WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

[WaitTilNextYear]

OK people, the baseball season is in full swing, roster-makers and slider-makers have been hard at work and finished products are starting to appear. In this spirit, I thought I would post my MLB2K13 sliders for XBox 360, which have been giving me sim-quality stats. I also want to thank BIGFNJOE96 for help in getting the MLB2K13 slider project off the ground from the beginning this year. It was much easier to create sliders using Joe's set as a quality starting point. For the sake of keeping our sliders separate for easier viewing, I am posting these in this alternative thread. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMPARE SETS, MIX AND MATCH, AND REPORT WHAT KIND OF RESULTS YOU'RE GETTING. Also, this should go without saying, but there are always the inevitable "I can't hit with these settings" or "I hit 5 HRs every game with these settings" observations. If these sliders end up not working for you, do the logical thing and adjust to your specific needs or try another set for you base. It's no fun chaining yourself to sliders that don't work for you. And away we go...

Franchise Settings

Difficulty: Custom (adjust from either all-star or HOF)
Edit CPU Rosters: ON
CPU Trading: ON
Force Trades: OFF
Player Fatigue: ON
Injuries: ON
Injury Frequency: 25 (used to be 15 then 30)
Franchise Ticker: Franchise (your preference though if you are wired)
Organization Automation: All OFF
MLB Task Automation: All OFF
MiLB Task Automation: All OFF (except for injuries)**

Game Settings

Game Length: 9 innings
Pitcher Fatigue: 50
Hold Runners: Smart Hold
Active Bullpen: ON
Catcher Suggestion: OFF
Dynamic Player Ratings: ON

Presentation Settings

All Audio: Your Preference
Action Replays: Never
Game Flow: Real Time
Strike Zone Window: OFF
Inside Edge K-Zone: First Pitch
Pitch Analyzer: Never
Swing Analyzer: Never
Bail Trail: OFF
Dynamic Landing Indicator: ON
Close Play Cam: OFF
Clutch Moments: OFF
Fielding Indicator: ON
Keyboard Overlay Style: Default

Camera Options

Pitching: Pitcher / Zoom 7 / Position 3 / Height 5 / Side Normal
Batting: Batter 2 / Zoom 8 / Position & Side n/a / Height 6 / Pitch Zoom: OFF
Fielding: Dynamic / Zoom 1 / Position & Side n/a / Height 10
Base Running: Follow / Zoom 1 / Position & Side n/a / Height 10

Controller Options

Batter's Eye: OFF
Pitch Aim: Breakpoint Aim
Auto Fielding: OFF
Auto Base Running: OFF

Difficulty Sliders (CPU/USER)

Total Control Batting (stick)
Batting Contact: (50 / 25)**(USER decreased from 40, then 35, then 25. Then raised back to 25 (lol). CPU increased from 40, then 45)
Batting Power: (80 / 80)**(both decreased from 85)
Bunt Contact: (45 / 45)
Bunt Success: (35 / 35)
Batter Eye Frequency: n/a

Total Control Pitching (stick)
AI Pitch Speed: 80**(AI Pitch Speed increased from 75)
AI Pitch Success: 75
AI Strike Zone Tendency: 35
Pitch Meter Speed: 80
Pitch Speed: 100
Pitcher Control: 15**(changed from 30, then 25, then 20 )
Pitch Break Influence: (30 / 30)**(both changed from 35)
Composure Influence: (10 / 10)

Throw Accuracy: 35**(changed from 45)
Gather Error Frequency: (45 / 55)**(both changed from 40, then 50)
Throwing Error Frequency: (50 / 65)**(cpu decreased from 55, user increased from 55)
OF Throw Speed: (55 / 55)**(both changed from 50)
IF Throw Speed: (45 / 45)
OF Run Speed: (10 / 10)**(both changed from 15)
IF Run Speed: (0 / 0)

AI Hit 'n' Run Tendency: 55**(changed from 45)
AI Sac Bunt Tendency: 70
AI Squeeze Tendency: 30
AI Base Running Aggression: 70
AI Steal Aggression: 55**(changed from 65)
Base Runner Speed: (40 / 40)
Catcher Arm Strength: (70 / 30)**(changed from 40 / 35)
Catcher Arm Accuracy: (40 / 5)**(changed from 40 / 40)

Notes

- The most up-to-date slider set will always be in this OP. Changes from the original set will be marked with an asterisk.

- I am a moderate user of Inside Edge. This means I check it out a couple times in the first game of a series for each opposing hitter. I don't check it religiously though; I mostly look for obvious tendencies to exploit.

- I never use power swing. I feel it's a nice concept, but actually the way it's set up here, something's wrong with it imo. Either the timing is too difficult to master or something because I always generate weaker contact using the power swing, which defeats the purpose.

- Want to leave a message about how these are working out for you? Or suggest another setting? Want to post some in-game stats or results? Feel free! Discussion and suggestions are welcome as long as you keep it respectful.

Cheers.

[MizzouRah]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

My first game tonight, thank you!

[tc020791]

Tried these last night. Couldn't even make it thru 4 innings' I was already up 8-0 with 3 HR

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

Tried these last night. Couldn't even make it thru 4 innings' I was already up 8-0 with 3 HR

Sorry to hear that. It could've been a fluke game, but maybe these are too easy for you. If you want to stick with these as your base, I'd suggest upping CPU pitch success and CPU pitch speed, that should counter your bloated offense. For pitching, you can lower your pitch control and/or up CPU contact.

For the record, I've scored as many as 12 runs in a single game with these settings and thrown a shut out also, but I see great variation. I've also given up double digit runs and been shut out. Just playing one game likely doesn't tell the story, unless it feels way too easy. If it doesn't feel right, then this probably isn't for you.

I should also mention that I tested these out with the HOUSTON ASTROS. So, if you guys have loaded teams with sluggers and ace pitchers, this might be too easy for you. There are some other nice sets for you to peruse though, BIGFNJOE96 and Blazzen both have sets up. So does Hetfield. And if all else fails try out the 2k12 sliders from last year (Shogun, mkharsh). And you can always create your own set if none of them work for you. Happy playing!

[Yubbed]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

I'll give this a shot I'm terrible at batting. I play the marlins playing with the Braves.

[SlowDownTurbo86]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

Tried these last night. Couldn't even make it thru 4 innings' I was already up 8-0 with 3 HR

You can't really base an opinion on sliders off of 4 innings...you need a sample size of like 10 games. If they all had that same result then yes they'd need to be toned down. I use modified bigfnjoe's sliders and I've had several games where I've had crazy offense and several games where I had almost no offense. The Reds won 15-0 against Washington on Friday I believe in real life so it's not out of the question to have huge offense in a sim setting. It happens in real life.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

You can't really base an opinion on sliders off of 4 innings...you need a sample size of like 10 games. If they all had that same result then yes they'd need to be toned down. I use modified bigfnjoe's sliders and I've had several games where I've had crazy offense and several games where I had almost no offense. The Reds won 15-0 against Washington on Friday I believe in real life so it's not out of the question to have huge offense in a sim setting. It happens in real life.

Very true. Even with my own sliders I've had games where I've felt I needed to increase the difficulty and other games where I had no chance to win. With the same set. To each their own, though, people have choices.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

OK guys, 1 minor change that doesn't affect gameplay at all. I changed the franchise automation so I have control over my minor league lineups and pitching rotations. I was tired of fighting the AI on who I wanted starting, which is kinda important since I created some top prospects like Jared Cosart and Mike Foltynewicz who I wanted to see starting, not in mop up duty. Note, the change is marked in red on the OP, with asterisks.

On another note, I was able to play quite a few games recently and am now in early May of my 'chise. I wanted to post some stats here just so you can see the kind of results I'm getting from my own sliders over a 29-game sample (I am 15-14). I have listed my stats alongside Houston's 2012 season stats so you can compare to what might be considered a true sim.

BATTING STATS Part 1
.................AVG.....OBP.....SLG.....OPS.....Hit/GM.....R/GM.....HR/GM
2012 Astros .236___.302___.371____.673____7.88_____3.60_____0.901

'Chise Astros .245___.300___.395____.695____8.24_____3.79_____1.00

BATTING STATS Part 2
................2B/GM.....3B/GM.....K/9.....BB/9.....RISP
2012 Astros 1.47______0.173____8.43____2.86___.234

'Chise Astros 1.59_____0.241____4.34____2.41___.262

PITCHING STATS
.................ERA.....WHIP.....K/9.....BB/9.....K/BB.....HR/GM.....BAA
2012 Astros 4.56____1.43___7.40____3.41____2.17_____1.07_____.270

'Chise Astros 4.37___1.30____7.79____2.83____2.75_____1.30_____.254


Interestingly, my batting average has risen about 10 points over the past 15 games, while my RISP dropped about 50 points in that same span. It makes sense seeing that a .313 batting average with RISP (where I was after 15 games) is really high and has proven to be unsustainable. And, not really a surprise, but that huge drop in RISP aligned with a 6-game losing streak that I recently snapped by taking 2 of 3 at Yankee Stadium. Most of the hitting stats seem to be clustering right around what you'd expect of sim stats, except my strikeout tendency (while batting) is about half what the Astros did last year. However, I'm not overly concerned about it as long as it doesn't lead to inflated offensive numbers in general. If not striking out leads to a really high batting average, then I might consider addressing it.

The pitching stats look pretty good too, but if my team ERA goes under 4 and stays there, I might have to increase CPU contact or decrease USER pitch success by 5. I'll give it until the All Star break to decide. The CPU is getting plenty of HRs off of me as is.

[MizzouRah]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

I won 8-2 and 6-4 to start the season with the Cardinals. Hit variation seems improved this year! Tough hitting HR's in that spacious Arizona ballpark. Loving the sliders thus far with the camera settings Joe posted in this slider thread!

[RabidPanther]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

Been using these sliders and love them. They really make the game more enjoyable than what it already was, but quick question?!?

Do you have User/CPU players edited to default (players rating) on anticipation or at 25?

Thanks,
Rabid

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

Been using these sliders and love them. They really make the game more enjoyable than what it already was, but quick question?!?

Do you have User/CPU players edited to default (players rating) on anticipation or at 25?

Thanks,
Rabid

Thanks Rabid. Glad to hear these are getting the job done for you.

As for the anticipation, I left that at default. I didn't do the global edit to 25 like you'd seen in Shogun's slider set.

For me anyway, the anticipation doesn't seem to be a problem with the IF and OF speed turned down somewhat. For IF speed, 0 is best. For OF speed, I have it at 15 but I think 10 would be fine too.

Sometimes I see diving plays and such that are a bit much by the CPU controlled players, but I also see instances where the ball is hit a few feet to the left/right and the infielder doesn't even react. So, it evens out.

[MizzouRah]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

Funny one last night.. hit between 1st and 2nd and the CPU fielder dives down towards home plate.. I laughed.

It's like he didn't know which way to go because the ball was smoked.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

Funny one last night.. hit between 1st and 2nd and the CPU fielder dives down towards home plate.. I laughed.

It's like he didn't know which way to go because the ball was smoked.

Probably was just trying to get out of the ball's path. lol

Been thinking about a few slider tweaks. Be on the lookout for that in the next couple days. Nothing major, just a little bit of fine tuning.

[Yubbed]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

I loved my first game went to the 10th inning won the game with a walk off HR.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: WaitTilNextYear's Sim Quality Sliders for 2k13

OK guys, made some changes to the OP to reflect the current settings that I'm using. Some wholesale changes here. Here's the breakdown...

Throwing out baserunners was a bit too easy so I decreased user CATCHER throw power and accuracy to 30 / 25 from 35 / 40. Also, I have gotten a lot better at getting jumps on the CPU while I'm stealing. Basically 4 taps of the LB followed by holding down LB AND tap LT once you are ready to take off gets you a massive running leadoff, so I am upping CPU catcher throw settings to help balance it out, was 40/40, now 50/50. Playing better so far. Might end up at 55/55 or even 60/60--it's really a huge difference in leadoffs.

I also took the plunge in lowering the USER pitch control slider to 25 from 30. I stopped walking guys and am leading the league in fewest walks (not by a ton) so I thought I should make a change. Also, lowered pitch break a touch for BOTH USER and CPU. It looks very nice. No whiffle balls!

And finally, I lowered the OF run speed from 15 to 10 for both. I feel this slider really doesn't make a whole lot of difference sometimes, but 15 was getting too easy for poor outfielders to make plays in the gap.

Anyway, I am having a blast with these! Enjoy!