Custom Playbook Formation Order Testing

[PowerofRed25]

I'm sure anyone who has started a custom playbook has attempted to figure out what determines the order in which the formations are placed in the playbook.

I wanted to start this thread so we can get those ideas in one place and see if we can troubleshoot it as a community and figure it out. There really isn't "random" in programming, so something has to be triggering the order.

For those of you trying to figure out the trigger which causes some custom playbooks to just crash and not work, feel free to use this thread as well as the things go hand in hand.

This is the process I am taking. I am writing down every step I take from the moment I open Custom Playbooks to when I save it, just so I can back track and see where the problem might be.

Obviously, this could all be pointless and it could be totally out of our control, but we've all found workarounds to previous EA screw ups before, might as well give this one a try. Just throw out any ideas you have tried or are going to try and maybe we can figure something out.

[sanders4617]

I'm thinking that it might order them by which one you edit (the plays) last.

[PowerofRed25]

My first test went like this:

Selected a playbook that had absolutely none of the plays/formations I intended to use in it, in this case, Navy. Navy is helpful because it is all Flex, nothing more.

Then I edited my audibles to all be in Goal Line Tight, which would obviously remain (and is the only formations I wanted to keep). I just chose the first 5 plays that came up as the 5 audibles.

Then I added Ace Big. This was the recommendation in the other thread on the custom playbook glitch, so I added Ace Big to cover my minimum play requirement. After I did that, I used triangle to remove all the Flexbone formations, leaving me only with Ace Big and 68 plays. From there, I installed my formations, in this order.

From Pistol:

Ace
Full House
Spread
H Twins
Train

From Shotgun:



4WR Trio
4WR Trio Str
5WR HB
Empty Wing Trio
Gator Heavy
Normal Flex Wing
Slot F Wing
Spread Flex

I stopped there just so I could save and test it. I did leave Ace Big in for the time being, only so I could remove it and add other plays after my first save and test just to see what happens. The game still lists this as an option playbook, despite it not having anything but spread/pistol.

When I went in game, this is the order the plays were in:

Shotgun

5WR HB
Spread Flex
Gator Heavy
4WR Trio
4WR Trio Str
Normal Flex Wing
Slot F Wing
Empty Wing Trio

Pistol

H Twins
Ace
Spread
Full House
Train

That doesn't help much with the order, but when I tested it, everything worked and I received no errors. So at least that was good. After checking most of the formations, I exited and went back to edit the book. I deleted Ace Big from the playbook.

From there, I added:

Shotgun Wing Offset
Shotgun Wing Offset Wk
Shotgun Wildcat Spread

Saved and Exited. Went to practice.

The Shotgun was now ordered, with the new formations *'ed.

5WR HB
Spread Flex
Gator Heavy
4WR Trio
4WR Trio Str
Wing Offset*
Wildcat Spread*
Wing Offset Wk*
Normal Flex Wing
Slot F Wing
Empty Wing Trio

I don't even have a theory at this point as to why the formations are like this. My original theory was something having to do with two word formations being grouped, then three word formations being grouped, but the order of Pistol shot that down.

I just don't know. The good news is, this playbook works just fine and hasn't glitched out in games at all.

[PowerofRed25]

Quote: Originally Posted by sanders4617

I'm thinking that it might order them by which one you edit (the plays) last.

I tested this by editing the plays and order of plays in a few formations and the order remained the same. I thought it would be something similar to that where they would be ordered by personnel or by number of plays inside them or something.