OT - TDCB Demo released.

[ScottVib]

The TDCB Demo has been released (warning its a big download):

The demo will allow you to play one regular season with any of the teams in the game.

Follow the link in the following thread, if you are interested.

http://www.400softwarestudios.com/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=174289

[lynchjm24]

Bump - i know I have been waiting for this.

[SackAttack]

I'll hafta give that a try...probably will hafta wait 'til next payday to buy the full version if I like it though. Joy.

[cheese]

thanks, i've been wanting to try it out.

[McSweeny]

huh i got some runtime error when i was trying to sim a day... guess i won't be running out and getting this one. Does look pretty good though. Even though i'm only a casual basketball fan

[McSweeny]

dola

maybe it was because i didn't restart after installing the demo... i'll have to try again when i restart

[bigdawg2003]

.400 gets major points for releasing a demo that actually lets you play an entire season and mess around with every little thing so you have a clear idea of how everything works so if and when you decide to make the purchase, you'll know EXACTLY what you're getting. Thumbs up from the dawg!

[detroit_fan]

What am I doing wrong? I downloaded the demo, but it tells me that the trial has expired? Any advice...

[ScottVib]

detroit_fan, You may have grabbed the purchase version of the game.


McSweeney, make sure you have the most recent updates to DirectX, MDAC, and the Jet components.

[ScottVib]

dola,

We resolved detroit_fan's problem he got the wrong file.

to avoid confusion here is a direct link:

http://400studios1.inetu.net/files/tdcb/tdDemoSetup.exe

[Tasan]

Well, I just made it through a season with the wretched Texas A&M Aggies. Wow. I'm not a huge college basketball fan, but this was fun. Are there many more killer bugs showing up that maybe didn't hit me in the demo? If not, I'd consider buying now.

[kcchief19]

Despite my harsh criticism of the .400 for the way they handled the release, I downloaded the demo to give it a chance because I desperately want a college basketball sim. I had fun with CAD, but the shortcomings eventually drove me batty. Regardless, I went into the demo optimistic.

That optimism has been shattered. First, this game is unplayable on anything less than a 17-inch monitor. I thought OOTP was hard to see with the tiny text, bit between the tiny text and the scrawl text, it hurt my eyes trying to read everything. I also had to manually adjust my monitor to a wider setting, which there is no way that I would buy a game requiring me to do that everytime I played.

Then I get into the actually game play. I know play-by-play isn't .400's forte, so I'll excuse them for text saying that the guard passed to the cutter, who then shoots a three. I'll overlook the use of the word "seldomely" (there are two things wrong with that) and I'll also forgive Missouri's opening loss to Illinois State at home when the ISU shot 15-30 from three-point distance.

But there are other showstopper bugs in the demo that are unacceptable. For my next game, I decided to watch the game play live. Just wanting to watch, I clicked auto coach. The first thing I noticed is that Missouri came out in a triangle offense, even though I had my primary offense set to motion. Then I noticed that while Northern Arizona changed offenses and defenses, but my Tigers didn't. In the second half, I realized that the auto coach was not using subs for Missouri. Thinking that I misunderstood the auto-coach function, I simmed another game to test it. I assumed that when the auto coach button had a blue box around it, that meant the auto coach was on. I tried it for several games with the box clicked and unclicked -- the computer never subbed my starters out and never changed offense/defense, even to the point of using the wrong offense!

That's about as far as I could get. Then when I tried to exit the program, it refused to close. When I exited, the window minimized but never closed. I had to give it the three-finger salute.

I also thought the game mind-numbingly slow. I have a P3-1 Ghz, which I don't consider to be exactly slow and is well above the recommended reqs, but it took a minute or two to sim a day and the game was very slow to even switch from one menu to the next. I also did not find the recruiting functions to be intuitive at all.

Are there really a lot of people who like this game? Is the real version free of such bugs now? Is it the demo that retains such showstopping bugs?

I like Arlie and all, but I've got to pass on this one. I hope Brian at Fast Break is able to step up to the plate and deliver on his college game.

[Kam]

As far as the subbing, there is a box that needs to be checked to allow for auto-subbing. It is inside the "Change strategy" window (the second box from the left on the gameplay screen).

Without checking the auto-sub the Auto Coach only takes care of the the offensive sets and defenses played.

I have found the game to be quite enjoyable, but only when I coach the games myself. I think the AI is still lacking on personnel and play selection when you leave it to auto-coach.

I like to start with lower ranking teams [game difficulty: Brutal]. When I had it set to auto-coach, my teams would play around .333 ball. Once I starting coaching I have been a consistent .500 team. [No one said that I CAN coach, just that I like to pretend to do so.]

[cincyreds]

I must tell you guys that after version 1.19 the game is simply
SA WEEEEEEEEET!!!

I bought the game when it first came out and it did have some issues, but Arlie and crew have patched and added features that make it a must have for any college hoops fan!!

PEACE!

[ScottVib]

Regarding the issues you point out kcchief, the slow exiting times are a known issue, that is why the game minimizes before exiting. It minimizes so as not to tie up your machine and to allow you to do something else while the game cleans up after itself. Games from later in the season can take a long (too long) time to close.

Regarding the subbing there is (as mentioned) an auto-sub check box that must be used for the AI to sub. This is to allow those who don't want to mess with the coaching options but like to control who plays when to do so.

Auto coach is on when the blue box surrounds it. The formations selected for use are based on the five offensive and defensive strategies you select on the Strategies screen (those are the sets you "work" on in practice, and the ones you can go to in the game). I am not sure why the AI isn't changing strategies for you, I have not encountered similar problems, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

I am sorry to hear of your disappointment with the demo, but thanks for at least giving it a shot.