first pitch meatballs....bug?

[wtfickle]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

I've found that taking a timeout (down on the dpad) when the pitching display grays out seems to prevent this issue. This is on RTTS and a low difficulty, but I'm noticing the pitchers throw out of the zone and different pitch types.

[dkrause1971]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

Could the game be sticking with whatever we choose for that initial question when the game first loaded up? Beginner, experienced and advanced i think they were. I believe i pick experienced. Perhaps Nomo and those not seeing it picked something different that those seeing it. Maybe those with the disk version could try the full uninstall and try. I have the download version, so its much more of a hassle for me.

I have switched difficulty in the middle of these games and turned PCI on and the PCI was clearly larger or smaller based on difficulty while i still had the same results. Clearly could be tested further and by more people. I do believe its something in the settings but i would ask wouldn't it be on all pitches then? I haven't played on beginner or rookie before so i don't know.

[nomo17k]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

Could the game be sticking with whatever we choose for that initial question when the game first loaded up? Beginner, experienced and advanced i think they were. I believe i pick experienced. Perhaps Nomo and those not seeing it picked something different that those seeing it. Maybe those with the disk version could try the full uninstall and try. I have the download version, so its much more of a hassle for me.

I have switched difficulty in the middle of these games and turned PCI on and the PCI was clearly larger or smaller based on difficulty while i still had the same results. Clearly could be tested further and by more people. I do believe its something in the settings but i would ask wouldn't it be on all pitches then? I haven't played on beginner or rookie before so i don't know.

I picked Expert profile for my own, and also created another one and chose Beginner and played exhibition games using those users after customizing the profiles (to All-star, Zone hitting, etc.)... but I haven't seen the same issue.

[theSmilingAssassin27]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

I think Bobhead might be onto something with playing on a different difficulty level than the game says, i.e. it might say HOF but could be stuck on Veteran etc.

Worth testing later.

How does difficulty level work in CPU vs. CPU games? Does it use the difficulty on the default profile, or is there no difficulty level at all? I ran those 3 CPU games with all-star difficulty in my default profile, and I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to run the same 3 games with a higher difficulty in the default profile.

[dkrause1971]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

How does difficulty level work in CPU vs. CPU games? Does it use the difficulty on the default profile, or is there no difficulty level at all? I ran those 3 CPU games with all-star difficulty in my default profile, and I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to run the same 3 games with a higher difficulty in the default profile.

I ran mine on hall of fame and had similar results as you (they are a few pages back). However i wondered the same thing on the CPU vs CPU difficulty. Since its similar to what i am seeing when i play, i didn't ask further. We really need more testers.

[nomo17k]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

Difficulty levels don't matter in CPU vs. CPU games.

They are supposedly played on All-star level (meaning, the game is tested and tuned on that level to what it considered to be *the* sim results... and then lower and higher levels are adjusted to cater to users with different abilities).


... and that's partly why I still am very confused as to why you seem to get results so different from mine... I'm getting roughly what I expect out of CPU vs CPU games... it is slightly strike friendly for sure (on purpose), but strike % isn't nearly where you guys report at, and I certainly see many more non-primary pitches used for first pitches.

[theSmilingAssassin27]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

Difficulty levels don't matter in CPU vs. CPU games.

They are supposedly played on All-star level (meaning, the game is tested and tuned on that level to what it considered to be *the* sim results... and then lower and higher levels are adjusted to cater to users with different abilities).

Ok thanks, good to know, now I won't be wasting my time with that.

... and that's partly why I still am very confused as to why you seem to get results so different from mine... I'm getting roughly what I expect out of CPU vs CPU games... it is slightly strike friendly for sure (on purpose), but strike % isn't nearly where you guys report at, and I certainly see many more non-primary pitches used for first pitches.

Yea it's crazy how different out results are, which keeps me thinking that there is a difference somewhere in our settings- but I'm not holding out much hope for that.

[ParisB]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

I've found that taking a timeout (down on the dpad) when the pitching display grays out seems to prevent this issue. This is on RTTS and a low difficulty, but I'm noticing the pitchers throw out of the zone and different pitch types.

I just tried this and it seems to have worked/helped (granted, it was 1 game).

Try it out guys, wtfickle might be on to something.

I was LAA @ Tex and they had Harrison going. All-star Default as usual (Exhibition).

I called time (pushing down on D-pad) at the beginning of each inning, right after the CPU selects its pitch and the selection greys out.

I ended the game with Texas throwing around 50% strikes on first pitches (screenshots coming). I had 6 BB since it felt like I wasn't in 0-1 and 0-2 holes almost every at-bat (especially to start the inning). The pitching felt a little more opened up and I wasn't stressing about either taking the easy strike or keeping the CPU's pitch count low because my at-bats would end in 2 pitches.

I'll try a couple more games and see how it goes.

[ParisB]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

This was encouraging. First game I ever had more walks than hits.

[dkrause1971]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

I just tried this and it seems to have worked/helped (granted, it was 1 game).

Try it out guys, wtfickle might be on to something.

I was LAA @ Tex and they had Harrison going. All-star Default as usual (Exhibition).

I called time (pushing down on D-pad) at the beginning of each inning, right after the CPU selects its pitch and the selection greys out.

I ended the game with Texas throwing around 50% strikes on first pitches (screenshots coming). I had 6 BB since it felt like I wasn't in 0-1 and 0-2 holes almost every at-bat (especially to start the inning). The pitching felt a little more opened up and I wasn't stressing about either taking the easy strike or keeping the CPU's pitch count low because my at-bats would end in 2 pitches.

I'll try a couple more games and see how it goes.

First game using this on hall of fame default. First pitch only. Hum Vs CPU

LAA me vs Texas
Darvish pitched 7 innings, 4FB 5 times, 2B Twice, location 4,3,3,6,B,B,B
Tateyama pitch 1 inning, pitch a SL, location 8
Frasor pitched 1 inning, pitch a 4FB, location 4. I didn't use the timeout for this just to see.

Total- 8 pitches using the actual workaround. Only five were the pitchers first pitch. Only five if them were strikes.

Second game
Miami Vs Philly me. Hall of Fame, Cpu vs Human
Alvarez pitched 6 innings, pitched 4FB three times, 2FB twice and a changeup once. location B,4,9,B,B,7
Jennings pitched 1 inning, Pitched a 4FB, location B
Webb pitched 1 innings, pitched a SNK, location B

8 pitches, 5 were the pitchers #1 pitches, 5 of the 8 were balls.

Overall total 16 pitches, 10 pitches #1 pitch, Strike rate 50%, 8 of each.

I'll clearly test further but its the most varied results i have had since this started

[PsychoBulk]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

How utterly bizarre that this can affect what pitch comes and the first pitch strike ratio so much!

Worth more testing for sure.

As for me im going to test on all default HOF but with one slider change, the CPU Strike Frequency zeroed out to 0, this only affects early count pitches so im hoping this move might bring it to realistic levels without having to mess around with anything else.

[bautistabomb]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

I've found that taking a timeout (down on the dpad) when the pitching display grays out seems to prevent this issue. This is on RTTS and a low difficulty, but I'm noticing the pitchers throw out of the zone and different pitch types.

Holy ****, I think you found a workaround for the first pitch meatball!! I played 3 RTTS games calling time before the first pitch and am now getting different pitches and a lot more balls. THANK YOU SO MUCH, this has saved RTTS for me.

[ParisB]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

Just tried another game. All-star, Default but I tried CPU Strike Freq to 0%.

I was Pitt hosting the Reds and J. Cueto.

I continued with the "take time after they select their pitch" strategy. Seemed to continue working for me with a more varied result. I didn't do it for one inning just to check it out, and sure enough I blasted a solo shot to center field with Pedro Alvarez. After that, I went back to taking time.

The end result was very similar to to my last game with LAA@Tex. Overall strike% was 60%, with first pitch strikes at 57% and early count strikes at 61%.

I drew 2 walks off Cueto (4 overall for the game). Total pitches over the 8 innings (I was home team and I won) was 124 with 20 fouls for me.

I'll continue going this route. I will keep the CPU Strike Freq to 0. It felt like it brings the relievers down to earth a little more, while not affecting the studs so much. My last 10 games or so I felt that the relievers throw too many strikes early and often.

[nomo17k]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

If this is indeed a solution, it makes me wonder why I hadn't been able to reproduce this in my games. (... it makes me sad that I don't seem to get what other people get... jk)

It's all great that the game now appears to play as designed now, but the guys who have had this problem probably want to see if you could reproduce the problem by not calling timeouts. If this has indeed been a bug, then it may be worth notifying them under what condition this has happened, to make it easier for them to potentially hunt down where things are going wrong.

[ParisB]

Re: first pitch meatballs....bug?

Holy ****, I think you found a workaround for the first pitch meatball!! I played 3 RTTS games calling time before the first pitch and am now getting different pitches and a lot more balls. THANK YOU SO MUCH, this has saved RTTS for me.

Yea, same here.

At first I thought it was first pitch of every at-bat, but then I realized it was just a chain reaction all starting from the very first pitch of every inning. The 0-1 counts led to too many 0-2 counts, which led to too much chasing and too high of CPU confidence. Otherwise, if I swung at that pitch it was leading to either too many quick outs (and less pitches, more stamina, more confidence) or to too many crushed balls which spiraled the CPU out of control. It was just too many strikes strikes strikes no matter what was happening with the result.

Now, again I reiterate it was only 2 games, the games felt much more natural. I went 1-1 but was able to draw 10 walks total while keeping the CPU pitch counts/stamina/confidence to a normal level while first pitch strikes and overall strikes percentages were in the high 50% or mid to low 60%.

This looks promising because otherwise the gameplay is just about perfect for me.

The simple fix of fixing that constant