FBCB2 discussion: Full version now available

[yeah826]

Originally Posted by legendsport

Since this seems to be a very active area for FBCB discussion I thought I'd post about a new MP league I'm starting. The plan is to have a linked college and pro league using the new Pro version as well as FBCB 2010.

I've created a complete NCAA Universe for the 1981-82 season with about 98% of the players being real guys (it's something like 4000 players) for the Fast Break College Basketball 2010 sim. It took literally two years (off and on) to do it.

The idea was that since the 81-82 season was the college debut of a bunch of Hall of Famers (you've probably heard of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, etc) it would be a great season to start a college league.

The plan going forward is to add a couple hundred real life recruits each season (so that the number is manageable, but we can likely avoid having any fictional players end up in the NBA). The recruits for the first season are already done and if it looks like the league will fly, I'll get started on the next batch of recruits asap.

If you're interested in signing up, head over to Hardwood Heroes Basketball League and then use the More Info/Sign-Up link to fill out the form which will gather all the info I need to add you to the league forum and, of course, the game.

I'd like to leave the pro sign-ups inactive for the time being, so you'll be able to sign up for the college league only initially. But when the pro game is released, those who've signed up for the college league will get first crack at grabbing an NBA squad.

Im interested how long is a season? Oh yeah and I want Houston I want to play with Hakeem and Clyde the Glide

[HeavyReign]

Originally Posted by korme

heavy, for some reason when I create a new league now, it times out and never gets past the setup screen. Any idea what could be causing that? (I'm using the .csv's recently posted in this thread)

That tells me you are hanging on conference scheduling which means either you don't have a recent enough patch or it didn't install correctly. Make sure you extract it to the actual install folder for the game as there are some schedule templates that need to make it to the schedule folder.

[korme]

Aha. I was extracting to Program Files and not Program Files (x86)

All better. Wonder how many "updates" I have been improperly installing and not using. You da man.

[HeavyReign]

If you want to fix the ACC schedule issue, download this file and remove the .000 extension (should be 15-18.dat) then use it to replace the one inside the schedule folder. I'll include it with the next patch as well whenever that happens.

[britrock88]

The king of customer service, everyone. I usually think of this:

[bryce]

I love this game (easily my favorite text sim of all time), and I just ordered a new laptop. Is it possible to move the game (and all the history / files) to the new laptop, and if so, how? Old machine runs on Vista, new will be Windows 8, if that matters...

thanks in advance.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by bryce

I love this game (easily my favorite text sim of all time), and I just ordered a new laptop. Is it possible to move the game (and all the history / files) to the new laptop, and if so, how? Old machine runs on Vista, new will be Windows 8, if that matters...

thanks in advance.

You need to unlicense on the old laptop first - I think there is an elicense icon in the control panel where you can do this.

All your league files are stored in the 'GDS' folder under documents - easiest way to find it is to select the 'open folder' button from the load screen. You'll also want to probably backup the entire FBCB install folder and copy it over the install you run on the new PC to keep all your current logos, etc.

[korme]

Interesting thing happened in my game.

In 1933 the North Carolina Tar Heels won the National Championship. Their head coach promptly left after the year to coach the Duke Blue Devils, where he has been for the past 10 seasons.

[Lathum]

what is this mid major poll and why am I in it playing as Washington?

[korme]

You can set the mid major poll's setting to exclude certain prestige level conferences.

Maybe the Pac-12 took a hit and is now 4*?

[Capital]

Fun game but I just got fired but I didn't see where I could try and select a new job that year. What should happen after you get fired from a job?

[Capital]

Also, does you as head coach improve over time at all? I played for 11 years with New Hampshire and never saw my coach improve.

[yeah826]

Originally Posted by Capital

Fun game but I just got fired but I didn't see where I could try and select a new job that year. What should happen after you get fired from a job?

Well you can go to human coaches and choose the Job offers tab this is to check if you have any offers from teams wanting to hire you. If you have a job you can check your email for new job offers.

Also I think your coach improves when you complete milestones I believe like 200 wins making it to the sweet sixteen 20 win season.

[HeavyReign]

Originally Posted by Lathum

what is this mid major poll and why am I in it playing as Washington?

Also take a look under league options and make sure the mid major poll max prestige didn't get changed to 5.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Capital

Also, does you as head coach improve over time at all? I played for 11 years with New Hampshire and never saw my coach improve.

Yes, although I'm not sure exactly what the criteria is. Did you have much success over those 11 seasons?

[Capital]

I really didn't have all that much success during my 11 years at New Hampshire (2 NITs but no NCAAs) which would lead to the firing. That was my first time playing so I'd like to think I have learned something and will start over.

Hmm...when I go to the Human Coaches tab, it appears to let me choose any team with the "Take Job" button because nothing exists when I select the "Job Offers" tab. That doesn't seem to make sense. I'm even able to re-select New Hampshire and now I'm their coach.

[HeavyReign]

If you go to job offers during the head coach hiring period then you will have at least one offer. If you go at any other point there wouldn't be an offer.

[larrymcg421]

Getting a run time error 9 during the "Determining CPU Recruiting Actions Stage".

[HeavyReign]

If you post or send me the save I'll take a look at it.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm back into this game after a long hiatus and I can't recall: How often do coaches get bonus points? Is there a certain time of year I have to use them? Do they disappear if I don't? I'm only about 8 years into my career, but thought I might have earned a few by now.

[OldGiants]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm back into this game after a long hiatus and I can't recall: How often do coaches get bonus points? Is there a certain time of year I have to use them? Do they disappear if I don't? I'm only about 8 years into my career, but thought I might have earned a few by now.

You should get an email telling you to go your coaches screen. There you can add the points as you desire. If you don't use them, they stay there until you do. I can definitely verify that. Once they are there, you can add whenever you want to.

[murrayyyyy]

Brian, how much of a factor are days off in the game? I'm just wondering if it make a major difference in assigning conference games on the Sat, Wed, Mon instead of Sun, Fri, Wed for scheduled days?

I know for minor injuries it would make a difference but is there a hidden factor based off days rest?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by HeavyReign

If you go to job offers during the head coach hiring period then you will have at least one offer. If you go at any other point there wouldn't be an offer.

Will do. I'm a little worried that you of all people would call our UW a mid major

[bryce]

So I'm really not bright when it comes to a laptop migration. Trying to move FBCB to my new machine. Got it unlicensed on the old. Downloaded it on the new. Here is my latest conundrum:

I copied over two sets of files from the old to the new, one being all the GDS files (which look to be the program files) and the other being from my documents (which look to be my career saves.) These are in folders currently just sitting on my new desktop.

I went to find the elicense file to move into the new directory on the new machine and noticed a whole slew of other files from the old GDS directory that did not come through on the new download. Do I need to move these as well? Examples are: chilkatftp, fbcb,ini, highschools.dat, injuries.dat (amongst others).

Thanks in advance; any help is greatly appreciated.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bryce

I went to find the elicense file to move into the new directory on the new machine and noticed a whole slew of other files from the old GDS directory that did not come through on the new download. Do I need to move these as well? Examples are: chilkatftp, fbcb,ini, highschools.dat, injuries.dat (amongst others).

Those files will be created by a new install, so you don't have to do anything with them. The only reason you would want to is if you'd specifically made changes to them yourself in the past to customize the game in any way (or downloaded custom files from other people).

[bryce]

Got the game licensed on the new laptop but getting this error when trying to run:

"Write access to data folder C:\users\public\documents\gds\fast break college basketball 2010 denied. Testing C:\program files\gds\fast break college basketball 2010"

I tried running it normally and as administrator, both times same error. Then RTE 53.

Any ideas?

Thanks again.

[HeavyReign]

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

Brian, how much of a factor are days off in the game? I'm just wondering if it make a major difference in assigning conference games on the Sat, Wed, Mon instead of Sun, Fri, Wed for scheduled days?

I know for minor injuries it would make a difference but is there a hidden factor based off days rest?

Right now I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter. Modeling stamina better would be one of my future goals.

[HeavyReign]

Originally Posted by bryce

Got the game licensed on the new laptop but getting this error when trying to run:

"Write access to data folder C:\users\public\documents\gds\fast break college basketball 2010 denied. Testing C:\program files\gds\fast break college basketball 2010"

I tried running it normally and as administrator, both times same error. Then RTE 53.

Any ideas?

Thanks again.

We need to verify that the install actually succeeded. What version of windows are you using and is it 32-bit or 64-bit? If you are getting the above error when running as admin that tells me the folder doesn't exist. If we can determine where Windows told the installer the data folder is located, we can manually point the game to the correct folder. I can figure out which folder it should be using based on which version of Windows you have.

[bryce]

Originally Posted by HeavyReign

We need to verify that the install actually succeeded. What version of windows are you using and is it 32-bit or 64-bit? If you are getting the above error when running as admin that tells me the folder doesn't exist. If we can determine where Windows told the installer the data folder is located, we can manually point the game to the correct folder. I can figure out which folder it should be using based on which version of Windows you have.

Windows 8 64bit.

Thanks for the help.

[HeavyReign]

The folder listed above is the correct data folder for Win8 64-bit. Try navigating to the folder in windows explorer and let me know what you find.

C:\users\public\documents\gds\fast break college basketball 2010

[bryce]

Originally Posted by HeavyReign

The folder listed above is the correct data folder for Win8 64-bit. Try navigating to the folder in windows explorer and let me know what you find.

C:\users\public\documents\gds\fast break college basketball 2010

Nada. Folder is empty...

[HeavyReign]

Ok, everything you've mentioned including missing files above in the main game directory tells me that the install has not been successfully run. I would download the full install from here:

http://www.fbbgames.com/FBCB2010SETUP.exe

Then right-click on it and choose run as administrator. Click next on each option until the game installs then try running the game again. If the game will run without giving you the unable to write error then you should be ok to copy the files you backed up in the data folder (the my documents one) to the current folder which should make it possible to load your saved games.

[bryce]

That did the trick, thanks so much again!

[dave731]

HR, some possible food for thought on upcoming versions....

Scheduling difficult road games at a smaller school really doesn't have much benefit to the school...or at least I don't really see it for certain. However, IRL, teams that play larger schools are seeing fat checks which can be huge to their athletic department and ultimately their basketball program. Namely in the form of better facilities and better coaches (through increased payroll). There may be other ways to make this translate into the game.

It has been mentioned about a more robust career mode and I think there is room for improvement here as well. CH2K8 had a pretty good handle on this IMO. I'd also like to see some form of risk taking allowed. Maybe the ability to "cheat" a little in recruiting of players with a risk reward tradeoff. NCAA infractions could range from lost scholarships, postseason bans, and even result in your firing.

Just thinking out loud...

[EVEN8184]

Hey guys, I've been playing the demo version and have enjoyed it and will probably buy it soon. I have a question and if no, a suggestion. Is there any easy way to see if a game has gone into Overtime? Such as on the Team Schedule screen to show (OT) after the score or in the game box score?

[britrock88]

In the game box score, under the teams' scores will be either "Final" or "Final - OT." To find out how many OTs a game went to, you either have to check the PBP or add up all the minutes played for one team and divide by 5.

[EVEN8184]

Ok, thanks.

[Jon]

What is the difference between "None" and "Independent" under the conference function in editing the league.

I'm working on a 1993-94 conference setup and I'm deciding what to do with the non-D1 teams for now.

[HeavyReign]

"None" is a placeholder for when a new team gets added. Every team must have a conference even if the conference is set to play 0 games.

[Sporkimata]

I keep trying to reinstall FBCB2 and keep getting a error 11. I contacted E-license but they say they cant do anything for me and to contact GreyDog and havent heard anything from them yet. Anything I can do?

[HeavyReign]

Sent you a PM

[Warhammer]

OK, so I loaded this up today. What is the best settings to use getting going? I figure I'll use hard, but what sort of conference movement, etc.

Also, what is the best way to edit the tournaments?

Do you guys wait for offers, or just take over a team, etc.?

[Sporkimata]

Thank you much!

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

OK, so I loaded this up today. What is the best settings to use getting going? I figure I'll use hard, but what sort of conference movement, etc.

Also, what is the best way to edit the tournaments?

Do you guys wait for offers, or just take over a team, etc.?

All of this is going to be personal preference entirely.

With conference movement, "full" conference movement will move teams around quite a bit. The landscape of the league will change quickly. "Limited" conference movement makes it a bit of a challenge, you'll see a few teams move here and there. This is more of "promote/relegation" than what we're seeing as far as real world re-alignment, by the way. So if you want to see if Vanderbilt will drop out of the SEC or if Gonzaga could eventually rule the Pac-10, this setting is for you. Also, it gives you the option to start at a small school and try to bring your school up from Independent (or some prestige 1 conference) to the Big Ten, instead of a more traditional route of progression where you try to get your coach hired at bigger and bigger schools.

Same with the tournament structures, the default is like it is in the real world right now, with 4 play-in games in the NCAA tournament, and the existence of the CBI/CIT at the bottom.

[OldGiants]

Just to expand on Radii's excellent summary, I like to think to think as "No Conference Movement" as meaning you want to have a coach-oriented career and work your way up the ladder to bigger jobs. "Full conference movement" resembles world soccer in that teams move up and down the ladder. This is the option to choose if you want to take (say) North Carolina Central to the ACC.

One thing I'll add is DO NOT choose both conference reputation change and full school reputation change. That gets a bit confused as it stands. I've tried this and found myself being promoted back into my original league on my second promotion. That is, I went from Metro Atlantic to Ivy, won the Ivy and then got promoted back into the Metro Atlantic because that league had become a 2 while the Ivy (largely because I was now in it, I think) had dropped down to a 1. So be aware.

Also, if you want a harder experience I think turning off academics makes it easier for the AI schools to develop players because the AI is a bit conservative when it comes to allocating time to academics. Letting them not worry about that makes it a bit harder for you.

On the other hand, choosing an "academic theme" where you only go after smart kids is fun, too. There you would need academics on.

I'm trying to convince myself to try a 'Full Carnage" game in which I have Freshman eligibility for the draft on, Injuries at 200% and academics at 200%.

[Jon]

I've done the 1993 mod, placed all non-D1 teams to independent.

I've also updated conferences on an annual basis, and tried keeping the defunct conferences by zeroing out everything to at least be able to see the history. Unfortunately, when I do this and go to conference history, I get a subscript "9" error and the game crashes out.

Is there a way to keep this history around instead of just deleting the conference?

Thanks.

[HeavyReign]

Send me what you've got and I'll see what is causing the error.

[JPhillips]

Third year in of running Jackson State. We were never ranked, but I got wins at Kentucky, Memphis and LSU.

[Warhammer]

How do you check conference prestige?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

How do you check conference prestige?

Tools->Edit Current League->Conferences will allow you to see all conferences prestige. I'm not sure if there is a better way to look at all that.