Question about the historical draft rosters for FOF4

[AgPete]

Hey all, I dusted off the cobwebs on my FOF4 copy now that another FOF version is on the way. I recently downloaded the completed historical drafts and I want to give everyone that worked on them huge props for their time. I started with the 1992 roster (I'm a Cowboys fan, wanted to redo the 90's dynasty :p ) and noticed that the drafts weren't that accurate. I turned off random player ratings when I started the game but in my early 90's drafts I noticed players like Drew Bledsoe and Larry Allen were barely mediocre players. Marshall Faulk, Rod Smith and some others were decent players but I noticed a lot of players that were some of the best at their position in the last two decades were barely good enough to be backups on my roster. :( Are all drafts random so that the historical rosters will never reflect the true NFL player ratings? I'm going to start another franchise to see what happens but until then, I was curious if anyone knew the answer to this.

[Franklin]

I believe that any time you import a draft file, a certain degree of randomization occurs, because the TCY draft files do not include every single player attribute - some of them appear to be generated on import.

[nilodor]

The drafts are pretty random and there are some ratings that are not in the draft file so they are randomly generated in the game. Typically good players will be good players in the game but not always and maybe not to the same extent.

Superstars in real life are more likely to become superstars in the draft files but that in no way guarantees that they will be superstars or even good players because of how FOF handles draft files.

[yabanci]

Originally posted by nilodor
The drafts are pretty random and there are some ratings that are not in the draft file so they are randomly generated in the game. Typically good players will be good players in the game but not always and maybe not to the same extent.

Superstars in real life are more likely to become superstars in the draft files but that in no way guarantees that they will be superstars or even good players because of how FOF handles draft files.

Also, the players in that 1992 file are rated way too high. If you open up the player file with the player file editor and select "player file statistics" you can compare the 1992 file talent the talent level in the original player file (which has the "correct" or target mix of talent). If you hit F1 on that screen the help file explains if the talent level in the player file does not closely resemble that in the original file "you might find the game produces unusual results."

For example, the target normal average rating for quarterbacks is 1.24, where the average rating in that 1992 file is 2.36, almost double. Anther example is with centers, where the average rating should be 0.74 but the player file is 2.44, more than three times what it should be to avoid "unusual results." All the positions are way out of whack talent-wise in that 1992 player file.

So this might also be what you are seeing -- players being drafted into a league that is way, way overrated.

[Senator]

I know. I never use these files.

[JeeberD]

If you have so many complaints why don't you create your own roster files?

[Franklin]

You can't create draft files without TCY. Maybe he doesn't have it.

[JeeberD]

yabanci wasn't complaining about draft files, he was complaining about the roster files...

[yabanci]

I wasn't complaining. I was just pointing out a fact that might explain the problem this person is having. It is not my "opinion" that talent in that file is way too high -- the FOF4 player file editor gives you a tool (the player file statistics) to objectively determine whether a player file is balaned or has a talent level that is too high or too low, either of which will cause problems. You can check it out yourself.

[nilodor]

I think why the player file is so high is because it is not complete. There are very few low level players to suck the player file statistics down. When a new league is started, most of those scrub players will be automatically created so there are enough players in the league. However I will say that the ratings would still be high even if all the scrub players from that year were added.