remain a house rule for the foreseeable in my games.

[Bee]

Replying to my own message - the light bulb just went off, I assume these mean Scouted, Poorly Scouted, Well Scouted.

Yep, that was on the help menu in the demo. Not sure if it's there in the full version.

[wade moore]

I think its an interesting idea, one which SAAP has used in the past I believe with their player talks etc. (only so many allowed during one time slot).

Personally I'm against that sort of thing simply because its hard to justify the time taken for each of activities as 'right' for each person when if you give two people irl the same set of tasks each will spend different proportions of time on each of the sub-tasks.

As such I'm happy to leave such things 'open' and unrestricted - if people themselves want to set a house rule that they can only do 'x' transfers per day or whatever then thats fine with me, but it'll remain a house rule for the foreseeable in my games.

Definately a fair argument.

I guess my thing is it seems weird to call these "terrible decisions"... I think they are deicisions that make a lot of sense for many players to build up realism, and not for others...

*shrug*

[kcchief19]

Definately a fair argument.

I guess my thing is it seems weird to call these "terrible decisions"... I think they are deicisions that make a lot of sense for many players to build up realism, and not for others...

I largely agree. The concept behind some of these things may not be realistic, but the end result is. I think it adds something that you can't overhaul your team overnight by trading your entire roster or changing your entire lineup without simming a day. Making radical changes on the depth chart just doesn't happen much in real life, nor does making over a roster in day. And the game actually gives you plenty of opportunities to make these changes, you just have to plan appropriately.

[Hurst2112]

didn't check to see if anybody posted this.

I just went to Best Buy this morning and paid, with tax...31.64.

Not bad, not bad.

[Gary Gorski]

Keep in mind I don't have the game yet... but...

Astro and Gary Gorski brought up some similar things as "problems" that I see as good things.. mainly the fact of how you can only do limited "actions" and have to do them in your office time... that you are limited to what you can do in practice, etc...

To me this is realistic, does no one else feel the same wya?

I'm not saying its not realistic - yeah in an hour or half hour block you can probably only sit down and call 3 GMs and talk about trades or call 3 agents about signing their players...and if coaching the virtual Detroit Lions was my real job that would be fine but I despise the fact that I had to play 9 real hours of game play to get to one preseason game.

My gripe is that they made things realistic that are tedious and then abandonded reality in the things that would have been fun. 30 seconds to make a trade during someone else's pick in the draft? Why not give me 5-15 minutes there to work the phones and make trades and why can I only try to make like three trades during the draft? Do real NFL GMs contact fewer than three other teams the entire draft day? To me the day to day stuff is just a tedious click fest - that's great that you can only add two plays to the playbook in a half hour - but doing it that way means hundreds of more clicks to get in and out of that screen over and over again.

Like I said earlier, the idea is great and the execution was terrible. I think the only reason people are not up in arms about this is because of the idea of a 3D football management sim is such a sexy one that some people are willing to overlook the design flaws because they want it so bad. You tell me though, if you played Total College Basketball and I made you only able to call 3 recruits per session in the day and took away the automatic weekly call list, made you click on every individual player to learn anything about him as opposed to giving you the ability to view stats and ratings for the entire team at a glance and subjected you to pointless meetings with the AD where he tells you for the third week in a row that you need to recruit a power forward or with your coaching staff flip flopping on the same two players every week would you find those things acceptable or would you be ripping it as a tedious click fest? I'm not ripping on anyone who likes it - if you're satisfied with Head Coach then good for you - I liked the idea and wanted it very much to be that perfect version of what some of us always hoped Front Page Sports would evolve into and to me it was just designed so poorly that its often times more frustrating than fun.

[wade moore]

I'm not saying its not realistic - yeah in an hour or half hour block you can probably only sit down and call 3 GMs and talk about trades or call 3 agents about signing their players...and if coaching the virtual Detroit Lions was my real job that would be fine but I despise the fact that I had to play 9 real hours of game play to get to one preseason game.

My gripe is that they made things realistic that are tedious and then abandonded reality in the things that would have been fun. 30 seconds to make a trade during someone else's pick in the draft? Why not give me 5-15 minutes there to work the phones and make trades and why can I only try to make like three trades during the draft? Do real NFL GMs contact fewer than three other teams the entire draft day? To me the day to day stuff is just a tedious click fest - that's great that you can only add two plays to the playbook in a half hour - but doing it that way means hundreds of more clicks to get in and out of that screen over and over again.

Like I said earlier, the idea is great and the execution was terrible. I think the only reason people are not up in arms about this is because of the idea of a 3D football management sim is such a sexy one that some people are willing to overlook the design flaws because they want it so bad. You tell me though, if you played Total College Basketball and I made you only able to call 3 recruits per session in the day and took away the automatic weekly call list, made you click on every individual player to learn anything about him as opposed to giving you the ability to view stats and ratings for the entire team at a glance and subjected you to pointless meetings with the AD where he tells you for the third week in a row that you need to recruit a power forward or with your coaching staff flip flopping on the same two players every week would you find those things acceptable or would you be ripping it as a tedious click fest? I'm not ripping on anyone who likes it - if you're satisfied with Head Coach then good for you - I liked the idea and wanted it very much to be that perfect version of what some of us always hoped Front Page Sports would evolve into and to me it was just designed so poorly that its often times more frustrating than fun.

Fair points. I think I need to break down and pick this up to get a 1st hand experience before I make anymore arguments on this subject ;).

[Hurst2112]

need some help...

what is the settings download that was posted?

is there a fix (patch) that anybody has created for the quarter lengths yet?

Gonna dig into it tonight and want to start where everybody else is at.

thanks.

[Raiders Army]

to me it was just designed so poorly that its often times more frustrating than fun.
I find this to be a very true statement. Initially, I found the game to be very tedious work (in some facets I still do; after the novelty of practices has worn off, I wish I could just sim through them; unfortunately I can't since I won't be able to increase the players' abilities or work on plays).

Anyhow, after getting used to what I need to do as well as knowing my way around the UI, I found that the poor design is much like a paper cut. Extremely annoying at first, but you get used to it after a while.

[moriarty]

need some help...

what is the settings download that was posted?

is there a fix (patch) that anybody has created for the quarter lengths yet?

Gonna dig into it tonight and want to start where everybody else is at.

thanks.

Lazy today? Just go one page back and look for a post from Cwilloughby that addresses the qtr lengths and other issues.

[Hurst2112]

yeah, i AM!!!!!!

I had some clever comeback but touche. I deserved to be called out.

:D

[jbmagic]

didn't check to see if anybody posted this.

I just went to Best Buy this morning and paid, with tax...31.64.

Not bad, not bad.

I did. Good price. regular price is 39.99

[Hurst2112]

I was so close to buying it last night online.

Talked to a kid at the register about the game. Plugged FOF to him as well. He seemed interested in sports sims. Anything for the sake of 1 more geek!

[SegRat]

I am finally getting some play time with this game. I really like it so far. Very happy the girlfriend is back at home.

[Eaglesfan27]

Spending time with the wife today, but I look forward to trying out the new version tomorrow, Cwill. Thanks again for your continued work on this :)

[moriarty]

yeah, i AM!!!!!!

I had some clever comeback but touche. I deserved to be called out.

:D

Yeah, I was just giving you crap anyways. :)

[Hurst2112]

Yeah, I was just giving you crap anyways. :)

well deserved my man. I would have called out a lesser form as well. haha

[RedKingGold]

Does the poor design surprise anyone who knows that Joe Stallings name was attached to the project?

[jbmagic]

Wow

Saw this on maddennation forum.

Bad news on sims stats.


While browsing the EA Forums. I came across a post of

---------------
Simmed the season. Willis McGahee had 3500 yards on over 800 carries
Posted:Jun 26, 2006 3:11 AM

(what can I say, I like hitting the playoffs and taking over from there. Season is LONG)

Oh, and Lamont Jordan had 2295 (not unheard of) on 737 carries (IS unheard of)


Not alot of replies yet to it but a follow up was one person saying Kevin Jones had 1500yds by week 8.

If this is true, I don't know what to say, they never fixed or even REALIZED the sim engine fatigue bug that was in Madden 2006

[AgustusM]

Wow

Saw this on maddennation forum.

Bad news on sims stats.

yeah I saw that too and was a little concerned - so I checked my league leaders and in week 2 there are a dozen RB's averaging 40 carries a game! :mad:

[DaddyTorgo]

ding. once again Gary wins!

[kcchief19]

yeah I saw that too and was a little concerned - so I checked my league leaders and in week 2 there are a dozen RB's averaging 40 carries a game! :mad:
Perhaps another slider tweak is in order?

Then again, didn't we all enter into this know that stats like this were going to be a problem? I think it was unrealistic to expect FOF-like reliable and consistency. If they are accurate, it's just a bonus.

Personally, I never expected anything more out of this than a role-playing game, but YMMV.

[Super Ugly]

Dang, every time I go to buy this game, another thing like this comes along and tells me to put the credit card away.

[jbmagic]

Perhaps another slider tweak is in order?

Then again, didn't we all enter into this know that stats like this were going to be a problem? I think it was unrealistic to expect FOF-like reliable and consistency. If they are accurate, it's just a bonus.

Personally, I never expected anything more out of this than a role-playing game, but YMMV.


Sliders tweaks has no affect on sim stats.

[Raiders Army]

Sliders tweaks has no affect on sim stats.
/agree

[stevew]

yeah I saw that too and was a little concerned - so I checked my league leaders and in week 2 there are a dozen RB's averaging 40 carries a game! :mad:

No real difference than multiplayer FOF though. ;)

[Chubby]

No real difference than multiplayer FOF though.

What are you talking about?

[Gary Gorski]

Then again, didn't we all enter into this know that stats like this were going to be a problem? I think it was unrealistic to expect FOF-like reliable and consistency. If they are accurate, it's just a bonus.

Personally, I never expected anything more out of this than a role-playing game, but YMMV.

I don't think anyone expected FOF-like stats but its too much to expect them to be in the same zip code let alone ballpark as realistic NFL stats? This wasn't supposed to be Madden for the non joystick jockey crowd.

If you don't mind, what do you expect the point of the role playing game to be? If you enjoy the game as what it is that's cool - I'm just curious as to why the free pass when something so basic to the game (stats) are apparently horrendous? As a developer I'm curious about this - my upcoming game, Total Pro Golf, is a role-playing type game - will it be ok if people are winning tournaments with scores of -40 or something?

[jbmagic]

Looks like the backup players not getting in much.

That why the sims stats are way off again like in Madden 2006.

[quote]
I am simming a few seasons now to see how things are.

I just simmed the season I was in. Stopped on 01/01/07.
I will post the pics, its easier. You tell me.

1. http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/2884/wtf3ua.jpg
2. http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/7973/wtf22bp.jpg
3. http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/5858/wtf30zz.jpg
4. http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/7986/wtf46eh.jpg
5. http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5518/wtf50av.jpg


Going through some other teams.

Redskin:
Portis 493att 1750yds
Cooley 74att 218yds
Betts 17att 37yds

[Maple Leafs]

That's awful.

[jbmagic]

New utility you have to mark gamelogs and to get gamelogs save you have to do this.


It looks like you have to create a directory under your My Documents/NFL Head Coach directory called "Stats", and then another sub-directory under Stats called "Career0" (or whatever career number you are on)...

I did that, and the next game I had a txt log file....


I also notice there a Fatigue and Injuries box you can mark and unmark too on the utility. I am not sure how that will affect games you play out.

[cwilloughby]

New utility you have to mark gamelogs and to get gamelogs save you have to do this.




I also notice there a Fatigue and Injuries box you can mark and unmark too on the utility. I am not sure how that will affect games you play out.

You shouldn't have to create the folders, the game should create them automatically.

Also, I added those other checkboxes because I found the data fields. They are untested, but should work fine.

[Raiders Army]

Is anyone else having a problem with being able to cancel the instructions to the QB? This may somehow be related to my crazy computer.

I have had an injury -- they are hard to see and I just happened to notice Fred Thomas writhing on the ground. Then I saw a small drop down menu, in the same spot as the place you click to hike the ball. It listed Fred Thomas' name and then said he had a rib injury for 7P. I took that to mean 7 periods, but maybe it's 7 days probable or something because he was right back in the game.
The 7p means 7 plays. Found that out in my last game.

[MizzouRah]

Well, good work on the utility cwill!! If we can change the skill level to all pro, I think we'll be in business. Definitly makes no sense why EA didn't allow any of these settings to be changed from within the game.

Considering simmed stats were ok in Madden maybe cwill has something up his sleeve to fix that as well - maybe a sub in/sub out setting somewhere?

[stevew]

Go Redskin!

[Raiders Army]

cwilloughby is the man.

[jbmagic]

Well, good work on the utility cwill!! If we can change the skill level to all pro, I think we'll be in business. Definitly makes no sense why EA didn't allow any of these settings to be changed from within the game.

Considering simmed stats were ok in Madden maybe cwill has something up his sleeve to fix that as well - maybe a sub in/sub out setting somewhere?


The sim stats for Madden 2006 was not ok because of the lack of fatigue bug for sim games.

As you can see above example I posted, the same fatigue bug is in EA Head Coach too. That why the backups not playing much on sim games and its making the sims stats not realistic.

I agree if Cwill can do something to affect the sim stats that will be awesome.

[cwilloughby]

It's that time of the night again, where I post a new version of this bad boy.

Here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip) is the latest and greatest (0.3).

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.
-Added tooltips to the sliders for determining the value.
-Removed the Injuries checkbox.
-Removed the Fatigue checkbox.

The biggest change in this version is the addition of the difficulty drop-down. I already had it linked up in a prior build, but had yet to test it. Was able to test it tonight, and it worked like a charm, the change was reflected in the logs.

As always, this is an ALPHA 3rd party application so back-up your stuff!

Also, any and all feedback/suggestions/requests are welcome here. This application belongs to the community.

Now I'm off to actually get some actual time in with the game for the first time.

BTW, should I create new posts when I release a new version of this to keep people informed?

Enjoy!
Chris W.

[jbmagic]

New Utility out


It's that time of the night again, where I post a new version of this bad boy.

Here is the latest and greatest (0.3).

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.
-Added tooltips to the sliders for determining the value.
-Removed the Injuries checkbox.
-Removed the Fatigue checkbox.

The biggest change in this version is the addition of the difficulty drop-down. I already had it linked up in a prior build, but had yet to test it. Was able to test it tonight, and it worked like a charm, the change was reflected in the logs.

As always, this is an ALPHA 3rd party application so back-up your stuff!

Also, any and all feedback/suggestions/requests are welcome here. This application belongs to the community.

Now I'm off to actually get some actual time in with the game for the first time.

Enjoy!
Chris W.

[cwilloughby]

LOL!

A side note is that I removed the fatigue and injury sliders because they were not working.

As for the simmed stats, that may be beyond my control, but I am certainly up for the challenge. I can put this at the top of my list for this weekend :).

[jbmagic]

cwill thanks for the great utility

You too quick for me. lol

[cwilloughby]

:P

Rest assured that I will always double-post the change logs. Although my post count may not reflect it, the FOFC is like a second home to me. I would never leave you guys in the dark.

[MizzouRah]

He beat you jb. :)

cwill.. any plans on seeing whether there is a way to change the difficulty level? Getting it to play on All Pro would be great!

Thanks again!!

Oh, and keeping it in this thread is fine.

[Antmeister]

Classic jbmagic...

[Eaglesfan27]

It's that time of the night again, where I post a new version of this bad boy.

Here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip) is the latest and greatest (0.3).

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.
-Added tooltips to the sliders for determining the value.
-Removed the Injuries checkbox.
-Removed the Fatigue checkbox.

The biggest change in this version is the addition of the difficulty drop-down. I already had it linked up in a prior build, but had yet to test it. Was able to test it tonight, and it worked like a charm, the change was reflected in the logs.

As always, this is an ALPHA 3rd party application so back-up your stuff!

Also, any and all feedback/suggestions/requests are welcome here. This application belongs to the community.

Now I'm off to actually get some actual time in with the game for the first time.

BTW, should I create new posts when I release a new version of this to keep people informed?

Enjoy!
Chris W.

Please keep us informed with new posts. Thanks again for continuing to improve this utility. :)

[cwilloughby]

He beat you jb. :)

cwill.. any plans on seeing whether there is a way to change the difficulty level? Getting it to play on All Pro would be great!

Thanks again!!

Oh, and keeping it in this thread is fine.

Umm.... see change log above.

It's in there buddy!

[muns]

Thanks Cwill, much apperciated, and keep up that great work

[MizzouRah]

Umm.... see change log above.

It's in there buddy!

Changes:
-Added the difficulty drop-down.


You are THE man!!

Thanks!!!!! It's been a LONG 12 hour Six Flags day with the kids. ;)

[jbmagic]

I get a runtime error when I load an existing career.

It didnt do that in version .1 or .2 version.

Do we have to start over to use version .3?

thanks

[cwilloughby]

You shouldn't get that.

Can you email me your career at cwilloughby - gmail - com?

Thanks!

[jbmagic]

You shouldn't get that.

Can you email me your career at cwilloughby - gmail - com?

Thanks!


ok thanks

Sending now

Also others at football-freak forum is getting same error

[cwilloughby]

NM JB, for whatever reason a bug crept in just before release. Give me a few minutes and I'll post a new version.

[jbmagic]

NM JB, for whatever reason a bug crept in just before release. Give me a few minutes and I'll post a new version.


Ok thanks

[AgustusM]

my upcoming game, Total Pro Golf, is a role-playing type game - will it be ok if people are winning tournaments with scores of -40 or something?

NO - I want a "realistic" golf game with my normal scores in the 100's!;)

[heybrad]

New Utility out
You're like Carvelli's sidekick from Welcome Back Kotter.

"The man said, a new utility is out!"

[jbmagic]

NO - I want a "realistic" golf game with my normal scores in the 100's!;)


No, that will be in Maximum Golf.

[cwilloughby]

FIXED version posted. Damn development environment changes for school got in the way! BAH!

:P

[yabanci]

Here is my thinking on the game:

not buying it until certain problems are fixed
cwilloughby fixes problems
now I'll buy it
more problems are reported
not buying until problems are fixed
cwillouhby fixes problems
now I'll buy it
more problems are reported
not buying until problems are fixed
cwilloughby fixes problems

f-ck it, I think I'll put my trust in cwilloughby and go ahead and buy the game.

[AgustusM]

my 2 cents

cwilloughby has fixed the biggest issues (qtr time and picks)

AND

I am enjoying playing the game immensely

AND

I do think you should all buy it

HOWEVER

Much of the game is bad, for the simple design reasons and how long it takes to do everything. and please don't confuse long with deep. I don't think the game is really that deep - I just have to listen to my ST coach tell me every meeting he thinks my K should be my P, until I listen to him and then he changes his mind the next meeting - this kind of repetitive nonsense goes on and on in HC, takes alot of time and adds nothing.

In the end, there is so much to like - I agree wholeheartly with Gary G. that we are all so desperate for a 3D NFL sim that we are willing to play/buy this game even with all of its very serious flaws.

[stevew]

Anyone playing on the PC with a gamepad? I was thinking that might(sadly) make it a bit better? I'll probably pick it up in a week or two.

[Raiders Army]

Anyone playing on the PC with a gamepad? I was thinking that might(sadly) make it a bit better? I'll probably pick it up in a week or two.
Do you mean playing the games? If so, you can't play the games, you only coach them by picking the plays, talking to the players, call timeouts, etc.

[stevew]

I meant using the gamepad to navigate through the menus on the PC. If it's possible? Since the game was designed for Joysticks and a console.

[jefflackey]

I can't imagine the type of gamer who doesn't care a lot for realism and thus doesn't worry about skewed stats, 5 minute quarters (nothing like the AI running the clock down by taking the full time to call each play halfway through the last quarter, on it's second posession) etc. putting up with having to spend 15 minutes every week or so watching a running back run up against a single linebacker, no full contact, over and over and over and over and over and over and over .... Oh, and each time he has to pick the play, pick the back, pick the LB, etc. Throw in that he'll spend at least as much or more time on things like that which have 0 entertainment value as he does in an actual on the field game. Heck, I'm a sim fanatic, I've had an SI CM/FM running on my notebook PC non-stop for years, and I get bored to irritation at the drills.

Question - it appears that your coaches will do some subbing without input from you? Is there a way to prevent this or make them more agrressive at it?

[Surtt]

Anyone playing on the PC with a gamepad? I was thinking that might(sadly) make it a bit better? I'll probably pick it up in a week or two.

I am, it helps immensely.

[Raiders Army]

I meant using the gamepad to navigate through the menus on the PC. If it's possible? Since the game was designed for Joysticks and a console.
Ah. I've gotten used to the layout and scheme. To me, a joystick wouldn't improve my experience whatsoever.

[Surtt]

I am seriously wondering if they haven't got Daivd working on this project some where.
Last night I scored a TD on a -1 yard run.

[AgustusM]

putting up with having to spend 15 minutes every week or so watching a running back run up against a single linebacker, no full contact, over and over and over and over and over and over and over .... Oh, and each time he has to pick the play, pick the back, pick the LB, etc. Throw in that he'll spend at least as much or more time on things like that which have 0 entertainment value as he does in an actual on the field game.

I agree 100% with this - and if you simulate these practice drills you get lousy rating preperation and a ton of injuries.

[jbmagic]

Anyone playing on the PC with a gamepad? I was thinking that might(sadly) make it a bit better? I'll probably pick it up in a week or two.


Does not work with gamepad.

Only keyboard or mouse or both for the PC

[Surtt]

Does not work with gamepad.

Only keyboard or mouse or both for the PC


I used "Total Game Control" to map the keyboard buttons to my gamepad.

[jbmagic]

I used "Total Game Control" to map the keyboard buttons to my gamepad.

cool

I try that later on my logitech gamepad. That will be make it much easier.

[rkmsuf]

cool

I try that later on my logitech gamepad. That will be make it much easier.


be well john spartan

[Swaggs]

At least the Jeff Fisher commercials are pretty funny. :)

[stevew]

be well john spartan

Was he a wordsmith, too?

[rkmsuf]

Was he a wordsmith, too?

the prose flows from him in that movie

[Raiders Army]

Ouch. I take it back what I said about the games being ridiculously easy. On All-Pro I got stomped by the Broncos 48-24. I hate losing, but I especially hate losing to them.

[TroyF]

Ouch. I take it back what I said about the games being ridiculously easy. On All-Pro I got stomped by the Broncos 48-24. I hate losing, but I especially hate losing to them.

And we love that you hate it. :)

Stay well Al Davis, stay well. . .

[MizzouRah]

Ouch. I take it back what I said about the games being ridiculously easy. On All-Pro I got stomped by the Broncos 48-24. I hate losing, but I especially hate losing to them.

That's good news as far as the game goes though. :)

I hope to have some time tomorrow to get back into this game.

[SirFozzie]

Wow, you can tell that the air has just gone out of this, even with the mod for PC, it leaves the Console folks high and dry. It's not even a joke like the Maximum football thread went.

I'm waiting for my PC version to get here and then we'll see/

[VPI97]

even with the mod for PC, it leaves the Console folks high and dry. It's not even a joke like the Maximum football thread went.
Yeah...there's no way I would buy this for a console. I played for a while pre-mod and the game was ridiculous. After being able to adjust sliders, it's starting to look very good...this is easily a good replacement for Madden.

[Super Ugly]

I jumped the gun and went for the digital download, rather than patiently waiting for a hard copy to be shipped overseas. What a dumb move. After spending three hours downloading the game, there's some kind of a problem with EA downloader. Even though I'm logged in, it says that I'm not logged in ... and I can't play until I log in. Let's just say that EA technical support isn't exactly helpful, either ...

[SirFozzie]

Love Bill Abner's quote about FOFC regarding NFL HC.

I was browsing the Old Curmudgeon Front Office Football forum -- particularly this thread. I enjoy reading this board mainly because you can just feel the jaded gamerness oozing from your monitor. I respect guys that talk about games like they're sitting on a porch waiting for those pesky kids to trample on their lawn. I can relate

[Gary Gorski]

After being able to adjust sliders, it's starting to look very good...this is easily a good replacement for Madden.

Just an honest question from me, as a game developer, were you really looking for a Madden replacement with this or were you hoping for FOF meets 3D graphics/Front Page Sports 2006?

[SirFozzie]

BTW, Gary.. you got quoted over there too :)

[wade moore]

Love Bill Abner's quote about FOFC regarding NFL HC.

I was browsing the Old Curmudgeon Front Office Football forum -- particularly this thread. I enjoy reading this board mainly because you can just feel the jaded gamerness oozing from your monitor. I respect guys that talk about games like they're sitting on a porch waiting for those pesky kids to trample on their lawn. I can relate

That's awesome. Gonna have to check his blog out again ;).

[datdudebob]

where do i get the patch from i got 1 from football freaks but that dont work i wont the patch that everybody has been talkn about on here can anybody send me the link or post a link on here my email address is [email protected] if that would be real helpful i'll chk back in a few

[AgustusM]

Just an honest question from me, as a game developer, were you really looking for a Madden replacement with this or were you hoping for FOF meets 3D graphics/Front Page Sports 2006?

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I was looking for a 3D FOF - Madden is fine for what it is and I will still buy it - but this game has come very short of my expectations.

[Gary Gorski]

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I was looking for a 3D FOF - Madden is fine for what it is and I will still buy it - but this game has come very short of my expectations.

Yeah, that's my feeling as well which is why I asked the question - I knew the stats wouldn't be as accurate as FOF and that the GM stuff wouldn't be as good as in our type of games and I was willing to sacrifice *some* of those as long as they were in the ballpark to have the ability to work in a 3D environment. I like Madden for sitting down with friends and playing a console game - nothing else so I was not hoping for a "Madden replacement" with this and I wonder if this community, which was built on playing a text sim game, is happy with it being such.

[Eaglesfan27]

I was not looking for a Madden Replacement either. I was hoping for an updated FPS Football type game. I think with the excellent mod work being down by Cwill this will meet my needs well enough, although, my view could be colored by the fact that there hasn't been a game that has come close to filling that niche and my enjoyment of that niche for almost a decade.

[Barkeep49]

Personally, I think the idea of a Head Coaching RPG is very alluring. And that's what my hopes were with this game. Certainly not a madden replacement, as I enjoy showing my skillz off against my friends, nor an FOF replacement, since graphics don't lend themselves well to in depth management. But having a game which emphasized personality? That's been the thing that has made Football Manager appealing to me and seeing any of those aspects in a sport I care about is a good thing.

[MalcPow]

Personally, I think the idea of a Head Coaching RPG is very alluring. And that's what my hopes were with this game. Certainly not a madden replacement, as I enjoy showing my skillz off against my friends, nor an FOF replacement, since graphics don't lend themselves well to in depth management. But having a game which emphasized personality? That's been the thing that has made Football Manager appealing to me and seeing any of those aspects in a sport I care about is a good thing.

This is pretty close to why I bought the game, not that I've had a chance to play much yet. I didn't see it as a replacement for madden or fof, but as a kind of the Sims with Football. Not a career sim or arcade td-fest, but something based in the world of football that's kind of an rpg with different personalities and storylines. It seems like it lives up to that, I'll have to see after I put it through its paces, but conceptually that's a fun game for me, in a different way obviously than those other games.

[johneh]

I hate it that that in the 80s, early 90s you had games like Tom Landry Football, Microleague Baseball & Football plus many others, yet today you have to choose between Madden or FOF with nothing that combines the two effectively.

[AgustusM]

I hate it that that in the 80s, early 90s you had games like Tom Landry Football, Microleague Baseball & Football plus many others, yet today you have to choose between Madden or FOF with nothing that combines the two effectively.

I agree - the early years of sports gaming had a lot of promise - problem is when Sierra's Football and Baseball titles died - the idea of a visual sim died with it.

Now we have incredible in depth text sims with FOF and OOTP and incredible visual games like Madden - but nothing that comes close to what I want which is a combination of the two.

[Raiders Army]

I hate it that that in the 80s, early 90s you had games like Tom Landry Football, Microleague Baseball & Football plus many others, yet today you have to choose between Madden or FOF with nothing that combines the two effectively.
Funny you should mention Tom Landry Football. I loved that game in college and this reminds me a lot of it.

[VPI97]

Just an honest question from me, as a game developer, were you really looking for a Madden replacement with this or were you hoping for FOF meets 3D graphics/Front Page Sports 2006?
Realistically, there was no chance, no chance at all, that this game was going to be as good statistically as FOF. For that reason, I was wanting a replacement for Madden's inept coach mode (I get my joystick action from the NCAA series...not Madden). So, this does the trick as well as can be expected.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Funny you should mention Tom Landry Football. I loved that game in college and this reminds me a lot of it.

Man the was a great game, it had funny names like Joe Montanna and stuff like that... Hey do you remember a game called I think "the ultimate coaches club football by microprose". It was pretty good for it's time...

[wade moore]

Realistically, there was no chance, no chance at all, that this game was going to be as good statistically as FOF. For that reason, I was wanting a replacement for Madden's inept coach mode (I get my joystick action from the NCAA series...not Madden). So, this does the trick as well as can be expected.

This was my thought out of this game. I still have not decided whether I want to buy this or Madden, but I feel like anyone that was expecting a complete mesh between Madden and FOF was just setting themselves up for failure.

[Raiders Army]

Man the was a great game, it had funny names like Joe Montanna and stuff like that... Hey do you remember a game called I think "the ultimate coaches club football by microprose". It was pretty good for it's time...
Nope. I don't remember that game. It sounds pretty good though. :)

Anyhow, I find a lot of similarities between this game and Tom Landry. They're not accurate stat machines (at least not yet), but you pick the plays and I find it extremely frustrating when my RB gets stuffed or a WR drops a pass. :D

[AgustusM]

Yes I played Coaches Club quite a bit - it was back in the early 90's it only had 2 or 3 releases, but for its day it was better then the like versions of FB Pro or Madden.

I still have it somewhere in the garage, I think on 5 1/4 disks.

[Buccaneer]

Funny you should mention Tom Landry Football. I loved that game in college and this reminds me a lot of it.

Tom Landry Strategy Football was, imo, the best football sim in its days. FPS was already out but its early versions were inferior to TLSF, esp. on the Mac (but FPS had more marketing clout). What is truly sad was that TLSF was the next-to-last time enjoyed playing a football game on the computer, after NCAA 99.:(

[Buccaneer]

Love Bill Abner's quote about FOFC regarding NFL HC.

I was browsing the Old Curmudgeon Front Office Football forum -- particularly this thread. I enjoy reading this board mainly because you can just feel the jaded gamerness oozing from your monitor. I respect guys that talk about games like they're sitting on a porch waiting for those pesky kids to trample on their lawn. I can relate

Hey. :p

[jbmagic]

Bill Abner Review:
http://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/


More Head Coach

As I wind down my review for NFL Head Coach, I wanted to share a few more observations now that I have played a full season of games with the Abner-Built 2006 Browns. Here 'goes:

* Without the FOFC PC Mod, the game is ass. It's a novelty. With the mod, it's a significantly better game because you can now change quarter length, gameplay sliders (that now work), and the difficulty level (which was preset to Pro w/o the ability to edit it).
* I played the season w/o changing the difficulty and the Browns finished 12-4. This on its face isn't a huge deal because in the NFL teams can turn it around from season to season. But my team finished 12-4 despite Philip Rivers earning a 68.9 QB Rating. It was a weird year...
* I usually get a lot of flak for ripping big budget sports games for screwing up simulated stats. NCAA 06, MLB 2K, NFL 2K, etc. I ask: is it ok to rip a coaching simulation for the same thing? After the season ended I checked the league stats and saw that the CPU never uses its backup running back unless the starter gets hurt. Are you ok with 4 backs getting *500* carries? 500. Several backs ran for 1500+ yards and only averaged 3.2, 3.5 or 3.6 per carry. 400 carries is a ton for a back -- 500 is a literal shitload.
* However, this bizarre blip aside, the stats in Head Coach aren't too hateful. Not great, sorta Madden-like. (DTs get way too many simmed sacks, for example)
* I saw 4 kickoffs returned for TDs in the games I played. (I played 13 of the 16, and have not yet started the playoffs)
* The CPU returned a grand total of ONE punt. The rest were all fair catches. My returner only returns kicks if I select PR Block. The blockers that race downfield do not attempt to block the gunners. Ever.
* My Dline had 2 sacks the whole year. My LBers and safeties had their share, but the line gets mauled in this game. Maybe it is because I run a 3-4? Whatever it is, the DEs *never*, not once, beat an OT off the snap and got to the QB. Every DL sack (for me or the CPU) was a coverage sack. Maybe a pass block slider change is in order...
* Without messing with the mod tool, the CPU QBs are *very* Madden-like. What I mean by this is that you may play a game where the CPU completes 55-60% of its passes. You'll play just as many games where it goes 6 of 28 with 4 picks. This goes back to my first point -- w/o that mod tool this game is ass. Why they didn't include sliders when they were already there in the code is anyone's guess. They make an enormous difference.
* As earlier noted in previous posts, the interface and off the field design might be the most tedious in the history of gaming. Of course you can sim and skip over the practices and the other daily boring routines (really -- the weekly staff meeting..could that be anymore useless? Oh, yeah, before I forget -- the Browns finished top 5 in pass defense with a DB coach rated an 11 -- out of 99. These coaches don't mean shit, apparantly.) Anyway, even though you can sim past the tedium, it is in your best interest not to because this is where you'll get the vast majority of your injuries -- during contact drill practice that you simulate. My team suffered injuries in the 3 games I simmed. The rest of the games? Not a one. That's right. Not one injury unless I simmed the practice week.
* In addition, if you sim the week your players do not improve nearly as much than when you manually do the practices, which gets boring real fast.
* EA needs to retool the design of this game so that we can do what we want when we want to do it. Screw the whole "coach time" thing. Let me change my friggin' depth chart as much as I want to without seeing multiple load screens because I only get two actions per "office hour." That's asinine. Everything is a hassle. If you want to sign a FA during the year due to injury (which as I said only happens if you sim) you can't just call up an agent. You need to go into your calander and hunt for the Sign Players task and switch that with your current task. The entire interface is like this. It's mind-numbingly ridiculous.
Even with the sadistic GUI and the other football bizarro-ness, I'm still playing it...about to play the Jags in the playoffs. Head Coach is the guy sitting on horseback with a stick, a string and a carrot. We're the horse.

[Buccaneer]

From the sound of it, Bill wants this to be a Madden game if he skips over the HC part. I understand the tedium and bad design but that's really the selling point of the game. Otherwise it's Madden-lite.

[dbd1963]

I'm enjoying the game, but not without problems. The INTs appear to be down now, but even on All Pro I'm kicking tail, and I doubt I shoud be. I've only played one game on All Pro though, so maybe I should try it a few more times. The first half was a nail-biter, I was only up 9-3, until I hit a long pass with under a minute left. Add to that, the Panthers had a punt return TD called back in the first half that would have given them the lead and some momentum. Maybe the game played out as it should, but I found the 2nd half a cakewalk. I think the Panthers should have been a lot harder to beat, especially at their house.

They were running pretty good on me, though.

[MizzouRah]

Love Bill Abner's quote about FOFC regarding NFL HC.

I was browsing the Old Curmudgeon Front Office Football forum -- particularly this thread. I enjoy reading this board mainly because you can just feel the jaded gamerness oozing from your monitor. I respect guys that talk about games like they're sitting on a porch waiting for those pesky kids to trample on their lawn. I can relate

That's a classic. We are FOFC.

[AgustusM]

From the sound of it, Bill wants this to be a Madden game if he skips over the HC part. I understand the tedium and bad design but that's really the selling point of the game. Otherwise it's Madden-lite.

tedium and bad design are the selling point?

for me the selling point was NFL simulation - not Madden lite - but Madden HEAVY.

I don't want The Sims: NFL

[wade moore]

tedium and bad design are the selling point?

for me the selling point was NFL simulation - not Madden lite - but Madden HEAVY.

I don't want The Sims: NFL

This is so weird to me that you and others were expecting this... I just don't see how this was a realistic expectation out of this game if you read the previews, the ads, and know EA Sports...

[cwilloughby]

Here is the latest version of the HCSettings utility. Per bakersview123's from football-freaks suggestion, I have incorporated the INGI and SIMI sliders that control injuries. Download it here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip).

Changes:
-Added SIM Injury slider
-Added PLAY Injury slider
-Made the program create the Stats directory for any career that has game logs enabled automatically.

After a quick test, I found that SIMI of zero produces no injuries during simulated practices or games. I am unsure of the effect that moving the sliders above 100 has. Bakersview123 suggested that their maximum value is 300, but they only have 8 bits of data space, allowing for 0-255. I tried pushing the INGI slider to the maximum and playing a quick game, but there were no injuries. Let me know how they work for you.

Also, I would like to put a call out to any other fields or values you know of that I should seek out and include. I will be pouring through the data files this weekend and looking for any new relevent values. At the top of my personal list are the option settings for subbing in and out fatigue percentages. Anyone know where these are?

Anyway, make sure you backup your files before using this.

Enjoy!
Chris W.

[Eaglesfan27]

Excellent news. I played my last 2 pre-season games and had very nice stat results with the sliders and 7 minute quarters. I look forward to turning up the play injury slider and seeing if some injuries actually occur during games. :)

[AgustusM]

This is so weird to me that you and others were expecting this... I just don't see how this was a realistic expectation out of this game if you read the previews, the ads, and know EA Sports...

"knowing EA Sports" - your absolutely right, I have yet to play an EA game and not think - so close, but yet so far.

[GrantDawg]

At the top of my personal list are the option settings for subbing in and out fatigue percentages. Anyone know where these are?



I don't, but if you can find that setting for the simmed games, that would be awesome. That seems to be the main stat problem.

[TroyF]

Here is the latest version of the HCSettings utility. Per bakersview123's from football-freaks suggestion, I have incorporated the INGI and SIMI sliders that control injuries. Download it here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip).

Changes:
-Added SIM Injury slider
-Added PLAY Injury slider
-Made the program create the Stats directory for any career that has game logs enabled automatically.

After a quick test, I found that SIMI of zero produces no injuries during simulated practices or games. I am unsure of the effect that moving the sliders above 100 has. Bakersview123 suggested that their maximum value is 300, but they only have 8 bits of data space, allowing for 0-255. I tried pushing the INGI slider to the maximum and playing a quick game, but there were no injuries. Let me know how they work for you.

Also, I would like to put a call out to any other fields or values you know of that I should seek out and include. I will be pouring through the data files this weekend and looking for any new relevent values. At the top of my personal list are the option settings for subbing in and out fatigue percentages. Anyone know where these are?

Anyway, make sure you backup your files before using this.

Enjoy!
Chris W.

I have to say this is the first time I've ever NOT owned a game and thanked someone for doing so much work. I'm not sure if I'm going to get Head Coach or not (9 hours before my first preseason game is NOT what I call thrilling), but the work you are doing is sensational. EA should send you some of the profits of the game.

[Flasch186]

I have to say this is the first time I've ever NOT owned a game and thanked someone for doing so much work. I'm not sure if I'm going to get Head Coach or not (9 hours before my first preseason game is NOT what I call thrilling), but the work you are doing is sensational. EA should send you some of the profits of the game.


Agreed!! Its as if, EA knew about this guy, and thought "lets shit out a game, collect all of the monies, and this guy I know will fix it all...for free"

seriously you should patent the utility you made and make them buy it from you.

[Flasch186]

Excellent news. I played my last 2 pre-season games and had very nice stat results with the sliders and 7 minute quarters. I look forward to turning up the play injury slider and seeing if some injuries actually occur during games. :)


what sliders, i mean settings are you using to get your accurate results? +3 here -3 there etc.

[cwilloughby]

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way I could swing the patent thing since I am only exposing data values that are already there. In addition, I had to reverse engineer their data file which I think would cause legality issues.

Regardless, just like the rest of you, I wanted this game to be the new Front Page Football. While I feel it missed the mark, I am doing my best to make it a fun experience for everyone anyway.

[Mustang]

I tried to like this game.. really did but, I just can't get into this game.

Guess this thing will collect dust unless anyone is interested in buying or trading.

[MizzouRah]

EF, share those settings!

[Eaglesfan27]

Right now, I haven't changed much:

QB Accuracy up to 75 for both teams.

WR catching up to 90 for both teams (I went down from 99 because mediocre receivers weren't dropping quite enough balls.)

Interceptions at 0 for both teams.


I've still had a game or two with high interceptions totals, but I've also had games with 1 interception for one team and 0 for the other team and my completion percentages (in a still small sample setting) have been as high as 70% for McNabb and generally have been at least 50% even for below average QB's.

[Anthony]

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way I could swing the patent thing since I am only exposing data values that are already there. In addition, I had to reverse engineer their data file which I think would cause legality issues.

Regardless, just like the rest of you, I wanted this game to be the new Front Page Football. While I feel it missed the mark, I am doing my best to make it a fun experience for everyone anyway.

what can you do w/ FOF?:confused:

[Raiders Army]

Exxxxxxxxxxxxxcellent. Thanks a bunch Mr. W! I'm changing my injury settings to 200 and 200 for sim and play to see how it works. I'll post my results later this evening.

[cwilloughby]

what can you do w/ FOF?:confused:

Its funny that you bring that up.

I was writing a utility a little over a year ago that was taking the FOF data files apart to pull their data out into a more friendly MS Access file format for querying, reporting, and web access.

I was going this to make the USFL website UBER.

Then real life caught up to me, and my school work pushed that onto the back burner where it still lies today. :(

[Raiders Army]

Argh! My LB coach quit in Week 5! I guess I rode him too hard...

[AgustusM]

my 2 biggest complaints:

55 hours played - I have played 5 games. makes the argument about 5 minute quarters being too long for the "average" gamer even more absurd. Also kind of squashes the concerns of those who were worried the game ONLY goes 40 years.

Sliders, levels - :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I thank CW for the work he has done, but I damn EA for even making this an issue - coaching sims should NEVER have sliders or levels - they should produce semi-accurate results out of the box thus making sliders a moot point. Sliders are a crutch that puts the onus on the player to tweak and test, tweak and test - just get the damn thing right in the first place. :mad:

[jbmagic]

Exxxxxxxxxxxxxcellent. Thanks a bunch Mr. W! I'm changing my injury settings to 200 and 200 for sim and play to see how it works. I'll post my results later this evening.



why the same?

The sims injury is working on default. You get injury when you sim only.

Its the play injury that is not working. So maybe changing the play injury to max 300 first and see if you get any injuries with that when playing and doing your own practice.

[wade moore]

my 2 biggest complaints:

55 hours played - I have played 5 games. makes the argument about 5 minute quarters being too long for the "average" gamer even more absurd. Also kind of squashes the concerns of those who were worried the game ONLY goes 40 years.

Sliders, levels - :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I thank CW for the work he has done, but I damn EA for even making this an issue - coaching sims should NEVER have sliders or levels - they should produce semi-accurate results out of the box thus making sliders a moot point. Sliders are a crutch that puts the onus on the player to tweak and test, tweak and test - just get the damn thing right in the first place. :mad:

In my opinion, in a game where the user is calling plays, you will never realistically be able to get away from difficulty settings and/or sliders.

[rexallllsc]

Sliders, levels - :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I thank CW for the work he has done, but I damn EA for even making this an issue - coaching sims should NEVER have sliders or levels - they should produce semi-accurate results out of the box thus making sliders a moot point. Sliders are a crutch that puts the onus on the player to tweak and test, tweak and test - just get the damn thing right in the first place. :mad:

I <3 FM

[Buckner]

Can anyone verify what Abner said in his blog today?

"I have a slight problem....

....there are no new free agents. None. Zero. Zilch-o. Well, that's a lie. The best new FA, by far, is WR Dennis Northcutt, who I failed to resign. Everyone else was in the FA pool at the start of the previous season and was never signed to a team because they all suck. It's the end of May, 2007 and there are no new UFAs in the league.

Am I missing something? Surely I'm just overlooking something; the game will have new FAs each year, right? Bueller? Anyone gotten this far?"

This would really suck if there are no FAs.

-mike

[wade moore]

Can anyone verify what Abner said in his blog today?

"I have a slight problem....

....there are no new free agents. None. Zero. Zilch-o. Well, that's a lie. The best new FA, by far, is WR Dennis Northcutt, who I failed to resign. Everyone else was in the FA pool at the start of the previous season and was never signed to a team because they all suck. It's the end of May, 2007 and there are no new UFAs in the league.

Am I missing something? Surely I'm just overlooking something; the game will have new FAs each year, right? Bueller? Anyone gotten this far?"

This would really suck if there are no FAs.

-mike

Now this I can see being a game breaker much more-so than quarter length ;).

[Bee]

Can anyone verify what Abner said in his blog today?

"I have a slight problem....

....there are no new free agents. None. Zero. Zilch-o. Well, that's a lie. The best new FA, by far, is WR Dennis Northcutt, who I failed to resign. Everyone else was in the FA pool at the start of the previous season and was never signed to a team because they all suck. It's the end of May, 2007 and there are no new UFAs in the league.

Am I missing something? Surely I'm just overlooking something; the game will have new FAs each year, right? Bueller? Anyone gotten this far?"

This would really suck if there are no FAs.

-mike

I don't think anyone else has put in the 250 hours it takes to get to the second season to find out.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeah, I'm still early in my first season (2-0 with the Eagles right now) and I expect it will be a long time until I can comment on UFA's in 2007.

[ice4277]

Maybe they figured nobody would even bother to play through a season to get to that point.

[AgustusM]

In my opinion, in a game where the user is calling plays, you will never realistically be able to get away from difficulty settings and/or sliders.

Somehow in 1977 with a deck of strat o matic cards and some dice I was able to get "realistic" stats without any sliders, levels, etc.

Many games including the first NFL sim XOR NFL Challenge also were able to do so.

Obviously you are entitled to your opinion, but in my opinion sliders end up being a crutch and require constant tweaks to even get remotely close and even then what are we adjusting to - a level that is "real" or a level that we win enough to be happy, but not so much as to be bored.

[Barkeep49]

I'm glad this FA issue is being brought to light now. I have to go to Best Buy tomorrow and was likely going to cave and buy this. But if this latest report is true, it'll be easy to resist the urge.

[Flasch186]

perhaps Cwill can create a program that creates Free Agents each off season!!

[WSUCougar]

This game seems like the ultimate siren's song for computer/console football gamers. It's so much on-target with what you want...the features...the possibilities...the expectations...the drool...but it only lures you to your gaming doom.

[AgustusM]

perhaps Cwill can create a program that creates Free Agents each off season!!

maybe we can get CW to create CW's NFL Head Coach!!!:D

[AgustusM]

This game seems like the ultimate siren's song for computer/console football gamers. It's so much on-target with what you want...the features...the possibilities...the expectations...the drool...but it only lures you to your gaming doom.

very, very true - this game is like that Hot Chick at the bar, who is so incredibly hot, but also so incredibly insane.

[SunDevil]

very, very true - this game is like that Hot Chick at the bar, who is so incredibly hot, but also so incredibly insane.

So in the word's of the Sports Guy, this game is like Terrell Owens? :)

[Raiders Army]

With injuries in-game set to 200, I had injuries with the following lengths of recovery:

1st QTR: 7 plays, Season, 2 plays, 3 quarters
2nd QTR: 1 quarter, Game, 8 plays, 2 quarters
3rd QTR: 10 plays, 3 plays, 2 quarters, 3 weeks, game
4th QTR: 2 plays, 7 plays, 2 plays, 9 plays

It seemed as if most of the injuries occurred on the defensive side of the ball (about 75% of them). All in all, I think it was probably a pretty accurate representation of real-life.

[kcchief19]

I don't think anyone expected FOF-like stats but its too much to expect them to be in the same zip code let alone ballpark as realistic NFL stats? This wasn't supposed to be Madden for the non joystick jockey crowd.

If you don't mind, what do you expect the point of the role playing game to be? If you enjoy the game as what it is that's cool - I'm just curious as to why the free pass when something so basic to the game (stats) are apparently horrendous? As a developer I'm curious about this - my upcoming game, Total Pro Golf, is a role-playing type game - will it be ok if people are winning tournaments with scores of -40 or something?
I'm not sure I would call it a free pass, but I definitely had low expectations for the stats of the game because it's essential the Madden engine. If I'm playing FOF or OOTP, I want the stats to spot-on because that's what the game is -- a statistical simulation. Head Coach is a coaching simulation -- not a statistical simulation. Would I like a game like Head Coach with FOF precesion? Heck yes. But I purchased this game with somewhat realistic expectations.

What do I expect the point of a role playing sports game being? By and large I would say interactive elements that put into a universe with other characters. It depends on the sport. I think NFL Head Coach is actually pretty accurate for what I would expect. I could definitely see more options for interaction, and certainly I would like some elements to be more robust. But so far, this game meets my (admittedly low) expectations.

If this game had competition, I think I might judge it more differently. For example, I tried Total Pro Football and thought it was horrible compared to FOF. But if I had never played FOF, I may have liked TPF. The only comparable game with NFL Head Coach in the sport RPG genre thus far is Inside the Park, and frankly NFL Head Coach is the greatest game ever compared to that horrific disaster.

I appreciate your comments here, Gary, but frankly I'm suprised to see you so critical and outspoken. No one else has said anything, so I must be in the minority, but I rarely see a game designer so thoroughly rip another game as you've ripped Head Coach. Personally, I think that's a risk because the first time -- if ever -- anyone shoots a 55 in your golf sim, this thread will get quoted a million times. The pressure's on, big guy. ;)

[Buccaneer]

kc, nicely said. Someone griped that this was The Sims: NFL. Maybe not a good comparison but it is a role-playing game. Why expect something else?

I have not bought a GDS game and it looks like I might not buy its offshoot either. Unless Brian comes up with something this fall, I'll be 0-for-2006 in the text sims/sports games genres. :(

[Raiders Army]

What, you don't think Jim will come out with anything this year?

[Buccaneer]

What, you don't think Jim will come out with anything this year?

Like I said...

[wade moore]

Somehow in 1977 with a deck of strat o matic cards and some dice I was able to get "realistic" stats without any sliders, levels, etc.

Many games including the first NFL sim XOR NFL Challenge also were able to do so.

Obviously you are entitled to your opinion, but in my opinion sliders end up being a crutch and require constant tweaks to even get remotely close and even then what are we adjusting to - a level that is "real" or a level that we win enough to be happy, but not so much as to be bored.

Wow.. are you REALLY comparing strat-o-matic cards and XOR NFL Challenge to this? They're completely different worlds of complexity...

[SlyBelle1]

Here is the latest version of the HCSettings utility. Per bakersview123's from football-freaks suggestion, I have incorporated the INGI and SIMI sliders that control injuries. Download it here (http://www.exyhodu.com/downloads/HCSettings.zip).

Changes:
-Added SIM Injury slider
-Added PLAY Injury slider
-Made the program create the Stats directory for any career that has game logs enabled automatically.

After a quick test, I found that SIMI of zero produces no injuries during simulated practices or games. I am unsure of the effect that moving the sliders above 100 has. Bakersview123 suggested that their maximum value is 300, but they only have 8 bits of data space, allowing for 0-255. I tried pushing the INGI slider to the maximum and playing a quick game, but there were no injuries. Let me know how they work for you.

Also, I would like to put a call out to any other fields or values you know of that I should seek out and include. I will be pouring through the data files this weekend and looking for any new relevent values. At the top of my personal list are the option settings for subbing in and out fatigue percentages. Anyone know where these are?

Anyway, make sure you backup your files before using this.

Enjoy!
Chris W.

I would defintely like to see fatigure and sub in/out next. My players never get tired. Secondly, maybe even the penalty sliders, although they are looking the best I've seen in any football game so far.

[MizzouRah]

kc, nicely said. Someone griped that this was The Sims: NFL. Maybe not a good comparison but it is a role-playing game. Why expect something else?

I have not bought a GDS game and it looks like I might not buy its offshoot either. Unless Brian comes up with something this fall, I'll be 0-for-2006 in the text sims/sports games genres. :(

Man, you must live a boring life. Both games are a ton of fun.

[Buccaneer]

Man, you must live a boring life. Both games are a ton of fun.

Not really. Less than half of my spare time are spent playing games and of that, most of it are playing the ones that I love to (re-)play regularly and can get into a long career or history. That's why I do not fret about "wanting" to like any of the new games or care to have any expectations. If I take to a new game (like Civ4), that's cool but I am content with what I have and only play games that are fun and have replayability for me.

The other part of my spare time is spent yelling at others for being so anal about whether a new game is good or bad. :)

[AgustusM]

Wow.. are you REALLY comparing strat-o-matic cards and XOR NFL Challenge to this? They're completely different worlds of complexity...

How is this game so much more complex? the game of football is still played under the same rules (for the most part) - take the friggin X's and O's and make them pretty little 3D pictures.

hell, people talk about Madden all the time and don't realize that while you are joystick jockeying your one guy the other 21 guys on the field are basically playing coach mode.

[sabotai]

How is this game so much more complex? the game of football is still played under the same rules (for the most part) - take the friggin X's and O's and make them pretty little 3D pictures.

It's a just a bit easier said than done....

[wade moore]

How is this game so much more complex? the game of football is still played under the same rules (for the most part) - take the friggin X's and O's and make them pretty little 3D pictures.

hell, people talk about Madden all the time and don't realize that while you are joystick jockeying your one guy the other 21 guys on the field are basically playing coach mode.

I'm REALLY not trying to be mean here...

But you show a complete lack of understanding of gaming design, programming, etc, etc...

[Gary Gorski]

I appreciate your comments here, Gary, but frankly I'm suprised to see you so critical and outspoken. No one else has said anything, so I must be in the minority, but I rarely see a game designer so thoroughly rip another game as you've ripped Head Coach. Personally, I think that's a risk because the first time -- if ever -- anyone shoots a 55 in your golf sim, this thread will get quoted a million times. The pressure's on, big guy. ;)

What can I say - I don't speak often but when I have something to say, I say it be it about my games, other games or anything else and it seems when I have an opinion on something outside of my games someone is always surprised that somebody selling games to people in this community dares to run the risk of having an opinion. I guess even though I'm young I have an old school approach to things - I'm not in the business of selling my opinions or doing the "PC thing" - if people wouldn't buy my games because of an opinion I have then that's their choice. I give this community more credit than that though - everyone here just wants to play great games and will buy them for the game even if they don't like the person or people who helped create them (and if there was ever an example of that, Head Coach would be)



Before I developed games, I played them. I spent hours upon hours playing Front Page Sports Football, running a FPS football league that is still in existence today and was one of the many extremely dissapointed people in what happened with Sierra and the FPS series. I only got into developing games because I wanted to make a pro basketball game the way I felt it should be done. I didn't like what EA offered with Live and thought that JSB and FBB were good ideas but that there was more that could be done - so rather than wait for someone to do it I decided to do it myself. I'm critical of this game because I'm one of those people still waiting for the next version of Front Page Sports Football and this could have been a step in that direction but it wasn't so as a gamer, I'm dissapointed, frustrated and yet somehow not surprised since it was EA Sports. To this day I'm still looking for that football game that can draw me in like FPS did.

Now its true I wouldn't make the comments I did had this been FOF or TPF because there are flaws in every game and mine are no different but the amount of work that goes into one of our games by one person is amazing. But EA has millions of dollars and teams of people with the best equipment to produce a game and rather than actually put in some effort to design a game that is realistic (without having someone hack into it and change things) all they did was slap some new screens on the Madden engine, gave you some RPG tasks and rolled it out to find a way to recoup extra money on their exclusive NFL license. If people from EA want to play my games and be critical on an internet forum I welcome them to do so.

I guess part of me is also envious of EA - some people on this forum were very critical of the interface in the first Total Pro Basketball complaining about too many clicks to do things and some people felt there were too many clicks to the recruiting interface in Total College Basketball but here you have a game where the interface design is so horrible that you literally click thousands of more times while playing and its something to overlook because there's 3D graphics. I remember people running multi year tests on seasons of Arlie's football game to see if the QB ratings were within percentage points of real NFL stats but the fact that running backs in Head Coach get 500 carries a season is a minor flaw that maybe can be tweaked with sliders. I'm just surprised that in a community of core customers for text sim sports that there wasn't more outrage at some of this kind of stuff and that seemingly so many people are overlooking it because it has pretty 3D graphics.

In the grand scheme of the gaming world the vast majority of people have never heard about me or know who I am. I don't understand why these games from EA can't be both fun arcade games to play and yet still appeal to gamers who want realism. When I think of what could be done if someone had millions of dollars to spend to form a company creating games and would hire the developers in our community to lead the projects --- a sports gamer's utopia but companies like EA don't care about that. If they did Jim would still be with EA. The people who help me make a living are the ones on this forum so I'm always interested in what you think about games and why you like or dislike them. This forum can be brutal on games, honest and fair but still brutal, and I expected that kind of reaction to this so when I didn't see it I was interested to see why people were overlooking the major flaws in the design of the game if for nothing else to help me deliver products that more of you will be interested in.

[DaddyTorgo]

RANT

well said Gary

[Flasch186]

i disagree with Gary, everyone is upset, but sliders could be a saving grace (so far) that could fix some things, not all. Regardless of what everyone says, EVERYONE had high hopes for this, some feared what EA could do to a great idea, and it seems those people were right BUT deep inside we all had high hopes.

[Barkeep49]

Is there any more feedback on the Free Agent issues that Abner brought up?

[AlexB]

i disagree with Gary, everyone is upset, but sliders could be a saving grace (so far) that could fix some things, not all. Regardless of what everyone says, EVERYONE had high hopes for this, some feared what EA could do to a great idea, and it seems those people were right BUT deep inside we all had high hopes.

I disagree - I was extremely pleased to find that this game wasn't getting a UK PS2 release: my crappy laptop won't play it, and I'm not going to pay an import price, so that means I can't be tempted in a moment of weakness to purchase another crappy EA product.

I have in the past bought Madden (lots of times), FIFA, NHL, NBA, Tiger Woods and none of them in the last decade have been better than average. The early Madden, FIFA NHL games were fun, but they've just not developed enough, and finally I've stopped thinking 'this is the one', and haven;t purchased either of last two Maddens (the last remaining franchise I had been playing)

HC was always going to be a let-down if you wanted a sim. I think the reason I don;t like EA games is I want less arcade, more sim - why on earth would a company who can't even get basic stats in a game that is 15 years in development suddenly be able to produce a sim that woiuld meet the needs of the people here at the first attempt? To think that they would, or even might, shows a naivety beyond belief...

[Flasch186]

...than Im naive because while I had the same fears everyone else had, deep inside I had hoped this would be awesome....

[Bee]

The other part of my spare time is spent yelling at others for being so anal about whether a new game is good or bad. :)

I was going to guess masterbating.