FOF 9 Q & A thread

[Cole]

In several 20+ year sims, I feel like I'm seeing hugely successful coaches, often times with multiple years of consecutive playoff appearances and/or championships, eventually get fired after a poor season or two ... which is fine.. But then often sit unemployed or retire straight after.

Whereas in real life I feel like head coaches with big time pedigree usually get new head coaching jobs incredibly quickly, and don't generally sit unemployed (maybe I'm wrong about this perception?)

I know one of the patch items was creating less new staff, which perhaps could help, as less new staff, means existing game staff would get re-hired more often... but in my sims I'm still seeing too many head coaches who only have one tenure with one team then never coach/work again..

Anyone else seeing similar?

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Cole

In several 20+ year sims, I feel like I'm seeing hugely successful coaches, often times with multiple years of consecutive playoff appearances and/or championships, eventually get fired after a poor season or two ... which is fine.. But then often sit unemployed or retire straight after.

Whereas in real life I feel like head coaches with big time pedigree usually get new head coaching jobs incredibly quickly, and don't generally sit unemployed (maybe I'm wrong about this perception?)

I know one of the patch items was creating less new staff, which perhaps could help, as less new staff, means existing game staff would get re-hired more often... but in my sims I'm still seeing too many head coaches who only have one tenure with one team then never coach/work again..

Anyone else seeing similar?

Also it seems like head coaches are always starting with that as their first job in the league... whereas in real life I think assistants, or OC/DC's working those jobs then getting a chance to be a head coach, is much more common.

I don't know if you normally see OC/DC/assistants graduate into head coaching roles in FOF, but in a 50 year sim I just did, I just quickly scrolled through and 0 of the head coaches in the league ever worked as a "lower" job beforehand.

A handful of them who started as head coaches got fired then accepted jobs as OC/DC/assistants, but never the other way around.

Is this a bug, or has it always just worked that way?

Been a longgggg time since I played FOF7 or 8, but I thought I remembered staff members getting head coaching jobs from OC/DC/assistant in past games?

[Ben E Lou]

As in previous versions, I'm sure this is related to the differing skillsets required for the roles in FOF and that both we and the AI know whether a guy will be good at a different role. Here's a good example from the CCFL:


Albert Rasmussen CCFL Staff Page


Rasmussen was a very good OC for multiple good/great offensive teams. Why? Very high scouting, solid playcalling, and solid young talent. That's what you look for in an OC. But as a HC, his motivation is absolutely terrible and his discipline is below average. So, NO ONE is going to hire him to be their HC, because we know he is poorly rated in the key areas there. That league ended in 2053, but it's certain that Rasmussen would have continued on until retirement as an OC.

My guess is the guy(s) you are looking at were strong in motivation and discipline, so they're immediately hired as head coaches. And I assure you that as long as the game works this way, that's what you WANT the AI to do, so the game will be more challenging: hire the absolute best HC candidate as a HC. And the best HC candidate isn't the guy who has been a solid OC for 6 years; the best HC candidate is the guy with the highest ratings in the key categories.

[Ben E Lou]

Dola...2 other things...


1. I have FIRED my HC many times in both SP and MP after winning a title. Why? Because a HC with higher ratings was available. That's just how this computer game works. There's never been evidence that I've seen that there's "cohesion" for staff members, so I just go after the highest rated guys available every season.


2. You did remember correctly: there are *some* guys who do the traditional assistant-->coordinator-->HC path, but they tend to be the ones with more balanced ratings, so maybe they're like in the 40-70 range in most categories when they're young, and then they grow over time and their motivation and discipline ratings get high enough that they're the best option as a HC.


But to be clear, this has nothing to do with performance, and everything with ratings.

[BKL]

Is there any way to have the play by play text stop after a play when you are calling the plays? This is how FOF8 worked, so you had time to read what happened before it disappears. Otherwise it seems like you have to toggle the pause button after each play. Am I missing something!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

My guess is the guy(s) you are looking at were strong in motivation and discipline, so they're immediately hired as head coaches. And I assure you that as long as the game works this way, that's what you WANT the AI to do, so the game will be more challenging: hire the absolute best HC candidate as a HC. And the best HC candidate isn't the guy who has been a solid OC for 6 years; the best HC candidate is the guy with the highest ratings in the key categories.

Are staff ratings stagnant or do they change ? I guess best way to potentially have OC/DC candidates become good coaching candidates is if initial ratings adjust over time/with experience …. To simulate fewer staff members starting as HC, staff members I presumed would start with lower ratings that would build over time, with the occasional new staff member who shows up elite/fully developed.

In this case I looked at every single staff member with a coaching win after 50 simmed seasons and none of them came from other jobs first. So if this was a mechanic in past games it’s either not working or not there anymore. This was a 24 team league, if that makes a difference.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by Cole

Yes. Same way you edited the csv files to change the NFL names … you just need to find the league structure you want to use in the default teams csv and change the cities/nicknames to what you want, then create a universe and use default data with that structure.

I feel like I am doing everything correctly, but I get the following error when i finish the setup:

New Game Failed because the files containing team info do not match whats needed to support the chosen league start year

I am editing the default_teams.csv and changing the teams in the 16-4-16 format.

Any help is appreciated.

[NawlinsFan]

Originally Posted by Marmel

I feel like I am doing everything correctly, but I get the following error when i finish the setup:

New Game Failed because the files containing team info do not match whats needed to support the chosen league start year

I am editing the default_teams.csv and changing the teams in the 16-4-16 format.

Any help is appreciated.

Are you creating the XXXX_info file in the custom_example folder? You need that, the default_teams changes and check that the default teams_info file aligns with what you want.

Note - replace xxxx with your universe name. The game wants this file when you create your universe/league.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by NawlinsFan

Are you creating the XXXX_info file in the custom_example folder? You need that, the default_teams changes and check that the default teams_info file aligns with what you want.

Note - replace xxxx with your universe name. The game wants this file when you create your universe/league.

I don't know what any of this means!

[dave1927p]

where are the winners in a list for first and second team positional awards?

[NarrZiss]

Hi.



Unfortunately, I'm really desperate. I've tried several times to change the team names, but I still have the weird team names. I have already changed the Default Teams.csv and made a few changes to the Team_info.



Can someone help me? What exactly do I have to do? Or which files do I have to replace with what?



Kind regards

[Unimaginative]

Originally Posted by dave1927p

where are the winners in a list for first and second team positional awards?

League --> Almanac --> League History --> Click the yellow year/season on the left (first column) and it'll show them!

[markdub2]

Originally Posted by NarrZiss

Hi.



Unfortunately, I'm really desperate. I've tried several times to change the team names, but I still have the weird team names. I have already changed the Default Teams.csv and made a few changes to the Team_info.



Can someone help me? What exactly do I have to do? Or which files do I have to replace with what?



Kind regards

The game uses a different team name list for each league structure. So if you only put real team names in the 32team, 16 game list in the team_info file, but start up a 24 team, 16 game league (or 32 team, 17 game etc.) it will use the default names that come with the team_info file. I used the find and replace function (CTRL+H i think) to replace all the default names with the real ones.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I just simmed forward to test. You can now extend players all the way up to the bowl. Woot!

Heh. I guess I misunderstood everything going on with the patch. You can extend them in that first stage of the *next* season. (I assumed that stage was just for extensions and RFAs like in the past.)

[dave1927p]

Originally Posted by Unimaginative

League --> Almanac --> League History --> Click the yellow year/season on the left (first column) and it'll show them!

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! Why that isn't in the "Awards" section is beyond me

[bblom23]

Is there a way to change the names of players who are not on your team? Draft prospects specifically.

[Unimaginative]

Originally Posted by Cole

Are staff ratings stagnant or do they change ? I guess best way to potentially have OC/DC candidates become good coaching candidates is if initial ratings adjust over time/with experience …. To simulate fewer staff members starting as HC, staff members I presumed would start with lower ratings that would build over time, with the occasional new staff member who shows up elite/fully developed.

In this case I looked at every single staff member with a coaching win after 50 simmed seasons and none of them came from other jobs first. So if this was a mechanic in past games it’s either not working or not there anymore. This was a 24 team league, if that makes a difference.

As well as this, I wonder if a system where the AI evaluates short-term and long-term success of coordinators as well as a coach's bars might make the coaching system feel a little more realistic with progression from coordinators to HC. You'd still get occasional young HCs who are recently retired players or had short coordinator stints, if they had really good bars (like Sean McVay or Demeco Ryans, for real life comparisons), but a majority of HCs would have had multi-season stints as coordinators for at least one team. A coaching mentorship system, too, could help--coaches could have a rating (possibly hidden) for developing other coaches (coordinators under them) and improving their ratings.

[Ben E Lou]

Missed that question: staff ratings do change over time, most definitely. That said, looking at this a bit more, I do think something may be off here in this version. What I said above was definitely correct about the ratings setup making some guys good/great options for HC but bad ones for coordinators. In looking through my universes, that's definitely still at play. However, I'm seeing some odd choices being made in staff hiring as well.

[AlexB]

How do i change the image from what i presume is the player's home state logo (?) to his actual NFL team on the player card?

Edit - and also how do I get the league to show AFC East, NFC West etc instead of AC East, NC West

I've downloaded the team logos and changed the franchise nicknames successfully, but can't work these bits out!

[AlexB]

Other Qs:

Is there an easy way to find/list mentors in FA and on the team roster page?

Do any WRs identify as Slot receivers on the FA page, or are they all FL/SE?

Anyone else finding the game strains your eyes? Played around with navigating the screens, working out the lay of the land, but after 3 hours I had to quit as my eyes were literally hurting

[mbh12368]

Originally Posted by AlexB

Other Qs:

Is there an easy way to find/list mentors in FA and on the team roster page?

Do any WRs identify as Slot receivers on the FA page, or are they all FL/SE?

Anyone else finding the game strains your eyes? Played around with navigating the screens, working out the lay of the land, but after 3 hours I had to quit as my eyes were literally hurting

Answer to the 1st question is Roster page go to the personality view and under the note column it will tell you if they are a mentor or not. Dont think there is a way to see FA mentors.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by mbh12368

Answer to the 1st question is Roster page go to the personality view and under the note column it will tell you if they are a mentor or not. Dont think there is a way to see FA mentors.

There is. Same screen, just choose Free Agents as your team. That has long been my primary method of finding FA mentors.

[mbh12368]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

There is. Same screen, just choose Free Agents as your team. That has long been my primary method of finding FA mentors.

Ah thanks Ben

[Cole]

Originally Posted by AlexB

Other Qs:?

Anyone else finding the game strains your eyes? Played around with navigating the screens, working out the lay of the land, but after 3 hours I had to quit as my eyes were literally hurting

On default font, yes! Change the font (in game settings menu) to Arial size 14 font and it makes tons of difference for readability.

[mbarry55]

Mentioned in the other ratings thread but will bring it up here, extremely low sack totals for OLBs. Anyone else notice that? Ran a number of test seasons and rarely, if ever, would any OLBs end up with more than 8 to 10 sacks. Highest number I saw was 11.

[mbh12368]

Originally Posted by mbarry55

Mentioned in the other ratings thread but will bring it up here, extremely low sack totals for OLBs. Anyone else notice that? Ran a number of test seasons and rarely, if ever, would any OLBs end up with more than 8 to 10 sacks. Highest number I saw was 11.

My latest season had 5 over 10 and a couple more at 9. Seems DEs get a lot of sacks though had 20 guys get more than 10

[NarrZiss]

Originally Posted by markdub2

The game uses a different team name list for each league structure. So if you only put real team names in the 32team, 16 game list in the team_info file, but start up a 24 team, 16 game league (or 32 team, 17 game etc.) it will use the default names that come with the team_info file. I used the find and replace function (CTRL+H i think) to replace all the default names with the real ones.

Thanks. It worked.



I don't know why, but for some reason I can't renew with my staff. Whether it's with someone who has an expired contract or someone who still has a current contract for one season. The corresponding button is always grayed out on the appropriate date. I have now tried it over several seasons in two saves.





Does anyone know what I'm missing or what mistake I'm making?

[Levant2494]

Originally Posted by Cole

On default font, yes! Change the font (in game settings menu) to Arial size 14 font and it makes tons of difference for readability.

I'm a big fan of Avenir 85 Heavy, size 14 font myself but the downside is that it doesn't come on devices by default. The good thing is that fonts tend to be rather easy to install and that the game accepts fonts that didn't originate on the computer.

[Dutch]

Can someone please remind me what an asterisk (*) next to an injury status signifies?

Questionable* vs Questionable.

[johnnyshaka]

I believe the * means the player is tired.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

I believe the * means the player is tired.

That sounds familiar. Thank you.

[Pyser]

Finally fired this up. Feels lost and tedious so far but working through it. One quick question - are there player cards in the draft? Is the only way to see bars to hover over each player individually?

[henry296]

Why can't I sign any free agents before week 1? I need a backup nose tackle

[henry296]

Second question. didn't older versions remove players that are not active from the depth chart. Now they are still there, so it makes it hard to find depth chart issues.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by henry296

Second question. didn't older versions remove players that are not active from the depth chart. Now they are still there, so it makes it hard to find depth chart issues.

There is a drop down filter to show only active players on the roster screen, but nothing on the depth chart screens. The only reason I mention that is the functionality is there, it's just not universal throughout the experience. There should be a drop down for that (or preferably in my eyes, a checkbox to hide inactive/reserve players on the depth chart screens.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by henry296

Why can't I sign any free agents before week 1? I need a backup nose tackle

What happens on the player card/contract screen? Is there no option to "Make this offer"? I can see it prior to Exhibition Game #1.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Pyser

Finally fired this up. Feels lost and tedious so far but working through it. One quick question - are there player cards in the draft? Is the only way to see bars to hover over each player individually?

I'm getting some muscle memory after a few seasons and that helps, but there are definitely some possible additions that would help the flow. I think those will be teased out over time.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by henry296

Why can't I sign any free agents before week 1? I need a backup nose tackle

Are you looking under "Manage>Find a player" or "manage>free agency"?

First time I wanted to sign some players I went to "free agency" and thought "huh". Looked under "find a player" and was able to sort by position and was able to make offers and sign anyone I wanted.

[Sweed]

I sent this into Jim at customer support but wanted to ask here too, to make sure I'm not missing something.

Player locks on the depth chart/formations screen don't save along with your game. Is this by design, or an oversight? It's been along time since I played FOF so can't recall how those player locks worked in the past?

What I did while going through my defensive formations was to get all of the linemen set and then lock them. Rinse and repeat for LB and DB's. Easy way to know I've got everyone set.

Go back next day and load my game, have a player injured, and go to defensive formation chart and everybody is unlocked again. If the locks stick replacement would be as easy as unlocking injured player and asking the DC for his suggestion. Then take his suggestion or not. With the locks not saving if I want to ask the DC, without risking a total reshuffle of the selections, I would have to relock 54(?) players before asking.

With these locks not sticking it becomes a pain to use the "asking the coordinator" option.

[james17]

In the past, player locks did work from save to save. Looks like either a bug or lost feature.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by james17

In the past, player locks did work from save to save. Looks like either a bug or lost feature.

Yeah, that's what I thought too. Hopefully with my report Jim can "fix" (assuming not a design decision) it at some time. It's not a gamebreaker but would sure be a nice quality of life addition/return.

[Unimaginative]

Originally Posted by Cole

In several 20+ year sims, I feel like I'm seeing hugely successful coaches, often times with multiple years of consecutive playoff appearances and/or championships, eventually get fired after a poor season or two ... which is fine.. But then often sit unemployed or retire straight after.

Whereas in real life I feel like head coaches with big time pedigree usually get new head coaching jobs incredibly quickly, and don't generally sit unemployed (maybe I'm wrong about this perception?)

I know one of the patch items was creating less new staff, which perhaps could help, as less new staff, means existing game staff would get re-hired more often... but in my sims I'm still seeing too many head coaches who only have one tenure with one team then never coach/work again..

Anyone else seeing similar?

Another thought on coaching changes that I've noticed as I'm playing.

First off--the AI really oughta change coordinators more often. My league right now is in 2029, and a majority of teams still have the same coordinators they began the game with, through multiple head coaches and some DISASTEROUS years on the coordinators side of the ball. These long tenured coordinators often are not particularly good coordinators, either--but they stick around forever. Hiring a new HC should come with new coordinators more often than not, and coordinators who regularly oversee poor offenses/defenses shouldn't stick around for a decade.

I've been having a lot of feelings about the way coaching works in FoF right now; I might start a thread another time to talk about thoughts on how the system could be deepened and/or made more dynamic/engaging, even just as a thought exercise. Right now, it's been one of the more (re; only) disappointing parts of the new release for me.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Unimaginative

Another thought on coaching changes that I've noticed as I'm playing.

First off--the AI really oughta change coordinators more often. My league right now is in 2029, and a majority of teams still have the same coordinators they began the game with, through multiple head coaches and some DISASTEROUS years on the coordinators side of the ball. These long tenured coordinators often are not particularly good coordinators, either--but they stick around forever. Hiring a new HC should come with new coordinators more often than not, and coordinators who regularly oversee poor offenses/defenses shouldn't stick around for a decade.

I've been having a lot of feelings about the way coaching works in FoF right now; I might start a thread another time to talk about thoughts on how the system could be deepened and/or made more dynamic/engaging, even just as a thought exercise. Right now, it's been one of the more (re; only) disappointing parts of the new release for me.

A lot of coaches in RL are probably good at what they do (I have no idea but I’d guess so). I’d also think that players either buy into what the coach/coordinator is doing or they don’t. Might be a feature of their overall ratings. Player confidence. Street cred. Adaptability. Whatever. Another hidden reality is that coaches and coordinators get fired by the fan base. Maybe that’s why FOF9 doesn’t fire anybody. The AI fans don’t intimidate the AI or human owners.

[henry296]

for the signing a player, I found the list by going to the "Free Agent' team. when i click on the player, no actions are available in the drop action drop down.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by henry296

for the signing a player, I found the list by going to the "Free Agent' team. when i click on the player, no actions are available in the drop action drop down.

You make the offer under the "contract" tab.

Click the player then click the "contract" tab. On that page you should see the everything you need. The player will have his "requested" deal, or you can build your own offer with or without bonus.

[NawlinsFan]

Observation. As it was with FOF8 during FA some of the contract wants are way out of line with a leagues CAP settings. The obvious option is to not sign them and you end up with a number of excellent unsigned as you live under the CAP. I just wonder if there is a means of having the associated algorithm better tweaked to help reduce these increases to better represent leagues with reduced CAP settings.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Heh. I guess I misunderstood everything going on with the patch. You can extend them in that first stage of the *next* season. (I assumed that stage was just for extensions and RFAs like in the past.)

Yeah, is this a feature or a bug?

Seems like if you get to the 1st week of FA, it’s like having multiple players you can effectively franchise + offer a new contract to (just without having to go through the franchise part!)

Or in other works you have exclusive rights to as many of your own FA as you want, which doesn’t seem right?

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

There is. Same screen, just choose Free Agents as your team. That has long been my primary method of finding FA mentors.

Thanks, I was looking in the FA tab, not the roster tab - that was exactly what I wanted

[NawlinsFan]

Issue or not?

Started multiple universes with reduced CAP structures. Run a precedence and/or draft and the AI populates teams but while it comes close to the CAP seems to almost always exceed it. This has resulted in league wide draft pick losses due to exceeding the CAP as well as issues in subsequent seasons as teams begin to try to get under the CAP but burn through dead money in order to do so.

Add to this having salary requests that far exceed what a lessened league CAP structure can support and the AI begins a vicious cycle of signings and cuts and in some instances seem to have difficulty in maintaining a 53 man roster.

[Rofar1]

I think I'm missing something regarding Weight Training Setup. On the first day of training camp but I can't find a way to set anything up for whether a player should try to lose or gain weight.