I wasn't going to post a slider thread this year, fully expected to run with default all year. But you know what? I actually went down the rabbit hole a bit....and got some excellent results.
A couple of quick notes:
1. I'm not going to be answering questions about individual values. I did not test individual sliders and have no intention of going through the inane task of doing so for no good reason. (Same deal for individual animations).
2. Penalties are not an area I am going to tune for specifically. From what I've seen in limited testing; there's very little difference between jacking-up the penalty sliders and leaving them alone (in terms of actual calls).
The approach
Player ratings are just too high and allow for a wide number of players to meet the high thresholds for best outcomes on default settings. We need to make it harder for that to occur without roster editing.
The solution is simple: we globally lower all of the user/CPU sliders. All of a sudden, all of the failure-driven outcomes popped-up. The gameplay is fluid, dynamic, challenging and most importantly, is unpredictable. Improvements we have seen:
- more missed throws
- CPU targets top players far more frequently (even when covered)
- a wider array of broken tackles (get comfy using that strafe button)
- more dropped passes
- a slight increase in holding calls (on default penalties)
- better array of DB reactions
- WAY more diverse pass rush and blocking. You better get the ball out fast or learn how to move in the pocket.
Basically - everything in the game is still balanced, but there is a MUCH wider array of outcomes.
House rules
1. You're expected to play full switch on offense and defense. It's more realistic to fail and putting the players under your control gives you the ability to screw up. Take ownership for everything that happens.
2. You have to call your own plays. Same deal, you have to take ownership for what happens.
3. No cheesing by 'turbo scrambling' with QBs out of the pocket on every play. It makes sense when flushed (and you will get flushed). But don't abuse it.
4. Have fun! Enjoy the wins and losses, enjoy the storylines. Embrace the game and have fun with it.
The sliders
The current version of Madden has a really wonky issue where the game can get "sped up". This is caused when the sliders in the main menu (which are tied to the user profile that loads when you start the game) are different than your CFM sliders. To resolve this, we need to ensure the main menu sliders are aligned EXACTLY with the CFM sliders.
This is the process.
1. Enter the following in the main menu (yes, you will need to save the sliders). (As a quick aside, this should work irrespective of the slider values selected. IF you are running default gameplay sliders, I still recommend creating a User and CPU slider save file for those default settings in the main menu.).
All Pro
10 min Quarter/no acc clock
Assists - Ballhawk and Auto-flip play as "on", all others "off"
All User/CPU Sliders = 40 (yes, ALL of them)
Threshold: 50
ST sliders: 50
Injury: 25
Fatigue: 50
Penalties: All at 50
2. Once the main menu settings are completely updated go to your CFM, go to the slider screen, hit Triangle to import the sliders. IMPORTANT: DO NOT hit the reset button or manually change ANY slider values (if you see this, when you exit the slider screen, you will see a save of your madden profile - meaning that you screwed-up). Just import and exit the slider screen.
3. Exit to the main menu and shut-down the game and re-launch it.
4. Once you do these steps, you should not need to adjust sliders again (though you could certainly do an import of the sliders in your CFM prior to a game if things get wonky again). IF you decide you want to tinker with sliders, you need to start over at step 1 (again, do NOT manually adjust sliders in CFM).
One other final thing, if you're in an existing CFM, I HIGHLY recommend doing this process BEFORE advancing into the next week on your schedule.
Other notes
- I play with SS/XF turned on.
- I still prefer the default 75-man roster for reasons I have discussed in past years.
- I use every tool in the toolbox within CFM.
- I have NOT tested different clock settings, All Madden, variations on autosubs/penalties/injury/fatigue relative to this setup. I HIGHLY recommend you roll with the exact setup for a few games untouched and if you want to make personal tweaks, do so one setting at a time. I will not do this for you!
A couple of quick notes:
1. I'm not going to be answering questions about individual values. I did not test individual sliders and have no intention of going through the inane task of doing so for no good reason. (Same deal for individual animations).
2. Penalties are not an area I am going to tune for specifically. From what I've seen in limited testing; there's very little difference between jacking-up the penalty sliders and leaving them alone (in terms of actual calls).
The approach
Player ratings are just too high and allow for a wide number of players to meet the high thresholds for best outcomes on default settings. We need to make it harder for that to occur without roster editing.
The solution is simple: we globally lower all of the user/CPU sliders. All of a sudden, all of the failure-driven outcomes popped-up. The gameplay is fluid, dynamic, challenging and most importantly, is unpredictable. Improvements we have seen:
- more missed throws
- CPU targets top players far more frequently (even when covered)
- a wider array of broken tackles (get comfy using that strafe button)
- more dropped passes
- a slight increase in holding calls (on default penalties)
- better array of DB reactions
- WAY more diverse pass rush and blocking. You better get the ball out fast or learn how to move in the pocket.
Basically - everything in the game is still balanced, but there is a MUCH wider array of outcomes.
House rules
1. You're expected to play full switch on offense and defense. It's more realistic to fail and putting the players under your control gives you the ability to screw up. Take ownership for everything that happens.
2. You have to call your own plays. Same deal, you have to take ownership for what happens.
3. No cheesing by 'turbo scrambling' with QBs out of the pocket on every play. It makes sense when flushed (and you will get flushed). But don't abuse it.
4. Have fun! Enjoy the wins and losses, enjoy the storylines. Embrace the game and have fun with it.
The sliders
The current version of Madden has a really wonky issue where the game can get "sped up". This is caused when the sliders in the main menu (which are tied to the user profile that loads when you start the game) are different than your CFM sliders. To resolve this, we need to ensure the main menu sliders are aligned EXACTLY with the CFM sliders.
This is the process.
1. Enter the following in the main menu (yes, you will need to save the sliders). (As a quick aside, this should work irrespective of the slider values selected. IF you are running default gameplay sliders, I still recommend creating a User and CPU slider save file for those default settings in the main menu.).
All Pro
10 min Quarter/no acc clock
Assists - Ballhawk and Auto-flip play as "on", all others "off"
All User/CPU Sliders = 40 (yes, ALL of them)
Threshold: 50
ST sliders: 50
Injury: 25
Fatigue: 50
Penalties: All at 50
2. Once the main menu settings are completely updated go to your CFM, go to the slider screen, hit Triangle to import the sliders. IMPORTANT: DO NOT hit the reset button or manually change ANY slider values (if you see this, when you exit the slider screen, you will see a save of your madden profile - meaning that you screwed-up). Just import and exit the slider screen.
3. Exit to the main menu and shut-down the game and re-launch it.
4. Once you do these steps, you should not need to adjust sliders again (though you could certainly do an import of the sliders in your CFM prior to a game if things get wonky again). IF you decide you want to tinker with sliders, you need to start over at step 1 (again, do NOT manually adjust sliders in CFM).
One other final thing, if you're in an existing CFM, I HIGHLY recommend doing this process BEFORE advancing into the next week on your schedule.
Other notes
- I play with SS/XF turned on.
- I still prefer the default 75-man roster for reasons I have discussed in past years.
- I use every tool in the toolbox within CFM.
- I have NOT tested different clock settings, All Madden, variations on autosubs/penalties/injury/fatigue relative to this setup. I HIGHLY recommend you roll with the exact setup for a few games untouched and if you want to make personal tweaks, do so one setting at a time. I will not do this for you!
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