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

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Oregon's starting QB played the entire game. He went 35 for 37 for 378 yards and 6 TDs. He also ran the ball 8 times for 55 yards and 2 TDs.

Yeah, but just think: if/when the Lions draft him, he'll really suck balls.

[I. J. Reilly]

But if he goes at #3 overall to Cincy he'll be just fine.

[bigdawg2003]

I have a question about recruiting (sorry if it's been asked before);

If a player commits to your school and you used a recruiting pitch, if your school doesn't live up to what you pitched will that make the player more likely to transfer. Example, if you pitch playing time then the guy rots on the bench for two years, or you pitch a chance to win but don't even make a bowl game.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by digamma

One other minor complaint...

Two point logic may also be a bit off.

I scored to go up by 11 in the fourth quarter. We went for two instead of kicking the field goal to go up by 12. The two point conversion was no good, so I was left with an 11 point lead and the possibility that a touch down and field goal could still tie.

I saw this again. This time my opponent did score and go for two to make it a field goal game.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

*sigh*

I've had to abandon my current career (coaching New Mexico) due to overwhelming injuries. This is with the most recent, updated version of the game.

Top two QBs (questionable and doubtful)
Top three RBs (out, doubtful, questionable)
Starting FB (doubtful)
Reserve WR (out)
Reserve TE (out)
Starting center (out)
Reserve guard (out)
Starting DE (questionable)
Starting DT (out)
Starting ILB (out)
Two top safeties (both out)

And we had no depth to begin with.

No fun...

I'm getting close to this point as well.

Starting QB injured (Questionable, but hurt within 5-10 plays if I play him)
Three top RB's are injured to some degree.
3 WR's injured.
Top TE out.
3 OT's injured
1 OG out.
Center just back from injury.
2 DE's out.
2 DT's questionable or worse.
1 FS injured.

Frustrating.

[TazFTW]

Is there any benefit from running a coordinator's preferred system? I've seen AI teams run the option or smash mouth and their OC prefers west coast, run n gun, or vertical passing. AI teams also change their philosophies yearly, which I don't think is realistic.

Why do I need to hire a new coaching staff every year? At the end of every season, I get an email each from my OC, DC, and ST coach saying they feel they're not being paid enough and have decided to opt out of their contract. There'll need to be contract lengths for coaches and if they want to opt out, the school should get some money back in return.

I think 5 star recruits should wait longer to make their decision. From what I have seen, all 5 star recruits have committed by the halfway point of the recruiting period.

[Galaril]

This game is in bad need of this update very soon people seem to be losing that fun factor. For me it still is fun but if I keep losing 4 qbs in game.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Is there any benefit from running a coordinator's preferred system? I've seen AI teams run the option or smash mouth and their OC prefers west coast, run n gun, or vertical passing. AI teams also change their philosophies yearly, which I don't think is realistic.

Why do I need to hire a new coaching staff every year? At the end of every season, I get an email each from my OC, DC, and ST coach saying they feel they're not being paid enough and have decided to opt out of their contract. There'll need to be contract lengths for coaches and if they want to opt out, the school should get some money back in return.

Well, from my limited experience, I tried to run an offense my OC was not made for (he was smash mouth, I was spread) and i went 2-9 even though he was one of the better coordinators in the game. The next year my budget was slashed almost to the bone, and the bare bones OC I picked up who shared the philosophy I wanted and I finished 7-4. I think it does matter, but I'm not sure how much

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Galaril

This game is in bad need of this update very soon people seem to be losing that fun factor. For me it still is fun but if I keep losing 4 qbs in game.

Mine's on hold until a new patch, but my enthusiasm is definitly there. I have one day of work left this week and then I'm off until 01/04!! I might even start a new dynasty thread in hopes I can actually keep it going for more than a week.

[ThunderingHERD]

Why does the PBP seem so intent on frustrating you? Do "perfect passes" ever get caught? etc, etc. Seems like there's about 10 could have been 6s for every 6.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Is there any benefit from running a coordinator's preferred system? I've seen AI teams run the option or smash mouth and their OC prefers west coast, run n gun, or vertical passing. AI teams also change their philosophies yearly, which I don't think is realistic.

Why do I need to hire a new coaching staff every year? At the end of every season, I get an email each from my OC, DC, and ST coach saying they feel they're not being paid enough and have decided to opt out of their contract. There'll need to be contract lengths for coaches and if they want to opt out, the school should get some money back in return.

I think 5 star recruits should wait longer to make their decision. From what I have seen, all 5 star recruits have committed by the halfway point of the recruiting period.

yes.

if you match the same offense or defense of your coordinator, you get a bonus arlie said.

no penalty if you dont match.

[ThunderingHERD]

North Carolina ball, Q2, 1-10-CLEM40 (00:17) 0-7
Roy Rosenbach misses the 58 yard field goal. It will be Clemson ball at the CLEM 40

I still had two time outs here, btw. It seems like the computer will always go for a FG with 20 seconds or less left regardless of the timeout situation or how ridiculous a distance.

North Carolina ball, Q4, 4-1-CLEM5 (02:34) 13-14
Offense: Short Pass, Set: Pro Set, Play: PS-HB-screen
Defense: Normal, Set: 5-2, Play: 52-norm-ZoneBlitz
QB I. Wycheck completes a 5 yard screen to RB G. Barton ****Touchdown!*****

Down by 1 with two and a half minutes left the computer passes on the field goal. I guess this one is halfway believable, but it happens all the time in BB. Fortunately I made it, but man was I pissed when I saw the screen drawn up. I'm like 10% on screen attempts.

North Carolina ball, Q4, 3-6-CLEM23 (00:22) 19-14
Offense: Inside Run, Set: SingleBack, Play: SB-HB-counter-LG
Defense: Stop Pass, Set: 5-2, Play: 52-pass-DZ
The QB takes a knee.

North Carolina ball, Q4, 4-7-CLEM24 (00:00) 19-14
Roy Rosenbach has his 42 yard field goal blocked by Randy Coolbaugh! The ball is recovered 
by Sylvester Jones (CLEM) at the CLEM 30. He returns it to Clemson 33 for 3 yards.

My favorite. This was the ACC championship, btw. I think if that block had been returned for a TD I would never have played the game again. Ever.

[Galaril]

The game AI overall is quite good, Great job Arlie. I had a game last night where Air Force was up on Unlv 14-3 in the late 3rd quarter. UNLV scored aTD and went for the two point conversion. They did make it got the ball back later in the game and kicked a fieldgoal that tied up the game. There might still be some problems with the 2 minutes at the end of half, game and ot.

[Toddzilla]

Will the update - which is addressing the magnitude of injuries - also address the AI's propensity to put injured players in the game wheter ot not they are on the depth chart? If I lose one more starter for the year after the AI subs them when I take them off the depth chart completely, my head will a-splode.

[Tim Tellean]

todd the update will address your issues

[Toddzilla]

Tim - thanks

(gratuitios effort to hit post #200 - nyah)

[ThunderingHERD]

Game just froze when I tried to say during training camp, set coaching philosophies stage. Lost hours.

[John Galt]

Rankings issues continue to confuse me. I'm playing Notre Dame (which is painful for me to admit, but it was the best job offer available) and this is what has happened so far. I started out ranked in the teens.

I beat a ranked Michigan State team at home (they are currently ranked 20th).
I beat an unranked Air Force team at home.
I lose to a ranked Michigan team on the road by a TD (they are currently ranked 11th).
I beat a then number one ranked USC team on the road (they are currently ranked 7th after the loss).

After all this, the computers have me at 17th. So what do the coaches rank me? 28th. The media? 31st. After knocking off a number 1 USC team on the road and with another victory against a ranked opponent, Notre Dame (of all places) can't break into the top 25 (even when the computers have them easily within). Very strange.

[John Galt]

dola. After beating an unranked Navy team at home (to go 4-1 total), the coaches dropped me to 29th and the media moved me up one slot to 30th. I'm still not in the top 25.

[John Galt]

double dola.

So, I go on to beat Temple at home (that finally puts me in the top 25).

Then, I face another number 1 team in Purdue. This time it is at home, and I am victorious. So, my team is now 7-1. We have beaten two teams that were ranked number 1 at the time. One was at home and one on the road. Purdue is currently ranked 2nd even after the loss. USC is 9th (they have lost a 2nd game). My only loss is to Michigan who is ranked 3rd overall and that loss was on the road. There is only 1 undefeated team in the country. So, you would expect Notre Dame to be jockeying for a championship bid. No, the team is ranked 13th in both polls behind 3 2-loss teams. Notre Dame is actually the 2nd lowest ranked 1-loss team (ahead of only TCU).

I think the game rankings are paying way too much attention to offense and defense rankings. My biggest jumps in the poll are when my underachieving defense plays a good game. Right now, my defense is ranked 82nd (my offense is 17th). Quality of opponents beaten should matter a lot more. And if the game really wanted to be realistic, program prestige would figure more prominently.

[duckman]

I just bought the game yesterday and have been enjoying it so far.

One thing I've noticed is that when you hit Suggest on the gameplan that I would occasionally get values greater than 100 on some of the situations. I would have to manually adjust them in order to continue.

[KWhit]

I had a crash to desktop at the end of recruiting the other night in my first offseason. It was very late, so I haven't done any trial and error to see if I can go back to an earlier save or anything like that.

But I did start a new career on my laptop and while simming game 3 of the first season I noticed on the boxscore that my #3 QB has the most attempts. I check my depth chart and, what do you know, my top 2 QBS were injured in the same game. Again. In the 3rd game of a new career. Ugh...

My #1 QB is out 6 weeks with a ruptured spleen (same injury that knocked one of guys out in my last career). The other guy is questionable with a knee injury for 4 weeks.

So I have played 2 careers and a total of only 14 games so far in those careers and have lost 4 QBs to injury - each for at least 4 weeks (most for longer than that). And in both the careers, I had to go to my #3 QB.

So there is still definitely work to be done with injuries.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by John Galt

So, I go on to beat Temple at home (that finally puts me in the top 25).

Well, DUH. Everyone knows that taking down the Owls is a key indicator of greatness.

[bhlloy]

Any plans to allow us to change players numbers in the update Arles? I had my star WR wear #69 all year and i couldn't change it, which sucked

[Tim Tellean]

duckman what type of offense were you using?
kwhit the reason for the crash is you have more then 100 players on your watch list, its a known issue.

Could anyone with issues with the game post at the actual game site www.greydogsoftware.com

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Tim Tellean

kwhit the reason for the crash is you have more then 100 players on your watch list, its a known issue.

Yes, I saw that posted above. I don't think I have that many on my list, but it's possible. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Well, DUH. Everyone knows that taking down the Owls is a key indicator of greatness.

So, after championship week, these are the media rankings:

1. Oklahoma 12-0
2. Purdue 10-1 (Notre Dame is their one loss)
3. Florida State 10-2 (having just lost in the ACC title game to Virginia Tech)
4. Oregon State 10-2 (despite having just lost to unranked Oregon)
5. Florida 10-3 (at least they won their title game, but they have 3 losses!)
6. TCU 11-1
7. Notre Dame 10-1

That’s right. Notre Dame is now the lowest ranked 1-loss team despite having just beaten then ranked 17th Boston College. TCU with its 100th ranked strength of schedule moved ahead of the Irish.

The things the Irish have against them:

1. 72nd SOS. This is a result of all the crappy (Army, Navy, Rutgers, Temple) pre-scheduled games. I can’t help that, but it doesn’t seem to hurt the Irish in the real world. Either way, TCU is higher with an even worse SOS, so I’m not sure that is the key.
2. 41st ranked defense. Not that bad given were it was earlier. Still, I think most of my gains in the polls were due to defensive improvement and not winning big games.

In the real world, there would be a big argument about whether Notre Dame or Purdue should be in the title game since Notre Dame beat them head-to-head. If Purdue went before the Irish, that would upset me, but in a realistic way. Being behind 3-loss Florida, 1-loss TCU, and two 2-loss teams that just lost their last game makes ZERO sense to me.

At least in the GDS rankings, Notre Dame is 4th (still behind 2 loss Florida State). But the reason we are 4th and not 3rd or 2nd is the bizarre media and coaches polls. Oh well, the team plays 15th ranked Virginia Tech in a BCS game.

[Bee]

Originally Posted by Tim Tellean

Could anyone with issues with the game post at the actual game site www.greydogsoftware.com

No, but thanks for asking.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Bee

No, but thanks for asking.

[digamma]

Another minor quibble...

I'm not sure if YAC in the game are realistic, or perhaps better stated, they don't match up with the PBP. I didn't save the PBP here, but in the game it was something like "he was off to the races." Game log:

Georgia Tech ball, Q2, 3-9-GT35 (02:40) 3-6 Offense: Medium Pass, Set: Trips, Play: TR-FL-slant-SE-post Defense: Stop Run, Set: 4-3, Play: 43-run-SZ-B5 QB T. Kitchings completes a 65 yard cross to WR B. Avery ****Touchdown!*****

In the box score, though, he only has 16 YAC for the game. (He only had one other catch on a curl, so the bulk of his YAC had to come from this play.) If he only got 16 YAC on this play, then my QB threw a 49 yard cross on a medium pass call.

Maybe we're back to the end result is ok, but how we're getting there is a bit off.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by John Galt

1. Oklahoma 12-0
2. Purdue 10-1 (Notre Dame is their one loss)
3. Florida State 10-2 (having just lost in the ACC title game to Virginia Tech)
4. Oregon State 10-2 (despite having just lost to unranked Oregon)
5. Florida 10-3 (at least they won their title game, but they have 3 losses!)
6. TCU 11-1
7. Notre Dame 10-1

Yikes.

[digamma]

A couple of other minor gripes:

punt return yard averages seem to be a bit high.

On the roster page, sorting by status doesn't group all of my injured players together--they are in clumps of 3 or 4 injured players across my roster. Is there another way to group my injured players, so I see them all?

[John Galt]

My 2nd season with the Irish (7th overall in my career) ends a little better with the polls, but there are still major problems, IMO. This is the top of the media poll:

1. Virginia Tech 10-1
2. LSU 11-1
3. NC State 10-2 (despite just losing the ACC championship to Virginia Tech)
4. Ohio State 10-1 (despite just losing to #17 Michigan)
5. Notre Dame 10-1

TCU is the only other 1 loss team and they are 9th this time.

My only loss was to Purdue on the road in week 4 by 5 points. They were then ranked 7th and I was ranked 12th. It seems to me that the game acts in the opposite of reality in punishing loses. Teams that lose late rarely fall from their ranking. I lost to Purdue, had already beat #5 USC, and unranked Bowling Green (who had been to bowl games the last couple years). After losing to Purdue, I disappear from the rankings entirely and don't again reach my preseason ranking of 14th until my team is 7-1. On the other hand, teams that lose in the later half of the season don't seem to fall more than a couple ranks.

A couple other notable facts about the 1 through 5 rankings:

1. Virginia Tech, 11-1, SOS 4, Top 25 2-1
2. LSU, 11-1, SOS 6, Top 25 3-1
3. NC State, 10-2, SOS 14, Top 25 1-1
4. Ohio State, 10-1, SOS 74, Top 25 3-1
5. Notre Dame, 10-1, SOS 67, Top 25 3-1 (Alabama finished 26th or it would be 4-1)

Basically, with Notre Dame's schedule, it is hard to ever get a decent SOS. I added Alabama, Arkansas, and Bowling Green to my schedule and couldn't get any better teams to play me. Ohio State and NC State wouldn't be ahead of me in the real world since they are coming off loses. The rankings aren't nearly as bad as my first season with ND, but they are still problematic.

[Arles]

Here's patch 1.03:

http://72.29.67.246/GDS/BBUpdate.exe

Changes:
1. Crash To Desktop due to watch list/scouting over 100 players.
2. Fixed issue of 2 year players declaring early.
3. Depth chart interface issues (bottom grid - ST players card).
4. Fix the in-game issue of "Out" players sometimes playing.
5. Adding in the injuries option (5 levels).
6. Reduced the seriousness of injuries.
7. Button for "Suggest all" in training.
8. Option to turn off academics.
9. Fix the default OR and IR gameplans for certain offensive philosophies. (only good for new careers)
10. Fix the FG max range issue - it now is the actual FG length, not the yardage to the endzone.
11. Added 1-100 numerical value for prestige.
12. Adjusted engine for making Field goals.
13. Suggest for option now includes I-Form instead of Pro Set.
14. Both saves on the offensive gamplan screen now save Max FG and 4th down preferences.

Update 1.1 will focus on the polls, play by play, editor, HTML and a playoff bracket (as well as other issues that come up). Based on some great feedback from some users here (specifically CraigSca), I am going to redo the polls for 1.1 to be more like real life. The tradeoff will be it will become very difficult for unranked teams at the start of the season to ever make a BCS game, but we'll see how it goes. Still, that's how it is in real life and I will do my best to mimic that. But, polls are not an exact science and it's one of these things where it will undoubtedly be criticised no matter how they are done. Still, that's no reason to stop trying.

[WSUCougar]

Great stuff. Thanks, Arles, for your continued hard work.

[VPI97]

Thanks Arlie.

[wbatl1]

Originally Posted by Arles

Here's patch 1.03:

http://72.29.67.246/GDS/BBUpdate.exe

Changes:
1. Crash To Desktop due to watch list/scouting over 100 players.
2. Fixed issue of 2 year players declaring early.
3. Depth chart interface issues (bottom grid - ST players card).
4. Fix the in-game issue of "Out" players sometimes playing.
5. Adding in the injuries option (5 levels).
6. Reduced the seriousness of injuries.
7. Button for "Suggest all" in training.
8. Option to turn off academics.
9. Fix the default OR and IR gameplans for certain offensive philosophies. (only good for new careers)
10. Fix the FG max range issue - it now is the actual FG length, not the yardage to the endzone.
11. Added 1-100 numerical value for prestige.
12. Adjusted engine for making Field goals.
13. Suggest for option now includes I-Form instead of Pro Set.
14. Both saves on the offensive gamplan screen now save Max FG and 4th down preferences.

Update 1.1 will focus on the polls, play by play, editor, HTML and a playoff bracket (as well as other issues that come up). Based on some great feedback from some users here (specifically CraigSca), I am going to redo the polls for 1.1 to be more like real life. The tradeoff will be it will become very difficult for unranked teams at the start of the season to ever make a BCS game, but we'll see how it goes. Still, that's how it is in real life and I will do my best to mimic that. But, polls are not an exact science and it's one of these things where it will undoubtedly be criticised no matter how they are done. Still, that's no reason to stop trying.

YEeeeeeeeeeehhhhaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww....Thanks so much for this unexpected patch Arlie.

[sovereignstar]

Curious, what did CraigSca have to say about the polls? Perhaps something in this thread that I missed?

[George]

Nice work, Arlie!

[CamEdwards]

awesome. thanks arlie.

[Eaglesfan27]

Excellent. Now, I can't wait to get off work and start a new career

[Arles]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

Curious, what did CraigSca have to say about the polls? Perhaps something in this thread that I missed?

It was in a PM to me.

[Cuckoo]

Great stuff. I've been enjoying the game quite a bit, and this is great to see. For that reason, I hate to make another request.

But is there any way we can get healed players included in the injury e-mail?

[duckman]

Originally Posted by Tim Tellean

duckman what type of offense were you using?

I am running a vertical passing offense.

[duckman]

I just finished updating my copy and it shows the original and the 1.03 in my Add/Remove Software under my Control Panel. Is it safe to remove the "old" version?

[digamma]

Is there a way to view recruiting rankings? I know how to see how my team ranked, but I'm not finding a complete list. Am I just missing it?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by digamma

Is there a way to view recruiting rankings? I know how to see how my team ranked, but I'm not finding a complete list. Am I just missing it?

I don't think there is. That's a report that I'm requesting for the 1.1 update, though.

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by Arles

Here's patch 1.03:

http://72.29.67.246/GDS/BBUpdate.exe

Changes:
1. Crash To Desktop due to watch list/scouting over 100 players.
2. Fixed issue of 2 year players declaring early.
3. Depth chart interface issues (bottom grid - ST players card).
4. Fix the in-game issue of "Out" players sometimes playing.
5. Adding in the injuries option (5 levels).
6. Reduced the seriousness of injuries.
7. Button for "Suggest all" in training.
8. Option to turn off academics.
9. Fix the default OR and IR gameplans for certain offensive philosophies. (only good for new careers)
10. Fix the FG max range issue - it now is the actual FG length, not the yardage to the endzone.
11. Added 1-100 numerical value for prestige.
12. Adjusted engine for making Field goals.
13. Suggest for option now includes I-Form instead of Pro Set.
14. Both saves on the offensive gamplan screen now save Max FG and 4th down preferences.

Update 1.1 will focus on the polls, play by play, editor, HTML and a playoff bracket (as well as other issues that come up). Based on some great feedback from some users here (specifically CraigSca), I am going to redo the polls for 1.1 to be more like real life. The tradeoff will be it will become very difficult for unranked teams at the start of the season to ever make a BCS game, but we'll see how it goes. Still, that's how it is in real life and I will do my best to mimic that. But, polls are not an exact science and it's one of these things where it will undoubtedly be criticised no matter how they are done. Still, that's no reason to stop trying.

Great! Thanks Arlie.

[MizzouRah]

Great news indeed!! Tomorrow is vacation day 1 (only 11 to go) and I'm kicking off my Troy dynasty. Thanks!!!

[Arles]

Originally Posted by duckman

I just finished updating my copy and it shows the original and the 1.03 in my Add/Remove Software under my Control Panel. Is it safe to remove the "old" version?

No, doing that will remove 80% of the files you need to run. The reason there are multiple versions in your add/remove is that each update adds new files.