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I've been playing the final retail version of Madden NFL 07 for the Xbox 360, and was trying out the new Superstar mode. To my surprise, only three weeks into my season, Hall of Famers started appearing on other teams' rosters.

Sammy Baugh was the Bucs' QB, Paul Warfield was starting opposite Hines Ward in Pittsburgh, and Chuck Bednarik was holding down an outside linebacker spot for the Patriots. Playing more games results in ever more Hall of Famers returning to the league from retirement or beyond the grave.

As I asked the EA Tiburon reps directly if HOFers would/could ever appear in a current Superstar/Franchise mode, and was told directly that they would not (and I stated so in my Community Day thread based on the information I was given), I was surprised to say the least that this was happening.

I spent much of the day doing research into why it's happening, and here's what I've determined thus far:

As best as I can tell, HOFers are tied into the overarching Madden Gamer Level. Even if you delete your roster files and start fresh, the HOFers you've unlocked due to the "MGL" will be instantly re-populated within the roster file as soon as your profile is loaded.

This means that they're in Franchise mode, too. I had 16 of them sitting in my Free Agents list when starting a Franchise with default rosters.

Theoretically, you might be able to avoid this if you didn't use the "MGL", however, that would also mean you could make no settings changes whatsoever and save them - they're all tied into the "Profile", which apparently includes all settings plus the "MGL".

On top of that, if you accomplished enough within the game, you might earn enough points to add HOFers instantly, meaning that if you just played a game and saved it, the newly-added HOFers would be saved into your Franchise roster.

I've contacted EA Tiburon regarding this discrepancy from what I was told at the studio (which was what I reported as fact, as did IGN and other media outlets) and what I am seeing now, and I've been told that I will receive a statement and/or workaround tomorrow sometime in the morning from the Madden team.

I will, of course, keep you apprised in this thread.

Member Comments
# 41 sdrotar @ 08/16/06 02:53 PM
I'd like to stress that I made no judgement on this - I merely wanted to clarify and correct what turned out to be inaccuracies in my Community Day thread based in the information I was given.

I'm not fond of the "game-killer" type posts that get thrown around at this point in time, because I feel that they're premature.
Moreover, what constitutes such things varies widely from one person to another.

EA Tiburon is aware of this, and I have spoken with a representative today.
I'm still optimistic that some sort of response is in the offing, and it may be best to reserve judgment until that surfaces.
 
# 42 utexas @ 08/16/06 03:02 PM
Doesn't bother me at all because I never try to make my franchise mode replicate real life, because it is impossible. I treat my franchise like its own fantasy world full of crazy trades, early retirements and now hall of famers that I can load up on my Cowboys!!!
 
# 43 quietcool72 @ 08/16/06 03:15 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by sdrotar
I'd like to stress that I made no judgement on this - I merely wanted to clarify and correct what turned out to be inaccuracies in my Community Day thread based in the information I was given.

I'm not fond of the "game-killer" type posts that get thrown around at this point in time, because I feel that they're premature.
Moreover, what constitutes such things varies widely from one person to another.

EA Tiburon is aware of this, and I have spoken with a representative today.
I'm still optimistic that some sort of response is in the offing, and it may be best to reserve judgment until that surfaces.
Shawn,
I don't know- the potential "fatigue problem"- if true- might even rival this problem in terms of severity.
 
# 44 Kelverin @ 08/16/06 03:32 PM
Contol all the teams and do not sign the Hall of Famers. Game killer? Not even close bud!
 
# 45 sdrotar @ 08/16/06 03:45 PM
I've received a response directly from the Madden team.

Apparently, the people who told me that HOFers were not going to be added to Superstar/Franchise rosters at Community Day were "misinformed".

"...the (design) team wanted to give players the ability to use HOF players on current rosters. This is intentional."

***

This is the workaround recommended by the Madden team if "players
do not want to use this feature":

"
Hall of Fame players are added to the roster on boot-up and whenever you move up in Madden Gamer Level. In order to prevent these (players) from being on your Franchise team, you have the following options:

1) Save off the roster upon boot-up, and load once you are in-game and then head into Franchise mode.

2) Go online and get the latest roster and start a Franchise. This will also remove the players.
Once you have started a Franchise, these players won't show up, as the roster is saved with the Franchise."

To add to that, if you already have a saved Profile with a Madden Gamer Level high enough to unlock HOFers immediately, I'd recommend copying it to a memory card, removing it from your hard drive (if applicable), and booting the game without it so it doesn't auto-load.

You'll have the default rosters (and the ability to load customized ones from memory) and bypass the MGL/HOF functionality. Then, after the Franchise/Superstar is saved, you could load your profile normally.

The above instructions should also apply to Superstar mode as well as Franchise.

***

Now, seeing as how quickly everyone jumped on EA here, I'd like to point out that their response regarding a workaround took only a few business hours after I called them yesterday, informing them of this and alerting them that I would post that evening in advance.

Thanks specifically go to Michael Johnson of EA, who worked after hours last night after we spoke and coordinated this workaround so quickly today, and the Madden design team for getting back to us and responding to the community's need for information.
 
# 46 adembroski @ 08/16/06 03:57 PM
So basically what you are saying is that HoF players will NOT auto load onto a franchise roster, only a roster file, so once we do start a franchise, it will only load with current HoFs, but not add new ones?
 
# 47 sdrotar @ 08/16/06 04:03 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by adembroski
So basically what you are saying is that HoF players will NOT auto load onto a franchise roster, only a roster file, so once we do start a franchise, it will only load with current HoFs, but not add new ones?
That's my understanding, yes.
The key is starting with a "clean" file, and that may require not loading a profile first.
 
# 48 Altimus @ 08/16/06 04:07 PM
About the gamer level, how would you unlock legends on first boot if this is the first time your playing the game and Madden 06 didn't have gamer level. Or are you saying it takes your Madden 06 profile into effect?
 
# 49 sdrotar @ 08/16/06 04:16 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrimeTime23
About the gamer level, how would you unlock legends on first boot if this is the first time your playing the game and Madden 06 didn't have gamer level. Or are you saying it takes your Madden 06 profile into effect?
No, you wouldn't unlock anything at first boot - and now you know to save a "clean" file immediately thereafter if you don't want HOFers in your Franchise/Superstar rosters.
 
# 50 Steelerfan2k1 @ 08/16/06 04:18 PM
I'm missing something though....

In the workaround instructions, it says that all you have to do is start with a clean roster file when starting your franchise - and everything should be fine (regular rosters, no Hall-of-famers).

OK - I get that part - but, I thought the whole point of this "feature" was that Hall-of-Famers would be added to your franchise as you unlock them with your Madden Gamer level. So - if I am in week six of my first season in franchise and my gamer level goes up (thus unlocking Sammy Baugh and Paul Warfield) - then Baugh and Warfield would be automatically added to my franchise.

My question is - how do we stop the game from adding HOFers to our franchise as our Madden Gamer Level increases?

Or - is this going to have to be what others have suggested - that we should never save our profile in franchise games?

Am I missing something obvious here? I am far less concerned with how to start a clean franchise than I am with keeping the HOFers out as my Madden Gamer Level increases.
 
# 51 timotaeyo @ 08/16/06 04:27 PM
does this glitch involve both 360 versions or only the hall of fame edition?
 
# 52 ronnyballgame @ 08/16/06 04:34 PM
What I think he is trying to say is that, once you go onto EA sports on xbox live and download the new roster, and make that your default roster, that the default roster that came with the game and the HOF guys, will no longer be default and overwrote, thereinfore, no HOF'ers will be popping up in the dynasty mode?
 
# 53 sdrotar @ 08/16/06 04:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steelerfan2k1
I'm missing something though....

In the workaround instructions, it says that all you have to do is start with a clean roster file when starting your franchise - and everything should be fine (regular rosters, no Hall-of-famers).

OK - I get that part - but, I thought the whole point of this "feature" was that Hall-of-Famers would be added to your franchise as you unlock them with your Madden Gamer level. So - if I am in week six of my first season in franchise and my gamer level goes up (thus unlocking Sammy Baugh and Paul Warfield) - then Baugh and Warfield would be automatically added to my franchise.

My question is - how do we stop the game from adding HOFers to our franchise as our Madden Gamer Level increases?

Or - is this going to have to be what others have suggested - that we should never save our profile in franchise games?

Am I missing something obvious here? I am far less concerned with how to start a clean franchise than I am with keeping the HOFers out as my Madden Gamer Level increases.
They get added to your "default roster", not your saved Franchise/Superstar modes. Once you save a Franchise/Superstar file, that roster becomes isolated, as I understand it.
 
# 54 coogrfan @ 08/16/06 04:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by timotaeyo
does this glitch involve both 360 versions or only the hall of fame edition?
An excellent question (and I should know, I asked the very same question in the other thread on this topic )

Here's the response I recieved:

Quote:
Originally Posted by fossen
The game discs in the two versions are the same. There's an extra disc with the bonuses in the HoF edition, and special packaging.
 
# 55 Steelerfan2k1 @ 08/16/06 04:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ronnyballgame
What I think he is trying to say is that, once you go onto EA sports on xbox live and download the new roster, and make that your default roster, that the default roster that came with the game and the HOF guys, will no longer be default and overwrote, thereinfore, no HOF'ers will be popping up in the dynasty mode?

I definitely get this point - when you are starting with a "clean" franchise. If you use the default roster or a downloaded roster update when you first start a franchise, then the HOFers will not be there.

But - my question from my previous post remains. I thought the whole point of the feature is that HOFers will be added to franchise and superstar modes as you unlock them with your Madden Gamer Level. Thus - even if you start with a "clean" franchise - HOFers would still be added every time your Gamer Level progresses and unlocks a Hall-of-Famer.
 
# 56 Steelerfan2k1 @ 08/16/06 04:42 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by sdrotar
They get added to your "default roster", not your saved Franchise/Superstar modes. Once you save a Franchise/Superstar file, that roster becomes isolated, as I understand it.
Great! This is excellent news! Thanks!

So - all we have to do is to make sure that a clean file is available somewhere - for use every time we make a new franchise.

And - this also means that if you do use HOFers in your franchise, you presumably would have to unlock them before you start your franchise.
 
# 57 Merci @ 08/16/06 08:04 PM
Thanks for the work around.


Is it possilbe to get an explanation for no fatigue in online play? Could somebody ask EA that question? Maybe they can send a patch.
 
# 58 Vic1 @ 08/16/06 10:48 PM
So we shouldn't have to download anything from XBL at all? When the game starts up, immediately go save a roster file and then start a franchise?
 
# 59 madnumber24 @ 08/18/06 10:00 PM
from what it sounds like, the HOF players get added to the rosters, so if thats the case, save one roster file with the hof players, then save another with the updated/default rosters with the hof players rating all the way down.
 
# 60 rich4421 @ 08/20/06 01:16 PM
i tell u what guys, i've had just about all i can stand of ea. ever since they bought all of the rights we've been getting screwed on our football games. i mean we have basically went back to the mid 90's when it comes to features available in the game. i could care less about some stupid superstar mode. they need to take care of the meat and potatoes of the game (franchise and online play) before they branch out into all this other crap. no player editing, no accelerated clock, no rookies beyond the third round picks, no player fatigue. i realize their making a patch for this but my question is how in the hell did this get by the testers in the first place? maybe ea has got a bunch of final fantasy/dungeons and dragons type folks doing the testing and creating for their sports games. "if it's in the game, it's in the game" well, not lately it hasn't been.
 

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