News Post

NCAA Football 09 Patch Announcement

03:43 PM - July 16, 2008 by OMT

We have identified and fixed the bug causing the game to crash when editing rosters. This bug also causes teams to disappear and team ratings to change.

The patch is being tested tonight, and assuming all goes well it will be submitted tomorrow for certification. The expected release is in 5-10 days.

Until the patch, we recommend you cease editing rosters. Rosters that have been corrupted by the bug will not work after the patch. If you have a roster in progress and have not encountered any freezes or missing teams, it will work after the patch. There is a possibility a roster can be corrupt and not have surfaced any problems yet. This is why we recommend that you stop or back up your work among multiple save files.

We are also fixing the bug where the depth chart gets reordered after editing a player with this patch.

These are the ONLY fixes in this patch. We are planning on a 2nd patch with many fixes, but we had to get this one out the door.

We appreciate everyone's patience on this matter.

Special thanks to CDJ, 21SEC, and Fairdale Kings for helping us track this down.

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Member Comments

# 181 SoxFan01605 @ 07/17/08 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewto16


	My point is that games used to be tested more throughly for bugs. Now it seems that less emphasis is placed on testing for stuff like this roster issue. They have been allowing people to edit and name rosters in NCAA for almost 10 years now and this was never an issue before. Obviously something changed this time and it wasn't tested. My point is that a feature that is this important and advertised (EA Locker roster sharing) should have been tested, not just assumed to work.

Well, I'm sure it was tested, but obviously missed. Whoever Pasta got those base edits from obviously got to edit plenty. Many have edited 100's of players, while some claim to have freezes after just a few (relatively speaking). I imagine it's more of an issue with the thoroughness of the specific testing processes rather than testing itself (inconsistent issues are normally the toughest to catch in any QA process).

And I agree with your point...I was just speaking more to the general repetition of complaints that lead to nothing.

# 182 nstod @ 07/17/08 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewto16


	My point is that games used to be tested more throughly for bugs. Now it seems that less emphasis is placed on testing

That could not be further from the truth. As games get more and more complicated, bugs enter the code at an exponential rate. It is a common known fact among software developers. There is actually more testing done now than even a couple years ago. It's no surprise that most games nowadays require patches to fix bugs, due to the increased complexity.

# 183 ewto16 @ 07/17/08 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercurial23


	How do you know games used to be tested more thoroughly? It's so easy playing Monday Morning QB, huh?

Yep, pretty much it is. I don't see how you can look at it any other way. OBVIOUSLY, they didn't test the roster editing. If they did, then they released it and didn't care it was broken. It has been repeated numerous times within a day of the game getting released and, now with a patch, confirmed that it is broken.

Maybe because I have been playing games for over 20 years I feel like I understand this and can make this assumption? Only recently (last 2 years) have the EA Sports games become riddled with all these game crippling bugs. On the PS2, the gameplay might have some "bugs" (not play how you would think/like), but you could chalk those up to crappy AI, same as you do now. I'm talking about things that are actually broken now.

I've never had a broken franchise in Madden before last year. I've never been unable to edit rosters in NCAA before last year. I've never had Tiger Woods only count 3 of the 4 days of a tournament before last year. These are just a few examples.

These are all bugs that should be caught by any sort of reasonable testing. It doesn't take any special effort at all to discover that those things happen in those games. It takes testing the game and playing it the way a typical user would do so. EA isn't doing that.

I'm not saying that EA is the only company guilty of this. It just so happens that I like football and golf and they are the only game in town for those, so I complain about them.

# 184 ewto16 @ 07/17/08 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoxFan01605


	Whoever Pasta got those base edits from obviously got to edit plenty. And I agree with your point...I was just speaking more to the general repetition of complaints that lead to nothing.

It has pretty much been proven that Pasta got his rosters directly from EA. They were created with code, not entered by hand as they include special characters that you can't enter when inputting the rosters by hand. I'm not saying EA gave them to him, but he got them from a person using in-house EA rosters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstod


	That could not be further from the truth. As games get more and more complicated, bugs enter the code at an exponential rate. It is a common known fact among software developers. There is actually more testing done now than even a couple years ago. It's no surprise that most games nowadays require patches to fix bugs, due to the increased complexity.

I'm not saying games don't require more testing. I'm saying that they aren't getting that extra testing that is needed. They are taking more time for development or other areas and rushing through the testing phase. The bugs that EA is letting through now (and I listed in the post above) are HUGE bugs that should be caught during routine testing. They are bugs that come up when the user tries to do basic functions in the game.

I'm fine with randomly weird stuff happening in the game sometimes. You can't account for everything in a game as complex as these. What I don't accept is when a very basic feature is discovered to be broken a day after release.

Patches are the device of the devil. If games couldn't be patched, there would be less bugs. The trend started on PCs and now dirties up console games. Lazy publishers rely on being able to patch a game later to make their deadline for revenues or advertising.

100s of other games get their released dates pushed back to put more polish on the game and ensure it works. NCAA and Madden announce their release dates 6 months ahead of time and then never budge. More developers should be like Blizzard, Bungie, and Rockstar. You get the game when it is done and meets their high standards.

# 185 mwjr @ 07/17/08 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longhorn35


	Why should I have to subscribe to a service that I do not use just to get a patch from a game that I bought that is broken.... It should be free to access without subscription...

I don't think you have to pay for it. I've been able to get patches with just a silver membership, which is free.

# 186 mwjr @ 07/17/08 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old's Cool


	I hope the 2nd patch(gameplay) comes out before the real college season starts.

Which begs the question: with problems like these appearing every year, wouldn't it be better for EA to simply push back the release schedules for their games? Instead of releasing NCAA July 15, why not release it August 15? That's still two weeks before the start of college football and it allowes testers a full extra month.

# 187 Ungee34 @ 07/17/08 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewto16


	Yep, pretty much it is. I don't see how you can look at it any other way. OBVIOUSLY, they didn't test the roster editing. If they did, then they released it and didn't care it was broken. It has been repeated numerous times within a day of the game getting released and, now with a patch, confirmed that it is broken. Maybe because I have been playing games for over 20 years I feel like I understand this and can make this assumption? Only recently (last 2 years) have the EA Sports games become riddled with all these game crippling bugs. On the PS2, the gameplay might have some "bugs" (not play how you would think/like), but you could chalk those up to crappy AI, same as you do now. I'm talking about things that are actually broken now. I've never had a broken franchise in Madden before last year. I've never been unable to edit rosters in NCAA before last year. I've never had Tiger Woods only count 3 of the 4 days of a tournament before last year. These are just a few examples. These are all bugs that should be caught by any sort of reasonable testing. It doesn't take any special effort at all to discover that those things happen in those games. It takes testing the game and playing it the way a typical user would do so. EA isn't doing that. I'm not saying that EA is the only company guilty of this. It just so happens that I like football and golf and they are the only game in town for those, so I complain about them.

Amen!!! Here is the thing, we all caught these bugs this year, last year, and even the year before that, and yet here we are! Next year in 2010 these same bugs will probably STILL be here. Here is my proof. Every year so far in NCAA on next gen after you edit a player in your roster, your depth chart gets reset. We have pointed this out for 3 years now. Of course they say it will be fixed with this 1st patch. We will see.
That's whats frustrating, not gameplay issues, but actual bugs that carry over from year to year. Madden was down right unplayable last season. You had to control all teams in order to play a franchise. Ridiculous. I just hope EA starts to correct some of these things, b/c we all love these football games, it's what made EA so special in all of our eyes. The fact that all these people are online complaining only means we really do care about this game and our entertainment.

# 188 jballa838 @ 07/17/08 07:56 PM

they get thousands more testers actually by releasing it now compared to if they did a month from now.

# 189 talbain @ 07/17/08 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwjr


	Which begs the question: with problems like these appearing every year, wouldn't it be better for EA to simply push back the release schedules for their games? Instead of releasing NCAA July 15, why not release it August 15? That's still two weeks before the start of college football and it allowes testers a full extra month.

come on man think this through. if you release ncaa in august then when do you release madden? after the nfl season starts? release two football games in the same month?

# 190 TheVinylHippo @ 07/17/08 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talbain


	come on man think this through. if you release ncaa in august then when do you release madden? after the nfl season starts? release two football games in the same month?

Exactly.

# 191 callmetaternuts @ 07/17/08 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talbain


	come on man think this through. if you release ncaa in august then when do you release madden? after the nfl season starts? release two football games in the same month?

Pushing it back a month only helps that particular year, the next year, the development cycle would run August to august, right now its July to July, so after the one year they pushed it back, you dont gain anything. Thats not the issue, its not a time factor, its attempting to fit other/newer features in rather than refining gameplay.

# 192 bad_philanthropy @ 07/17/08 11:12 PM

I am just hoping that at some point one of the producers at EA can convince the powers that be to have an "NHL 08" year. On that game there were basically no additions or improvements other than a serious overhaul of the AI. The end result was the greatest AI in a sports game to date. So good that I can still pick it up and not have the game feel the same as the last after all these months. It made the gameplay so good that additional flaws or absent features were easily forgiven by the people who played it.

I know football is infinitely more complex than hockey but with one single focus I think it could be done.

# 193 elliottcarbone @ 07/17/08 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMT


	We have identified and fixed the bug causing the game to crash when editing rosters. This bug also causes teams to disappear and team ratings to change. The patch is being tested tonight, and assuming all goes well it will be submitted tomorrow for certification. The expected release is in 5-10 days. Until the patch, we recommend you cease editing rosters. Rosters that have been corrupted by the bug will not work after the patch. If you have a roster in progress and have not encountered any freezes or missing teams, it will work after the patch. There is a possibility a roster can be corrupt and not have surfaced any problems yet. This is why we recommend that you stop or back up your work among multiple save files. We are also fixing the bug where the depth chart gets reordered after editing a player with this patch. These are the ONLY fixes in this patch. We are planning on a 2nd patch with many fixes, but we had to get this one out the door. We appreciate everyone's patience on this matter. Special thanks to CDJ, 21SEC, and Fairdale Kings for helping us track this down.

Its about time............

# 194 LowerWolf @ 07/17/08 11:36 PM

I'll ask here rather than start a new thread:

For the EA guys on here, will the presumed second patch (not the roster-edit patch but the one for gameplay issues) be able to work on an existing dynasty? Or are we better off waiting until after that patch (assuming there is one) is released to start our dynasties?

Thanks.

# 195 SoMiss2000 @ 07/17/08 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talbain


	come on man think this through. if you release ncaa in august then when do you release madden? after the nfl season starts? release two football games in the same month?

madden hasn't always come out in August. I wouldn't mind it releasing in September, after the season starts.

# 196 astronut @ 07/18/08 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwjr


	Which begs the question: with problems like these appearing every year, wouldn't it be better for EA to simply push back the release schedules for their games? Instead of releasing NCAA July 15, why not release it August 15? That's still two weeks before the start of college football and it allowes testers a full extra month.

I guess I'm just not optamistic, I think no matter when the game comes out there will still be problems to fix. So if the game comes out a month later thats just a month later on getting the patch. So the earlier the game comes out the earlier the patch. If they started letting the community guys be the testers, then more bugs or issues would be found, then it would be okay releasing it later because there wouldn't be as many things to patch.

# 197 Herky @ 07/18/08 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoMiss2000


	madden hasn't always come out in August. I wouldn't mind it releasing in September, after the season starts.

Remember when Madden used to come out in November?

# 198 bling1202 @ 07/18/08 01:29 AM

So it'll come out next week?

# 199 Mr. Moustafa @ 07/18/08 01:33 AM

It'd be great if they could push the release date back for more testing. But 2 fball games in the same month? Sales for NCAA would drop a massive amount. And why push madden back? Don't you think the NFL wants people all over the country get pumped for the upcoming season by playing with their favorite teams for a few solid weeks.

# 200 Gotmadskillzson @ 07/18/08 02:55 AM

I remember when Madden came out in November. And I remember when NCAA came out in September. And NBA Live came out the week of Thanksgiving.

But then back then, 98% of videogames came out between October and December. There was no new games coming out every month, year round like it is now.

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