PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

[raffybigscoops]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Edit: I stand corrected. This reddit posted has some great finding through rigorous testing - https://www.reddit.com/r/PGA_Tour_2K...nd_heres_what/

Yikes. Not a good look and pretty disappointing. Hopefully they patch it or something, at least a little bit. I still haven’t started the career mode so I don’t have firsthand experience with it but I can’t say anything in the reddit post surprises me.



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[talucchesi]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Yea i know, fully agree. I think they said 87/40/20 ratio with hard conditions is the best route for the time being. I think I'm gonna go 85/40/20 for Q school and then boost it to 87 once I make the tour

[dazzer169]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Oof...that's some pretty damning research there about how the career mode sim engine is essentially broken - or at the very least, super heavily skewed toward the licensed golfers winning tons of times on Tour. I know the old TW games really boosted Tiger's ability and made him win a lot, and it seems 2K is doing the same thing for Justin Thomas here...

Looks like, from that Reddit research anyway, I will be changing my settings to 80% CPU skill, 40% CPU Event Skill Deviation, and 20% CPU Round Skill Deviation. Eventually, I can adjust the course settings to make things a little harder, and maybe bump up CPU skill, if needed.

I have proved the CPU AI in this game is not really playing each shot alongside us, by posting in the 2K/HB official 2K21 forum and asking for a dev or official from 2K/HB to tell me I am wrong, tell me that the CPU AI is genuinely in the background playing each shot.

Proof being not a single person has replied to me.

Also, look at the games credits.

Something like 1548 staff across 2K/HB were involved in creating the game............and not a single one of them is an "AI coder/programmer".

Simple as that, they have lied to us and the CPU skill level we can set only determines which of the pre-canned/recorded shots we see the Pros play, i.e. higher CPU skill level, the highlights show more and more putts that get holed. Lower it, and you get more shots that go close.

But u still constantly see the exact same ball trajectory, i.e. its the same recorded shots.

This clearly is the reason the game CANNOT at any stage have an update to it where we get given an exhibiton type mode where we can see every CPU AI Pro shot.....

HB only used Ghost balls in the previous games, so they have never ever employed an AI coder/programmer since they started doing the Golf Club games.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

I am just about halfway through my first career mode season, using 82/40/20 as my settings, and leaving everything else default. I play 2 round events, except for playing 4 rounds in the majors. I am currently 3 rounds into the first major of the year, the Legends Championship (aka The Masters).

Adam Scott is the FedEx Cup points leader with 3,150. Justin Thomas is second with 2,856, Bryson DeChambeau third with 1,995, and Patrick Reed fourth with 1,912. My character is fifth with 1,818.

The last event I finished was the Valero Texas Open, in which Denny McCarthy won with -12. I was in a three-way tie for second with JT and Marc Leishman at -6. The six-shot win was the largest margin of victory I've seen so far in the season.

Adam Scott leads the way with wins, winning 4 times on tour already this season. BDC has 3 wins, JT also has 3. Reed has 2, and there are several tied with 1.

In the Legends Championship, here's how things look after 3 rounds:

Round 1
Fabian Gomez -5
Adam Scott -4
Billy Horschel -3
Six tied at -2

Round 2
Fabian Gomez -10
Adam Scott -8
Stewart Cink -5
Matthew Fitzpatrick -4
Two tied at -3

Round 3
Fabian Gomez -15
Adam Scott -10
MyPlayer -8
Two tied at -5

Also, I don't know what is causing it, but there is something wrong with the cut line. The cut for my tournament was +11...and only two people were cut! The Legends Championship is supposed to have a field of 98, but only 53 names were on the leaderboard. 51 made the cut...just J.T. Poston and Rickie Fowler were sent home early.

And I looked to see where our overpowered coverboy Justin Thomas is after three rounds - he's T27 at +6.

So, some good things to take away, but some oddities still remain.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Ok...Just finished the final round. Fabian Gomez went wire-to-wire, shooting a 5-under 67 every day to win the tournament with a final score of -20.

I feel as though the max settings for the round AI scoring deviation might make scores a bit too stretched out. I think the Top 10 had folks in it that shot over par, so they were essentially more than 20 shots back and still finished "close" to the leader. Might have to do some tweaking.

[sleever44]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Sorry if i i missed it already, but does CPU attendance effect the size of the players in each event,,like if 90% gives you a field of 80 players will lowering CPU attendance change it to say,,60 players?

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Sorry if i i missed it already, but does CPU attendance effect the size of the players in each event,,like if 90% gives you a field of 80 players will lowering CPU attendance change it to say,,60 players?

CPU attendance is described as modifying the likelihood that players attend events. So, if set to 90%, I'd take this to mean that there's a 90% chance any given player plays in a given event.

[sleever44]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Hmm, , maybe. I saw that on game as well. I guess i'll just have to change it and find out. I hate when these developers give you really vague descriptions in the description box as to what different options do in the menu.

[sleever44]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Well I increased it all the way to 100% And I could tell no difference at all. So for now I guess it'll remain a mystery. I would say all in all though as far as the game goes, I do enjoy it much more than I did "The Club". Also the per round amount of coins you can earn is pretty non existant. I guess when you get to be higher levels you end up playing two rounds or maybe even more for the same amount of coins each level.

[UpTheIrons]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

I’m still loving the difficulty of the game, but not loving the variation of winners nor round to round variations. So now I’m trying these.... Changes in bold italics.

Difficulty preset: custom
Swing difficulty: pro
Swing timing: on
Distance control meter: putting only (gotta feel the shots)
Distance control assist: off (makes short game a super challenge)
Putt preview: 0
Course yardage: on
Pro Vision: all off except True Shot and Trajectory “on” (not aim only)
Scout camera: on
Lie grid: on
Green grid: on
Pin preference: out
Aim marker: on
Wind display: meter only
Distance display: carry

OTHER
Show flag marker: on
Ball trail: off

CAREER SETTINGS
Opponent difficulty: Normal
Conditions difficulty: Normal
Rounds Per: for Q-School just 1 but will do 4 rounds for everything else.
CPU Skill: 80%
CPU Event Skill Deviation: 40%
CPU Round Skill Deviation: 20%
CPU attendance: 80%
Wind: medium
Fairway and green firmness: default
Green speed: default


Hope this helps and thanks for the Reddit forum tips.

[Dirkk1974]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

With 80-40-20 sliders, I observe enormous gaps in the top 10 on the leaderboard in a 4-round tournament.

It is not uncommon for JT to win with a lead of 12 strokes and the tenth place is more than 35 strokes behind. In addition, a high value for the Event Deviation Slider ensures that the AI suddenly plays too weakly on easy-to-play courses and I then win tournaments like this with my eyes closed and 20 strokes ahead.

After intensive testing, I believe that 80-0-10-100 slider settings are the most realistic in a career.

[Dirkk1974]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

With 80-40-20 sliders, I observe enormous gaps in the top 10 on the leaderboard in a 4-round tournament.

It is not uncommon for JT to win with a lead of 12 strokes and the tenth place is more than 35 strokes behind. In addition, a high value for the Event Deviation Slider ensures that the AI suddenly plays too weakly on easy-to-play courses and I then win tournaments like this with my eyes closed and 20 strokes ahead.

After intensive testing, I believe that 80-0-10-100 slider settings are the most realistic in a career.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

With 80-40-20 sliders, I observe enormous gaps in the top 10 on the leaderboard in a 4-round tournament.

It is not uncommon for JT to win with a lead of 12 strokes and the tenth place is more than 35 strokes behind. In addition, a high value for the Event Deviation Slider ensures that the AI suddenly plays too weakly on easy-to-play courses and I then win tournaments like this with my eyes closed and 20 strokes ahead.

After intensive testing, I believe that 80-0-10-100 slider settings are the most realistic in a career.

Do you still get a variation of winners with the deviation sliders set so low? The main reason the deviation sliders were set to the max levels, according to the reddit user that tested this, was to give a variety of names at the tops of leaderboards, and to prevent JT and the other licensed pros from dominating every event.

I am using something close to the reddit forum recommendations, but I have done some adjusting to help with those gaps you mentioned. I think I am at 79/37/17/90 right now. With that setup, I get a variety of winners, not just JT winning every event. I think he's still second in the FedEx Cup standings, while Adam Scott leads the way.

The last tourney I played was the John Deere Classic. which I won. But it was a wild ride. I won by just a stroke, after having a three-stroke advantage earlier in the round. Entering the home stretch, I was still up one shot. I made bogey at No. 15, and tied with Andres Romero (If I remember correctly...I am not 100% sure who was on my tail), who was my playing partner. Made par at No. 16, which my opponent bogied. I took a one-shot lead into the 17th and 18th, made two pars, and won the event.

Justin Thomas finished somewhere in the middle of the pack, and I think the only licensed pro that finished in the top 10 was Patrick Cantlay.

I have been enjoying the variety of winners with these settings - I think Adam Scott has won the most events in my season so far with 4, and both JT and My Player have won 3.

So I guess I was just curious how the variety of winners is with those deviation settings dropped down so low.

[Dirkk1974]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

Do you still get a variation of winners with the deviation sliders set so low? The main reason the deviation sliders were set to the max levels, according to the reddit user that tested this, was to give a variety of names at the tops of leaderboards, and to prevent JT and the other licensed pros from dominating every event.

This Reddit user only simulated career mode. But he never played himself. If you play yourself then the whole thing looks very different. With an event deviation slider 40 it can happen that the AI play so weakly on an easy-to-play courses that it is no longer fun to continue playing.


In my career I have played 24 tournaments so far on 80-0-10-100 and JT won 7 tournaments. JT is OP. High slider settings may weaken this a bit, but the negative effects on the leaderboard in other areas are increased.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K21 Career Mode AI Settings

This Reddit user only simulated career mode. But he never played himself. If you play yourself then the whole thing looks very different. With an event deviation slider 40 it can happen that the AI play so weakly on an easy-to-play courses that it is no longer fun to continue playing.


In my career I have played 24 tournaments so far on 80-0-10-100 and JT won 7 tournaments. JT is OP. High slider settings may weaken this a bit, but the negative effects on the leaderboard in other areas are increased.

Good point...I play each event as well, but only play 2 round regular Tour events, and four rounds for the majors. It seems that the more rounds you play, the more apparent the issues you've pointed out arise.

I think, for me personally anyway, the scoring gaps were really only present when I played the fake Masters, PGA, and US Open so far. That's where I saw the fact that the winner had a score in the double-digits under par, and yet there were scores over par in the Top 10.