Hey guys,
A lot of us here have been tweaking this game since the day we tore off that nice, shiny plastic wrap in order to make this the most realistic baseball sim possible. In that time, there have been a lot of good ideas thrown out there, lots of testing, and some positive results.
Building off of a lot of ideas that have already been shared from others, I have created a slider set with settings that has been working amazingly well for me. I suspect these may work for everyone else as well, so I figured I'd share them with you.
First, let me give you an example of the type of results they can produce:
Royals (me) @ White Sox (CPU)
White Sox 4 11 1
Royals 3 6 0
W: Politte (1-1)
L: Burgos (1-2)
Starting Pitchers
Royals: Runelvys Hernandez (6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SO)
White Sox: Jose Contreras (6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 SO)
Notables
2B: T. Iguchi, A. Berroa
3B: J. Crede (Came on a missed sliding catch by my LF in the ninth)
HR: J. Crede, J. Uribe
GIDP: White Sox 3, Royals 0
E: T. Iguchi (throwing)
PB: J. Buck, Pierzynski
WP: Contreras
SB: Podsednik
CS: Anderson
This game felt the best out of any I have ever played. I held a 3-2 lead in the 7th, when Runelvys gave up a couple hits and a run to make it 3-3. Then in the ninth, I brought it my closer, Burgos. He gives up the missed-sliding-catch triple to Crede, who is then replaced on the basepaths by Ozuna. I walk the next hitter, Uribe, to set up the double play. Then Anderson hits a seeing-eye single between first and second on a 2-2 count to win the game.
Now, let me get to the sliders and settings:
rspencer86's HOF Sliders & Settings
Level: HOF
Feels the best out of all four difficulty levels. Hitting is realistic — difficult, but not impossible. CPU makes great decisions.
Pitch Interface: Meter
I find meter pitching to be realistic and challenging enough. I walk 2-5 batters a game and find it all but impossible to dominate CPU batters. If you have grown fond of classic, it will probably work just as well here.
Fielding Assist: On
Auto Throwing: On
I finally resorted to this after seeing line drive after line drive whiz past my outfielders. Now I'm actually really digging concentrating on pitching, and watching my defense get the job done (or not, lol). You can turn both of these off if you aren't having problems with manual fielding.
Auto Baserunning: Off
Auto Sliding: On
After struggling with the baserunning controls, I have finally mastered them. Sliding is just a personal preference; I don't think I should have to tell my guys when and how to slide. If you like controlling this, turn Auto Sliding off.
Vibration: Off
Makes pitching a little more difficult, IMO. Other than that, you won't notice it's gone.
Fast Play: Off
Umpire Consistency: Wide
I like getting the benefit of the doubt sometimes, while getting squeezed the next at-bat. Some get frustrated by this option, and if that is you, feel free to turn it back to "Tight".
Ejections: On
Guess Pitch: Off
I tend to think that the guess pitch feature is a tad unrealistic, so I turned it off. Be sure to turn off Guess Pitch Display as well.
Hot Zones: Off
Strike Zone: Off
Pitching Ball Marker: Off
Makes pitching much more difficult and realistic, IMO. Plus the game looks less cluttered and more natural with these displays off.
Batting View: Catcher
Pitching View: Outfield
Fielding View: Medium
There are all personal preferences. Whatever you like best, use it.
User Slider Settings
Pitch Speed: 10
Seems about right to me. Reaction time is little to none on good fastballs, as it should be.
Contact: 20
Yes, 20. I think this setting has the biggest influence in this slider set. A lot of others have set contact low, in the 0-5 range. But I beleive that this was the main cause of everything getting hit hard. Why? Think about it: with contact at 0, you are whiffing at basically everything except when you hit it right on the button. This was leading to way too many strike outs and way too many hard line drives. With contact at 20, you will make contact more often, but this contact is not always on the "sweet spot", leading to more soft fly balls and ground outs. Also leads to less strikeouts, more foul balls, and longer at bats.
Power: 10
Gives the proper amount of extra-base hits and homeruns, while still allowing for soft bloopers and popups.
Throwing Strength: 0
Throwing Accuracy: 0
These settings have been advocated by several posters, and I agree with them. You can still turn double plays, throw guys out at home from the oufield, etc. But you will see less laser-like bullets from the outfield, more throwing errors, and just an overall better defensive feel.
Error Frequency: 16
Remember, I play with auto fielding and throwing, so if you are playing defense manually, you might want to try 12 or 13 for this setting.
Injuries: MAX
Don't see a whole lot of injuries with this on MAX anyway, so this is the best we can do.
CPU Slider Settings
Pitch Speed: 10
Contact: 0
I find it hard to compile a realistic amount of strikeouts with the CPU's contact any higher than 0. This setting produces a realistic amount, plus it seems like the CPU takes more strikes with this setting.
Power: 10
Baserunning Aggressiveness: 20
I like seeing the CPU go for the extra base, and with this setting it does. Doesn't make too many mistakes, though — just the right amount.
Throwing Strength: 0
Throwing Accuracy: 0
Error Frequency: 16
Pitch Count: 20
Maxing the Pitch Count slider seems like the ideal setting. More foul balls, more balls thrown by the pitcher... just seems right.
Any feedback, questions, or comments are much appreciated. I really hope these work out for you guys as well as they are for me!
-Ryan
A lot of us here have been tweaking this game since the day we tore off that nice, shiny plastic wrap in order to make this the most realistic baseball sim possible. In that time, there have been a lot of good ideas thrown out there, lots of testing, and some positive results.
Building off of a lot of ideas that have already been shared from others, I have created a slider set with settings that has been working amazingly well for me. I suspect these may work for everyone else as well, so I figured I'd share them with you.
First, let me give you an example of the type of results they can produce:
Royals (me) @ White Sox (CPU)
White Sox 4 11 1
Royals 3 6 0
W: Politte (1-1)
L: Burgos (1-2)
Starting Pitchers
Royals: Runelvys Hernandez (6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SO)
White Sox: Jose Contreras (6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 SO)
Notables
2B: T. Iguchi, A. Berroa
3B: J. Crede (Came on a missed sliding catch by my LF in the ninth)
HR: J. Crede, J. Uribe
GIDP: White Sox 3, Royals 0
E: T. Iguchi (throwing)
PB: J. Buck, Pierzynski
WP: Contreras
SB: Podsednik
CS: Anderson
This game felt the best out of any I have ever played. I held a 3-2 lead in the 7th, when Runelvys gave up a couple hits and a run to make it 3-3. Then in the ninth, I brought it my closer, Burgos. He gives up the missed-sliding-catch triple to Crede, who is then replaced on the basepaths by Ozuna. I walk the next hitter, Uribe, to set up the double play. Then Anderson hits a seeing-eye single between first and second on a 2-2 count to win the game.
Now, let me get to the sliders and settings:
rspencer86's HOF Sliders & Settings
Level: HOF
Feels the best out of all four difficulty levels. Hitting is realistic — difficult, but not impossible. CPU makes great decisions.
Pitch Interface: Meter
I find meter pitching to be realistic and challenging enough. I walk 2-5 batters a game and find it all but impossible to dominate CPU batters. If you have grown fond of classic, it will probably work just as well here.
Fielding Assist: On
Auto Throwing: On
I finally resorted to this after seeing line drive after line drive whiz past my outfielders. Now I'm actually really digging concentrating on pitching, and watching my defense get the job done (or not, lol). You can turn both of these off if you aren't having problems with manual fielding.
Auto Baserunning: Off
Auto Sliding: On
After struggling with the baserunning controls, I have finally mastered them. Sliding is just a personal preference; I don't think I should have to tell my guys when and how to slide. If you like controlling this, turn Auto Sliding off.
Vibration: Off
Makes pitching a little more difficult, IMO. Other than that, you won't notice it's gone.
Fast Play: Off
Umpire Consistency: Wide
I like getting the benefit of the doubt sometimes, while getting squeezed the next at-bat. Some get frustrated by this option, and if that is you, feel free to turn it back to "Tight".
Ejections: On
Guess Pitch: Off
I tend to think that the guess pitch feature is a tad unrealistic, so I turned it off. Be sure to turn off Guess Pitch Display as well.
Hot Zones: Off
Strike Zone: Off
Pitching Ball Marker: Off
Makes pitching much more difficult and realistic, IMO. Plus the game looks less cluttered and more natural with these displays off.
Batting View: Catcher
Pitching View: Outfield
Fielding View: Medium
There are all personal preferences. Whatever you like best, use it.
User Slider Settings
Pitch Speed: 10
Seems about right to me. Reaction time is little to none on good fastballs, as it should be.
Contact: 20
Yes, 20. I think this setting has the biggest influence in this slider set. A lot of others have set contact low, in the 0-5 range. But I beleive that this was the main cause of everything getting hit hard. Why? Think about it: with contact at 0, you are whiffing at basically everything except when you hit it right on the button. This was leading to way too many strike outs and way too many hard line drives. With contact at 20, you will make contact more often, but this contact is not always on the "sweet spot", leading to more soft fly balls and ground outs. Also leads to less strikeouts, more foul balls, and longer at bats.
Power: 10
Gives the proper amount of extra-base hits and homeruns, while still allowing for soft bloopers and popups.
Throwing Strength: 0
Throwing Accuracy: 0
These settings have been advocated by several posters, and I agree with them. You can still turn double plays, throw guys out at home from the oufield, etc. But you will see less laser-like bullets from the outfield, more throwing errors, and just an overall better defensive feel.
Error Frequency: 16
Remember, I play with auto fielding and throwing, so if you are playing defense manually, you might want to try 12 or 13 for this setting.
Injuries: MAX
Don't see a whole lot of injuries with this on MAX anyway, so this is the best we can do.
CPU Slider Settings
Pitch Speed: 10
Contact: 0
I find it hard to compile a realistic amount of strikeouts with the CPU's contact any higher than 0. This setting produces a realistic amount, plus it seems like the CPU takes more strikes with this setting.
Power: 10
Baserunning Aggressiveness: 20
I like seeing the CPU go for the extra base, and with this setting it does. Doesn't make too many mistakes, though — just the right amount.
Throwing Strength: 0
Throwing Accuracy: 0
Error Frequency: 16
Pitch Count: 20
Maxing the Pitch Count slider seems like the ideal setting. More foul balls, more balls thrown by the pitcher... just seems right.
Any feedback, questions, or comments are much appreciated. I really hope these work out for you guys as well as they are for me!
-Ryan
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