Alright boyz, it's the BBCF First Impressions thread.

[Surtt]

Is anyone having issues in multiplier?
I am in a league where my record has been (regular season)
6-2, 7-1, 6-2, 6-2, 7-1, 7-1, 7-1, 6-2, 7-1, 8-0, 6-2

In our first season since the patch I am currently 3-4.
Nothing has changed to account for the drop.
I guess it could be just one of those things, but seems like a big coincidence.

Seems something I am doing does not work since the patch.
Any Ideas?

How big were the game planing tweaks?
Sometimes I skip exports, does that kill you now?

[Arles]

Nothing has really changed a ton on the multiplayer file front with the patch. Might just be injuries or one of your players not panning out. But, you shouldn't need to behave differently than you did pre-patch.

[Surtt]

Originally Posted by Arles

Nothing has really changed a ton on the multiplayer file front with the patch. Might just be injuries or one of your players not panning out. But, you shouldn't need to behave differently than you did pre-patch.

Ok, thanks for the response.
Probably hit a patch of bad luck.

[Arles]

I don't know how many of you guys known about the "film study" stats in Bowl Bound. But, these emails and player stats can really help you evaluate players inseason. I made a post in the forums going through what each means:

Tips for Evaluating players during the season - Grey Dog Software

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by Arles

I don't know how many of you guys known about the "film study" stats in Bowl Bound. But, these emails and player stats can really help you evaluate players inseason. I made a post in the forums going through what each means:

Tips for Evaluating players during the season - Grey Dog Software

For the longest time I thought "OutP" meant "Outstanding Play".

Oops...

[Arles]

These have tooltips on the team stats page. So, if you forget, you can always check there. But, yeah, you don't want a lot of "outstanding plays"

[MrBug708]

Does anyone have any advice for recruiting? When to offer, when to spend money on pitches?

My only strategy is to offer players who have no offers. I miss out on anybody with an offer. For example, I'm playing as Missouri and I offer a top QB. My prestige is 80. He has one other offer, from Nebraska with a prestige of 71. The QB's top pitch is close to home, which I am as he's from the state. I start off as blue in interest and Nebraska is green to start. He ends up picking Nebraska.

I don't understand

[Kodos]

Maybe he just didn't like you.

[MrBug708]

It happens quite often

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by Arles

I will be continuing the Amnesty through Tuesday, Sept 15 or until the keys run out (whichever happens quicker). I've sent out keys to every request so far, but they are running out. So, if you haven't gotten a response or want a Steam key - please email me soon.

damn I missed it :/

[Arles]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Does anyone have any advice for recruiting? When to offer, when to spend money on pitches?

My only strategy is to offer players who have no offers. I miss out on anybody with an offer. For example, I'm playing as Missouri and I offer a top QB. My prestige is 80. He has one other offer, from Nebraska with a prestige of 71. The QB's top pitch is close to home, which I am as he's from the state. I start off as blue in interest and Nebraska is green to start. He ends up picking Nebraska.

I don't understand

Playing time and how quick he can start also matters. Sometimes a kid transfers out in the college transfer process (ie, from Nebraska) and that ends up making the school more attractive by the end than the initial interest level. That said, I think increased feedback and interaction in recruiting is an area of emphasis for the next version.

[RomaGoth]

Is there a way to keep all the real school names and such for subsequent starts? I am not keen on having to update each school nickname every time I start a new game.

[Arles]

Yeah, just replace the pstats.dat file with one that includes the real nicknames. I know you can find one such file on this site:

Now Sharing Bowl Bound College Football 2016 Real Team Names File - GM Games - Sports General Manager Video Games

You can also hand-edit the pstats.dat file with a MS Access type editor and change the nicknames yourself. But, it's usually easier to just use a Mod that has been verified.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Arles

Yeah, just replace the pstats.dat file with one that includes the real nicknames. I know you can find one such file on this site:

Now Sharing Bowl Bound College Football 2016 Real Team Names File - GM Games - Sports General Manager Video Games

You can also hand-edit the pstats.dat file with a MS Access type editor and change the nicknames yourself. But, it's usually easier to just use a Mod that has been verified.

Thanks, that did the trick!

[TexasT]

Originally Posted by Arles

Yeah, just replace the pstats.dat file with one that includes the real nicknames. I know you can find one such file on this site:

Now Sharing Bowl Bound College Football 2016 Real Team Names File - GM Games - Sports General Manager Video Games

You can also hand-edit the pstats.dat file with a MS Access type editor and change the nicknames yourself. But, it's usually easier to just use a Mod that has been verified.

I've downloaded this and replaced in my BBCF folder but I don't get the real names. I re-downloaded and tried again but still no go. I checked the folder and it is in the main folder.

[Arles]

You need to start a new league. If you start a new league with that pstats.dat file in your main folder (with either the bbcf.exe or bb2005.exe), you should see them.

[TexasT]

Originally Posted by Arles

You need to start a new league. If you start a new league with that pstats.dat file in your main folder (with either the bbcf.exe or bb2005.exe), you should see them.

I did that. No real names.

[Arles]

Not sure, then. Make sure you have the correct mod file in your main folder. The game works by reading that pstats.dat file locally stored when it starts to use as a template for league creation.

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by Arles

Yeah, just replace the pstats.dat file with one that includes the real nicknames. I know you can find one such file on this site:

Now Sharing Bowl Bound College Football 2016 Real Team Names File - GM Games - Sports General Manager Video Games

I'm working on some edits on the pstats.dat file from Arlie's 1.60 beta. Some of the rivalries were outdated due to conference movement, and I wanted to adjust the prestige levels for some of the teams. Also, planning on adding Coastal Carolina and UAB.

Anyway, has anybody tried the gmgames.org mod? I don't want to reinvent the wheel if they did a lot of the work already.

[Mike Lowe]

www.simsportsglobal.com

We are about 2 hours away from simulating week 6 of our 2015 season. We have teams available, so fill out an application if you're interested, and I'll get you added.

[Peregrine]

Is anyone else getting massive levels of crashes in BBCF? I re-installed it with the new patch but I have to save it every week as it seems to crash after simming games every 2 or 3 weeks.

[Arles]

I sent you a response on the tech support forum. I've seen your issue before with people who didn't quite get a proper installation of the game. We should be able to resolve it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Question for recent players, one for me and one for my son.

For him, it's about playing as an independent. Apparently he got an independent BYU through an unbeaten season & to the #2 spot in all the polls, including the GDS ranking. Instead of a playoff berth, he got ... nothing. No bowl bid, no playoff spot, just ... nothing. Nada, zip, zero, season over. Is there some known issue with independents about that or did he suffer a rare glitch or ???

For me it's about penalties. 5 yard facemask calls seem to be outnumbering 15 yard facemask calls about 8:1 or more. That seems pretty skewed to the high side to my instinct (no idea what the real-life ratio is). Anybody else seen / noticed this?

[Arles]

1. That is a known issue. There's a pretty rare occurrence when a top 2 team doesn't get a bowl bid (usually associated when the semi is at the rose bowl). It occurs with the new "and one" format (not in the old BCS or 16-team playoff). I'm working on a fix and will be providing a patch for that and a few other issues once they are resolved and tested.

2. That's a nice catch. The NCAA outlawed the 5-yarder 6-7 years ago and I need to update the engine. In the update, I will remove it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Arles

1. That is a known issue. There's a pretty rare occurrence when a top 2 team doesn't get a bowl bid (usually associated when the semi is at the rose bowl). It occurs with the new "and one" format (not in the old BCS or 16-team playoff). I'm working on a fix and will be providing a patch for that and a few other issues once they are resolved and tested.

2. That's a nice catch. The NCAA outlawed the 5-yarder 6-7 years ago and I need to update the engine. In the update, I will remove it.

Cool on both. On the bowl bid one, is it an occasional glitch under those circumstances or one that will occur under those circumstances (top 2 + Rose semi) each time that happens to come up? Wondering whether he should at least pause that career til patch or if it's reasonable to continue on for now.

[Arles]

What I think happens is the rose bowl is setup to grab the 2 and 3 teams for the playoff (once every 4-5 seasons), the #2 and #3 teams are not from the Big 10/Pac 12, two of the top 4 are from the same conference and one other situation I haven't quite pinned down. It's pretty rare though, so I think it would be OK to keep playing.

[Arles]

Just an FYI, but we are running a $15 off promotion on Bowl Bound College Football (makes the game $14.95):

We are happy to announce that Grey Dog Software is running a $15 off sale on Bowl Bound College Football! Beginning today, you can use the coupon code BBCF15 at checkout in the webstore to save $15 off your purchase of Bowl Bound. This promotion will run through Friday night, September 30.

To take advantage of this sale, please visit our webstore and add Bowl Bound College Football to your shopping cart. Next, choose the option "I have a discount coupon for this product" and enter the code. You will see the discount at check out!

[Arles]

I just found out that Bowl Bound is part of the current Steam sale. You can get the game for $6.79 right now:

Save 66% on Bowl Bound College Football on Steam

One of our forum members (Ragin Cajun) made a nice BBCF tutorial if you have any questions on how to play/how things work:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...bbZn0QPYq5o30L

[cartman]

And if anyone has the BBCF multiplayer itch, the FOFC-BBCF league is about to start a new season after Thanksgiving. We have three sims left for the current season before we start our 38th season.

[Arles]

Bowl Bound (and Operation Sports) got a nice mention on a SBNation story that came out today:

https://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...eo-game-return

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Arles

Bowl Bound (and Operation Sports) got a nice mention on a SBNation story that came out today:

https://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...eo-game-return

[markprior22]

Originally Posted by Arles

Bowl Bound (and Operation Sports) got a nice mention on a SBNation story that came out today:

https://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...eo-game-return

I missed the part where it said a new version of BBCF is right around the corner

Guess I need to read it again.

[Ksyrup]

So weird... I was just thinking about firing up a new game.

[Mike Lowe]

For anyone looking to get into a league, we sim real time and are about to enter our 4th season which will kick off August 25th.

DM me for more info. It seems when I post a link it gives folks issues with malware and the like. We have a service who now monitors this for us, but I don't want to take chances posting a link here.

[Arles]

BBCF is 50% off through Friday as well. If there is someone here who doesn't own it yet

50% off sale for Bowl Bound College Football! – Grey Dog Software, PC sports simulation games leader

[jetpunk2000]

So this is a hell of a bump, but since we're not getting FOF I need a football fix. Is the steam version of this the same game that was released in '05? Have there been any major updates/improvements? I honestly can't remember if I bought the original game.

[Arles]

Almost, I did do a small update and there are more mods for the elicense version. Plus you get two installs with each purchase. PM me with the email you think you used and I can check.